Obseravtion Hours: Class 3

When I arrived for my third visit at Wickliffe Elementary School I felt a lot more comfortable compared to the first two trips. The children were very welcoming of me as if I was going to be there everyday. When I arrived they were just getting back from their "special" class of the day which was music. I found out on the two days I usually went, which were Wednesday and Friday, was the days where the students had Music and Computer as their special class. Upon arrival the students ate a snack and then, had the chance to grab a book to read from the "browsing box." I figured this was a box they chose a book from once a week to read and then put back when they were done. When they put it back they wrote down the book they read on a piece of paper that they kept in their desks. After reading, the class gathered on the carpet and practiced words that were hard to pronounce and also syllables. Then, the class had to take a test on the words that they had just learned. Upon completion of that test the class had to take another test, but this one was about adding and subtracting. I thought this could be challenging for students because they are so young, but they still had to take two different tests back to back. You can definitely tell how focused each student was and how bad they wanted a good grade on the tests, which is something you do not always see with older students. There is quite an amazing difference between all grade levels with the way everyone acts. In three short visits to Mrs. Lytle's class it has been amazing to see how much these children can learn in a short amount of time. It just shows that if you put your mind to something you really can do it. I am looking forward to my final two visits, I can not believe I am already half way done with my observation hours.

Observation Hours: Class 2

For the second time that I went to Mrs. Lytle's class I stayed for two hours. I noticed many similar things between  the first class and then, this class. When I arrived the class was coming back from their "special" class of the day which was computer. The first thing they did when returning from computer was take a 15 minute snack break. One thing I noticed this class that I did not notice in the first class was the writing on the board that read "surprise." However, there was no "e" at the end of the word. I figured that the class had done something wrong and lost the letter and they also may be losing out on some sort of reward if the rest of the word is erased. I find this to be helpful because it can keep the kids calm if they want the surprise. While the students were enjoying their snacks a couple of them had to go to the back of the classroom with the teacher to practice reading. After the snack break, the students gathered on the carpet in the front of the room to practice nouns, capitalization, and punctuation. One thing I noticed during this was that the class paid a lot of attention to the teacher and did not slack off or fall asleep. Many times in high school classes you may find many students to not pay attention or even fall asleep, but that was definitely not the case for these young students. The class read a "decodable" again for the day and this one was called "In A Jar." The reason they read this particular decodable was because it dealt with their sound of the day. The sound of the day was "ar." The final object the children completed for the class before I left was writing a short story about themselves. After they wrote the stories they had the chance to read it aloud to a partner of their choice. Many of the children came up to me and shared their stories with me, this made me feel very welcome and accepted to the class. My second trip to the class was great and I am looking forward to my last few days with the class in the next few weeks.

Observation Hours: Class 1

The school that I completed my observation hours at was Wickliffe Elementary School. This was the first time I was going back to my old elementary school for the first time in a long time. I was a bit nervous, but I was also excited to see what teachers were still there and what things have changed in the past ten years. I noticed immediately that many of the teachers were still there, but also a few teachers had retired. I had the honor to sit in on Mrs. Lytle's class for my ten hours. It was an amazing experience and I got to witness a lot of awesome things. Mrs. Lytle was a kindergarten teacher when I attended the school, but now she teaches first grade. On my first day the students welcomed me with smiles, and hello's which made me feel comfortable instantly. The class just got back from their "special" class of the day which happened to be music. When they arrived back to their regular classroom the class did a lesson about how "or" is used in certain words. They only did this for a short period of time because they had a special presentation about fire safety. The class had a chance to watch a video about getting out of their house if there was a fire. Also, the students had a chance to look at fire trucks, and ambulances. Next, they had the chance to look at all the equipment and tools fire fighters use in case of an emergency. When the students arrived back to their regular classroom they started to read short stories which were called "decodables." There was a couple of interesting ways that students received an award or prize. The first was coupons, and the second way was a chart that measured behavior. It had a stoplight format so, if you were good you put your piece on the green spot, but if you acted up your piece was put on the red sport. I found these both to be interesting and helpful techniques. One final thing I noticed before leaving the class on my first day was how passionate the teacher was about her job. You can definitely tell how much she cares for each student and it was something that was amazing to see. My first experience back at my old school was great, and I am looking forward to the final four trips back there.

Blog Post 10: Blog Summary

Throughout all of my blog posts and my many classroom observation hours I have figured out that Early Childhood Education is the career that I hope to end up in. From the beginning it has been where I want to be and all my classroom experiences have just encouraged me to keep this as my intended major. My many experiences in the classroom at Wickliffe Elementary School have shown me that the teachers, and faculty love their jobs and enjoy going to work every day. One major thing that I discovered about myself is that children and my passion and I really enjoy teaching them as well as just being around them. They always have a positive attitude and children are just very creative and it is something that is amazing to witness. I do still have several concerns about the field of education as a whole. I wonder if I will be able to get a job because I know this is a field where a lot of people are fighting to get a position. Also, since I am a male I want to know if that is going to help me get a job in early childhood or if it will lower my chances. To wrap it up, keeping this blog was something that definitely helped me see my growth from the beginning on college to now, it has helped me see that this is the career for me and hopefully one day I will be lucky enough to wake up each day and go do something that I love.

