Teaching Platform

Teaching Platform
Caleigh Baldwin
University of South Florida
EDE 4941

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Background Information on Myself

My name is Caleigh Baldwin and I am a junior at the University of South Florida.
Becoming a teacher has been my dream ever since I was a little girl. I always collected old
textbooks and classroom materials so that I could play teacher. My love for children and math
helped enhance my love of school. Former teachers have always been a major part of my life,
due to their passion for their students and for the course. My former teachers were always caring,
and constantly showed me that they cared about me. Another factor that helped influence me to
become a teacher has been my job experience. From being a summer camp counselor, to a nanny,
to a substitute teacher, I have had vast opportunities to work with children of all ages. Being a
substitute teacher has helped me become more comfortable in front of the classroom. I have
learned so much from each grade level I have substituted for. Being a camp counselor has taught
me about my management style, and how to organize activities. These experiences also helped
me to realize how much I love working with children because watching them grow and progress
is rewarding.

Background Information on My Context

To start my internship experience, I was assigned Wood Elementary (pseudonym). Wood
Elementary is an urban school based on the congested population size. There are currently 952
students enrolled, and that number is constantly expanding. Out of the 952 students, 78.15% are
Hispanic, 94% of the population is considered minority. Wood Elementary focuses on
maintaining a friendly, open environment for the staff and students. Guidelines such as PRIDE
(participate actively, respect, I will be safe, follow directions, everyone is responsible) and

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CHAMPS (conversation level, help, activity, movement, participation, success) are followed
school-wide. The schools mission statement is, we will empower all students to become
creative thinkers and respectful, responsible citizens.

Background on Your Class

I was place in a fourth grade, math and science classroom. My corresponding teacher has
an authoritative teaching style, but she hardly ever has to be strict because the students know the
expectations. The room is setup with a teacher desk, with electronics, upfront and a guided
reading table in the back. There is a row of five computers in the back of the room, next to the
back door. The walls are full of anchor charts that correspond with their lessons. The student
desks are arranged in groups of four or five, and the seating chart changes constantly. The
teacher encourages all the students to become friends, so she mixes the seating chart up all the
time. To promote participation, and even responsibility, she has class pets. Students who excel
during the week, and actively participate, can play with the animals and take care of them.
Students are also encouraged to expand their minds through experiments. Each morning, students
must observe their long-term investigations and track its progress. For example, they are
currently observing how plants grow. Respect is another huge factor that is transparent in the
learning environment. Accountable talk is practiced every single day. Instead of students
shouting out that another student is incorrect, they must say, I disagree with ____ because
_____. Student lead questioning, and self-discovery, is also widely used. When students present
their work, instead of the teacher asking questions, the other students must form their own
questions or comments. The classroom is a large family, and everyone is treated as such.

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Artifacts:

My Beliefs

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Having spent 13 years (plus three college years) in a classroom, I have very strong
opinions about teaching. I have always viewed education and teaching in a very positive way.
Most children did not enjoy going to school, I was the complete opposite. For me, school was
like my home. Because of this, I became very close to a lot of my teachers. I was able to view the
struggles they went through every day, constantly trying to find innovative ways for students to
learn. I believe classrooms should be a home-like, learning environment that is constantly
evolving. Teachers should be willing to adapt to their variety of students, and they should be able
to come up with engaging games and activities to encourage student learning. Just because
teachers are now in front of the classroom, doesnt mean they should stop learning as well. The
only way to better the students is to better yourself. Teachers should always believe in their
students. You never know if your belief is what encourages them to do their best work.
My second belief of what it means to be an effective teacher is all about classroom
management and my teaching style so far. My teaching style is a very teacher-centered approach.
Now this might change in time, but it has worked for me so far. The collaborative work between
me and my CT only enhances that belief. Being in a Title 1 school, most of the technique that
takes place in the classroom is modeling. Students hardly grasp concepts without them being
modeled first. Modeling also helps students learn for themselves, once they work on their own,
as opposed to the teacher spitting information out at them. As for my classroom management
belief, I think that classrooms should be structured and have very clear rules that need to be
followed. These rules need to be set in place, and discussed, on the first day so that students
understand the expectations. How teachers manage their classrooms is the foundation for
everything else. To help students want to follow the rules, rewards and punishments should be
implemented. To encourage good behavior, I would implement a paper money reward system.

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Students would receive fake money for acts of kindness, participation, and good behavior. At the
end of each week, they will be able to use their earned money to buy incentives at the class store.
Incentives would include computer time, sit in the teachers chair, write with a pen, etc. Fun,
interactive learning cannot happen without good behavior. These rules also set up how students
should act around their classmates, and even their teacher. Rules can build respect and make the
classroom a friendly community. Students need to feel comfortable in the classroom, rules can
help that. When students follow the rules, they feel comfortable because they know the
expectations. Being comfortable leads to them making friends in the classroom, and making
friends eventually leads to them being more engaged in class. Overall, how the classroom is
organized will decide the level of success for the students.
The third belief I developed is that poverty and life situations should not impact learning
in my classroom. My hope, and goal, is to not let these situations impact learning. It is my
responsibility to bring exciting experiences into the classroom and level the playing field for all
my students and their unique situations. All students deserve an equal education no matter what.
Students need to feel empowered, and as if their teachers are trying their hardest to give them
only the best information. Diversity needs to be acknowledged, but not in the sense that a student
receives less of an education because where they are from. No matter what happens at home,
students should be able to come to my classroom and have a fun learning experience. My
corresponding teacher helped me develop this belief, her students always come in with a happy
attitude, ready to learn. Sometimes the kids talk to us about problems going on at home and you
would never know because they place their learning above all else. This belief can also be
executed through growth mindset. The power of "yet" is very strong because it empowers

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students to reach their highest potential. Students in the classroom never say that they do not
understand, they say that they do not understand yet.

