final post for first semester

I really enjoyed the semester and think I have learned a lot. I still have a lot to learn but I think from where I started out this semester, without any experience, I have come a long way. I have started to understand the things we are learning as more logical and a little more common sense, now that I have been in a classroom and seen the methods and activities in action. I hope that I will be able to build on my knowledge in the following semesters, work on making my lessons much clearer, more concise and to the point, and more interesting. I also need to work on my classroom management skills and how to teach one lesson but to gear different parts of the lesson to help kids of all levels and learning styles, whether it be tactile, visual, or auditory. I also hope to get myself reorganized so I can keep all of my resources I acquire and my lesson plans for later use someday, with some alterations. I cannot believe how fast the semester flew by and I know after just a few days of break I will probably ber eagerly anticipating the start of my second semester in the program.

Observation d'une leçon française à ECDC

I spent the Tuesday before Thanksgiving working in ECDC in the 4's/5's room and got to experience something over there I have never seen: a lesson in french. ECDC has a french teacher come in and learn basic french vocabulary and french songs. When I met the franch teacher, who is fantastic, and brought the students in from playing outside, I was absolutely blown away! The students sang numerous french songs without looking at printed words or images, and as someone who took seven years of french, I am pretty sure their pronunciation of the words was on the dot. And on top of that all the students participated and was able to contribute in french. The french teacher spoke only french to them during the half hour she came to visit. I am amazed with the potential or 4 and 5-year-old's and love the idea of teaching french to young kids, not only to learn the language, but to improve their: phonics skills, pronunciation, and awareness of the English language; and their acceptance and appreciation of other cultures. I really hope I get the more of the opportunity to be part of that.

Last day in my third grade field study...

Today I spent my last day observing and helping students in my third grade class. I am really going to miss walking into a classroom and getting 5-10 hugs every morning, and kids wanting Liza and I to teach them. I really learned how much you get back from teaching, and I know that is just the tip of the iceburg becuase we only spent 15 hours observing in this classroom. When I first started the field I was a little nervous and unsure of myself and how I was going to teach. The idea of teaching to an entire class seemed so scary to me because public speeking has never been my thing, but I found it much easier to speak in front of kids and people who look up to you than to my peers. Even though I know I have a lot to work on to improve my teaching, the opportunity to teach some lessons built my confidence and allowed me to get through one small hurdle.

I really find teaching to be a new creative outlet for me, whether it be through reading, writing, spelling, math, or science (I have yet to teach Social Studies). I think it challenges teachers to think outside the box and come up with alternative ways to teach one lesson in order to address the needs of all students> Not only teaching, but observing the entire class and my case study/spelling student learn and interact, and the lead teacher, assistant teachers, and a peer student teacher, I was able to see what does work and what does not and how students respond to different styles of teaching. I am also amazed with the connection I formed with some of the students in the classroom (as cheesy as that sounds) in just 5 short weeks. I remember the first day they were so shy and although I may still struggle with names at week 5 (which I know appreciate teachers more who can learn names within the first week), I felt like I got to know most all of the children by the last week.

Through my one-on-one work with a boy in the third grade class, I really have become aware how important this kind of instruction is, especially for those students who are struggling. Not only does it boost the students confidence as they realize that someone is taking a personal interest in them and their needs, but it helps boost their motivation to learn and improves learning more rapidly, students also in return learn to trust the teacher. Trust is a huge part of the classroom environment between student and teacher and among students and their peers. In so many of my classes we have discussed bullying and one thing that really impressed me about this environment was the lack of bullying, name-calling, and put downs, and the amount of respect that was exemplified in not only the third grade classroom, but across the school. The school emphasisized the idea of both community and helping others, but at the same time being able to help yourself. This is such a valid lesson because it teaches students the important morals and values of kindness toward others, but also knwoing that just because you show kindness doesn't mean you will receive the same treatment back, and so a student must be strong for themself and be able to help themself.

As I have just finished my pop culture project for lang/lit, I also found the project to open up my awareness to the personal interests of the students, ways in which pop culture is already part of the classroom enviornment, and ways to incorporate it to activate the schema of the students. This was another domain of the classroom environment that plays a role in both learning and social dynamics. It was really fun to take a look at!

In conclusion to this field study, I am so happy that I got this five week opportunity over this semester to "get my feet wet" in a classroom other than my experiences in ECDC and also I am very glad I got assign to a third grade class, since I have mostly worked with pre-schoolers. I think that this experience was taught me so much and was a good way to ease me into the classroom environment. Her at CofC the majority of the student body is of European descent, and even more so at Bucknell, where I did my undergrad, and also Parsons for my post grad. I have always been exposed to people of different cultures and races growing up in the east bay area of CA, however, I never new what it felt like to be the one who was the minority. I really can't say it enough, this was really the best experience I could have asked for. I hope to be exposed to all kinds of new situations and environments in my fields to come. I was also so lucky to have been assigned to the teacher I was. She was very nice and gave me feedback on what I could do better and commented on what she thought I did well. Even with the things she suggested that I change, I still felt she helped to boost my confidence in the classroom.

Issues with My Blog...

Okay, so just thought I would let you know that my settings for my blog still say that anyone can comment on it and there are no privacy settings set. I tried changing my background template back to the general one several times to see if that is causing all of this and since the computer is not allowing me to do so, I am guessing that it has something to do with that. I will try and see if I can find a computer whiz tomorrow to help me solve this, so you won't have to send me your comments via e-mail Jameca.  Sorry 'bout that!

Teaching my First Reading Lesson

Today I was at Charleston Development Academy again with the third graders. I noticed out in the hallway, before walking up the stairs to the 2nd floor, that there is a bulletine board that has tips for parents and how they can be involved with their child or children and what they are doing in school. I never noticed this before but I thought it was really neat becuase we are always discussing in class how important parent involvement, support, and interest are in their child's academic success. I also noticed how much text there is both in and outside of the classroom and that it is very culturally appropriate with a lot related to African American Heritage.

I also had a chance to teach a reading lesson this morning. I think it went okay, however, I felt like my writing lesson was the stronger of the two. I feel like I don't have much practice reading aloud recently (not since high school) and I think I will need to work on this. Next semester I think my public speaking course will help me to improve on this. I think that the secong paragraph I read, of the two that they illustrated from, was too long and as suggested to me, I agree that the vocabulary was probably hard to understand and follow. I think my point would have been much better addressed with a shorter abreviated lesson, that was more focused and clear. In fact, I think this will be my challenge throughout learning to teach... that is staying on topic and being clear and precise in what I teach. This means shortening lessons, timing myself, and figure what is and is not important to teach. I think my lesson would have worked out much better if I had focused on this and I think it can be reworked to be better. I also think I still need to work on controlling the students' behavior and getting their attention.

