For Beginning Levels (or Level 1s) we have to complete 30 hours of field experience. Three hours a week for 10 weeks.
I got my placement a week and one day before I was expected to begin. Kindergarten, in a school district known for its high numbers of low-SES students who barely made proficiency. Wonderful, I thought, just great. I sent the obligatory "hello, I'm your mentee, this is my contact info...." e-mail to my mentor teacher and started going through my closet, wondering how strict the school ACTUALLY was on teacher dress code. Student dress code was thoroughly explained: choice of khaki, black, navy, or grey bottoms that were knee length or longer. No leggings in grades 5-12. Shirts with collars, in one of six colors. No patterns, no prints, no embellishment. No sandals. Did I mention this is a public school?
The teacher dress code is basically this: professional dress, bottoms must be at least knee length, no denim, no sandals, no excessive embellishment, no sleeveless tops, back must be covered. As a pre-service elementary/early childhood teacher I own very little in the "professional" category that fits into this dress code. I have a lot of "dress" denim--you know those trouser cut pants that are right on the line between denim and dress? And I have a lot of cute, practical tops, but they either have embellishment or only look professional when paired with a scarf or statement necklace (both of which are frowned upon). AND its September and hovering around 80 degrees at the coolest. So there begins the struggle.
For the portion of the field experience where I sit in a classroom with 6 professors and 150+ other Level 1 pre-teachers, our first assignment was a race/proficiency/sex/SES status report on our school, due the Sunday before we were all to set out on our first day in our assigned class. This is a horrible, terrible, no good very bad idea for more than one reason: mainly, umm, stereotypes? My assigned school? 50% of students are on free or reduced lunch. 80% white, and 1 percentage point above state average proficiency rates. I was NOT expecting the school I walked into.
The school had just been rebuilt and this is the first year the new building has been open for classes. It's beautiful, and totally up to date in every aspect. The lower level classrooms (Pre-k-1st) have a bathroom and sink INSIDE the classroom, at the perfect height for a 5 year old. Someone was thinking when they built this school. Every classroom has a promethean board (similar to a smartboard) and a couple of brand new computers, and many classrooms have and iPad or two as well. Okay, how awesome is that?! Besides the fact that I've never used any type of smartboard and iPads aren't my thing...but that's fine, because "my" 5 year old students know all about this stuff!
I walk into my placement classroom at 8:15, as requested, and was quickly greeted by my mentor teacher, Ms. J. She told me she was running behind this morning (oh, Monday!) and as she was scrambling to prepare the classroom she gave me random tasks ("Can you write the students' names on these folders?") she told me she was expecting me to teach read aloud every week, as well as circulate the room during her small group meeting times. What I heard was "you're in charge of 19 of the 23 students while I meet with the other 4! It'll be fun!" Kiddos started to arrive and I was instructed to make sure they did their "three jobs" but wasn't told what those were. Ms. J had to go check in with the office, leaving me with her arriving 23 kindergarteners and sometimes their parents--and no idea how she worked her class!
Once she returned, I was given more random, mostly organizational tasks while she taught her class. Then in the last hour before recess, she set them free to work in groups and suddenly I was in charge! It was quite the shock, really. But everything went relatively smoothly and soon I was on my way to MY classes, looking forward to 3:15, when I could go back to my room and sleep!
-Miss E
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