Dante Dinkins
EDUC 130
Professor Eastman
Field Experience Reflection
When my friends and I began to visit our service learning program at Manchester Intermediate we were very excited to be there. We were excited to finally be able to interact with the children in the classroom. In this paper I will talk about things that I have noticed from the children. I will also talk about how I got the chance to use my teaching manipulative. While on my service learning experience I got the chance to observe two children of my choice, so I will talk about some similarities and some difference that I noticed from the children. Lastly I will talk about how all of the students were very effective in working together and getting through all of there assignments.
Firstly when I was at Manchester Intermediate I noticed many thing, but there are things that just stuck to the back of my head from the students. The thing that I noticed was the fact that there were different ages in the classroom which range was from three to five. That amazed me because I can say that there wasn’t any age difference in the children’s eyes because they all got alone in the classroom no matter what. Another thing that stuck with me that was amazing was the fact when you leave the classroom for the day, the next time you were to enter the classroom the student always greet you with love like they haven’t seen you in years. That just amazed me how easily the students got connected to what use to be a complete stranger to them. Another great thing that I noticed that they had going on was the fact that they were all able to get alone with each other with no problem in the classroom and even in the playgrounds.
Secondly I will talk about when I had the chance to do my teaching manipulative. This was another exciting moment for me when I was at intermediate school. This was the time when I got my chance to run the classroom with my assignment that all the students loved. My teaching manipulative was about measurement and math, and since the topic of the week was transportation at that time I decided to make a ramp and let all the children race there care onto a shower curtain where they were to measure the distance and the height of the ramp. It was a great success because at the end we let the students color there bar graphs and writer their names in them. Just by doing that we got the children to color, write there names, measure distance and height, and once again we got the children to bond with each other.
Thirdly I will talk about the two children I got the chance to observe of my choice. I decided to pick one girl and one boy. I have chosen to keep there names a secret so I will address the boy by Jay and the girl by Alex. I found out that Alex and Jay were somewhat similar to each other. I say they were similar because they both act pretty much alike. They both love to run in the classroom because they were anxious to complete there assignment they had on hand. Another thing they had in common was the fact that there get alone with all the students very well in the learning atmosphere. They were not twins so you know they had differences. The difference they had that I found kind of funny was Alex being a female loved to wrestle play with the other students while on recess while Jay would just simply play calmly with no interaction as a male. To me that was a role switch they have because normally it would be the complete opposite.
Lastly I will talk about how good the students work together through out the class room. Everyday after the students ate their breakfast in the morning the teachers would give them several assignment that everyone had to complete before the day was over. For example the students would get a assignment that involves coloring another about construction and real life play time which means being constructive in a play kitchen area another may be building things with block, those types of things. They would have to do these at a random order but it must get done. Everyday the students manage to do these accomplished without arguing. The teachers manage to get the students to do it at their own pace and be very successful with it. It just amazed me when I saw it for the first time. I wouldn’t expect that from children of that age group. The teachers tell them once and they get right to it.
I really enjoyed my time at Manchester Intermediate. I have talked about things that I have noticed from the children. I have also talked about how I got the chance to use my teaching manipulative. I also talked about when I got the chance to observe two children of my choice, their similarities and difference. Lastly I have talked about how all of the students were able to work effectively together in getting through all of there assignments. Going to Manchester Intermediate really opened up my and now I see clear and I will do it again.