Taylor Manalo C I 295A Observations Week of Oct. 10 Observe teacher/child interactions?

? Objective observations How a teacher responds when a child is upset/sad (interactions between teacher and student) Objective Notes on a specific incident: Rylee (3 years old) is walking around without her shoes on. Miss Sara notices this and tells Rylee that she needs to put her shoes on. Rylee says that she does not want to put her shoes back on. One thing leads to another, and Rylee begins to cry. She cries to Miss Sara that she wants to go see her mom. Miss Sara tells Rylee that she cannot go see her mom, and she tells Rylee, You need to stop crying; I cannot understand what youre saying. Rylee then cries harder and whines that she needs to see her mom. Miss Sara tells Rylee that she can if she stops crying. Rylee eventually stops crying, and Miss Sara takes Rylee to see her mom. When Rylee comes back, she shortly begins crying, again about missing her mom. This time, Miss Sara does not allow Rylee to see her mom anymore. She tells Rylee that it is breakfast time. Rylee needs to stop crying and go to breakfast. Rylee heads to the table with wet eyes and sits across from Miss Beth. Miss Beth tells Rylee that she is so glad Rylee is eating with her friends. Subjective Analysis: Rylee recognizes that her teachers listen to what she says. Rylee takes this to mean that the teachers will give her what she wants. Because Rylee is younger than many of her classmates, and because Bennett Center is very childcentered and recognizes individual needs, the teachers do tend to attend to childrens requests, within reason. When Rylee does not get what she wants, she assumes that further crying and whining will do the trick. Miss Sara recognizes that Rylee is having an off morning, as she is not usually this difficult. She also recognizes that nothing is actually wrong with Rylee, but that she simply just wants to see her mom because she is upset. Miss Sara is firm on requiring Rylee to stop crying, but she takes Rylee to see her mom because she recognizes that Rylee will not move on with her morning unless this is done. Once Rylee returns, Miss Sara does a great job of telling Rylee what needs to happen and how she should act. Miss Beth builds on Rylees positive actions in order to begin moving the morning in a better direction for Rylee. One key thing I learned from this observationFrom this specific incident, I learned that it is important to think about what is best for the child in the long run while addressing someone who is sad or upset. In this instance, and in other instances when the teachers in my classroom are interacting with the students, the teachers do not always give the children what they want just because they are upset. Instead, they urge the children to talk through their feelings and to step out of their comfort zones in order to overcome the incidents at hand. In this specific instance with Rylee and Miss Sara, Miss Sara recognized that even though Rylee would have immediately preferred to see her mom, in the long run, it would help Rylee to prepare for elementary school and for learning independence in general by having

to deal with her sadness and not necessarily see her mom right away. Instead, she urged Rylee to work through her feelings before seeing her mom, and she limited the number of times Rylee could visit her mom. I learned that even though it may be uncomfortable and may not go along with the childs immediate desires, thinking about what is best for the child in the long run is incredibly important when dealing with children who are sad or upset. I can help children work through emotions and deal with struggles without always conceding to their demands. Self-Reflection: Write about a situation where you had a strong negative emotional reaction to something a child (or children) did or said. Document objectively what happened what you said and did, what the child/ren said and did, and then write subjectively about your thoughts and feelings about the situation. At breakfast one morning, Andrew, one of the students in my preschool observation classroom, was licking the syrup off of his plate. He had eaten all of his waffles and was licking what was left off of the surface. Andrew had watched me tell his neighbor Alex to stop licking his plate, yet Andrew kept licking his plate. So, I told Andrew that he needed to stop licking his plate, too. I made eye contact with Andrew and repeated myself multiple times, to the point where he stopped licking his plate. A few moments later, I turned back to Andrew to see him doing the same thing. Once again, I told Andrew to stop licking his plate. Miss Beth came over the breakfast table to see what was going on. I explained to her that I had asked Andrew twice already to stop licking his plate. Andrew kept licking. Miss Beth told him that he needed to listen to Miss Taylor. He kept licking. So, Miss Beth told Andrew that he needed to be finished with breakfast, and Andrew said, No. Miss Beth gave Andrew the option to clean up himself or to have Miss Beth help him clean up. Andrew took his plate to the dish area after dumping the rest of his milk into the dump bucket. Subjective Notes: I had an incredibly negative internal reaction to Andrews behavior for many reasons. To begin with, it seemed as though Andrew had heard me ask his friend to stop licking his plate, yet he kept performing the negative behavior. Also, I had to repeat myself several times, and Andrew still refused to listen to me. The most appalling behavior was when Andrew said No to Miss Beth! I was shocked. My first thought was to sternly tell him that students do not talk to teachers that way; however, since Miss Beth had everything under control, I remained seated where I was and took a deep breath to try to suppress my negative reaction. Subjectively, I was very upset. I felt angry and frustrated at Andrews actions. I thought that Miss Beth kept herself composed very well, considering that Andrews actions were rude. Also, I felt that from the look on Andrews face throughout the process, he was not learning respect for his teachers or for the rules of the classroom.

The experience was very difficult for me to fathom because saying No to an adult has never been an option in my life.