My Observation Hours At Dawson County High School

Reflections, Implications, and Conclusions

Going in to the high school, I was very intimidated. I am only nineteen, which is the age of some of the students in the high school to this day. It was a place that I had never been before, and there was no direction once I got there. I had no preparation for what was expected out of me in the classroom, and I was terribly afraid of helping students. I was put in every class irrelevant to my major. I was put in several math classes, history, current issues, economics, and geography classes. These classes not being English, I felt as though I did not belong.
As I spent more time with the students, I realized that the only reason that the majority show up to school everyday is because they are legally required to. They also constantly discussed their mandatory school attendance and how they would drop out if they could. There isn’t a lot from this class that was applicable to my observation hours at Dawson County High School. The most relevant topic would be social stratification. A very high percentage of students from Dawson County are living in poverty. Their parents work low-wage jobs and so do the students to help with …show more content…
That is the true test to see if one really desires to become a teacher. I think, based on my field experience/research, that when you walk into your classroom you have to show that you are in charge. It’s very easy for a teacher to feel overwhelmed when you have a group of twenty or so students fighting against everything you say. Getting them to complete their assignments is about the equivalent to pulling teeth if you don’t set up that initial respect status at the beginning of the school year. A new teacher has to remember that they are the adults, they make the rules, and they are the ones in charge of the classroom no matter how belittled they feel by their