Holly's+Practicum+Blog


 * September 14, 2011: **
 * My expectations for my practicum this semester is that it will be a very informative and interesting. I am really looking forward to going to my practicum location and really getting an inside view of what a day there is like. Since visiting the school last year I have always been interested in going back and being involved with the school. I already think that my practicum location is a wonderful and beautiful and this semester I expect that I will love it even more during my visits. I am really looking forward to seeing how the children will interact with each other and their teachers. I also am looking forward to seeing the development of the children and observing their intelligences. **
 * From the teacher I am curious to see how she or he designs the curriculum in order to match the children and any learning disabilities or cultural differences the children may have. I am excited to learn the many new things I know I will be learning from the teacher and all the wonderful things I will take with me throughout the rest of my career. **

"Don't limit yourself. Many people limit themselves to what they think they can do. You can go as far as your mind lets you. What you believe, you can achieve." //-- Mary Kay Ash //

October 4, 2011:

So far I have have gone to the Cyert Center twice and absolutely love it. The teacher is extremely nice and really makes me feel welcomed and comfortable. On the first day I mostly just observed and interacted with the children here and there, but really got familiar with the classroom and was able to observe the children. On my second day which was this past Monday I got more involved. Every morning the students choose which groups they would like to be in during the small group activities. On the board there are pictures of each teacher and the name of the activity that each teacher is doing, along with a photo of each student. When the children walk into the classroom, after they sign themselves in, they go over to the activity board and choose which activity they want to do. On my first day there the small group activities were, studio work, "make believe time" in the circle area, and playing with the sand/water table. During circle time, the kids are absolutely amazing. They start by singing a "meeting time" song, but after they sing it in the english version, they choose from five different languages such as Spanish, German, French, Romanian, or Telegu. There are three students to pick one of the five languages and sign the same song they just sang, but only in the language of choice. I was completely amazed by how fluently they were singing the song in the different language. All the children were so funny and interesting. They all have such different cultural backgrounds but they all seem to get along very well with each other. I noticed that there is one difficult child who seems to enjoy attention and acts out in order to get attention from the teacher. He is a very lively and loud little boy and according to the teacher he is the oldest child so that might explain his need for constant attention. All in all the students were all very intelligent and excited to see a new face in their classroom. They were all very welcoming towards me and allowed me to play with them and have conversation with them. I also was able to observe them while playing outside on the playground. They all seem to listen and obey the playground rules very well, and if there was ever an issue the teacher would have both children involved in the feud and allow them to out it out for themselves. So far I love the Cyert Center and everything about it. Everyone is very nice to me and the children are all so funny and fun to be around. I am extremely excited to see what lies before me while I'm at the Cyert Center.

October 5, 2011

So far during my time at the Cyert Center I am enjoying myself so much. As I said in my post before, everyone is so kind and welcoming towards me. Today was my third visit and I think that the students are really starting to know who I am. When I walked into the classroom this morning some children came up to me and greeted me as I was one of their teachers. Today and Monday when I walked into the classroom I have been walking around and chatting with different children and playing different games with each child. I try to not stay with one child the whole morning and change who I chat with, but sometimes conversations with the children get carried away and I loose track of time. Today when I walked in I noticed a little boy who is actually new to the center and sometimes has difficulties playing with children because all the children in the classroom have been in class with each other and they do not really know the new child as well. I noticed that he was playing with himself while doing this really cool activity, I do not know the name of the activity but it was awesome. Basically he had this picture of a penguin and had this mini blocks that he had to fill the penguin in with. It was so cool, I actually made an alligator with him. The whole time we were making our little animals, we were chatting about random things and I was trying to find out a little more about him. Another way I am trying to get to know the children is by being in activities with them. When the teacher says that it is time to clean up sometimes I try helping them clean up, but according to Reggio Emilia the children are suppose to clean up things by themselves; that is what one of the teachers told me. At the school each child has their own "All About Me" book which is a photo album that is about their life and cool things they may have done with their families and friends. Some of the little girls were so excited to show me their book and we looked at all their pictures and they explained what they were doing in every picture. They were just so excited to show me and I was so interested in hearing their stories. Some of the little girls even brought over other students' stories for me to look at as they explained who everyone was in their pictures. We went to CMU campus to go to the "number park," which is a really cool man-made maze and in the center of the maze there is a huge thing with numbers 1-9 scattered everywhere. Since the students are learning numbers this week, hte teacher thought it would be a fun way to help them recognize numbers. So when we got there we all stood on the number board and the teacher first asked the students to say what number they were on and once they all had a turn, the teacher then told them to go on a certain number. It was a really cool and fun activity. After the children walked and played freely around the maze. While they were playing around the maze some of them wanted me to play "monster" with then, where I would be the monster and chase them around; it was a lot of fun. After the number park it was time to go back and play on the playground. In the playground there is a beautiful butterfly bush, the children loved the butterflies. The stood up at the butterfly bush and stared some wanted the butterfly to land on them and I helped some of them get close enough to touch a butterfly. After some of the children ran around the playground pretending to be beautiful butterflies. It is so much fun at the Cyert Center and I could not have asked for a better placement. I love everything about it and the children are just amazing. The are so funny to have conversations with and so fun to play with. I love getting to know them more and it is such a great feeling when I walk into the classroom and they know who I am. I am so excited for the rest of my time there!!:)

