Journal #2

What is your classroom management philosophy? Are your management actions

(day-to-day) consistent with your philosophy?
Growing up, I always needed some sort of physical praise. I felt like I needed a
good job or some sort of reward for doing good. That really affected my life a lot in
many ways! I felt like I always had to be perfect, that the reward in the end was a life
or death situation. Even now, as an adult I seek that constant praise to make me feel
good for what I have done. It put a lot of unnecessary stress on me. Teachers and
parents often use these praises and rewards to help children make better decisions and
do their best. No matter what I was going to do my best that is just who I am; the
promise of praise and reward just made me feel like my best was never good enough.
I never want my students to feel like their best is not good enough. I want them to
love and enjoy doing well because of how it makes them feel. I did not realize all of
this until I started taking my education classes. Now that I am in my last semester I
have gone from praise and rewards to wanting children to be intrinsically motivated. I
was never really sure how to achieve that though. Mrs. Castillow has given me some
great ideas about how I can get that in my own classroom. Every day she has her
students recite I am an incredible Kindergarten. I must choose every day to be
incredible. I choose to be smart. I choose to be kind. My choices are important.
Throughout the day she reminds them that they choose to be kind and they all can
choose to be smart. She also always talks about them doing their very best and that is
all she expects. She also points out that it is okay to make mistakes. If she asks them
who makes more mistakes than you they all respond with you do! They are
getting to the age where they feel judged and that their best is not okay and that
mistakes are wrong.
In my classroom I want children to know that they make the choices that affect
their day. I want them to see themselves as being incredible, that it is okay to make
mistakes and that nobody is perfect. Those are the sort of things I wish I was
explicitly taught. I want to adopt Mrs. Castillows quote and have my students or my
own children recite it on a regular basis. Then throughout the day remind them of that
and ask them if what they are doing is incredible and just always remind them that
they are amazing people or do amazing work, even if there are mistakes! I feel like I
am doing a great job in the classroom with this philosophy. At first I was really
worried when Mrs. Castillow told me that she does not use rewards and she does not
really use consequences. The reasons she does not need consequences is because she
is always asking why they did something and how they can make it incredible instead
of automatically having them move a card or something along those lines. She wants
to treat the cause, not the symptoms. I have been able to start doing this as well. This
last week I had a child who was really upset about her drawing. You would not be
able to tell that from just looking at her. She was refusing to work, messing with the

children around her and just not participating. I went over and asked her if those were
incredible kindergarten choices. She told me no, and that she was not incredible
because she made a mistake and that her picture was ugly. I could have just told her to
move her clip and she still would have felt like she was not good enough, but instead
we were able to talk about all the mistakes I had made and that it was okay to not be
perfect. After some talking she accepted that I was okay with the work she had done.
How would you rate your ability to manage a classroom of students? Why do
you feel the way you do? What are your specific strengths? What are your
specific areas that need improvement? What can you do to improve? What is
your action plan?
If I would have been ask this question before this semester, I would say my
ability to manage a classroom of students was pretty low. It was sort of a hit or miss;
some days went well, but most I ended up just raising my voice over the students.
There were many times that the cooperating teacher had to step in to calm them down.
This semester, I am really proud of what I have been able to do. Of course, it is still
not perfect, but I can now see a lot of improvement since my early field experience
about three years ago. This semester, I was given a very well behaved class though, so
that may play a role, but I am able to keep the children engaged and listening for at
least 75 percent of the lesson. In my Kindergarten classroom, my mentor teacher has
this saying that really leads and directs her students. I am an incredible Kindergarten.
I must choose every day to be incredible. I choose to be smart. I choose to be kind.
My choices are important. Whenever a child gets too far off task or may start to
misbehave I ask them if they thought their choices were incredible and if they thought
about what they are doing. It is really interesting to sit there and talk through with the
children what an incredible choice looks like.
Another thing that has really helped my classroom management is the
engagement of my lessons. Brother Godfrey always told us in preschool lab, that the
best classroom management is a great lesson plan. Do not give the children a reason to
misbehave. Create and implement a lesson that is fun and engaging. Once thing my
mentor teacher pointed out that I struggle with is changing my voice. She mentioned
after two of my lessons that I use the same tone and volume through an entire lesson
and that children need the variety. After listening to her teach a few more times, I
started to notice how much more tuned in the children were as she changed the
volume that she was speaking at or the speed. The lesson I thought on Monday, I
implemented that and had a lot better control of the class. On Wednesday, I had a
harder time keeping them focused by the end of my math lesson and now that I look
back I realize it is because I quit changing my voice. I think something that may help
me remember to vary my voice, is to specifically plan in my lesson what I will do and
when I will do it. That does not guarantee it will happen in the exact way that I
planned, but if I put thought into it before hand, it is more likely it will happen.

