October 26, 2010-So far I have spent 30 of my practicum hours at Fairfield Prepatory High School.

The classes that I have been observing are: two sections of English 11, two sections of ACT Preparation, and 1 section of Drama. In my observation time I have observed, graded papers, taught several lessons, and become familiar with the STI system for taking attendance, recording grades, and posting lesson plans. My experiences here have been a real eye opener in terms of the theoretical classroom versus the real world classroom. On my first day in the classroom I graded a vocabulary test for my hosting teacher. The test was for the ACT prep class, and it was on synonyms. All the students had to do was to copy down the words and list a single synonym. The highest score that anyone received was fifty percent and more than one student received a zero. My host teacher and I discussed some possible reasons for the poor performance. We considered the possibility that the students had not completed the assigned at home reading of the words not covered in class. We decided that this was likely, but did not feel that it accounted for the overall poor performance. Then I struck upon an idea that we had not considered, which was that the reason everyone did so poorly was that the test was timed to simulate the actual taking of the ACT by the students. We began to see that since the students spent most or all of their time copying the words from the projector they did not have enough time to do the actual assignment. At first I considered the possibility that this was just poor planning on my host teachers part, but after a few more days I realized that it had more to do with the fact there was no money for every student to have a copy of the test. This idea of schools lacking even the most basic supplies due to proration is something that for me has been entirely abstract until now. I found out firsthand the frustration that comes with trying to run classroom without the tools that many of us take for granted every day. The best example that I can cite of this comes from the day when the schools principal came by to review pacing guides for the nine week period. Her biggest point of contention with the guide that my teacher had provided for her was that there was not enough technology being in the classroom. I feel that the principal brought up a very valid point regarding the vitality of technology in the modern classroom. However, she failed to address the more pressing issue about the technology in the classroom, which was that it either wasnt there or it was broken. For example, the Smartboard which was covering a third of the available board space had no power supply and none of the required calibrated pens and it had been that way since the start of the school year. Perhaps a better example is the laptop for the classroom, an outdated Dell, which was stolen the first time it was left unattended. Then there was my personal favorite which were the two equally outdated desktop computers that no one could sign in to because no one in the school knew the password except the technology person who cant ever get it because they only come in a few hours a week due to budget cuts. I think that I have a clearer grasp of the administrative side of the educational process than I did when I started, but have felt some real discouragement about the way that things work in the real world. 11-16-2010- Motivating the students to be interested and involved in the classroom activities seems to be the most challenging aspect of being an educator. In my practicum experience at FHPS, I have encountered this problem firsthand. The ACT preparation class in particular seems to be the group that struggles with this problem the most. The issues here have to do with the fact that the students have little to no interest in the material that is being covered. After speaking with the teacher and the students, I have come to the realization that this lack of enthusiasm stems from the notion students hold about these tests not counting towards their actual class grades. The question that I find myself asking over and over again is echoing the words of the students "Why should I?" Why indeed. In addition, this particular preparation class is taught using the ACT preparation handbook by Barron's, which presents the material out of the context of the students' writing. From the research we have

covered in class, I know that this particular approach to grammar and language does not work. It does not work. Given the current bent our country seems to be on in regards to testing and test scores, I don't know how to impress upon the students the importance of putting forth an amount of effort that matches the level of importance placed on these tests. Ideally, I would say that we should do away with standardized testing, because it presents information and knowledge in a vacuum. However, this seems unlikely to happen anytime soon given the fact that the state has opted to replace the AHSGE with the ACT. So where does this leave us as educators? Struggling to keep up. 12-07-2010- My experience has shown me that the teachers who are involved in their students learning process acting as more of a catalyst for discussion, rather than dictating the process are the teachers who have the most positive influence. I have seen that in today's society, students need to be made aware of how interconnected everything in the world is. Without educators who practice their craft with this in mind the students of tomorrow will find themselves fallen behind the rest of the world when it comes to the knowledge they can apply to life. It has always been these teacher who allow and encourage open dialogue and discussion in the class that have held the biggest influence over me. I had one particularly effective professor in my early years of college led me to a greater understanding of the relationship that teachers share with their students. It was his techniques of allowing his students to lead the class discussion that made his classes memorable for me. At first it was unusual, but I quickly realized how much more I was interested in the material when I had a hand in the group learning process rather than simply being told to recite facts back to a test sheet. It is this sort of guided learning that makes up a more rich experience for students. My further experiences in the classroom, both as an observer and as an educator have revealed to me the reality of what to this need looks like. The students that I have seen are the reality of how the education system seems to be stacked against them. I have come to believe that their needs to be a leveling of the playing field, so to speak. So long as we continue to allow educational excellence to be influenced by property tax and proration, we will have to ask ourselves if we have really given all students the opportunity for an education that is equal in quality and not just based on test scores. Looking back on the hours I have spent observing in this school, I see that the state of the classroom is one of disorder and confusion. There are interruptions and outside influences conspiring against educators like thieves in the night trying to steal away the time we should be using to teach. The best thing that I can take away from this has been the idea that I can only be responsible for my classroom and just roll with the punches by remaining involved in my students learning process by giving them the best education that I can.