Running head: SERVICE LEARNING REFLECTIVE SUMMARY

Service Learning Reflective Summary

Lauren Allen

SERVICE LEARNING REFLECTIVE SUMMARY

Ivy Tech Community CollegeName of Artifact: Service Learning Reflective Summary

Date: December 2015
Course: EDUC 101: Introduction to Education
Brief Description:
This was a paper I wrote to summarize my experience in an urban second grade
classroom and the knowledge, skills, and dispositions I learned in order to be successful
as a future teacher. I also was able to reflect upon my strengths and areas for
improvement, in respect to being an education major and a future educator.
Rationale:
To document my understanding of Professional Learning and Collaboration, I
have selected to include my Service Learning Reflective Summary. By writing this paper
and having had experience in the classroom of an experienced teacher, I was able to
observe responsibility for student learning and I had some opportunities to collaborate
with students and other school professional to enhance my growth as a future teacher.
Service Learning Reflective Summary
Fox Hill Elementary School serves students in Washington Township who live in
the Meridian Hills, Crows Nest, Rocky Ripple, and Spring Hill neighborhoods. The 806
students that attend Fox Hill are in Kindergarten-Fifth Grade. 75.1% of Fox Hill
students (605) receive free lunch. 6.6% (53 students) receive reduced price lunch and
18.4% (148 students) pay full price for their lunch. A majority of students (52.2%, 421)
are black, with the next highest student population being Hispanic (24.6%, 198 students).
White students make up 15.5% of the population (125 students). Multiracial students
(6.7%, 54 students) are a minority population at Fox Hill. 1.0% % (8 students) of Fox
Hill students are Asian. Most students are part of mainstream classrooms. Special
Education learners make up 14.3% (115 students) of students. English speakers are the
majority of students. 23.2% (187 students) are English Language Learners. In the 20132014 school year, 63.0% (233 students) passed the ISTEP+ test. During this semester I

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have spent time in Mrs. Amandas Pitzeles classroom with her twenty second grade
students.
Diversity has affected the learning and general accomplishments of the students in
the class I observed in many ways. There are many different cultures, ethnicities, and
languages represented in Amandas classroom, it affects each student and family
differently. The students are very open minded to new cultures, religions, and traditions
that are shared. They enjoy learning about other countries that their classmates are from
and trying out some of those customs. During our semester, we wrote I am From
poems and that activity opened my mind to how similar and different I am from the
students I worked with. I especially associate diversity with this class, even though there
are many similarities overall, they show those similarities in many different ways through
their personalities.
According to Classrooms that were once populated with white students, black
students, and perhaps with a few other cultural identities are now filled with students of
many races and ethnicities. Along with this diversity come more and more students
whose first language is not Englishthe trend of white students comprising diminishing
percentages, with black and Asian percentages remaining relatively stable and the
Hispanic percentage steadily increasing. (Student Similarities and Differences 68) The
students I worked with this semester represented a wide variety of cultures and
backgrounds. I feel like this group represents diversity in the twenty first century and are
a reflection of our current education system.
I observed that several Hispanic students take school more seriously because they
are grateful to be living in the United States and have the opportunity to go to school and

SERVICE LEARNING REFLECTIVE SUMMARY

have jobs. For families living just above or at the poverty line it is more difficult to be
involved in their students education, as the parents are often working multiple jobs to put
food on the table. It also means that the parents are rarely available to come into the
classroom for conferences or school activities. Most students do not have reliable Internet
access, so the homework assigned is worksheets that reinforce the skill practice learned
that day. It also affects student learning because Amandas classroom management
system is ClassDojo. ClassDojo requires that parents use the Internet to see the points
that have been earned and taken away for their student.
During my experience observing in a classroom these are the things I would
accept and would use in my own classroom. Amanda has made sure the students are
getting the reading and English Language Arts education her students need by not
teaching this subject whole group. She has her students rotate between different centers,
one of which is small group with her. By organizing her lessons this way she is able to
meet with students every day and monitor individual progress more closely. Amanda
teaches phonics through music and movement. I think that having a physical place for
students to go to when thinking about their learning increases their long-term memory
for that knowledge. She also has several sayings for the process of her students learning
(ex: Every sentence in the whole wide world begins with a capital letter). By creating
routines for her students processes I believe they are more likely to retain that
information. I am still able to recite several songs and phrases from when I was a second
grade student. After students eat breakfast every morning they have a Morning Meeting
where they are able to discuss concerns about the procedures and community in their
classroom. When the students understand each other and are able to share their feelings