What management questions do you have?

One question that I have is would this work for a classroom that is less wellbehaved? Of course this quote has helped them to act the way that they do, but Mrs.
Castillow said this has been one of her best classes when it comes to behavior. It
would be interesting to see how this would work in a different classroom with a
different group of students.

Journal #3
Think through students working in small groups. What ways can you structure
and organize small groups so that students are engaged and productive even
when you may not be present?
I have not had much of an opportunity do plan small groups that do not have a
teacher present. With me, Mrs.Castillow, her aide and often times a childs mother in
the room for a section of the day, the children are almost never working on their own.
I always saw this as a good thing, because children are given more help from a
teacher, but while this is good, they are also not getting any opportunities to just work
on their own. The only time I can think of really where they were on their own is
during their bell work, which is individual work, not small group. They do small
groups at least twice during the day though: once for math centers and again for
literacy centers. The only center that does not have a teacher with them is math
centers and often times the blue center which is either playing with blocks or dramatic
play materials or testing/ catch up on missed assignments. These two centers though,
do have the quietest, most involved groups. This is probably because they are engaged
and doing something they enjoy. I should plan small group activities and centers that
are based on the childrens interests and are very engage that way the children will be
involved and enjoy what they are doing. If they are involved, it is more likely they
will stay that way once you leave. Unlike with our math worksheets, if I was to get up
and leave, probably just over half the children would not finish the assignment
because they are not involved.
How would you describe your management of transitions? What is working well
and what isn't? What is your plan for improvement?
I do not have a lot of opportunity to manage the transition in my Kindergarten
classroom. Mrs. Castillow has the students pretty well trained when it comes to
transitions and she knows exactly what she wants to do. Most of the time, when she
wants the children to transition over to the carpet, she plays a song on YouTube that
has to do with what they are doing for the day or learning for that subject. As soon as
the song comes on the children stand up, walk over to the carpet area and sings along
with the song. The other transition that I just barely had an opportunity to do, is
transitioning out for math centers. For centers they are all assigned different colored
shapes and that is how they are assigned to a center and dismissed. I was not very
confident in how I was saying everything and I felt like that reminded the children
that I am not their teacher, because I had a harder time with them in the center. Next
time I do this, which will be Wednesday because Mrs. Castillow is out of town, I will
be more confident and say it quickly. It really does not matter which one is said first
or who ends up where because everyone makes it to every spot eventually.

I also noticed that something I can work on when it comes to transitioning is

asking Mrs. Castillow what we are doing for the next activity. Typically when I finish
a lesson I just tell Mrs. Castillow I am done and then we have to wait for her to come
over and tell that class what we are doing next. If I ask her ahead of time what we are
doing, I can at least tell the class what is coming next and dismiss them for that. I also
should work on transitioning into my lessons. Mrs. Castillow always tells the students,
Miss Houston is teaching our lesson, lets show her we are ready to learn. I then
walk in and for whatever reason always follow up with, Are you ready? Well of
course they are I; I just saw them get ready and even if they are not ready or do not
want to start the lesson, they do not have much of a say. Sister Olsen, one of the child
development professors, always says to leave out the commentary. The commentary
of we are going to do this and we will get started now is more for us than the students
and it gives the students time to get distracted and lose interesting in the activity. Next
time I teach, I am just going to start right in with my activity or whatever I have
planned.
How are you doing with distribution and collection of materials and supplies? In
what areas and ways can you see potential for improvement? What is your plan
for improvement?
Distribution and collection of materials and supplies is not much of a problem
in a Kindergarten class, but especially not in Mrs. Castillow. We have a lot of prep
time to pass out materials throughout the day between PE and recess, plus times when
the students are all at the rug, another teacher or aide can be passing materials out on
the desk. Mrs. Castillows class is really good with knowing that if there are materials
on their desk they should not touch it. For example, we can set everything out for
math centers on the tables before school starts and when the Kindergartners come in
they sit down and do their bell work without even acknowledging the materials. One
place I can work on passing out materials is math centers. I am getting a lot better out
passing out their required math worksheets, but I still feel like there could be a better
way. Something I have tried doing is passing out the worksheets to the children who
take the longest to work on them because they either get distracted, or do not
understand the material. Something else I was thinking of trying is either before class
or while the children are working going through and counting out the worksheets and
flipping them back and forth; so there will be their three worksheets vertical, three
worksheets horizontal, three vertical and so on. If I do it this way, when I am passing
them out I will not have to count, I will just have to hand them their stack.

