Field Experience Week 3

Week 3 of my IPS field experience was a difficult one to say the least. Kasie and I's objective of the day was to lead three U.S. History classes in a test review preparing for their test. Upon arriving to the school and meeting with our teacher I showed him our interactive Jeopardy powerpoint game we were going to use with the class. I thought I had made it as easy as possible, using some questions from straight off of the test, however it seemed that we were not "spoon feeding" the students enough. The teacher brought out a handout that he wanted to give the students with fill in the blank answers for the test. He said that he wanted the students to be able to walk out of the classroom with something concrete to take with them for the test. All of this was fine, but I just think if he would have communicated with us better about his expectations it would have been easier for use. We spent all of plan drafting up a worksheet to go along with the presentation and making the questions on the test easier (straight from the test).

First period was our first run through. The powerpoint did not work as planned so a lot of the time was spent dealing with technical issues. I tried to split the class up into four groups using the count off technique and that definitely did not work. The class just ended up splitting into two big groups. The technical difficulties also made it hard, and the last minute changes we made were difficult as well. The class behaved pretty well all things considered and I wish every thing would have worked properly because it seems the class would have enjoyed it more.

I spent lunch fixing the powerpoint so that every thing would work well for the next class. I split the next class up into 4 groups based on where they were sitting, which went a lot better. However, the class was out of control the entire time. They shouted at each other across the room, did not pay attention, and the students that actually wanted to participate and learn could not because of their classmates. Since the teacher was not in the room, the students recognize we have no real authority as far as disciplining them and they took advantage of our position. Multiple times Kasie and I tried to refocus the classroom and tell them that all of these questions are directly from the test, but most did not care. It was quite a struggle the entire class and I know I was very thankful when it was finally over.

For the last class we asked Mr. Gretencord to stay in the classroom and help us with class management. The class behaved well because of his presence, but were just not enthusiastic about reviewing or the game at all. In fact, most did not want to participate and were content with just waiting for the answer. Quite the opposite of the other class, but still the lack of participation was a failure in my view on the period.

I am not sure if our use of a Jeopardy game was just not conducive to the class or if they way our teacher runs the class set us up for failure with this type of activity. The daily routine of the class is to sit and watch the powerpoint with their packet for each unit. Each slide is usually titled with one answer it contains that corresponds to the packet. Not much participation is involved and students seems to just wait for the answers. It is a true teaching to the test type of environment from what I have seen, however the class is always under control.

I look forward to next week and continuing to get better. I know there are gonna be some tough days and I will learn from this day and use it to my advantage in the coming weeks. Next time I am going to think harder on the type of strategy I use when I develop a lesson for the class that is more conducive to the environment they are used to on a daily basis, while still implementing some interactive strategy hopefully.