Logan Bateman

EDU 202

Professor Shkorupa

Roster #2

1 December 2019

Observed Teacher: Mrs. Lane

Observed School: Northwest Career and Technical Academy

Field Experience Assignment #2

1. Make a scale drawing of the classroom. If possible, make your drawing in the morning
before the students arrive or after they have left at the end of the day. Include:
a. Date, school location and grade level, subject/course Location of furniture
(student and teacher desks, filing cabinets, bookcases, computers, smart
technology projection devices, white board; other...

Date: 10/31/19

School Location: 8200 W Tropical Pkwy, Las Vegas, NV 89149

Subject: English Composition/English 12

b. Location of doors, windows, sinks, electrical outlets, rest room(s) sometimes

within the early elementary classes K-3, pencil sharpener; other...
c. Location of instructional materials (e.g., books, papers, art supplies, science/math
equipment, other...
d. Location of any learning centers
e. Be certain students can easily see instructional presentations and displays.

Students are able to see the instructional material despite the crowded classroom.

2. Now analyze your drawing. To what extent does this classroom reflect the following five
keys to good room arrangement?
 a. Use a room arrangement consistent with our instructional goals and activities.

Despite a very crowded room consisting of classes from 24-32 students, Mrs. Lane does her best
to keep her class organized despite the limited space. She also employs “flex seating” where
students have their choice of regular plastic chairs, desk chairs, stools, and yoga balls. She also
keeps the classroom arranged so that it is easy for her to teach and so that she can easily gain the
attention of the large class. She also keeps bulletin boards up with reading material and
supplemental materials to assist them in class activities that require them to get out of their seats
and stand around in different corners of the classroom.

b. Keep high traffic areas free of congestion.

This becomes a bit of a problem in the class, especially when the entire class is jumping to get
laptops or reading material from the teacher’s bookshelves. However, for the space that she has,
Mrs. Lane is able to keep most areas less congested by sending students over one group at a time.

c. Be sure students are easily seen by the teacher.

No matter where the teacher is, and she moves around the class quite often, she is able to see the
sea of students. Her desk is positioned at the back of the class so she can easily spot students
trying to hide their phones or goofing off. Similarly, the desks are arranged facing the SMART
board so that the teacher can see the face of all her students. The seats are arranged so that when
she is presenting no student has their backed turned to her.

d. Keep frequently used teaching materials and student supplies readily accessible.

Computer carts, newspaper articles, and novels are all spread across the classroom for student
use. They are placed in different sections of the classroom to avoid overcrowding. They are also
placed in such a way that they fall in line with classroom procedures. The newspaper articles, for
example, are placed near the very entrance of the classroom so that students may grab them on
their way in to start silent reading.

e. Be certain students can easily see instructional presentations and displays.

Students are placed in such a way so that they can easily see the instructional material on the
board ahead of them. No student is seated so that they are not faced away from the presenter or
PowerPoint. The “flex seating” employed by Mrs. Lane also allows for the students to turn and
move more easily so that they can track her across the room.

3. What are any strengths and/or weaknesses of this arrangement? Would rearrangements
make this classroom a more effective learning environment?
a. The strengths of this arrangement are that students are able to very mobile and
material are spread out well to try and avoid overcrowding. The teacher also has a
good view of the students from almost every angle. However, despite the
teacher’s best efforts, the class can become congested and difficult to move
around when students are split into pairs or smaller groups for projects. However,
for the sheer number of students stuffed into this tiny classroom, the arrangement
is excellent and works very well.
4. OBSERVING STUDENTS IN THE CLASS:
a. How many and what age and gender are the students in the class?

The class is an almost even mix of male and female students, though the number falls slightly
more in favor of female. Class sizes range from around 24-32, with on of her classes hitting 36
students. This makes seating some of those students rather difficult.

b. Are there students who appear to be isolates? What behavior (s) let you to
believe this?

Generally, I would say that the class is very inclusive, with a lot of group work and activities
which draws some of the quieter students out of their shells. When speaking to my teacher about
this she said that she tries to teach her classes a bit like college lessons with very independent,
student led, work. She believes that giving students some sort of investment into their work
makes it more important to them and helps them be more outgoing. That being said, some of the
very quiet students seem to be a bit more isolated than others. But Mrs. Lane works hard to help
the students.

c. Which students appear to raise their hand often?

A lot of the work in the class is independent work so when asking for participants students can
sometimes be slow to respond to the teacher. However, once they get their rhythm going, even
the most introverted of students can be seen communication and participating in the class.
Student who are near the teacher’s desk, however, do seem to participate more often than any of
the others.

d. How is the behavior of those students who sit in back of the room?

Considering that the back of the class is the closest possible point to the teacher’s desk, the
students in the back are rather well behaved. This can change a bit when the teacher is patrolling
the other corners of the class or presenting. However, these students participate quite a bit and
remain well behaved besides some mild chatter.

e. Which students appear to receive the most praise?

Any student who speaks up to participate in class discussions seems to receive the most praise.
The teacher certainly favors and encourages students who participate and ask questions. The
teacher I observed seems to value attempts at success rather than getting the right answer every
time. She praises the most outgoing students and encourages the quieter ones to speak up.

f. Which students seem to be ignored?

Mrs. Lane goes very far to make sure as many student voices are heard as possible. However,
with class sizes as big as hers and with the sheer amount of assignments and material to get
through, some students seem to get swept under the radar. In fact, we had a very interesting
conversation about the culture of a magnet school like NWCTA and its treatment of certain
students. As a teacher who teaches both English 12 and college level English courses, she has
seen both sides. She is of the opinion that the English 12 students often get the short end of the
stick from the school because they “aren’t high achievers”. She takes special steps to make them
feel just as important and to prepare them for the outside world and what interests them the most.
I found this topic very interesting as it seem the “regular” student can fall under the radar at a
magnet school like this which is something I never considered.

Summary:

The students in the class provide a very interesting culture for me to observe. The school has an
environment which exemplifies education and hard work which rubs on even the rowdiest of
students. Even the most talkative students can buckle down and stress out over assignments in a
way I do not think you see in many other schools. Students at NWCTA live very interesting lives
as they bounce around from a regular math or English class to Teacher Education and Medical
program areas. This gives them career experience as well as their basic education groundwork
and provides a unique and interesting view into magnet school education. This school is giving
these students skills in fields that they are actually interested in. This is an amazing advantage
because when students are interested in what they are learning, they automatically work harder
and when working hard becomes a habit those habits will carry over to other classes.