This weeks observation was quite interesting it was like watching an action packed movie just watching to see what will happen next. When I arrived none of the children were there and the teacher just arrived. We entered and then the students were beginning to come one after another. The students were getting into everything they had a lot of energy more than usual it seemed. The feeling I had overall when the the day was coming to a close is that the students took over the class for a day. It seemed as if there wasn't enough help for the adults in the classroom trying to prepare snack, interact with students, and prepare activities. On several occasions I had to inform the teacher what was going on to avoid any injuries or unfriendly behaviors. There was one student in particularly that was just having "one of those days" where he didn't want anyone telling him what to do and everything belonged to him.
The activity that I observed involved a female student sitting at an activity table which had large sheets of writing paper, markers, crayons, and color pencils. The student grabs a purple marker with her right hand and places the marker down on the paper. She begins to move her hand in a circular motion around the paper. She scribbles for several minutes on the paper. She stops moving the marker around on the paper and looks up in the direction of the teacher and says "look" with a smile on her. She holds the paper up with both hands and the teacher replys " Oh student you drew a purple picture today." She walks over to the table where the teacher is and holds the picture close to the teachers face and doesn't say anything. The teacher replys "that's very nice student." Student walks away after a couple of seconds and puts the picture back on the table she was working at. She then proceeds to leave the area.
The skills that the student used while involved in this activity included the following motor, cognitive, and hand -eye coordination. An extension activity that I would plan for this student would be color bingo. I would have a bingo card make that had colors and word spelled out. This could help student build vocabulary.
Hello Janet:
ReplyDeleteI loved hearing about the classroom tyrant! His executive functioning obviously wasn't. ;-) It's awful to say I suppose, but sometimes I burst out laughing when I see this kind of behavior; maybe because I envision myself doing it and imagine how great it must feel to be able to.
I also enjoyed hearing the simple and very pleasant story of the scribbler. She is/was the "picture" of a child in Stage II of her artistic development that will progress through a series of geometric shapes. What I find incredibly interesting is that this progression is universal--ALL children go through it.
Hi Janet
ReplyDeleteSounds like if both of our classes were put together it would have been a more developmentally effective day all around.
I'm still trying to understand why some instructors don't want us to use the word nice or good at all when interacting with a child. The book also mentions how its left open for not giving enough information. I do however understand the use of the word being inconclusive, but the children hear these words at home. Why don't we just say, "Nice Job Kelly, I like the way u utilized or used(which ever word) the entire paper by drawing on this side and this side". Then ask, "so Kelly, what do you like about your drawing?" Not only are you encouraging the child, but your are explaining why you like it and expanding the discussion out to build on their cognitive development and vocabulary. To me it was nice to hear that one of the staff members used the word 'nice'. Hopefully they said why it was nice. :)
Hello Janet!
ReplyDeleteYou know what, I laughed a little when I read your post because I swear to you I have had those days where it seems that the children run the class. Just like you, I have often had to inform the adults in the classroom of what is going on with some children that are not supervised. Most of the time I have had to do this has been outside when children are climbing the apparatus from the outside and other children are pulling on them, that sort of stuff. I enjoy these kinds of observation days because it seems that those are the days that I get the most information since there is tons of things to take notes on.
As far as what the adult did in saying, "Oh student you drew a purple picture today." I think this is wrong. In all of my classes I have learned that adults should never judge a child's drawing or picture. Even if their drawing looks like a dog, it might really be a horse. Instead she should have asked an open ended question like, "Can you tell me about your picture?" and like that the child uses language skills to explain her picture.
Your extension, color bingo would be great! Children love playing games since they all want to be the winners.