Portfolio Part One

Portfolio Part One

The Learner and the Learning

Hayley Simmons

Vermont State University- Castleton Campus

Spring 2024
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Learning and the Learner

Introduction

From the age of five years old, or even younger, we are exposed to schooling and

teachers. I have spent the last twenty years in a school setting. My mom is a teacher, so I was in

school pretty much from the time I was able to walk, right up to today and for the foreseeable

future. Throughout the last twenty years, I have been in a few different school settings. I went to

a small house-looking school and learned the basics before I made it to a “real” school.

Throughout my elementary school years, I had teachers who poured their hearts into their jobs. I

can still remember my kindergarten teacher and how kind she was to me, a tiny little girl who

was deathly afraid of school. My third grade teacher had a love for teaching us things I really

never expected to retain, but every time I see her, those little facts come flooding back. When I

was in fifth grade, my teacher swore to my parents I was a daydreamer. I was always staring out

the window and not paying attention. What my mother, as a teacher, picked up on was that I

wasn’t “day-dreaming” I was simply just bored. My middle school social studies teacher sparked

my love for reading books about war. I still to this day only read books pertaining to wars,

specifically 9/11 and the Afghanistan/Iraq war. My English teacher in ninth and eleventh grade

showed me my writing skills, and that I was pretty good at it. Lastly, my twelfth grade English

teacher is the one who really drilled into me that I was made to be a teacher and “there was

nothing else in the world I could see you doing”. She was probably the only one who pushed me
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to apply to college and follow this dream I had never really put a second thought into. Those

teachers I just listed had been teachers for a long time. They could tell you anything about their

content area without thinking twice. They each had a heart of gold, and I always admired them.

The way you treat a student matters. The way you present the information children need to learn

is important. I never in a million years thought I could tell you the different mountains the U.S.

soldiers climbed while looking for Osama Bin Laden (It’s the Tora Bora mountains, by the way).

My passion for education started when I was in elementary school. I would set up my

brother, my dog and stuffed animals in front of a whiteboard my mom had brought home from

her classroom. We did worksheets, I taught them multiplication facts, I gave them detention, all

the things. When I was a sophomore in highschool, a teacher who I spent ridiculous amounts of

time with offered me a job working for the school’s Recreation Department. For eight weeks

during the semester, I taught elementary art. I have some art skills but not enough to pursue an art

career. I had never really been around kids, in a school setting, actually teaching them something

before. They clung to me from the moment they walked in the door, to the minute they left.

Throughout the next three summers, Mrs. B had given me more and more responsibilities. By the

end of my junior year of college, I had become the Recreation Department Student Leader, taught

my own STEM art class, was the Head Lifeguard for summer swimming in my hometown, and

was a Teacher's Aid for summer school. Without the trust Mrs. B had given me, I sincerely don’t

think I would be here, writing my portfolio.

After COVID-19 had impacted the schools, the principal at my local school reached out

to me and asked if I wanted to help out during the school day. Without a second thought, I said

yes. He had me there the first full week in September. I worked exclusively with fifth graders.
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My mentor teacher, Mr. K, was the one who really assured me I was on the right track. I had

more fun in his class than I had in all the other jobs I had. These fifth graders had the kindest

souls. They stared at me like I was the only person in the world who mattered. Friday mornings I

played the guitar for them. They would sing along to the songs I played, and begged and begged

for me to play “just one more”. Let’s just say, I always played one more. Mr. K treated me like I

was his daughter. He gave me constructive criticism, gave me someone I could confess my fears

to, and really helped me realize the teacher I want to be someday.

Performance Criterion One- Learner Development

PC 1.2 Candidates use understanding of developmental theory (in areas such as

Description

Performance Criterion 1.2 suggests that “candidates use understanding of learning theory

to design appropriate learning experiences”. Let’s break that down. Knowing learning

theory/developmental theory gives educators an idea of how we want students to learn and what

we should expect of them. There also needs to be an understanding of how we as educators

should implement different tactics to get the students to be involved to the best of their ability.

One theory that really stuck out while researching was motivational theory. Students
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these days tend to not be as attentive as some of my peers were. While working with students

from kindergarten to fifth grade, I can see a major decline in motivation. There is this

expectation that everything will be handed to them and school will come easy. The students

who believe that school will come easy to them are the same students who have not been given

the challenge of doing things on their own. Without that responsibility, the motivation to do

well in school has dissipated and has resulted in an increase in behavior issues.

