Brooke Spear

Reflection 1:
To ensure respectful behavior my co-op has put in place a couple of behavior
management strategies. The first being color cubes. Each student starts with a stick of five
different colored cubes. When students are breaking classroom rules, they get one of these cubes
taken away by the teacher and put into a bucket. These renew everyday depending on the
misbehavior and its frequency. I have been encouraged to use this to manage classroom
behaviors. So far, I haven’t taken any away, although it has been closed.
My co-op also isn’t afraid to call a student out, to wait and give them reproof when
needed. I have observed her do reprimand a student for bad behavior or even when students are
clearly not listening. When students are not being respectful, she will let them know. This has
worked for her classroom. The students respect and love her, and they are growing an awareness
of their behaviors and of forgiveness. There are students that will go to the teacher and apologize
for their behavior or ask if they have lost recess time. I am encouraged to be firm with students
when necessary. Sometimes it is hard for me to look a student straight in the eye and reinforce
them of respect, but I have grown to see the importance and value of this. This tells both the
individual student and the rest of the class that you are serious about respect and respecting one
another.
There is one student who is has ASD and in fully integrated into the classroom. The
student performs well academically but misses some social cues sometimes. He gets the same
treatment as everyone else. He is very aware of his actions but seems to have a hard time
controlling them. Sometimes he will giggle randomly, speak loudly when entering the room or
speaking to a neighbor, and often is fixated on things of interest (football, jokes, pencil
sharpness, etc.). He is reminded of his behavior just like everyone else and he self-corrects. He is
also not afraid to ask if he missed recess time or got a cube taken away. He tends to do this when
has had a day with frequent interruptions. Therefore, he is aware and is learning to improve. He
is not discriminated against and is included in all classroom activities. There will be difficulties
with partner work sometimes, but overall, he loves people and knows has needs to improve his
social skills.
As for cooperative learning, the students tend to learn mostly by explicit instruction and
then a worksheet of some sort. There are a lot of whole class discussions and carpet discussion in
this classroom. They do peer assessment when they review for spelling tests. Although it has
been almost three weeks, I still haven’t seen what a normal day for this class looks like. There
has been a lot of MAP testing and various DIBELS testing that have broken up the schedule. So
maybe there is more cooperative learning and grouping going on when they have a more normal
schedule. The lessons I have taught have been short, so I have integrated much group work in for
the students.
The students use their iPads mostly for assessments they have been taking or if there are
FID days. Most of the time the teacher uses the iPad and project to get through lessons. Other
than that, the students don’t interact with their iPads often in school but are very hands on and
involved in a discussion-oriented classroom.
 I haven’t witnessed too many teacher-student conferences. In the beginning of the day
there is small group and one-to-one assistant time that the teacher uses to meet with students to
work on their weak areas. There have also been times where the teacher has met with a student
outside of the classroom for disciplinary reasons. Other than that, this classroom doesn’t have too
many teacher-student conferences.
This classroom is all about safety and respect. If students are not walking or they aren’t
transitioning from the carpet to their desk in a safe manner, the teacher has them do it gain the
“Warrior Way”. The school’s motto is Be Ready, Be Respectful, Be Responsible. Last Friday and
this past Monday they had rotations for the first hour of school where they reviewed what the
“Warrior Way” looks like in all areas of the school. We reviewed correct behaviors in the
cafeteria, hallway, playground, bus and office/nurse office. The teachers implement this well in
the classrooms and hallways. They hold up three fingers and say red. This means no talking
immediately. Then there are yellow voices and green voices reserved for in the cafeteria and the
playground.

Reflection 2:
The most current behavior problem in class is a select few students who call out and are
very testy. What I mean by this is, know that I like to have fun and I am new at teaching so, they
like to push boundaries and break known class rules. Therefore, I must be routine and not let
things go. I have been practicing having a short leash with all the students. I set forth
expectations and reminders of the correct behavior before the lesson and the day begins. I also
know the consequences when these rules are broken. I have to work on always pulling through
with these consequences. Lately, I have been quite serious. I have taken away cubes and called
students out in class, both with subtle name dropping and explicit question asking and reprimand.
Today the students were getting a bit out of hand when walking back to the carpet. The were loud
and complaining about sitting and doing schoolwork. So once they sat down, i looked at all of
them with a serious look and said, “This is not how we cime back to the carpet and we should
not be complaining about the learning we need to do. Everyone go back to your desks and stand
there until I say come back. And then come back to the carpet quietly and respectfully.” The
students did this and did it well.
