Essay - This Paper Presents a Detailed Examination of the Working Life...

This paper presents a det*****iled examination of the working life of a grade school teacher. The author shadowed a first grade teacher for a full work week ********** *****n recorded her observations and findings. The author also included what the experience taught her and how ***** experience will be used in the future. There were five sources used to complete this paper.

Before I shadowed a first gr*****de teacher for 40 hours I had a preconceived idea about what teaching grade school would be like. I knew that grade ***** teachers were responsible for teaching children to read, starting ********** off on the path to arithmetic ***** opening the world of Geography to them. In additi***** I knew ***** they were the only teachers who provided spelling tests and spelling knowledge for their students. I realized all of these things because ***** my own experience as a grade school student, years ago. What I didn't realize, when looking at it ***** a former student, is how much the teacher invests in launching the *****s for a lifetime love of le*****rning. It was after s*****owing the grade school teacher that I came to understand that it is those *****s who are largely responsible for causing a student to love learning or hate it. I *****d after my experience that teachers at the ***** school level ***** setting the stage f***** lifetime learning att*****udes.

A learned that grade school teachers are expected to recognize the first signs of learning d*****abilities such as dyslexia (McNulty, 2003). During the week I shadowed the teacher she did send two ***** for early assessment testing because they were having a persistent difficult time with reading basics.

Another aspect of a *****'s life that I had not realized be*****e was the mandatory reporting situation. ********** a teacher suspects child abuse in ***** ***** of one of her *****s she is mandated by law to report. This makes sense if blatant and obvious cases of abuse for the sake of the child (Truth, 1999). But during the week I shadowed this ***** we became suspicious but were ***** sure an abuse situation was occurring. The teachers explained the difficulty of this situation ***** if she reports her concerns *****d is wrong ***** ***** could be traumatized by parent reaction and develop a fe*****r of school ***** *****. However, if she does not report her concerns and the child is being abused the ***** is left in a bad situation. Grade school teac*****s have to watch for signs without ***** overly willing to report without solid concerns, because children are forever falling, or bruising ********** in every day life.

During ***** ***** shadowing ***** teacher I found that *****ganization is the key ***** success in a grade school classroom. The teacher I shadowed teaches ***** *****. Each morning she arrives 30 minutes early so ***** will have quiet time to plan the day, check supplies, return parent phone calls ***** other tasks that cannot be done while the students