Welcome to My Capstone Portfolio!
The experiences that I have gained through Wheelock College are ones that I will take with me for the rest of my life. I am so thankful for the people I have met, professors I have learned from, and the professional experience I have gained through my elementary education practicum field work. Thinking back to my first year of college, I was extremely eager to learn and to one day become a teacher. Four years later, I am even more eager and excited to jump into the field of my dreams, which I believe Wheelock College has thoroughly prepared me for. I came to Wheelock from North Andover, Massachusetts where I lived for my whole life. Coming to Boston opened me up to world that was different from the town I grew up in, but a world that I whole heartedly embraced and feel has made be grow as an individual as well as a student.
At Wheelock, I majored in Human Growth and Development with a focus in Psychology, and a Professional Major in Elementary Education. These courses provided me with the knowledge I will need in the future. One of my most memorable courses in my major was a psychology course, HDP 325 Memory, Identity, and Development. This course taught me the importance of thinking back on early memories, and how those memories can be interpreted in terms of development. By doing so, I came to the realization that most of my earliest memories were based on experiences from my early and elementary school education. Because I’ve had such wonderful memories from my experience of elementary school, I have always had the passion to become a teacher, and one day bring even better experiences to the children I one day will teach.
Wheelock has brought me closer to this passion. One main reason for this is because I believe it has truly made me a well rounded student. Being a part of the Cross Country Running team at Wheelock made me value the importance of teamwork and collaboration. It taught me that trying something new and putting everything I have into something is just as rewarding as it is nerve-racking. After experiencing the team dynamic I learned through Cross Country, I could easily relate it to my experience as a student teacher and believe that it guided me in the positive way I worked with and created relationships with the staff as well as the students. It took a whole team to run a class that included not only the teacher, but included the student teachers, specialists, aids, parents, volunteers and more.
I have had a great amount of experience working with children and families through Wheelock as well as outside of Wheelock. I have been a nanny for four years in Beacon Hill. I have bonded with this family tremendously, and witnessed the growth and development of a boy who was in first grade when I started working with him, and is now in fourth! Through Wheelock, I experienced two internships my freshman year. One internship was at the Underwood After-School Program in Newton, MA and the other at the Ellis Memorial Toddler Program in Boston, MA. During these internships, I've built strong communication skills with children that varied in age from two to eleven years old. For my pre-practicum during my junior year, I had the experience of working in the Lawrence School in Brookline, MA in a third grade classroom. Being a pre-practicum student in Brookline provided me with an experience I could relate to, seeing as it was very similar in terms of demographic as the elementary school I attended. During my practicum, I worked in a first and second grade classroom at the Graham and Parks Alternative Public School in Cambridge, MA. The atmosphere, school culture, and demographic of students was very different compared to my pre-practicum experience, although both were exceptionally a pleasure to work in. Because I experienced student teaching in a suburban community as well as a mixed urban/suburban community, I feel like I have learned the tools to teach in both environments and am looking forward to applying all that I have learned.
Tuesday, December 13, 2011
My Beliefs about Education
•I believe that all teachers should master the content they teach in all subject matters.
•I believe that all teachers should know their students on individual levels.
•I believe that all teachers should have and show enthusiasm in the way that they teach and learn.
•I believe that all teachers should include multiple ways of learning (multiple intelligences) into the classroom.
•I believe that all teachers should integrate subject areas in teaching as much as possible.
•I believe that teachers should embrace and integrate family involvement into the classroom.
•I believe that all teachers should know their students on individual levels.
•I believe that all teachers should have and show enthusiasm in the way that they teach and learn.
•I believe that all teachers should include multiple ways of learning (multiple intelligences) into the classroom.
•I believe that all teachers should integrate subject areas in teaching as much as possible.
•I believe that teachers should embrace and integrate family involvement into the classroom.
