Whitnie Kilpatrick

Field Assignment #3

3. Talk with your host teacher about how they plan for a yearlong or
semester-long course.
a. How do they decide what to teach? Depends on students, IEP goals, and
their individual needs. I plan with our SLP, ask the OT and PT how to set up
the classroom. Its a team effort.
b. How do they decide how to teach? I choose specific goals to help
students increase their skills and engage their interest. I use the Utahs EC
core standards and DOT assessment which guides teaching to strengthen a
students goals.
c. What strategies have they found most effective? Flexibility is KEY in
everyday situations and do what I can to make adjustments later if I dont
get to teach a certain lesson due to whatever unplanned things happen.
Teaching lessons is all about team planning as well. I also observe other
teachers and use their ideas.
d. How long does it take to plan a lesson? Depends on the lesson.
Preparations take longer than actually teaching the lesson itself, and in SPED
Pre-K we have repetition of lessons almost every day of the week.

e. What resources do they use to help them write lessons? I use the creative
curriculum, Utah Core, Pinterest for crafts, ask other teachers, and have
collaborations with the SLP.
f. How do you know when a lesson is not working and what do you do about
it? A lesson is over when the children are falling apart and nothing works to
engage them. If that happens, we just move on to the next part of our day
and hope it goes smoothly. If there is hope for engagement I try to adapt the
lesson to anything they will pay attention to.
g. What interferes with their teaching and how do they handle those
interferences? Childrens attention spans are very short, or sometimes
assemblies/fire drills will interrupt lessons. I just remember to be flexible and
maintain a calm attitude so the students will not get keyed up.
Reflect: Did anything the teacher mention surprise you? Which
elements of planning do you believe will be your strengths? Your
challenges? What else did you learn that might help you become an
effective teacher?
I do not really feel like much surprised me as I interviewed my host
teacher, Christina. I have worked in the Special Ed. program in the Salt Lake
City School District for over two years and was not shocked with her answers.
I felt like I knew where she was coming from because I worked alongside her
last year and have knowledge of what Special Ed students need to be
successful in the classroom. I believe the elements of planning that will be

my strengths will be using the students IEP goals to also plan lessons, and
understanding their disabilities by working with them. Knowing how severe
they are will guide me in what videos, crafts, and other learning activities I
plan to show or do with them. The biggest challenge in planning lessons is
trying to gauge how interested students will be in what you are teaching
them, or helping them do skill-wise. Their attention spans can be very short,
so long lessons often make them feel restless and they get out of their
chairs. On the flip side, having too short of lessons can cause too much free
time at the end of the day and not enough engaged learning time.
Becoming an effective teacher is going to take a lot of hands on
experience and a lot of flexibility knowing that things could change in the
classroom at anytime. Students can be very unpredictable and can make a
teacher feel like she cannot turn around without something crazy happening.
I will need the energy to be on my feet for most of the day and the
compassion to handle all situations that arise with my future students. My
personal education at the U will do a lot to teach me how to be a good
teacher, but it will be the actual experiences in my classroom that will make
me the teacher my students will need. Christina is an amazing example of a
good Special Ed teacher, and I hope to be one like her who continually goes
out of her way to make every child in the room feel cared for and
appreciated.

Whitnie Kilpatrick
Field Assignment #4

4. Interview a school administrator involved in hiring new teachers.

Ask the following questions:
a. What personal characteristics-such as attitudes and personality traits-do
you look for in a new teacher? I look for a team player who appears to be
open to new ideas, and someone who is eager to learn new concepts. I do
not like hiring know it alls.

b. What kinds of knowledge (such as knowledge of content, learning, or

learner development) do you look for in beginning teachers? They need to
know the content core of their grade level, have common sense, and
classroom experience. I need to know that they know how to have a decent
conversation with parents, and have the knowledge that being a teacher
involves having a partnership with all who are involved with the student
(stakeholders).
c. How important is personal appearance in an interview? What suggestions
do you have? Importance of appearance is 33% of why I hire someone. If
one looks sloppy, I assume their teaching style is sloppy. I look at a persons
references and if in the reference letter it states how well they can cooperate
with others. I look at class grades to see how well they did in school. I would
hope they would call ahead and ask if the interview was still planned to
happen on X day at X time, and that on the day of the interview that they
would come on time. My suggestions is that you should practice your
interview with someone beforehand and have questions ready to ask the
Principle about the school/its policies. Its also important to know the building
and have an insight on the culture of the school.
d. Do you like to see a professional portfolio when you interview a
prospective teacher? If so, what do you look for? I look for student scores,
work samples, and samples of the students student teaching projects. I
would add the interviewee explain a time they helped a student conquer a

challenge, or decide then and there how they would help a student conquer
a challenge if they did not have one written in their portfolio. If the
interviewees portfolio is online, it is wise to let the Principle know in advance
so they have adequate time to look it over. Get out there and collect
references NOW. Youll never know how much time youll save yourself if you
do.
Reflect: What did you learn from this interview that will help you get
into the teaching profession? Which characteristics mentioned do
you already possess? Did anything surprise you?
For this interview, I interviewed Dr. Bobbie Kirby who is the Principle at
Ensign Elementary School. Doing this assignment helped me tremendously
to understand what an Administrator is looking for in her school as a hired
educator. Gaining skills on how to be a good team player will help me to
work well with others, and how to collaborate on old and new teaching ideas
with them. I love I am learning how to do that better in my classes now, and
that I do it on a daily basis at Ensign in the classroom I work in. I am very
open to new ideas because I still feel new in my assistant position, and
understand the teachers I work with have many years of experience.
I would never dress unprofessionally for an interview, but I was
surprised it only counted for 33% of why she hires teachers; I was thinking it
would be a lot more. I also had never thought to practice interviewing with
someone before the real interview or calling the Principle to confirm the

interview appointment. Getting references now is something I have also

never thought of doing, but it is a very great idea to start. I did not think she
would mention looking at an interviewees grades; its a good motivator for
me to continually strive to do my best at the University. Knowing the building
and the culture of the school is another thing I would have never thought to
do on my own, but I understand the importance of why she hopes someone
would. I am excited to be hired as a teacher and will definitely look back on
this assignment and make sure I have done all of these things!

