Connor Wykstra

February 7, 2023

Today in class we read/listened to a case study title Not TIme for Stories. Think back to the case.
What was one of the biases or inequities? What is Ms. Ward’s perspective? What is DeQuan’s
perspective? What do you think would be an equitable or just outcome? If this was your
classroom or you were DeQuan, how would you want to move forward?

Your reflections should be about 150~200 words. When you have finished with your reflection,
share the document with mmoulton4@gmail.com. Make sure that the share settings allow me
editing privileges.

One of the biases/inequalities that I thought was probably the most important was the
displacement of Ms. Ward's personal problems. In my opinion, displacement of one's problems
isn’t a bias itself but it can lead to bias such as this one where it seems like Ms. Ward is targeting
a student of color. Now I am making an assumption that she is taking her personal life and
reflecting it in her work as a teacher. But I think the displacement of personal problems is
something very common because life just happens. Teachers such as Ms. Ward need to realize
that they can’t bring their personal issues into the classroom in that way.
Ms. Ward's perspective in this case study was that she was trying to start a discussion
about California and DaQuan went on a little tangent instead of getting to the point. But Ms.
Ward should know not everything goes as “scripted” in a classroom. Again she might be dealing
with other issues in her personal life or she actually might have a race/gender bias, who knows.
But DaQuan probably had a whole different perspective in the matter. He wanted to just share his
experience and be a good student but his opinion/input probably seemed like it didn’t matter.
Overall, if I had accidentally made this mistake as a teacher (still going off the
displacement of personal problems) I would let DeQuan know what is going on in my life and
that it wasn’t okay to not even listen to what he had to say.

February 13th and 16th, 2023

What happened this week? What surprised you? What are you left wondering about your
placement, the students, the school? After our discussions about Restorative Justice in class
Thursday, what sort of classroom management/discipline/positive learning environment
expectations and interactions did you witness? What do you want to carry over to your future
classroom?

Your reflections should be about 150~200 words. When you have finished with your reflection,
share the document with mmoulton4@gmail.com. Make sure that the share settings allow me
editing privileges.
Connor Wykstra

My first week in the classroom was very interesting. Something that really surprised me
was how bad the sportsmanship was by nearly every student. Mr. Janicki stated that it is because
most of them have never been a part of a team sport or just played sports together. This was
shocking because when I was a kid, all I ever did was play football and sport games with my
buddies. My parents also always made me play sports because they wanted me to learn life
lessons. I wonder why the majority of these students are involved in sports. Is it because of the
easier access to cell phones and video games? Or is it because sports add more time and money
that some families may not have.
I find the Restorative Justice practice to be very useful and effective. I could totally see
that working in my classrooms in some ways. The most useful thing about Restorative Justice in
my opinion is the hallway talks. It makes students accountable and figure out their own problems
rather than teachers doing it for them. I did see Mr. Janicki used it on February 16th when two
kids wouldn’t stop arguing over who won. It was effective and made them both stop since they
came to the conclusion of being too immature for how old they were.

February 28th, 2023

Principal Richey's Integrated Services presentation was A LOT of information. Copy the
following into your Teach Journal google doc and write a 150~250 word response.

What will be one of your roles as a classroom teacher related to integrated services?

How have you witnessed your mentor teacher interact with and support students needing
integrated services?

What do you feel prepared for?

What do you need more support with?

Your reflections should be about 150~200 words. When you have finished with your reflection,
share the document with mmoulton4@gmail.com. Make sure that the share settings allow me
editing privileges.

Principal Rickey’s talk was very enlightening and really helped me think about what I
would like my classroom to be like related to integrated services because it has always been a
huge question I have had. In my opinion, the most important role a teacher serves to integrated
services is making sure education is being accessed to all. That is the primary role of teachers
and I have seen so many that push off kids with IEPs to special ed teachers because that is “their
kids” not “the teachers.” My mentor teacher has interacted with one particular student with an
IEP multiple times. This kid in particular deals with an SED (serious emotional disability) and
Connor Wykstra

when he gets mad in P.E, my mentor teacher usually calls for help since this is his first year at
Boltz. After Principal Richey talked, I do feel prepared to deal with Power Struggles in a
classroom. I suck at confrontation most of the time and learning how to correctly deal with when
a kid may talk back really helped. I feel like I would need help or support with mandatory
reporting because I can be oblivious sometimes and if a kid told me something in confidentiality,
I would feel awful if I had to make it a big deal. I know it would be for a good reason but it still
would bug me.