Standard 1-Advocacy for Social Justice
Maria Sideri
EDU 448 Elementary Education Portfolio Development
Fall 2011
Wheelock College Standards for Educator Preparation Programs
Standard 1. Advocacy for Social Justice
Educators who embrace a social justice perspective are attentive to inequalities associated with race, social class, gender, language, and other social categories. They consciously look for alternatives to established educational practices that support the learning, development, and academic achievement of children whose backgrounds place them outside of the dominant culture. They employ multicultural, anti-racist, anti-bias educational practices that foster deep engagement in learning and high academic achievement among all of the nation’s children.
1.1 Attentive to inequalities associated with race, social class, gender, language, and other social categories.
1.2 Consciously looks for alternatives to established educational practices that support the learning, development, and academic achievement of children whose backgrounds place them outside the dominant culture.
1.3 Employ multicultural, anti-racist, anti-bias educational practices that foster deep engagement in learning and high academic achievement.
Having the opportunity to be placed in Cambridge, MA for my practicum was a wonderful opportunity for me to experience. One of the main reasons why my practicum experience was so special was because of the diverse environment I was exposed to in the classroom I was working in and in the school culture that made up Graham and Parks Alternative Public School. The children in my classroom during my practicum came from all different backgrounds and spoke many different languages such as Hebrew, Creole, Chinese, Japanese and Amharic. They also represented a wide range of socio economic groups. Being attentive to inequalities associated with race, social class, gender, language, and other social categories is one of the most important aspects of teaching. In order to meet the diverse needs of all students, it is essential for teachers to understand these differences to ensure social justice within the classroom. Social justice within the classroom is important, because it helps to create equity within the context of a positive, warm, and comfortable environment where students feel respected and safe.
I believe that I was attentive to inequalities associated with race, social class, gender and language. Every day that I was in my practicum, I tried to bring all of the students together in some way and make sure they interacted with all members of the classroom. One student in particular that I found was having difficulty interacting and communicating with the other students was an English language learner who is in first grade. In kindergarten, she was placed in a Sheltered English Immersion classroom so experiencing an inclusive classroom with many more students was something that was definitely new to her. Therefore, because of her language barrier, she appeared to be disconnected with the other students in the classroom, even the other English Language Learners. In a course I was taking during my practicum, I read the article, “What Early Childhood Educators Need to Know: Developing Effective Programs for Linguistically and Culturally Diverse Children and Families,” by Patton Tabors (1998) in which I gained new insights on how to have this student begin to communicate with the other students. Tabors (1998) suggested that, “A buddy-system setup can pair an outgoing English-speaking child with a second-language learner. Engineering the seating arrangement at snack or lunch, so that English-speaking children and a second language learner are seating together, will help the child get into social contact more quickly” (p.9).I took this advice and practiced it in my practicum to see if I could create a better learning experience for this student in the sense that even though she is an English language learner, she still needs the same social interactions with her classmates in order to make her feel safe and comfortable in the classroom environment. During morning meeting, I deliberately placed this student with an outgoing English speaker who would encourage her to participate in the discussion. After I placed her with this particular outgoing student, I made sure in group lessons that she also worked with this student. I have included the seating chart I arranged for this student in my differentiated instruction notes that accompany my lesson plans. Also, I hang the seating chart in the classroom to make sure I do not forget partners and make sure I place this student with the right student. This seating chart is shown in artifact 1.1.
In addition to being attentive to individual student’s needs associated with language specifically, I also consciously look for alternatives to established educational practices that support the learning, development, and academic achievement of children whose backgrounds place them outside the dominant culture. One student in particular that I established educational practices for to support his learning was a student who was on an IEP for reading and writing. He had difficulty with reading, comprehension, and spelling but had great strength in oral speech when given the opportunity. At the end of Writer’s Workshop, students would have the opportunity to share their writing. This student never shared his writing, so I asked him if he wanted to. He said he didn’t know, so I suggested that maybe we could practice reading his writing together for 10 minutes before he shared. After practicing what was read for those 10 minutes, this student seemed to memorize his writing, and felt more comfortable as well as gained confidence with sharing. After he shared once, every day at the end of Writer’s Workshop he would ask me to practice with him before he would raise his hand to share. I believe this is an example of how I supported one student’s learning through an educational practice at the end of Writer’s Workshop. An example of writing that this student and I practiced before sharing is shown through artifact 1.2.
