Alyssandra Jaquith

May 1, 2016

Individual Student Study TemplatePart 6: The J-Factor

DUE BY END OF WEEK 7

Goals for Student Growth

1. Based on your learning in Week 7, identify one or two goals for the student related to the J-Factor.

There are so many valuable components to the J Factor that I think would be helpful in bringing happiness
into the classroom for VE. The J Factor I will focus on specifically for VE is humor. I want VE to be able to
laugh at the small things that happen in the classroom and see that laughing, smiling, and enjoying yourself
is a great way to build relationships with others. In particular, I hope will set the following goals:
- I would like my goal to be that VE laugh at least 5 times a day while interacting with her peers
- I would like another goal for VE to be able to laugh at herself, and to brush off the small stuff

Reading this back, this sounds like a somewhat silly goal for a 6 year old. Yet, when I think of the power that
enjoying school at a young age can have in transforming a childs mindset around school, I realize that this
may be the most important goal for VE to continue making the gains and the strides I have already seen
occurring.

2. Identify one goal for your class as a whole related to the J-Factor.

There are so many valuable components to the J Factor that I think would be helpful in bringing happiness
into the whole classroom. The J Factor I will focus on specifically for my class is Us (and them). I think that
this will help my whole entire class in building rapport with each other, but it will also help VE to feel part of
the us of the classroom, and to feel part of the us of student and teacher.
- I would like my goal for the class to be that students can describe what makes our classroom special
- I would like another goal for the class to be that students are actively asking any member of the class
to play together (not just their friends)

Plan of Action
1. Based on your learning from the Week 7 resources, describe two or three action steps for meeting
the goal(s) outlined above.

For my VE specific goals,

- I would like to create a nickname with VE that makes her feel special and that she thinks is silly (I
know her mom calls her xxxx I will ask her if she likes this name, or if she would like to make a
special one)
- I will allow VE to choose the animal we use as the transition walk to the carpet 2 times a week (eg.
walk like a spider)
- I will teach Unit 3 from the Second Step 1st grade kit which is on Emotion Management
- I will explicitly make an example of the moments when I may make a mistake in the classroom,
showing how I calm myself down and laugh at myself

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For my class specific goals:
- I will teach Unit 2 from the Second Step 1st grade kit on Empathy
- I will spend time at the end of every day for 1 week asking the students what makes our classroom
special and recording responses on an anchor chart
o I will display this anchor chart in the classroom and reference it daily
- I will reinforce and support the students in their classroom specific culture throughout the day saying
things such as Room 117 is the best! and rewarding whole class points
- I will introduce new ideas as if they were secrets so that the students feel that they are learning
something special that is just for our classroom
- I will choose 1 student per day until the end of the year to be the special student of the day and the
rest of the class will have to brainstorm only positive things that they like about this student

2. Describe the impact you expect these action steps to have on your students and on your learning
environment in general.

For my action steps for VE, I expect VE to feel more connected to me in the classroom. Though small,
nicknames show students you are thinking of them and care about them. They also will make VE smile!
Allowing VE to take more responsibility for fun in the classroom by choosing the animal we transition with
will also help her socially because her classmates will see that I am choosing her for this special role and
they will see that she is fun and silly and they will want to be her friend. Finally, using the Second Step kit will
be paramount in my success with VE. I do not use the curriculum in a strict sense. Rather, I pick and
choose the lessons that will be most beneficial for the class. By using puppets and role-playing different
scenarios that are possible for a student in 1st grade, we create the space to discuss social-emotional
development, and the importance of being in tune with our emotions. VE is one of my quieter, shyer students
in my class. I hope that through the use of the puppets and bringing VE up as my volunteer during role-plays
will allow VE to practice ways to listen to, express, and regulate her emotions.