Individual progress is shared by verbal praise and intentional approval of correction. The
students respond well when you notice their good behavior. For example, when a student is
calling out, I remind them we need to raise our hand and listen to the person that is currently
talking. When some time passes and the student shows patience and a quiet hand, call on them
and thank them for having patience or for waiting quietly.
When I am teaching a lesson, I try to further encourage participation when students have made
mistakes or are unsure. When I teach a lesson, I try to encourage participation when students
make mistakes or are unsure. This classroom does not struggle with participation. Our area of
practice is having self-control and being able to be patient. I help to practice patience and self-
control by not always calling on students immediately. I thank them for their eagerness to share,
but we can always talk at recess.
Reflection 3
The process I use to plan my daily lessons looks relatively redundant. As of right now I
have been teaching ELA lessons. My co-op gave me copies of their curriculum and we discussed
which lessons I could pick up. So, I start by looking through this curriculum to see what the
students are expected to know and what they should learn by the end of the lesson. There have
been a couple of review lessons and a couple of lessons where the students have been introduced
to new concepts.
I remember introducing students to contractions. How to write them and how to say them.
As I was teaching through the lesson, I had planned for informally assessing the students by
giving them two words to contract and them showing me their results on the whiteboard. There
were a handful of students that put the apostrophe in the wrong place or just put the two words
together. Something I didn’t plan for was necessarily addressing each of those misconceptions.
On my feet I thought it was well worth writing each of the misconceptions on my board and then
walking through how each of was not quite right. This helped the students clear up their
misconceptions and by the end of the lesson most of the students could be given two words and
write the correct contraction.
Usually, for students you need extra time or extra assistance, I plan for them to be a small
group with me. When students need time, I usually give that time and have enrichment activities
for the rest of the students. I usually try to build into the lesson time for struggling students, but
also extra content for students who finish early.
I have been utilizing technology mostly in two ways. The first being to help me instruct, I
will project the page we are working through on the board as a visual aid or to enlarge a book I
want them to see more clearly. The second has been to show videos of a topic we are learning
about. For example, we have been learning about different zoo animals, so each day I had a
video of a chimp or mandrill to get a real picture of what these creatures not only looked like, but
how they moved and sounded. The students seemed to really enjoy this, and it brought what they
were reading to life. For Groundhogs' Day my co-op helped me find a news broadcast of the
Punxsutawney Phil. The students roared over this! I would like to one day have the students
create something on their iPads, to not stay solely consumers of their technology.

Reflection 4:
I usually use the PA. Standards as a guideline for the lessons' level of difficulty. Some
standards are ambiguous and basic, so this gives room for creativity and teacher discretion for
how this topic/ standard can be taught. I try to have my objectives that match or are related to the
PA Standards. I use modifications and enrichments in my lesson to meet these standards. I also
use previous lessons with my students to choose a standard above or below grade level, along
with the on-grade level standard. To be honest, I haven't pondered on the PDE website as much
as the SAS website so, I haven't made many connections to them.
As I plan instruction, I think about how I can accurately assess their progress and
comprehension. Based on my objective, I plan on what I want my students to know, how the
content will be made accessible to them and then how I will assess their comprehension of the
content. There are various types of assessment depending on the content and student knowledge.
If I am introducing a topic, I will practice a more explicit set of instructions and a more
informative assessment. As we progress in the content the assessment becomes more formative
and eventually summative.
Primarily, I use the data from my students work and use that to guide my planning and
instruction. Then I speak with my co-op and other teachers to talk about more of student
capability, rather than using online scores. There are recorded DIBELS testing and other
summative assessments that I have discussed with teachers about, but students just don;t stay
there. For example, there are at least two students that had low or scattered DIBELS scores and
now they have made such progress based on the work my co-op has done with the students. They
still need some modifications, but their capabilities are above their testing. I have had to discuss
with my co-op and use the assessments that I must determine what is appropriate in my planning
and instruction.

Reflection 5:
One of my greatest challenges with my students has been my ability to behavior management.