Lastly, I believe that I employ multicultural, anti-racist, anti-bias educational practices that foster deep engagement in learning and high academic achievement. Lisa Delpit (1996) discusses cultural conflicts that occur inside classrooms and challenges associated with issues of social justice. She explains in Other People’s Children: Cultural Conflict in the Classroom that, “If we do not have some knowledge of children’s lives outside of the realms of paper-and-pencil work, and even outside of their classrooms, then we cannot know their strengths. Not knowing students’ strengths leads to our ‘teaching down’ to children from communities culturally different from that of the teachers in the school. Because teachers do not want to tax what they believe to be these students’ lower abilities, they end up teaching less when, in actuality, these students need more of what school has to offer” (p.173). Taking Delpit’s advice, I truly tried to set high standards during my practicum for all students. There was one student in particular that came from a low socio economic group who did not have a very secure home life. Instead of excusing his lack of completed homework, I worked with him to complete it together and would tell him that I needed a study partner, and wanted him to study with me. Therefore, I’d bring my own homework and we would do our homework together one day a week during the read aloud period. An example of the homework that I completed with him is shown through artifact 1.3. Completing homework with this student made him feel that homework was something that needs to be completed, and can be completed in a fun way with a friend, or in our case, a student teacher. Also, because his homework was being completed during school hours, it relieved his pressure of having to complete it at home where his home life was very unstable. I believe this is a small but important example of an anti-biased educational practice that fosters high academic achievement in a positive way.
Overall, social justice is something that is very important to me and will be undoubtedly implemented in my future classroom. It is my responsibility as a teacher to give all children what they need to succeed and that means that some students will need different approaches, but all will be held to the same high standard.
References
Delpit, L. (1996) Other People’s Children: Cultural Conflict in the Classroom. The New Press.
Tabors, P. (1998) What early childhood educators need to know: developing effective programsfor linguistically and culturally diverse children and families. National Associational forthe Education of Young Children. Paul H. Brookes Publishing, Baltimore, MD.
EDU 448 Elementary Education Portfolio Development
Fall 2011
Wheelock College Standards for Educator Preparation Programs
Standard 1. Advocacy for Social Justice
Educators who embrace a social justice perspective are attentive to inequalities associated with race, social class, gender, language, and other social categories. They consciously look for alternatives to established educational practices that support the learning, development, and academic achievement of children whose backgrounds place them outside of the dominant culture. They employ multicultural, anti-racist, anti-bias educational practices that foster deep engagement in learning and high academic achievement among all of the nation’s children.
1.1 Attentive to inequalities associated with race, social class, gender, language, and other social categories.
1.2 Consciously looks for alternatives to established educational practices that support the learning, development, and academic achievement of children whose backgrounds place them outside the dominant culture.
1.3 Employ multicultural, anti-racist, anti-bias educational practices that foster deep engagement in learning and high academic achievement.
Having the opportunity to be placed in Cambridge, MA for my practicum was a wonderful opportunity for me to experience. One of the main reasons why my practicum experience was so special was because of the diverse environment I was exposed to in the classroom I was working in and in the school culture that made up Graham and Parks Alternative Public School. The children in my classroom during my practicum came from all different backgrounds and spoke many different languages such as Hebrew, Creole, Chinese, Japanese and Amharic. They also represented a wide range of socio economic groups. Being attentive to inequalities associated with race, social class, gender, language, and other social categories is one of the most important aspects of teaching. In order to meet the diverse needs of all students, it is essential for teachers to understand these differences to ensure social justice within the classroom. Social justice within the classroom is important, because it helps to create equity within the context of a positive, warm, and comfortable environment where students feel respected and safe.
