Final Post

I have throughly enjoyed this class! I knew that it was going to be a wonderful experience but I had no idea about how much I would get out of it. I thought it was such a wonderful way to introduce everything about early childhood without overwhelming us too much! It was such a neet thing to at first just be an observer of the children and to be able to have an idea of developmentally appropriate practices at each age. I really feel like just by observing I have gained so much information about where children should be at each level and it is a great feeling. I loved everything about this class and all of the work that we did. I especially thought the personal story was neat to think about an experience that we had and then tie it into a current idea or issue with early childhood! What a neat way to allow us to pick a topic that involves us with us not even knowing! I also especially loved this blogging. I have never done a blog like this before but I found it to be very neat to be able to put in writing how we felt as we experienced these new early childhood siutations! Overall, I throughly enjoyed this class and can't wait to continue on in the program.

Family Problems

I have been working on my final presentation on parent teacher communications and it has really opened up my eyes on how important the family life can be to the learning experience. I have a student in my class that is going through some terrible personal family issues and although the child is only two, she understands that something is not right. Although as a teacher, I am communicating with the family about the situation but it seems to be taking a toll on the student. I lay her down for nap and she will tell me about how she misses her mother and it is so hard for me as a teacher to not get completely emotionally involved in the situation. In all of my research for this project as well as my personal experiences I have just really come to terms with the idea of how important the family is and how important that communication can be between the teacher and the family of the student. My mother has always told me that it takes a village to raise a child and I am such a true believer of this as I think that the teacher takes a large role in being a part of the village that does this. 

Developmental Changes

In my observations, I am just beginning to realize the developmental changes in the students. I am so amazed at how far they have come since the beginning of the year. Students who had never even heard of colors before can name them all. Children who did not know how to count can now count to ten and sometimes beyond. I am so amazed at how much the children have learned in the classroom and I know the reason that it has begun to stick is because of the repetition. Constantly all year we have been going over with the children their numbers, colors, animals, etc. I had a mom come in this week and tell me that I had done an excellent job on colors with her daughter. I talked to her about how I thought that she had been working on them at home with her and surprisingly the mother said that they had not. It was such a wonderful feeling to know that her learning of colors was a result of me going over them and over them with her. 

First Group Lesson

After I taught my first group lesson I quickly realized how important it really is to set the behavioral expectations up front to the students. In this particular situation I was teaching 6 5-6 year old boys and I had a hard time commanding their attention. They were talking about spelling and other ideas and I had to take what they were talking about and tie it all into the lesson so that I could get their attention and direction where I needed it to be. I realzed how much teachers talk about behavioral expectations and most teachers require that you put the behavioral expectations explicitly in the lesson plan so the children will know what kind of behavior is expected from them, and now I know why. Overall, I think that the lesson went great, but next time I am going to think of some plans for setting up the behavioral expectations up front so that they will know how I expect them to behave. Until you teach, you have no idea how important this can be in a lesson!

Who Knows Best?

One thing that I noticed quickly in my beginning days as a teacher is that parent communication is crucial when you are a teacher. Parents need to be informed and stay informed of the progress of their students because they are on your side to help you teach their children. Although this can be positive in that the parents and the teachers work together to accomplish a goal or teach the children different ideas, I have found that sometimes it can be difficult as well. For example, the children in my classroom are 2 and 3 years old and therefore they are still taking naps at school. The majority of my class is potty trained at this point but almost everyone is still wearing pull-ups during nap time to prevent accidents. A few weeks ago we had parent conferences with the parents to inform them of progress in the class on all accounts including potty training. One particular students mother voiced that she would like for her daughter to not wear pull-ups at nap time anymore. Well, I keep a record of who is wet and who is dry after naps and this particular child was wet after nap 3 times just that week. It was a difficult situation that I realized is going to come up very often as a teacher in that the question who knows what is better for the student? It was so hard for me to accept this mothers decision because she is the one who is in control of the situation, but I spend a lot of time with her daughter (7 hours) each day which is probably more that she spends with her own daughter. I know that I must follow the requests of the mother but it was an extremely difficult situation for me as I felt like I knew better than the mother on this particular subject.

Learning Colors

I have been in the same classroom all semester with the two and three year olds at Ashley Hall. Since the beginning of the semester I have been going over and over their colors with them during center time. No matter which center at which we are playing, or what activity we may be doing I have worked as hard as I can to incorporate colors so that the children will be able to master them by the end of the year. Several of my students have learned the colors right away (probably with some help at home) but there are others who have struggled and are still struggling. One student in particular had no concept of colors whatsoever when she walked into my classroom and I have been working with her ever since. I would work every day with her and just as I would think she was getting the concept, she would name a color that we were not even working with, or just begin guessing. Finally, last week I began to go over all of the primary colors with her using a fall leaf sort and finally she got it! It was such an amazing feeling to know that I was able to help her to grasp a concept and understand something, even if it was something as simple as her colors. Now, she goes all around the room pointing out all of the colors that she knows and it is such a wonderful feeling to know that I was a part of this learning experience and confidence that she has gained!

