Field Experience Day 10

FIELD EXPERIENCE DAY TEN March 23rd 2012
St. Marys School - Pre-K

TOPIC: Communication with Colleagues and others


At this school, student safety is highly stressed. Before anyone may come into the building they must be buzzed in, then walk through the main office and sign in. All staff is notified when visitors are known to be coming into the school. From the very first day of field experience, after ringing the door bell and saying who I was and why I was there, the main office was already expecting me. I think this is very smart of the school in order to ensure no strangers enter. My host teacher explained that when something like us students coming in for field experience, communication with colleagues is very important so all staff is aware of who is walking through the halls. Also, when I needed to visit the class room and observe the students, my host teacher made it very simple for us because he was easily able to communicate with the teachers to find the best fitting class to sit in on. I asked my teacher if they held an open house; they do in October. I was curious if he did anything to show the parents about PE, or if any parents even came in to see him. Basically he said he was the 'glorified babysitter' on those nights. He also stated that usually the only parents coming in to chat are fathers looking for something else to do. I really think that when I become a teacher I have to do something extraordinary in order to draw the parents attention over to my gym. I think communication with parents and possibly other teachers, showing and teaching them all about what PE really is can be one of the best things about open house. Adults who never learned about PE the way I am going to teach it, including the standards, should really see what their kids are getting involved in now a days. Noticing that a lot of PE teachers do not think of open houses this way proves that we must take action to make parents aware of what being physically educated is. All in all, my host teacher seems to have a good handle in communicating within his school. In my opinion he should take charge in communicating more with the parents as well.