I believe that I was attentive to inequalities associated with race, social class, gender and language. Every day that I was in my practicum, I tried to bring all of the students together in some way and make sure they interacted with all members of the classroom. One student in particular that I found was having difficulty interacting and communicating with the other students was an English language learner who is in first grade. In kindergarten, she was placed in a Sheltered English Immersion classroom so experiencing an inclusive classroom with many more students was something that was definitely new to her. Therefore, because of her language barrier, she appeared to be disconnected with the other students in the classroom, even the other English Language Learners. In a course I was taking during my practicum, I read the article, “What Early Childhood Educators Need to Know: Developing Effective Programs for Linguistically and Culturally Diverse Children and Families,” by Patton Tabors (1998) in which I gained new insights on how to have this student begin to communicate with the other students. Tabors (1998) suggested that, “A buddy-system setup can pair an outgoing English-speaking child with a second-language learner. Engineering the seating arrangement at snack or lunch, so that English-speaking children and a second language learner are seating together, will help the child get into social contact more quickly” (p.9).I took this advice and practiced it in my practicum to see if I could create a better learning experience for this student in the sense that even though she is an English language learner, she still needs the same social interactions with her classmates in order to make her feel safe and comfortable in the classroom environment. During morning meeting, I deliberately placed this student with an outgoing English speaker who would encourage her to participate in the discussion. After I placed her with this particular outgoing student, I made sure in group lessons that she also worked with this student. I have included the seating chart I arranged for this student in my differentiated instruction notes that accompany my lesson plans. Also, I hang the seating chart in the classroom to make sure I do not forget partners and make sure I place this student with the right student. This seating chart is shown in artifact 1.1.
In addition to being attentive to individual student’s needs associated with language specifically, I also consciously look for alternatives to established educational practices that support the learning, development, and academic achievement of children whose backgrounds place them outside the dominant culture. One student in particular that I established educational practices for to support his learning was a student who was on an IEP for reading and writing. He had difficulty with reading, comprehension, and spelling but had great strength in oral speech when given the opportunity. At the end of Writer’s Workshop, students would have the opportunity to share their writing. This student never shared his writing, so I asked him if he wanted to. He said he didn’t know, so I suggested that maybe we could practice reading his writing together for 10 minutes before he shared. After practicing what was read for those 10 minutes, this student seemed to memorize his writing, and felt more comfortable as well as gained confidence with sharing. After he shared once, every day at the end of Writer’s Workshop he would ask me to practice with him before he would raise his hand to share. I believe this is an example of how I supported one student’s learning through an educational practice at the end of Writer’s Workshop. An example of writing that this student and I practiced before sharing is shown through artifact 1.2.
Lastly, I believe that I employ multicultural, anti-racist, anti-bias educational practices that foster deep engagement in learning and high academic achievement. Lisa Delpit (1996) discusses cultural conflicts that occur inside classrooms and challenges associated with issues of social justice. She explains in Other People’s Children: Cultural Conflict in the Classroom that, “If we do not have some knowledge of children’s lives outside of the realms of paper-and-pencil work, and even outside of their classrooms, then we cannot know their strengths. Not knowing students’ strengths leads to our ‘teaching down’ to children from communities culturally different from that of the teachers in the school. Because teachers do not want to tax what they believe to be these students’ lower abilities, they end up teaching less when, in actuality, these students need more of what school has to offer” (p.173). Taking Delpit’s advice, I truly tried to set high standards during my practicum for all students. There was one student in particular that came from a low socio economic group who did not have a very secure home life. Instead of excusing his lack of completed homework, I worked with him to complete it together and would tell him that I needed a study partner, and wanted him to study with me. Therefore, I’d bring my own homework and we would do our homework together one day a week during the read aloud period. An example of the homework that I completed with him is shown through artifact 1.3. Completing homework with this student made him feel that homework was something that needs to be completed, and can be completed in a fun way with a friend, or in our case, a student teacher. Also, because his homework was being completed during school hours, it relieved his pressure of having to complete it at home where his home life was very unstable. I believe this is a small but important example of an anti-biased educational practice that fosters high academic achievement in a positive way.
Overall, social justice is something that is very important to me and will be undoubtedly implemented in my future classroom. It is my responsibility as a teacher to give all children what they need to succeed and that means that some students will need different approaches, but all will be held to the same high standard.
References
Delpit, L. (1996) Other People’s Children: Cultural Conflict in the Classroom. The New Press.
