Merrin+Clough

Response to Robin's wiki: I aprecieate being able to read through your entries. Your apporoch in documenting your visits is very diffrent from mine. The structure of your site is very clear and is easy to read. I like how you segmented each of the visits on a seprate page and interspersed the four e reflections. I have been disatisfied because my entries have felt willy-nilly and disjointed both in content and orginization. I think it will help me to use your model for my entries next semester. I also apreciated reading about your work in the classroom. I know I have alot to learn from you and hope I can come and observe you next semester.

Monday, Dec 18th, 1pm When I first arrived two boys were sitting alone on the rug. One was trying to tie his own shoe lace- but when he was unable to get it tied the second boy took over the atempt. He focused intently for about three minutes while the first boy wiggled but waited paciently. As I watched on I remembered this is how children learn, slowly trouble shooting at their own pace. After the second boy gave up, one of the aids showed them how to tie the shoe lace. It was such a natural progression of teaching and learning.

I played with two children in the block center. Initialy they started off playing next to eachother, with the first not wanting the second to join in on his play. They began to bicker, both claiming that their airport was bigger. I responded and rephrased their arguement by saying, 'well yours is taller- and yours is wider'. Later I suggested that they build a road between the two airports, then encouraged one to pass blocks to the other while he built onto his airport. By the end of center time the two boys were playing together and I felt satisied at my attempts to scaffold their interaction (that textbook learning does payoff!). But during clean up time the first child acidently hit the second child in the face (because they were very close to each other and moving very quickly). The child who was hit paused then burst out crying and screamining at the other. Then he began to cry too. A third child came over to comfort one child, while the other child continued to yell at the other. The teacher came over and the hurt child began to calm down. Then while I was reading a story to the class the same two boys came and sat up front, kneeling so others could not see and inching closser and closer to me. The class winned that they could not see and repeatedly I stopped and asked them to move back. Each time they did begrudgingly but within a moment were kneeling up front again. It was extreamly frustrating. After stoping the story four times I began to ignore them. For me this does not seem like an apropriate solution, but I did not know what else to do.

Monday, Dec. 11, 1pm Today was the first day I got to work with the class (rather than working with a single child). They were drawing pictures and writing three part stories (beginning middle and end) of something that has happened in their lives. I wondered around the class and assisted children who were sitting doing nothing or who asked for help. I noticed that a handful of children ‘played’ helpless and insisted that they could not do the assignment, or that they were dumb. This was frustrating and time consuming. It definitely felt like an attention getting strategy because the more obstinate they were the more time I spent with them. I have been thinking about your review of those charts in exceptionalities class. Again I have been wondering how much of this behavior can be prevented if the children were given daily opportunities to have both the teacher’s and the classes attention. It is fair that young children desire personal attention and it is humane that we give it to them. But there must be healthier ways to express this need.

Monday, Dec 5, 1 pm Tuesday, Dec 6, 10 am This week Mrs. Tuttle asked me to focus my attention on having conversations with the children. She told me about a study she recently read that said one of the most successful techniques to build reading and writing skills was to talk with children. Specifically she wanted me to ask them to tell me about what they were doing during free center time. I thought, ‘Great! I love to ask people questions and learn about what they are thinking about’. It wasn’t nearly so easy. I was shocked that most of the children didn’t pick up the other end of the conversation. Each child gave me a quick short answer to my questions and seemed disinterested in conversation. I don’t think they were all easy yes or no answers. Then finally one child began telling me about the drawing she was making of her mother, describing what she looked like. But quickly another child interrupted and the conversation flopped again. All of this got me thinking about the role of genuine conversation in the classroom. I have noticed that often I and the teachers play a referee role in the classroom, managing conflicts, answering questions and requests. Today I notice the assistant pushing (in a gentle way) a child in the direction she wanted him to go. It really enforced how we herd young children. This ‘mind space’ and the environment it creates must inhibit conversation. It establishes an almost adversary relationship. But how do we not do this when we feel so stretched in the classroom? Last week I tried out a conflict resolution technique with two children who were disagreeing. The whole thing went over their heads. I don’t think they were incapable, I have seen the same technique used in preschools, but they didn’t get the concept of listening and processing the other persons request, or my mediation. Today I also asked a child to turn around and stop distracting another child. When he did not I told him to do so, twice. Then he said, no. What does a teacher do when a child simply says no? When he won’t listen? I notice that often during group time the children don’t listen to the teacher. For the first time in my life I understood what so many older people told me during my childhood, ‘children nowadays have no respect’. I wonder how much of this is spurred by the relationship we establish between ourselves and children. But how do I break through when this kind of relationship is already established? I wonder if working on conversation skills would help. Talking with one another is such a basic skill. It is a heartbreak that we don’t engage children in conversation more. They have so much to contribute. Today was a huge and frustrating disappointment that I was so unable to do this.

