REFLECTION

Part One: How might I, as a teacher, establish a balance between the importance of

play in early childhood development and a test-driven curriculum?

In today’s educational climate, testing has become a very vital part of the public-school

curriculum. However, another important part of early childhood development is the importance

of play. As a teacher, it is important to find the balance between the two in order to give children

a high-quality education. I believe the two most important parts of creating a nice balance

between the two is being able to be inventive and purposeful at the same time with your

approach.

A quality teacher will know the importance of being inventive in the classroom.

Everything you do should be tied together to meet the success you want to achieve for your

students. Keeping the children is extremely important and the more authentic way to achieve

engagement is by making the education journey fun and exciting for the children. Being

purposeful with how you plan play is extremely important. A teacher should always plan play as

a way of reviewing what is being taught in the classroom.

For example, if a child is learning sight words, letters, and numbers. One could add sight

words, letters, and numbers to blocks of Jenga. The children could have fun playing Jenga but

also be reviewing their sight words, letters, and numbers at the same time. This is a great way to

have fun in the classroom but keep in mind those goals the children need to meet at the end of

the school year. This is only one of many ways a teacher could be inventive and purposeful in

the classroom.
 Another key aspect if making sure that you create a nice environment when it comes

down to testing time. A teacher must go above and beyond go make this time as exciting as

possible to the students. Be purposeful, talk about the test in a positive light, I know some

teachers try to scare the students to get ready for the test but instead motivates them and most

important show confidence in your class.

I good way I plan to do this is by showing excitement about the testing, telling the

students that I am excited for testing time because I know that it will show how much we are

learning in the classroom and how great they are doing. I want them to see testing as a exciting

time. Providing snacks, maybe watching a movie at the end of testing. Having group meetings

where we discuss ways, we can feel confidant for the test. I want them to feel like we are testing

as a team and each one of them are doing their part by trying their best.

My biggest strategy for testing is motivation. Children need their teachers to give them

confidence during their educational journey. Making sure that while they prepare for this test,

they could ask me anything and I will be there every step of the way being their biggest

cheerleader. Showing the children your interest in their process ands showing them how

emotional invested you are in their growth will bring spark of motivation that I believe makes a

huge difference in testing.

Being the positive light, they need. Also, have group meetings in which you ask the

students for feedback as to how they think we should approach getting ready for the test. Make

them feel like they are part of the process of getting ready. Have clear learning outcomes for

them. Be honest, tell them from the very beginning what their goals for the year are. For

example, on the first day of kinder one could say that are goal for the school year is to learn all

100 sight words and by the end of the year hopefully we are very close to that number. Be proud
of them show excitement when they show growth and always make it as fun as possible. Make

lessons fun. If you have to animate your voice to keep them entertained then do so, your job is to

make the children as engaged as possible.

Part Two: How does the child’s home environment affect his educational experiences?

When working with children it is very important to understand how much a child’s home

environment will affect is educational experience. A lot of who we are is impacted by our

families. Their morals, goals, education, and finical situation will impact a child. As a teacher,

we must be cautious of that. When working with children with behavior problems most of the

time, it is something that was developed from within their socialization. We as teachers must be

mindful about the background of the child.

I once had a student, who was raised by his grandma. He had no contact with his parents,

he along side of his siblings lived with grandma. Grandma has a lot in her plate, as she was also

raising a set of twins from another one of her children. She had custody of a total of five

grandchildren. The student I was working with was three years old, showed behavior issues. He

was not very verbal, showed no interest in building relationships with the other children nor the

teachers in the site. He soon became the “trouble child”. I recall one of my coworkers labeling

him that and assuming he was the one that was destroying items from the science area, the other

children in class also picked up on this. His grandma would always come to pick him up very

stressed and moody. Making jokes about if there was a way to keep him in school 12 hours a day

in front of the child.

I knew that in order to help him succeed emotionally and academically, I needed to build

a relationship with him. I started by noticing that he had an interest in the book Brown Bear
Brown Bear. I decided to ask him if I could read him the book. He made very little eye contact

but agreed. I read about two pages before he walked away. The next day, I asked him again and

repeated this for the next few weeks. Every day, he would be more engaged and by the end of the

first week, he would stay until the end of the book. Sometimes, even asking me to read it again.

One day, after a few weeks of doing this, the student was feeling very upset because the

other teacher in the classroom had forbid him from going to a working area due to being

destructive. He was clearly, very upset and I was on the opposite side of the classroom. From the

other side of the room I heard him class my name, he looked for me, grabbed the book while still

crying, and walked towards me.

