End of field experience

The classroom I was in for my field experience does not use a set curriculum. They use the ISTAR-KR as a guide for the goals they should meet by the end of the year. While observing this for 8 weeks it was not very clear to me what the children were learning and building on. It seemed to me that the lessons each day and week were not connected. After observing this for 8 weeks I think using a set curriculum would fix this problem by starting at basic lessons and then building off of them. This way the lessons would seem more connected and the children would be able to review what they have learned in the past. Following a set curriculum in preschool is very important for this reason. The children are learning basic knowledge so having a clear starting point, then lessons that build off of them, and a clear end point would be very helpful for the children to understand why they are learning what they are learning, make connections between lessons, and review what they have learned.

My advice to someone starting their first day at their field experience would be to jump right in. You're only there for 8 weeks, which seems like a long time at first but it flies by. Jumping right in will let you make the most of your time. Watch what your host teacher does and how she handles the classroom and start doing it. Don't be afraid to do something wrong, your host teacher accepted you into her classroom and understands she is there to teach you too! So if you make a mistake when you're jumping in, don't worry, your host teacher will let you know and it shouldn't be embarrassing or awkward because you and your host teacher know that you have never been in her class before and that you don't know yet how the class completely works. Jumping right in, you might make a mistake or two, but it's the fastest way to learn what to do. You can spend 2 weeks observing the children and how the teacher handles the classroom and ask a 1000 questions, but that is just observations and information... that's not experience and this is called a field experience for a reason.

Community and culture

Community and culture are important parts of anyone's life, especially in the lives of young children who are learning who they are and the acceptable behaviors of members of the society they live in. Culture and community start with family members as children experience their culture and community at home through their family.
I think it is important to understand the importance of family and culture when working with children because... every child is an individual and comes from different families with different backgrounds. Because every child is an individual, they learn differently as well. As a teacher it is important to know each of your students and understand their cultural backgrounds so you can teach them to the best of your ability. Children are more interested in lessons and learning when they find the topic relevant to their own lives. So as a teacher, knowing each child's family life and culture can help you make those connections between a lesson and the children's daily lives. Without this connection, a lesson may seem irrelevant to a child or boring, causing the child to become distracted during an activity or unwilling to discuss the topic... issues teacher's often describe as challenging behaviors. Overall, knowing and supporting each child's family, culture, and community, helps you become a better teacher, helps the children enjoy learning, and helps parents teach their children how to be well functioning members of their society. 

Week 6 writing in field experience

One thing that I have noticed in my field experience classroom is that there are barely any labels around the room. The months are labeled above the board but they are so high the children can't really see them and only a few of the centers in the room are labeled, math center for example. So the lack of labels around the room seems strange because I've always imagined that a preschool room should have labels on everything. Of course, most 3 and 4 years old can't initially read these labels so they may seem pointless, but preschool is when children are learning how to write their letters and to recognize them. So the 3 and 4 year olds may not be able to read these labels but throughout their time in preschool they should be starting to recognize the letters in labeled words. Having labels on as many things as possible in the room is a simple way to reinforce the letters the children are also learning. Labels can also support site words. In kindergarten, first, and second grade children learn words that can't be sounded out very well, like 'of' for example. Site words are words that the children must learn just by recognizing the letters. The way the labels in a preschool room can support this is by talking about the labels. Since most 3 and 4 year olds cannot read, when you say, this label says, 'chair', the children know what a chair is and see that this word represents the object. They may not actually be able to read this word yet, but every time they see the label they are building a base knowledge of site words. The preschoolers probably can't write the word chair yet, but if they saw the word in a book or somewhere else they could recognize it and say they know that word is chair.

I think this is the most simple way to help children start reading. Just by exposing them to words that they can relate to an object.