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and ideas, it creates a closer-knit class. The idea is that because students have a platform
to share without taking time out of instruction that there are less behavior issues.
After only a few sessions, it became apparent to me that Amanda is a punitive
teacher. I reject her style of classroom management. I heard her say, Get out of my
classroom, several times. I feel that by addressing the classroom as belonging to the
teacher that it takes away ownership of the room from the students. She seemed to only
remind her students of her expectations for them during Morning Meeting. If I was
teaching seven and eight year-olds, I would remind them more frequently what my
expectations of them are. When a student was being whiny, I feel like she dismissed it
as misbehavior, instead of figuring out the root of the behavior.
I would refine Amandas system for teaching English and Language Arts. The set
up in her classroom has her students rotating between different centers that each focus on
a skill. What I observed with her students was confusion about where they were supposed
to be and transitions that took a very long time. I would modify her system by creating a
chart or wheel that displayed the centers and which students needed to be in which center.
I would also give the students a choice between two centers and have them move fluidly
between them. This would eliminate time wasted by transitioning.
This connects with what has been addressed and discussed in EDUC 101 because
according to the National Education Association, A teacher candidate must master
certain knowledge to be considered a profession-ready teacher such as, subject matter
content knowledge, pedagogical content knowledge, classroom-based performance
assessment, and recommendations. This fits in with the learning we did this semester
because we have discussed the subject matter a teacher needs to possess: academic,

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character education, and an understanding of the population where they teach, as well as
developmentally appropriate pedagogy, the state of standardized testing, and the
importance of professional conduct and building connections with teachers, schools, and
school districts.
The skills I have observed I that believe to be strong as they relate to the
education profession are patience, an understanding that learning begins with the
relationships both between all of my students and their relationship with me, a
willingness to seek out other ways of teaching a topic, and an enthusiasm for the subjects
I will teach. The skills and mindsets I feel I need to further develop are time management
and not letting an experience, a student, parent, etc. allow me to become reclusive in my
classroom. I selected these areas of strength and growth because I feel like I was calm
enough to explain to the students what behavior I wanted to see during small group and I
practiced modeling the expected behavior in the classroom. Through out my experience
in service learning, I wanted to make connections with these students and I have read
literature that supports less behavior issues when students trust and have a positive
relationship with their teacher. I understand that not every student will learn and
understand a concept in the same way. I want to be able to explain a topic in more than
one way to accommodate the different learning styles in my classroom. As a future
educator, I feel like I have power to impact my students learning by how I present myself
and my attitude toward the lessons I will be teaching. I am an aspiring elementary
school teacher and I will be teaching and planning for five subjects. I know that I will
have multiple projects, lessons, assessments, and more at the same time. I need to be able
to be prepared for everything in my classroom to maintain professionalism. When

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dealing with a stressful situation, whether it is a student, a parent, a lesson, or anything

else, I need to be the one in control. I want to model the type of behavior for my students
that I want to see, which means being able to handle stressful situations. Also, I want to
instill parents confidence in me as a teacher, that being said I know every parent will
have constructive criticism about me and/or my teaching style.
My experience in a second grade classroom was very eye opening, because of the
population of students I worked with and what I observed about teaching. Prior to this
experience, I had not worked with students in a high needs school. I learned that my
presence has an impact on the students attitudes; a student had written me a letter and
told me that I make everybody feel good. Students eyes are always on you, whether you
realize it or not. As an education major, I feel I need to continue to build a strong
foundation and work on balance of projects. I do feel that my ability to balance has
improved from last semester. I feel like I grew a lot as an aspiring teacher this semester.
When I was explaining concepts to students, I did not feel I was able to increase their
understanding most of the time. This experience has taught me to come at a topic,
subject, or lesson with many different ideas and to try multiple ways of teaching
something until I find out what works for my students. I feel that by not having the
answers most of the time I was and will be able to lean more than if I solely modeled the
teacher and felt like I did everything perfectly.

References
IDOE:Compass.(n.d.).RetrievedDecember9,2015,from
http://compass.doe.in.gov/dashboard/overview.aspx?type=school&id=5436

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Powell,S.(2011).StudentSimilaritiesandDifferences.InYourIntroductionto
Education(2nded.,p.68).Sams.