Fieldwork One
My first Fieldwork Placement was in a Kindergarten class at Traver Road Primary School in
the Arlington School District. I worked with a wonderful teacher, Ms. Randall. Traver Road Primary School hosts students from Kindergarten until Second Grade, therefore they are a pretty small primary school compared to most. While in my placement I was able to help the teacher in any way that I could, as well as complete assignments according to my professor at SUNY New Paltz. While at Traver Road Primary School I worked with several students on their writing and math skills. If I were to see that a student was really struggling, I would come over to them and help them work through whatever problem they were facing. There were times that I would solely focus on one student due to the fact that all other students would be finished with their work and that student was still struggling to get through their work. As the teacher moved on, I would sit with them and help them to understand what was being asked of them. My coordinating Fieldwork Placement Teacher passed on the responsibility to me to asses the students on how far they could count. I would have them attempt to count to 100 as I would listen for repeating numbers, as well as skipping numbers. During my time in the classroom I read a book to the students twice. As well as given the responsibility of grading homework and classwork.The first time I read to them I was slightly unprepared and did not ask them any questions, but the second time I was much more prepared. During the reading I would stop and ask the students both open and closed ended questions.
During my time at Traver Road Primary School I learned a lot about what it’s like to be a Kindergarten teacher. I understand that being a Kindergarten teacher can be fun because the students are still very young and eager to learn, but it can be very difficult at the same time. As a kindergarten teacher you are the first person in their lives who are preparing them for the rest of their academic lives. Due to the students being so young, the teacher must shape their mind and help them to learn all that is to be learned in school. There are some students who attended pre-school and some who haven’t; the ones who have not would have a harder time grasping the ideas found within math and writing. I took notice that it can be difficult to keep the students attention the entire time. Due to them still being so young, it is difficult for them to stay seated for a long period of time and most still want to take naps during their seven hour school day. As the teacher you need to be very vigilant of what the students are doing at all times.