For my action steps for the entire class, I expect the class to feel a deep pride in being from room 117! I
expect the students to be able to articulate what they love about our classroom and to understand the
importance of working as a team. I hope that students will feel affirmed in who they are and in their identity
through the special student activity. I believe it is important for students to build confidence at this age, no
matter their ability. Having the right mindset is half of the battle in being successful in elementary school.
For some students who struggle academically or who come from a difficult home situation, they are not used
to hearing positive words about who they are and how they work. I want this special student time to be a
time when every student feels an overwhelming amount of support so that they feel love from every person in
the room.

Final Reflection
1. Write reflections on your implementations of Part 5 and the other part of your Individual Student Study
that you chose to implement. For each reflection, describe highlights of your experiences, impact on
the student, and possible next steps.

**I wrote these reflections into the original document, so I just copied and pasted them below.

Part 5: Home Visit (copied from assignment Part 5)

I realized that home visits are extremely beneficial. Though it was awkward at first, and frankly,
challenging to schedule, the visit was a huge success. I learned more about the parenting dynamics
at home. I learned, through observing their interactions and speaking with the family, that VEs mom
acts as the disciplinarian while her father is more relaxed and lets the children do as they please.
The parents have older children together (already adult and married) and now they also have a 1st
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 grader and a kindergartener. They are older parents. The Mom has expressed frustrations on this
front, and I havent fully understood until I visited them at their home. Discussing ways you can help
your child at home is an interesting task because I need to phrase it correctly so that it does not
appear that I am telling the parents how to raise their children. Ive reached out to some veteran
colleagues of mine to approach how to talk about parenting coming from a younger teacher. I need to
make sure I do not sound condescending and that I am respectful and purposeful in this
conversation. I need to make the conversation about what is best for VE.

I also realized that I attempted to do too much in this home visit. Though all my objectives for the visit
were to tackle one reading goal, I did not have time to get to each idea. I also realized midway
through the meeting that I did not want to overwhelm the parents with too much information. I needed
to split up all of my ideas into multiple visits. This would help in two ways. First it would help me to
continue to develop my relationship with the family through multiple visits at their home. It would also
help the parents to walk away from each visit with a tangible goal for them to work on, rather than 5-6
goals.

I have definitely seen growth since this visit. Interestingly, prior to this visit VE was getting to school
late 3/5 days of the week. After the visit she has been on time to school every day. This was an
unintended positive result of the visit! I have also noticed that this visit strengthened my relationship
with VEI feel as though she trusts me and trusts the process of the work we are doing in the
classroom. I have also noticed that in small group VE is more willing to participate and now raises
her hand to answer questions about the text. She wants to participate in the reading races we do
during small group, and has even given positive and encouraging words of support to her group
members in their struggle with reading. I am so excited by this continued progress!

Part 1: Motivation and Mindset (copied from assignment Part 1)

There have been a few positive changes. First, I have noticed this student light up and get SO
excited when her mom is in the classroom. This has helped to build investment in this student, and
as predicted, it has strengthened her confidence. It has also helped her make a few more friends in
the classother girls want to be her friend because they see her mom getting to work with certain
students. I am so happy with how this aspect of my plan has played out. I will continue to have the
mom come into the classroom and volunteer running small groups. For the future, I would like to
work more closely with the mother to better explain some of my concerns with a lack of independence
in her daughter and ways that we can work together to build independence and motivation at home
and at school (eg. setting timers for her to complete her homework or having her daughter get herself
ready for school in the morning). This is something I will consult some of the veteran teachers about,
because as a young teacher, I walk a fine line in consulting and advising parents, and seemingly like I
am trying to tell them how to parent with no parenting experience myself.

Next, Ive noticed that implemented the stamp extrinsic motivation component of the project is a bit
challenging when there are a variety of other demands on my time. I have found that I am able to
reward her intermittently, but it is not consistent. Therefore, Ive been positively praising her and
using other methods in addition to the stamp method. However, my student has also seemed
somewhat disinterested in some of the things in the school-wide prize bin. Therefore, in the future, I
will set up a more personalized system for this one student. I will print coloring pages and crayons
and use art time as a reward for urgency and motivation in the classroom. I think that incorporating
this students interest will be key in making the progress that I want to see.