Motivation for a student is a very challenging piece of being a teacher. Sometimes,

trying to motivate a student can feel like a never ending battle.. If they are not using an

effective form of classroom management, then the students are going to act out in a way that is

unmanageable. After establishing a sound classroom management system, there needs to be a

motivation tactic that goes hand in hand with punishment and rewards. While working with

fifth graders, I was exposed to a new motivation tactic. During the first few weeks, the other

teacher and I had communicated on how we think we can motivate these students, but also

have a good system for punishments. It was heard that behaviors were very common in this

class, so we needed something to make sure those were slim to none. What I had come up with

was a string of lights drawn on the length of the board. When they were good as a whole class,

whether that be in the classroom or outside of the classroom, they got a light colored in. That

was the whole class's reward system. As for individuals, I had a white board I did not use

because of its placement. I wrote all twenty-two names on the board. Everytime I spoke to

them, they had a tally next to their name. If they were disruptive in the classroom, for another

special teacher, in the hallway, to another student, or didn’t do their homework, then they got a

tally. The first tally was a warning, the second tally was five minutes off of recess and so on.
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As the day progressed, the more lines, the more time off of recess. I found this to be very

effective as the students did not want to miss recess time. In my student teaching, I do not plan

to follow this method. Since I am working with kindergarteners, I feel that this is not a useful

tool for this age group. However, it is possible to modify the approach to fit the younger

students.

Salient Evidence & Analysis

John S. Thatcher, from Kentwood, Michigan stumbled upon a motivational system that

seemed to work in his class. Mr. Thatcher taught sixth grade, so the tension between students and

the teacher was hard as it was at that age. It seemed to be, previous to this new system that his

punishments were not acting as a punishment. In the article, A Motivational Technique for the

Elementary classroom. (1971) it appeared to author J. Thatcher that “perhaps the children were

being inadvertently reinforced for inappropriate behavior. Appropriate behavior was being

ignored and therefore did not increase in frequency” (Thatcher, 23). The behaviors he was

witnessing were talking out of turn, being out of one’s seat or classroom without permission,

fighting with the other students, being late to certain functions within the school curriculum, and

many other behaviors” (Thatcher, 24).

After observing this disruptive behavior, Thatcher came up with a point system for the

students. “Points or tokens were kept by the teacher on the blackboard for all to see. The pupils

were divided randomly into two teams every four weeks. Each student received a list of the new

team members. The team with the most points at the end of the four weeks received a prize”

(Thatcher, 24). This system was implemented for both social and academic motivation. They
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were to be positive and have a polite manner with their teachers and classmates. All sorts of

disruptive behavior that had happened during their different blocks was to be unaccepted. When

those issues arrived, points would be taken away. Not only did one person suffer, but the whole

group lost points, causing them to work together.

This current school year, I work with fifth grade students. This specific group of kids are

very low, grade-level wise and many of them receive services from a special educator. There are

some who are highly motivated, and others who couldn’t get themselves out of their own way.

After discussing with the teacher, it came to our understanding these kids simply needed

something to work for. So, with that being said, we came up with a similar point system as stated

above. Instead of points, they earned “Dojo Dollars”. These were rewarded if their homework

was done correctly, if they answered a problem during a lesson that was rather difficult, showed

good “Tanger Pride” (which is their mascot), and other classroom things like helping out a

classmate, and helping out the teacher. It has only been four weeks of school, but the students

who are intrigued definitely show their motivation. The majority of the students are not so into it,

which is causing them to fall behind and their grades are reflecting it. We try our best to get them

to step out of their comfort zone and do the things they are not too sure about. Some put up a

fight, while others will sigh and do it. If they do it, without any argument, they get a Dojo Dollar.

Is it okay to be doing this for everything? Absolutely not. There will come a point in time where

they are going to be expected to be fifth graders and to stop acting like third graders, but for now,

it appears to be working.
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Reflection

With the inclusion of a classroom management strategy, I have found that it works on

occasion. I know for some students, this is fun for them, and I admire their will to follow through

with the good behavior. However, for the ones who simply do not care, there needs to be another

management tool that will engage them in another way.

Performance Criterion 2-Learning Differences

Performance Criterion 2.1

Description
In public schools, it is hard to fit in the required work that needs to be done during the

school day. Students should be prepared to be adults, live in the real world and survive.

Everything as we know it is being transformed from a piece of paper to a technology version.

