Haylee Self

December 2, 2015

W. Smith
Educ 1301

Field Experience
Wolfe City Middle School

For my field experience this semester I had the opportunity to observe two
teachers at Wolfe City Middle School. I observed both subjects that I want to certify to
teach, Math and Science, for the 6th through 8th grades. Though my time was short in
the classrooms, I observed a great deal. The two teachers I observed taught from two
different ends of the spectrum, both with different years spent teaching.
I started observing Mrs. Davis who is the 7th and 8th grade math teacher. Mrs.
Davis is in her second year of teaching, but spent several years as a sub and then as
an aide for the school district. She runs her class with a laid back approach. The
classroom was a very relaxing place. The students did not seem to stress out when they
were teaching a subject that is usually difficult for so many. Although the classroom was
relaxed, the students still knew that Mrs. Davis was the teacher and the authority in the
class. Mrs. Davis started out with her bell ringer while the students were still entering
the classroom and settling in their assigned seats. After a few minutes after the bell Mrs.
Davis went over the bell ringer with the entire class. She then moved into grading
homework from the previous class before starting the lesson. As Mrs. Davis moved
around the classroom, teaching this new lesson, the students were attentive and
engaged. They followed along in their textbooks that double as workbooks, completing

the example problems as she did on the board. Mrs. Davis used this structure for both
grade levels throughout the day.
After observing Mrs. Davis I was able to move to the 6 th and 7th grade sciences
teacher, Mrs. Williams who is in her tenth year of teaching. Like Mrs. Davis, Mrs.
Williams started her class with a bell ringer for the first few minutes of the class. After
explaining and having a short class discussion over the bell ringer Mrs. Williams
moved into her lesson. The day I was observing the class was just beginning a new
unit, so to introduce the new material Mrs. Williams began it with a small lab. Her lab
packet was laid out in a unique way where it started with the new vocabulary words that
the students would need to know for the lab and the new unit. After the vocabulary
words, they began applying the new words, and then started the lab. With each part of
the packet, Mrs. Williams, went over each part in depth with the class. The students
were lively and excited to learn the new material and hanging on to every word Mrs.
Williams said. I would describe the classroom as controlled chaos. Mrs. Williams had
complete control of the class, but the students were able to add their own input and
freely discuss the lesson. During Mrs. Williams conference she told me she never
wanted to run her class in the sit down, shut up manner. In my observation of the
same 6th grade science lab I observed two different class dynamics. The first class with
Mrs. Williams was small and full of active learners. The second class was much larger
that needed more structure to keep them on task. Many of the students while talking to
me before class told me that going to Mrs. Williams class was their favorite part of their
school day.

This short observation time taught me many things. I have only ever been the
student in a classroom and never the adult. In the classroom you must have set
structures, but not be so strict that the students dread coming to your class each day.
From my observations I learned that when you create a class with the proper structures,
and lessons centered on actively teaching the students you will have the best result.