He had for the first time initiated that I read him the book. As I read, he calmed down,

and picked another book. We read until it was time to go outside and play. I believe this moment

want really a breakthrough. Before I knew it, he was building relationships with the other

students in class. He was excited to come to school. He loved it so much, he did not even want to

go home. He started following the rules and we even managed to change the other teachers mind.

She was not longer calling him the “troubled kid.” I tried to always share the positivity behavior

he showed in class with grandma.

Grandma’s mood even started to change when she would come pick him up. She started

picking him up with a smile in her face. Once, she even stayed for morning group time. I

remember the look on his face of joy as he kept turning back to her to see if she could see how

good he was behaving. This child’s vocabulary grew so much during the school year, he did the

most growth out of all the students. One time, his younger aunt came to pick him up and she

shared that in the weekends all he talked about was me. He was excited to come to school

because I had built a relationship with him.

 This changed me and really showed me the importance of building connections and

relationships with students. To really understanding what they need. Something as little as,

reading him a book very day, made a impact in his preschool experience. As teachers, we should

always try to stay away from labeling children, and instead try our hardest to find ways to help

them thrive. We need to really take into perspective what is going on at home, and why a child

might be acting out. In this student’s case, all he needed was to form a bond with a teacher so he

could find meaning in school.

Part three: Reasons for including children with exceptionalities in the regular classroom.

Diversity is huge and as a teacher it is our responsibility to include everyone. I think

children with exceptionalities should be included in the classroom because it will help them

benefit from not being excluded. I think there is a personal gain when you have diversity in the

classroom. Of course, all things need to have appropriate strategies for addressing everyone’s

needs.

Being a child with a learning disability myself, I have a strong connection for children

with special needs. I used to be taken away from class a lot during my early education and

because of that, I was always lost in class. I did not start thriving in the classroom until they

started letting me stay in class longer and shortened my time at the resource center. I think I

benefited from such activities.

I believe children that are gifted should also get more attention, most of the time they are

overlooked and don’t have a chance to really shine because the teacher over uses them. Most of

the time the teacher will use the gifted child as their helper and try to use them to help the other

children instead of trying to flourish their potential. I think one of my biggest goals is to take
several workshops where I learn how to work with gifted children. I think it is a subject as

teachers we are not trained enough for. I believe gifted children are overlooked and I think these

things should change.

I would love to have a classroom where everyone feels included and no one feels bad

about how much they know. I want a classroom that supports eachother. I want a classroom

where I bring out the best in every single student. I know because I wanted the same for myself

and I hardly received it.

As a teacher, I want to have mini meetings with my students once a week. I want my

children to have a specific time of the week where we go over their own specific growth and

challenges. I don’t want anyone in my classroom to get left behind. I want to make sure all

children feel equally important. I think it is important to ask them questions and build

relationships.

Also, their special needs teacher and I should have great communication. It is not my job

alone and I will fight for all my students to have a strong team cheering for them. I want them to

flourish all of them. I know all this sounds like a dream and very unrealistic, but I believe it is

realistic. It will take a lot of work, but I do believe it is very possible. Because of this, it will be

one of my missions. I will work hard to meet all of my students needs and do continuous

research to know what is the most affective way to work with all children. I want everyone

included.
Part four: My plan for creating a diverse curriculum to meet the needs of culture, gender,

socio-economic and family structures of children in the complex system of your

community.

When it comes to diverse curriculum, I would try to be as anti-biased as possible. I will be

mindful of all the different cultures, genders and socioeconomic, and family structures of

children in the complex system of my community. I will plan my curriculum mindful of all the

different types of socialization difference each individual child will carry with intentional

planning.

In my classroom, I plan to first give out a parent survey asking the parents of my students

how they identify, what are some of their family cultures. I love to have a varying share all about

me activity every school year. I would love to have pictures of the children’s families and what

they identify with, however, I will be mindful that not all children have a family culture. I know

some children will come from complex living situations. I will be mindful of this and try to

include them by really trying to have the children focus on their own culture and little things that

really make them different from everyone else. I know some children will not want to do this

activity because they might be ashamed of their family structure. This is why, this assignment

will be completely voluntary.

I know gender roles is a think we have to be very mindful of. I understand that we now

live in a world where I might have a student that identifies as a gender that was not assigned at

birth. I understand that some children might not want to identify with any gender. I will not

speak of these topics publicly with the students, unless, it is requested by a parent. I will make a

safe environment with all my students, so they feel comfortable being in my classroom. Also, I

will try to break the stereotypical gender stereotypes. I will make sure all my students have
accesses to the same toys and that nothing in my classroom is gender biased. Yes, girls could

play every sport a boy could play in my classroom. I will never divide my class per gender,

instead, I will make groups based on interest and classroom strengths. I want an empowering

classroom.