While that is good for some students, it is not well for others. Inclusivity is something that can be

hindered during this transition as well. From a young age, students should be able to have a sense

of responsibility in school. They need to be responsible for their papers starting in kindergarten

and only go up from there as they get older. Technology has its ups and downs, and I feel anyone

can agree with that. However, from what I have observed, students have not been able to learn as

well when they are working on a computer. Now, for some, they strive to learn through

technology and I feel more and more students will become this way. I personally think that

education today is survival. I have seen far too many students be pushed through school without

learning anything just to get into programs where they can do something more hands-on, on their
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level. With the sense of responsibility comes the ability for the teacher to be able to dictate who

can thrive with certain tools, and who is simply just “surviving”.

Performance Criterion 2.1 says “Candidates use an understanding of individual

differences to design inclusive learning experiences”. To simplify this, teachers need to

understand how different students work. Teachers need to understand other ways that the

information can be modeled, and if it is effective for the student who needs this. This can come

in many different forms, such as the use of technology, a 1:1 teacher supporting said students, or

a modification of the classwork. Really, the possibilities of changing the way school work is

expected to be done or even presented are endless. A few examples I have seen are more

focused on the higher grades, primarily fifth grade. In this classroom, there were five students

who had IEPs. When it came to math, they were given math notebooks. Only two of the five

students were able to have math notebooks, but because of the struggles I had noticed, we made

math notebooks for all five students. In these notebooks, we had examples of all of the new

lessons that were typed nice and neatly so they could read it. They were allowed to use these

books whenever they wanted, including tests. This helped them tremendously with their work.

A second example of ways I have seen work modified was of my own doing for ELA for

fifth graders. Following the program we do, the tests are very wordy and do not follow along

with the book we had just read. For the students who had IEP’s and had modifications for tests, I

had modified the test to cover everything that we discussed in class about the book. The test was

graded the same and was scored evenly with the other one. With these modified tests, the

students did so much better. They were able to comprehend what they were doing and make

connections from the story to the test.

Salient Evidence and Analysis

Evidence: Classroom observation

In the article Exploring Digital Literacy Practices in an Inclusive Classroom (2015), we are

introduced to a student named Lee in a classroom called Hive Society. This class was made up of

ten and eleven year olds with multiple disabilities. Lee was a bilingual student who had learning

disabilities (later determined to be Autism). Emily, the teacher of Hive Society, allowed her

students to be teachers and students. They were able to participate in small groups, group

discussions, partners and independent work. While doing so, they had the freedom to choose

whatever type of presentation they wanted. Podcasts, videos, presentations, really any sort of

multimedia programs were at their fingertips. Lee used Flipboard, an app used to make news

stories and Bitstrips, a website used to make original comics. After observing Emily's class, it

was found that students' literacy practices and skills became more complex and deliberate. Lee

was able to integrate into her classroom and be a productive member, even with a language

barrier.

Throughout my experience in the education field, I have come across one student who

was autistic in a general education classroom. Where I am from, that is not unheard of, especially

being in a super small rural district. His disabilities did not affect his learning, in fact he was

above grade level. One thing he struggled with was using a chromebook. As I said previously, all

the work is being transferred from paper to some form of technology. His patience is very

limited, and would much rather do the work on paper. For some things, that is possible, but for
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other things, it simply is not. One of the district-wide standardized tests they take are strictly on

the computer. There is no way a student can do it on paper. He has no accommodations

documented on an IEP or 504, so getting it laid out another way really isn’t an option. What his

teacher and I decided to do was allow him to go into another room with me. While the test was

taking place, he was allowed to roam around and take the test at his own speed. He read

everything out loud to me and himself. When it came time to do his work, he stopped wherever

he was standing and answered the question. We took a break every fifteen minutes and that

allowed him to distract himself with something else. When the break time was over, we went

back to taking the test. Did it take him four hours to complete the test? Yes. Did he score better

than most of the class? Absolutely.

Reflection

Sometimes, there may not be a perfect answer to how to accommodate the students in

the room. Through trial and error, we found what worked for this specific student. Emily in

Hive Society was able to find what worked for Lee, while still getting the work done.

The use of “distraction” for the student in order to get him to regain his focus works almost

every time. I understand that this, other times, will not be a possibility, so when the time

comes, I will be able to accommodate him better. Some things we talked about doing for him

were separate locations, different teachers giving the test, and getting him a 504 plan for these

specific tests.

Since I am student teaching in the younger grades, I feel that accommodations for

younger learners really vary. Seeing as I am in kindergarten, there is no early intervention. I

have also seen so many different ways of presenting information to these students that I don’t
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feel they need specific accommodations. I also don’t believe the classroom teacher should

make changes for all students. There is a curriculum that needs to be met and having to

change work for twenty plus students is not necessary if they don’t need it. I think that if you

were to group the students and designate their time with the teacher, in a larger class setting, I

think that can be of help to some students. I hope in student teaching, I learn some new ways

to do ability grouping and give students the help they need without changing up everything

for each and every student.