October 19 2011: So far in while at my Practicum site I really have gotten a hang of everything and everyone in the classroom. The students all know my name and always want to play a new game with me. They are all such amazing students and very intelligent. While I have been at the Cyert Center I have noticed that there is one child who seems to be challenging. Just about every time I have gone to the Cyert Center the same little boy seems to cause problems. This little boy always wants the teachers full attention no matter what. While at circle/meeting time, the teacher will ask the students questions and if this little boy has something to say, he will not wait for the teacher to call on him, he will just shout out what he thinks, or if another child is talking he will try to get the teachers attention. He is a great child and very intelligent but he is definitely an attention seeker. After talking to the teacher, she informed me that this little boy's parents do not know how to disciple him, so if he ever wants something or does something bad his parents accommodate what he wants or what he does. With this being said, this may be a reason why he acts the way he does, along with him being the oldest he is probably use to always getting attention from adults. The behaviors of this child are not terrible, but it can be distracting not only to the students but also to the teachers. The teachers give him warnings while he talks out but he does not seem to listen.

I do not believe the curriculum has an influence on the child's behavior, if anything I believe the curriculum helps with his self control. Although there are many social interactions and students need to listen to other students while they talk, the teachers try to influence each child with what they want to do and the teachers also sometime accommodate this little boys behavior. If he yells out an idea or a game to play yet there may be no time to do the activity he wants to do, the teacher will ask him if he would like to do that activity the next day. For the most part he always agrees and cooperates.

I think that how the teacher handles this students behavior is effective. Although sometimes he still does misbehave and act out, it still works. I think maybe not always giving him the attention he wants and remind him to be patient and respectful while other students are talking that may also help with his behavior. I think the teacher needs to communicate with the parents and inform them what is going on and about their child's behaviors. I also think the parents should make an effort to help with their child;s self-control and maybe not give him what he wants all the time and not always accommodate his wants. Over all he is still a great student and a great joy in the classroom he just needs to be more patient.

"Let us think of education as the means of developing our greatest abilities, because in each of us there is a private hope and dream which, fulfilled, can be translated into benefit for everyone and greater strength of the nation." //-- John F. Kennedy//

November 6, 2011 I am just about done with my practicum hours at the Cyret Center so I thought this would be a good time to reflect on my goals. I believe that I have met all my goals so far. I love the classroom I am in and the teachers there are truly great. The classroom is so beautiful and the documentation panels in the classroom are so informational and lovely. Every time I enter the classroom I walk around and greet all the children and ask how they are doing. I think greeting each child individually makes them feel special and happy. After I greet the children and teachers I usually move around from child to child playing and seeing what they are working on. After all the students arrive we have circle time and sing the morning meeting time song and I have learned the song and surprisingly the song in some of the different languages they sing in. After circle time is small group time and the teacher will let me lead some of the small groups. I actually did one of my math lessons during small group time, we played "go fish" and it really seemed like the kids enjoyed it. The teacher also commented on how successful it went and she enjoyed observing. One really great thing happened on Wednesday the 2nd while I was in the classroom. Before it was time to go outside one little girl asked me to read a story to her, as I was reading slowly all the students came over and me reading a story to one little girl turned into me reading to the whole class. It really was a sight to see and a great experience to me, I am absolutely loving my practicum experience and I really do not want it to end. I will be very sad to leave, for it is a great placement and really great learning experience for me.