Overall, I think I learned more today than I have in previous days at our field experience, which is a good thing obviously. I felt a little more pressure being observed but it is such a help to get that feedback! Next Monday will be mmy last day in the 3rd grade class and I look forward to another day to observe and reflect.

Day Number Three with the Third Grade

Today, was the first day I taught lessons in this class. Actually, it was the first day I have ever taught a formal lesson in any classroom that is non-tennis related. I absolutely loved it!! I am not a very good public speaker and normally get nervous when doing class presentations or speaking in front of a large group, but similar to how I felt when I coached tennis, I think speaking in front of kids and working with them is much easier. I taught both a one-on-one spelling lesson and then a writing/designing lesson, which followed up on Liza's reading lesson. The focus of the lessons today was on sequencing. For my spelling lesson, which followed after my writing/designing lesson, I worked with a student on short /a/ and short /i/ sounds and word families for both short /a/ and /i/. My writing/designing lesson plan was focused on sequencing and on main events of a story. I had the students design their own comic strip, after showing examples and discussing the parts of a comic.

Overall, I think my lessons went well. I know Liza did a great job with her's and the teacher seemed happy with both of ours. Both Liza and I used something to throw at the students when they raised their hands (Liza used a very round pig stuffed animal-so funny, and I used a soft stress ball) and I think that helped to get the class more involved. I had trouble limiting the talking during the comic designing/writing part of the lesson though and at times walking around felt more like a parent than a teacher. I am not sure if there is any other good technique to quiet them besides team points (which I did not use today). I have also collected the comic strips and put them into a book for the class and as I went through them, I noticed that the boy who I work on spelling with wrote a comic about me-About the day he saved me! Definitely made me laugh! I think this was a fun lesson to teach but think it would be better to do at the end of the year, as some kids struggled. I also noticed through this assignment that there are some perfectionists in the class who kept re-doing and erasing, or also some people who got frustrated because they felt they didn't have good drawing skills. I found it a struggle for me to try and help everyone. I felt like I was jumping from student to student and could not spend the needed time with each one. I think that there should be some one-on-one time between the student and teacher at least a few times a week if possible.


Next class I will be teaching another class lesson, but this time a creative reading lesson, and then another one-on-one spelling lesson on long vowels and the CVCe pattern, focusing on learning when to use/when to not use a silent /e/ at the end of the word. I am excited to have another opportunity and to learn more from my next experience.

3rd grade field observation #2

In my 2nd observation this morning I felt like I was more more involved in what was going on in the classroom. I got there about 15 minutes before the teacher and a woman who helps out in the classrooms, after retiring from teaching for 57 years, started giving me some advice. She told me that the two most important things you need to teach are discipline and to be on time. The teacher for my room arrived about 10 minutes before 8 o'clock but kids were already there, and this woman who I was speaking with also suggested that before you leave your classroom each day you should leave instructions for what the students should do the next morning so that if any get there before the teacher they are expected to be seated quietly and working on something productive. I thought this was a great idea. As I waited for the teacher, I also started talking to one of the students who was telling me all about the trends for third grade girls and her favorite shows, which include hands down of Hannah Montana, Drake and Josh, and That's so Raven, which are all Disney TV series. There are quite a few Hannah Montana backpacks in the room too. Once the teacher arrived I handed out a 2-sided reading and reaction handout. One side was a reading about Helen Keller and the other about the sport, Cricket. While the teacher got organized, I made an answer key for the lesson , and then Liza and I walked around and helped kids. The kids seemed much more comfortable with us helping them today and I got a much better sense of their personalities than I did the previous observation.


As students were finishing up their worksheet, it was time for the morning meeting and assembly, so because it was nice weather, we all went outside. At the assembly, which Kenneth's dad ran today, Dr. Roper, a WW2 Vet, spoke about why we put the flag at half mast and about the recent military trajedy. We did the pledge of allegiance, and sang, "My Country 'tis of Thee," and they recited their school moral code. We then listened to the Kindergarten class (who were adorable!) talk about caring attitudes. They also discussed 2 specific students who had written essays and won awards for them. After the assembly we headed back to the classroom.


The next activity was DOL, and Liza and I circulated the room, helping kids write about when they say "Thank you" and how often they say it. Then the teacher reviewed prefixes and suffixes with the class. She then did a short activity, looking at the roots of words, their prefixes and suffixes, and what they mean. The next activity, Liza and I helped the students trace their hands on two pieces of paper. Some kids were able to trace their left but tracing their right with their left hand was a challenge. On the palm of one hand they wrote, im- ,and on the other they wrote, "-ful". The teahcer handed out dictionaries and they were to look up words with -im as a prefix and put one word on each finger they traced and on the other 5 words with the suffix -ful, with one word per finger. They then were to write sentences using these word. The teacher let them us dictionaries for this, but I felt like many of the kids did not understand the word they were writing.


I think in this observation the kids really opened up more to us and were a lot less shy. It is nice to see kids who are eager to learn and seemed to appreciate our help and kids were even giving us hugs. I also noticed things that were not working in the classroom and I think I may have an idea as to what might work better for the teacher, which I hope to try in the next 2 weeks when I teach some lessons. I think there needs to be more visual and creative learning, more use of gross motor skills and moving around, and less worksheets and assigned readings. I think enforcing behavior as a game and making it competitive between desk cluster groups would help to ensure better focus and less talking to. I am really enjoying my time in this classroom and look forward to getting an opportunity to teach in the next two weeks.

Day 1-Observing Mrs. Brown's Third Grad Class

For the first time this morning, I got the chance to oberserve a third grade classroom at Charleston Development Academy Public Charter. This is a much smaller elementary school than I am used to, with only one class per grade, ranging from k-6 (I think). I was very impressed with how formal the school is and their expectations of the students in regards to manners, and how they treat one another. Everyone said hello, and greeted eachother in the morning, which did not mean mumbling good morning while looking at the ground, but instead looking someone directly in the eyes and saying hello in an upbeat manner. All of the children also said excuse me and thank you. I was shown to my room by a 5th grade girl, who was very polite and walked me right to my classroom. I noticed that on the walls of the room there were posters hanging with class rules and expected bahavior as well as posters that focused on positive statements and attitudes in learning.