Finally, the student conferences have been successful. I better understood that this student has an
extremely low and negative self-concept that stems from insecurities about her body. This deeply
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 concerns me since she is only 7 years old. Because of this, I have actively thought about different
types of literature that I can bring into the classroom that will help teach appreciating our differences
and the power of loving oneself. This is something I am still seeking guidance on, however, because
I am so shocked that this student is feeling so negatively at age 7. I do not see or hear students
actively picking on this student because of the way she looks, but I know that this student does not
stand up for herself and feels shy for a variety of reasons. I want to build confidence and a growth
mindset for these students not only in what they can achieve academically, but also in who they are
on the inside. I want her and the rest of my class to realize that we are all growing every day and we
need to love, respect, and value one another. Though this student has opened up to me about this, I
am concerned that the moms knowledge of this is what is somewhat holding her back in my
classroom. I worry that the mom is babying her daughter because she wants to protect her
(understandably so). I am currently working on ways that I can best communicate building
independence with the mom in a way that is appropriate.

2. Write a reflection on how looking through multiple lenses has helped you refine your approach to
classroom management. Describe the growth that you and your students have experienced through
this refinement process.

Looking through multiple lenses and breaking this project down into actionable items each week has really
helped me to better understand the complex set of factors that interact to help a child succeed in school. I
also realized that the breakdown of these assignments was intentional. It is useful to first work on motivation
and mindset, continue to self-responsibility, causes of misbehavior, habits of mind, parent involvement, and
the Joy Factor. This was also helpful for me because it helped me to think about the ways that I will be able
to expand this specific student study into whole class initiatives at the beginning of the school year for next
year.

I loved that I could take the work that I completed from this project and bring it into my classroom the
following day and immediately implement it. There was purpose behind the assignment, and I truly saw
growth in my student. I feel lucky that this year I did not have any extreme problems with misbehavior, and
that I could focus more intently on mindset and emotional competency in this project. This was exciting for
me because these are skills that I really want to work on with my students.

I have grown a lot through this process. I learned so much about my one student. Particularly in the second
semester of teaching, it is easy to fall into the monotonous trap of your classroom routine without switching
things up. It was easy for me to think that I already knew everything there was to know about my students
because I did so much work building community at the beginning of the year. Yet, this project made me
realize that there is always more to learn about our students. It helped me to understand that building culture
and community is a yearlong process, and not just something that occurs in the 1st month of school.

3. Looking ahead, identify areas of classroom management that you would like to refine further.
Describe steps you could take to achieve this additional refinement and describe the impact you
expect it will have on students.

I think I would like to continue to refine my ability to respond to student misbehavior. I think that I have a
wide range of tools for developing motivation and responsibility, and I in general do a good job at building a
relationship with my students. I think that since I am only finishing my second year teaching, my toolbox for
responding to student misbehavior is still growing. I need to gain more knowledge on effective and
successful ways to consequence misbehavior and then build action plans for preventing misbehavior. I will
begin by interviewing some of the veteran teachers at my school for different ways that they have responded
to the specific misbehaviors I have seen (calling out, getting out of seat, not completing work). I will ask them
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what has worked well for them, and why. Each child is different and sometimes it takes a variety of
approaches and strategies before we find the one approach that works best for one specific student. I think I
also need to develop patience in this idea. I often implement a strategy in my room, and want to see
immediate changes in behavior! I need to remind myself that student change is gradual, and I need to be
diligent and consistent in my implementation of a new strategy so that my students have time to make the
changes and growth I know that they can achieve.

Resources
Lemov, D. (2010). Teach like a champion: 49 techniques that put students on the path to college. (1st ed.).
San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

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