Initially it was hard for me to be stern and consistent with my behavior management. I was good
at ignoring some behaviors, but not fully addressing the ones that I needed to. For example, I
would give warnings to students and be serious, but it took me a lesson or two to follow through
with the warnings I gave. Students would test how much they could call out or not be engaged in
some lessons, others would just not follow my directions. So, I confided in my co-op for
strategies that she uses with her students at the beginning of the year and throughout her
experience. This has made a huge difference. I began to get easily frustrated and agitated with a
few of my consistent misbehavior students. My first strategy was to surrender them to the Lord
first. I realized that I have not been praying for my students or surrendering my emotions to the
Lord. I was starting to take it personally and forgotten what it looks like to be loving and
gracious to my students. I was particularly mean to them, but I was growing a habit of heart and
procedure. I wouldn’t encourage my students as often. So going to church, scripture and praying
has help me truly recenter.
This has helped my plan more intentionally as well! For those students who need extra
help I make specific modifications and accommodations for all of my students. I have also taken
the opportunity to use one-to-one time with students during that morning intervention and small
group time. I also have checked more often for understanding during instruction. Keeping the
students in mind has helped me to discern how I group the students. Depending on the activity i
will put students who are lower students with students that perform a bit higher than the other. I
also keep in mind how students work with each other. Social problems are not as prevalent in
first grade, but there are students who like to play. There’s also time where I group the lower-
level students and work with them while other students work in pairs. The students enjoy group
or partner work, so I consider this option often when planning lessons.
 Reflection 6:
As the designer of my classroom’s instruction, I take student feedback very seriously.
This feedback looks like asking the students about what they liked about the lesson, observing
their engagement through the lessons, and viewing their grades. The students are open and
express what they like. Students ask if they are performing a specific task like partner reading or
partner work. Students love doing partner work and they find it helpful. For most students this is
true. So, in each lesson I try to have them do partner work or reflection. This can look like
partner reading, turn and talks or even partner studying.
I also keep their interest in minds or relevant experiences in mind. For example, in math
there are a bunch of practice word problems where I use their classmates' names and how each of
them sharpens their pencil. This little detail of interest or relevance added to a story problem
engages the students that tend to get bored or distracted easily. With this I keep track of student
work that reflects understanding or those that don’t.
In first grade, we do many explicit directions and modeling to help students understand
expectations. This looks like talking about behavioral expectations at the beginning of the day. I
also have students repeat expectations for procedures in the classroom. This looks like directions
for a worksheet or even expectations for “next steps” in the classroom.
My feedback for students depends on what we are assessing. This can look like giving
graded work back with more than just a star. Students can read, so I mark what they can do better
or something I appreciate about their work. There is also a small group/ intervention time during
the morning where students and I work to improve academics one-to-one. I also give explicit
verbal praise and reprimand for behavior. There have been a couple of times where I have had
student conferences to discuss behavior and how they can improve their behavior. I have also
given stickers as positive reinforcement when students are doing independent work quietly and
diligently.
Special Education Placement
Reflection 1b:
My co-operating teacher has formed a classroom where manners and love are practiced
often. When students walk in you greet them and then ask to give them a hug. The classroom has
kindergarten and second graders working on life skills and academics. One of the things we the
teacher reinforces in asking permission for things, especially physical touch. Therefore,
modeling how to show affection in this setting toward school friends has helped form a well-
behaved environment where boundaries are respected. One of the ways that I have conducted a
level of respect is to not play with students as much as I would like to. For example, in their
recess time or free time I have helped them play and have shown them appropriate attention, but
in the early stages I have tried to not play in such a way where it seems like I am a friend and not
a teacher. I have been working on creating a level of respect as the friendly teacher, not the
teacher who is my friend. Especially in special education, I feel like this has helped me control
some tough behaviors and work on compliance with my students. That said, I still take time to
build relationships with students. Whether this is pulling them to do fun schoolwork, watch a
video with them, or read them a story. This has grown an affection and respect between the
students and I. My co-op does these things as well. As I have been observing these rituals that
she does with the students, I have done my best to build relationships, respect and trust between
the students and myself, based on the advice and modeling of my co-op.
As for non-instructional routine for the students to participate in, are few. There are times
for some student to reset the clip chart in the classroom as one of the classroom helpers, but it is
an unofficial job. The students are learning how to be more responsible and independent by
following directions and remembering them so that future task don’t need to be as explicitly
directed. For example, when students participate in specific small groups, they need specific
tools, so when they enter my small group, they know that they need their toolboxes. So we have
been slowly building up that routine. When we are finished working, if the students have
complied and completed their work well, they get to clip up. On their way to do so, they know to
hand me their work, put a away their toolboxes, go clip up and return to their seats. This routine
and time together have built relationships, trust and respect between me and the student I work
with in small groups.