Journal #4

My personal belief is that we can't truly teach until we touch or meaningfully connect with our
students.

How would you evaluate your ability to make connections with your practicum students
this semester?
In the beginning of my practicum experience I feel like I was really struggling with
making connections. I was still experimenting with what my place was in the classroom. I was
not sure what sort of connections and relationships were most beneficial and appropriate. After
talking in our lecture about the classroom environment and relationships I have started to change
the way I interact with the students. The kindergartners all wait at the drop off spot until the
teacher comes to get them and walk them down to the classroom. I have the opportunity to go
pick them up every day I am there. I have started to go down their 5 minutes early and talk with
all of the children before we have to go to class. It gives me the opportunity to show them that I
care about what they say, that I am interested in their life and that we have some things in
common.

How do you make meaningful connections with students?

I feel that one of the best ways to make connections with your students is to show them
you are interested in them. Give them time to talk and to tell stories. Listen to what they have to
say. Another thing that really helps is to give them an opportunity to share some of their likes
and interests with you. Something that Mrs. Castillow does is the Tote and Tell. Everyday a child
takes home the class bag and brings back anything they want to share with the class. At the end
of the day they get a couple of minutes to stand up and give the class hints about they brought.
Then they get to pull their item out (usually a toy) and tell the class about it. They can tell them
anything they want: what it is, why they like it, what is their favorite thing to do with the item,
when they got it, who gave it to them and really whatever else they would like. Every child has
the opportunity to do this several times throughout the school year. I can tell the children feel so
special when they get to stand up front by the teacher and in a way teach the class.

What might you do in the future to make those connections stronger?

In my future classroom I will make sure I build connections with my students. I want to
talk to each of them as they get to class, ask them how their days are and what they did over the
weekend. I also want to implement the Tote and Tell into my classroom as well. A way I can
make the connections stronger now is to find time to give the students more opportunities to tell
stories. A couple of weeks ago I was teaching a lesson on feelings and how to recognize those
feelings. At the end of the lesson I gave every single child the opportunity to share how a
situation made them feel. I had them turn to their partner and tell them the story that way every
child had a turn and not just the children the teacher called on.

Journal #5

List a student friendly objective you developed this week. How did you
communicate the objective to your students? What difference did it make?
An objective that I developed this week was I can find hexagons and explain what
makes it a hexagon. I can draw a hexagon. This was my first time really writing an okay student
friendly objective and formatted it in an I can statement. I have never had to do this before, but
I really like the idea of it. The objective helps us to better teach the children, so it only make
sense that an objective can help the children learn. I always love when I know exactly what is
going to be talked about and what is expected of me. The student friendly objective helps
children to know this. On Wednesday, it was my first time explicitly expressing the student
friendly objective to my kindergarteners. I planned on telling them that by the end of the day,
they will be able to say that they can draw hexagons, recognize hexagons and label them. Since it
was my first time, and I was being observed I know my words did not come out like that, but I
am honestly not sure what I ended up saying. I do not think they really understood what I was
saying them or why I was saying it though. It is something new to them so they were not used to
it. They did sort of seem to know what we would be talking about. But a lot of them struggled
with the drawing of hexagons. One little boy kept saying that by the end of the day he needed to
know how to do it and that he was worried he would not be able to. I talked to him and told him I
did not expect them to be perfect and that even I struggled with hexagons, but he still struggled it
seemed with the pressure of I can draw a hexagon. Next time I will practicing saying what I
want beforehand and maybe even explain how I do not expect all of them to be perfect, but to try
their very best and to do incredible kindergartner work.

List 3 vocabulary words you taught this week. How did you teach them to your
students? How effective was it? What other strategies could have been
employed?
The last month we have been talking about shapes in kindergarten. The vocabulary we
have been teaching has repeated in every lesson: the names of the shapes, vertex, vertices and
side. To review the vocabulary we went over our shape songs. I taught them a song to help them
remember each shape: circle, triangle and square. I also taught them a rectangle song. In the song

it talks about how we know each shape is that shape- the number of sides it has, if they are even
or not, the vertices and that they are flat. To review what a side and vertex is I had a child come
up and point out those parts on a hexagon that another child drew. We also listened to the words
on our worksheet, which the children always love! They like it a lot more than when the
computer talks than when I do. To continue reviewing the words, I used the vocabulary with the
children as we worked on the worksheets during the centers. I had them point to and label the
different places and gave them an opportunity to draw different shapes after they were done with
their hexagons. It was effective, but probably only because they knew the words. Children learn
a lot through fun, interactive methods, and although this was interactive, it was not necessarily
fun. If I was first introducing them to the words, I would have done something different. I am not
entirely sure what I would have done though. It has worked though. The children can tell me
exactly what another word for corner is, vertex, and what it changes to if we are talking about
multiple corners, vertices. They were also able to explain to me what makes a hexagon a
hexagon and not a different shape.

