14 April - Field

This semester of field experience I had the opportunity to work with Annalyse in Mr. Gowans fourth grade class at Park View Elementary School. This was such a great opportunity for Annalyse and I. The moment we walked into the classroom we felt very welcomed. The students were excited to have us as well as Mr. Gowans. From the very beginning of watching Mr. Gowans teach you could tell that he had great classroom management ideas. He had different types of rewards for the students when they had the correct behavior. Mr. Gowans focused his attention on the students that were doing the right thing rather than the ones that were not. He was very patient with the students and you could tell that the students had respect for Mr. Gowans as their teacher. Mr. Gowans was a very fun and outgoing teacher that would sometimes use sarcasm. He told us that at the beginning of the year he could not use sarcasm but as time went on and the students got to know him better he was able to use sarcasm more. As we talked more to Mr. Gowans about his classroom he explained to us that it is very important from the beginning to clearly explain your expectations of the students and to never give in.

In this field experience I was able to work with Annalyse. I felt as though we worked very well together and was able to bounce ideas back and forth very easily. It was really great to be able to have a partner during this field experience. When we were teaching lessons for the first time it was great to have Annalyse’s help because there are things that would slip my mind when I got in front of the class and we are able to help each other out. As Annalyse and I were able to teach the students for ourselves we were able to see how challenging it is to manage a group of students and that there is much more information we can learn about teaching.This experience got me so excited for when I am a teacher and have my own class one day.