Field Blog 1

 

Hello, my name is Cheyanne Fishley; now none as Miss. Fishley too the Grade 2/3’s of St. Jerome elementary school. Today was my first day with the 2/3’s and it was an amazing experience.  I was extremely nervous walking into the classroom for my first day, but as soon as I saw the children they made me feel welcomed and appreciated. Some things I noticed when I entered the classroom was the colours. Ms. Schletcher did a fantastic job at making a colourful fun room with lots of décor. I really appreciated this type of atmosphere. It felt warm and welcoming from the moment I stepped in. One very interesting thing that it incorporated into this classroom that may be different from others is the seating plan. MS. Schletcher does not have a seating plan for her children. The children get to choose where ever they want to sit for every class, and can move around freely as they wish to. Of course, she does not just let them run around free well she is teaching, but she has what she calls am active seating plan which allows them to mingle with all their peers and enjoy their time in their spot. I really enjoyed this aspect, but I did have a few concerns. My main concern was the children that are always sitting alone. I noticed that a few kids were always alone. I also noticed that some kids were always sitting with the same people. I understand everyone has those people they always want to be with, nut sometimes a seating plan is best at a young age to make some children engage with kids they wouldn’t normally. The main focus in today’s class was materials, so the students where building things hands on. This was a great idea for our first day, because we got to go around the little groups get to know the kids and ask them things about themselves. This group of children have so much energy. They were all very egger to meet me and get a chance to ask some questions. One thing that really stuck with me leaving the classroom was the things a few students said to me. One student I was talking to earlier in the day was asking me questions about myself, and I said I was really nervous about today because it was like my first day of school again. The young boy then said, “its ok to be nervous, we all get nervous sometimes”. This was the cutest most honest thing I have heard and coming from a grade 3 student was amazing. This was an awesome first day of school in the grade 2/3 class, and I know it will only get better.

 

 

 

Field Blog 2

 

For the second week of our field placement we were to focus on the community of the school, and the type of atmosphere that is portrait by the staff. The staff at St. Jerome are incredible. We have three adults in our classroom. Ms. Schlecher is the teacher, and have the help from 2 Educational Assistants. I have gotten to know the one Educational Assistant pretty well. Her name is Mrs. Boss. Mrs. Boss is extremely helpful and very welcoming. I’ve had some awesome conversations with her about sports and children in the classroom. Today Ms. Schlecher took us to the staff room to meet some of the other staff members. When we went into the room all the teachers were very welcoming. She introduced us to each of the staff member that were in the room at the time and we had little conversations with a few of them. Ryan and I have also spent a lot of time in the library where we have met Ms. Zeck. Ms. Zeck is an awesome librarian; she is very outgoing and always willing to help the teachers with whatever they may need. The staff also has a snack day every Thursday in the snack room. We were told we could certainly eat the snacks as we please and can bring anything we would like to in return. I thought this was so welcoming. The community and the school seem to get along pretty well; Ms. Schlecher did let me and Ryan know that if we parked in front of a certain house we may have a few unkind words thrown our way. Overall the staff and community have overall been so welcoming. I do not feel a bit out of place anywhere in the building. The final thing I see is how the community and school is connecting through a food drive. Going down the halls you can see the bags of food children have brought, and trust me there is a lot.

 

Field Blog 3

 

Growing up playing boys hockey was always a struggle. From a young age, I was “accepted” onto the team, but truly was never fully appreciated for my skills or abilities. Being on the only female on the team is a challenge. From a young age, I was clumped together with 20 other boys in my town and surrounding towns to make a hockey team. Being the only girl on some of my teams wasn’t always the easiest. I had to learn how to stand my own ground from the start to prove that I was capable of playing on the team. Not only did I have to prove myself, but I had to became one of the “boys”. It was always the easiest trying to fit in with the boys when I was younger. They had the idea that all girls were gross and didn’t know anything about sports, so proving to them that I did wasn’t always the easiest. I specifically remember one occasion where one boy thought he should be on the ice over me because I was a girl. I can tell you the coach didn’t like that very much, and made it very clear that I was on the ice over him because of my skill, and not anything else. This was the first time my gender came clear to me. Looking back now it was hard to be that girl on the team that was better than some boys. They tend to not like when girls are better than them, so proving to them that I was just another player on the team trying my best to fit in, and do my part came as a struggle.

 

On the other hand, playing on a male hockey was also a blessing. The boys I played with when I was as young as 3 are still my friends today. I am the girl that is known as “one of the boys” in Balcarres. I am so grateful for the friends I made well playing the sport I love, I was everyone little sister on the team, and if anyone hurt me they were in trouble. As a child, I wasn’t in dance or, the “girly” sports so creating those relationships with the boys were very important. There was always that one boy that had the snarky comment about how I was playing basketball at recess with the boys, or how I was sitting with all the boys at lunch, but these were my best friends and teammates. The teammates I grew up with made me forget about gender. I was just their friend. It didn’t matter if I was wearing pink or, had a crush on one of them; they still excepted me into their group. I do believe gender plays a role in how you are treated to some extent, but I think that has to do with how you portray your gender. If I went onto the team thinking I was the greatest, and no one could do better than me because I was a girl; then maybe I wouldn’t have made so many great relationships. I believe some women are too quick to think they are being judge by their gender, and not just by their attitudes. I have been on both sides of the spectrum and I do not think anyone should feel the way I felt as a 8 year old getting discriminated against because of their gender.

