This book is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 LicensePreparing for licensure: Ms Scanton teaches second grade
See also Chapter 10 Planning instruction; Appendix C: The reflective practitioner.When Ms Scanton taught second grade, she kept a journal about her experiences. Sometimes she
simply recorded interesting facts or information individuals, but other times she commented and
reflected on individuals at more length. Here are three of her journal entries.
Document 1: Ms Scanton’s observation of Ashley’s writing
October 4: Ashley procrastinated a lot again today during journal-writing time—stared at the
ceiling, at the kids near her, etc. etc. I reminded everyone that they were supposed to write about
“this week at school,” but it didn’t seem to sink in with Ashley. After sitting a long time, she drew a
picture of her family—Mom, Dad, cat.
I know she especially loves her cat, but I also thought she should follow directions more closely. I
ask her, “Is that all you’ve done?” She frowns. I smile—a sincere one.
“It’s hard,” she says cautiously—referring to the writing itself.
“But that’s why it’s important to work at it—to actually write,” say I.
A pause. Then, “How do you spell ‘Mom’?” she asks.
I tell her to sound it out; ask what is the first sound, etc. /m/.../ah/.../m/... She says these sounds
slowly, maybe to please me.
“/m/,” she repeats, and then write down one letter: M. I have to leave to check on others. From a
distance I see her write down K, then erase and switch it to C. Was she sounding out “cat”?
Document 2: Later that year: Ms Scanton’s log of Ashley’s misspellings
Ashley, November 21: Ashley is still misspelling so many words in her writing that I’m getting
exasperated, to put it nicely. Here’s a list of her misspellings from the past two weeks—mostly from
her journal:
techrs (teachers)
milmen(mailmen)
peliec (police)
fier pepel (fire people)
pepl (people)
librein (librarian)
lectrisudie (electricity)Educational Psychology 316 A Global Text