Month One

Wow. I can't believe it has already been a month since I started at the preschool. I feel like I've learned so much and that my skills as an educator (as I suppose I could be called) are really developing.

I'm finding more and more that what I'm learning now has to do with specific situations as opposed to just general activities. I learned that if there's a problem with a specific situation, for example, a group of kids are playing with toys and another comes in and "disrupts" their game that sometimes it's better (and easier) to redirect the disrupter than to try and resolve the issue. The particular situation I noticed involved 3 girls playing their little game and then one of the boys came in and decided the toy he was playing with was going to attack the dollhouse. It was better to just redirect the little boy than to try and get him to play the girls' game.

I've realized that one of the major roles of an early childhood educator is to be a mediator. My mom is just a master at that and I'd love to be able to deal with things as well as she does. A couple of times I've caught myself just watching her as she interacts with the kids, because I'm almost in awe of what she can do. I'd love to, one day, have those same skills, and I'm thinking/hoping that they will come in time as I gain experience.

Another thing that I've learned is how manipulating my voice really affects the response I get from kids. For example, I am way more likely to get (and keep) the attention of a child if I lower my voice to a whisper than if I was to just talk normally. I also have noticed that when you want the attention of a child across the room, it's more effective to use a "sing-song" sort of voice than to yell.

Although I'm learning so much, I have to say that the best part of my work experience is getting to experience all the cute things that kids say or do. I love how they laugh at their own jokes and how they find everything so funny. One of my favourites is when they're doing an activity that requires rolling up their sleeves and they're wearing a short-sleeve shirt, they just think it's the funniest thing that they don't have sleeves. I love how they make up their own songs. I love how when they're telling a story about something they find funny that they end up laughing so hard that I can barely understand what they're saying. I love how, when I'm listening to something their saying and I come down to their level so I'm not towering over them that they find it necessary to come in really really close to me.

I'm so excited to continue learning and that I have this great opportunity. I will continue to take full advantage of the time I spend at the preschool and I'm really looking forward to the rest of the semester.

Weeks 2 and 3

So here we are, 3 weeks in to my work experience and I am having a great time. I am becoming more familiar with the kids and that means less standing around doing nothing. However, I still find that I don't really know what to do with myself when the younger kids go down for a nap and the older kids are playing with puzzles or reading books on their own. I'm learning now to assess the situation when I walk into the preschool and sort of just see where I'm needed, whether it be cleaning up or helping one of the kids with something.

I'm finding now that I'm more comfortable with the kids, I'm getting to know individual kids better. I'm learning how to deal with problems that arise and I'm feeling more confident in my ability to deal with these situations.

I've also noticed that I'm taking the skills I'm learning at the preschool and using them with the other kids that I work with. I noticed when I was babysitting last Thursday that the kids were much happier and were smiling and laughing and I'd like to think that was because I am better when it comes to interacting with kids.

One thing that I'm very excited about is not only how comfortable I feel with the kids, but just how comfortable they are with me. In fact, this past week one of the 18-month olds had started saying my name! I love that I am becoming a regular in their lives and that they are accepting me.

However, I still have a couple of things I'd like to work on. I really want eliminate the "standing around," but I'm still not sure what to do.

Finally, there is one major thing that I have to watch for. Since I've started spending more time with little kids than people my own age, I've noticed that when I go back to spending time with my friends, I'm talking to them like I'd talk to a 2 year old!!! I figure I should probably get that under control or the only people I'm going to have left to talk with will be the 2 year olds.

Week One

Although this post is called "Week One," it really was only 2 days, so I'm not sure how well the name fits. I suppose I could have called it "Days One and Two" or "The Very Beginning."

Perhaps the most appropriate title, however, would be "Standing Around and Not Really Doing Much." That was the way I spent a lot of time at Little Blue these past two days. I find that I'm very hesitant when it comes to approaching the kids sometimes, especially when I've just met them. Another difficulty I had was that I don’t really know my way around the preschool. I've worked there before, but only once or twice for a couple of hours, so I don't really know where things are kept or what the routine is. Fortunately, those sorts of problems should work themselves out as I become more familiar and more comfortable with the place.

There were a couple of things that I noticed while I was just standing around, observing. I was very intrigued by the difference in maturity between 3 year olds and 4 year olds. I found it very interesting how much more aware the older children were, as well as how individual they were. That doesn't really make a lot of sense; let me give you an example. On my first day, 3 of the older girls (4+) were playing with cornstarch and food coloring. One of the girls was very meticulous, putting only small amounts of food coloring at a time on her pile of cornstarch. One of the other girls was the complete opposite; she immediately dug her hands right in!
--Something I just thought of: even though I have only met the second girl once, I could immediately tell that she is much more outgoing than the other little girl, who is fairly quiet and reserved. I just find it interesting how their personalities were reflected even in the way that they played and experimented with this one activity.

Another thing I noticed was the difference between children of the same age. Two kids who are both about a year and a half have incredibly different personalities. One is probably the most easy going little boy I've ever met (Mom, if you're reading this, yes I am talking about L.) while the other was much more shy and I can't recall even hearing her laugh or seeing her smile.

So that's a super quick recap of my first two days. My goals for the next month are:
-To be less shy and try to interact more with the kids
-Continue observing emotional/maturity differences between girls vs. boys, older vs. younger, and even kids around the same age.
-Ask questions when I'm not sure how to deal with a situation, because, let's face it, I'm working with one of the best, and I'd be crazy not to take full advantage of it!

Until next time,
Kaity

Background

So it's second semester of grade 12, and my plan is to go and work part-time at my mom's preschool, Little Blue. There are a couple of reasons that I've incorporated this into my schedule.

The first reason is simple: I didn't want to fill my schedule with classes that I really didn't care about and had nothing to do with what I want to do and just pile me up with a bunch of homework. I didn't want to end up with "filler courses."

The second is the fact that I want to work with kids who have autism, and I really want to get experience just working with children in general. I chose my mom's preschool because I feel it's the place where I will learn the most. The point of going to the preschool is not to just spend all day playing with kids, although that is a plus, but to learn about children and how to interact with and approach different children.

I'm really excited to start this semester, and I hope I learn a lot! Stay tuned...