Field experience post 2

Field experience report

   I visited my teacher last week and unfortunately during the period I observed the students headed to a presentation on breast cancer awareness for most of the class time.  However, this did give me the chance to talk to my teacher about her experiences.  She explained she is making the gradual shift to common core standards for her classes.  She showed me all her lesson plans and instead of the benchmarks, she now has common core standards listed.  This allows for more comprehensive modes of instruction as it gives students the skills to think about multiple standards at once.  She told me that even though she is experiencing some resistance from her older students who are used to New Generation standards and are not used to thinking critically, ultimately she believes the students will like going to school with common core better because it will challenge them and engage them more.  She teaches a dual enrollment class, and said she has seen a huge growth in student interest in the years she's been at the school.  She thinks this is really positive as students are looking to challenge themselves in reading and writing.
    At the beginning of the class period, before the students left for the presentation she was presenting scholarship options to the students.  Afterwards I asked her how the school helps students with the college application process.  She explained that there is a college guidance counselor, but she is only there for a few hours a few days a week.  My clinical teacher tries to help the students with applying to colleges as much as she can, helping them with essay, navigating websites, filling out fafsas, etc, after school hours.  This was very different from my experience applying to college. In my high school every student was required to meet with their assigned college guidance counselor beginning freshman year.  This guidance counselor helped us select which schools would be a good fit for us, provided us with job, volunteer, and internship opportunities for us to bolster our resumes, and set up meetings with college representatives.  Also at my school 100% of my class graduated and went on to a four year university.  Seeing the differences between the system in place where I went to school and the school I'm observing at was shocking as both are public schools, but are extremely different.
  What my teacher said that I liked the most was when I asked for advice she had for classroom management she said the best thing you can do it be yourself.  She explained that so many people try to tell teachers they have to act a certain way with their students or discipline in certain ways, but students can tell when teachers aren't being genuine and this is the easiest way to lose control of your class.  She said even though she got advice to be a strict teacher that she has never been that kind of person, she takes a warmer, friendlier approach to her classroom management because that fits her personality better and that this strategy has always worked for her.  She also said that whatever type of teacher you decide you're going to be, you have to set standards and expectations from the beginning and remain consistent.