Name: Date of Reflection:
Reid Nolte /7/2025
TFE 800.23 Field Based Experiences: Learner Development
In order to be effective educators and sensitive mentors, teachers must know their students. In addition
to knowing about child development, learner theories, and the unique learning needs of diverse student
populations, teachers also need to be familiar with their students’ interests, academic strengths, learning
styles, family backgrounds or home situations, and assessment data. This field experience draws on
courses such as Meet Your Students, Child Development and Motivation to Learn or Adolescent
Development and Motivation to Learn or Human Development and Theories of Learning, and Special
Populations in the Classroom. As you spend time observing students in another teacher’s classroom, pay
special attention to how the students engage with the lesson content, with the teacher’s and your
directions, and with other students in the classroom. In your reflection, refer back to previous
coursework to connect what you saw in the classroom with theories about student learning and
development.
Reflection Questions:
1. Describe the makeup of the students in the classroom from Video 1, the classrooms of Ms. Solis
and Ms. Avila. What do you notice about the student populations in each classroom and how did
each teacher address the students’ needs? What questions might you want to ask so you are
better prepared to facilitate their learning?
Ms. Solis and Ms. Avila have very different classroom settings. Ms. Solis’s classroom has students from a
variety of different backgrounds all with their own set of customs and cultures. This is evident in the
different languages spoken throughout. To address this, Ms. Solis uses culturally relevant materials that
all students can understand and comphrehend while also adapting her teaching to each student’s
specific needs in way they can understand clearly. She also employs group settings and activities to
further create a sense of unity among her students and so that they can learn from one another. Ms.
Avila’s classroom however is more traditional in the sense that most of the students come from similar
backgrounds and upbringings. She puts a lot of effort into customized teaching based off her student’s
comphresion level. She accomplishes this by giving extra help to her students who are struggling and by
giving harder assignments to her students who have easily grasped the subject matter. In doing so, Ms.
Avila creates an equal and productive learning environment within her classroom. Some questions I
would like to ask so that I am better prepared to facilitate learning are: How to properly balance different
learning strategies for the more advanced students while also making sure not to overwhelm the others?
Is it a good idea to have backup methods of delivering classroom instruction in case one specific method
isn’t reaching the students? And what are some other effective methods?
2. After observing Video 2 in the classrooms of Ms. Luther and Ms. Nilsson, how did you see that
each teacher knew her students and responded to their needs appropriately. Apply what you
have learned about child development in your response.
It was easy to see how both Ms. Luther and Ms. Nilsson knew their students and responded to their
needs. Ms. Luther accomplished this by utilizing quizzes and activities to gage her students progress
Reid Nolte /7/2025
TFE 800.23 Field Based Experiences: Learner Development
In order to be effective educators and sensitive mentors, teachers must know their students. In addition
to knowing about child development, learner theories, and the unique learning needs of diverse student
populations, teachers also need to be familiar with their students’ interests, academic strengths, learning
styles, family backgrounds or home situations, and assessment data. This field experience draws on
courses such as Meet Your Students, Child Development and Motivation to Learn or Adolescent
Development and Motivation to Learn or Human Development and Theories of Learning, and Special
Populations in the Classroom. As you spend time observing students in another teacher’s classroom, pay
special attention to how the students engage with the lesson content, with the teacher’s and your
directions, and with other students in the classroom. In your reflection, refer back to previous
coursework to connect what you saw in the classroom with theories about student learning and
development.
Reflection Questions:
1. Describe the makeup of the students in the classroom from Video 1, the classrooms of Ms. Solis
and Ms. Avila. What do you notice about the student populations in each classroom and how did
each teacher address the students’ needs? What questions might you want to ask so you are
better prepared to facilitate their learning?
Ms. Solis and Ms. Avila have very different classroom settings. Ms. Solis’s classroom has students from a
variety of different backgrounds all with their own set of customs and cultures. This is evident in the
different languages spoken throughout. To address this, Ms. Solis uses culturally relevant materials that
all students can understand and comphrehend while also adapting her teaching to each student’s
specific needs in way they can understand clearly. She also employs group settings and activities to
further create a sense of unity among her students and so that they can learn from one another. Ms.
Avila’s classroom however is more traditional in the sense that most of the students come from similar
backgrounds and upbringings. She puts a lot of effort into customized teaching based off her student’s
comphresion level. She accomplishes this by giving extra help to her students who are struggling and by
giving harder assignments to her students who have easily grasped the subject matter. In doing so, Ms.
Avila creates an equal and productive learning environment within her classroom. Some questions I
would like to ask so that I am better prepared to facilitate learning are: How to properly balance different
learning strategies for the more advanced students while also making sure not to overwhelm the others?
Is it a good idea to have backup methods of delivering classroom instruction in case one specific method
isn’t reaching the students? And what are some other effective methods?
2. After observing Video 2 in the classrooms of Ms. Luther and Ms. Nilsson, how did you see that
each teacher knew her students and responded to their needs appropriately. Apply what you
have learned about child development in your response.
It was easy to see how both Ms. Luther and Ms. Nilsson knew their students and responded to their
needs. Ms. Luther accomplished this by utilizing quizzes and activities to gage her students progress
