Observing the Classroom

An early childhood educator needs to be a caretaker, an encourager, a motivator, a facilitator, an authoritarian, a role model, and everything in between.  Many early childhood theorists agree that the teacher needs to help guide children in learning their skills and promoting the use of the skills.  Maria Montessori looked at the teacher as an adult available to provide tools and experiences to help the child learn, while including their own interests and needs (Morrison, 2007).  Reggio Emilia looked for teachers to collaborate with other professionals while creating environments with rich possibilities while keeping records on the progress of students skills and helping them to revisit those skills to help make them more concrete (Morrison, 2007).  The Waldorf theory expects teacher to be role models providing small classrooms rich in themes handling topics about caring for the community or the natural and living world (Morrison, 2007).  John Dewey looked to teachers to be role models for proper behavior and someone children can learn from about behavior in society and what is appropriate and not, and where and when certain behaviors are acceptable (Platz & Arellano, 2011).    

                While observing in a Great Start Readiness Program this week for four year old children at risk, I was able to watch the role the teacher played in that classroom.  This classroom has 18 students, one teacher and one para-professional, and the students attend school all day, four days a week.  This teacher was a great facilitator of information for her students.  She helped the students to try and find answers to questions they had on their own by directing them in the right direction, but still allowing the student to discover the answer.  All the children knew their place in the classroom and knew what was expected of them while in the different parts of the classroom.  This teacher did a very good job of teaching these young children the rules, and the expectations at the beginning of the year because she did not have to remind many students of those rules or expectations throughout the day.  As an effective early childhood educator Mrs. Landschoot was very good at introducing activities to students without making them do something they did not want to.  Being a good guide for students, as Reggio Emilia and Vygotsky would support as an effective and positive educator (Mercilliott Hewett, 2001)is something that seemed to come easily to Mrs. Landschoot. 

                Mrs. Landschoot had a student leader who was in charge of filling in the calendar and pointing to the numbers on the calendar as the rest of the students counted, and dressing the weather bear with appropriate clothes for the kind of weather of the day.  The student leader also picked a song for the entire class to dance to.  By allowing the students to take the place of leader or teacher in the classroom students are more engaged and active.  The teacher should be a collaborator and co-learner allowing students to take ownership of their learning, making it more valuable helping to create a life-long learner (Mercilliott Hewett, 2001).    

                Mrs. Landschoot was very good at encouraging students to do more on their activities instead of accepting just enough.  Some children wanted to rush through a center or project just to get to the next thing.  Mrs. Landshoot was very good at getting students to finish something completely before moving on to the next activity.  Mrs. Landshoot understands that young children like to mimic the adults in their lives and she is a good role model for the students by showing them how they should be working, sitting, listening, or anything else in the classroom. 

Mrs. Landschoot understands that young children are very attached to what they know and their family is most important to them.  She takes on a role as caregiver and fulfills the job very well.  She knows the more comfortable children are the better they will learn so she does many activities that bring the family topic into the activity or discussion especially by allowing students to share stories about their families and then tell stories after doing something with the family which helps children to feel more connected to their loved ones.   

                The day I visited the class was on day three of a farm theme.  The class had a barn set up in the classroom made of cardboard.  Students’ role played during free choice centers by going in and out of the barn as the farmer and animals.  Some of the students even recreated a story they had heard earlier in the week.  The students had the choice of playing in the barn, reading books, playing with puzzles, playing in the house area, Legos, blocks, felt board (farm scene), play-do, or an art center.  All centers had some kind of farm or animal connection allowing the children to be immersed in the theme of the week fully and experiencing it in multiple ways.  Dewey felt young children need to be active and moving to help increase learning (Platz & Arellano, 2011), and Mrs. Landschoot is very good at keeping students up and moving around with multiple ways to explore a topic or theme.  There was a student that chose not to do a project at one of their centers was not made a big deal, however Mrs. Landschoot and the student decided together an activity that would replace the project. 

