FINAL R2P

After completing four different research to practice posts and being in field placement for three months, I have learned so many things! Through my observations in the field, I have noticed that any behavior can be missed if you aren’t truly observant of your suroundings. From these observations, I have learned to make my questions concrete and broad. The research that I have retrieved from all of my questions has led me to be a more curious teacher and search for answers to big ideas. Even when I did a podcast with my group, it led me to think about how I present information and my findings to others. The podcast was challenging because I had to plan out what I was going to say before I spoke, but I liked how natural it sounded. I liked that my blog posts were easy to edit and they were easy to return back to for review. If I were to experience the R2P project again, I would focus more on finding relevant resources, such as going to a library assistant for help. As a future teacher I would try to find relevant articles to help me become a better teacher and learn about my surroundings. I am excited that I got to experience this and I would recomend it to others in the future!

RTP4

Today in my field placement, I struggled to help a little girl feel comfortble on her first day at our Head Start. She was sitting in her cubby crying and would not talk to me or my cooporating teacher. I tried bribing her with stickers and asking her to do things with me like reading a book but she still refused. Finally, I got a little tree house off of the shelf and put it infront of her and asked if she wanted to play with one of the other quiter students in the class. She agreed and sat down with the other girl to play with the tree house. This made me wonder what I and my fellow coleagues could do in the future to make children feel comfortable on their first day. I found the article “A Child’s First Day at School.” by Stve Broe, which discussed steps that teachers could take to make students feel comfortable on their first day at a new school. One thing that Broe talked about, was to have realistic expectations on their first day, meaning do not expect them to know how your classroom runs if they have never been in it before. Another point that he hit on was to create a bond with the child before they are in the classroom setting. A way to do this would be calling the childs home or sending a letter. In the future, I would have the student come in for an orientation at the end of the school day before they are forced to be in that classroom setting. This way they can understand the layout and the expectations of my classroom before they are in it. I would also send a letter home like the article suggests.

 

R2P Observation 2

Today in my field observation, I saw an African American three-year-old boy throw a chair. He doesn’t speak any English and his family moved here nearly a year ago from Africa. My question was, is there a miscommunication going on between the teacher and the boy? It seems as though he acts out when the teacher is asking him to do something that he doesn’t understand. I then researched communicating with ELLs. I found an article called “Variations in Classroom Language Environments of Preschool Children Who Are Low Income and Linguistically Diverse” by Brook Sawyer, Sally Atkins-Burnett, Lia Sandilos, Carol Scheffner Hammer, Lisa Lopez and Clancy Blair. According to the article, this study aimed to provide an in-depth description of the frequency and type of language interactions that children who are low income and/or dual language learners (DLLs) experience in their classrooms and examine whether differences exist in children’s language experiences based on children’s DLL status and level of English proficiency. What i found from this article was that in order for the African American boy to communicate better with the teacher, was for the teacher to perhaps take some professional development classes working with ELLs  and to work with the child in small groups. When the child works with the teacher in small groups, they can better understand the teacher by mimicng the other children. I think a better way to communicate with this child would be to work with him in small groups and try to give him more individualized attention. I will also try to show the child what I am expecting instead of just saying it.

 

First Day Observations

After being in my field placement twice, I got to see some behaviors that I have not observed before. I am placed in a Head Start classroom in Lancaster City. My first day there, I observed a young girl who refused to walk with the class down the hallway and crawled instead. She gets upset when she is not the center of attention. She also does not follow basic instruction, unless she is sat with one on one. She likes to be a helper or do something the other children aren’t doing.  These actions take place in the classroom and throughout the day. I believe she is doing this because she wants attention and when something doesn’t go her way, she makes it known that she is upset. She is an only child at home. At home her parents may give in to all her wants because she throws a fit. The teacher usually continues to ask the student to perform tasks calmly and respectfully. The teacher explains how it makes her feel when the student doesn’t listen. This made me question, what is the best behavior management skill for children who just want attention?

I then researched and found an article called Prevention of Problem Behavior by Teaching Functional Communication and Self-Control Skills to Preschoolers. In that article, I found that Kevin C. Luczynski and Gregory P. Hanley did a study comparing two groups of six preschoolers. One group was at risk for school drop out and the other was average. The researchers taught the at-risk group self-management skills that they would need for school. This led the group to be more self-regulated and successful.

I was searching for a way to help the student in my field placement become more self-regulated and not act out in class when they aren’t the center of attention. This article relates to my question, because it revealed that if children are taught self-control skills, they will seek less attention from the teacher and have overall better behavior. The article also stated that limited attention from the teacher as well as only praising good behavior, would lessen the amount of unwanted attention by the student.

References
Luczynski, K. C., & Hanley, G. P. (2013). Prevention of Problem Behavior by Teaching Functional Communication and Self-Control Skills to Preschoolers. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 46(2), 355–368. Retrieved from
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