field experience for CIA: Learning Theories

For my Critical Issues and Applications: Learning Theories course, I have chosen to observe a fairly mainstream 1st grade classroom. I chose this so I can become familiar with the model of learning in practice in more mainstream classrooms. Mari Brockhaus is the classroom teacher for the 1st Grade class at Thornton Creek Elementary School. Mari taught at The Little School for 10 years before coming to Thornton Creek. She has been at Thornton Creek for close to 17 years. Needless to say, her experiences at all over make her a very compassionate and smart teacher who creates a safe space for the children in her room.

Currently, Mari has a student teacher doing her “big teach” in her classroom. Mary is finishing her Elementary Education Certificate program from the University of Washington. The classroom is richer with both these teachers present. My observations in the classroom will include seeing both teachers at work in a variety of activities including Math, Science, Expeditionary Learning how to get garageband on windows and potentially some Linguistic Remedies work done by a specialist. The Expeditionary Learning program in Mari’s classroom involves a year long project focused on Backyards. As a culminating project, the entire class is redesigning and implementing the creation of a backyard space for their school library.

My field observations will last four weeks for a total of 10 hours.