November 11, 2011 So far the Cyret Center has been so great and I love the school and all the students in the classroom. The curriculum at the Cyret Center is based off the practices in the Reggio Emilia schools and the curriculum is really great for the students in the classroom. The curriculum is very supportive of the students in the classroom and I really think the curriculum helps the children to reach their highest potential. Every morning there is free time for the children to actively engage in what ever they would like to. In the morning on of the teachers come in and set up certain centers for the children to engage themselves in. For instance at the block area she may put some blocks out, natural materials (which are actually plastic but naturally looking) and people, in the mini studio area she may put out crayons, fake leaves, or other art materials, and the other area she may put out legos, or other small manipulative's for the children to work on their fine motor skills. Every morning when the children come into the classroom they are free to engage themselves in any activity. The curriculum is very child driven and involves the children's ideas and thoughts. The curriculum supports the developmental stages of the children, while building their fine motor skills, literacy and writing skills, and many other learning skills. The materials in the classroom are very age appropriate and fit the developmental stage for the children. For example the blocks are big and easily accessed for by the children and the children enjoy playing with them. The writing area for the children is also very developmental appropriate; it has the names of all the students, and teachers, and other words such as, the, a, be, etc. easy words for children to write and practice their writing skills.

The interactions of the students and teachers are very encouraging and supportive. While interacting with the students the teacher try to take whatever idea that child may have and encourage them to develop their idea further. While I was at the Cyret Center one day during meeting time one of the students asked the question "how does rain come from clouds?" to the rest of the class. The teachers allow any student who may have an idea about this question to answer it and many of the students used the word evaporates, wanting to know more the teacher encouraged the students to explain what they thought the word evaporates meant; I was truly amazed with their responses. One student who is five years old said when things evaporate it disappears and changes. The teachers really help to encourage the children to develop literacy skills and explain things in their own words. The classroom and curriculum are very supportive of the developmental stages that the children are in. "Let us never be betrayed into saying we have finished our education; because that would mean we had stopped growing." -Julia H. Gulliver

November 15, 2010 My final day at the Cyret Center was definitely one of the best and saddest days there. Since my usual days to go to the Cyret Center were Monday's and Wednesday's and my final day was on a Friday, everything was different. On Friday's the children go to Gymkhana which is a gymnastic facility. The class goes every Friday and since my last day and first Friday it was a great experience to be able to watch the kids go to Gymkhana. Gymkhana is a place where the children do physical activities in a gymnastic style. I had asked the teacher how early they begin to attend Gymkhana at the center and she informed me that they usually begin in the early preschool classroom so by the time they are in the pre-k/kindergarten classroom their skills have improved greatly. Being able to watch the children participate in Gymkhana was a great experience. The kids really seemed to enjoy it and it helps them work on their physical education, bodily kinesthetis, and spatial intelligence. After gymkhana the teacher let me lead my final small group work. I played games with the kids and it was a lot of fun and I was very happy that she allowed me to do one final small group.

The Cyret Center has taught me so much and I absolutely loved everything about it. The teacher was extremely helpful and welcoming to me and taught me so much. While I did my lesson plans in the classroom she was always extremely encouraging and talked to me after and complimented me on my lesson plan and always gave me great constructive critcisim about how to improve with my lessons. It was very helpful to be able to do my lesson plans with the teacher watching closely so she can give me advice. I learned a lot from the children and made me love being in the education field even more. Just talking with the children and hearing their thoughts and ideas was amazing and fun. I could talk to the kids all day everyday and I would still love it all. I learned so much from the teachers, and students at the Cyret Center and I am so thankful for the opportunity to be able to complete my practicum hours at the Cyret Center. I have a lot more confidence in myself and my abilities as a teacher.

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