Students also had a more project driven time of the day where they would travel from table to table to complete a project that required them to practice a skill.  One of the projects was working on writing letters.  Students created letters using straight and curved wooden pieces with tactile paper in the center.  Students then traced the letter with their fingers feeling a different texture on their fingers to help them get the feeling of the letter form.  The program this class uses for handwriting is called Handwriting without Tears.   At another table students were patterning using farm animals, while at another table students were using the farm animals to measure common items in the classroom like their tables, blocks, chairs, calendar, and each other.  While these centers were more teacher or adult directed, students enjoyed using the animals in multiple ways and many students enjoyed the handwriting and exploring with the different textures of letters they could create.

Many students in this school area are familiar with farming and the equipment found on a farm since many students live on or near a farm.  Students were able to share their knowledge on tractors, and how to take care of certain farm animals with others who are not familiar with the topic.  Maria Montessori would agree with the amount exploration during free choice centers.  Children are encouraged to explore and learn on their own and decide how or what they want to spend more time with which is a key component to Maria Montessori’s theory base (Morrison, 2007).  Along with the self-exploration, Mrs. Landschoot incorporates another main feature of Montessori’s theory by giving many choices for sensory experiences and materials to promote learning (Morrison, 2007).  Students were given the option to play with play-do, draw with crayons, pencils, markers or even paint on paper.  Students were able to explore finding toy animals in a table full of corn instead of sand which helped students to actually see some food found in a farm and possibly used to feed some of the animals. 

Allowing the students the freedom to make choices for themselves helps to develop organizational and conduct skills that contribute to a child’s positive mental health (Brendtro, 1999).  Allowing students to make free choices in their learning at a younger age is the key to helping them make better choices in their future.  Chaos would occur if children are not given free choices at a young age but are introduced to them later in childhood (Brendtro, 1999).  Children must learn what happens when their make their own choice and from those choices decide what was a good idea and what did not work arming them with the knowledge to help in future decisions.  Mrs. Landschoot is very good at directing students to a center and giving them ideas of possible choices or ideas for how to play with things in the classroom, but never making the choice for the child.  Offering choices to students who have a difficult time making a decision helps children way their options and later in life they will have practice to rely on for help in making larger decisions. 

This class and all the activities I witnessed would be great examples of developmentally appropriate classroom for young children.  Many activities being done in this classroom help children to learn skills they will need to succeed in later school years and through their lives.  Many early childhood theories are evident in the activities, actions, and make-up of the classroom.  The only thing I could recommend would be trying to bring more of the real world to the students or the students to the real world.  If some of the students live on a farm, a field trip to the farm to see some of these things first hand would be very valuable to connect their new knowledge to the real world.  Another idea would be to bring in a farmer to talk to the class and maybe bring in small chore items to the classroom so children can see, touch and discuss the items.  If students had real objects from the farm to put their hands on and see the difference between the real object and the toy object children could put more meaning to it.  By introducing more real world items and activities to students, John Dewey’s ideas are integrated more creating more experiences which he believed students learned best with (Platz & Arellano, 2011).

I enjoyed being able to spend a day in this classroom and would love to be a part of a program that allows children to learn with their own choices, but still providing some structure to help the transition to later grades easier than a child that does not have experience or practice in the rules of school.  The number of early childhood theories that I could connect activities with in the classroom was a positive attribute for this teacher because it showed great variance in learning styles allowing the best possible learning environment for all students.  Mrs. Landschoot has a large amount of experience and knowledge about early childhood education.  She shared with me the fact that she has worked with other teachers of young 4’s and kindergarten who do not have the same background and they struggle.  There is a great deal of stress put on an early childhood educator and it is more than just showing up and giving students fun projects to cut, color, and paste together, there is so much more, including knowing why those skills are important and how to reinforce them. 

References

Brendtro, L. K. (1999). Maria Montessori: Teacher of unteachable children. Reclaiming Children and Youth, 201-211.

Mercilliott Hewett, V. (2001). Examining the Reggio Emilia approach to early childhood education. Early Childhood Education Journal, 95-100.

Morrison, G. S. (2007). Early childhood education today. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Pearson Merrill Prentice Hall.

Platz, D., & Arellano, J. (2011). Time tested early childhood theories and practices. Education, 54-63.