My Last Day in Kindergarten

4/21/16

       Today was the last day of my field experience in Kindergarten. I was talking to the CT about how the students might behave after the two of us doing our field experience left. A lot of the students had baggage and really grew attached to us. So they did very well listening to us when we redirected them to stay on task and "make good choices." All of that aside, what really stumped my mind today was a pretty heavy subject.
       They would always hug us, sit by us, and talk to us and we did well explaining to them that in school we had to behave a certain way. However, I was just thinking in my head about the messages we were sending them by saying such things. Essentially, we were telling them that we couldn't have the bond that they want (and kind of need) because we were in school, but ultimately, it was sending the message that school was a place where you only worked. The kindergartners and their baggage consist of: parent(s) being arrested, child of 9 raised by a single mother, father leaving to a different state for work, not seeing their parent(s) until 8 or 9 at night because of their parent(s)' work situation, and so many more baggage to be listed.
       So it stumps to try and stay "professional" by not letting them cling to you and tell you about all the exciting things they like talking about when they so desperately need this attention and person to talk to. Let me make clear that there are certain situations that are intolerable, but there has to be a scenario where these kindergartners do get the attention they need. This will definitely be the most important thing that I take away from my field experience.

Unexpected Behavior

4/14/16

         This morning was going like any other morning, the kids were mostly on task and focused but some were distracted. We finished morning meeting and the CT was giving out class points for those who practiced "self control" by listening and paying attention with disturbing. The CT gives out the points on the Smart board on this neat little website that the kids really enjoy. So the students can see how many points they are at, how much more they needed for a prize, and if they gained a point. Well I have mixed feelings about showing the class their points because the students who didn't receive a point start to act out. Well one of the students with EBD (Emotional and Behavioral Disorder) noticed that he didn't get a point (as he really shouldn't have anyways) so he started acting out. He would write on the Smart board while the CT was teaching, then he grabbed all of Smart board tools and threw them across the room. His behavior escalated even more and the CT eventually just evacuated the entire class into another class while the behavior intervention specialist tried to help the situation.

         What I took from this experience is that it's really important to be mindful of the cause of the students' behaviors. I wasn't sure if the CT had realized that the point system was just increasing behavior problems for some of the students, and this, in my opinion, could have been easily avoided if the points were just kept more covert. However, on the other hand, it did work as a reinforcement for most of the students. One of my teachers once told me that one classroom management might work for most of the class but there's always some that it won't work for. So do you adapt or change your strategy to try and accommodate for those few students or try to make it work?

A Day In Kindergarten Blog 4 (4-21-16)

Today was my last day with my students. I felt so sad that I had to leave my students. We had a lot of fun with the students today. We did a lot of Earth Day projects with them. While my partner and I were busy doing the projects our CT had the students go over to her teacher table and sign large cards with the both of us. I thought it was really touching that she did that for us. When the students were headed to lunch each one of them gave me a hug and I thought it was so sad. I really enjoyed getting to know all of my students and seeing their behaviors change from not only day to day but from hour to hour some days.
When reflecting on this experience I am so glad I was placed in this classroom. I have learned so much on classroom management and behavior issue from a hands on perspective. I really enjoyed my class.

A Day In Kindergarten Blog 3 (4-20-16)

      Today was my morning meeting. My peer that is in the same room as myself decided we would do separate morning meetings. We just thought that since we had a small class it would be more beneficial if we did it that way. For my greeting I had the students do a microwave, which is where the students wave using their pinkie finger. I think the students had a lot of fun with that. Then for our activity we danced to one of their favorite songs called Pop See Koo. I really enjoyed dancing with them during that song. I thought it was a good way to wake up the students on a Wednesday morning. After my activity my CT took over to do the calendar with the students.

A Day In Kindergarten Blog 2 (4-13-16)

    Today the students were awesome! Their behaviors were by far the best compared to the last few days. They were all listening which made the day a lot easier. I did my last read aloud today. I read the book Once Upon a Cloud. I think I finally have a hold of how to get the students really interested in the book that I'm reading. The book is about a girl that is worried about what she should get her mom for her birthday. in the story she has a dream that she visits the stars, sun and the moon. When she wakes she knows exactly what to get her mom. I think the students really related to the book. The author, Claire Keane, is also the illustrator whom works as an artist for Disney. She has worked on films like Frozen and Tangled. I feel that by telling the students that piece of information about the author helped them pay attention to the book more.

A Day In Kindergarten Blog 1 (4-12-16)

          Kindergarten was interesting today. My CT had a line that was two different colors, green and red. when students were behaving they stayed in the green when they weren't their clothes pin would drop to the red meaning they had to fix their behaviors and they could move back to the green. Well today she added a third color to the line, blue. By 9 AM we had two students in that area.
          During read to self one of the students with a disability had an accident and wet his pants. That was my first time having to deal with something like that. It was definitely a learning experience not only having to take care of the situation with the special needs student without their para in the class but also keeping the rest of the class on task with their read to self.
          While trying to get into writing work one of our students was having a behavior issue that got to the point that my CT asked my partner and I to take the students for a walk around the school while my CT took disciplinary actions for the student that was having a behavior.
          At the end of the day I think this day I learned a lot. I learned that even after a teacher has more than 10 years of experience they still do things by ear, especially when it comes to behaviors in the classroom since every year the students are different from the last.

Educational Games on Ipad

During my second week in Field Experience, I got to see and learned about integrating technology to the lesson. Each individual will have an ipad to play few educational games that are related to math, vocabulary, and phonics. I really like the idea using Ipad for students to learn because it is more engaging and especially, they are having fun while learning.