Mrs. Brown was working on a weekly newsletter when I arrived that she sends home to parents to update them on what they are learning and the assignments they have planned for the week. I think that is a great idea, and very helpful to get the parents involved or informed so that they can ideally help the child with homework if they need it or further develope those skills at home. After Liza and I spoke with the teacher regarding our lesson planning and what the class was working on, the entire school crowded into our one classroom for a monthly meeting. They first said the pledge of allegiance and sang,"My Country 'Tis of Thee". They they said a memorized speech that was a pledge that they repeated based on the school expectations and standards they strive to meet.


After the meeting was over the students took the math section of a bench test, which is a test that is given to them every 9 weeks, across all grades, that helps to assess their progress. The kids were given the choice of taking either math or reading, and overwhelming the majority voted for math. After the children seperated their desks, which were arranged into groups of 4-5 students, they took the math section of the test. When they were finished they read silently until the rest of the class was done. A popular book I saw being read was, "Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs", which happens to be one of my personal favorites. After everyone was done, the teacher reviewed the idea of contractiuons with the kids using the website "BrainPop" and took a practice test as a class through an interactive website program. The kids got most of the answers right, which was expected since it was review from something they learned the previous year. Then the teacher introduced the idea of possessive nouns and the different between possessive nouns and contractions, and how they can be commonly confused. They also discussed their more recent topic which is punctuation and worked on generating questions in their work books. Mrs. Borwn had them list words that you can start a sentence with when asking a question, like: what, where, when, why, how, who, is, are, etc., before they started the activity. As they worked, the teacher, the 2 assistant teachers, Liza, and I, walked around and helped the kids if they needed help or checked over their work with them if they were finished. Those who were done early read. Next was silent reading, while Liza and I gave our spelling assesments. After assesments, the class started to read a story together that was focused on sequence (a current theme they are looking at). Before they read the story in their reader, they looked through the pictures and discussed what they thought the story might be about. The theme of this story was moving to a new home. The teacher also asked the children to share memories of moving and how it made them feel and why. Many kids shared with the class.


I also watched the bahavior of the children and noticed that like it is often suggested, in this classroom, most of the boys seemed to be bussier and needed to move around more than the girls. I watched one one read a book standing up out of his seat, leaning onto his desk during silent reading. I also noticed some trends in the class. For girls, trends seemed to be: Hannah Montana backpacks, pink clothing (bright and light pink), pink fatigue print and peace signs, sparkly things, hearts, and stars, and pink and white nike shoes. The boys were very into "Air Jordan" and wore basketball shoes. They also had either black backpacks or backpacks with things with tansformers on them. The boys also had jackets that were inspired by military bomber leather jackets, motorcylce jackets, or letterman jackets. I also saw a lot of "tamed/younger down punk-rock" trend in their accessories that is inspired by older teens trends. I have decided to note this because of our pop culture project in lang and lit. It was more difficult to judge this in this school thoufgh becuase the students wear uniforms, so unless they were wearing a swearshirt or accessory, it was hard to tell a lot about each student. I think that uniforms are a great idea. I know some people don't, but I think it levels the playing field to some degree, when it comes to socioeconomic backgrounds of students and helps to prevent people from judging others on a superficial level. After working in the fashion world, trust me when I say, this is a GREAT aspect important values that is great to promote in a classroom community.

Birth Order

For my Human Growth and Development class I have chosen to do my final research project on the significance that a child's birth order in a family may play in the role of shaping his/her academic success/IQ, and personality/behavior. What I have found thus far, I have found to be very interesting. I won't share all of the info I have collected and the specific characteristics which professionals have found for each scenario (i.e. the older brother of one sister, and the older sister of three brothers) because there are too many, but I thought some of the general info might be interesting and ties into some things we have talked about in EDEE-510 as well as other courses.

We have learned that parents play a huge role in shaping a child on a multidimensional level, in areas like developmental learning, social skills, and physical development. Before starting my research, I didn't realize the major impact siblings play in shaping each other and who they become. Studies on birth order have been done in correspondence to many fields, such as medicine, sociology, psychology, education, anthropology, history, economics, and biology. This subject of interest has also been around for quite a long time. Some things that I think are important from this research to realize are that research has not proven that birth order, effects a child's IQ, however, it has shown that birth order is a significant factor in determining the achievement of a child. What researchers have discovered is that the first born tend to be more successful academically, get higher grades in school, and on average are more successful in their careers later in life, which has been determined based on their annual salaries and net worth. At the same time they have proven that siblings from the same family generally have similar, if not the same IQ's as one another. The reason then for the higher achievement of the first-borns? Research has suggested there to be a number of causes that may lend themselves to possible explanations: first-borns are put under more pressure by parents to succeed; first-borns are more driven and accept the same values as their parents as they spent the most time with their parents early on, and also the most attention; first-borns are both more often conservative and conformists when compared to later born; first-borns feel the need to prove themselves and "regain" the focus and affection of their parents that the later born has taken away from them; firstborns tend to be more motivated and are used to the role of leadership and as a responsible role model for the later born; and finally the first born has on average a slightly more developed vocabulary due the fact they spent more one on one time with their parents at an early age, and were exposed to only their parents speech shaping, whereas the later born, had to share time with parents and were also exposed to the firstborn's vocabulary patterns part of the time.

On the other hand, one way the later born have proven to benefit from their birth order, is both socially and athletically. The later born have spent more time around a larger peer group, such as siblings (especially if from a large family). They are more empathetic and socially concerned with the world around them. They tend to be more creative as well, and more connected emotionally. You may think that an older child is more emotionally "connected" because they are much more verbal and temperamental (on avg.), but the younger child is more interested in learning to communicate, interact, and work with others. This may be one reason they tend to succeed more athletically, which is to say they are better equipped to be a team player and enjoy sports more. Also research has suggested that because they tend to not be able to compete with the first born or older siblings verbally and intellectually (especially early on because the gaps between developmental stages are much bigger) and so they try and "out-do" their older sibling physically.

Family size, age spacing, and gender of the child in relation to the gender(s) of the other sibling(s) also play an important role in the equation. One thing that research has long proven is that the larger the family, and therefore, as one more child is added and then another, that as "we" move down the "pecking order" the child exhibits the common characteristics of a young(est/er) child, and as "we" move up the "pecking order" the oldest child tends hold more of the traits of the firstborn. In regards to the spacing within siblings, meaning the age gaps between the birth of one child to the next, the smaller the gap, the more intense the competition and rivalry is, especially for the parents' affection.