In this classroom there are two students who have ACD’s for their use of communication.
I think that helping them navigate this and giving them opportunities to practice using their
“talker” also helps students build respect for me and independence for themselves. Technology is
used in major ways such as ACD’s, but iPads are used as brain break tools and academics. When
there is an alotted time, the students are given a choice of a quiet activity. This can look like
playing on their iPad, completing an AR test (for reading goals) or playing with play dough at
their desk. This gives the students a way to use technology in a way they see fit for them and
gives the teacher an opportunity to reinforce work completion.
Overall, in this classroom students are being instructed to do almost every task they are
given throughout the day. The students know the rules and routines but need constant reminding
due either to their disability or their defiant behavior. For safety and movement, the students are
given instructions on where to line up, when to go to the bathroom and reminders of the state of
our bodies. The teachers do a lot of reminding of calm bodies, kind words, walking feet and
respect. When these rules aren’t followed the students are given a stern reminder. If there is a
severe defiance or behavior, some student-to-teacher conferences occur. Some students can have
meltdowns pretty easily. Some students get very emotional and yell comments and phrases that
express irrational emotions, like “I hate you”, “You don’t love me”, “You don’t care about me,
you just want me to starve to death”. Others can get defined at and physically, where they are put
in a corner with a time to cool down. After the student has cooled down, in both situations, the
teacher often sits down and talks with that student to remind them of reality, their behavior and
how they should act going forward. They are given time to think and defuse their emotions so
that other students or teachers don’t trigger another behavior. While the student is in a state of
high emotion, the teacher either tells them, “I love you, but I will not have you yell at me or
others. That is unkind. So, when you calm down, I will come and talk to you.” For the more
physical scenario, the teacher will stand there and remind the student in a stern voice, “We do not
hit people and you will not hit me. You are to sit here until you all down are ready to talk. When
this timer goes off, I will talk to you.” These are the types of student-teacher conferences in this
classroom. For less severe behavior the students get reprimanded in the moment. In this
classroom there is always encouragement and reminders of student capability. Without it, I
personally think the students would care and they wouldn’t feel worthy. AS educators, and
especially as Christian educators, we must remind the students of their gifts, even if they don’t
understand who they are from and the beauty of our creator. We are responsible for reminding
them of God’s goodness, even if that means reprimanding and reinforcing them later.

Reflection 2b:
I think the most common behavior problems in this classroom in defiance and direction
following. The solution is to try and proactively reward and reinforce good behavior and
direction following. One of the primary ways is clipping up on the clip chart that is in the
classroom. If students end the day on pink, they get a prize out of the prize basic before
dismissal. As we are working, the teacher often is the student's biggest cheerleader. She appears
super impressed with the students' successes and congratulates them all the time. Give high-fives
and what we call “Peter Paul kisses” (a gentle hand to the forehead), encourages students to
continue working hard. This is usually effective, but there is always one student who struggles
with doing task she doesn’t want to do, or students who have low work tolerance, so they get
discouraged and whiney, and lastly students who just get super distracted. When it comes to
students capable of the work and aren’t doing it or their behaviors are worse than usual, there is
also the consequence of clipping down. These students are really motivated by the clip chart so
clipping down is a huge deal to them, along with getting that clip on pink.
When students have made progress and achieved the day's work, we share their achievements by
telling and showing them what they did in that moment. Sometimes, students get so consumed
with getting it done that they don’t think about what they achieved. So, we must slow down and
talk through it. It is also hard for these students to realize and track their own learning successes,
so it is vital that we continue to update them. When crafts are completed, which is often for the
students who need work on their fine motor skills, their work is celebrated and cherished by
having it up in the halls, in the windows and throughout the classroom.

Reflection 3b:
Planning for each day can be tricky, but I have learned you cannot over complicate the
process. The most important thing is to recall the students’ abilities. I have scanned student's
IEPs to see their SDI’s when thinking about accommodations for each student. I primarily refer
to the notes that I took from the previous week about students' attitudes and academics, along
with advice from teachers and paras that work with the students.
