Jen's+Practicum+Blog

__**Jen's Practicum Blog**__

__9/14/11__ I am very excited to begin this practicum experience. I have worked with preschoolers for years so I feel experienced already with this age group, but I'm still looking forward to visiting a new center and writing lesson plans. I already visited the center and met the director, and she told me that many of the preschool-aged children are ELL students or speak another language. I feel that this is something I am inexperienced with and am very excited for this challenge and opportunity!

I expect to meet new people, form connections, and become better at writing lesson plans. I also expect to gain knowledge about a variety of students with many backgrounds and ethnicities. I look forward to taking a leadership role while learning in the process as well as enjoying the children's company while they teach me about themselves.



__9/18/11__ On Thursday, September 15th, I held my first practicum visit to "It's A Small World Educational". It was a very rainy and cold day, and I had trouble finding a parking spot in Bloomfield. I was very hesitant about my situation and how I would get to the center each day. Despite my questioning, my mood turned upside down when I walked in. The director of the center was extremely nice and actually showed me a space I could park for free before I began working with the children. She introduced me to the children and teacher I would we working with. I am in the preschool room with a middle-aged woman who was also very friendly. With such a friendly and positive environment, I was excited for my day to begin.

The workers made the environment pleasant, but I was unsure of the layout of the room. The infant rooms were separate, but the older toddler and preschool areas were both in one big room and separated by bookshelves and a walkway. It seemed like a very chaotic area, and throughout the day I could hear toddlers crying while the preschoolers were listening to a story and singing songs. Even though the space could have been better, the teachers worked with what they had and it was a successful space. The preschool side of the room had individual centers including a play kitchen, dress up clothing, puzzles/manipulatives, tables and coloring, and blocks. There was also a larger space where circle was held each morning. When I spoke to the class teacher, she said that they switch the toys and room around a lot, which I was impressed by.

The children were wonderful and greeted me immediately. I was introduced to them all and they were not shy! They talked to me throughout the day and asked me questions like "how long I was staying" and "how often I would come". I've worked with preschool children for years now, and there has never been a group as well-behaved and friendly as this group.

Toward the end of my day, when the children were getting ready for nap time, I had a conversation with the classroom teacher. She talked to me about the curriculum they have and gave me the classroom schedule. She said that the curriculum focuses a lot on reading because they have letters of the week and focus on sight words. The center strives to have children recognize their names and many other familiar words (environmental text). After looking at the schedule, though, I was a little disappointed to see that the children didn't have much "free choice" time. They had a space for it, but a lot of the schedule was teacher oriented and curriculum oriented.

Overall, I had a wonderful first experience and can't wait to work with the teachers and children again. The center seems like a very great one with positive goals. I already learned a lot about children and preschool curriculum and look forward to my whole experience to come.

__ 9/25/11 __ I held my second visit to "It's a Small World" on Thursday, September 22nd. I was greatly welcomed again when I returned, and I began to feel more comfortable with the schedule and the children. I noticed that during this visit, I got to know the children better, the teachers better, and I began to act like a teacher myself. During my first visit, I mostly observed and "hid" off to the side, but since I felt more comfortable this time, I interacted with the children more and even assisted the classroom teacher in discipline and lesson planning.

I did a lot during this visit to get to know the children in the classroom. It is great to form connections with the workers, but my main priority was to learn about the children so I can become a better teacher. I noticed that it was difficult to personally talk with the children for me because during my time there, the children have snack, circle, lesson plan work, and lunch. They have free play before and after I leave, so a lot of the curriculum is structured during my stay. I think this is good because I can use my lesson plans during this time, but it is bad because it's hard to have good conversations with the students. I did try my best, though, and walked around my whole visit to talk with and help the children with their work.

I know a lot about the children in my classroom already. During this visit, I talked to the teacher of the classroom a lot and asked her if there were any ELL students or students with special needs. She told me that one child speaks mostly Chinese and another child is from Belgium. I thought that was very interesting, and since I am in an ELL course currently at Carlow, I plan to work with these students a lot. There is also a child in the room who is not diagnosed, but is guessed to have ADHD. Since I am a special education major as well, this caught my attention because I feel like I need practice working with children with special needs. The boy in the classroom is very good at times, then really bad at times. I plan to get to know him better personally in my future visits.

I felt like a real teacher this time because I already learned most of the students' names. I began calling them by their name this visit, unlike the other visit where I asked them or the teacher. I also worked with the Chinese ELL boy, and learned that his favorite color is blue. I noticed that he has great receptive language, but poor expressive language. Is able to say the word "blue", though, and it felt good to bond with him. The other children in the classroom are full of personality and energy, and I hope to use their energy in my lesson plans to help them learn to their full potential.

I am very excited for my third visit because I will be reading the children a story and holding an early literacy lesson plan for them. I learned a lot about the children this visit and hope to better understand them next week when I teach them. I already have a good relationship with most of them already, so I feel like it's going to be a fun and meaningful experience.

