Rachel Kramer

Edu 202
Field Observation

Assignment 1: Observation
1) My first impression of the classroom environment is that it is inviting but also a
bit overwhelming. The inviting part of the classroom is the layout and the
classroom itself. The walls are filled with art posters, the tables are dirty with
clay, there is art all throughout the classroom. The overwhelming part is the
amount of students in the classroom. There is anywhere from 35-40+ students
in each class. The room is small, the ceilings are low, and it becomes very
crowded. The room is arranged with six student desks and one center counsel.
On one side of the room is the sink and cabinets. The white boards are in the
front. There is three storage rooms. One in the back and two on the side. The
teacher’s desk is also in the back of the room.

2) The student make up of the class is dominantly female. The majority of the kids
are hispanic, black, and white. Most of the students do not have physical
challenges besides the students in the Special Needs classes. In there they
have students with a variety of challenges: autism, down syndrome, mental
delays, and physical disabilities. The teacher’s last class each day has around
24 students with IEPs. The students in her class vary in age. She teaches all
grades, 9-12 in each period.

3) The classroom rules: Apprentice Studio Policies:

1. Be on time
2. Be prepared
3. Follow directions and stay on task
4. Be respectful of others, self, an studio
5. Use technology etiquette
6. Clean up
7. No food or drinks

4) The teacher enforces the classroom policies, but only to an extent. The teacher tries to do
as much as possible. The students are just very uncooperative and out of control.
Assignment 2: Classroom Layout
 1) Considering how small the room is, I feel that the classroom space is used
efficiently. Every crevice of the room is filled with something. The tables take up
the majority of space in the classroom and is well needed considering the
amount of students in each class.
2) In my opinion, I actually would not change the physical arrangement of the
room. The teacher’s desk is an area where she can view the whole room. The
center console makes it easy to access supplies. There is no room to really do
much with the tables.

Assignment 3: Instruction
1) The weekly schedule is posted on the whiteboard. It is divided by class, Ceramics 1,
Ceramics 2, Ceramics 3, and Art 1. It is also divided under what the current project they
are working on, the due dates, requirements for the assignments, techniques, and
goals.
2) Instruction is delivered at first to the whole class, and then as class proceeds the
teacher assists students individually to assist with the projects.
3) The teacher’s teaching style is that she makes sure to interact with every student. She
takes a hands on learning approach if they are really struggling. She first creates an
example for each project and shows the class a powerpoint with the art history
background and more famous examples by artists.
4) The teacher incorporates the learning styles with a hands on and visual approach. As
mentioned in question three, the teacher provides power points and physical examples
(visual) and a hands on approach by working with the students on their project one on
one.
5) After my first visit, I wanted to say that the students were engaged in the projects, but
after several visits, I had to change my opinion. Only a small handful of students are
 invested in the projects and actually put effort. Most students sit on their phones,
wonder the class, and talk. They know that in order to pass they only need to complete
around one or two assignments. Even then, the students just do not care. They are loud
and obnoxious. Some try, but not with love. For example, the current project that Art 1
is working on have had a while to do it. They are making shoe sculptures that represent
them with found objects. Most students are just gluing any random object without
meaning. They are not listening to any directions.
6) No students are isolated from the rest of the class.
7) The teacher handles transition between activities by starting the students as soon as
they are finished with the next project. The teacher presents each project via
powerpoint, and then once the students are done with the past project, they are able to
start the new project. Therefore, everyone is starting projects simultaneously.
8) The teacher uses attention getting commands by just starting to talk in a louder manner.
9) Specific behavior issues that the teacher has to deal with is that most of these students
do not have the best home life. A lot of the students have attitudes, use explicit
language, and are struggling to succeed. The teacher mentioned that one of her
students recently got out of jail. The students have drug problems and weapon
problems. A few weeks ago, some girls got in a fight, and pepper sprayed the whole
classroom, and everyone had to leave the room.
10) There are no policies that help or hinder instructional time.

Assignment 4: Culture
Physical Characteristics
1) When you first approach the school, it has a very barren landscape next to the parking
lot. There is a giant field in the back for sports. There school has two levels. In the
middle of the court yard is a statue of a Spartan. There is a main courtyard, and the
classroom halls surround it. The halls are divided by number. The art room is past a hall
and around a brick wall corner. The lunchroom is a decent size, but not big enough to
hold all the students. The rooms are small compared to the student size. The school is
decorated with maroon and grey. The main office is by the entrance to the school, it has
the banker, and other administrative offices. Also when you enter the school is the
theatre.
2) The walls are maroon, grey, and white. Lighting is limited. The floors are tile. Most
classrooms do not have windows. Decorations are of upcoming events. The lunchroom
had a whole wall decorated for the upcoming events in spirit week. With battle of the
sexes, they had the whole school covered in different sections with blue and pink.
Different signage and were even selling shirts.

Culture of the school:

1) The School’s Motto is Commitment, Motivation, Honor, and Success. - CMHS The
mascot is a Spartan. The mission state of CMHS is to provide quality education which
will enable students to become lifelong learners and responsible citizens and to acquire
the skills essential for success in the 21st century. The beliefs and goals are SPIRIT
CMHS - Set higher standards for achievements, Participation is expected by all,
 Individual diversity is celebrated, Respect is mutual, Integrity leads to success,
Teamwork creates results, Character, Makes leading priority, Happiness through
involvement, Success in life.
2) When visitors come into the main office, they must meet with the front office person,
who will then help them from there. All visitors must check into the school. Staff makes
sure the students are safe and not getting into trouble. They are always keeping an eye.
3) Students socialize everywhere in the school. They are your typical peer interactions.
They are loud and obnoxious. They talk about their daily lives and after school plans.
4) When you first come into the school, it is a short hallway, where to the left is the theatre.
If you continue straight, the main office is on the right. Between everything is the
courtyard, which has chairs and tables. At the end of the courtyard is the lunchroom
and on another size is the gym. The hallways all surround the courtyard.
5) Cimarron's school achievements are represented in the main office and the theatre.
They have partnered up for community service with Goodwill and the rest of the awards
are for football.