I would have never thought to consider this as an important factor as a teacher, but I now know that for certain kids' and families’ birth order does play an important role in a child's development, and how they see themselves in relations to others. It effects their motivation, self esteem, learning style, behavior, and personality. All of these characteristics of a child take on significance in a classroom, and are a huge part of the child's identity. I therefore believe it is important for the teacher to understand the home life of each child, beyond just the parents, in order to understand the student better, and help them to achieve, capitalizing on their strengths and weaknesses, to the best of their ability. It may also help solve classroom problems between children or understand why certain situations may arise. Common strengths and weaknesses as result of birth order are also discussed in much of my research, going into more depth, order and gender scenarios, and other circumstances. What I have learned, may not always be true, but it has fit what I know to be true from my own life experience and the family dynamics of others who are close to me. It has been VERY accurate and therefore the reasearch may be a possible tool for teachers and parents alike.

My Third Grade Experience

I decided to write some about my own personal experience of being in third grade, since this past Monday we were unable to do our fieldwork because of a teacher development day. I figure it might be helpful to try and remember activities that I enjoyed that I could alter or incorporate pieces of into my lesson plans...

I went to pre-school in West Granby CT, and then my family moved to Orinda, CA (northern) right before I started kindergarten. I went to school there from Kindergarten through high school. I was very lucky because it had a great public school system, but at the same time, very aggressive and demanding parents, so I am sure it is a difficult district in which to teach. I went to elementary school at Glorietta Elementary School, which was one of three elementary schools in our town. I have very fond memories of both my pre-school and elementary school experience, especially specifically the third grade.

For me, third grade was when everything I had learned and was learning, started to "click." A huge part of this was because of my teacher, Mrs. Lowery. She was very personable and very creative in her methods of teaching. Art has always been something I love and I consider myself a very visual learner and therefore her style of teaching really worked with me and I was able to relate to her. However, she was an amazing teacher because she somehow found a way to connect with every student. I honestly do not know one student who didn't like her. She challenged us, was kind, we did interesting and fun projects, and most importantly we learned a ton!

Some of my favorite projects in the third grade where the crayfish study we did, where we observed crayfish and make observations of their habitat, their physical changes, and their behavior/interaction with others. We did this by drawing and writing about them. In math I believe we did long division and multiplication and I can literally remember and picture the day and where I was sitting on the carpet, when the light bulb went on for me in math. From that point on, I felt like math was strength. It's strange how one day you can be learning but not entirely confident with yourself about yourself in a subject matter, and then the next be very comfortable and start to enjoy a subject. I think that was another great thing about this teacher, in that she made the things we did really fun, and made us enjoy learning and everyone was more motivated and wanted to learn. We were much more self-motivated.

Strangely, I can also remember every book that Mrs. Lowery read out loud to us and to this day many of them remain my favorites. Some of the books included: “Witches”, “Matilda”, and the “Wolves of Willaby Chase”. Mrs. Lowery would read to us out loud every day for about a half hour to 45 minutes, while we all sat on the carpet. She was a great story-teller because really spoke with enthusiasm, energy, enunciated, and even incorporated character voices. In third grade I struggled with reading and it was my third grade teacher who took action with about 3 or four of us who had been with a brand new teacher in the first grade and the school believed we had not been prepared, or sufficiently taught what we needed for a strong foundation. She was so nice to me and really careful with how she handled the situation. She made it very private and made sure not to embarrass any of us. We all improved because of a special tutoring session we did after school. I think I went from a 2nd grade reading level to a 4th/5th grade reading level by the time I was done. It is amazing how simple skills you learn in reading can make a huge impact on the overall level. For example simple decoding skills, and reading comprehension. And all of these can affect the students self confidence in reading, and in learning in general.

I think the teacher's role is most important in enjoying one grade from the next and in shaping your future success as a student, especially early on. I can remember more about my favorite teachers in elementary school (Kindergarten: Mrs. Burch, Third Grade: Mrs. Lowery, and 5th grade: Mr. Roberts) than any of the actual projects we did, and why I specifically liked those grades so much. To me this infers that the teacher and the things they do to "hook a child" onto learning, and to get them engaged in what they are learning is by far the most important aspect of learning.

We also did many art projects that were related to the things we did in other subjects, which was a nice way to tie art in. Every Friday afternoon she took us outside, with a separate PE time (other than the one we had twice a week with the specified PE teacher. We also had a music teacher we went to twice a week, a drama teacher once a week, and art was taught by the main teacher.) It was fun for us to get to do something outside the classroom with our teacher that involved gross motor skills and moving around, especially on a Friday afternoon. We played games like capture the flag, dodge ball, kickball, etc. I remember that Mr. Lowery would even get involved when we played games like dodge ball.

 

And besides the fact that I am aware that I have gotten too carried away with this post, I am also aware that plenty of things have changed since I was in third grade, not to mention the fact that I went to school across the country in the west and up north. I look forward to seeing what things may be similar and what things are different through my field work. I think the teacher's role is most important in enjoying one grade from the next and in shaping your future success as a student, especially early on. It's quite apparent to me as to why I chose early childhood education, and one of those reasons in because it was my personal favorite time that I spent in school, where with the right teacher a child will come to class every day looking forward to learning and being part of the classroom community. In fact, the two grades I think I might want to teach (as of this point, with the little experience I have) happen to be kindergarten and third grade, two grades in which I had amazing teachers. I can remember more about my favorite teachers in elementary school (Kindergarten: Mrs. Burch, Third Grade: Mrs. Lowery, and 5th grade: Mr. Roberts) than any of the actual projects we did, and why I specifically liked those grades so much. To me this infers that the teacher and the things they do to "hook a child" onto learning, and to get them engaged in what they are learning is by far the most important aspect of learning. And the word, "hook" may not be appropriate, but I feel like once a child is excited about the idea of learning and has realized what they can accomplish, that child has got a pretty good foundation set, and is much more likely to have a positive learning attitude toward learning throughout the remainder of their education.

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Reflections on ECDC's 4's and Kindergarteners

When I arrived the 4's and 5's were seperated by age at this time in the morning, whereas sometimes they are combined, which is more often in the afternoon. The kindergarteners were in the multi-purpose room for PE because it was raining and the 4's were finishing playing a game of "Simon says" with the lead teacher on the carpet. The 4's then transistioned into an activity. They were each given the same science booklet called, "Let's Find Out", published by Scholastic. It seemed almost like a very short magazine or journal with pictures and photographs, and this one happened to be all about bats. The teacher told the kids that they would read it independently, then go over it, and do the activity on the back together, and then go to their seats and do it  independently. The students first discussed what they knew about bats, and looking at the word bat and what it rhymes with. I was very impressed when the kids could identify other rhyming words and break the word down to explain which parts of the words makes make them rhyme. This showed me that tehy understand phonemes. Next the teacher went over the proper way to hold the folder booklet in order to read it correctly, helping them with their bookhandling skills. When the teacher told the class that they were going to read it together, my initial thought was that the teacher would be reading to them, but instead, the teacher had each child read about a sentence in each box. Even though the kids could only really read site words or word they have been exposed to a lot and guess at words because of their knowledge of literacy language and concept story, I was very amazed with their level. To me this seems advanced for 4 year olds. One boy recognized the word "fish" and the word "night" whcih he has probably seen in class or in other books. After they went through the reading and most of the activity on the back, the teacher sent them to their tables to do the activity independently by writing words and circling things. I noticed that the kids who did not uderstand parts of theworksheet, where looking of of the other children's papers and copying their answes, but the teacher was aware ofthis, and tried to individually help these students, using scaffolding.


