Teacher Notebook Reflection #1 Bella Bella is one of 13 girls in this fourth grade class.

Bella has Aspergers Syndrome, and has recently had an IEP implemented. She is a challenging student, and has been highly interesting to observe. Bella is usually off-task, and rarely follows along with what the class is doing. From the first day of practicum, I noticed something was different about her than the other students, and my mentor teacher explained her condition to me. I have been tracking her behaviors and twice, wrote down her behaviors on a frequency/behavior count form. The negative behaviors that Bella frequently struggles with include, but are not limited to; yelling, whining, crying, stomping her feet, getting out of her chair, and leaving the room. Bella is a very good reader, she is adequate with mathematics, and is a fantastic artist. Two of these are also weaknesses for Bella, because she is constantly drawing or doodling on her assignments, rather than doing the work. She also likes to drop what she is doing, grab any other students book, and begin reading it, in the middle of the book! Bella does not have any physical disabilities, but due to her autism, she frequently has outbursts or breakdowns so severe, she must leave the room until she is able to control her emotions and action once more. This can be physically debilitating. Bella is a friend to almost everyone in the class, she is nice, and will speak to most of the students, unless she feels uncomfortable. I have seen other students treat her negatively, but it was only on one occasion. She has adequate social skills. I have not determined any ways in which I can actually help Bella. She has an IEP, and she goes with the resource teacher often when she is having difficulties. I have tried to assist her in re-focusing when she is off task, and I have been yelled at, whined at, and screeched at! The first time, I was shocked and she scared me a bit. But, now I have gotten used to her reactions, and I just wait until she starts humming or singing, and calms down, and then she will usually slowly begin her work. It seems that my mentor teacher attempts to give her wait time when she is off-task, with quick reminders to get to work, or follow instructions, and it seems that this works well for the time being. Although I feel bad that she misses a lot of the information she needs. I will continue to watch Bella, and try to find ways I can help her.

Teacher Notebook Reflection #1 Noah Noah is one of 17 boys in Ms. Philips fourth grade class. While he is hyper and easily distracted, he has not been diagnosed with any disorders such as ADD or ADHD. I decided to observe Noah, because I have seen that he gets called down quite often in class, and is one of the few students who is constantly having to pull his card for behavioral issues. He does not have any physical disabilities. Noah is often on task with his class work, but increasingly is having issues with staying on task, or focusing on his work. On the 20th of February, I did a frequency/behavioral form observation on him, and he was off task more than 20 times during the day. This included him talking to neighbors, making faces at a girl across the room, staring at the wall, and sharpening his pencil multiple times. Noah is one of the more popular boys in class, and he works pretty

well in groups. I feel this could be a strength for him, but he usually lets it impact him negatively. His weaknesses seem to be that he is easily distracted, and does not do well with selfregulation while the teacher is conducting small-groups. I took anecdotal records of Noahs behaviors, and how he acts during class, including when is on and off-task. I also gave the entire class an interest inventory sheet to fill out, and kept Noahs in my Teacher Notebook. Over two days, I observed his behavior, and kept track of how often he did certain things. I feel that doing these assessments has helped me to see what things may trigger him in getting off-task, and how I may be able to help him. He seems to teeter on the edge of paying attention to the teacher, and giving his attention to more interesting things. I feel first of all, he should probably have a conference with the teacher about talking to neighbors as often as he does, looking at girls across the room from him, and losing his concentration during independent study time. A far as this independent study goes, I noticed that Noah got very distracted when he was supposed to be doing a free write, and he kept asking me and Mrs. Stratford what he should write about. I suggest holding short sessions of writers workshops could be good for him, and the rest of the class, because Ive seen more students than just him struggle in this area. I also think that Noah could use some type of motivation in class. He sits in his chair, and works as slowly as possible, talking to other students, or just goofing around. Hes asking the question, Why should I? Classroom Management has taught me that Noah is either not being challenged enough, hes bored, or he is struggling, and not getting the help and instruction he needs. Teacher Notebook #2 Child A: Bella List the three assessments you administered to this child: (5 pts) Domain of Learning: Social and Emotional, Domain of Learning: Self-Management, Interview Describe specific information you learned about this child through the three assessments identified above. (This might include areas of interest, learning styles, learning disabilities, distractions, physical disabilities, social skills, etc.)(15 pts) The first assessment I administered to Child A was the Domain of Learning: Social and Emotional. Through this assessment, I learned that Child A has very poor selfmanagement skills. She has Aspergers Syndrome, and has a hard time regulating her emotions, and actions. Bella does not usually pay attention during lessons, or participate in group activities. She reads, or works on Origami instead. Bella lacks the skills necessary to monitor her own actions and behaviors, as well as skills in working with peers, and to solve problems. From this assessment I can see that her self-management skills are of concern.

