Field Blog One

Field Experience 1:
Today was my first day of being in a classroom from a teacher perspective. I am doing my hours at a PICAN Charter school in Akron, Ohio. The school was once some sort of factory but they reconstructed it and added lots of paintings and colors to the walls. When I first got to the school, I noticed the students walking along a piece of tape on the floor on a straight line, which a later found out was to keep order. I decided to do my hours here because my sister is a teacher and I knew she would work around my school and soccer schedule, along with giving me a lot of tasks, to prepare me early in the education field.

I first attended the 8th grade math classroom. The class playing a review game because they had a test coming up. They referenced the name of this game as Soar Review. This was a game where the class was split into two halves. Each student went to the board and wrote down a math problem given to them by the teacher. If a student got the answer incorrect, the student next up to the board was the only person who could help them correct it. The side to finish first won, getting a point. Each round was split into different areas of what the test was going to be over. Sitting through three classes of this game, I thought this was a very effective game. I also liked how I got to see how one class could struggle on a certain problem or area of the review while another class flew through it. Each student was engaged in every problem, even taking notes to see if they could get the answer correct on their own.  But I did not like how only the student behind or next in order could answer the question and not the whole class. I thought it would have been more effective if the classroom as a whole to help build teamwork.

Overall, I enjoyed my first time in the field.