Tabors, P. (1998) What early childhood educators need to know: developing effective programsfor linguistically and culturally diverse children and families. National Associational forthe Education of Young Children. Paul H. Brookes Publishing, Baltimore, MD.
Standard 2-Understanding all Children in their Many Dimensions
Maria Sideri
EDU 448 Elementary Education Portfolio Development
Fall 2011
Wheelock College Standards for Educator Preparation Programs
Standard 2. Understanding all Children in their Many Dimensions
Educators should know their students as individuals and as learners, and be able to relate to them in a variety of ways. They should be familiar with the cultures, histories, and values of the communities and families they serve, and know the attributes of the individual children and families with whom they work. Educators should be aware of the range of special needs their children may have, and seek out information concerning the strengths of specific children as well as resources to address their developmental and learning needs. They should use their knowledge of variations in development, second language acquisition, and disabilities to support children’s physical, emotional, social, cognitive, linguistic, intellectual, and creative development. Educators should observe and listen to children as they work, learn, and play in a variety of settings to gain insights into what their students know, how they think, what they value, who they are, where they come from, and what motivates them. Their knowledge of children and families, language and culture, and community development should motivate educators to view children’s actions and responses through multiple lenses. The more they learn about their students, the better they can tailor their teaching to engage children in active learning and meet their specific needs.
2.1 Know students as individuals, as learners, and be able to relate to them in a variety of ways.
2.2 Be familiar with the cultures, histories, values, of families.
2.3 Know attributes of individual children/families with whom they work.
2.4 Aware of range of students’ special needs and seek out information concerning strengths/resources to address developmental and learning needs.
2.5 Use knowledge of second language acquisition, developmental variations, and disabilities to support physical, emotional, social, cognitive, linguistic, intellectual, and creative development.
I believe that one of the most important aspects of being a teacher is getting to know your students as individuals and being able to relate to them in a variety of different ways. Thinking back on my student teaching experience, the most memorable experiences I have had are centered on interactions I had with individual students and their families. Being aware of who the students are as individuals and being aware their many dimensions and special needs, enriched my lessons and made the classroom community more warm and friendly. Throughout my experiences at Wheelock College in general and through my experience as a student teacher, I believe that I definitely know what it means to understand all children in their many dimensions.
As a student teacher, I strived to know the students as individuals and as learners, and I attempted to relate to them in a variety of ways in order to build a relationship with them, and also to teach them effectively. One student in particular that I had the most experience with observing and getting to know as a individual and as a learner was my “focus child” that I worked with throughout the semester as a requirement for the course, EDU 445: Meeting the Diverse Learning Needs of School-Age Children. Throughout the entire semester, I observed my focus child and got to know her family very closely. Almost every day after school I would talk to my focus child’s mother and older sister to get to know them. These conversations were so meaningful to me that I attempted to make every child in my classroom my focus child. I began to give individual attention to every student and their families, in order to truly understand the student’s background, culture, interests, and learning style. By doing so, my experience as a student teacher became more meaningful, and the time I spent in the classroom was not only focused on teaching the students, but also focused on building strong relationships with children. The observations and reports that show my in depth understanding of my focus child as well as the other students in the classroom as shown in artifact 2.1.This artifact is Submission II of my focus child project that I completed in EDU 445
Throughout the semester of my student teaching experience, one child’s father was serving in the United States Navy. This was something I learned after months of interacting with this child, and it was something he was truly proud of. This child was very shy, and mostly all of the students in the classroom did not know that his father was in the Navy or that this child took so much interest in the United States Army and Navy. I asked this child if he ever wanted to share this information with the class. He instantly told me that he wanted to, and that he would tell me in the morning on the day of his “share day” if he wanted to talk about his dad. Many weeks went by and this child did not notify me that he wanted to share with the class about his father and their family’s affiliation with the Navy. Because of the close relationship that I built with this student, I knew that he truly wanted to share, but just needed more structure in the way he shared. Therefore, I suggested that if he was nervous to share entirely by himself, we could share together. That is why the day before Veteran’s Day during morning meeting, this child and I had a combined share. I introduced what it meant to be a veteran, and this child explained how he connected to this word through his father. I have never seen this child so excited and vocal about talking to the class, and he seemed proud of himself after he finished sharing. Later, we read a poem together about Veterans day. Because I knew this child’s interests, his family’s dynamic, and his desire to share with the class, this child experienced a great moment with his classmates during morning meeting. Many students made connections to this child or told their own examples of how their family was special. I believe this definitely shows my familiarity with the cultures, histories, and values of the students and their families which is a major part of standard two. The poem that we read together is shown through artifact 2.2.
