Angel Aguilar

March 3rd, 2021

Behavior Observation (EDU 211)
Professor Sullivan
My Learner Education Profile
Throughout my education I had to go through a lot of trial and error to find the learning

methods that worked best for me. In the classrooms, every year, I had to get used to every

teaching style and how what worked for them would benefit us. Whether it be through group

projects, independent work, visual or hands-on lessons, I was able to figure out what worked best

for me as a student. The teachers that allowed me to work independently, and gave me time to

take notes, and did not rush through lessons and allowed a decent amount of time taking

questions are the ones that helped me succeed. I learned a lot through repetition, and even

looking back at all the times I would question why we must keep going over the same thing, it

made me realize that it was helping me all along. Group projects more often left me feeling more

anxious because I felt I was even more pressured with doing all the work, and making sure I got

every detail right. When I worked in a group, often, I was the one that would take on everyone

else’s part in the assignment, and that left me feeling more stressed of getting it done, rather than

retaining any new information.

I also felt that if I bonded with my teachers, and made it clear that I was a hard worker, and

wanted to learn, I was able to focus better. If I was unsure of how a teacher felt about my work

ethic or my personality, I would not be able to focus because I would think the entire time that I

am doing something to upset them. Therefore, having a connection with my teachers was very

important to me. I also learned best when I was able to do something constructive in order to

learn a lesson. I am very artistic and I spend a lot of time drawing or painting, so whenever I was
able to make posters, design PowerPoints, draw pictures, I spent so much time not only making it

look good, but also color coding, or drawing diagrams, or charts that would help me remember

the lesson. Being able to do that in certain lessons helped me flourish with whatever the topic

was.

After taking the Howard Gardner’s Multiple Views of Intelligence, my top three intelligence

include, self, language, and spatial. My strengths are being able to be alone and work alone. I am

a very reflective person, and can take back feedback and try to improve myself. Another

characteristic that was categorized under self, was to be able to brainstorm before reading and I

do this all the time. If I need to annotate a book, I write down all the possible themes that could

be in it and then when it comes time to reading, I will just stick those themes on a post-it notes in

the book. Language learners are people who enjoy telling stories, and writing, and being able to

analyze what you just read. Analyzing and finding the why in everything is one of my most

dominant traits, in any book I ever read and had to annotate, I flourished in understanding themes

and being able to pull out significant information. I also enjoy telling stories, I have three

younger siblings so being able to read in an eccentric way without a monotone voice, and being

able to express different emotions is important to me. I used to be so bored in classes when the

teacher read with no emotion. Then in the spatial intelligence, I am a very perceptive person, so I

love to draw, write, and visually learn new subjects. I love to make posters or PowerPoints, and

be able to learn in a more creative way, rather than the same mundane tasks every day.

As I continue my journey to becoming a teacher, I want to keep in mind, all the techniques,

that did, and did not work for me, so I can reach a high level of students to help them succeed.

One thing that I find to be incredibly important in the classroom, is to have a personalized set of

instruction that the teacher uses. Every teacher has their own style of teaching, whether it be
auditorial, visual, or kinesthetic. One example of personalized instruction begins within the

classroom itself. How the teacher fills the classroom, with resources, or words of encouragement,

and positivity is what allows the students to excel in school. By creating an open, and positive

environment, the students are being given the ability to succeed in school. On top of the physical

appearance of the school, next comes the lesson planning and adding that spark to the lesson. If a

teacher just sits there and reads off a PowerPoint the students are not going to do well. The

amount of work a teacher puts into a lesson does not go unnoticed by their students. If a student

sees you handing out papers, and basically saying do this, and understand this by next class,

rather than putting together projects, and assessments, and engaging them in the lesson they are

going to think you do not care about them. The students will give back the same amount of hard

work they see you give them and that is an important concept to take into the classroom when

teaching.

Another important idea to keep in mind in the classroom is equity. I remember being in

school and feeling like certain teachers favored one set of kids over another, just because they

wanted to be seen as the “cool teacher”. That always bothered me because I feel like if you are

going to make a lasting connection with your students, it should be the whole class and not just a

handful of kids. In “The Skillful Teacher”, there are plenty of different resources that help

teachers find the best ideas to incorporate inside their classroom. It also gives advice for the

students who or may have trouble finding their place in the classroom. It says in the text, “They

may be able to refer the student for additional resources to better support that student

academically or emotionally. A significant part of personal relationship building is showing

interest in and respect for students. There is a strong message here for schools where most of the

children are of color and from poverty” (Gower, 125). This shows the importance of getting
involved with all your students because you do not know what all of them are feeling or are

going through unless you communicate. Anyone of any race could go through something that

could affect their education, that is why it is important for teachers to communicate with all their

students to create a fair work environment.

