Education Services 2020

Growth Paper
Purpose: After each internship please write a growth paper, explaining something you learned in
relation to the following topics;

A. Teaching/Learning Environments
a. I believe having a positive and flexible learning environment is especially important in
the upper elementary levels. During this time, students are slowly determining where
and how they learn best. Mrs. Pittmans class has flexible seating. This includes bouncy
ball chairs, couches, pillows, lawn chairs, stools, and chairs. I learned that some students
do better in a specific spot than others. Some students get too distracted on a couch,
while other students do better on a couch. I also learned that its essential that you can
see all kids at all times. As a future teacher, I would appreciate having flexible seating.
As a future teacher, I will be sure to be able to see everyone and make sure this seating
doesnt affect their learning.
B. Classroom Management
a. I noticed that Mrs. Pittmans class has fantastic classroom management. Mrs. Pittman
uses a normal, natural voice when talking to her students. Its perfect not too sweet
but not too monotone. When getting ready to transition to the next activity or
reminding the students of something, she has specific sayings for the students. For
example, she would say Class, class and the students would respond, Yes, yes.
Another example includes Hocus pocusready to focus. She also uses hand signals
saying Make 5 and while her fingers would slowly make five, so would her students
and they would give all of their attention to her. As a future teacher, I SO want to do all
of these communication strategies. It has such a greater impact on the students instead
of speaking loudly to get their attention.
C. Learning Needs or Characteristics
a. Mrs. Pittman has a variety of needs in her classroom. She does a tremendous job at
accommodating for every student. There are several students that need help refocusing
but instead of her going around to very student, they have rocks with their fingerprint
on them. Whenever the student needs to refocus, they get these rocks out and rub
them. It stimulates their brains and I witnessed how well they work. Additionally, she
has a student who receives emojis stickers based on their day. Say the student had a
quieter day, the student would receive an emoji with sunglasses on. Mrs. Pittman really
does go out of her way for these students and it doesnt go unnoticed. As a future
teacher, its so critical to determine every students need so I can help guide them. I love
the rock idea because its not for every student and its individual to them.
D. Classroom Discipline including Feedback and Praise
a. I didnt see much discipline in this specific classroom due to the students being mature.
However, say a student had an item from home that was distracting, Mrs. Pittman
 would either tell the student to put it in their backpack or leave it on her desk. In this
situation, the student isnt getting in trouble but is being warned. There was one
instance where the students werent getting a concept after spending a week on the
topic. She made all the students get their work out and reevaluate their work. She made
an improvement sandwich which includes two plusses and a delta. If the praise was
individual to the person, she would either give a small reward, high five, o recognize the
student to the class. If it was the entire class, she would give the students a class dojo
point which is another reward system. I enjoyed her giving students praise because it
encouraged other students to follow. As a future teacher, I will be sure to have a class
reward system with the reward being something simple as bringing popcorn in. I would
do more recognizing their praise as well.
E. Teacher Planning including Methods and Materials
a. Comparable to other teachers, Mrs. Pittman uses the resource of a teacher planner. She
emphasizes how important it is to do a lot of your work while at school so you can be
with your family when you leave. She takes advantage of her resources given to her
through the state of Missouri with math, science, and social studies. She uses the
worksheets and activities provided. To assist students learning, she does use easel pads
with when conducting classroom discussions. The classroom itself has a set schedule
which include morning work, word work, reading, encore, math, social studies, and
science. As a future teacher, its ideal to have a schedule to get the students into a
routine. Although you have the opportunity to use resources given to you, I believe its
important to go out of the box for assignments to make school fun!
F. Assessment of Learning
a. While interning in Mrs. Pittmans class, the students had math homework that was
specifically graded. I did get to sit in on a reading assessment with a student. The
student read out loud, in their head, and then answered leveled questions. I did have
the opportunity to grade math homework as well. Additionally, students had
standardized bench mark testing throughout the week to track their progress. Once
assessed, grades are put in by letters. M would be mastered, P would be partial
understand, and N for needed support. As a future educator, I of course want my
students to learn but want to be sure they know the material. Theres no real way to get
around testing since it is required in every grade. One aspect I will take with me would
be calling tests Celebration of learning. This made test, especially the standardized
tests, less nerve-wracking.

Topics must be developed completely with a minimum of one paragraph for each category. You will
answer the following two questions for each topic;

1. What you saw at your internship?

2. How will impact you as a future teacher?