Culture of the classroom:

1) The teachers expectations for learning and success are written on the board and they
match each assignment.
2) I would say about 20% of students in the class participate. As the teacher has
mentioned, her class is used as a “dumping group.” The students know they only have
to complete one or two assignments to pass. The school has the minimum 50 rule.
Every few weeks they put more students into the class. Most students are just talking or
on their phones. Some are sleeping sometimes. Even the ones who do participate, are
not always putting much effort.
3) The interaction between students is mostly one-on-one. The students do not allow the
teacher to always have power. It is a constant battle. The teacher shows as much
respect to the students as possible, but the students do not show the same respect.
The teacher is willing to help out each student individually to understand the project or
help them if they are not able to.

Assignment 5: Teacher Interview

1) The primary reason Mrs. Williamson became a teacher was because she always liked
working with other people and kids. Just as I do, she always had a passion for art and
wanted to put them together. She wanted to work with kids so that she can share her
passion with them so that maybe they can also develop the same passion.
2) The main challenges she faces as a teacher is the student’s lack of initiation. They also
lack the motivation, and they do not care to learn. She struggles to find ways to
motivate them and make them think creatively. If they do not want to participate in the
assignment, she offers an alternative assignment.
3) The best part of being a teacher is the relationships with the students. She interacts
with them on a daily basis and really gets to understand their backgrounds and home
lives.
4) She determines where students sit in class by the student’s motivation. If the student
has behavior issues she tries to seat them next to a student who is motivated and on
task. This way maybe some of their motivation can rub off. It also depends on the
current project.
5) She selects members of flexible groups by their abilities and styles.
6) Mrs. Williamson rarely acts with parents except for in IEP meetings. If not she usually
stays in contact via phone call or email.
7) Mrs. Williamson is required to grade at least two assignments per student per week.
8) It takes her anywhere from half and hour to an hour. It usually depends on the lesson.
She tries to usually use lessons that she has done in the past. The first time around
they took hours to create, but it also depended on the activity.
9) Until recently, to maximize instructional time, the first 10 minutes would be a warm up,
the next 10 for reflections, and the last 10 minutes of class for clean up. She always
stuck to a set schedule. Now, at Cimarron, she puts the weekly assignments on the
board, she is more lax because it is the end of the year, and keeps handouts with
instructions under the board.
10) Positive reinforcements are that she usually lets them sit where they want. She lets
them listen to music. She also offers a wheel spin on studio days. In the past when
students were not able to maintain a clean studio, she would give them an alternate
book assignment. The students here are scared of having inhouse, so sometimes she
has them come after school to help clean as negative reinforcement. The last good
enforcement she uses is food. The students are very fond of granola bars.
11) Specialist teachers are not involved in the instructional planning and process.
12) Since Mrs. Williamson is still new to the district, she is on a three year probation. Each
year she is evaluated three times, then two, and then one. CCSD’s evaluation program
is the NEPF. They look for standards and indicators.
13) The consequence for if the evaluation is not favorable is that she will be put on
probation and must meet certain standards. If not she will be terminated.
14) The things that surprised Mrs. Williamson most about teaching as a profession was the
amount of politics involved, bureaucracy, and paperwork that is unnecessary to her
position.
Assignment 6: Observing a student
I observed a student who each day when I arrived was sitting where I would sit.
He would wait a solid three or so minutes before finally moving to let me have a seat.
Over the course of me being there, there was about three different lessons. One was a
lamp, another a pop art statue, and a human head. Not once did I see this student work
on any of the assignments. He even opted to do the alternate assignment, even though
the alternate assignment was much harder. Each day Mrs. Williamson would tell him to
get to work. Instead, he would sit there on his phone and talk to his classmates. He was
very vulgar. I learned that this student was not motivated. He was not involved in the
class, and didn’t really have any educational needs. He was not determined to finish or
work on anything.

Assignment 7: Summary
Throughout my 10 hours of observation, I made my best effort to see different
areas of the schools, talk to administration, and observe my teacher. Coming to CMHS
was a real eye opener. I had the privilege of attending a great highschool, and it was a
totally different experience than what the students experience here. I was shocked by
some of the things that I witnessed. I was shocked by the minimum 50 rule. When I was
in Highschool, if I fell below a certain GPA, I would have been kicked out of the school.
This rule did not exist and you could fail. Here, there goal is to have everyone graduate,
educated or not. I never realized how bad the attitude and mentality of the students is.
They are rude, disrespectful, and do not care. During my first visit, I had a student come
up to me and greet me with, “Who the F are you?” This is not how you treat people you
have never met. The language is beyond explicit. The students lack respect for their
teachers. Having this opportunity made me realize that maybe working in a Title 1 high
school is not the best option for me. My goal as a teacher is to actually teach. I love art,
and being an art teacher, I want to teach students who love art as much as me.
Working at CMHS, is basically just being a babysitter. The students take this class
because they do not want to do anything. I want to teach students who care, and who
want to learn. After reading the course required book, the only thing I can relate to this
is the no child left behind act. I do not think that half of these students would have even
made it to the grade they are in currently without it. I feel the school just wants to
students to graduate so that it looks good on paper, but I do not feel the students are
getting a real education. I was not able to see how they act in other classes, but in their
art class, it was unbelievable. It highly made me reevaluate becoming a highschool
teacher for a second. I decided that not every school is like this, and there are many
different opportunities and I just need to chose the school that I think best fits me.