Elise Doyle

Critical Analysis

I valued a variety of things in each of my reflections. The reflections I chose to analyze

were my College School reflection, my Principia school reflection, and my week one of my

internship reflection. I chose each of these because they were pretty spread out throughout the

semester and I wanted to see the changes throughout each one. There was an overarching

theme of diversity, classroom/school dynamic, and theories we learned about in ed block being

applied into the schools being noted. The aspect consistently not mentioned, nor thought

about was the students who needed more rigor from their class/the “gifted” students.

My college school reflection was relatively short. The values I focused on were diversity,

constructive guidance, teacher-student relationship, behavior management, and the teaching

style/techniques. These values are reinforced by the school itself. I questioned the lack of

diversity, as it was something they claimed to focus on. Diversity means a lot to me because I

want education accessible to children from all backgrounds. I noticed the constructive guidance

because that is what I have always been taught as the best way of correcting a child. The

student-teacher relationship I noted because in my personal experience, that effected how well

I learned. I noted the teaching style because it was so different to what I had seen in public

schools, and the change gave a more positive feel to the environment. I tended to assume that

this school was very preppy and privileged. Another thing I remember taking note on and

judging was the fact that most of the teachers were wearing Chacos and enjoyed being called

by their first names. I thought it was unprofessional and was very biased towards the fact that it

was a private school due to my predetermined notions of private schools since they are

expensive. I should have focused on the students more in the reflection.

 Elise Doyle

Critical Analysis
I was also biased with the Principia school. I tried to tone it down a lot as I noticed these

previous biases in my last school reflection. The values I noted in my Principia reflection were

the administration and the student relationship, the uniformity of instruction/needs of

students, styles of teaching, honesty, privilege, and the feeling of being in that environment. I

questioned the tense environment and uniformity the most because of the interactions I

witnessed between the principal and a student. It just appeared formal, cookie cutter and

uniform. I value this because I believe students should be able to express themselves rather

than be the way an authority figure expects them to be. As for where the value came from, the

Principia wanted to be better than the rest so it is administration’s values. I didn’t talk about

diversity as much here, nor students who may struggle in school and need different educational

plans.

My week one internship reflection was the longest out of the three that I analyzed. The

values I noted were the different theories appearing in the classroom, how kids were reacting

to teaching and behaving, the schedule kids were on, how the teacher taught, and diversity. I

focused the most on how children were reacting to being taught. They are what have most

importance. So I also took note on the things effecting them the most from classroom content

to the theories I felt benefitted them. I questioned the lack of diversity and the kids who were

struggling with focus. I wondered what could help them focus better. What else could the

teacher be doing? I would usually give kids the benefit of the doubt and assume that an issue

was either home-life based or because they were not engaged with what they were learning,

which was on the teacher. The people I miss out on are the students who don’t talk much and
 Elise Doyle

Critical Analysis
get their work done efficiently and don’t necessarily speak out. I also miss out on the students

who aren’t challenge by their work and may need more rigor and don’t ask for it.

The themes across all of my reflections are the search for diversity (specifically in

income/opportunity), student-teacher relationships/how behavior is handled, and classroom

content/theories we learned about recognized in the classroom. There is an overarching focus

on what kids are learning and how each student’s different needs are being met. If there is a

lack of variation or adaption to what students needed or a strong sense of uniformity, I tended

to dislike that. I would also dislike any time there was a lack of diversity because I want all kids

included. The reflections truly showed what I value most in a classroom. I noticed over time

that my reflections became more passionate and detailed. I believe this is because I knew more

of what to analyze, but I also had the knowledge to back up what I was noticing. I was most

surprised on my lack of asking about the kids who need more rigor. I was labeled as a “gifted”

student growing up. This meant that I was always going into classes that were “more

challenging.” At the time of being a student it was all I cared about, even in my early days as an

educator. To have it go from one of my most valued things, to one that I forget to even mention

is very interesting.

In the future, I will pay more attention to the students in need of more rigor. Some

identifiable behaviors to look out for could be finishing work early and just sitting around, the

students who may be messing around I will have a conversation to see if the need of more rigor

may be why, and incorporating challenge into my lessons for those who need it. This does not

mean busy work for the kids who finish.

 Elise Doyle

Critical Analysis