4.      If you could do it over, what would you do differently?

I've always served as an assistant teacher so taking the reins on assisting parents has not really been a part of my task list. But, I can think of some small things I've done to help assist families. 

As a previous assignment, I was given the task to speculate and document the behaviors or a challenging child. The child I chose was one of the harder students in the class and it was mainly my job to spend time with her during my time there. 

With permission from the parent, I documented everything I experienced with this student over the course of a month as well as some of our problem solving techniques and behavior plans. 

I was able to attend parent teacher conferences for this student because the head teacher felt my time spent with the student and documentation would be valuable to the parents who had been working closely with the main teacher to help pinpoint some of the issues that were going on. 

With my documentation we were able to come to the conclusion that the child was mostly acting out when she was tired. I talked to the parent about how we worked on verbalizing how the child was feeling that day and what was bothering her. We also had some ways to try to address those problems like a choice chart of things she could try. she often tried taking a rest in the cozy corner and most of the time it helped her mood. 

The parent also suspected that the child was not sleeping well but wasn't sure why. We later found out the child was having issues with her tonsils and not sleeping well as a result. After her tonsils were removed, she came back to school a different person. 

It felt good that my observation and documentation helped to pin point the main issues which was lack of sleep. I felt that my honest communication that showed my care and admiration for the child was well received by the parent who was having to hear some more concerning stories about her child. 

I think next time, I would have asked the parent if she was noticing things at home and if there were any medical concerns prior to my observation period. This would have helped me to have a sense of direction instead of just shooting in the dark.

2.      Describe what went well
The child made slight improvements throughout the time he was in the classroom. We decreased the frequency of the child's behaviors and he was able to become more engaged in the lessons. The mom was very responsive to our ideas. She created a safe space at home and we gave her materials and ideas of what could be used. She was on board the majority of the time with what we were doing and was excited to show him his own safe place.

3.      What lessons were learned?
I learned that it is challenging to navigate behaviors that mostly occur at school. The mom has a strict parenting style and the child behaved so that he could go to his grandma's house. I also learned that the modifications that occurred were a slow process and with two completely different approaches to his behavior, it was challenging to interact with mom. Unfortunately, it felt like we had to avoid talking to mom about the depth of his struggles out of fear of how she would react. The mom had a bad upbringing and we tried to bring up counseling for her to work through her own challenges. 

4.      If you could do it over, what would you do differently?
If I could do it over, I think I would have developed a better rapport with the mom and earned her trust before trying to make adjustments to her child's behavior. She did have favorites on the teaching team and it usually went better if it came from the teachers that were closer to her age. If I was to change what we did, I would have mentioned to the other teachers that I noticed that the mom had responded better to the teachers that came across as empathetic. She felt as if some teachers were judging or targeting her due to her child's behaviors in class.