__ 10/2/11 __ On Thursday, September 29th, I held my third practicum visit. I made the decision earlier that I would do my first lesson plan during this visit. I talked with the teacher a week before and told her ideas about incorporating a story with an early literacy lesson plan. I was very excited about my lesson, and was already comfortable around the group of children. I had positive feelings about it and couldn't wait to start after snack time.

My lesson plan consisted of reading the story "Harry The Dirty Dog" to the children, guiding them to search the room for "dirty harry" and his scrub brush, then giving them a coloring page of a "clean white" Harry so they could color him and make him dirty. My focus for this plan was on comprehension, and I think that searching for dirty Harry and his scrub brush, cleaning Harry, and "dirtying" another Harry by coloring him really helped them understand the story.

While the children were eating morning snack, I walked to the other side of the room and set up by hiding the stuffed dog and scrub brush in their play center area. When the children came over and I read the story to them, they really enjoyed the story! They were laughing and quiet during parts so they could listen. At the end of the story, I asked them some personal questions about their lives relating to the story to enhance comprehension. I also asked them a few questions about the story itself, and they were all eager to answer me. I also really think they enjoyed searching for the items around the room and coloring the dog. Some children colored the page brown to make him look "dirty" while others colored him rainbow colors however they liked. Overall, I think my lesson plan went very well and definitely enhanced the comprehension of the children.

Before I left later that day, the teacher of the classroom made a comment about my lesson plan. She said I worked wonderfully with the children and that she could tell they enjoyed themselves. She also said that she enjoyed seeing a different lesson for a change because she's always seeking new ideas. I felt good that the children as well as the adults liked my idea. As a future teacher, one thing I want to do in my classroom a lot is get the students moving! I love to dance, get out of my seat, and I feel that learning occurs most when doing a movement activity or when having so much fun, you don't realize you're learning. The lesson plan I created today was the perfect example because the children were in three different places of the classroom and had fun.

In a couple weeks, I plan on holding a math lesson plan for the children. I'm just as excited for this one because math is a subject a lot of people have trouble with, and I like to make it a challenge to make it fun and easy to comprehend for students. I talked to my class teacher about this, and she said they don't do many math exercises there, but told me the level the students are at. I have a challenge ahead of me, but I will embrace it and hopefully introduce the children to a fun, new concept!

__10/17/11__ My fifth visit to "It's A Small World" was held on Thursday, October 13th. A lot occurred during this visit that was challenging, but helpful to me at the same time. I taught my second lesson plan, and made it an integrated arts lesson plan that focused on math skills. I'm a proponent of integrating the arts into curriculum and believe it helps children a lot more with ordinary subjects like math. For the lesson, I used music and rhythm to help the children with their counting. The daycare I'm at does not focus on math a lot, so I felt the children were in need of a simple math lesson. I first allowed the children to dance to "The Purple People Eater" and then tap to the beat with rhythm sticks. I was so surprised to see how much they loved the rhythm sticks. The teacher told me that they never used anything like those before and she was glad I incorporated them and music into my lesson.

I then practiced counting with the children while tapping the sticks together. After my three years at Carlow, I learned that children retain and learn information better when they can touch it, feel, it, smell it, etc. with their senses. By tapping the sticks while saying each number, I felt they really gained a lot mathematically. The final part of my lesson consisted of the children measuring each other with the sticks. They had to count how many sticks long they all were. I was very excited for this part of the lesson, but it actually was a bit chaotic. I thought I was organized, but when the activity began, I realized I left a few things out that would have made it more organized. Teaching these lessons are really helping me feel comfortable around these children and are teaching them and myself at the same time!

In this center, there is a child in the preschool room who is particularly challenging. I never fully saw his negative behavior until this visit and I actually used my "challenging behavior observation" on him this day. Some of his behaviors include getting upset easily, talking back to the teachers, bothering the other children physically when he should be listening, and going into "tantrums" of running and throwing himself around when he's upset. Some of the teachers in the center think he may have ADHD, but I know it's not appropriate to "diagnose" a child. I personally think he may have a few emotional issues, though, that cause his behavior. I feel that he doesn't have good control of his emotions. While some upset children may cry or be upset until a problem is resolved, he kicks, screams, and disrupts the class when he's upset, and his behaviors last a long time. I think the curriculum hinders his self control because, like I mentioned in a previous blog, there is not a lot of play time for the children. A lot of the time is spent listening to the teacher and doing teacher-directed activities. I feel that if this child had more time to himself and more time to make his own choices and get his energy out, he would listen better and control himself better when situations occur.

Like I said, I learned a lot during this visit! I learned a lot about myself as a teacher and a lot about the children in the classroom. I am really enjoying my time at this center, and, with only three visits left, I am actually upset to think about leaving. I hope that, so far though, I have impacted the children's lives as much as they have impacted mine.

__10/28/11__ On Thursday, October 27th, I held my seventh visit to "It's a Small World". I can't believe it's already my seventh visit! Time flew so quickly, and it is sad to think that I only have one more visit at my center. I noticed after this last visit that I have become extremely close with the teachers and children here, and it will be a sad departure next week. When I walked in today, the children were facing their teacher and the teacher said, "Miss Jen's here". It made me feel great when all of the kids turned around, smiled, and attempted to attack me with hugs.

