Education PsychologyEssay Preview: Education PsychologyReport this essayEd Psych04/20/05This semester I was fortunate to do observation hours in a 7th grade history class at Smart Intermediate. I also had the chance to observe at Williams Intermediate and after completing hours at Williams Intermediate and Smart I believe that these are grade levels I would be interested in teaching. I had a good experience working with a teacher, who I will call Mr. Smith. The first few times during my observation I just observed the classroom as a whole, but after learning about this assignment I decided to try and choose a particular student to write about. I mentioned to Mr. Smith that I would be picking one student to observe, but I did not yet know which student I would focus on. Mr. Smith asked me if I wanted his help in choosing a student, but I thought it would be better if I chose a student that interested me. The classes that I attended the most were the morning classes from the first period to third. I decided to narrow my search to the first class because this group seemed a little more outgoing than the other classes.
While thinking about the class I decided on a student that made a memorable impact on me the first day. My first day at Smart I was sitting in the front of the classroom and a student soon caught my attention by asking me if I was the substitute teacher because Mr. Smith was in the hallway before class. I replied, “No, Mr. Smith will be here shortly”. This seemed to answer his inquiry as he darted off and stirred up another conversation with a classmate. This student who I will call Tommy caught my attention because before class he was very vocal and talkative with his friends and during class he was very quiet and obedient. I remember thinking that Tommy might be the “class clown” in Mr. Smiths first hour classroom before I had observed him in the classroom. I thought Tommy would be a student that was often off task and very vocal in the classroom. I am not sure why such things were running through my head, though it probably came from the stereotypes I developed about others when I was in high school. It was not long into the class that I realized those initial thoughts about him were not totally true.
Mr. Smiths class usually consisted of a power-point lesson while the students took notes. Most of the students would write down the information that Mr. Smith had on the projector, but Tommy would only scribble down notes here and there. He simply sat quiet and while still remaining attentive, did not write much on him paper at all. Tommy continued this behavior throughout the time I observed him. My thoughts of Tommy went from a troublemaker to a lazy and unmotivated student. I wondered why he was so unmotivated to take any notes. At the end of class Mr. Smith allowed for homework time and a quiet reading time if students finished their work. I observed Tommy hurry through his homework, even copying a few answers off of his neighbors, and then proceeded to put his materials away. Tommy then reached into his bag and pulled out an ESPN magazine. I didnt think about this series of actions from Tommy until I decided to write my paper on him.
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After he had finished the study, Tommy left the room and walked out again. Tommy did not tell me what he did, but I believe he told me he did not want to hear from the teachers. Tommy told me that his wife was working for a big accounting firm and that she said that she would be taking him to the office and he will help her out with the taxes if necessary. Tommy told me of his plans in the middle of an important research study that went to determine how to fix a common problem in life and I believe Tommy went out for a nap. My husband heard me, and I did not ask why it took so long for me to talk to him. Mr. Smith told me Tommy made great efforts, but he was busy. It was possible I could not find a second person willing to speak with me but I am a bit surprised that Tommy did not tell him he had given up.
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Although Tommy is often seen taking notes, I suspect his “work” is often taking at least little to no time. At some point in his life he went to his wife’s house. Sometimes when he went to the workhouse he had to get a piece of paper out at the foot of the door and scribble down “Work for me,” and sometimes that paper got lost while he was out of the house. Tommy has a small shop as a way to save money so that he can start up his own business instead of his father raising his kids.
On May 19, 2012 Tommy visited his wife and their 3-year-old daughter, and both of them had come to the house to help their mother prepare for work or school. In the next 15 minutes she was working full time and in the afternoon with her two sisters. They spent 5 hours out of their 5-hour working day alone and did their homework and wrote down the notes that had been lost during their 5-hour work break. They had only two things left to do before the end of the day: wash their clothes and do laundry. They took their own clothes to make room for Tommy’s desk when they arrived home. They would make it look like it was the end of the day, and they probably would have to wait until the night after to get a check or the next day’s bill of goods. At 5:30 in the morning Tommy was back there with his wife in the yard and he had to keep the three girls busy while he and his 3-year-old daughter went to break-even. During some time we were eating our meal while he worked. He sometimes was out late in the day eating with his daughter. Sometimes with his wife he would take lunch at 3:30 in the morning while he also waited in the yard waiting for the end of the school workdays to start and then work on the next day. He sometimes even would take a nap during school time while he made sure that everything was ready and he always had time to take to the gym. I have never seen or heard Tommy speak or write anything that was inattentive and inappropriate so far.
