Brittany Gassman

Service Learning Reflections

School Climate and Invitational Education
#1 Upon entering Medary Elementary, I immediately noticed the brightly colored posters plastered
across the walls and hung from the ceiling. The posters served as an energetic reminder to students to be
fair and practice good citizenship. I instantly felt welcomed to the building by the front desk secretary
who had the door open for me as I walked in and willingly directed me to the correct classroom. The
Kindergarten teacher I am working with was eagerly awaiting my arrival. When I walked in the room, she
ceased all activity of the students to welcome me to the classroom and have me introduce myself to the
students. I instantly felt welcomed by both the students and the teacher when they started bombarding me
with questions, wanting to know everything about me that they could. Not only did I feel welcomed by
the class and students, I was also given the opportunity to meet the Physical Education student teacher
and Music teacher both of which warmly welcomed my wondering mind with sincerity. Everyone in the
school was very helpful while I was there and were willing to answer any questions I presented. My first
experience with the staff and students was a very positive one, and I look forward to continuing my work
with this school.
#4 Every time I walk into my school site, I am excitedly greeted at the door by several
students racing to the doorway fighting to give me hugs and tell me all about their day. I eagerly
hug them back and proceed to send them back to their chairs to finish the activity they were
working before I entered the classroom. As I walk around the classroom, helping students with
their struggles of the assignment, I have a huge smile upon my face and am eager to answer any
question they may have. When the period is over, the students are in line ready to walk to their
next class, gym. While they are standing in line, I ask each student several questions about their
day or their weekend. All of the students love sharing their recent experiences with me, and I
listen intently as they describe their activities of the past weekend or what they plan on doing
after school. In these ways, I am developing a relationship with the students of this classroom. I
listen and am interested in what they have to say; this causes them to want to tell me things about
themselves. If they know they can openly talk to me about anything, they are more likely to trust
me when they are having difficulties or need help on an assignment. When my students trust me,
I am able to effectively teach information because they believe what I am teaching them is truth.
Reflecting on Emotional Intelligence and Communication Skills
#5 While working with my students, I notice there is one student who gets very easily upset.
If she is not as developed as other students in athletics or gets her assignment done as quickly as
other students, she immediately begins crying and cannot be calmed. I noticed that she does not
handle stress very well, and this causes her to break down multiple times in just the two hour
session that I am there. I have also discovered and witness that while this child is crying it is best
for the teacher to talk to the child, and help her understand that every student is at differing
levels. I have also noticed with students like this that if a person points out what the student is
good at, the student is less likely to focus on areas where they are not as developed. Since my
students are so young, many of them are still developing their emotional intelligence and
communication skills. Many of my students are very quiet and shy, so getting to know their
emotions is sometimes a challenge because I am not able to be there every day.
Reflecting on Diversity
#5 When interacting with my students, I used a variety of different ways to encourage their
learning. With this particular group of individuals, I found the most effective way to
communicate with them is through positive reinforcement. My students thrived off of being told
Good job! or Great work! When hearing this, they would get a giant grin on their face and
work twice as hard to do better. Knowing this, I always used positive reinforcement when
teaching them a concept or showing them how to fix a paper. Whenever a student had an
incorrect answer or something that could be fix, I always began my lesson with a positive
comment such as You did a wonderful job coloring! or You wrote your numbers very
neatly! After I had their attention, I followed up the statement with my constructive criticism
because I knew that they know respected me because I had praised them. Telling a young child
that the answer is wrong without pointing out other aspects they did right tends to only
discourage them from trying because they feel as though all of their answers will be wrong. By
applying positive reinforcement, I am showing the students they are doing something right, but I
am also giving them ways they can improve their learning and knowledge base.
#7 The learning environment provided for the students is one I am very jealous of. When I
was a kindergartener, we were given a small, square room with white walls and a chalk board. In
this classroom, right as a person walks in, he or she sees the back wall lined with puppets above
the books they correlate to. As a person looks to his or her left, he or she sees stairs leading down
to a math center. The math center has poster clocks lining the walls and posters with math facts
on the spaces between. There is a large flip chart display with math problems in the center of the
math area and buckets filled with counters line the shelves. When students are working on
homework or craft projects, the lights are brightly lit, allowing all students to effectively see the
colors, numbers, and letters before them. When they tone of the room is meant to be quiet
during reading time or listening time the lights in the room are turned down. Turning the lights
down allows students to enter a more relaxed state as they prepare for the upcoming book. The
students desks are set up in grouping formation. Each table has five to six people sitting at it,
and each is a different color, allowing the teacher to better identify and group students for
activities. With the desks in this setting, students are able to cooperate with and help their
neighbor with different concepts that may be challenging for others. This set up encourages
group interaction and learning that will strengthen students teamwork abilities and social skills.
Learning Styles
#1 When working with my students, I am often put in charge of an activity to help them
identify letters in a picture. During the activity, I tell the students a letter of the alphabet and they
have to indicate where the letter is on a picture by marking the letter with a stamp. Many of my
students have no difficulty performing this task. However, the students who do have trouble tend
to become very frustrated with the problem. As I help the student through the problem, I often
ask him or her to draw the letter in the air or on the table with his or her finger. When performing
this task, the student is able to do as I ask every time. The student knows the letter and how to
accurately draw the letter, but when the student is asked to identify the letter that he or she has
not drawn, he or she becomes very frustrated. Somewhere in the process of learning these letters
the students has not yet put together what he or she draws and what he or she sees is the same
thing. I found that these students who may not be word smart often are strong in other
intelligences. One student who struggles with the letter game does very well with people smart
and can read people excellently. Another student who struggles with letters was advanced when
we played the counting game, so her math smart out shines her word smart. Each one of my
students has different intelligences, making them a unique individual.