Field Blog 3: Gearity Elementary School

For my third and final field blog I traveled to Gearity Elementary School. I was extremely happy to go to this school because my intended major is Early Childhood Education and I figured this would be one of my final chances to see if I wanted to stick with this major or not. My question going to this school was if at the end of it would I want to still teach early childhood or would I want to change it to a different grade level? The answer to that question is there is not a chance I want to teach another grade level. I found out from going to Gearity that early childhood education is my passion and it is the career I hope to work for my life.


There were many great things that I experienced in the classroom to which I was assigned. I was placed in a preschool classroom. Originally, I planned to teach second or third grade so this was going to be a little different from what I had seen from my observation hours at Wickliffe Elementary School, and indeed it was. The class had one main teacher and also, had one aide. The children in the classroom when my classmates and I walked in were going over the weather for the day and also, they were learning the alphabet. After doing those things the class had a chance to work on iPads, and just do many other fun creative things to learn about zoo animals because they were taking a field trip to the zoo in December. They did this for about an hour so I took it upon myself to join the children and see what they were doing. The children seemed very happy to have my classmates and I there as they invited us to play with them and participate in their activities. I decided to sit down with a group of about four boys to see what they were doing. For most of the hour the continuously asked me to draw pictures of the different zoo animals, so I did. The children and I also completed a matching game where you had to connect the zoo animal with it's name. For example, if the word was 'Frog' you had to find the picture of a frog and connect the two pieces together. The students as well as the teachers really made me feel welcome and I couldn't have enjoyed being there much more, it was fantastic.


In conclusion, after my visit to the school I definitely hope to find a career in Early Childhood Education after I graduate from John Carroll. I enjoyed every second at Gearity Elementary School and was very honored and pleased to go there. I would love to go back there one day for another visit because of how much I enjoyed it. You can tell that the teachers, and faculty of this school were all passionate about their jobs and really enjoyed working at the school. Gearity was a great school and it was a great experience to visit the school and sit in on a class.

Field Blog 2: Shaker Heights High School

For my second field blog my class and I visited Shaker Heights High School. While there I examined many different interesting things. I sat in on two separate classes the first was an English class and the second class was a history class. The classrooms had two very different environments that I was interested in. The question I had in mind going to Shaker Heights High School was if it was going to be similar or different than Mayfield Middle School. The differences was major between the two schools is what I found out quickly.


The first class I had the opportunity to attend at Shaker Heights was an English class that I spent about 30 minutes in. The class was presenting a poetry project that they all had to do research on. The class had to do research on a poet, and a poem by the poet then, present many facts about the poem and the author. This particular class did not seem too interested in the project. About half of the students didn't even have a project to present. Many of them said, "I didn't have time to do it" or "I'll get it done tonight and then, turn it in tomorrow." Also, throughout most of the thirty minutes students had their phones out and were not paying attention to the other students who were presenting. Many of the students also got up and moved seats a lot. The teacher did their best to control the class, but it seemed as if it was a challenge. Another thing I noticed was the arrangement of the seats, they were in a format which I had never personally seen before. Perhaps this was the teachers attempt to get the class more involved and motivated to learn and to pay attention. I wish I could go back and see the class again, it was definitely and eye-opening experience for me.


The next class I had the opportunity to sit in at the school was a history class for about only 15 minutes. The classroom setup was what most classrooms look like, many rows of desks all faced in the same direction looking at the teacher in the front of the room. However, there was a major difference in this classroom compared to any other class I had been in before. It consisted of one teacher, but also the class had three aides to help students. This definitely helped the students as a whole with more guidance the students were certainly more involved. During this class the students read a short story about, Napoleon Bonaparte. After they completed the reading each student had to do a small paper filled with questions about the reading. I left the class as soon as they were given the worksheets, so I do not know how each student did on them. I'd like to think with all the help each student did well on the paper that was assigned.


In conclusion, my experience at Shaker Heights High School was something that I honestly enjoyed. The students and faculty were all very welcoming and it was an honor to sit in on two different classes. It would be an honor to go back and see some of the teachers and students again. However, my choice of education is still Early Childhood, but definitely wouldn't mind teaching at the high school level.

Blog Post 9: John Carroll High School

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1y2pTmYe_aasTSmFvS5j5bkesubv5xKCEAf-7W5S-YoY/edit?ts=56322904#slide=id.p