Rebekah D. Wilson

About the School Where You Are Teaching

 

1. In what type of school so you teach?

Urban, Elementary school

 

1. List any special features of your school or classroom setting that will affect your teaching in this learning segment.

Neighborhood: Astor Place

Demographics of teaching staff: There are two teachers per class. The teachers are both female. One of the teachers serves as the main instructor, while the other serves as a co-teacher and classroom aide, taking over certain subjects when the main instructor needs to fulfill other duties.

Type of School: This placement is a private institution, under the umbrella of a church, which operates under Judeo-Christian values, but also emphasizes unity of other faiths and religions.

 

1. Describe any facilities considerations that might impact your instruction.

The traditional classroom, although big, has very limited space for movement, due to the size of the class. Each desk (including the teachers’) is placed in specific clusters, which leaves very little free space for movement. Special arrangements to move the chairs and desks will have to be made to maximize space. For storage, there is also limited space. The only acceptable space to store items would be under the teacher’s desk.

 

1. Describe any district, school, or cooperating teacher requirements or expectations that might affect your planning or delivery of instruction, such as required curricula, pacing plan, use of specific instructional strategies, performance schedules, or standardized tests.

Overall, this school has a strict policy against raising the voice as an attention-getter. Teachers instead rely on the tactics of positive and negative reinforcements for behavioral management. With curriculum, in the second grade, this year’s curriculum focuses on American Folktales such as Paul Bunyan and Johnny Appleseed, so I should plan accordingly, complementing the vision of the teachers’ curricula.

 

About the Focus Class(room)

 

1. How much time is devoted each day to performing arts instruction in your classroom?

As of this year, children vary between 40-120 minutes a day each week to performing arts instruction. Children have music, art, and dance class, which are scheduled in 40 minute sessions 2-3 times a week.

 

1. Identify any textbook or instructional program you primarily use for instruction. If a textbook, please provide the title, publisher, and date of publication.

The majority of the beginning of my unit will focus on the ideas of Viola Spolin and the use of theatre “games” to encourage team building and development. I will also draw on stories from around the world to scaffold into my mini-unit from varied electronic sources. When I begin my mini-unit, I will draw a story from the book, American Tall Tales, written by Mary Pope Osborne, published by Alfred A. Knope of Borzoi Publications in 1991.

 

1. List other resources you use for instruction in this class.

There is an electronic whiteboard that is attached to a MacBook Air, which can be used for worksheets and video presentations. The tall tales derive from the book American Tall Tales by Mary Pope Osbourne. 

 

About the Students

 

1. Describe the general demographic make-up of the classroom.

Demographics of Students: There are 25 students in total in my assigned class. Although the majority of the classroom has children of Caucasian descent, the classroom is very diverse, with students of different backgrounds and cultures represented. Also, the students vary in class structures. While some of the students come from middle-to-upper-middle class households, there are some children from low-income households, who stay in the school on scholarship. Students’ levels of learning vary, particularly with reading. For example, the students are placed in specialized reading groups 3 times a week, based on their reading level.

 

1. Personal/cultural/community assets—What do you know about your students’ everyday experiences, cultural and faith backgrounds, practices, and interests?

Everyday, students experience a rigorous schedule, with periods allowed for free time, gym, and recess. As said previously, students’ cultural and faith backgrounds varying from Episcopalian to Sikh and Islam. As it relates to interests, one of the children did express his interest and experience in theatre, while another was more interested in other sports like baseball and football.

 

1. What is the school’s philosophy in engaging with particular learning needs? To what degree do you see those philosophies in action?

This school takes time to address students’ special learning needs. For instance, students have specialized reading groups, arranged according to reading levels.

 

1. To what degree do the students have experience with/in theatre?

Students have taken a movement session entitled, “Sculpture Garden,” which used tableaux to create frozen images using the body.