Assignment # 1

The school I decided to do my field work in was North Miami Beach Senior High School. I chose that school merely because it was the closet to my house. Moving on, the teacher that I had to spend time with was Mr. Witten he is a History teacher he teaches American History and Economics. The Grade level he teaches mostly consists of 11th graders and 12th graders. On the first day I was in his class I fell in love with the way he taught his students there was never a monotonous moment. He had a way of getting all his students involved and getting his point (the material) across to these young adults. One thing I notice is that just like I read in the “Teaching for Inclusion” he knew his entire students name. Also he cared about all his students the same well at least it appeared that way to me. He knew how much one needed attention than the other not giving more attention to one that did not really need it. You know something else his students never hesitate to ask him a question because he is like one of those teachers you can ask him anything. I have heard this saying a lot of the time “there is no such thing as a stupid question” I would beg to differ sometimes about that statement, but in his class you can tell the students never thought asking him a specific question was indeed stupid. Well in South Florida as we know there is diversity around every corner you turn. So of course in the class there were a lot of different background students. Different ideas, thought, beliefs, values etc… even though the teacher is a white American he was so to speak down with all his students he seem to understand that each student was in fact different (unique) and came from different places and status and cultures. This teacher was indeed a teacher who loves to laugh and make his students laugh as well. So sometimes he would joke with them on their culture and belief not to offend them but to make them feel that it was okay to be who they are and just know that everyone is different in a way and that it is acceptable. Another thing I found rewarding to the students was sometimes Mr. Witten would have them do group assignments. I saw this to be a helpful way to get the students to bond with each other also so they could get a better understanding of the material at hand and another thing I pick up from that method is that the students learned from each other. Seeing the student’s work together trying to figure out essential what the work they were supposed to be learning was a treat in itself. These are the type of teachers we need in Florida and all over the world.