Fieldwork Guidelines for Ed. 42: Teaching the Young Learner

 

Spring, 2002                                                              Diane Downer Anderson

                                                                                    328-8065(o) or 3664(h)

 

1.         Be on time, attend consistently, and keep a record of your attendance. The children look forward to seeing you and the teachers depend on your presence. If you need to miss a session, leave a message for your teacher through the school number at: SRS 544-5700. You are expected to make up any time you lose, for a total of approximately 10 school observations of 2-3 hours each.

           

2.         Your main purpose for this fieldwork assignment is to learn from children by observing them and supporting their learning. Take your cues in this work from the children, from the classroom teachers, and from our course discussions and readings.

            Respond to the children in such a way as to support them as learners. You should work to establish a comfortable, caring, and trusting relationship. Although you will want to help children, do not be tempted to do for the child what he/she can do for him/herself. Instead, help them to develop as problem solvers. Help them to be aware of what they can do.

           

3.     Pay attention to what children know, what they can do, what strategies they employ, what they tend to engage in, who they tend to work with, and their social interactions. Do not take notes while working with children but do so soon after or during classroom transitions. Or, do your write-ups as soon as possible afterwards. Remember to use the Palm Pilot at least three times for recording your fieldnotes (they will be distributed soon in class). As in Ed. 14, find a way to distinguish between what you observed and how you interpret what you observed.

 

Over the term, try to subtly pay particular attention to two-three learners that you gather enough information about to talk and write about at the end of the term. You will not be able to learn everything, but you should be able to say something about their learning strategies; their social worlds, skills, and awareness; their interests; and their concerns. You should also be able to ask important questions about them.

 

 

Don’t write about everything. Instead, choose something that looked interesting or relevant and write it up as a vignette. Use the lenses you have from Ed. 42 and other courses to tentatively interpret what you see. Your field notes/vignettes will be used to inform one of your major assignments – your descriptive review and narrative of a learner.

 

4.         Always be respectful and appropriate in dress, behavior, manner, talk, and interactions with staff, the principal, teachers and students at SRS. We are their guests and must enter into their community aware of and consistent with the cultural norms of their community. “House rules” apply. Follow the classroom teacher’s lead; for instance, when she/he asks for the children’s attention, don’t be tempted to chat at the edge of the classroom.

 

5.         Do not discuss your fieldwork observations and analysis outside of the Ed. 42 participants. Many of you know other professors, baby-sit for community members, and have other relationships in the larger community and you must always be careful to protect the privacy of the teachers and children you work with. Use pseudonyms in your written work.

 

6.         Do not get into lengthy conversations with classroom teachers unless you have scheduled a time outside of their teaching time to meet with them, and they are amenable to talking. They are busy people and their main responsibility is to be available to the children.

 

7.         Enjoy this time to learn with some wonderful learners (children, Ed. 42 participants, and teachers included)! At the end of the term find a way to express your gratitude to the teachers who so graciously invite you into their classrooms by writing them a note or some other small token of your appreciation.