ALMA RAMIREZ

Page | 1

HD450 Reflective Teaching

Fulfilling my goals in HD450, consisted through class attendance, reading, class
discussions, online postings, book reflections, observation projects, teaching role models and
self-evaluations. HD450 Reflective Teaching is an illustration of a childs developmental growth
through play, theorists and how those two things connect to each other. Reflective Teaching is a
method often used by day cares and educators who believe that standardized teaching is not
always the solution. Furthermore, I will describe key notes that stood out for me the most.
Our book reflections were upon three books, where teachers stories and their reflections
were important to them. Most of their stories were on the importance of listening to students
stories, creating a positive environment and proper materials to enhance the learning
development. Through these stories, educators became aware that a fix lesson plan was not on
the students agenda. The lesson plans were often stopped, shifted or added onto what fascinated
the students a lot more than what the educators had planned.
Next, were our teacher student interaction observations, I had six in total to accomplish. I
enjoyed seeing positive connection among the educators with their students. This is where I was
able to understand the connection between the theorists and how students growth is important
through cognitive, physical and social-emotional development. A key note to this growth
develops through a positive environment where students feel safe and nurtured.
Play is also another factor that ties into their development; many believe that playing is
not important nor do children learn from socializing. Socializing is what students do 99% of their
time. Through the socializing environment, students learn to problem solve, learn to control their
emotions, now when to share their emotions and their oral vocabulary begins to grow. For
example, I noticed the developmental growth with my three year old. He was shy with everyone,

ALMA RAMIREZ

Page | 2

after six months of going to head start, his socialization skills developed as well did his
vocabulary. He expresses his feelings and is no longer shy, he greets everyone everywhere we
go.
Certain aspect of this class were interesting while adding to my knowledge of how
children grow into positive adolescents and then into great adults. But the actual observations, of
going and coming, were not what I expected it to be. I would have enjoyed this a lot more if it
dealt with other observation, for example, observations with adolescents, teens and adults. Those
kind of observations would have better prepared me for the future, as an advocate for the
community I could not find the connection to classrooms, educators and the students.
In between my observations, I had to write two letters, one for a teacher who had
impacted my life in a positive way and the other one to myself. First, I wrote the letter to my
fourth grade teacher, it brought back so many positive and beautiful memories. For example, the
time she took my friends and me to spend the weekend at her house, the other was when she
introduced us to the musical Phantom of the Opera. Those were far and few great and positive
memories that I can cherish forever. Second, the letter I wrote to myself, this was a difficult task
to accomplish. I wrote about my troubled past, my negative experiences and how I overcame that
life style to become a well-grounded woman. I learned that this is not always easy to do, to
critically think about yourself, but it was a chance to reflect and see that as adults we need to
learn to forgive ourselves in order to grow while helping others along the way.
And so, my overall experience in HD450 had both pros and cons. A positive
developmental growth in children consists through their, social-emotional, physical and
cognitive development. All these are enhanced among their peers, educators and families.
Observations are key notes where and educator can focus on a students developmental growth.

ALMA RAMIREZ

Page | 3

Writing a letter to your self is often hard and difficult to do, it took a lot to write that letter.
Overall it was a great experience with the material learned throughout the semester.