While enrolled in the course EDU 3120,

Educational Psychology, I was required to

participate in a thirty hour site based experience in
a fourth grade classroom at Henry Ruff
Elementary School in Garden City. During my site
based observation, I observed my cooperating
teacher (Mrs. Kish) collaborate with fellow
professionals, parents and other school staff in
order to implement individually appropriate
learning experiences for all students. This process
was especially critical for the two students in the
classroom that were diagnosed with ADHD and
the one student who was on the autism spectrum.
Before implementing individually appropriate
activities and methods of instruction, Mrs. Kish
had to work to identify the needs of the learners
within her classroom. She did this by continuously
measuring individual and group performances
through paper based assessments and
observations. Mrs. Kish then used the assessment
and observation results to meet the needs of her
students in each area of development and to
provide the appropriate amount of scaffolding to
ensure that growth and development would occur.
Mrs. Kish always took the time to collaborate with
the families of the students in her classroom. She
believed that this collaboration was of great help
to all involved as the families of her students had a
vast amount of insight and knowledge about how
their children learn and what tools work best for
them. Mrs. Kish was sure to share this information
with other school professionals that worked with
her students (such as the art and music teachers)
so that her students could learn successfully and
gain knowledge and insight in all subject areas.
With the information she gathered through
collaboration with families as well as her
knowledge base about how students develop and
learn Mrs. Kish was able to successfully
differentiate instruction for her class full of unique
learners.
My experience in Mrs. Kishs classroom assisted
me in seeing the important role that collaboration,
differentiation and knowledge of child
development and learning play in the education
process. Teachers must be ready and willing to
work with others and possess the ability to
constantly adapt instruction processes and
activities to match the needs of ALL the students
in their classroom. As a future teacher, I will be
sure to use the advice and input my colleagues and
parents as well as my knowledge in the area of
child development and learning to provide
developmentally appropriate and challenging
learning experiences for each and every one of my
students.


Photo by BES Photos, used with Creative
Commons rights.
Standard 1: Learner Development
The teacher understands how learners grow and develop, recognizing that
patterns of learning an development vary individually within and across
the cognitive, linguistic, social, emotional, and physical areas, and
designs and implements developmentally appropriate and challenging
learning experiences.