Tuesday, Nov 28 10am Today I worked independently with one child on letter recognition. Mrs Tuttle had described briefly that he recognized only 5 letters and that this was a very low rate this time of year. The experience was very interesting and I wish I knew more about teaching reading so that I could make sense of the disconnect in learning. He was not able to recognize and name the letters (he could not answer my question what letter is this? or what letter makes a T sound?) but he was able to identify letters in a book (he searched through the book and pointed out Ks, but only capital Ks. When he could not find any Ks he pointed to an R and said 'like that'. We then talked about the similarity between the way K and R look, which appeared obvious to him). When I asked him to write a word that we had spelled out with magnet letters he 'drew' the letters thick like the magnets. I then showed him how to 'write' the letters. His hand writing was clear and none of the letters were inverted, even if the magnets were shuffled and sitting sideways. It is intresting that he seemed to recognize the letters more as objects than concepts. I have spent all afternoon thinking about that fifteen minutes with him- trying to understand.

Three things are glaringly obvious to me. Children and their learning is fascinating, a teacher needs one on one time with a child (especially a child with learning troubles) to begin to understand and help the child learn better, and teachers have so little time for this kind of attention. When I asked Mrs Tuttle how often she spent this kind of time with students she said that she was rarely able to. I wonder if there is a way I could maximize my time as a teacher so that I have more time to focus on teaching efforts. **It all depends on how you set up your classroom Merrin....**


 * Merrin, How insightful you are in noticing that he didn't recognize the letters as letters, but as objects. For him they have no meaning whatsoever! Can he write his name? Often this is a link to meaning for children as they search for the first letter of their name, write it and make it's sound. It is confusing to ask to name the letter and make it's sound so I always separate the two tasks. Singing the alphabet song is another way to help children link letter names to the way that they look. If you'd like more suggestions, let's talk....**Lynne

Tuesday, Nov 21 10 am Today I worked with a group of four students to spell words with rubber stamps. Four felt like a manageable sized group because each student got a reasonable amount of attention and I did not feel stretched in my ability to attend to them. Also using the rubber stamps, rather than writing, enabled the students to practice their language skills without being impeded by the struggle of writing (a challenge form many kindergarteners). Students appeared to appreciate the ease of stamping a letter, then word onto the page. One child placed his letters from right to left and inverted many of them. We talked some about the order of words, how reading and writing is done and from left to right. After he practiced both ways he insisted he liked his way best and continued to stamp from right to left. I couldn’t help but sympathize, I still feel like many of the rules (especially language rules) that I encounter are nonsense. I often wonder how to relay the importance and usefulness of adhering to such rules while also appreciating that a child thinks in another way. Such divergent ways of thinking can be the seeds of both the brilliance and agony. **Remind me to tell you the story of my own daughter......and this same issue. Lynne**

One student decided half way through that he did not want to do anymore stamping. Believing that he could not change centers, I insisted that he continue. From that point on most of my energy was spent pushing him along and experimenting with ways to engage his attention. There was a sharp shift in his behavior- from sitting still and focusing on choosing and stamping out words to a child who was wiggling and tugging at my arm, interrupting as I worked with the others. I left thinking how it would have been better for both of us if he had the freedom to move on to another activity. Essentially as a teacher I give children this freedom.
 * Good for you beause you have just discovered who wins when children and their teacher get into a power struggle!**

