TFE 800.41 Interactive Field Experiences in Planning Learning: Part 1
A well-planned lesson solves many of the problems a teacher faces before they enter a classroom.
Intentionally crafted activities that scaffold student learning to meet standards can help ensure they
remain on-level throughout the year. Well-chosen, differentiated activities provide a teacher with the
ability to teach all students effectively and keep them on-task. Also a lesson plan with prepared time-
management paired with a range of activities can help a teacher with classroom management as many
behavior issues in the classroom stem from boredom.
This field experience draws on courses such as Understanding Rigor, Understanding the TEKS, and
Elements of Effective Lesson Planning. As you spend time interacting with students in another teacher’s
classroom, pay special attention to how the teacher carries out their lesson plans. While not required, it
will be helpful to ask the teacher after class about their plan, their rationale, how effective they felt their
plan was, and what they would do different the next time they teach the lesson. In your reflection, refer
back to previous coursework to connect what you saw in the classroom with theories about student
learning and development.
IMPORTANT: This field experience requires 5 hours in the classroom. The Texas Administrative Code
requires FBEs include your active engagement with students during educational activities the entire time
you are in the classroom. Please make sure to discuss with the teacher beforehand ways for you to be
actively involved, such as but not limited to facilitating small groups, help with monitoring the class, one-
on-one tutoring during class time, answering student questions, and other activities more involved than
observation or small talk.
Reflection Questions:
1. List at least three specific lesson objectives from your time in the classroom for this field
experience. What specific things did the teacher do to meet the objectives? Describe the
overall instruction and learning process you observed as well as specific details for each of
the three or more objectives?
During my teacher’s accounting class for the day the three objectives for the class period
were: review vocabulary words, watch a how to video on explaining making amendments to
the ledger and discussion, and finally complete activity 10.1 in cengage before class ends.
My teacher to review the vocab words would put one up on the screen and then we would
randomly pick students to give the definition and then explain and elaborate to the rest of
the class the correct answer or why their answer was correct. The video giving details on
how to balance a ledger was followed by my teacher posing a question about how to
balance the checkbook and what steps needed to be done in order to achieve this, we asked
the classroom and had some answers that were close, but may have been missing a step or
two, we then explained the correct steps. Finally, as the students were doing their
assignment based off what they had just learned my teacher and I walked around to
moniter the class, give encourgament, and help whenever they ran into difficulties or
couldn’t remember a step.