Differences in Abilities

In my elementary observations I have noticed several challenges that as a teacher that I will ultimately face. The challenge that I believe seems to be the most difficult from observing is that of the differing learning levels of the students. I do know that obviously not all students will be on the same learning level, however in the elementary age group I have noticed the largest gaps of all. In this age group, children (especially in literacy) can be on three different levels of reading and writing. I have watched my lead teachers in my observations and they work around this challenge with great ease. As a new teacher, I am so fearful that this is not something that I will be able to do so beautifully. I am thinking that this is a true skill that comes with time because as I am thinking about it I realize what a challenge it can truly be to diagnose each level that the children are on, teach a group lesson, but also keep the lesson to each individual child's ability. 

Case 25 Question 2

Number two poses the question as to whether Aiyanna should worry about Luke's apparent delay in learning to read as soon as some of the children. In the grand scheme of the situation, my answer is no. I do not think that Anyianna should be concerned about Luke's learning delay in reading because of his situation and because of the fact that he is in the first grade. There are several factors that she could and should take into consideration such as his abilities and if they are improving, and whether her reading lessons are at the right level for Lukes abilities. As a teacher, one of the most difficult parts of teaching is teaching to the abilities of the students in the class, which in first grade this can be extremely difficult as you are going to have learners on all different kinds of levels of reading at this point, and that is very normal and typical for the first grade. So, because of the large gap in literacy abilities for the first grade, I think that Luke's delays in literacy are developmental in nature and will eventually be overcome and therefore are not a concern to the teacher or the parents at this point in Luke's education. 

Case Study 25, Question 3

Question number 3 in case 25 is in regards to Luke and his "mental health" break from school and the advantages and disadvantages that this situation poses. I belive that there are several advantages and disadvantages to having Luke take this mental health time. It sounds like Luke is having a difficult time adjusting to school, so if just once, I think that his mental health day could give him time to think, re-group, and not think about school. Much like adults, even children need a small break from the day-to-day routine that school provides especially if it is not a routine that you enjoy as Luke has expressed his dislike for school to his mother. By taking a "mental health day" Luke can take a day away from this school routine and take a break from school all together. The break may even allow for him to appreciate school more when he goes back.

Although a mental health day can be beneficial and helpful Luke, there are also negative side effects that can come from this time off. First, Luke will be missing out on the academic benefits of school. It sounds like Luke is already struggling with some aspects of academics and missing out on class time can only hinder this even more as he will be getting behind in school which will only hold him back even further and may even increase his dislike for school. Second, Luke is missing out on the social aspect of school which is also a large part of learning and development. It sounds like his physical development is advanced for his age, but given the situation, I bet his social skills are lacking. Missing out on this social time with his peers is also setting him behind the others.

Overall, I think that if only once or twice, mental health days are acceptable and can be beneficial for Luke in his academics. However, more than just a few mental health days can only set Luke further behind academically, emotionally, and socially.

Independence

In my observations in my classroom, I have noticed that one of the things that the children in this age group (2-3) need work on is with self-regulation and their individual responsibilities. Even at this young of an age I have realized how important it is for them to learn to do things on their own because they are at the age where they have the desire to do things by themselves so that they can feel some form of accomplishment. For example, after naps, we encourage the children to go and find their picture in their cubby, and then to grab their nap bags and put their own blanket and pillow in their own bag, and then hang it back up on their hook. Often, the children grab the wrong bag, or hang it on the wrong hook, but we do not even say anything about this and just congratulate them for accomplishing the task on their own. We also encourage them to communicate and say full sentences about it such as "I did it." Through my observations, I have found that this independence and self-regulation can be so rewarding, even when you are two years old! I have to keep reminding myself daily to let them do things on their own even if they may be slower, they can do it and feel a sort of accomplishment after they have done something on their own. 

Case 17, Question 5

Question 5 in this case study asks that if considering the later outcome for the twins, do you believe the decision to move Brent out of Cassandra's classroom was the best for him in the long-run, why or why not? I think that this question is very difficult to answer because it would just have to be a situation that was handled through trial and error. 