The children then shifted their focus to another topic in science, which was living organisms and more specifically the project they had created to sttudy plants. The students had planteda vegetable garden outside where they had planted vegeatbles. They were learning what essential things a living organism needs to grow and how to take care of plants, as well as good nutrition and healthy eating because this project was getting the children exctied about growing vegetables.Before going outside the teacher reviewed the idea of observing and measuring methods. Each child took a clipboard outside to record the changes and draw a picture of the plants.


When the 5's retunred to the room, and the 4's went to the multi-purpose room, the 5's did some idependent activities and cenetrs based on what they wanted to do. Some took turns playing with the guitar, some played house and dressup with  babydolls, played boardgames, and did art-both making kites out of string and construction paper, and drawing/coloring. There were more behavioral problems with this group, as compared to the 4's. The GA had to continually remind kids about proper manners, saying "please", "thank you", "I'm sorry", and "excuse me". The lead teacher also spoke to all the kids as a group about treating eachother better as friends, and respecting eachothers physical space and not hurting eachothers feelings. I was wondering if kids develope more social and behavioral problems around early elementary school, before they start to mature, or if kids are maturing throughout the learning process, since the time of birth.

Case 7- Question # 3:

             Dalia involves the family in both the initial and final stages of the Library Construction Project. Before starting the class is involved with the project she gathers background information on each child, by explaining the project to the parents and asking what interests the children have in construction. This is a way for her to asses how much each child knows about construction, how much they have been exposed to any construction/have a experience with construction (for example if they have done construction on their house), and how interested each child is likely to be about learning about this topic. It is also important that the teacher acknowledges the parents’ choices and goals for the children, and keeps in contact with the parents, so that “an open dialogue” is created between parents and teacher.

            Dalia wants to create unity in her classroom with background information before she takes her class to visit the construction. She gets feedback from parents and book suggestions that she shares with the class. She also makes the families feel welcome in the classroom and involves the parents, by inviting them to come in and see what the children have learned from the project, which she has documented in various ways-recording, a curriculum web, and through photographs of the process of exploring different aspects of construction. By inviting the 1^st grade class who also did a project on the construction to her classroom as well, parents of Dalia’s students are able to see what children are doing. This may help them to understand how their child should be progressing in the next few years. It also is beneficial for the younger kids to see what the older children have done. By sharing with the parents what the children have done, the parent is able to understand ways to communicate with their child about what they have learned and how to build upon that knowledge.

            As the children’s project comes to a close, Dalia, invited parents to gain feedback from them about the project, and their child. It also gives the parents an opportunity to ask the teacher any questions or concerns they may have. For example, Maggie’s father shares with Dalia that Maggie is now interested in her brother’s trucks, and before this project she had not been. Maggie’s parents also ask Dalia how they can continue to keep her interested on this topic at home. The teacher in return is able to reflect on the individual child’s interests on this topic in the classroom and give some suggestions. Dalia has put together compiled what the children have learned in several ways (picture album, recording, and a picture web) not only to display to show the parents but to help the children to continuously reflect as they progress through the year on what they have learned. If the parents can also continue to help them learn at home and reinforce the ideas, that will be very beneficial. Many studies report that parent involvement is crucial in the early years in a child’s learning and development.

Oberserving the 3's: dealing with a child's frustration...

I had a lot of fun observing the 3's classroom this afternoon at ECDC. It was quite an eventful afternoon in that room, or at least the hour I shared observing it. When I got there it was the end of nap time, so all of the lights were off, but most kids were not on their mats. I watched one girl, whose mat was situated close to the observation room, play with a puzzle that involved both shapes and color to piece together. When nap time was over, the kids packed up their things and put their shoes on. It was then snack time, however today most kids did not want to eat snack, after washing their hands, and moved on to play dough. Most of the kids did what they were instructed and were very cooperative, however, one child had some difficulty.


I have worked in this room numerous times and dealt with one child who has trouble "using her words", and often gets upset after naptime, when it comes time to pack up and put her shoes on, and today, she got very frustrated. It was the same thing that she always gets frustrated with, which is wanting to be independent and put her things away by herself, but also needing help, and her inability to express what she does and does not need help with. I watched how the lead teacher dealt with this, first by repeating "use your words", and then explaining to the child after the tantrum continued, that she had one minute to calm down or she would have to leave the room. When this didn't work she took the child outside into the hallway. Still crying, the teacher returned, and proceeded to take the child outside, under the overhang since it was raining. I thought this was a great idea because sometimes fresh air and a change of scenery can calm people down. The child still continues to cry, and at this point seemed to be crying out of frustration rather than any one specific thing. So, the teacher took the child and told her that she could not behave that way and that she was "done for the day". About ten minutes later the teacher returned with the child, who was now a calm and happy child. She explained to the Teacher's assistant that she had called the mother and told her to pick the child up or to speak with her over the phone. So, the mother got on the phone and told her child to,"count, breath deeply, and blow that anger out." The teacher reported that surprisingly it had worked. I think this shows how important it is that teachers get to know what works with each individual student and a good way to do that is by communicating with parents.


While the lead teacher dealt with calming one of the children down, the teachers assistant supervised them playing with play dough at a table, and also put on Disney music. After the music was turned on, all but 2 students danced and made faces into the mirror (the mirror that we were oserving from behind). Some kids sang along to the recognizable Disney songs. I was amazed with the different faces they made into the mirror (and observation room) and how much they enjoyed watching themselves dance in the mirror. Some kids did their own thing, while other kids imitated others. The kids' energy seemed to build off of one another, and it was quite and entertaining for us who were observing as they often came up face-face with the mirror.

