FIELD EXPERIENCE
Arrangements for the following field experience must be made early in the courses as
students must submit their field experience report to their instructor in week five for evaluation. Students must conduct this field experience in a setting other than their own classroom if they already work with students with disabilities, and preferably in another school to gain a different experience and perspective, and to compare this setting to a similar setting in their school. This report must be between seven and ten pages in length. Students must attach the Field Experience Verification Form in Attachment #1 and the cover page in Attachment #3 with your report.
Please use West Clayton Elementary School in Clayton County in Georgia in this field experience. Ms. McRae is the teacher’s name.
This assignment is worth 20 points and is graded according to the grade distribution below:
ASSIGNMENT:
Arrange to spend at least four hours in a public school and in any K-12 special education
setting observing the teaching-learning process. Observe the session and keep a log of the
teacher’s activities, and prepare a detailed report of your observation addressing each one of the following areas separately and extensively:
- Describe the school and the setting of your observation, and give background information
about the teacher whose classroom you are observing. (2 point)
- Describe in detail the exceptionalities of the students in the classroom. (3 points)
- Describe the languages and cultures represented in this setting. (1 point)
- Describe the verbal interactions of the teacher with at least four different students. You
do not need to reveal the names of the students. You can refer to them by their initials,
but give some general details about them. (2 points)
- List and describe significant non-verbal interactions between these students and
their teacher. (1 point)
- Describe the curricular material for these four selected students. (3 points)
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- Describe the instructional style of the teacher. Report on how much time the teacher
spends in large-group instruction, small-group instruction, supervision of students’
independent work, and on non-instructional duties. (4 points)
- Report on any work that you are permitted to do with one or more students. Give details
about this work. (1 point)
- Summarize the observation and describe how valuable this visit was for you. Also, how
does this special education classroom compare to special education classrooms in your
own school or ones that you may have visited in the past? Reflect on what you have
learned from this experience and how it will help you become a better teacher. (3 points)
