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Katie's Practicum Blog

09.14.2011 Practicum Log 1

**What are your initial thoughts, feelings, and reactions to the classroom environment you are in? What are the children like? What are your first impressions to the class schedule, curriculum, and room arrangement?**

- I am placed in a preschool which has an inclusion setting with students who are on the autism spectrum and other disabilities. I was very excited to be able to have this experience and to see what teaching in a preschool for special needs was like.‍‍‍‍‍ As soon as I stepped into the room I immediately felt at home. I was very welcomed into the classroom by both the staff and children ‍‍‍‍‍. The classroom is set up in a very playful, colorful, and active manor. The children were very sweet and very warming to the classroom. The class schedule was very busy from gross motor skills in the morning, music on special days, and a lot of free time to play. The room was arranged in a very neat way but it also had many places for the children to play.

Going to my site the first morning I was very nervous but also very excited to meet these new children and go to this school. When I first walked in it was extremely colorful and bright with art work and posters around the lobby. As I waited for my teacher to enter the building I was welcomed by other members of the school staff. Finally my teacher arrived and took me to her room to meet some of the other staff that works alongside with her. When I first entered the room it was very bright and welcoming. I was able to venture around the room before we went to meet any of the children and see somewhat of what the curriculum was like. I was able to see the different activities that the children are able to do like music time, quiet time, blocks, light table, and more.

The children were very welcoming and were so excited to meet a new face. I was able to meet all of the children when we went outside for gross motor play. I was asked to play with clay, in the sand box, and other outside activities. The children all wanted to take time to have me play with them and show me all of their favorite activities outside. Next we went inside for a snack and all the children wanted to show me what they had for snack that day. They seemed very excited to have me visiting and wanted me to interact with them even more. Everyone in the classroom especially the children were very excited and welcoming to me.

My first impressions of the class schedule were that they were very busy and that they had a lot of fun and different activities throughout the day. My first day at my practicum site I was able to have gross motor play with them (as I mentioned before), music time, story time, and watch how they played with their free time. ‍‍‍‍‍The curriculum I felt is very well rounded and they include a lot of different activities such as art, music, blocks, manipulative, drama, and gross motor. The room was arranged by the different daily activities with the quieter areas all close to each other while the block area, the lunch area, and the drama area were close to each other. ‍‍‍‍‍ media type="youtube" key="1KWA0iKh6Cs" width="425" height="350" align="center"

9.28.2011 Pacticum Log 2


 * What are you doing to get to know the children in the classroom? What do you know about them now? What are they interested in? **

To get to know the children I have been playing with them and listening to their conversations and how they talk in dramatic play. Each child talks about different things and talks in different ways. It is amazing how the children talk (probably mimicking what they hear at home). There is one little boy who always calls the girls "babe" so the teachers are trying to correct that behavior because it makes the other students uncomfortable.

As for what I know about the children, I have learned a lot. There are a few children that are an only child and it shows throughout their play and talking. There is one little girl who gravitates to the adults and only wants to play with adults. She will ask daily if I will go to the loft with her and when I tell her that I am too big and she needs to invite another friend she will get mad and try another way to get me up there. She will ask daily if I am little yet and if I can go up with her. Another little girl constantly wants to play with everyone, which is good, but if it is not her way then she will get in the other child's face to the point that the other child feels uncomfortable. Other children that I have gotten to know seem to love being with other children. I have noticed that each child has a completely unique personality and it definitely shows.

A lot of the children are very interested in music and dancing. Every day the children ask to put music on and dance or to get the musical instruments out. The school also has someone come in and play guitar and sing to the children every other week. They always ask if Miss Margret is coming in. The school also provides steel drums outside for the children to play with and the students utilize these musical experience and love every minute of it.

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10.12.2011 Practicum Log 3

There are two children who are challenging in the classroom one more than the other. The one child A is challenging because he constantly wants to play with guns. This child will do anything he can to get around the fact that he cannot play with guns. He will call it everything but a gun (water squirter, ant shooter, ect.) The curriculum helps him because they are able to utilize their technologies and he was able to look up laws about guns at school on the internet. They were able to teach a lesson to A about guns at school and the safety of the classroom. These challenges have since been reduced. To help this behavior I might try to teach more lessons to A about why it is bad to have guns in school and maybe try to turn him into an "advocate" for no guns at schoo l. The other student who I see as challenging is J he constantly is cussing and hitting the other children. He gets upset and then loses his temper. The curriculum helps his self control, I think, because the environment is a safe environment so that means for the other children as well. Because it is labeled as a safe environment that means that J's behaviors need to change so he is getting that attention he needs to help this behavior. Some things I might try to help the child develop self control is to give him more praise when he does things right. I have noticed when he is told he is doing something right he is getting more excited about it every day.
 * Is there is a child who is particularly challenging? What are the child's behaviors like? How do you think the curriculum helps or hinders his self control? What are some things you might try to help the child develop self control? **

You may be interested in these articles Katie:

10.26.2011 Practicum Log 4 **Reflect on your goal. How are you meeting your goal for your practicum?** At the beginning of the semester I stated my student initiated goal to be that I wanted to become more comfotable working in a pre school setting along with becoming more knowledgeable about what they are capable of. I think setting this goal for myself allowed me to put myself out there a little more and not care of how I looked because the only person I had to impress were the kids. I think was was able to become more confortable and let my inner child play with these children which also allowed me to see what they are able to do learning wise. I enjoyed this practicum greatly because of that fact that I was not worried about being accepted into the classroom. I think I successfully met my goal for this practicum in becoming comfortable in front of the class, being a part of the class, and being a part of teaching the class. I think that the only thing I could do to futher this goal would be to teach more lessons in the classroom which I think will come from student teaching and being in the classroom all of the time. This is because although a lot of the kids saw me as one of the teachers a few did not and it was hard to get them to listen to me. I also this I could have made this better if in this short amount of time I was in the class more. I was only in the class two days a week for half days. I think if I did even one more day a week I think they would have seen me and became more comfortable with me being in the classrooom and me being around all the time.

11.19.2011 Practicum Log 5 This curriculum supports the children's developmental stages. They would be in Piaget's preopperational stage which means that they learn through play and their imagination is becoming greater and they use this imagination in everything they do. I can also see this through the children because through all of their play they are able to turn it into something different through using their imagination. These children use blocks in which they turn into things such as airplanes, castles, and rocket ships. I also see this in the dramatic play area when they are pretending to be someone else outside of their own lives. They pretend to be adults, pizza place owners, and ballarinas. I see their imagination come out constantly in everything they do. If the children were not able play for the 2 hours today they would not be able to include their imagination in their play.
 * How does the curriculum support (or not support) the developmental stages the children are in? How do you know this? What kinds of materials and interactions help to support these stages? **

11.30.2011 Practicum Log 6 I really enjoyed this practicum experience. I loved my site at ShadyLane the teachers were amazing and I completely felt comfortable being in that setting. This experience has changed my professional teacher practice because I now know what teaching pre-school entails and I know how to teach a pre-school classroom. I feel more comfortable being in the classroom and I love working with this age. After being in this placement I am truly thinking about becoming a pre-school teacher. I also loved this school because it did cater to children with special needs. I loved the way that they were able to include these students with special needs into the general education classroom. I never have seen this in a pre-school setting and I think this school did a good job of having an inclusion classroom. I really would love to visit Shady Lane in the future. I would love to visit other classrooms as well within the school. This experience was one of the best I have had so far in my education.
 * How has your own professional teaching practice changed as a result from this practicum experience? **