ECDC observations

When observing and working in the 3's classroom, I have noticed that they really emphasis that the children be able to do things independently. They are expected to be able to eat their lunch independently, as well as clean it up and prepare/clean their nap belongings. Kids are tying shoes and putting things away without the help of others. For 3 years old this really impressed me. They are also expected to behave certain ways, and already learning manners, like staying seated while eating and sitting with others until they are done eating, before leaving the table. This too, seemed very advanced for a three year old. Before transitioning from inside to out, as well as to the multi-purpose room, the kids always line up. I have noticed that this way of "self regulation"(?) or self control is being taught in many different ways throughout.


I noticed some things about the classroom environment as well. For example, the classroom does not even have a television (or at least I did not see one)and only during nap time do the children listen to audio tapes to calm down or fall asleep. All of their activities are very interactive with the teacher or other kids. Even book sharing routines with the teacher involve not only the teacher reading aloud to the children, but also asking them literal & inferential questions about the text, and helping them to personally relate to the text. A lot of time is spent outside playing and working on motor skills as well as social skills. With regards to the setup of the classroom, like in a montessori classroom, all the furniture in ECDC is scaled to a much smaller size that is appropriate to the child. Even the dress up clothes are hung at a very low level. Their environment is catered to them.

Amish Education comparison

I have recently done research on technology and it's negative effects on learning for one of my other courses, and decided to look at other cultures in comparison to the US. One such culture that was of interest to me was the Amish due to their relatively primitive lifestyle, absent of most technology. I learned that Amish children on average test higher on standardized testing that their public school counterparts. The reasons for their success are believed to be the following: lack of technological equipment and therefore more of a reliance on human and community cooperation; a focus on community results in the learning of factual knowledge, society values, student interaction, parent involvement, strong student-teacher bond, and strong parent-teacher bond; Amish value of cooperation; students teach eachother, eliminate competition, glorify personal achievement; absence of mockery, shame, and ridicule in the classroom environment among students; partnership between school and parents. I was veruy impressed with their values and the way they teach. I think our culture could really learn from their educational system. From what the Amish practice, I drew some connections/parrallels to some of the schools and principles we have studied, as well as, what I have observed recently in working and observing at ECDC.

I noticed that the Amish use their own children to teach younger kids, help those who are struggling, and to help present and teach the knowledge as an activity. They are very supportive of eachother. In Montessori schools they use a principle by combining multiple ages so that the younger kids can learn from the older kids and the older kids can reinforce what they undertsand by teaching it to the younger kids. I know from my own experience that when you teach something to someone else, you actually learn it better because you have to understand it inside and out, and be able to communicate it in precise detail to another person. Also, the Amish learn from daily life experiences as they do daily chores around the house, on their farms, and as a member of the community. This helps to develope problem solving skills both appliquable to academics and real life experiences. In ECDC, I have watched the kids do many things outside and learn through hands on tasks, problem solving, and experiences that will translate into their daily lives. All kids are expected to feed themselves and clean up at both lunch and snack, pour their own drinks, clean up spills, set up and clean up their things at nap time,  put on their own shoes and clothes, and learn to self regulate in many ways. Sometimes I see scaffolding by the teaching if a student is struggling but kids generally do these things themselves. I have also seen kids trying to help eachother if they are struggling with things such as tying their shoes, or putting together a puzzle.

I also noticed that one way the Amish differ quite a bit from the general American culture is that we are a very competitive culture and tend to put ourselves before others, unfortunately focused a great deal on greed and often when it comes to a person's career and education, the prinicple, "every man for themself". People are driven by competition, as sports are a big part of our culture. People in our culture tend to judge, criticize, and push others down in the attempt to climb to the top. Don't get me wrong, our culture has it's positive aspects and I am not trying to sound pessimistic, but in the sphere of education this tends to be an unfortunate flaw to our value system. Competition to some degree is healthy and a good thing to keep a person motivated and to challenge eachother to do better, but the Amish do things to improve themselves and being the best they can be, rather than focusing on being better than others. I really like the support system they have and think it is very emotionally healthy, building trust, confidence, good values, and happier kids. These are important building blocks for children early on. When I am working at ECDC, I have noticed that already starting in the 3's, kids are very competitve, pushing eachother as they race on the playground, and girls (who are best friends) argueing over about who is going to have a bigger and better birthday party and deciding they won't invite eachother to their's seems ridiculous. However, I know I was at that stage once and did the same thing. I am actually very against the principle of choosing teams in activies like physical education, sports, or classroom activities because it informally ranks kids on popularity or ability, and leaves kids out. Someone always has to be chosen last and is left feeling like they are not as good. I know part of the reason I worked so hard at school and tennis was to compete with my older sister, and I was always trying to out-do my best friend on art projects. In the 5th grade, for example, on my pilgram report, I can remember pulling an all-nighter, so that my illustrations would be better than my friend's, and instead of my motivation being to do my best, it was to do better than someone else. The Amish children also do not have to deal with put downs and mockery at an early age, which makes kids more confident and helps them develope a more positive sense of self. This is very important in education. It effects motivation, confidence skills, which reflect in work, public speaking, attitude in learning, etc. A child who gets made fun of is not going to enjoy learning or school as much. I have seen plenty of kids, both at ECDC and many other places make-fun, name-call, mock, and put down other kids. Part of this is because parents are not spending enough time instilling important values in their children early on. This is a skill kids need to come to pre-school already having started to establish. I think this is prodominately learned through parent's modeling. Many parents may ridicule co-workers, other parents, their friends, etc..

And lastly, the Amish's strong sense and focus of community and community involvement set them apart from the general American culture. Parents are very involved in the schools and it is not considered abnormal for an Amish parent to drop by their child's classroom to see what they are doing on a weekly basis. Parents are involved in the school on a parental and developmental level, serving on boards, and planning comittees. They are much more connected with the teachers (partly because they are viewed as important community members), whereas, in public schools in the US, according to this article, teachers try and keep parents seperate from the school and their educational sphere, so that they can do their job. I think that parents with children in the Charleston area, who are from an upper-middle class society generally work full time high paying jobs, have received good education, and hold high expectations. This is not everyone in this area, but this type of a parent tends to be very busy, over-scheduling themselves and their kids, and therefore cannot be very involved in the schools.


This may seem a little off-fous or random as a comparison to what I have observed but I found this article to be so interesting and a great way to compare our culture with another, in order to determine strengths and weaknesses. It also could serve as a tool for coming up with ideas on how to strengthen certain principles we teach in our schools.