Performance Criterion Three- Learning Environments

PC 3.1 Candidates design learning environments that support individual learning marked
by active engagement.

Description

A crucial piece of creating an effectively working classroom is the way teachers use

classroom management strategies. Throughout the last four years of studying to be a teacher,

classroom management has been something that has been repeated to us, often. It seems to be

the root of many different issues that can arise during the school day, both good and bad. I feel

that all teachers must create a solid method of classroom management. Lack of it causes

situations that I have mentioned in the above paragraphs. Not all classes and students are the

same as well. There needs to be a different approach every school year for new students.

There was a teacher in a rural upstate New York school who taught third grade. This
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teacher got a new student who was autistic. He was more than capable of being in a general

education classroom. He had an IEP and an aid that was in the room with him. He was very

sensitive to loud noises, and transitions were a struggle for him. When it came time to switch

classes, the students would get overly excited and send this student over the edge. Not knowing

how to change this, the teacher researched different silent games to see if she could adapt them

to their transition time. After some failed attempts, she was able to get her students to transition

to the other classroom completely silently. When they completed it in a timely manner, and

without making a peep, they would receive a cotton ball in a jar. When the jar was full, they

received some kind of reward. Sometimes they would be able to wear slippers, have a movie

day, eat lunch in the classroom, donuts for breakfast, and so many others.

By definition, classroom management “refers to the wide variety of skills and techniques

that teachers use to keep students organized, orderly, focused, attentive, on task and

academically productive during class” (Sabbott, 2014). Classroom management is something

that all teachers need to deal with effectively. They need to be able to communicate the way they

want things to go in their classroom. The lack of classroom management causes so many

different issues such as disruptions, behaviors, and lack of learning. There needs to be a variety

of approaches to address a diverse population of students.

Salient Evidence & Analysis

Performance Criterion 3.1 says “Candidates design learning environments that support

individual learning marked by active engagement”. The design of the learning environment is the

most crucial aspect to a classroom. With the right set up of desks, references, books, tables, smart
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T.V.’s or whiteboards, and anything else that may be incorporated into the classroom, there will

be more engagement and more opportunities to learn. Individual learning is also one of the major

points during a school day. The main way students learn is by doing it on their own, with

minimal assistance. With the placements of the different resources in the classroom, there is a

better chance of effective learning. During the actual lesson, there needs to be engagement in the

classroom. The way the teacher is leading the lesson is important, but so is the set up. Every little

detail in a classroom is important. In the article, Changing behaviors by changing the classroom

environment (2010), authors Guardino and Fullerton present the model of a teacher, Ms.

Thompson, who was struggling to attain that.

Ms. Thompson is a fourth-grade teacher in an inclusive classroom. During the year, she

has had high levels of disruptive behavior. She was reporting to the administration, and

unfortunately nothing was being done. It is important to note that out of all seventeen students in

her classroom, one received special education services and several other students were awaiting

referrals for assessments. With the help of some researchers, they were able to observe Ms.

Thompson’s classroom and determined what the issues were and came up with a plan to solve

them. They did studies that correlated the problematic behaviors to engagement. It was found

that the engagement of the class was poor due to “no distinction between group and individual

space, supplies were not available, the arrangement of the computer area increased distractibility,

pathways were not clearly defined, and keeping supplies on the teachers desk caused

congestion”(Guardino and Fullerton, 12).

After revealing these findings to Ms. Thompson, they implemented a new classroom

management idea. After changing the classroom around, students had “individual carrels for
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independent work. We created three distinct group areas: one at the front round table, and two on

the carpet separated by bookshelves” (Guardino and Fullerton,12) among many other changes.

As a result of changing around the classroom, there was a spike in student engagement. The

behaviors of the students also became better and were easier to manage.

This school year is the third post-Covid and there are still a lot of difficulties in the

schools. I have been working with fifth graders for three years now. This specific year, I went to

another district. This also happened to be my field placement. In this district, the class sizes tend

not to be bigger than twelve. Well, for this specific case, there are 22 fifth graders all in the same

room. They are being taught by a fifth grade teacher, a special education teacher, and myself.

Nothing has come easy for these students. They were faced with many different changes within

the first few weeks of school. Twenty-two students per classroom is exceptionally different for

this school and was a very large adjustment for everyone involved both teachers and students.