How do I know my students are learning?

I know that my students are learning, when I am using pre-assessments
followed by post-assessments and regularly check for understanding. In kindergarten
we have a pretty good set up to see our children understanding and knowledge. I do
not have a lot of pre-assessment time because I do not always know in advance what
lesson I am going to be teaching, but if I did I could introduce terms prior to the day I
teach and see what they may recognize and know already. Before I teach though, I
often time do a little review/quiz to see what the children already know. For example,
last week I was teaching about 3D shapes. Before I started I ask them about if all of
our shapes are flat? They said know, but did not know the terms for all of the different
3D shapes. I knew that I needed to talk a lot about the difference between a square and
a cube and so on. While I taught, I had imbedded a lot of opportunities for the
children to show me what they understood. I gave them each a turn to share and
answer a question. For example, I drew a circle on the board, the picked out which of
my 3D shapes matched a circle- a sphere and then they were able to think about places
they have seen spheres and share. I was able to see that for the most part all of the
children were understanding the material. One little boy answered a question
completely off, so using scaffolding I walked him through the question until he was
able to come up with the right answer. Immediately following teaching the children go
into centers. At one center they have an opportunity to work one on one with a
teacher and have misconceptions fixed and questions answered while they work hands
on with the material. In my center we go through the worksheets for the lesson. I am
able to sit with them and see right away what they understood and where they may
need more help. Something I can do to improve is to ask Mrs. Castillow ahead of time
what I will be teaching, so I can pre-assess more because it really should be leading
my instruction.
How effective am I in designing instruction to allows me to know whether my
students understand or not?
I feel like this semester I have been more effective in embedding opportunities
to see if my students are understanding or not. It is definitely something I struggled
with in the past, but I am really seeing some progress in out I embed it. I have had the
most experience teaching math, so I have noticed that I embed opportunities a lot
better there than I do in art. Next time I teach an art lesson, I want to try and embed
some more questions and understanding before I send them off on their own, because
I have noticed that they struggle more understanding what I am expecting and the art
concept that is being taught.
In what ways do I need to improve in measuring the understanding of my
students and how might I make that happen?

I can improve in measuring the understanding of my students by giving them

opportunities to share, reflect, discuss and ask questions. I can also ask more questions
and give them opportunities to think.

Journal #7

How am I a different teacher today than I was at the beginning of this

semester? In other words, how and in what areas have I grown?
If you would have asked me this question two weeks ago, I would have said that I have grown so
much! I finally felt like I had a place in the classroom, as the teacher and not just a volunteer or someone
in the classroom. I believe I got to that point because I was confident in myself and followed through
with my warnings and expectations. When I told a child they needed to sit on their bottom or they could
sit in the back on a chair, I meant it. I was not longer telling them that every 5 seconds and never moving
them. I made the child who struggles with this get up and sit at a table in the back for a small moment
and then he was able to rejoin the class. I have not needed to do that again! He finally realized that I was
saying something more than empty threats. He still struggles, but I am able just to look at him and
quickly mention his name and he realizes how he should be sitting. I have also gotten better at telling
the children the time frame I wanted them to work or transition. I have been using words like quickly, by
the time is over, when I get to 0. Have the children move quickly has really helped with behavior
problems as well. I feel like most of the behavior problems occurred during transition because the
children no long have something to do, so by cutting down the time or by giving them something to do
we are avoided most of those problems. I would also say that I was doing a better job at teaching based
off of the hildre s i terests, experie es a d eeds. I as a le to keep the i terested a d i ol ed
by having them relate what we were talking to experiences and places outside of school, I was also give
them opportunities to share with a neighbor. I realized that having them share with a neighbor has
helped a lot! Children are naturally social beings, so I am implementing a specific time in the lesson
where the can be social and still be learning. They loved it!
This last two weeks though I have been really sick. I ended up having to miss two days because I
had to take an emergency trip to Utah to see a doctor, get some tests done and some medicines started.
I had absolutely no energy and that really affected my lesson planning and delivery. I have been asking
more questions instead of statements when I want a child to do something, I have not been giving the
students as many time frames in which to do things and they seemed a lot less motivated to be engaged
in my art lesson I did on Monday. That is partially because we were supposed to work with finger paints
or ink pads and my mentor teacher said no to both of those because she did not feel like dealing with
the mess. I realized that I let her attitude affect mine. I was not in as good a mood because I was
annoyed that I would not be able to do what I planned because she was not in the mood. The children
just ended up being able to color, which is not as a new or exciting to them, so there were a few more
behavior problems evident. I need to work more on not letting how I feel affect my teaching, because
my students and their learning is affected by it as well. I also need to try and respect my mentor teacher
and her opinions, because it is her classroom and not mine.
Overall, even though it has been a hard couple of weeks, I have grown a lot in my teaching this
semester. The thing that I see the most is my confidence. I am finally proud of the lessons that I plan
and I am confident in my execution of them.

