Parkside/ General Cheat Sheet

Why did you choose Parkside?/ What is your teaching philosophy?

My teaching philosophy is mainly about creating a safe, inclusive classroom environment where all students feel seen, valued, and able to learn. I think it's extremely important for students to feel empowered in the classroom, and I understand that students can’t reach their fullest potential until they feel this way. Similarly, I think students need to be challenged in order to read their fullest potential. Having high expectations for each and every student is vital for them to grow. After looking into the school a little bit, I can tell that Parkside has similar values and goals.

Why did you choose to teach Kindergarten?

I want to teach Kindergarten because I love the environment. Students are curious, explorative, and absorb so much. Seeing the growth that my students made during my student internship was so inspiring and rewarding. I found a passion for helping students build early literacy, foundational academic skills, and even social-emotional skills. I hope to create an environment where students can love their first experiences in elementary school, and find the same love for learning that I have.

How do you lesson plan?

During my student internship, I had to teach a scripted curriculum. Luckily, UNCW gave me the opportunity to plan and execute many lesson plans that I created myself. I made sure to start with the standard, where I would then research the standard to ensure that I had a good understanding of the content. Then, I would create hands-on lessons using multi-sensory learning strategies like visuals and movement to keep students engaged. I would also consider ways to differentiate the lesson based on formative and informative assessments to meet each student's needs. This may be asking harder questions to students who need a challenge, or pulling students to a small group for an assessment for those who need more support. This was very helpful during my student internship, as it helped me learn how to take a scripted curriculum and enhance it based on my students needs, or alter it to make it more fitting for NC standards.

How do you manage behaviors?

I have used various types of behavior management strategies, including positive reinforcement, restorative practices that emphasize rebuilding a sense of community rather than punishment, and setting clear expectations through class rules and routines. Positive reinforcement techniques, such as verbal praise or rewards for positive/desired behavior, have been effective in building a positive classroom culture and encouraging students to follow expectations. For restorative practices, this involves conflict resolution and encouraging students to reflect on their behavior. I have helped students take responsibility for their actions and become independent with conflict-resolution or repairing harm in relationships with classmates or other peers. As for expectations, I believe that setting clear expectations, explicitly communicating consequences and rewards for behaviors, and modeling procedures and routines has been important for maintaining a respectful and safe learning environment. When students know and understand the expectations, that eliminates the gray area that may spark behavior problems. Overall, a combination of these proactive strategies, along with the school-wide PBIS strategies, has been effective in managing behaviors and promoting a positive environment for students.

How do you assess student progress?

I assess student progress through continuous formative assessment, such as independent worksheets, with a summative assessment at the end of a standard. Furthermore, I used a running record of students' progress to keep track of students' understanding of each standard. This helped me create flexible groups for differentiating, as well as finding what standards I had to review.

Describe your classroom environment?

I aim to create a warm and inclusive classroom environment where each student feels respected and where all differences are celebrated. My student teaching placement was in the top 10 most diverse elementary schools in the Wilmington area, and I was able to foster an environment where students were excited to share their cultures with others. Students were excited to learn words in the languages of other students, which was very rewarding to witness. My goal is to use this experience to help my future students feel safe, respected, and excited to come to school each day.

Challenging situation in the classroom:

One challenging situation I encountered was a student who was consistently disrupting lessons and the learning environment for others. To address this, I first ensured that the rest of the class had an engaging activity to participate in, which was a video read aloud of the story we were learning about. This allowed me to engage in a one-on-one conversation with the student in a more private manner. Then, I was able to understand the reason for their behavior. Together, we reflected on their behavior, and created a behavior goal that outlined clear expectations as well as the rewards when they complete this goal. Then, I re-explained the consequences set when students continue to not meet expectations. I also collaborated with the success coach in order to create an effective general behavior plan for the student, which emphasized positive reinforcement and continued support and communication to meet goals and create a better learning environment for all students.

Time a lesson didn’t go as planned:

During a math lesson, I had planned a partner game with composing and decomposing numbers of 10. Once started, I noticed students were disengaged with the activity, and very confused. I paused all activity, drew their attention back to the me, where I was able to simplify instructions, and model the game more explicitly using a student example. I was able to learn the importance of chunking instructions, providing a clear model, and checking for understanding before transitioning to activities.

How do you differentiate instruction?

I use the running records to make flexible grouping. To support ELL students, EC students, and students who need more supports, I make sure to include visual aids, sentence stems, and leveled tasks. For example, in a literacy center, one group might work on letter sounds while another is reading decodable books. I also collaborate with specialists to support students with IEPs or ELL needs.