Montessori Schools

  

 A few days before we discussed Montessori schools in class, I happened to speak with my sister, Caren, who teaches at a Montessori school in CT. Both her kids when to Montessori schools and for her son it worked out great, while it wasn't right for her daughter so she switched over in 3rd grade. My sister lived in Milan for a while, and they put her son, when he was 2 1/2 yrs old into a Montessori school. I can remember how smart he was at 3 years old and his vocabulary was much more advanced, however, I think this was due to his exposure to 3 languages. She told me about how they prefer a high student to teacher ratio, which seems weird to me. She also explained, as we discussed in class, that it is based on doing hands on activities and the senses. The "grade levels" are composed of three ages of children and therefore the older kids are expected to teach the younger kids and help them and a lot of the learning is done through interaction. Caren explained that there are no tests or grades, and that the child will learn at a rate that is right for them. She explained to me that the school is not about competing and judging, so grades do not work. Tests and grades can cause anxiety and feel of failure, when learning needs to be viewed in a positive way, and if students are worried about failing or grades then their focus is on those things rather than on learning. All of the activities are very interactive and visual. Kids learn from interaction with one another and from themselves, and they learn how to assess themselves in some way. I think this is a great way to work with students who are disciplined and self motivated, however, for those who may have a learning disability in something like reading, it might be very difficult. One question I still have is how do Montessori schools handle students with disabilities? It seems without formal testing it might be hard. I really hope I get the opportunity to observe a Montessori classroom either this semester or next. I am also very curious about Emilia Reggio schools, with seem to be similar in some ways. With my background in art and design I think it might be something I am very interested in.

Case Study 17; #5: Brent and Cory Need Extra Help (3-5 yrs)

A. Mean Talk          
 

I think that they decided to move Cory rather than Brent was because it was Brent who was causing more of the problems than was Cory. I believe that because the teacher had already observed the behavior and assessed the situation, in order to find the best solution, that by moving the child that was more of instigator would not be the best choice and on his behalf because the new teacher would struggle with him more. It takes time for a child to adjust to a new situation and new kids, as well as for a teacher to learn about each child. Because some children act out for attention, which may be the case since Mrs. Johnson, the boys’ mother seems to busy to give any time to the teacher and school to address this problem. She seems like her children are not a priority to her and therefore this could be the cause of the boys’ behavior. If this is for attention, by moving Brent, who is the twin who behaves the worst between the two, it will only be making him the focus and rewarding him with attention. Also having twins in the same classroom may be difficult in addressing their individual needs, whereas by separating them there can be more of a focus on them separately from one another.

B.  Separate Classrooms

I do not think that it was a good decision to move Brent out of Cassandra’s classroom because I feel that she was very in tune with what the twins needed and was giving them individual attention and assessments. She also had a plan to try and work with the boys and had a method planned out to do so. She was tolerant of them, and willing to stand up to them and more successful than the other teacher at dealing with him. She showed more patience. By moving him to a new school, the boys will have to readjust, meet new kids, new teachers, etc. and start from scratch. I do not feel that moving him to another school was a good decision.

Miles ECDC activities & Miles ECDC v. Head Start

Today, I worked again at Miles ECDC, however, I worked the morning from 8-2, rather than in the afternoon until close. I really liked working the in the morning because the activities are a little bit more focused toward the skills they need to be developing in order to move up next year. I helped in both the 3's and 4's/5's today. When I was in the three's I noticed the teacher using a lot of songs, which she used to work on rhyming words and syllables of words as well. The kids loved the songs and requested to sing them. One of them required them to be standing and to start jumping up and down, when their names were called. Today, they also did a lot of circle meetings, where in the 3's , as well as the 4's/5's met to discuss lessons and go over things they saw, whether it be a in a book or outside, describing what they saw.  When I was outside during play with the 3's and other age groups, the 3's teacher called students in groups of two's to make hand prints, using their favorite color(s), I loved the ones that were done with one color on each hand and then before putting their hands down on the paper they rubbed them together, and it made a marble effect. I was amazed when speaking with one of the three year ols that she understood that the moon is out during the day and proceeded to explain why this is to me. Another child (also three) started telling me about astronauts and out space and rockets. I am amazed in what these kids know and age three and what their potential actual is verses what people assume it is. Also while I was outside with the kids, I met a little boy who was in the 2's who speaks Chinese, but no English. I tried talking to him, before another one of the teachers told me this. Still, when we were in the sandbox, and he was digging with a blue shovel. I pointed to the shovel and said "blue", he looked at me and said "b-eu", and then back and forth, I would say "blue" and he would try and say it, until he said "blue' and pointed to the shovel. Then I pointed to his shirt (w/ blue stripes) and he said "blue". We did the same thing with a rock in the sandbox, getting him to say "rock". This was the first time I have ever gotten to experience anything like this. It was so neat seeing someone learn a word for the first time and to watch them develope the sounds needed to say it. I was defnitely more excited than he was. It was interesting too because although he didn't understand words, he understood fully when I waved at him, and when I put out my hand for a high five. I know we discussed that body language is one of the first methods of communication, which was evident here, plus high-fives" and waving are pretty much universally known.

After observing the classes at Head Start, and then working the following morning at ECDC on campus, I was able to comapre the two groups and where they were developmentally in a general way. It is amazing how important interaction is at home and with parents as well as being exposed to rich interesting settings and many different experiences. The 4's/5's of head start, were learning what a number looks like and trying to learn how to simply identify their name, while C of C's ECDC students of the same age, could all spell their names, some could do math, some are learning to read, and all were very campable of communicating with one another. In the head start many students were not speaking, but instead pointng and makes noises. I am somewhat upset that parents can take such little interst in their kids, and how unfair it is to a child, who has no control over their situation. Because of their family life and economic stability, a student can really suffer, not getting the bbasic skills they need. Even the attitudes were so different between the two centers. The kids @ the head start were quiet, not very interactive with one another, and not very enthused about being there, while the kids at Miles ECDC are more mteractive, and constantly busy. I see them get much more excited about things and really want to learn and interact with others. They also share much about their family life with me, and show that it is something that is very important to them. They have a strong family bond.