 

 

Field blog 4

 

For my fourth week with the grade 2/3s of St. Jerome I got to attend a liturgy. This was an awesome experience as I did not attend a Christian school as child, so this was totally new to me. The children got to video tape themselves saying prayers; which were then put up on the wall for everyone to hear. I think it is such a good opportunity to have my field placement at a Christian just because I have never got to experience these kinds of things. I may end up teaching in one down the road so getting this experience now is really nice. For our topic, this week we were told to focus on inclusive Education-Diversity & Difference. Diversity can be taken in many ways some examples would be the diverse cultures in schools, or diversity in income between families. There is come cultural difference in the classroom that I notice, but the children are not treated differently because of this. Talking to Ms. Sletcher yesterday she made us aware that their school is on the border line a community school, because of the diversity income. Coming into the school you can tell some children do come from lower income families. Based on food they come with, or clothing. This does not affect how the teachers or other students treat these children. Income may not always be a visible diversity. Some kids from 2 low income parents, some come from single family households, and others are in foster care. This may not be visible to other students, but making these children feel included is very important. Every child is treated fairly at this schools from what I have been able to see. There are no teachers “pets”, or children treated different based on their appearance, or abilities. Another thing I have noticed is the children that struggle a bit or come from harder backgrounds are not given the easy way out. If they do something wrong they are talked to and taught right from wrong like everyone else. I really like this idea because treating these kids differently would give them the impression that they can do whatever they want based on diversity. From all I have gathered this school is well rounded and a very inclusive school.

 

 

Field Blog 5

 

Today was my fifth Thursday in the 2/3 class at St. Jerome. Today was the first day me and my partner Ryan got to see a math class. The class is a 2/3 split so the grade 2s went into another classroom for math, so we could focus on the grade 3s. For the math class the kids are learning how to estimate. Ms. Sletcher gave the children in groups a baggy filled with buttons. The kids were to try and estimate how many buttons were in the bag and then count them to see how close they were to the correct answer. This class is very diverse in the fact that all the children are at different progressions in math. It was made clear to us that this class struggles with math quite a bit so working with the children is a big part of the class. One inclusive practice that I notice a lot is Ms. Sletcher having the children work together in partners. Almost every day the kids are working together in partners that are made for them so everyone is included and the kids get to know each other. We also took part in science today. In science, we worked on structures and how they hold different things. Ms. Sletcher makes sure she chooses almost every student to answer questions in science, including everyone. Being in a younger class you don’t see too much activity about gender or sexual identities. I am not sure how Christian schools go about gender and sexual identities. When is this taught in the school? How is it taught? I think this school does a great job of showing diversity and being inclusive. I don’t see any signs in my classroom of any children ever being left out. One main example of this is the children with special needs being a part of the classroom all the time and doing the same work as everyone else. Not a lot of schools are like this, so this really shows inclusivism and diversity.

 

 

Field Blog 6

 

This week during my field placement I got to take part in my first math test. Getting to see the children write a test was something new for me and was a huge eye opener to see how different students are at different learning levels. Ms. Sletcher had Ryan and I take part in one part of the testing which was a great experience. Going around and helping with the tests and any questions the children had helped me understand that in one class room there can be some many diverse levels of learning, and the curriculum sometimes doesn’t realize that. Not everyone was able to understand what the questions were asking, or just couldn’t do the math in general. It was hard to watch some children struggle with these things and not do anything to help them at the time, because it was testing. For the blog, this week we were told to focus on the curriculum that is taught. For science class, we focus mainly on the environment and how we as humans effect it. The children really engage in this class. Since this is something they are a part of and can help the environment. In math, the children seem to struggle more. I believe this has to do with the fact that math doesn’t really effect the world of a 10-year-old. Learning about the environment is different because the children deal with that every day, and can personally understand recycling as most would do it. I think the students really see the meaning and relevance behind protecting the environment, compared to math at the age they are at. As they get older they will realize they will use math more in an everyday life but for now science is more relevant.

 

Final Field Blog

Coming into my last day of my field placement I was very upset as I knew this would be my last time helping in the grade 2/3 Classroom at St. Jerome. Having the opportunity to do my field placement at St. Jerome was awesome. The kids were all so welcoming as well as Ms. Sletcher. Coming into the classroom I was very nervous, but right away the children were asking me questions and getting to know me as an educator. Leaving the room today was very hard. Before we left we were given books with pages each child coloured for us leaving us with a little note. Getting something like this was heart-warming. Getting to see how we impacted each child’s life; even if it’s just for a short amount of time. Some of the notes said things like “Thank you for helping me”, or “Thank you for being kind to me”. These little notes gave me so much encouragement and really made me aware that I am on the right path in my career choice. The number of hugs that I received today was amazing. Children that were quieter and kept to their selves were giving Ryan and I hug making us aware that we did benefit them with us just being there. One kid that needed a little extra help with us even started crying when we said we had to go now, this was heart breaking. To know we made this big of an impact made us aware of why we are in this field, and why we want to go forward with this career. I know I’ve said a lot about how we impact the children’s lives, but they also impacted mine a great deal. Thursday mornings were my favourite days of the week. I got to see 30 kids that were excited to be a school and learn. They were all such positive outgoing young children and that impacted my behaviours. I was happy to be there, outgoing, and positive because the children were. I love each and every one of the children I got the pleasure to meet this semester. Some children talked to me the whole morning and some were just happy to give me and nice “Good morning Ms. Fishley”; either way both these children impacted me tremendously. The amount of growth I have seen in the children’s learning and my relationships with each child is amazing. I could not have asked for a better group of kids to teach or a better teacher to look up to for my first placement.