The approach I took here was to observe children as they progressed through a particular school system. Looking for some correlation or trends and some educational building as it relates to transitioning from grade to grade. In this observation I observed a teacher I already had contact with. She taught my daughter in first grade, and then later on she left teaching for administration position and has returned this year as a kindergarten teacher. I think this speaks about her passion for being in the classroom. She voluntarily left a higher paying taking the first position available which was not her specialty. Overall I was impressed with her teaching style and her methods of communicating with her students.

The first thing I observed was the room layout. I believe the room layout plays a very important role in early childhood education. Some rooms can be distracting with too much information or too vacant and not aiding in the education process. What I saw here was not what I expected to see but I think it is efficient. There were no desks other than the teachers. The children sat at tables laid out in a single tiered “U” shape facing the front chalk board as you might see in a college setting, but not a flattened “U”. It was a true “U”. I like this arrangement because it focuses the student’s attention on the center of the room. Another advantage is that no one is distracted by the person sitting in front of them which is especially important with this age group because they have shorter attention spans. It is also nice because no one can hide. When the teacher faces them she can see all the smiling faces without obstruction. Behind the tables was a carpeted area used for reading and play. To the right of the carpeted area was a storage section which I think takes up too much space in a room that was already too small and seemed to be a bit of a distraction though it is not viewable while seated at the table. To the left of the carpet is a sink, above which is the “Word Wall”. I though the word wall is an excellent teaching tool and discuss it more in detail later. Next to the “Word Wall” are coat racks, on the side of which are sheets of felt. On the felt is each child’s name along with the names of the learning centers the teacher has placed throughout the room. Finally her desk is located along the back wall along with her daily schedule and some chronological information.

Today my session began with the story time. A very Worried Wally Walrus was the book of the day. The teacher carefully read the as most of the children listened as I’d expect so I won’t bore you with their listening abilities. I will, however talk about some of the more disruptive children, particularly the interaction between the teacher and those deviants. First was a pair of boys whom I would say were the best of friends as they just could not ignore each other and focus on the story. First thing I noticed was that they sat in the very back of this twenty-two person group. This fact alone doesn’t bode well for the boys. I noticed them first because they were eight to ten children away from the main attraction. I wondered if they could focus on the reader with that much living, moving matter between them and the story. Sure they could hear and see the teacher, but I thought there was too much stimuli between them. Not that this a rowdy class, but it very hard for kindergarteners to just sit still. I was right. They started whispering and poking each other. The teacher said nothing but I could tell she saw them. They got a little bit louder then she reacted. She spoke with a calm tone yet elevated enough to separate it from the story. “Boys”, she said, “you two are to far away from us. Why don’t you guys get closer to the group”? She picked two closer, empty spots that conveniently separated the two. I don’t think I would have taken that approach in that situation, but the boys willingly moved. I didn’t see any anger or back lash to her request. I think I would have asked them to be quite first, which probably wouldn’t have worked so I would have asked again before separating them. In her approach she made it seem as though they weren’t being punished for their, but being moved for their own benefit and each spot she chose could only accommodate on child so it wasn’t even possible for them to sit together. It worked great. The next deviant was a young lady who needed to tell the teacher that someone kicked her in the back. She yells out “She keeps kicking me”. From what I could see it was an accident, but the girl was very animate. The teacher moved the kickee from the carpeted area to the tables where she pouted for a bit then settled down. Sounds extreme, no discussion, she just told the child to move. In this case I agree with the teacher’s action and would have done the same thing, in this case only. I know this child well and I think she was having an emotional breakdown. Knowing the child and knowing her family history I think the best decision was to remove the child from that situation, get her some space so that she can reset her emotions. It seemed to work. The child popped her pacifier (her right thumb) into her mouth and calmed down. In my amateur opinion I believe this is a child is a product of uninvolved parenting. She has extreme mood swings, has almost no control of her emotions and cannot deal with frustration at all. Even the simplest thing will make her fall to pieces like not being first in line or someone accidentally kicking you in a crowded setting. I believe the teacher knows this as well as I do which I’m sure guided her decision to remove the child from the situation.

The next thing of interest I observed was the “Word Wall”. On this wall are all the words the children have learned and the names of each child. The words were grouped alphabetically. Just looking at the wall I thought it was cool. It showed all the words they should know. However, seeing it in action I was very impressed. All the children would face the wall then the teacher and the teacher chose a child seemingly at random. Then she would give three or four clues describing the word. She would use things like how many letters, what letter it start with, what does it rhyme with, and if we remove a letter it becomes…. Then the child would search for and point to the word on the wall of a hundred or so words. Once they found it the class would check it out by reviewing the clues. What I like about this activity is that it gets the children actively involved, it’s fun, and it is different from the normal word review routine. It gets the children to really think about the word and how it is constructed. It gets them to look at how they are similar to other words. They have to be able to pick the words apart which will help them learn new similar words with greater ease.