February 28th, 2023

Reflection on outside school activity.

Boltz Wrestling Match. District Championships 3:30-5:30 PM

Your reflections should be about 150~200 words. When you have finished with your reflection,
share the document with mmoulton4@gmail.com. Make sure that the share settings allow me
editing privileges.

Going to an outside school activity is really important for the students. Even just asking
about their activities in the beginning of class or during can help build relationships and just a
good classroom culture overall because it shows a teacher cares. Since 6th grade boys can’t play
in the team sports offered at Boltz, a lot of them wrestle. So a majority of the boys that are in my
PE class wrestle for Boltz. It was fun to see them compete and do something they love outside of
school since not everything in PE is their favorite. I also found that it was also easier to talk to
these kids the next Thursday about their meet and grow a better connection after going. They
seemed to be pleased that I went and also seemed surprised. They were willing to be open overall
by talking about smack talking and what schools are the dirtiest to play.

March 28th, 2023

What was the objective your mentor was aiming for today?
How does your mentor share learning objectives (learning targets and success criteria) with their
students?
How did your mentor assess whether or not students accomplished the goal?
What was one activity or experience that the teacher planned to help lead students towards
success on the assessment?
How were the objectives, assessments, and activities all aligned?
Your reflections should be about 150~200 words. When you have finished with your reflection,
share the document with mmoulton4@gmail.com. Make sure that the share settings allow me
editing privileges.
Connor Wykstra

The main objective that Mr. Janicki was instilling in his class today was to help everyone
do their best on the push-up test. Last week he made them practice in different ways to meet their
main goal and potential for push-ups. This is how he shared his learning objectives for the
push-up test and he did it last week. After the actual test, Mr. Janicki assessed their push-ups by
having the partner of the person doing push-ups count and tell him how many they got. To help
the students be successful at the assessment, Mr. Janicki last week made them do a practice
where they each set a goal for every minute and then take a break for the remainder of the
minute. They would repeat this ten more times or for ten more minutes. Mr. Janicki made
everything very clear to the students so they would be able to reach their full potential in the
amount of push-ups they did. As early as last week, Mr. Janicki helped them practice and told
them what he wanted to see out of them.
*Didn’t do the badminton one because I thought it wasn’t followed well by the students
and Mr. Janicki didn’t tell my class about it.

April 22nd, 2023

Reflection on outside school activity.

Youth Camp Volunteer. CSU Football

Your reflections should be about 150~200 words. When you have finished with your reflection,
share the document with mmoulton4@gmail.com. Make sure that the share settings allow me
editing privileges.

I had the pleasure of working for the CSU football youth camp right after the spring game
on Saturday. This was to let the kids meet the players and play football with them. The kids were
also able to come onto the field and even get “swag” from the players. It overall was awesome
and the kids were so excited. We had about 15 different stations open. The station I was at with
the specialists was the kicking and punting station. The kids tried to punt it as far as they could
while getting tips from me and the punters. We also gave them the option to kick it while we held
it but I was terrified for my life since they might miss the ball and kick me in the you know what.
But I loved seeing them all excited and it really brought a sense of community to my mind while
watching the kids and players.

April 26th, 2023

Reflection on outside school activity.

Boltz Unified Basketball. 3:00-5:00 PM

Connor Wykstra

Your reflections should be about 150~200 words. When you have finished with your reflection,
share the document with mmoulton4@gmail.com. Make sure that the share settings allow me
editing privileges.

Today I attended the unified basketball game at Boltz as they took on Kenard. Two of the
kids I see everyday in class were playing so I wanted to go support them. Student 1 is one of
those kids who I have grown quite close to over this semester. He has severe autism and likes
everything to stay the same. So everyday in PE he needs to throw the football for ten minutes
and remind everyone of the rules. His favorite color is blue and he loves going speed eight on the
treadmill for two minutes. It just has been so fun getting to know him and he is just the sweetest
kid. I was happy to go watch him play basketball and he seemed to be having a blast while doing
it. Watching this game made me think about how each student has the right to an equal
education. Part of school is being on clubs or sports teams so I am happy to see Student 1 and the
other special ed students in my class getting a chance at equal education by participating in
outside the class activities.