Whitnie Kilpatrick
Assignment #5

Field

5. Interview a teacher about the diversity in his or her classroom.

How do students differ in terms of the following?
A. Culture- I have some half Asian students in my classroom. Three are
from India and are of first generation. I have a student who is half Indian, and
one who is Hispanic.
B. Home language- Two of my students speak native Indian languages at
home and English at school. I have one Caucasian student who speaks both
Spanish and English at home because her nanny is Hispanic and has been
teaching her Spanish since she was very young.
C. Learning Styles- Learning styles is actually a MYTH! Thats what Ive
learned in my Grad program at the U. There is not enough research or
evidence to prove that learning styles exist, though I use visuals, auditory,
and kinesthetic movements to teach my students.
D. Multiple Intelligences- I can tell you that all my students have
multiple intelligences, so in that case I use cross-curricular strategies to
engage and instruct them. For example, we do writing with science and a lot
of the time I teach math with music.
E. Learning ability- To determine their learning ability I put them in small
groups for math and language arts. It helps me pin-point their needs and I
ask them different kinds of questions to determine what their strengths and

weaknesses are. I also ask them taxonomy based questions to gauge their
cognitive response level.
F. What does the teacher do to accommodate these differences? I
use all kinds of teaching strategies, and again lots of visuals, hand motions
with music, and a classroom environment that is accommodating and
comfortable for everyone.
Reflect: Summarize the variation described by the teacher. Did the
teacher explain different situations through a deficit lens or an
asset lens? Which factors, if any, does a classroom teacher have
control over?
For this assignment I interviewed Mrs. Thomas who is a Kindergarten
teacher at Ensign Elementary. I could tell by her description of the class that
her students from other countries are the minority because the majority of
her students are Caucasian. She spoke very positively of them and was
grateful for the diversity they add to her classroom. All of her students have
different strengths, weaknesses, and abilities. She does her best to target
their weaknesses by giving them smaller groups to work in so they do not
feel overwhelmed in learning new concepts. She cannot control what abilities
her students have, but she can create lessons which help strengthen their
knowledge and improve their abilities. Since she works with Kindergarteners,
she understands they need a lot of movement through the day to stay
focused. They learn a lot of songs with hand motions and dance moves,

which helps every one of her students with multiple intelligences grasp
concepts. She switches up the seating chart so each student can develop a
new friendship (and sometimes unknowingly a foe) on a monthly basis.
Alongside that she puts them in different groups for other learning activities
outside of math and language arts to help strengthen their social and
academic skills. Mrs. Thomas is a wonderful teacher who understands what
students need and want for their education, and she is great at providing a
learning environment which provides that for them.

Whitnie Kilpatrick
Field Assignment #10
10. Observe a classroom teacher, focusing on teacher-student
interaction.
A. List specific examples of reinforcers (rewards) the teacher used.
B. What is the teacher reinforcing? Is it behavioral or academic
performance?
C. Were the reinforcers being used verbal or tangible?
D. How often did the teacher use reinforcers?
E. How many students received some type of reinforcer?
F. How did the student respond?
Reflect: Write a summary of what you saw regarding the use of
reinforcers in the classroom. How effective did they seem to be? In
what ways might you use reinforcement in the classroom to help all
students learn?

For this assignment I observed and had a mini interview with Merrie
Smithson who is an SLP in the classroom I work in with Christina Wood at
Ensign Elementary. In the classroom, she will go around and work one-on-one
with every student to target their IEP and speech goals. Rewards she uses is
giving them her undivided attention, vocal intonation, the use of toys to
engage communication, and fruit snacks or another snack they enjoy as a
reward for practicing their goal. Merrie reinforces both behavioral and
academic performance, telling them what they are doing, and reinforcing a
job well done. She helps them hand-over-hand with the communication
board to work on their speech goals, and helps them initiate their own
responses. She assumes what they are saying what she is teaching them to
say, and she also imitates their sounds and physical actions by mirroring
them. She uses verbal, physical, and tangible reinforcement for all of her
activities. The students can touch and play with the toys as a reward once
they perform the desired action. When shes working with a group of
children, she will let them have a turn doing the activity if they are paying
attention, and verbalizes if they are not focusing-telling them they cannot
have a turn. All students respond to her rewards with excitement and they
laugh, smile, and usually want her to teach them over again so they can
enjoy another reward.
In my future classroom I will use small toys, snacks, and verbal praise
to encourage my students to work hard. I will not give them a toy to take
home, but something they love to play with as a result of following a

direction. Giving a child a bit of a food reward makes them happy and
encourages them to keep up the good work, knowing they will be treated
again with their favorite snack. Verbal praise is extremely important for all
children, helping them know you care about their progress and are excited
for them. In an environment where they are supported on every level creates
a great atmosphere of learning where they can physically and mentally
develop at their pace and in their timing; thats what special education is all
about.