I did not do any lessons today, but I observed and participated in the lessons that the teacher created for the day. Since Halloween is coming up, the teacher had a fun lesson pertaining to Halloween that the children loved. She had a Halloween story that was also on tape, and played the tape while flipping the pages of the book. I usually am not a fan of having a CD player read a book, but this one had cool sound effects, creepy voices, and noises. The teacher picked a few children to be a character that was mentioned in the story, and when their character arrived, they had to hold up their character and move it around. The rest of the group clapped and sang the words to the story/poem. This week for the group was also "friendship" week, and the teacher told me she's been stressing the importance of friendship and the "Golden Rule". I thought she explained it easily for the children, and the children seemed to enjoy the friendship train they made by marching around the room. As a student, I never really thought about discussing topics such as friendship and hand-washing with students, but this center does a lot. I always focus on curriculum, and even though these lessons were not part of the curriculum, I think they were great because children need to learn skills like that just as much as math and reading.

The goal that I set at the beginning of the semester was, "<range type="comment" id="233722">To become a leader in the classroom", and I certainly feel that I have accomplished my goal already. I felt comfortable around children when I arrived, but I feel even more comfortable now writing lesson plans and teaching lessons to the students. The classroom teacher has been really supportive of my goal by telling the students to respect me as much as they respect her. She also calls me "Miss Jen" which makes me feel like a real leader/teacher in the classroom. The best part was when the director asked me if I wanted to work there during the summer! I already work at a Tender Care center, but I felt honored that I got another job offering from my practicum! (I got my Tender Care job the same way!) I just wish it was as easy to get a job in an elementary school as it is a childcare center because my true dream is to be an elementary school teacher!

Before I left the center, I talked to the class teacher and asked her if I could hold one more lesson for my final visit. The thing is, I already did the lessons I was assigned for my practicum, but I enjoyed the process so much that I'm going to make one for my last visit. I know I have passion towards teaching because I just enjoy writing lessons and teaching them to the students, whether I have to or not! My lesson idea arose when I told the teacher I danced. She was especially interested that I tap danced, and said I should tap for the children. I thought about skipping the idea, but knew the children would love it, so my next lesson will be about dance! I plan on reading a story about dance and how it makes people happy and express themselves, while keeping it boy/girl friendly. I then plan on showing the children some dance moves and allowing them to dance however they feel. <range type="comment" id="853265">The teacher got so excited that she told me she's going to write a letter to parents telling them to bring their child's dance shoes next week if they take dance lessons! I can't wait to see how this all works out! = = =** When love and skill work together, expect a masterpiece. John Ruskin **=

__ 11/6/11 __
My final visit to "It's A Small World" was held on Thursday, November third. Before walking in, I was very excited that all of my hours were almost completed, but I was also upset to know I wouldn't be seeing the people and children I met anymore. One thing that I was very excited about was my lesson plan for this visit. I didn't have to do this lesson plan for school, but decided to create one anyway for the children. After telling the director that I danced, she told me a lot of the children there dance and would enjoy seeing me dance. I decided to take her advice, so I had a whole plan of activities for the children this visit.

My lesson consisted of reading a story to the children about dance, asking them what they do for fun (even if it wasn't dance), explain why people dance and the different types, show them some dancing in tap and pointe shoes, teach the children a few moves, then let them dance freely to music. I was surprised to see that everything worked out great! The children especially loved seeing me tap dance, and continued to ask "when I would put my tap shoes back on" during the rest of the day. I read two stories to them which I picked carefully because I wanted my lesson to be boy friendly too. My first book was called "Dumpy La Rue" and featured a boy pig who liked to dance for fun. My other book was about dancing dinosaurs, and all of the children were interested in that because they learned about dinosaurs about a week earlier. I was also pleased to see that every child danced with me on the dance floor and let themselves loose. Some children jumped, some spun in circles, and some held hands to dance together. It was great to see how each student interpreted the music and allowed themselves to freely move.

<range type="comment" id="9187">I am so excited about my dance lesson and can't wait to use it in my Digital Curriculum File! I feel that children are not getting enough physical activity, especially when the weather's bad outdoors, and introducing them to a variety of ways to move is great. Obstacle courses and tag work for a while, but I was glad that I could expose the children to a different form of movement.

Personally, my own professional teaching has changed as a result of this experience. My goal was to become a classroom leader, and I certainly believe I achieved my goal. Even though I wasn't comfortable at the new place at first, I brushed past that and established my role immediately. Even the director commented that I had a way of "making the children love me while still maintaining control and discipline". That made me feel great because that's exactly the kind of teacher I want to be some day. I have also gained a lot of self confidence in my teaching through this experience. After writing a lesson plan and watching it go through successfully, I became confident in my lessons and way of teaching. This final visit was bitter sweet, but I will always cherish meeting the children, meeting the adults, being respected, being welcomed, and becoming a confident educator in this setting.

=**“To dance is to share – to share is to teach.”**=

=**- Selayma**=