Vonnahme Master’s Portfolio 1

Child Development

Samantha Vonnahme

ED 698 Master’s Portfolio Spring 2024

University of Alaska Southeast

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Anyone who was teaching in the days of COVID likely remembers how difficult it was to

teach virtually, especially with younger primary students. In the fall of 2020, when the

Fairbanks School District reopened their doors, I was an aide in a kindergarten classroom.

Masks were required, social distancing was enforced, and sanitizing schedules were in place.

There was even an expectation that teachers would not only educate the students whose

families chose to send them to attend school in person, but to also teach those who chose the

virtual learning option. Many frustrating days were spent trying to engage those on the

computer, yet also keep a handle of the children physically present in the room.

Looking back at my Student Behavioral and Learner Engagement Action Research

Project from the Classroom Management and Discipline course, written at this time of difficult

teaching, I see a version of myself that was very different than who I am now. I recall that there

were many times over the course of a day that I thought about how I would approach planning

and classroom management differently. In response to difficulty over transitions, I attempted

to implement a student job known as “yoga expert”. If I recall correctly and read between the

lines, it seems that even in early spring the classroom only had one special responsibility. I

recognize that some jobs were made difficult by COVID regulations, but the lack of

responsibility given to students is very different than the way I operate my classroom now.

This year I introduced jobs no more than two weeks after the initial start date. Out of 22

students, half of them have a weekly job which rotates at the beginning of the next week. I

thought deeply about what kinds of jobs would be a natural part of the day and would be

required every day, rather than sporadically during the week. I wanted the kids to feel

welcome; like the classroom was theirs, an idea posited by Douglas Fisher et al. (2018). I
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wanted them to feel they weren’t just an afterthought. In addition to jobs, I also felt that the

students should be trusted with many other aspects of their day—something I hoped would

create autonomy and confidence in their abilities—an important piece of self-regulation

according to Alfie Kohn (2005). A few examples of what this looks like are: allowing students

access to the refrigerator behind my desk to put away and retrieve their own milk, getting their

own cleaning wipe to tidy up after lunch, or providing access to glue sticks and scissors that

don’t require teacher permission to use. At the end of the day, students are allowed to pick

their own free time activity without asking. In the past, I have called students one by one and

asked them where they wanted to go play, replying with “go ahead” or “no, that station is

closed”. This year, I tell the students to “go play” and they are able to follow our ground rules: If

you want to switch, clean up first, and, if a station has three kids already, it is closed. I have

found that we waste much less time over something that I don’t really need to control.

These examples of student responsibility in the class connects to a theory agreed upon

by Chip Wood (2017), Albert Bandura and Richard Walters (1963), and Fisher et al. (2018), that

social interaction is a necessary part of child development and learning. Like I observed in my

Student Behavioral and Learner Engagement Action Research Project, the students were often

much more attentive to a student leading an exercise than they would be if a teacher were to

lead an exercise. The yoga expert job may have been far less effective without a student in

charge. I have noticed this in my current classroom, as well. Specifically, our calendar captain

job is a highly sought after appointment—one that garners the attention of the whole class. I

am often surprised when students who are otherwise not frequent speakers, or seem not to
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pay much attention, get up to lead the calendar routine and hardly require any assistance from

me.

In regards to how I have developed and changed as a teacher, I am much more aware of

how consistency and dependability can impact student learning and response. When I read that

the yoga expert job was haphazardly implemented, I shook my head. The problem for which the

new job was meant to assist, was, as I observed, brought on by inconsistent transitions. It

seemed surprising at the time to learn that the yoga expert did less to treat a problem with

transitions but more to demonstrate need for student responsibility. Now, the result makes

sense. Ruby Payne (2018) asserts that the successful learning of those who experience

emotional poverty rests on a teacher that has consistent and dependable classroom guidelines.

Benjamin Bloom (1981) posits that children in homes where dependable structure, working

together, and routines are present showed greater progress than children who were allowed to

do what they want at home. He also writes, “…a highly consistent environment is likely to

produce marked effects on the students while a highly inconsistent environment is likely to

have only a negligible effect on the student’ development both in the cognitive and as well as

the affective domain” (p. 115). Chip Wood (2017) agrees in his developmental age-groupings

when he writes that it is especially important for a five-year-old to have consistent rules,

routines and discipline. Had I implemented the yoga expert position regularly, the outcome

may have resulted in some different observations.