Journal #8
How has my understanding of differentiation changed or grown this semester?
Before this semester I felt like differentiation was the magical thing everyone
hoped for, but could never attain. I always saw it as something we should have in the
classroom, but you had to be the perfect teacher to manage it. Although, it is
something challenging and time consuming, it is not impossible! I can differentiate
my lessons. I can meet the needs of all of my students and not just the average ones.
Before when I thought of differentiation, I thought of how I can teach my
typical children, along with bring up my lower children. Never did I think about,
helping my children who are higher up already excel. I imagined it as Brother Sellers
depicted on day, of us frantically trying to coral all of the children into this perfectly
shaped mold that we have thought up. When really we should not only let the children
run free, but to help them! I still have a lot to learn about differentiation and I believe
the best way to learn it, is to apply it.
How is my planning of instruction impacted by my understanding of
differentiation?
Before reading Differentiated Instructional Strategies I waited until the very
end of my lesson to think about how I can help the students that are behind or
struggling. Often days I just made something random up and put it in that section.
Now, I think of it first and while I am teaching. Also, I am thinking of my students
who are higher up. A part of differentiated is about learning styles as well, which I
never thought about, so lately I have been making sure to include several different
styles in my teaching. I am not just standing up there and we are not just watching a
video. In my last lesson I had visuals, we rolled dice, we solved problems using
manipulatives and on paper, they students hand an opportunity to whisper an answer
to their partner and solve a problem with a partner, they were also able to build plus
signs and minus signs with their arms and we watched a video that included a song
and story problems. Every student was involved in some way at a point. This not only
helped me keep their attention, but I feel it really helped some students that may have
not understood or been involved other ways. If I could have done the lesson the exact
way I wanted, the worksheet would have been differentiated as well. I would have had
groups of children work with a teacher. They would have rolled two dice and soled a
problem that way. Here the teacher has control over the size of the numbers and can
easily see if a child is understanding something or not.
What specific differentiation strategies did I use this week?
This last week I taught a review lesson on addition and subtraction. Although, I
did not use the best method of differentiated, I tried and did better than a typically do.
There is one child in the class on an IEP and one of the goals is to trace and write

numbers. The worksheet they had to do was ten different math problems, five addition
and five subtraction. Before they did the math, they were supposed to go through and
circle all of the problems that were using an addition sign because the objective was to
be able to distinguish between subtraction and addition. I went and worked one on one
with this student while the class worked on their worksheet. I gave him the
instructions again and did an example with him: we found and circled the first
addition sign together. I then gave him my expectation that he was to find and circle
the rest of the addition problems. And he did without any more prompting! After that
we solved the first three problems together using manipulatives. While I wish I could
have worked with him the entire time, I could not have, because I had to check on the
rest of the children, so I wrote down the answers in highlighter and told him to read
the number sentence, say the answer and trace the number. This is not a specific
strategy from the book, but it was beneficial for him and this way he was still
participating in the lesson and meeting the objectives.
What questions do I still have about differentiation?
I think one of the biggest questions that I have is, will it ever get easier? I am
just so worried that as I teach I am going to get so wrapped up in writing IEPs, dealing
with paperwork, making sure my students are fed and feel safe, that I am going to not
put as much effort into differentiation even though I know it is so needed. Another
question I have is, how will I see the results? Differentiation is not an overnight
process for us or for the students. It takes time to plan and it takes time to work, but
how much work? I feel like I may easily get discouraged when I am not seeing results
or success because of the differentiation.