Knowing students and their individual characteristics was a major theme in the book, Starting from Scratch: One Classroom Builds its Own Curriculum (1996) by Steven Levy. In this book, Levy suggests that teachers must find the genius in every child in order to satisfy each student’s needs. He explains that, “We need to look for the best, expect the best, find something in each child that we can truly treasure” (Levy, 1996, p. 7). I believe that I have searched and found each student’s individual genius. One example of this is shown through a particular student whose genius I found to be poetry. Every journal entry, story, or share, was about her poetry. She was incredibly talented at writing poetry, and I had a huge interest in knowing where her love for poetry came from. After having many conversations and discussions about poetry with this student, I learned that she learned how to write poetry from her grandmother, and that she teachers her and her twin sister poetry lessons all throughout the summer. I wanted to let this student know that I was aware of her genius, so after every journal entry that she wrote about poems, I would write back to her in her writing journal and comment and compliment her poetry. This is shown through artifact 2.3.
Being aware of students’ special needs is incredibly important to me. Howard Gardner’s (1983) theory of multiple intelligences is something that comes to mind when I think about the diversity of learners in a classroom and their varieties of learning styles. Gardner suggests that through his intelligences, “… the theory validates educators' everyday experience: students think and learn in many different ways. It also provides educators with a conceptual framework for organizing and reflecting on curriculum, assessment and pedagogical practices. In turn, this reflection has led many educators to develop new approaches that might better meet the needs of the range of learners in their classrooms” (p. 1). Therefore, each student needs to be taught a specific way that might relate to his or her intelligence and therefore, leads to success and progress. Before student teaching, I was not completely aware of the range of learners that would be in the classroom. After the first few weeks, the range in learning was completely clear to me, and I wanted to do anything to meet each individual’s special learning need. One student in particular that I personally addressed was a first grade boy. He seemed to have a problem with communicating orally, and constantly paused in conversation and sometimes just would not speak while talking to another student or teacher. He has not been diagnosed with a disability, and is not on an IEP, but his behavior particularly stood out to me as not very typical. Therefore, I discussed this with my supervising practitioner, and she agreed that he needs to be discussed among other professionals that could provide some support. Through my recommendation and my supervising practitioner’s, this student is meeting with the school’s social worker twice a week, and is now being provided with “social scripts” that help him to converse with students and teachers. These scripts help him practice phrases and ideas of what to say while talking to others. This has incredibly improved this student’s success in the classroom, because now when he knows the answer to something, he verbally explains that he knows the right answer to a teacher, and if he doesn’t know, instead of being silent, he will say he does not know. I believe my work with this student in collaboration with my supervising practitioner’s and the school’s social worker addresses component 2.4 of this standard.
Lastly, understanding that some students, and in my case, most students, are bilingual and multilingual is something that is incredibly important to know as a teacher. In my student teaching classroom, eight of the students spoke another language besides English at home. Therefore, I knew that I needed to be able to adapt lesson plans in order to meet the needs of these English Language Learners. I thought the best way to approach this would be to interview the school’s Sheltered English Immersion teacher. On my own initiative, I conducted the interview and learned many new things about Sheltered English Immersion, one being that these English language learners use their own curriculum called Avenues. This interview I conducted with Emily is shown through artifact 2.5.
Overall, I feel as though I have comprehensively met standard two. I know how important it is as a teacher to understand all children in their many dimensions.
References
Gardner, Howard (1983; 1993) Frames of Mind: The theory of multiple intelligences, New York Basic Books. http://www. http://www.infed.org/thinkers/gardner.htm
Levy, S. (1996). Starting from scratch: one classroom builds its own curriculum. NHA Division of Reed Elsevier Inc.