Shifts and Expansion of My Beliefs

Originally, I believed that teachers should be willing to adapt to their variety of students,
and they should be able to come up with engaging games and activities to encourage student
learning. My internship has only furthered this belief. I have noticed that students tend to
remember lessons better when the lesson was fun, like a game or experiment. For example, I
taught a lesson on speed. I gave the students information on speed and how it is measured, but
they did not grasp the concept. Then, I allowed them to make a book ramp and let a toy car roll
down that ramp, and they calculated the speed. After this experiment, students were able to tell
me what factors effected the speed of the car.
Also, being in a Title 1 school, there are many English Language Learners in the
classroom and I have had to cater my lessons to their abilities. Before this semester, I did not
think of ways to engage every learner because I believed every student should be held to the
same standard. Now, I believe students should be given the proper tools to succeed, even if that
means making accommodations to assignments. A pivotal moment that helped me realize this is
when my corresponding teacher told me how she accommodated her English Language Learning
students. She goes through every benchmark test before she administers them, and edits it. One
of the ways she will edit the test is to put less word problems and more multiple choice. This
accommodation helps ELL students because if they cannot read English, how are they going to
pass their math test that has long word problems? The new test will still successfully test the
students on the material, but it will be more accurate in showing their abilities.

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One of my beliefs that has shifted is how I view reward systems. Initially, I thought that
students should be rewarded for anything good they do, and be rewarded with physical things
such as candy or prizes. Now, from being in my intern classroom, I have learned that rewarding
students with praise or incentives is more productive, and the students respond to that better.
Saying good work or Im proud of you boosts the students confidence more than a piece of
candy. My corresponding teacher uses praise every day. One incentive she uses is the class pets.
Students are rewarded by being able to play with the bunnies or even feed them.
To go along with FEAP 5e, engages in targeted professional growth opportunities and
reflective practices, professional growth and reflective practices is done best through evaluations.
Evaluation sheets allow me to see what I did well, and what I can improve on so that my next
lesson is even better. Having a teacher, or supervisor, give you feedback is essential because they
have more experience and can tell you where you can improve. Usually I do not like feedback
because it makes me nervous, but I have learned to accept it and grow from it because feedback
is vital in order to become a great teacher.

Felt Tensions/ Ongoing Wonderings

Majority of the tensions that I have come about this semester. Communicating with
English Language Learning (ELL) students was a struggle for me because I only speak English. I
like being able to communicate with students one on one, so having to go through a student
translator was difficult. Finding new ways to communicate with ELL students is essential to my
future success. As I further my education, and move into level two, I would like to learn more
about ESOL strategies. Another tension that I have encountered is establishing my teacher
presence. I feel like this is something that develops through experience, and becoming

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comfortable in front of your class. In the beginning of the semester, I struggled more in this area.
I believe that I have improved a little, however, I still have a long way to go. Entering level two
of my internship, I would love to learn ways to improve my teacher presence. Are there certain
techniques I can use? Is it just something that comes to teachers naturally? As I move into my
level two field experience, I continue to wonder about how to improve my presence, and how I
can learn more teaching strategies in the field.

Conclusion
The education field is constantly evolving, causing teachers to research new
advancements that they can incorporate into their classrooms. Teachers are not done learning
once they start their careers, they must constantly adapt to their diverse classrooms every single
year catering to those students needs. My beliefs represent this complex nature of teaching and
learning. My first belief stated that teachers should adapt their lessons for their students. In order
to engage students, they need to learn the material in their own individualized way. This means
that teachers should adapt to suite all learner needs; such as visual, verbal, or kinesthetic. My
second belief also follows along with this idea, because being able to accommodate or
communicate with English Language Learners can be difficult, but vital to helping them receive
the best education possible.
My third belief clearly describes my consideration of the moral and ethical implications
of my ideas and actions as they relate to issues of justice and equity. I believe that personal
situations should not impact a students learning. All students deserve an equal education, no
matter what. Educators need to hold every student to the same standard, as to ensure the highest
level of success possible. Teachers can take many steps to establish classroom equality. The first

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step is to form one set of classroom rules that should be followed by each student, setting clear
expectations for the entire classroom. Another step to secure equity in the classroom is to make
sure you are not giving special treatment to certain students. Adding accommodations for
struggling students is another way to make the classroom equal because the accommodations
will allow the students to meet state standards at their own academic level. Justice and equity are
essential in the classroom, and it is my job as an educator to represent these ideas in my
classroom.
Growing as an educator is an integral part of my future career. Self-evaluations and peerevaluations are the best ways for continued growth. As an intern, after each of my lessons, I
constantly reflect on what I need to do better next time. I also reflect on what I feel I did great
during the lesson so that I can incorporate that aspect more throughout other lessons. Having
peer feedback is another tool I have used to grow because receiving notes from someone elses
point of view can be extremely valuable. Researching new techniques and material could be
another way to become a better educator. Learning about new techniques to teach will help you
find new ways to engage your students, ensuring more success in the classroom. Team meetings
are also set in place for teachers to further advance in their field. Collaborating with fellow
teachers who share the same struggles and experiences is beneficial. Continued growth is
important as an educator because it is easy to get left behind and struggle in this field.