I have completed my first 4 hours of my field experience. I must admit I was very nervous not knowing what to expect my first day. This was my first time in an exceptional children classroom. Once I arrived I reported to the front office where they checked my ID and scanned it, it printed out a sticker ID with my photo on it to wear for the day. I really like how the school have this great technology to keep track of who enters and leaves the building.
My cooperating teacher's name is Maria Flores. She is certified in early childhood education, bilingual k-6, ESL, and special education. Her current summer classroom consist of 8 children ages ranging from 3-4 years old. This is my first time meeting Mrs. Flores and the same last name is pure coincidence which I thought was pretty neat.
The name of the school where I am doing my field experience is called Oak Forest and it is located on 6400 Kingwood Glen, Humble, TX 77346. It was not an easy task finding a school that offered summer school for exceptional children. After calling several schools in my downtown Houston area I realized that it is not as easy to just let anyone into a school with out the whole background check. Getting all that done can take a while to complete and summer school is only a couple of months or less. Luckily a couple of my friends who work in Humble ISD where able to refer me to Mrs. Flores. She has been very sweet and willing to help me with my hours. I think that has really made me feel welcomed in the classroom.
Before I started my first day I asked Mrs. Flores if she could answer some questions for me, to prepare me on what to expect. One of the questions of course was the age range which is 3-4 and another one was the different types of needs the children have. She told me she attends to students with Autism, Speech Impediment, and Down Syndrome for this particular summer. Before I attended my first day I did a little research on each one to make sure I had some knowledge on the students needs. (I will later post my little reminder on each need, that I created from research).
The first day I decided to attend the whole day from 8:00 am to 12:00 pm. I did this to try and get as much information that I could. The first thing was that the students had breakfast and then we all headed back to the classroom. All the students were seemed curious to who I was and why I was there. Mr. Flores had the class sit in a circle on their magic carpet that has numbers, shapes and letters. There she told the students that one by one the would pass over the speaking crown and when they have the speaking crown they would introduce their selves to me and also tell me their favorite instrument. The reason she had them telling me their favorite instrument is because they have music time and they have been playing and learning different toy instruments with sounds and shapes. Once the speaking crown got to me it was my turn to introduce myself and tell them about my favorite instrument. I wanted my instrument to be something that they were not so use to since I noticed that most the students picked guitars and pianos, I decided to go with my favorite which is the harp. It was a really nice activity to break the ice and I really enjoyed getting to see a little of their personalities.
The day went by great and Mrs. Flores discussed several things the students need a day and also what I would be doing in my hours. She gave me the option of just observing or beings hands on. Of course I wanted to be hands on with the students. She later explained to the class that I would be helping out for some days and that we would all be doing fun activities together. The day was a total success and I know I will learn so much from this experience and I cant wait to share it with you all on my blog.
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