Running head: CLASSROOM EXPERIENCES 1

Classroom Experiences

Kayla Turley

EDU 1010

04/18/2017

Salt Lake Community College

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Classroom Experiences

When I started this introduction to teaching course I did not fully understand what the

point of spending twenty hours in a classroom was. I was told that the course was designed to

give you a little piece of everything teaching, which would provide the students with an

understanding of what teaching would bring them and what would be expected of them as a

teacher. As I spent more time in the classrooms, I was learning a lot about the environments and

how different they were compared to what the text examples described and finally began to

understand why we had the required hours.

I spent time in two different classrooms over this semester. The first classroom that I

started in was a Kindergarten classroom. This was an all-day kindergarten for kids who were not

on the level they should be on, or could not test into a different course. The kindergartens at the

school I was volunteering at were separated by level of reading. The class I was in was the

lowest level in the school.

I learned a lot about ELL students in this kindergarten classroom. I learned about a new

curriculum called Wonders. It is a reading curriculum that promotes three different types of

learning. The first is visual. You show the students a picture of what the lower case and upper

case letters look like. Then, you show them a picture of the sound it makes (for example an

Apple under the two letters Aa). Then, you teach them an action for the letter (for example taking

a bite of an apple while saying the sound that A makes). This is a program that teachers visual,

audio, and kinetic learning all in one lesson.

After doing quite a few hours in this classroom I concluded that I did not want to teach

kindergarten. This was a hard decision for me to make, considiering that had been the level I
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wanted to teach since I decided I wanted to become a teacher. I realized that the lessons that were

required out of kindergarten teachers were not the lessons that I wanted to be teaching. I wanted

to be working with older students.

I then started volunteering in the behavior unit at the same school. In Granite School

District, there are eight elementary classes that are considered behavior unit. The kids that end up

in the behavior unit are ones that have not been successful in general education settings, resource

classrooms, or other less restrictive environments. I decided that was where I wanted to teach.

I started observing the head teacher in the classroom and noticing how quickly she made

decisions. She was quick on her feet and could come out with a positive redirection with very

little thinking time. I admire how hard she works with her students and the classroom

management style she uses. Her classroom management system is very in-depth. She uses the

app, class dojo. This keeps track of the students behaviors while also being a motivation tool for

the students. Ms. Ward uses class dojo as both a class management system and an individual

management system. Points earned by each student are combined together for a class store at the

end of the month. She tracks many positive behaviors but also keeps track of negative behaviors

on the app.

Added to this system is a privilege system. The privilege system is divided into four

levels: Purple, Green, Red, and Blue. Each level has a specific amount of privileges that come

with it. Purple level has very little privileges; they are not allowed to leave the room (except to

use the bathroom for two minutes). If they complete all their work, during class free-time they

can read silently at their desk. Green is very similar, except they can leave the class for recess if

work is finished, they can go to library, and they can go to the computer lab with the class.

During free-time Green level can play a game alone and silently at their own desk.
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Red and Blue levels are the higher levels and have many more privileges that come with

them. When a student is on Red level they must have all their work completed to participate in

free-time but once it is finished they can play a game with other students, they can read with

other students, they can sit and watch other students on electronics, or they can draw. When a

student is on Red level they are able to enter the cafeteria to eat lunch. When a student enters

Blue level, they have all privileges. This means that they can go to recess, go to the lunch room

to get food and choose whether or not they will stay there to eat, or go back to the classroom to

eat. During free-time they can do all the things that previous levels could do, but they can also

get on one of the two classroom computers, or on one of the two classroom IPads.

At the beginning of the year every student starts on Purple with no privileges. They

gradually earn their privileges by getting their work done and not receiving any sever warnings

on class dojo (a warning that is extreme, for example: destruction of property, physical

aggression, lying, leaving the classroom, police support, stealing, seclusionary time out, room

clear needed, or verbal aggression). With one day of work completed with no sever warnings

they move up to green level. Once on green level they must complete five days of work and no

sever warnings to move up to red level. Once on red level, a student must complete eight days of

work, have no sever warnings, and have more positive class dojo points than negative warnings

to move up to the blue level.

This classroom management system is very effective for the behavior unit and the

students that she works with on a daily basis. In all the hours that I spent observing her

classroom there is only one thing that I would not allow to happen in my classroom. There are

two students who are not motivated by this classroom management style. They rarely complete

work, are constantly off task or refusing to participate, and often have sever warnings against
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them. In my classroom, I would come up with some individual management systems for these

students to try and get them motivated to learn the material that other students are learning. I

think that it is not fair to give up on the students in this room, this is the last option these students

have. If they are not successful in this classroom there is nowhere left for them to try and be

successful. They are out of options. If I was in charge of the classroom I would spend more time

trying to get these two students participating in lessons and attempting to find a motivating tool

for these students.

Another thing that I respect about how the behavioral unit is run in this school, is that

there is one social worker who works solely with the unit classes. She is another classroom

support when one is needed, gets in touch with parents if challenging behaviors are happening,

and will take over the implementation of a behavior program if needed to keep flow with

classroom lessons.

In conclusion, I really enjoyed volunteering in this classroom because it gave me the

opportunity to find the class and age group that I want to work with in the future and provided

me with many opportunities to learn about the different behaviors and how they may be handled

in different situations. I learned an enormous amount about classroom management and the

importance of consistency in the classroom. I learned a lot about effective communication

between lead teachers and para educator staff in the classroom and how important it is to be clear

and concise with your words.