ECC 703 Journal 5

Stephanie Torres

Through the field work observations and the class meetings, I gained a great deal of
knowledge this semester in regards to being an educator. Throughout the semester, many aspects
from my personal philosophy were reinforced by readings, class discussions, and other
educators experiences and philosophies. However, they also made me reflect on certain aspects
that my philosophy was lacking in. Specifically, my philosophy had not originally mentioned
much about the relationship between families and educators. Although there have been many
valuable lessons these past few months, I realized that I had put such an emphasis on the
relationship and responsibility which an educator has with their students, but had neglected the
families. Families are such an essential part of the education their children receive. That is
because they play a direct role at home, while also playing an indirect role in the classroom. If
the parent-teacher relationship is strong, the child has a greater chance of really learning what is
being taught in the classroom. The home is an excellent place to reinforce the lessons and skills
which are taught in schools. Also, the greater communication between parents and teachers the
easier it can be to work through a childs needs and challenge their strengths. Teachers may have
suggestions on activities or skills building strategies which they can provide to parents. Most
importantly, no one knows the child better than its caregiver; families provide invaluable
information to teachers regarding the childs routine and behavior which can impact the
classroom curriculum and lesson planning.
An aspect from my philosophy which was reinforced during this semester has to do with
peer interactions. During an observation in a Kindergarten classroom, the co-teachers constantly
had students pair up to discuss vocabulary words or parts of a story in between a read aloud.
From what was observed, the strategies which those teachers implemented in their classroom

during that time of the day worked out really well. The students were not only learning from
their teachers, they were also learning from their peers. It gave them the opportunity to not only
develop social skills, but also scaffold one another. The students seemed to really enjoy the time
which they had to share their ideas, such as the sentences which they could come up with
vocabulary words their teachers gave them.
Sharing knowledge and giving opportunities for peer interactions is an essential part of
my philosophy. Having observed how well those interactions worked for that Kindergarten class
reinforced my belief in peer scaffolding. Also, it is something which I would highly consider
incorporating into my classroom routine during read aloud or math/science lessons. There are
certainly many different ways in which one can include this type of strategy for several lessons
through the appropriate modifications/planning.
Not all the strategies which were observed were successful in the classroom, but they
were still helpful to experience. For example, during another observation with toddlers, there was
one small group activity that most of the students had no interest in at all and in the end the
teachers had to cut it short and just take them outside. The activity was for them glue wooden
sticks (to represent a basket) and already cut apples onto construction paper. The apples were all
the same color (red) and the construction papers were all brown. The three oldest children in the
class were able follow the activity prompt, use the sticks to form some type of basket shape, and
glue apples in the basket. However, none of the other children were able to glue the sticks the
way the teacher intended and they were not really focusing on the activity at all. They kept trying
to get up from their seats and play on the other side with the rest of their peers.
If I were to modify a lesson like that, I would provide the students with more options in
terms of paper and material so that they can have some independence. It would also give them

the opportunity to be as creative as they want and to be captivated by the activity. It is important
to remember that early childhood deals with very young children and we as educators have to
give them the chance to learn while giving them the liberty to explore materials and be creative
in the process.
From my observations, what impacted me the most were the modifications that teachers
applied to their lessons in order to support individual students. The opportunity arose to speak to
a teacher about their lesson planning strategies and it was very helpful to discuss how much more
successful a lesson can be when the proper modifications have been taken into account. The
teacher described that at such a young age, one year of development can involve many different
milestones. For that reason, one must plan their lessons to be developmentally appropriate for the
youngest students or students with the most needs, while still challenging the more developed
students. It was incredible to learn how one activity can target a wide range in regards to
developmental stages just by making certain modifications. Also, from what was observed,
modifications can really support a student behavior wise and that can in turn impact and benefit
not only that particular student, but the whole classroom.
Observing the Tumble Tot classroom before and after the teachers modified their
classroom routines to support Harrys behavior had a big impact on me as an educator. It allowed
me to reflect on how much information one can obtain just by really observing a child for a few
days, even just one, and speaking to their families. Those teachers came up with modifications to
support Harrys needs and those modifications impacted the success of their lessons. What
impacted me the most was to see how they went above and beyond to support Harry. Even when
they came up with successful modifications, they still tried to come up with new ideas to further
challenge and support him. It demonstrates us that small changes can impact the whole

classroom and that we can still figure out new ways to further a childs development even when
the strategies being used are already successful.
Completing an executive functioning checklist was very useful in brainstorming
modifications for lesson planning in regards to Harrys behavior. It was helpful in targeting the
type behaviors that needed modifications and narrow down the times when they usually
occurred. I would definitely consider using a checklist as an assessment tool in the classroom. It
is simple to modify according to the behaviors you are interested in targeting and the age of your
students. In terms of the sites Ive observed this semester I think the toddler classroom (Tumble
Tots) would benefit the most from the checklist. Observations and portfolios are also useful tools
for early childhood classrooms. Overall, all the experiences Ive gained during this semester
have impacted me as an educator. There are many strategies which I am looking forward to
incorporating into my lesson plans.