Today I was able to start my observation hours at Cortland School of BOCES. My host teacher was very gracious in welcoming me to the school. Some of the first things I noticed about the school was that the teachers were very active in their interaction with students. As I walked through the hallways I could tell that students who had any disciplinary problems were given one on one attention. There are many assistants throughout the school to help with students who engage in disruptive behavior.
The unit being covered for the day was a game called, "Pinball." This game is a variation of dodgeball. Instead of the students targeting each other the goal was to knock over three pins set up on the opposing side. The gymnasium was split in half like a typical dodgeball game. The idea behind this game was to allow students to get active and moving while taking out aggression in a positive way. Some problems that did arise every now and then was student motivation. Not all students wanted to play. These students would stand in front of the pins so as to defend the them from being knocked over. My host teacher told me that this bare minimal effort was better than them just sitting on the sidelines.
Other problems that did arise were students purposely missing the pins and targeting classmates of the opposing team. Some were friends horsing around with each other, but others were done with malicious intent. I was able to see my host teacher in action as he would quell any behavior that was out of line. Some classes were harder to keep track of than others due to the high number of students in the gymnasium. While I was there I made sure to do my best to practice having my eyes on everything at one time.
Overall, I enjoyed my first day at Cortland BOCES. It was a new environment at a school that has plenty of diversity.
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