Field Experiences

I was not excited about my field placement when I first found out that I would be observing in a fifth grade classroom. To add to my disappointment, I found out just how far away Wildwood Forest is from Meredith. I really wanted a first or second grade placement and I was not looking forward to this placement. Surprisingly, I love fifth grade. It has really made me rethink which grade I want to teach. I loved observing in this class and I really looked forward to Wednesday mornings when I got to go see Ms. Palmer's students. This was my first time actually observing the same class throughout a semester. It was fun getting to know my teacher and the students in the class. I know a lot of her students by name and I have a sense of their personalities. It is funny what you can pick up on when you sit back and observe. I was able to notice things that Ms. Palmer would never see because she is teaching. I think those little things I was able to notice will help me when I am a teacher because I will understand what is going on in the class without actually seeing it. They were excited to see me and I was excited to see them each week.
I like how independent fifth graders are. They are funny and can joke around more than a first grader can. This has really caused me to rethink what I want to teach. I love the books that her class is reading. Many of them are favorites of mine from when I was in fifth and sixth grade. I really enjoyed observing the different reading groups. It connected so closely with what we had talked about in class and I enjoyed seeing how students interacted within those groups. I also enjoyed the class when they made their reading cubes. It was such a cool project and the students were really proud of their work. One boy drew the most amazing picture on his group's cube. I was really impressed because it was much better than I could do. He was so proud of it and I was glad because he is one of the slower learners in the class. This gave him the chance to excel. One group made paper cranes to hang from their cube and they gave me one to take home. It was really excited!

I learned so much from these observations. Most of the concepts were not new to me but I learned how to implement them into a classroom. If I do end up teaching fifth grade I will definitely have some strategies and ideas that I will be able to use. I really enjoyed these observations and they made what we learned in class come to life. My teacher was so helpful and welcoming. She answered any questions I had and I learned a lot from her.