In particular, there is one student who causes issues that snowball into other issues with

the other twenty-one students. He is ODD and has ADHD with medications that have not been

updated or changed in the last 3 years . He has voiced a few times to myself that he acts the way

he does for the other teacher because he simply does not like him. His actions of blurting out

random things, arguing, roaming around the classroom whenever he feels like, and making the

other teacher raise his voice in an uncomfortable way, not only disrupts the class as a whole, but

causes other issues between himself and the other teacher. Any time that I am teaching or

working 1:1 with him, he is a great student to work with. He tries his best and keeps the

disruptive behaviors to a minimum. As for how this was confronted and handled, it took a long

time for the principal to find the right way to do it. When she did, we have been able to remove
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him from the room when he needs a break, and I have been able to refocus him on the task at

hand, almost like we are ignoring the teacher.

Reflection

By adding new classroom management strategies into my classroom, like the removal or

avoidance of the student, all of the students' needs will be met. This specific child does cause

multiple interruptions for the class as a whole, so being able to reduce those will be beneficial to

everyone. However, I am only one person, and this cannot become a habit. The development of

other strategies will be most beneficial to me and the student as the year progresses.

Moving into student teaching, I would like to acquire skills that will be valuable for all

grade levels. Focusing more on the higher grades, and not as much on the younger grades, I

would like to be able to have management skills that will work for all grades. However, that

may be difficult, I would like to see if there are similar skills that can be adjusted and

transferable. Throughout this semester, I would like to be able to focus also on student-interest

based learning. I think that it is important to learn students' interests to help build their skills

surrounding things they enjoy. Working with students who have been of the older grades for

quite some time, I am unfamiliar with the interests of the younger students. At the present, when

I finish my degree, I would like to work with students in the 8-12 age group. I find their

personalities are more relatable and are far more easy going, which is similar to my personality.

Throughout the last 21 years, school has been the one constant in my life. I have never

taken a break. The idea of constantly learning new things fascinated me from an age I can’t
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even remember. The love I had for learning has become more intense throughout the last few

years. All the things I have mentioned in the beginning pertaining to my experience will allow

me to give my students the most I can. I have experienced the good and bad side of teaching.

The fun times and the sad times. I feel that I am more than equipped to handle all sorts of issues

in the classroom.

When thinking of being in my own classroom, or hearing stories from my mom, I always

believed this to be an easy job. Now, I'm not saying easy as in the “easy way out” but more along

the lines of being something that I will do easily. However, that is not the case. Managing a

classroom, different behaviors and the lack of structure in administration is extremely hard to do.

The way children behave now is not something that I have ever experienced before. The

curriculum that needs to be taught in a year is far more than what I remember it being when I was

in school. However, that is what I am here to do, understand it and teach it in a way that all

different kinds of students understand.

In the following years, as I get my license and a job teaching, there will be many different

areas of growth and change. Helping the students who need the constant reminders, different

locations, and modifications will come with change and learning as well. I will know that forms

of management work and others that don't. These I believe are class specific every year, so that is

something that will be kept in the back of my mind as well. There is plenty of room for growth,

which will happen by doing.

Portfolio Part One Final Reflection

Moving into student teaching and my career, I plan to use learning theory to help with my

students. I plan to use all of this information to keep my students fully engaged, whether that be

in the classroom with their peers, working on work independently, or with the students who

struggle or strive. In my own classroom, I plan to design a room that is inclusive for all students.

This would include flexible seating, different ways of giving information to the students whether

that be visually, audibly, or technology. There will be some sort of class reward system that will

hopefully help them work as classmates to reach. I feel my biggest areas of growth and learning

will be working with younger students. I am not all too familiar with the younger grades so, I

think I will have a new appreciation for the teachers who work with them everyday. I think I will

also grow as a softer person. I have always done better with the older students because I felt that

I could relate to them easier and was able to create lessons. I think being with kindergarteners

this time, I think it will give me a whole new perspective on what else goes on.
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Works Cited:

Guardino, Caroline. “Changing Behaviors by Changing the Classroom Environment” - WRUV,

2010, www.uvm.edu/~cdci/best/pbswebsite/Resources/ChangingBehaviors.pdf.

Price-Dennis, Detra, et al. “Exploring Digital Literacy Practices in an Inclusive Classroom.”

Reading Teacher, vol. 69, no. 2, Sept. 2015, pp. 195–205. EBSCOhost,

https://doi.org/10.1002/trtr.1398.

Thatcher, John S. “A Motivational Technique for the Elementary Classroom.” School

Applications of Learning Theory, vol. 3, no. April 1971, pp. 23–26,

https://doi.org/https://www.jstor.org/stable/44737260.