Week 4 Classroom Climate and Culture

 

Week 4 Classroom Climate and Culture

Name: Kendal Roland 

Date of field experiences reported: September 13, 2024 

Time spent: 8:00 am -  11:30 pm

1. Sequence of Events. 

This focused observation focuses specifically on my time spent with Mrs. Daughertys Drawing class (8:05-8:50 am) 

• Students came into class one by one and filed into their assigned seats 

• Students grabbed their sketchbooks and began working on the daily prompt on the board 

• Today's prompt was to begin drawing thumbnail sketches of the black and white image they had chose last class (thursday)

• If students had submitted their image to the schoology shared document last class, Mrs. Daughtery had printed off their image for the student

• After about 10 minutes of students working on these thumbnail sketches, Mrs. Daugherty transitioned to the next part of the class, which was the students submitting a video of their sketchbooks documenting the daily prompts they responded to over the course of the past two weeks. 

1. Elaboration of One or Two Significant Episodes. 

For context, Muncie Central High School operates on a block schedule, so students have their hour and 25 minute art classes twice a week, then on Fridays they have BearCat Fridays where they have all of their classes in blocks of 50 minutes. So, this was my first time being within the Tuesday and Thursday art classes. Within the first period class, there are a handful of students who have IEP plans and instructional aids,  however, I was not informed of which students had varying needs or abilities. So, when students were spending the first portion of class working on their thumbnail sketches, I was walking around the room, checking in with the students, guiding and assisting them, as well as establishing my role within the class since this was my first time meeting this group of students while my teacher took attendance and set up the rest of the materials needed for this class period. Most students were receptive to me walking around and checking in with them, but one student in particular was not thrilled with me trying to check in and offer help. When I approached this student, I began by simply asking this individual student how it was going with their thumbnail sketch and his response was a stern, “horrible”. I was a bit taken back by the zero hesitancy and pesimacy within this response, but it was the first period on a Friday and I myself have also been in classes where that would be my response as well. I then decided to try and break down why the student felt that way, asking if I could see his thumbnail sketch and asking how I could assist him in order to not feel so “horrible”.  This student then replied saying he was a “veteran” of this class, I took this as he had personal experience with drawing realistically from black and white animal, so I asked what he typically likes to draw, he had a spider man shirt on so I asked about that and once again was met with a short, stern response of “nothing”. I was now stumped, trying not to be overbearing or annoy the student, especially with having no guidance being provided by my mentor teacher or the student, so I asked to see his sketchbook and he showed me a wonderful thumbnail sketch of a lamb, I began praising this drawing and telling him it was awesome that he already had a thumbnail sketch done. As I walked away, the student abruptly stood up and walked out of the classroom. I was shocked and felt like I had caused this, but I was mostly shocked that the IA and my mentor teacher did not react to this or seem to be concerned that this student just walked out of class without saying anything. I went up to my mentor teacher explaining what had just occurred and she told me she would explain further after this class period ended. 

1. Analysis of Episode(s)

Upon talking to my mentor teacher after class, I was informed that the student I had been talking to was severely autistic and was retaking this class because Muncie Central didn’t know where to place this student. This furthered my understanding of him referring to himself as a “veteran” because in terms of taking this specific class, he truly was. My teacher informed me that him leaving the class when he feels overstimulated is a common occurance and he will later come back to her class to elaborate as to why he needed to leave. It made me sad to think that I potentially over-stimulated this student to the point where he felt the need to excuse himself, but upon further reflection I feel I tried my best to be compassionate, helpful and genuinely understanding without knowing the circumstances. However, the fact that he is able to leave the class freely concerns me, not from a lack of trust, but from a safety issue. I know every student is different and that they have unique needs, but I strongly feel that they should be encouraged to communicate with the teacher, IA, or even myself when they’re feeling the need to excuse themselves. I recognize and understand that not every student is able to verbally communicate this, but recognizing your students' needs is extremely important. Even having a system where the student uses hand signals or some sort of check out system seems to me like something that should be in place. At the end of the day, we are responsible for our students' well being as educators and ensuring their needs are more than crucial.