FieldBlogPost-Mayfield Middle School

My experience at Mayfield Middle School was a good one and I surprisingly got a lot out of it with the little time we had. Before we went into a classroom, we were supposed to think of a question about a concept we have been learning and apply it in the classroom(s) we went in. The question I wanted to answer was, "how does the teacher make the students feel comfortable and make it easy for them to learn?" I touched on this question in one of my previous blogs, and I was excited to actually observe it in a real classroom first hand.
First, I am just going to talk about some of the things that went on in the classroom while I was there. The teacher I observed was a math teacher named Mrs. Bond. I really liked her and thought she was a great teacher. She always made sure the kids maintained focus and made sure all the kids were listening when someone else had a question. She had a very loud and resonant voice, which makes it easy for her to give good directions. She incorporated ideas into the learning that interests the students. For example, I noticed that she was helping a boy with subtraction and she made a reference to losing yards in football. This was very useful because it intrigued the student and encouraged him to learn.
In the classroom, there were a lot of good visual aids such as number lines, encouraging posters, and an assignment board. This can help the students feel like they are in a good and comfortable learning environment. Mrs. Bond said that the class always starts with a warm up. This helps the teacher become flexible and adjust their lesson plan. One big thing that the class did on the day I was there was a "checkpoint." They do these in silence. A checkpoint is basically a non-graded assignment that helps the teacher recognize which students are struggling and which students are making progress. This also helps the teacher adjust their lesson plan. The kids either get a proficient grade or a non-proficient grade. The last thing that I noticed and that was important was the weekly learning target self-assessment paper that every students gets every week. It has the student write down the homework assignment, the learning target, their confidence level, and the previous nights homework. If they do not understand something or are struggling with the lesson, then on the back she has a part where you can set up a meeting with her and she will help you.
Overall, the classroom environment I went to was very comfortable for students. Mrs. Bond was very good with the kids. She made sure the kids took their time with their work and she was very patient. Most of the work they do is assessments. 10% of their grade is homework, and homework is graded on completion. 90% of their grade is tests. My experience at Mayfield Middle School helped me a lot and now I know what to look for in a classroom in my upcoming field experiences.