Monday, Nov 20 1pm The class was especially calm and concentrated (as in focused attention) when I arrived. The students were playing at centers. As I looked around I noticed that there were faces I did not recognize and the class was double it's usual size. Another teacher had had a family emergency and her class of second graders merged with Mrs Tuttle's class. The older students appeared to appreciate being back in the center format of a kindergarten class. The younger students enjoyed their companionship. I have never been in a class where there were no quibbles, but as I walked around the class to observe their play closely there were none. This experience emphasized the value of mentorship relationships across the grade levels. **This is one reason why Montessori believed in "family grouping" Olders can help youngers and it does make all feel better about learning**

Another small point to note, today I discovered the need for a spot (or a few spots) from which a teacher can observe the entire class, as well as a path navigate around the classroom. This morning the teacher asked me to walk around the classroom and observe the students, and keep an eye out for brewing conflict. The classroom was small and I tended to stand in one spot for awhile, then move to another. As I did this I noticed that there were few spaces where I was out of the way and still in view of all of the students. **A good lesson in arranging a classroom physical space.**

Monday, Nov. 13 1pm When I arrived the students were in centers. They were engaged in their play/learning and the classroom was calm. Some children where sorting math manipulatives, others playing in the housekeeping area and a few were playing with the sand. The teacher was out and the aid was supervising the class. When the aid announced that it was time to clean up one group of children loudly knocked over their blocks and another threw their manipulatives in the air. Their response was not overly aggressive, but definitely disruptive. The aid called freeze (apparently a cue for them to stop talking and moving) but the class did not respond. She repeated four times and finally they began to clean-up. As students finished cleaning up they moved to the carpet. The girls in the housekeeping area lingered in their cleaning and the aid repeatedly asked them to finish up. The aid selected students who were sitting quietly to choose a math manipulative to explore. The class spent the rest of class time in small groups working with the manipulatives. I sat with one boy and worked on making patterns out of plastic insects a few of the other children joined us. The next clean up went smoothly. Then the class lined up and I lead a group of girls to the restroom. This was interesting. I realize that I will need to develop a technique for just about everything I do, again especially transitions. As the girls walked back to class from the restrooms I realized that I could have easily lost track of one. The class returned to the rug to wait for the bus. I read them Horton Hears a Who while they waited. **One of my favorite books....Transition times are the times when disruptive behavior is most likely to occur. The first few weeks of school really need to be spent teaching children the classroom procedures.....like you said....about EVERYTHING!**

Tuesday, Nov. 7 I arrived while the students were in music class and walked with the aid to pick the class up. I have heard so much about kindergarten transitions and it was good to see one. The children were wiggly but not too loud or distracting in the hall ways. Once in the classroom there was a quick group time and then the class split up among writing centers. The teacher spoke with another teacher, the aid worked with a group tracing letters, and I worked with George, a child with behavioral issues, on drawing and writing stories. I was unclear on what I was supposed to do with him, but both of us enjoyed the experience and I got to practice guiding him in narrating a story. After this I read The Very Hungry Caterpillar to the class. I have been working to improve my story reading and felt the diffrence. This book was fun because most of the children knew it well so I prompted them to tell me the story while I pointed to the words and pictures. After this the class went to the bathroom and lined up for lunch. This was a messier transition. One boy became upset and began to whine because another cut him in line. These situations are always tedious and challenging for me as I feel myself quickly becoming annoyed. I have noticed that this child is often upset with how other children are behaving, I wonder how to respond in a way that diminishes this behavior. I left this observation fully aware of the importance of transitions in a kindergarten classroom.


 * Monday, Nov. 6**
 * This was my first day observing in Joanne Tuttle’s Kindergarten class at Issac Dickson Elementary. I spent most of my time getting a feel for the class by observing what was going on. When I arrived students were choosing centers. I sat on the floor with a group playing with blocks for some time, then stood and watched the other centers. Students worked both independently or together in the centers while the teacher and aid attended to paper work. I spent some time speaking with the teacher and assistant who told me some about the history, abilities and challenges of some of the students in the class. One student is going through the testing process to identify a behavioral and/or learning disability. It was valuable to get the teachers perspective on the process and ask questions about how the school supported her and the other students through it.**