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Brittany Nicole Green

December 8, 2015
My Service Learning
Neil Armstrong Elementary
Mrs. Laura Allison

Over the last few months, I have gotten the opportunity to work with a great teacher and
her amazing sixth grade class. Mrs. Laura Allison is a sixth grade teacher at Neil Armstrong
Elementary school in Mooresville, Indiana. Mrs. Allison has been teaching many years at the
same school she started in fresh out of college. Just as I do, Laura loves any opportunity she gets
to help a child out. There were many things that I noticed about Mrs. Allison that I hope to be
able to take on into my teaching career such as her patience and love she has for each and every
one of her kids. They arent just students to her, but family.

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When it came to the diversity in the classroom I was in, there wasnt a lot. For the most
part from what I observed the cultural differences between the kids were all about the same. Each
one has their own views, and family orientation but they all acted like teenagers and I loved this
chance to teach them and to help them understand the harder concepts from which they were
struggling.
The accomplishments that the kids made however were amazing to see. When I first
went into the class room I took every child one on one and studied flash cards with them. These
cards were all the way from zero to twelve. I went from roughly thirty students to ten that needed
a little more help. By week six I was down to one, and even though this child could do these he
didnt have the belief in himself that he needed. I did my best to show him that as long as he put
his mind to it and everything in life that nothing would be able to overcome him. For me this was
a perfect example of Gardners Multiple Intelligence Theory.
For me growing up I didnt have a lot. I came from a poor home where I was
lucky to have a heater in the winter. I didnt have many friends and school was very hard for me.
If I was lucky enough to get a teacher to take the time to do one on work with me I felt as if they
thought of me as lazy and just not wanting to do the work. This wasnt the case however, and I
felt that some of these kids had the same problem. They may not be struggling with money the
way I did, or they might, but that doesnt change the fact that I was able to see the light in their
eyes. I was lucky enough to get the opportunity to show them what I already knew.
The learning theory that bas brought light to the way in which each child
learns differently is multiple intelligence (MI) theory. Howard Gardner's theory
that began with seven MIs in the 1980s bas now evolved to eight (Gardner, 2006).

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Gardner suggested that the brain has many capacities for learning that he called
intelligences. (Adcock, 2014) These intelligences are found in all people;
however, each person usually excels in only one or two. If teachers can determine
the intelligences (enhanced abilities) in each child and then teach to those
enhanced abilities, the child will learn better. (Adcock, 2014)
After talking with Mrs. Allison I have learned that some children in this class
as well as her past classes have certain things happening in their family life that
make doing things such as homework very hard. When she comes across cases like
this she will give them ample opportunities to make up this work. She will give them
class time to do it and will even tutor parents if need be. This is the type of teacher
that I would like to be. She isnt just trying to get the kids to pass her class and
move on, she is preparing them for middle school as well as for the rest of their
lives. This is our job as future teachers, its not simply to get each child to pass with
the best grade possible, its to be able to get on their levels and understand the
struggles that they are facing daily at home and at school. So I would definitely
accept this and hope to be able to take it on to my teaching.
The main point that jumps out at me from this is something that my teacher,
professor Cale said on the first day of class and that was in order to be a good
teacher the main thing you had to have was love. If you dont love your students
theyll be able to tell, theyre children not stupid. If they feel as if you dont care
about and respect them, then why would they care about or respect you ? A

profession-ready teacher has had extensive opportunities to develop and learn teaching and basic
classroom management skills. This teacher has demonstrated the ability to plan and deliver

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instruction to students with different learning styles and also to assess and support student
learning. A profession-ready teacher has worked with accomplished educators to understand the
value of collaboration and reflection and has learned firsthand the importance of home-school
connections. While the profession-ready teacher has not yet reached the status of a fully
accomplished educator, he or she has had enough opportunities to witness, implement, and
reflect on quality teaching and learning and has demonstrated classroom readiness by
successfully completing a pre-service, classroom-based performance assessment prior to
receiving full state licensure. (Association, 2013)
From my observations in the classroom I have learned many things such as if certain kids
are sitting side by side by other children it doesnt matter how good they are in one spot if moved
by the wrong person they could start sliding. Ive seen many children be able to sit with me and
do what all they needed to get done, then as soon as they return to their seats they get distracted
from the task at hand and get behind once again.

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REFERENCE PAGE

References
Adcock, P. K. (2014). The Longevity of Multiple Intelligence Theory in Educatio. Delta
Kappa Gamma Bulletin., 50-57.
Association, N. E. (2013). Profession-Ready Teachers.