Once again, I had a fantastic time at Clay Middle School and am very grateful for

being able to go the following weekend. The schedule was a little different since I was in
one classroom for 30 minutes and then the following classroom for a whole hour. First I
was in Ms. Baker’s classroom which was the support classroom for their FAPE
students. These are the students who have physical or learning disabilities, and there
are only about 20 students in Clay Middle who are FAPE. I wanted to first share my
great experience with Ms. Baker and two of her students.
When first entering the classroom, there were such immaculate vibes towards
comfortability with the string lights, no overhead ones, and accessibility with open
space, a few desks, two tables, a spot to hold locker key lanyards up, and a whole
fidget cabinet. I was immediately welcomed in by Ms. Grace and her students. Sitting at
the table closest to the whiteboard, I was immersed in so many different things, the
comfortable options of seating, the message board, and all the decorations around for
inspiration and support. Sitting next to Nora, we immediately got to talking about dogs,
my dog, and hers, and all of the fun things to talk about. Such as Barbie, colors, and
favorite fidgets. I could hear Ms. Grace remind her other students that after their
assignment, they could get a break. She explained that they always get breaks. It
closely seemed like HLP #17, which is the reminder that clear directions should be
given if someone is done early with the assignment before the next rotation or activity. It
was very nice to conversate with the class.
My other classmate in the class was talking to the other student at the table and
it was clear to see the well-established student relationships Ms. Grace had with her
students, Nora and Hailey. It ties into HLP #18, with a focus on effective engagement,
which has the key components of positive student-teacher relationships, a variety of
strategies to ensure student engagement, and actively monitoring engagement. While
Ms. Grace would re-engage Hailey with her assignment at hand, I could see how much
she knew her students and helped them continue their assignments. Nora was already
done with this assignment so I’d be talking to her, or Ms. Grace. I learned about how
small the FAPE students are in the Carmel-Clay district of middle schools with about 30
students throughout the whole district. This truly made me realize how vital but small
special education can be for students who may need it. To where they could be scarce
to what can be given.
However, I never enjoyed a class as much as I did with this one. Even if it was
only for 30 minutes, I had such a fun time. After everyone began their break, I started
discussing with both Nora and Hailey. It ended up turning into a dance break. Both Nora
and Hailey wanted me to watch them until suddenly they wanted me to join them. From
the “slinky dance” to ballet. I was having a great time. I quickly realized I had to go, but
not after doing a few “ballet leaps” before leaving. I left this class smiling and wished I
didn’t have to leave it.
The class I was in for an hour was Ms. Grace’s 6th grade math class, which I
was very willing to be in once again. Even with a different block day, the students were
still very hesitant about our help. This class was very overseen by Ms. Grace, in a
positive way of course, and the class seemed to have developed trust with her. She
allowed students to do their coursework and reminded them when students were getting
off track. With this coursework they needed to do, one student began to ask us about
one math problem. That stumped not just myself, but myself and all the four other
classmates from Butler on how to solve it. I felt horrible that we were there to help but
weren’t able to help the students. Overall reminded me as an educator, that I should be
willing to admit mistakes and admit when I can’t help.
Another portion of the math class was when they did “Silent Solving.” This
involved writing down the problem and silently solving it, before passing it to the next
student to finish solving or check the answer, before one more student checks over the
whole problem. When it came down to after the multiple paper rotations, Ms. Grace
would go over one of the randomly picked papers to review to see if everything was
correct. Going step by step, and explaining if small differences were still correct, she
gave specific and constructive feedback to her students, which is HLP #8 and #22. The
constant and explanative feedback she gave students helped them improve their work
before another person would check it.
A connection I had with this experience was oddly enough Hannah
Montana/Miley Cyrus’ song “Nobody’s Perfect.” The song overall just reminds me that
everyone has days that are more difficult than others. And no mistake should be a
negative one and you shouldn’t be hard on yourself. All of the lyrics sum up to that, and
it’s very important to remember.
Lastly, I was going to reflect on 3 questions in regards to the field experience, to
further think about later on. First off, were there well-established routines? Absolutely!
Not only did both Ms. Baker and Ms. Grace have things that have been established and
worked through throughout the year. This played into HLP #16 with explicit instruction,
which is a set of teacher behaviors used to help teachers design and deliver effective
instruction for a range of students’ needs. Ms. Baker and Ms. Grace especially made
sure to give their students explicit expectations and what can be expected in the class.
Speaking of how well Ms. Baker and Ms. Grace were with explicit instruction and
expectations, they also had great moments and positive interactions with their students.
They were fun and peaceful with their students. For example, Ms. Grace was having fun
when re-asking Nora and Hailey questions I’d ask them. Ms. Baker would be peaceful
with her students when trying to redirect them to continue their assignment work.
Finally, were there any examples of assistive technology? There was, even if I
only saw a few. First was the locker keys given to the FAPE students. This is to help
them have lockers for their spaces, without having to get frustrated with spinning locks
that take tedious work to achieve. The other existence of assistive technology I saw was
the visual aids of a number line for Ms. Baker’s students. This helped Nora and Hailey
be able to do their math more easily and make everything better. It reminded me of a
quote from HLP #14 which explained, “One helpful way to show students the
components of a strategy is using a visual aid” (HLP 9:09). Strategies continue to help
educators, and will be something I will always consider. This field experience will
continue to help me grow more as an educator.