EDU 448 Elementary Education Portfolio Development
Fall 2011
Wheelock College Standards for Educator Preparation Programs
Standard 2. Understanding all Children in their Many Dimensions
Educators should know their students as individuals and as learners, and be able to relate to them in a variety of ways. They should be familiar with the cultures, histories, and values of the communities and families they serve, and know the attributes of the individual children and families with whom they work. Educators should be aware of the range of special needs their children may have, and seek out information concerning the strengths of specific children as well as resources to address their developmental and learning needs. They should use their knowledge of variations in development, second language acquisition, and disabilities to support children’s physical, emotional, social, cognitive, linguistic, intellectual, and creative development. Educators should observe and listen to children as they work, learn, and play in a variety of settings to gain insights into what their students know, how they think, what they value, who they are, where they come from, and what motivates them. Their knowledge of children and families, language and culture, and community development should motivate educators to view children’s actions and responses through multiple lenses. The more they learn about their students, the better they can tailor their teaching to engage children in active learning and meet their specific needs.
2.1 Know students as individuals, as learners, and be able to relate to them in a variety of ways.
2.2 Be familiar with the cultures, histories, values, of families.
2.3 Know attributes of individual children/families with whom they work.
2.4 Aware of range of students’ special needs and seek out information concerning strengths/resources to address developmental and learning needs.
2.5 Use knowledge of second language acquisition, developmental variations, and disabilities to support physical, emotional, social, cognitive, linguistic, intellectual, and creative development.
I believe that one of the most important aspects of being a teacher is getting to know your students as individuals and being able to relate to them in a variety of different ways. Thinking back on my student teaching experience, the most memorable experiences I have had are centered on interactions I had with individual students and their families. Being aware of who the students are as individuals and being aware their many dimensions and special needs, enriched my lessons and made the classroom community more warm and friendly. Throughout my experiences at Wheelock College in general and through my experience as a student teacher, I believe that I definitely know what it means to understand all children in their many dimensions.
As a student teacher, I strived to know the students as individuals and as learners, and I attempted to relate to them in a variety of ways in order to build a relationship with them, and also to teach them effectively. One student in particular that I had the most experience with observing and getting to know as a individual and as a learner was my “focus child” that I worked with throughout the semester as a requirement for the course, EDU 445: Meeting the Diverse Learning Needs of School-Age Children. Throughout the entire semester, I observed my focus child and got to know her family very closely. Almost every day after school I would talk to my focus child’s mother and older sister to get to know them. These conversations were so meaningful to me that I attempted to make every child in my classroom my focus child. I began to give individual attention to every student and their families, in order to truly understand the student’s background, culture, interests, and learning style. By doing so, my experience as a student teacher became more meaningful, and the time I spent in the classroom was not only focused on teaching the students, but also focused on building strong relationships with children. The observations and reports that show my in depth understanding of my focus child as well as the other students in the classroom as shown in artifact 2.1.This artifact is Submission II of my focus child project that I completed in EDU 445
Throughout the semester of my student teaching experience, one child’s father was serving in the United States Navy. This was something I learned after months of interacting with this child, and it was something he was truly proud of. This child was very shy, and mostly all of the students in the classroom did not know that his father was in the Navy or that this child took so much interest in the United States Army and Navy. I asked this child if he ever wanted to share this information with the class. He instantly told me that he wanted to, and that he would tell me in the morning on the day of his “share day” if he wanted to talk about his dad. Many weeks went by and this child did not notify me that he wanted to share with the class about his father and their family’s affiliation with the Navy. Because of the close relationship that I built with this student, I knew that he truly wanted to share, but just needed more structure in the way he shared. Therefore, I suggested that if he was nervous to share entirely by himself, we could share together. That is why the day before Veteran’s Day during morning meeting, this child and I had a combined share. I introduced what it meant to be a veteran, and this child explained how he connected to this word through his father. I have never seen this child so excited and vocal about talking to the class, and he seemed proud of himself after he finished sharing. Later, we read a poem together about Veterans day. Because I knew this child’s interests, his family’s dynamic, and his desire to share with the class, this child experienced a great moment with his classmates during morning meeting. Many students made connections to this child or told their own examples of how their family was special. I believe this definitely shows my familiarity with the cultures, histories, and values of the students and their families which is a major part of standard two. The poem that we read together is shown through artifact 2.2.