As we go through each lesson I note down if students are successfully completing the
assessments. The lesson as of right now consists of learning CVC words and digraphs, so there
have been many misconceptions that the student has been making. Some have difficulty
identifying letters, we are constantly reviewing our phonics skills and adding on to them. Soon I
will be teaching subtraction to students, and we will then I think there will be more room to
analyze some misconceptions. As for anticipating misconceptions, I will make lessons that start
with the very basic concept of subtraction as “taking away”. Then we will introduce vocab and
equations slowly. As we introduce these, I will use strategic assessments to identify student's
misconceptions. With these students especially, creating assessment that assess one area of
academics at a time in an informal has been the most helpful in identifying what they don’t
understand and addressing and taking note of it in that moment to help them student redirect their
learning.
In my small group right now, there are two students who seem to catch on easily, but
have retaining difficulties, so they don’t remember for the long term. Then there are two other
students who don’t have the ability to learn new content quickly during the lesson. So, having the
students review at the beginning of each lesson already learned material, and as special ed having
work for paras to review, is key to accommodating for both students. There are times where
students need more time, therefore I will give other students a task that won’t interrupt the flow
of our lesson but will be something that will keep their attention and continue working. As for
enrichment, I will give students who are able to do more hard words when they finish early or
attempt having them explain to me their work while their peers work. Because this is a life skills
classroom, these students need practice with sharing both physical objects and their ideas. So, I
prioritize communicating within our groups. This can be student to student, or student to teacher.
I use technology to engage students. For example, I have a few songs the students sing
along with at the beginning of my phonics lessons, to activate schema and start the lesson with a
hook. I also plan to use it to assess. I think it is an important thing for our students to be created
with technology, not only to consume it, therefore I would like for my students to one day create
a story problem where the students use simple slides or a drawing app on their iPads.

Reflection 4b:
After browsing the standards, I determine my students' goals, based off their IEP’s and their
performance in the classroom. As I observed and worked with students in this life skills
placement, it is important to know that the State Standards are a bit too advanced for these
students. Therefore, I try to create fun lessons that get at the fundamental skills, especially of
math and science, that may stretch to other subject goals. Once I create a engaging lesson that
meets academic needs, even though the pace is slow, I pay attention to the students IEP goals. I
still haven’t observed too much on the SAS portal that influences my students' goals or planning.
This is a great source for science and history goals that have great resources for differentiation.
For my lessons begin by thinking about their strengths and weakness. Then I think of strategies
that might help each of them. Then I will create objectives that include their goals, with their
current abilities in mind, then create an assessment that will give me the most authentic
assessment of the students abilities. The data I collect from each lesson’s assessment, I use to
tailor future instruction. Most of the time my lessons are already planned for the week, therefore
during my reflection of taught lessons I will proceed, to edit the plans already made to further
challenge, modify or test again.
Reflection 5b:
My greatest challenges with students during these 8 weeks are behavior. This looks like defiance
and disruptive behavior in small groups. I have defiantly practice using positive reinforcement,
redirection and stern reprimand with my students. Depending on the level of defiance or
distraction, I will determine of reinforce others' good behavior or to firmly address the
inappropriate behavior taking place. This is happening just in small groups, not counting the
classroom environment in the rest of the classroom. I have used prior knowledge, advice and
experience to initially addressing behaviors. Most importantly, I have built repour with each of
these students, and have sought advice from my co-op. I have also learned and practiced the
reward system my teacher has set up, while learning how to help students based on my own
preferences. In this classroom, paras are of utmost importance. The paras will attempt their best
when working with one of our sever behaviors, mostly the sped teacher works as a behavior
specialist of the school. She handles all severe behaviors in the class and school. As I plan, I
think about the adults in the room that may be helpful, activities that some love or may trigger
them, and observing student relationships. This is huge because there are a variety of abilities,
and student attitudes. This drives my instruction, and how to progress various life skills that
students need to work on, like sharing. After all this is a life skills classroom, so I think of how to
incorporate topics such as sharing to appropriate challenge students' maturity.

Reflection 6b:
I love the way my teacher instructs the students. Most of the instruction is within small groups
based on grade level and student ability. There is also a designated time for whole group
instruction. These students have a variety of needs not only academically, but socially. All the
students in the class thrive and need to be disciplined by having classroom structure. Therefore,
having these diverse settings for learning really reinforces social and academic goals for these
students. Within the small groups the students thrive of individual attention and affirmation.
While in the whole group's setting and play stations they get to share and practice patience.
Expectations are explicitly verbalized by the teacher for each setting. There is a need for a
repetition and explicit announcement for the sake of accountability. This accountability is part of
our feedback to students. In the small groups, we review and give feedback to the students
immediately, for both behavior and academics. The very next moment is a time for remediation
and improvement.