Head Start Programs in North Charleston

Today I had the opportunity to observe and sit in on two classrooms at the Head Start program in North Charleston, SC. The first classroom I visited was a 4's/5's room, as part of the regular head start program, and the 2nd class (which were actually two rooms) I observed was an infant/toddler room, which is part of a specialized head start program.


http://www.nhsa.org/
http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/ohs/
http://eclkc.ohs.acf.hhs.gov/hslc


The 4's/5's room, had all eleven (8 boys and 3 girls) of its children seated when I arrived. All of the students were african american, and live below or near the poverty level. The teacher, whom they called ,"Ms. Mary," asked each child what they did/played with while they were outside this morning in order to work on their speech and verbal skills. When the child answered her question correctly, they were told they could line up by the door and once eavery child had answered the question they were allowed to walk quietly as a class and take turns at getting water at the water fountain in the hallway. This would require the children to pracice: self restraint, cooperating with others, organizational skills, communication, and patience. I was very impressed with how quiet they remained and that they all kept in line as the walked down the hallway. After all students got water and used the bathroom, Ms. Mary asked student to find specific numbers throughout the room. Surprisingly this task was a struggle for some of the kids, and some could not find the numbers even well they were displayed in numerous places around the room that were made very clear to see. It is unusual for kids that age to struggle with a simple task like numbers, however, Ms. Mary explained to me that these kids, due to their home environment, and lack of opportunity, are very far behind where they need to be and a "slow group of learners" and she told me. Next, they transitioned on, into the next part of their day, which were play stations, in some ways similar to what we have in ECDC. In order for the kids to have the opportunioty to play at one of the seven "learning" sations they had to be able to identify, as well as, say their name. The teacher called them up one at a time to point out their name on a chart. Two of the girls did this very quickly and so were asked to find a classmate's name as well. I was impressed to see that those two girls could also do that successfully. The kids who could not find their name on the chart, were asked to look on the back of their chair as a reference to what their names look like when they are written out with letters (On the back of each chair their names were written out, almost like a name tag), Once they did this on a chart in the front of the room, they were allowed to choose just one station, limiting the number of students per station to about 2-3. The seven stations they had were:

1.art

2.blacks/toys

3.kitch food/play

4. interactive computer

5. writing

6. music

7. sound -instruments and singing

The teacher uised many games and songs to ask certain questions, like the "I spy" game and sang a song about cleaning up. Throughout observing I noticed that the students are very behind in speaking and communicating through words, Instead they are pointing, using other forms of body language, and making sounds, but no words. The teacher kept telling the kids they need to "use their words" and told them they were not allowed to point. At ECDC, when I was working in the 3's the teacher would use that exact same expression when kids became unmanageable but were not expressing themselves clearly to others, with their words. She explained to me that the reason for this is that the home environment, and relationship dynamics at home for these kids is not a good learning environment for them. According to the teacher, parents are not speaking with their kids but instead yelling or firmly telling them what to do, and don't let them go outside to play because of safety issues. This means that they may not only be behind in literacy development, but also in math, science, motor skills, and in their social skills. In this room there was a one lead teacher and an assistant teacher, and another teacher who helps out from time to time. Both the teacher and the teacher's assistant shared with me their likes and dislikes of teaching, and fortunately they agreed that there were far more positives than negatives. Ms. Mary said that Parents are the most difficult aspect in teaching, and knowing how to deal with them, especially ones who can tend to be overbearing. The way they deal, is by reminding themselves that everything they do is for the child and not the parent. She also said that she loved this job because it makes her feel young, and it is such a creative job. Ms. Mary explained that for her, she feels like time almost stands still and almost feels like a kid herself sometimes. She also explained to me how teaching becomes such a huge part of your life, and now whenever she goes shopping, she ends up buying things for her class, regardless of whether she needs to or not. Her class is always on her mind and she is always thinking of new ideas and fun things to do with them.


The second class/classes I visited was a toddler/infant class, also part of the Head Start program, but this head start program is a new kind of a program. I believe it is called Early childhood head start but I am not entirely sure. It is funded by the government to pay for many different things for these toddlers and babies, like food, diapers and wipes, doctors, dentists, counselors, specialists in learning disabilities if necessary, etc.  They also pay for field trips and any materials they need. It was nap time in  both of these areas when I arrived and the infants were in a deep sleep (almost the enitre time I was in that rotation). The toddlers, however, were up and about playing swords that they had created from empty paper towl rolls, and running around, requesting attention, to be played with, and to be read a story. So although it was nap time only 1 of the 3 kids in the toddler room were asleep. When I first walked in I was greeted with a hug from one of the little boys in the toddler room. Apparently more than just one of us, CofC girls got the "special treatment" (he has already got it down). As we sat with the kids and they played with their swords, and a soccer ball, one of the teachers started to explain to me all the things they do for a child and his/her parents. They provide snack, lunch, diapers, wipes, formula,books, make 2 home visits a month, etc. for the kids and also help motivate the young parents to go back to school to get their GED or associates degree. They actually have an adult GED course at this head start location, where they can take classes in order to get their degree. They have 8 openings per room, and therefore a long waiting list to get accepted into the program. The way they decide who does and does not get accepted s done in relation to who has the most points. One of the openings in the infant room is given to an expecting mother, who gets all of her medical expenses covered by head start. They also make sure she is eating enough, staying active, etc. up until the baby is born, soon where after the baby will start the program. When speaking with one of the teachers in the infant room, she told me that the problem with this program is there are certain rules that need to be changed. For example, a parent may keep her child in the program until she earns her GED, and then the children are not allowed to attend. I think this is horrible because it means she cannot use her education to go to work, because she has to take care of kids. Plus the cost of buying more food, diapers, and other things can certainly add upI In the infant classroom there were two teachers, and three babies. All of the cribs have mirrors in order to help the child development their sense of "self" which happens early on. In both rooms they follow a teaching method that is established based around the principles of catering the lesson plan individually to each child depending on his/her personal interests.


In the toddlers and infant rooms really have great respect fo the staff at that facility. They showed great patience and seemed to genuinely care about those kids. They even base all of the activies they do in class on the intersts of each individual child. They all conveyed to me that they love their job and although it can be a lot of work, they really find it rewarding. They try and involve parents as much as possible because it is important to encourage learning at the home. 

Anyways, after one of the teachers explained their entire program, during napping, I have become so impressed and excited about this program. I really think more states need to develope practices like this. I would love to be part of a program that really does make a huge impact on kids' lives and their families. In this case in is the families who are in dire need, which is even nicer to see things change for them. I spoke with the toddler teacher about volunteering there when I am not in class or working at ECDC, so like over holidays if I stay in the area. I think this exposure is great for me because the environment where I lived for most of my life was not very diverse, even though surrounding areas were. Also it is a different socio-econmic class and therefore the parents' child rearing methods may be very different to what I am accustomed. I also had read an article in regard to teaching Ebonics as a form of speech depending on where you live, and that in some urban settings it plays a major role in everyday speech. Does this mean a teacher in an urban setting should be studying Ebonics too since many of the kids may be communication that way? I think it is important for teacher who are planning to teach in an urban setting to understand the basics of Ebonics in order to help make the child's speech more formal and tie it into what the kids hear in their everyday lives.