The second assessment I administered to Child A was the Domain of Learning: Social and Emotional. Through this assessment, I learned that since Bella has poor social skills, she has difficulty making friends. She is accepted by most of the kids in the classroom, but she does not play with the other kids. During recess, she goes into Mrs. Popes room, (Special Education). This student also has frequent outbursts of anger and aggression. I see from this assessment that her social skills in and out of the classroom are of concern. The last assessment I administered to Child A was an interview written by me. Through this assessment I learned that Bella does not really like school, and that she likes to be alone at school, and at home for the most part. Some of Bellas favorite activities include Origami, playing on her Kindle Fire, and spending time with her family.

Identify a behavior or an academic skill that you would focus on to help this child be more successful at school. (Some suggestions are: staying in seat, developing social skills, completing assignments, anger issues, more challenging assignments and/or instruction, etc.) (10 pts) The focus for Child A is that she needs help to develop her social skills. She also needs help to increase her ability to control her emotions, dealing with her anger and frustration. We also need to find a way to increase her focus and interest in the classroom.

Describe how you will use specific information collected from the three assessments listed above in a plan to help this student improve his/her behavior, make school more meaningful and successful and/or help this child to develop socially, intellectually, and/or emotionally. (The information collected might include: favorite foods, favorite school content areas, social skills or social settings, personal areas of interest such as animals, electronics, sports, countries other cultures, learning styles, etc.) (15 pts)

Through these assessments I have learned a lot of information about Child A that can potentially assist me in helping her to develop her social skills. o The first thing I could do with this child is to attempt to include her in more social activities. Theres no need to force this student into participating, but I can encourage her, and hopefully through curiosity, she may be willing to join in, It may also be beneficial to include Bella in a workshop on dealing with and controlling her emotions. We can also do more in the classroom between Bellas and her fellow classmates, as far as making and keeping friends, and strengthening their friendships. I would also attempt to help her find more interest in the classroom. I would like to include more things during the day to increase the likelihood that she would be interested, such as more individual reading time, Origami, and technology.

As the teacher in this classroom, I would provide scaffolding to Child A during lessons, group or individual work so that she will feel more successful and competent in the classroom. I will observe interactions between Child A and other students in the classroom to see who she gets along better with, and with whom she may need more social skill assistance. I will continue to track Child As progress.

Effective Writing (5 pts) Total Grade: ______/50

Teacher Notebook #2 Child B: Noah List the three assessments you administered to this child: (5 pts) Domain of Learning: Self-Management, Domain of Learning: Social and Emotional, and Interview Describe specific information you learned about this child through the three assessments identified above. (This might include areas of interest, learning styles, learning disabilities, distractions, physical disabilities, social skills, etc.)(15 pts) The first assessment that I administered to Child B, was the Domain of Learning: SelfManagement. I see from this assessment that Noah sometimes has to pull his behavior card for talking to his classmates or friends during class. I also saw that Noah sometimes has difficulties staying focused in class, paying attention, and concentrating on his class work. From this assessment, I see that his self-management skills are minor and not of such great concern. The second assessment that I administered to this student was the Domain of Learning: Social and Emotional. From this assessment, I see that Noah is pretty outgoing. He gets along with most of his classmates, and enjoys being included in social activities. He plays well with other students in the class, and displays sympathy and empathy appropriately. From this assessment, I see that there is little reason to have concern for his social and emotional skills. The last assessment I administered to this student, was an interview. I found out that Noah likes to play on his iPhone, he dislikes reading, and doesnt enjoy school too much. Noah expressed to me that he may enjoy school more if he had more opportunities to

work with manipulatives. Noah likes to be alone when he is upset or feels stressed out, and most often likes to play with his brothers at home.

Identify a behavior or an academic skill that you would focus on to help this child be more successful at school. (Some suggestions are: staying in seat, developing social skills, completing assignments, anger issues, more challenging assignments and/or instruction, etc.) (10 pts) My focus for Child B is to help him stay focused during class time, and to pay attention to the teacher or activity at hand.

Describe how you will use specific information collected from the three assessments listed above in a plan to help this student improve his/her behavior, make school more meaningful and successful and/or help this child to develop socially, intellectually, and/or emotionally. (The information collected might include: favorite foods, favorite school content areas, social skills or social settings, personal areas of interest such as animals, electronics, sports, countries other cultures, learning styles, etc.) (15 pts) I would first sit down with Noah, and discuss the issues that he is having in class. I would help him make an outline of these issues. Next, we would make goals for him to achieve on a daily basis, such as staying on task, completing assignments, and talking to friends at recess. I would have Noah discuss with me ways that he feels he could accomplish these goals, and we could write these down. We would also discuss some consequences for not adhering to working toward his goals, and have a weekly checkup on his behaviors during class.

Effective Writing (5 pts) Total: _____/50