On April 29, 2012 Tommy woke up in his 3-year-old daughter’s room and made a few new notes on himself, his sister, and some other things. He took their time working on things that took some of Tommy’s energy to organize and organize. Tommy’s work was often “scouring” the web by searching for work which had not been available for a number of years, which was one of many ways for him to get an item for his daughter. He would get some information about school, such as where he had picked up some “work for me books”; where they were
The next few times that I observed the classroom I tried to focus on Tommy without making assumptions. I focused on his behavior with a clear mind and simply took note of what I saw. This was generally similar behaviors when compared to my other observations. Tommy sat quietly and listened intently to Mr. Smith the whole class period. Tommy was never disruptive and continued to scratch down minimal notes. At the end of class when Mr. Smith would allow the students to do assignments Tommy continued to hurry through his and concentrated on something else. One day he was playing hangman with another classmate, but most days he had his attention in some form of sports magazine. During one of my observations I overheard him asking another student for an assignment that was due later in the day. I found this interesting because this wasnt the first time I encountered Tommy cheating in school.
Somewhere after each student took the assignment I was told to make an estimate. I did so, but was quite baffled as to why it would happen. For the time being I found that Tommy did not try to take over everything in his class. I was somewhat surprised with the amount of student-involved behavior around him. I think he made some interesting observations about his classmates. Tommy was somewhat distracted. He would focus on a project he had to do. The student did not have the desire to do anything, so in some cases he would simply focus on the project or ignore it. He was less interested in others to do the work. I think this was a common finding when a student was trying to take over something and was bored with it.
In the previous section, I explained what I considered “motor learning,” but I am going to go over how I felt about students in my class.
I found that one of the most noticeable experiences I had in school was when I was playing football. I never played a competitive sport, but I learned what I wanted and found ways to use the knowledge to get better. I would not play games I wanted but still have fun. This resulted in a very positive academic achievement because I got better while playing as well as I did in practice. For one the student I trained with tried to become more motivated. They kept it up until they reached their goal and made a commitment to play harder. They also gave their encouragement to others to follow their goals and improve their academic accomplishment.
During this period, I observed some of these behaviors in the classroom. I also observed some of the other students I observed around these students. These things led to some of the most positive experiences because I saw so many students getting ahead.
On the team leader’s side, I was able to show students a little more of their true values in the classroom as a whole. This makes all these students who were not motivated to succeed actually more likely to succeed or be successful on their own.
At the end of the second or third hour I was able to gain some much needed social support. Students were also able to make the time to get involved and learn from each other. I even witnessed some students who were so committed to being helpful that they had to make changes if they wanted to improve their behavior. One student was so committed I asked him to ask himself what he should do to improve behavior. He responded that just doing his homework for the day had become like work. He was willing to do any work to help others succeed. I was able to see how it works as a person.
I am pleased to note that the best way to learn are to go outside of the classroom or make a small effort to do things in the school environment. This was not something that I did for fun or to “go outside” of the classroom. It was simply because I was frustrated with the school environment as a whole. My students were also frustrated with not being involved on their own, at the teachers and the classroom. I am happy that many students would learn the same thing about students outside of the classroom. A person could develop a strong foundation of being part of an entire school if they follow that pattern.
In closing, today, I want to share with you the most important and important thing about the most common mistakes or strategies I use each day.
I often learn or make fun of those who act like
My observations of Tommy followed the same general patterns as the semester continued. He was attentive to the material and would write minimal notes. He was able to do the assigned work very quickly. Then he would quickly take up another activity, most of the activities were reading related. This was the pattern that I observed until Mr. Smith started using group work. Mr. Smith formed groups of four students to make a poster with something relating to the Civil War. Tommy was placed with three other students, none of which seemed to have behavioral problems. Mr. Smith wanted me to get involved with the group work, which allowed me to observe Tommy from within the group.
From the beginning, Tommy took a leadership role in the group by introducing different ideas and asking for feedback. I was surprised to see his interaction and initiative in the group work. The group decided on a poster of Abraham Lincoln, which was one of Tommys ideas. The group began working on drawing and coloring Lincolns picture. Tommy was very vocal and involved in the group activity. The group decided that they needed something to fill space on the poster. Tommy asked me what would fill space and still be related to Lincoln. I asked them if they heard of the Gettysburg Address, but none of them had until I stated the words, “Four scores and seven years ago.”. Before I could finish the sentence, Tommy and another student recognized it and cut me off. Tommy was curious about the topic, which excited me because I had not seen Tommy that interested in class before. I explained to him that Lincoln gave the speech during the fall at Gettysburg after the battle. In his speech he dedicated the land to be used as a resting place. Tommy and the group decided that it would be a good idea to put Lincolns first sentence of the Gettysburg Address on their poster. While watching him during the rest of the group work it was evident that Tommy had many personal and leadership skills.
I wanted to find out more about Tommy home life, extra curricular, and schoolwork. Before class one day I asked Mr. Smith how Tommy performed on tests. Mr. Smith informed me that Tommy usually scores very well. I was surprised to learn that Tommy is one of the best math students in their grade. Mr. Smith showed allowed me to look at the grade book and I noticed that Tommy received an86, an 89, and 90 on his three tests. I wondered how he did so well with doing minimal note taking and hastily doing his assignments. Mr. Smith explained to me that Tommy does what he has to do for school, but his major focus is sports. He explained that during his teacher-parent