There are also many different learning options and approaches that should be taken into

consideration when running a productive classroom. One of these approaches include giving

students an outline of the plan of the course, like an agenda where they can write down

everything and know what is to come, and what is expected of them. Another approach that

should be taken is allowing an effective wait time after asking student questions. In the text again

it said, “In the late 1960s, Mary Budd Rowe (1987) discovered that if teachers purposefully

paused and waited a minimum of 3 seconds or more after asking a question, many students who

ordinarily did not answer did so, answers tended to be full sentences rather than single words or

phrases, and the answers were at a higher level of thinking” (Gower, 338). This shows that if you

give students adequate time to participate, they will be able to respond not only more than usual,

but also intellectually. In school if there was pressure on me to answer, I would shut down and

not even bother to answer because I did not have enough time to think about the answer.

Students tend to learn better when they feel valued. For example, acknowledging students when

they walk through the door, greeting them asking them how they are. Making eye contact when

they are speaking so they know that you are listening to them, also paying attention when they

are not participating so you know to encourage them to try their best. Another important lesson

to hold close is to be able to notice when a student is confused and paying more attention to that

lesson instead of just moving on to the next lesson. Showing interest in students interests,

listening to them and their concerns, asking questions about the area they live in, finding out
their schedule, and asking how they are, all of this goes along with knowing the life of your

students so you know not to overwhelm them and you are more able to help them with the

workload and how to balance with outside of school activities. Also connecting academic work

to their interest, by doing this you are relating to them and opening a door to growth. All of these

are important aspects to increase motivation in the classroom. All these techniques being used in

the classroom always helped me feel valued as a student and like I had a place.

Something else to consider is to be able to teach appropriately. There are many ways to teach

and doing it effectively based on each individual classroom. In the book reinforcement is talked

about reinforcement and how sometimes while the thought is there it is not used correctly. In the

book it says, “Appropriate reinforcement is important. If a student doesn’t want it, it’s not

reinforcing” (Gower). Sometimes if a student is in a classroom with a bunch of their friends, they

could take the reinforcement as embarrassment and think that their friends would consider them

a teacher’s pet, while other students thrive on the reassurance. This shows why it is important to

understand your classroom and how all the students respond to feedback. Another effective way

of teaching appropriately includes, routine. In the text it talks about the importance of routine,

“Routines can be used to teach and help students develop self-regulation skills such as self-

management, self-control, and self-direction. These skills “help students engage in behaviors

such as attending, participating, following directions, organizing, managing materials and time,

and completing assignments…” (Gower, 107). This shows that having a procedure in the

classroom prepares students for their future goals and ambitions. Being able to organize and plan

throughout school creates a more productive lifestyle to last a lifetime.

Having an effective strategy to things like assignments, homework, reports, team building,

and projects are also key aspects of a successful classroom. There are a lot of different
instructional strategies that can be used for assignments, homework, written and oral reports,

cooperative learning, problem-based learning, and projects (individual and group). Analogies

and metaphors are great ways to help students understand a task that may be difficult. In the

book it says, “Analogies support student understanding when they connect the new learning to

something the students already know” (p. 214). This shows yet again tying a lesson into personal

experience for the students allow them to remember the lesson better because it will tie in to

what relates to them. Another strategy for assignments and note taking could also be graphic

organizers. Since I am more of a hand on learner, I can make more visual lessons for my students

to help them better understand what is going on rather than just reading off a PowerPoint.

Another type of instruction includes interactive whiteboards, this can be used for a more hands-

on assessment or more of a motivation to participate in the lesson. One more example of a type

of engagement that incorporates all the learning modalities are stimulations, educational games,

and role playing. In the book it describes this as, “A stimulation might involve students learning

about how infectious diseases spread and become an epidemic, emergency management when

dealing with a disaster in which they assume the roles of emergency management personnel,

prepare for, and then deal with a disaster…” (pg. 232). This type of activity helps students get

ready for the real world, and better understand what the best thing to do is in certain situations.

On top of that, while role playing, teachers can allow students to create their own characters and

situations that may relate to their own life to help them achieve the lesson goals. There are many

different methods that contribute to the success of students in the classroom.

To conclude, a very crucial aspect of having a classroom run smoothly is to celebrate

diversity. Bringing all types of people into the classroom and accepting different methods of

learnings, is the best way to create an open and positive environment. Having all types of
students, and so many unique ways for not only you to connect to the students but also for the

students to connect with each other. This is something I am going to strive to incorporate into my

classroom one day and I truly cannot wait to meet all my future students and help them flourish

in all the ways that I did.