Knowing students and their individual characteristics was a major theme in the book, Starting from Scratch: One Classroom Builds its Own Curriculum (1996) by Steven Levy. In this book, Levy suggests that teachers must find the genius in every child in order to satisfy each student’s needs. He explains that, “We need to look for the best, expect the best, find something in each child that we can truly treasure” (Levy, 1996, p. 7). I believe that I have searched and found each student’s individual genius. One example of this is shown through a particular student whose genius I found to be poetry. Every journal entry, story, or share, was about her poetry. She was incredibly talented at writing poetry, and I had a huge interest in knowing where her love for poetry came from. After having many conversations and discussions about poetry with this student, I learned that she learned how to write poetry from her grandmother, and that she teachers her and her twin sister poetry lessons all throughout the summer. I wanted to let this student know that I was aware of her genius, so after every journal entry that she wrote about poems, I would write back to her in her writing journal and comment and compliment her poetry. This is shown through artifact 2.3.
Being aware of students’ special needs is incredibly important to me. Howard Gardner’s (1983) theory of multiple intelligences is something that comes to mind when I think about the diversity of learners in a classroom and their varieties of learning styles. Gardner suggests that through his intelligences, “… the theory validates educators' everyday experience: students think and learn in many different ways. It also provides educators with a conceptual framework for organizing and reflecting on curriculum, assessment and pedagogical practices. In turn, this reflection has led many educators to develop new approaches that might better meet the needs of the range of learners in their classrooms” (p. 1). Therefore, each student needs to be taught a specific way that might relate to his or her intelligence and therefore, leads to success and progress. Before student teaching, I was not completely aware of the range of learners that would be in the classroom. After the first few weeks, the range in learning was completely clear to me, and I wanted to do anything to meet each individual’s special learning need. One student in particular that I personally addressed was a first grade boy. He seemed to have a problem with communicating orally, and constantly paused in conversation and sometimes just would not speak while talking to another student or teacher. He has not been diagnosed with a disability, and is not on an IEP, but his behavior particularly stood out to me as not very typical. Therefore, I discussed this with my supervising practitioner, and she agreed that he needs to be discussed among other professionals that could provide some support. Through my recommendation and my supervising practitioner’s, this student is meeting with the school’s social worker twice a week, and is now being provided with “social scripts” that help him to converse with students and teachers. These scripts help him practice phrases and ideas of what to say while talking to others. This has incredibly improved this student’s success in the classroom, because now when he knows the answer to something, he verbally explains that he knows the right answer to a teacher, and if he doesn’t know, instead of being silent, he will say he does not know. I believe my work with this student in collaboration with my supervising practitioner’s and the school’s social worker addresses component 2.4 of this standard.
Lastly, understanding that some students, and in my case, most students, are bilingual and multilingual is something that is incredibly important to know as a teacher. In my student teaching classroom, eight of the students spoke another language besides English at home. Therefore, I knew that I needed to be able to adapt lesson plans in order to meet the needs of these English Language Learners. I thought the best way to approach this would be to interview the school’s Sheltered English Immersion teacher. On my own initiative, I conducted the interview and learned many new things about Sheltered English Immersion, one being that these English language learners use their own curriculum called Avenues. This interview I conducted with Emily is shown through artifact 2.5.
Overall, I feel as though I have comprehensively met standard two. I know how important it is as a teacher to understand all children in their many dimensions.
References
Gardner, Howard (1983; 1993) Frames of Mind: The theory of multiple intelligences, New York Basic Books. http://www. http://www.infed.org/thinkers/gardner.htm
Levy, S. (1996). Starting from scratch: one classroom builds its own curriculum. NHA Division of Reed Elsevier Inc.
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