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.