Overall though, it sounds like it was not a good decision to move Brent a second time in the classroom because it seems like he was doing a great job and making a lot of progress in Cassandra's classroom. The first move of separating the boys was a great decision of the teachers. With this move, the boys were able to be themselves and have the individualized attention that they probably did not get at home. Because of the move, they were not able to feed off of each others aggression, and were able to focus more on their work in the classroom and making friends with the other students. 

It sounds like both boys were making a lot of progress in their separate classrooms and by their parents making the decision (with an unknown reason) of moving Bret again it made it a lot more difficult for him to re-adjust as because he had already been moved, he probably could not feel comfortable in a classroom because it did not feel like a permanent fixture to him. So, I believe that the decision to move Brent a second time was not good as he was making progress in his new classroom and adjusting to another caregiver and classroom with new students was too many changes for him at once. Moving Brent changed his safe and stable learning environment that he was beginning to establish. 

Case Study 1 Question 1

Shawna and Ronnie used the DAP guidelines 2G (1&2) which states that "teachers recognize and respond to the reality that in any group, children's skills will vary and they will need different levels of support. Teachers also know that any one child's level of skill and need for support will vary over time." The second aspect of this DAP is that "scaffolding can take a variety of forms; for example, giving the child a hint, adding a cue, modeling the skill, or adapting the material and activities." 

Shawna and Ronnie follow both of these guidelines as they constantly speak with the children even though they are not developmentally ready to speak to themselves because they know that even though they cannot speak yet, they are still processing what is going on and interacting with the speech of others. Shawna and Ronnie both know that by interacting with the children they are already encouraging their literacy behaviors for the future. 

Shawna and Ronnie know that even though the infants are not developmentally ready to speak, they still are 100% able to communicate with them to let them know what they need or want. As they communicate verbally with the infants, the infants communicate back to them with gestures and facial expressions and even their own form of verbal communication. Shawna and Ronnie as teachers know their vital role in the language development of the infants, even at such a young age. By narrating as they do when they are doing activities with the children such as feeding them or changing diapers, they are helping to develop their beginning vocabulary which will mostly consist of words that reflect their social environments. 

Speech

Through my observations in my class of two year olds, I have found that one of the largest issues with this age group is speech. Several of my students have problems articulating their speech to let others know what they want, or what they are trying to say. What makes me curious is to how these speech problems come about. Well, I found one answer to my question and I believe that it is because the parents have such a large influence on the speech of the children. One of the little boys in my class has a very difficult time with his speech and articulating what he wants. Well, one day his mom dropped him off to school and I noticed that she was talking to him in somewhat of a baby voice with a slight mumble. For example when saying choo choo train, she says what sounds like "choow choow twain." I realized at that moment what an influence teachers and especially parents can have on children and their speech when they are learning to talk because they mock what they hear from others. Because this student's mother was speaking this way, the student thought that he was speaking correctly in a way that could be understood because that is what he hears and assumes to be correct. Through this situation I have been more aware in my teaching of this age group to annunciate every single word that I say and to speak as clearly as possible because as teachers we have to remember to model every minute of every day because we are spending the most time with children and therefore should set great examples, even in something as little as speech. 

First Reflection on Observation

Well, I have been observing children in this age group in my class at Ashley Hall. I just started this associate teaching position in August and I love it and therefore have a little bit of a heads up on the 0-3 years age group as I get to observe and interact with them every day. Each day I am surprised, shocked, and impressed by the children in my class and believe it or not they teach me something new every day as well. Right now I would have to say that the largest learning idea going on in my classroom seems to be the potty. Several of my children are potty-trained but we still have a few that are not. It is funny to me because on the first day the parents came in and would tell us where the children were in the process and a lot of the parents voiced that their children had no interest in it whatsoever. What I have found is that when these children are placed in a room with other children who are potty-trained or do have an interest in being potty-trained, their whole mindset changes. The children who are not somehow have a new interest in it because they see their classmates being involved in it and they must somehow feel the pressure to keep up with their peers. I just found this to be very interesting because I have known that this can happen later on in life, but did not think that it could start as young as two years old. 

First Blog Entry

Well, I think a lot of times you have to figure out what you don't want to do before you can figure out what you do want to do. When I first came to Clemson, I had no idea what I wanted to major in. I started out with Marketing, and then Communications, then finally my senior year I declared Economics. I do love my major, but after I graduated I realized there was nothing that I wanted to do every day that involved economics. My whole life I have always worked with children and enjoyed doing it. I have been babysitting since I was 11 years old, I have been a camp counselor before, and I have also been a nanny for several families. It did not take me long to realize that I wanted a career where I could work with children every day and that is why I chose early childhood education. I am hoping to learn as much as possible this semester about early childhood education. I can't wait to be able to relate my experience with children into the past to what we will be learning this semester.