Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Finalreflection
Finalreflection
Finalreflection
1. How did this experience contribute to formulating my beliefs about how students learn?
This experience reaffirmed my belief that all children can learn, even if they are at a significant
disadvantage. I have also found that positive reinforcement and celebrating student
accomplishments no matter how small support the students self-confidence and productivity.
First, my belief that all children can learn. I have heard staff members while in school or
teaching that some students just dont want to learn or they dont care. I have found this to
not be true. All students want to be successful; they all want to be knowledgeable. The rub is the
work ethic and environment that surrounds the student. If a student comes from a family that
doesnt value education than the student is predisposed to realigning their priorities elsewhere.
Also, students may not be willing to sacrifice their own time or work time at school to bettering
themselves. This may be a work ethic problem, but I have also found that being a positive role
model for the student and showing an interest in them will start to break down their
unwillingness to work. All of the students in my practicum course came from split homes or living
below the poverty line. Both of these factors played significant roles in what led them to be in a
self-contained environment. When factoring those into how I wanted to teach them I had to
make sure that whatever their level, they could complete the assignment and I would be
unrelentingly positive during the process to gain their trust and let me into their lives.
Creating a positive learning environment for all students can be very challenging, especially
when working with students diagnosed with EBD. However, I found that by using CPS
(Collaborative Problem Solving) I can alleviate many of the stressors students have when it
predictive behavior plan. This would mean that we would have an open dialog about their
triggers, possible punishments, and incentives that they would want to work towards. Giving the
students a voice in this process gives them power they may not have had before. Many of these
students have no control over their lives outside of school; they live in poverty or some other
circumstance that is out of their control. If students can have a voice in their learning they will
pay you back with trust and more of a work ethic than previously observed (even if it 5 minutes
more, it is still a victory for them!). By creating this level of trust with the students they will
respect themselves and others more and feel in control of something for many the first time in
their lives.
Every student that is in my mentors classroom is on an individualized learning plan through the
online programs Odysseyware and Academy of Math/Reading. Each student has assigned
assignments by grade level or interest. This allows the students to work through their credits
and courses at their own pace. When working with the individual students I sat down with ones
that needed more support or guidance with their assignments. Many of the problems the
students had dealt with reading comprehension and/or writing skills. I would encourage and
model Cornell note taking while they were reading their passages. Cornell note taking allows for
interaction with your notes. Students take an outline or paraphrase then they highlight important
terms or phrases. Then a day or so later they go back through the notes and write a summary
on what they learned and how it is useful to their assignment. When working with the writing or
short answers, I would change strategies based on the student's level of confidence in their
writing skills. For instance, I would have a students dictate to me their ideas and I would type it
for them or I would flop with a students and read their notes to them while they typed.
4. What informed my instructional decisions?
I will base this answer around my lessons that I taught to the class. For my observed lessons I
based it on their reading, which was Lord of the Flies. My first lesson was a lower level critical
thinking activity, students had a list of items and they had to number them in importance (1-30)
for their survival on an island. After they individually numbered the items, I brought them
together and as a group we came up with the most important items, as well as, what their roles
would be if their class were to be dropped in this scenario. The lesson went very well, the
students seemed to really like the discussion and everyone was participating. I did see why
some of the students do not function in a traditional classroom, however. TS is a student who
works wonderfully on independent work, but the moment I opened up the discussion as a group
he knew he had the floor and an audience. He couldnt control himself and spoke out of turn and
yelled answers. Most of what he was saying was appropriate, but there were a few moments
where I had to reel them back in. It was just interesting to see a student go from 0 to 100. This
is why I they may function more appropriately in this setting than in a traditional setting because
5. How did I give feedback to my students about how well they were doing or how they could
improve?
conversations. I would sit down with each student and talk about their previous day and what
they had planned for the rest of the day at hand. This was a way for me to check-in on their
progress and support them if they were lagging behind in their goals. During individual work
time I would sit with the students and support comprehension or enrich the learning with
interesting facts, videos, or current news about the topic. After they turned in an assignment
some students would have to retake it and re-write short answers or choose a different multiple
choice answers. I would sit with them and help with test taking strategies, using the process of
Going into a self-contained EBD room can be quite overwhelming. Luckily, I had started a
relationship with many of these students prior to entering the room for practicum. I teach an
activity class with the school I am at and invite my mentor's class down for social skills. With all
of the students in my mentor's class being males, it was imperative that we work on those
competition skills and they understand how to control themselves during times of stress. Having
this previous experience and being much younger than many of the teachers I worked with
helped me gain trust with the students a bit easier. Because I am younger (27) I understand and
have some of the same experiences my students have, such as video games, social media,
clothing, and music. This allowed me to have common interests and conversation starters than
older staff may not have. Students also see me not as authoritative because Im younger and
have many of the same interests they have. Also, by using CPS to construct many of the
behavior plans the students knew they had more a voice with me and knew that I would take
Being an initial educator in my 3rd full year of teaching I need much more time and experience
to say that I am a proficient educator. I need to attend more training and get more certifications
to help my colleagues and be a better professional. Some things that I will need to consider
doing is CPI training; I had an instance during my practicum where I needed to help my mentor
restrain a student from hurting himself. Going into the EBD field it will be necessary that I have
CPI training to ensure that I am within my rights and can protect students at the same time.
Another opportunity that I will need to complete will be my core credits for my Masters in
Education. I wanted to complete my 801 certification first and have my elective credits done
prior to starting my core class load. I am very happy with Viterbo and how/what they offer for
classes. I find that every class I have taken I have gained more and more of a knowledge base.
I have learned from not only my teachers but from my cohort as well. Online discussions have
helped me bounce ideas off of people in the same situation as me. But because they have
different backgrounds than I do I see different perspectives that I may be missing. Teaching is a
science and with that comes new ideas and philosophies, experimenting which ones fit your
teaching style will only help you expand your knowledge base of your profession.
Because I work at a school with only four staff members I have been a part of many IEP
meetings. I have always been the general educator at the IEP meetings. I have found more of a
voice since I have started taking these courses. I may not be leading the meeting but I am more
informed and participate much more in the meetings than I did when I first started teaching three
years ago. I have also been a part of re-evaluations, both the administering and attending the
meeting. Prior to re-evaluations this semester I didnt quite fully understand the results of the
assessments. However, after being a part of the re-evaluation process from start to finish and I
have a better understanding of the results and how it is used. I have been a part of some
meetings that have gone for almost an entire morning and I have been a part of meetings that
go 30 minutes. The driver of the meeting needs to keep things moving at a reasonable pace,
practicum.
When reflecting on my practicum, I have many positive memories. The one that sticks out the
most is teaching a student how to play chess and having the student take pride that he can play
an intellectual game. The student that I taught chess to is from a very poor, broken home. He
probably never imagined that he would be able to or understand how to play. However, after
working with him for a few weeks, his grasp of the game grew and so did his work ethic in other
aspects of school. He would study the game after we were done and would actively work to get
better and improve his skills. This led him to enter in our schools chess tournament on an early
release day. And he won one match! I was very proud of him and he was very proud of himself.
Even if he didnt finish first he proved to himself that he is capable of learning at a high level if
10. Describe how the students and staff will remember you
Fair and prepared. Those are two words that the students and staff will remember me by. The
students will say that I was fair. I allowed them to participate in their behavior interventions
instead of just telling them what will happen. I think that they respect that and would say it is one
of the first times they have had a voice and choice in their education. The staff will remember
If I can get one student to trust me and create a positive relationship then the other students will
see that. With the majority of the students in the room not having a positive male role model in