Currently, I notice that the hardest days for learning are those that are out of the

ordinary. My 1st grade students especially always want to know what is next or how long a

current activity will take. During transitions they are constantly asking, "What are we doing?", a
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question that tracks with Wood’s (2017) observation that a seven-year-old loves to know what

is happening next. Each day, the schedule is set up with rigidity in regards to transitions and

overall subject periods. The room for flexibility only exists within those times. When I am asked

a question about the schedule, I point students toward the visible schedule on our central

white board which includes labels, times, and images.

The artifact in reference not only addresses a whole-class trend, but a case-study as

well. For the life of me, I honestly cannot remember the specific student in question.

Interestingly enough, however, he reminds me of quite a few other students I have

encountered in the same school. His quick emotional response is not out of the ordinary and

many of his reactions are similar to others I have seen every year I have been teaching as a

certified educator or as an aide. In many cases, I believe that reactionary students like Ed come

from families and experiences that did little to build a healthy foundation for learning.

Jean Piaget and Barbel Inhelder (1969) propose that children go through an initial set of

developmental stages from the beginning of infancy until capability of thought, or intelligence,

is possible. Piaget and Inhelder claim that there are cognitive schemes that arise out of

beginning actions and become the structure for later thinking about the universe. In other

words, development from infancy—in utero not withstanding—is vital towards later learning.

Erik Erikson (1987) corroborates this view in his theory on the stages of psychosocial

development. He posits that the first year of life is spent in a continuum of trust to distrust that

is influenced by the environment, particularly the attentions of the mother toward the child.

This influence affects the development of one’s inner self. Payne (2018), writes that the inner

self is built upon self-construction, a process greatly influenced by the actions of adults who
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care for an infant. In a broad sweep of the impact this period of development has on learners,

Bloom (1981) writes, “With regard to academic achievement, it is estimated that at least one-

third of the development has taken place prior to the child’s entrance in to the first grade of

school” (p. 104).

These many references to theorists, researchers, and modern thinkers helps to provide

a foundation for understanding students who display backgrounds where education was not

necessarily valued as important in the first few years of life. Now, when I encounter students

like this in my class, it is less bewildering and I simply apply rigid structure and high

expectations in a safe and trusting environment. I do not do this to discourage students, rather,

like Fisher et al. (2018) argue, I use the high expectations to serve as a communication that a

learner belongs and I believe that they have potential.

Bandura and Walters (1963) theorize that a person’s behavior will change only when

there is an alteration in social learning, biological needs, and the environment. For my teaching

practice, this theory gives me hope because I know that even though social influences can

create harmful types of imitation, they can also do the opposite. Even those who have had

exposure to unhealthy adult actions can change their behavior by watching healthy adult

examples. Many cultures display that children will not do what adults tell them to do, but what

they see adults doing. Part of the way I teach is by showing students the right way. I practice “I

do, we do, you do” as part of almost every activity and the kids are remarkably able to copy

what I do more than if I just tell them with words.

I am not under the impression that I now apply perfect, balanced teaching and learning

strategies to my classroom with appropriate reference to applicable child development

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theories. I continue to struggle to let go of control and often keep the students sitting for long

periods, even though Wood (2017) writes that children at ages five and six are driven by

immense amounts of energy and a desire to always be on the move. I often lose my temper

after someone has asked me for the 50th time what we are doing next or I harbor feelings of ill

will towards a behaviorally difficult student who has had no control of their upbringing. Like my

current attitude toward a version of myself in existence during COVID teaching days, I am sure

the future Mrs. Vonnahme will look back and wonder how I could have known so little. For

now, however, I choose to remember that, despite developmental consistencies, every child is

different and I will do my best to respond with the wisdom of those who have gone before me,

empathy, and consistency.

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References

Bandura, A., & Walters, R. (1963). Social learning and personality development. Holt, Rinehart

and Winston, Inc.

Bloom, B. (1981). All our children learning. McGraw-Hill Book Company.

Erikson, E. (1987). A way of looking at things: Selected papers from 1930 to 1980. New York, NY:

Norton.

Fisher, D., et al. (2018). Engagement by Design. Corwin.

Kohn, A. (2005). Unconditional parenting: Moving from rewards and punishments to love and

reason. Atria Books.

Payne, R.K. (2018). Emotional poverty in all demographics: How to reduce, anger, anxiety, and

violence in the classroom. Aha! Process Inc.

Piaget, J., & Inhelder, B. (1969). The Psychology of the Child. Basic Books Inc.

Wood, C. (2017). Yardsticks: Child and adolescent development ages 4-14. Center for

Responsive Schools, Inc.