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Tamara Herrera
HD497 ELAC BA Capstone
November 13, 2016
Robin McConnell
Pacific Oak College
Reflections of Core HD 426
In HD 426 Working with Children Who Challenge Teachers Skills, I learned many new
concepts to help me deal with children whose behavior requires more teacher attention and
intention. This course helped me develop skills and gain a better understanding as to why
children behave a certain way or have a certain attitude toward peers or teachers. Also, I learned
how to deal with children who are beyond my current experience. We did many assignments that
included observations of certain children in my classroom, and concerning my own personal
experiences with behavioral situations. We also learned about other things in our lives that may
affect us like cultural difference, family issues, or limitations of prior experiences.
I want to be a better teacher and with this course I feel like I have a better understanding
why certain children need help with their education or approach to learning. Many of the online
discussions were about the course textbook, Challenging Behavior in Young Children:
Understanding, Preventing, and Responding Effectively (Kaiser and Sklar Rasminsky, 2015).
This book is an excellent resource for addressing the dynamics of challenging behaviors. In
many of the discussions we shared our own experiences. This helped me understand the different
stages of child development, and how they can be supported over time with the help of a teacher.
I wrote about culture & psychology, temperament, and classroom management. These topics
really resonate with the book topics and add to my knowledge of understanding a child on better

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level. One of the topic that provoked a deeper thinking is classroom management where I learned
that keep a schedule is important. Showing a child that keeping up with the activities of the day
help them grow and learn to do the same at home.
One of our assignments asked us to consider our own risk and protective factors. I needed
to write about a person in my life who made a difference, helping me recover from trauma or
sustained me through a stressful period. I wrote about how I lost my mother and that this was one
of the hardest periods in my life overall. I talked about how I lost my job during the same period
of time, and that it was really hard to get back on my feet. The person who helped me get
through this hard time was my daughter, who push me to keep looking forward. She helped me
to stay positive, and to continue working hard. The assignment made me reflect on my life and
see that I grew as a person, and that we all continue to change no matter if we are an eight-yearold or forty. Also, if you try hard enough you can have such a positive impact on anothers life,
such as ones students, peers, or those closet to us.
I learned that patience is a virtue, and that one must know how to hear each and every
person, including my students. No matter the age we as teachers shouldnt judge a book by its
cover, even if a child is misbehaving or doing something that disrupts the classroom. We try to
understand their actions. Many children are sometimes misunderstood, and are not given the
opportunity to explain their actions or words. Many times they are having a hard time at home
with their family or being mistreated by others. Trying to see the situation from their eyes is
sometimes the best thing to do, and seek to understand the purpose of their behavior. Sometimes
they just need someone to, talk to and that could be their teacher. This is why it is important to
create a safe zone a place in the classroom that a child can trust and retreat to, and speak to
someone, should they wish.

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At the end of this course I feel like I will become better aware of the situations in the
class setting, and be able to of trying to understand a challengea more challenging child. I know
that every child needs the love and support fromof their teachers, and that no matter how
they act there is a reason behind itthe behavior. As well,I especially want to trying to
understand students who have problems at home, and cantcannot communicate with
anyone but their teacher. With this class I gained a better understanding of challenge
students who challenge my skills, and explored new approaches to how to act when it come to
them. work with them and support their success.