Field Observation #2 (Fall 2021)

I. Introduction and General Description of Setting

The class I observed was a bilingual kindergarten class in Bailey Elementary. One of the students

in the class had autism and she required extra help in and out of the classroom. The room was

very colorful, and it had posters and hand made learning art. The bilingual class had breaks in

between learning activities. The class is done based on a timed schedule. The teachers are

allowed to use their own lesson plans and teach at their own speed.

II. Choose one Disability to focus on. Provide a definition and discussion (incidence,

prevalence, assessments used to measure) of your chosen disability.

A disability that I chose was autism. Autism is a disability that difficult a person’s social

interactions and communications with repetitive behaviors. Someone who has autism will have

repetitive behaviors for example jumping around or hand flapping and rocking. Also, many are

shy and do not do well with communicating with others. Some assessments that can be used in

the classroom is having more time to take test and quizzes, having verbal communication instead

of written, taking test in a quiet location away from the rest of the class, and using technology to

grasp their attention. Using these methods, it can help students stay on task and measure their

ability of doing things on their own.

III. Discuss specific characteristics of students / students observed with this disability. Describe

their specific behaviors in the classroom as well as their interactions with others (both

students and teachers)

In the class there was a girl that did not have an official diagnosis, but it was considered as having

the characteristics of autism. The student is still required to do regular assignments like everyone

else, but she does get help. She was sat in a group four in a round table and there was a boy next

to her and ever since school started, she got really attached to him. So, if he would not be in class,

she will try to look for him and start asking until they will tell her where he is, and she will calm
 down. She does not like students doing things that there not supposed to she will tell them to stop.

The other students don’t really pay attention to her. If she has a question, they help her they are

not rude.

IV. Describe specific educational interventions and instructional strategies you observed for

chosen disabilities.

The little girl gets taken out of the classroom 2 times during the day. In the morning they take her

out for an hour and do one on one group with her. Then a student aid comes in for 15 minutes and

helps do whatever assignment she is working on. In the afternoon she gets taken out again with

her same student aid. In this session they teach her about social skills and help her with reading.

The teacher Mrs. Gutierrez also pulls her out as well as other students who need extra help. In the

group there are 5 students who get pulled out into a group and review site words and practicing

how to read them.

V. What is the student response or what are the students’ responses to these interventions and

strategies?

The student doesn’t mind the interventions that are done. She likes going in groups and learning

with her classmates. When she goes out by herself at first, she is confused on where she is going,

and she wants to stay with her classmates but then she is happy and goes. When she comes back,

she brings what she was working on. When I went, they were working on thanksgiving things, so

they had learning math with turkeys work sheets and she decorated a turkey worksheet while she

was on one of the learning groups in the morning and she was really happy.

VI. What are your thoughts on the strategies used? Were they effective in your opinion?

I thought the strategies that were used were really cleaver because not only did they do group

time, but they also did rug time where they learned how to read books. There were many things

that I liked about her strategies. One thing that stood out the most to me with a portable head set

that she had. Instead of screaming so the kids would get her attention she used the head set to
 speak to the students and get them more excited about learning it was very amusing to me

because I have never seen that done before.

VII. What would you have done the same and what would you have done differently and

differently as a teacher in the classroom and why?

I really like the way Mrs. Gutierrez thought her class. It was very fun educational, and the kids

were excited about learning. Since it was bilingual, she would use English and Spanish, but the

kids were smart and knew how to define things in both languages. For example, if they didn’t

know what the object was in Spanish, they would say it in English. In my opinion I feel like she

should just stick with one language because you don’t want to confuse them, but I see how the

kids would now things in English because of games or relatives outside of school might teach

them. A technique I really like was she gathered all the kids to the rug, and they all watched three

videos in these three videos it was a break from schoolwork, and it told them to relax their brains

and they also danced out while learning as well. This specific video was about patterns, but it

showed them dancing patterns and they had to mimic it. they had fun while doing it and also

learned.

VIII. What are your thoughts on the program you observed? how does this program relate to our

course? Include 5 key terms from the course textbook. These terms must be bolded, defined,

and elaborated in addition to being linked to an example. This should be included in the

refection part of your paper.

I really enjoyed the program I observed there was so many things that wowed me when I was at

the school it was such a great experience and it reminded me why I want to be a teacher. I

observed a bilingual kindergarten class because I love small children and I have doubts on what

grade I want to teach. I have observed a first-grade class and also a second-grade class, but I have

never seen a kindergarten class and I was really excited. I decided to do an English learners

(Els) class because my first language was Spanish, and I was in Els when I was younger so I

thought it would be fitting if I taught it. A Els class is for students whose first language is not
English and they are learning English for the first time. The teacher I observed name was Mrs.

Gutierrez and she had to Adapt to teach all kinds of students because she doesn’t just get

bilingual students some have health problems or special needs. Adaptions are instructional

accommodations that does not lower achievement expectations. In Mrs. Gutierrez class she had a

student that had Autism spectrum disorder. Autism Spectrum disorder is an abnormal or

impaired development in social interaction and communications. Since her student is autistic it

requires for the student to get more pull-out groups to measure her progress and also do more one

on one activities. Mrs. Gutierrez did inform me that since it was kindergarten, they couldn’t just

put the little girl in a special needs classroom right away they had to monitor her around other

students and determine if she could be in a regular classroom with extra help or if she had to be in

a special needs program. This is also called a Response to intervention (RTI) the principle,

teacher and special needs department are evaluating if the student needs to be in a special

education program or if she can be in a regular classroom with a little more help. One technique

that I liked that the teacher used, and I will use it myself for my future classroom is Positive

behavioral support. Instead of punishing the students for not doing what they are supposed to be

doing she search for a student who was doing the right thing and rewarded that student. For

example, she would say “I like how Jackie is raising her hand quietly” and then all the students

would immediately follow along because they wanted the teacher to noticed that they were also

doing the same thing. I really enjoyed observing this class it was a great experience overall.