I will be mindful of everyone’s social economical situations. I will try to always provide

everything that is needed in the classroom. If any items should be requested, I will simply make

a wish list. I know not everyone makes the same amount of money. Whatever economical statues

you have outside of the classroom needs to stay outside of the classroom. This classroom has no

economical differences. I want all my children to be confident. I don’t ever want anyone to feel

ashamed of what they have or don’t have.

I am aware that all these things are easier said than done but I am naturally someone that

wants to include everyone. I don’t like people feeling left out, and I will not allow it in my

classroom. I want my students to be comfortable, but I also want they parents of my students to

feel comfortable. It is very important to build strong relationships with my student’s parents and

having them feel like they are a part of the classroom as well. I know not all parents are going to

want to have that relationship with me and that is okay too. I would love to send my parents at

least monthly newsletters.

I know some parents might be curious what we are doing in the classroom but might be

introverted, or it might be part of their culture that they should not really talk to males. Even if

the male happens to be your child’s teacher. I will try to make my classroom a classroom that

does not leave anyone feeling pressure.

 I learned all these things back at my time in Reedley College. I know not to celebrate

holidays, and instead celebrate seasons. I know that instead of making “Father’s Day gifts” make

“someone I love gifts.” I will be the mindful teacher I have always wanted for myself, and

everyone I love.

Part five: How can the Bible classes and the weekly devotions help me to develop a moral

compass for myself and my students?

Choosing to get my education at Fresno Pacific University had a lot of benefits. One of

the key ones was the touch of religion. FPU is a Christian based school, because of this, I had the

pleaser of having to take two bible classes and had weekly devotions throughout my educational

journey. I find that although at times, it was stressful, it was also very rewarding. I believe my

moral compass has improved and strengthen because of my spiritual growth that I reached

participating in devotions weekly.

Before my time at FPU, I had little knowledge of the bible and the power of strictures.

Don’t get me wrong, I did grow up in a catholic household and attended Sunday mass every

week until I reached the age of fifteen years old. After this age, my parents allowed me the

choice of staying home and missing mass if that is what I desired. I stopped attending however,

my parents still go every Sunday. I do come from a family strong on religion however, the actual

bible, I really did not interact with. It was so bad that in my first bible course of the program, I

felt like if everyone was speaking a different language. I did not know how to grasp the course I

was taking.

Thankfully, I had teachers that were mindful of this and designed assignments in a way

that I could grow and understand the word of god better. My favorite part has been reading the
book Upside-Down Kingdom by Donald B. Kraybill. This book went into detail how jesus shook

things up and made a kingdom that was completely different from what they belived. In this

book, I learned that Jesus was someone that walked with the radical people. He loved everyone.

He was the hippie of his generation. I started to view god as a liberal man that accepted

everyone.

I found a new meaning in his words; this will help me become a better teacher and role

model. Although I plan to work in the public-school setting and find it inapposite to mention

personal beliefs in the classroom. I do think that peace and love is something that should be

shown and molded regardless of anyone’s beliefs. I want to show that even if little is known of

my faith and even though I might now verbally speak of god. I will carry the morals and values

with me that will hopefully reflect on my actions and cause a domino affect that will spread into

my future students.

I strongly believe that children care more about what you do than what you say. So even

if they never hear the word Jesus come out of my mouth, I know that those with faith will see the

loving Christian inside of me. I will intentionally never verbally admit being of any religion

because I want my students to understand that my religion is insignificant and that every human

could be a person that is full of peace and kindness. I think the most important thing to teach we

and others to love.

Love and kindness are the most powerful tool we have as teachers, Jesus used it with us.

He taught us the power of loving those that we even saw as unlovable. He taught us that through

love all souls could be saved, and that love brings out the best in people. I think it is important to

teach children how to love and how to act with kindness. I believe it will create a comforting

community for the children and they will find the classroom to be there safe spot which is what I
have always aimed to create. I want children to be kind to each other. I want them to root for

each other.

I want to make being nice a cool thing. I try to always have situations where I show this

and hope that they will only do the same. I want to teach them to respect themselves but also

each other and to never intentionally hurt someone physically or emotionally. I don’t know what

their lives are like outside of school but in my classroom, I want them to live by kindness and

love.