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1unning ahead: SERVICE LEARNING REFLECTIVE SUMMARY REPORT

Service Learning Reflective Summary Report

Kaylynn Spaulding
Ivy Tech Community College

Standard #1 Learner Development

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The teacher understands how learners grow and develop, recognizing that patterns of
learning and development vary individually within and across the cognitive, linguistic,
social, emotional, and physical areas, and designs and implements developmentally
appropriate and challenging learning experiences.
Name of Artifact: Service Learning Summary Reflective Report
Date: November 30th, 2016
Course: EDUC 101

Brief Description: For this assignment, I have taken the time to reflect on what it takes to be a
good teacher. Throughout this project, Ive gotten the chance to see first hand a classroom with
different learning strategies for different learning development.
Rationale: To document my understanding of Standard #1 Learner Development, I chose to
include my Service Learning Reflective Summary Report, because it perfectly describes
different teaching styles, ensuring the children will be life long learners.

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Introduction
During my period of doing service learning, I was fortunate enough to learn under the wing of
Mrs. Templeton, a kindergarten teacher in Sugar Creek Elementary school. Mrs. Templeton is
very, very patient with the kids. She is very caring, friendly and genuine. I have never witnessed
her losing her temper, or yelling at the kids. Shes very professional and efficient. I usually came
in during the afternoon, after the kids went to lunch. They were usually pretty crazy after lunch,
since they just ate. Their lunch time was at 10:45-11:15. When they were at lunch, I stayed with
Mrs. Templeton. We either ate in the teachers lounge with other teachers, or in the classroom by
ourselves. Mrs. Templeton has taught kindergarten for eight years now, altogether shes taught
fifteen years. The kids all got along great together; they are all very welcoming when I went in to
help out. They loved it when I held their hands or hugged them, especially the girls.
Relate Service Learning Experience to the Classroom
According to the multiple intelligence's theory (Hopper and Hurry, 2000), all children have a
different way of learning in the classroom. When reading about the multiple intelligences theory
in class, we talked about the different learning styles. There are auditory, visual, kinesthetic, etc.
Auditory learners learn best when taught through sounds; an example would be an online book
that speaks to them, so they wouldnt have to visually read them by themselves. A visual learner
learns best by physically seeing or reading something. A kinesthetic learner is hands on learning,
so in kindergarten they play with blocks a lot to reinforce their math skills. My teacher has a very
helpful way of dealing with this with her kids. We do a various amount of activities to help the
children up to their full potential. We read out loud after lunch, then we do a reflection
afterwards, to see who caught the details of the story. We do different activities with blocks to
reinforce math skills, such as building a picture or making patterns.

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Classroom Environment and Student Learning

Culture, family and different family morals and values have a huge effect on students throughout
their education. Classroom environment is so huge when it comes to school learning. A good
classroom environment is essential for a student to prevail. I feel like its the teachers job to
provide a good, supportive environment for the students. They need to set rules, boundaries,
examples, and be easily accessible. If a student is noticeably struggling, I feel like the teacher
should reach out, to the best of her ability to help that student. If its something personal, I feel
like she should try to delicately contact the family. If a child is in a more poor family, they are
most likely to not do that well in school. Typically, families like that tend to put education on the
back burner, because they are worried about their financial situation, and they may not afford to
school their children. Granted, public school is free, but if the student wanted to do extra
curricular activities, they wouldnt be able to due to the money deficiency in their family. When I
interviewed my teacher, Ms. Cooper, she stated that her students in poorer families did not do so
well in school, and it was a noticeable difference. They just seem to not care, because they were
taught not to. A very sad quote by Ms. Cooper. To elaborate, she is stating the fact that the
family is not directing their attention to their child in his or her studies. They are more worried
about paying the bills, and putting food on the table. I would reject this belief. I come from a
poorer family, living on only my mothers income at times. My dad is disabled and has a hard
time getting disability. I was put in these childrens shoes. Ive been there, my family has had a
hard time for years now. But now, because of that it makes me value my education even more.
My parents did not put my education on the back burner. They pried at me to get good grades,
always checking my report cards. They taught me that no one could ever take away my education

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from me. I have always been an above average student, not straight A, but mostly As and Bs. I
take my education very seriously, or at least try to.
Future Teacher
I have observed so many skills that I have already, need to work on, or need to obtain in general.
From being in a classroom with kindergartners this entire semester, I have learned that these type
of teachers need an extreme amount of patience. I had this thought brewing in my head before,
but it came to life when I started working with Mrs. Templeton. I believe that Mrs. Templeton is
a very professional and fit-to-be teacher, according to the article I read by the National Education
Association, (2013). Those kids are so crazy, I love them but they are so crazy. They have to
constantly be reminded to stay in their seats, keep their hands to themselves, and to do their own
work. The kids have trouble focusing, so you have to have an extreme amount of patience when
it comes to teaching them. Patience is one of the virtues I need to practice on. The kids love me,
and they make it very obvious, which is fine. I get frustrated when they will not let go of me, or
theyre talking over the teacher. Ive never lost my attitude or temper with one, but sometimes I
felt like I was going to. Its a very delicate balance, being a teacher.I chose this skill because its
the one that prevails the most to me. My teacher, Mrs. Templeton, is so excellent at showing me
how to be patient, and what to do in certain instances, when I wouldnt know what to do. One
other skill Ive observed is that a teacher needs to be very strict. Not in a bad way, though. They
need to set boundaries. My teacher does a very good job of this. She has a behavior chart, and it
goes from very good, to parent contact with a few bubbles in between. I have never seen a
child reach parent contact when I was there, but she has informed me that she has indeed called
parents when the children first started school. Kindergarten is a tricky age, because they have

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never been in school before. Its their first chance to be around 20 other kids, all their own age.
You can only imagine their excitement!
Summary
To conclude, I have thoroughly enjoyed learning under my sweet teachers wing. She set such a
good example for me. I loved especially how she treated all the children the same, showing no
sign of favoritism. She also set a very example of patience. Mrs. Templeton had an
overwhelming amount of patience, even when it comes to the most troubled children in the
classroom. She always kept her cool, not showing any sign of frustration, while still being kind
and courteous to all of the other students around her, that may have not been bothering her. She
has always answered my many questions Ive asked her, and shes gone above and beyond
helping me in my schooling. For this, I am eternally grateful.

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Resources
Hurry, Pamela. Hopper, Brenda. December, 2000. Learning the MI Way. Edge Hill College of
Higher Education. Pages 26 through 32.
National Education Association. 2013. Profession-Ready Teachers.