Observation in Preschool Classroom - Assignment Example

Preschool Observation The main motive of this chapter is to sort out the ways to engage preschool children in various activities and at the same timeto make them learn from their activities. These activities encompass different physical and mental activities and also activities that help them to develop their gross motor skills. Observation in preschool classroom Knowledge is imparted based on classroom studies. I got the opportunity to spend an hour in a preschool classroom to see another person teaching, I keenly observed the minor details. The teacher had more motherly and friendly attitude towards these children. Since, this is the age when the kids are away from the parents probably for the first time especially from their mothers, it required more attention of the teacher than any other class. The interest of the kids also varies some may like a particular activity while the others do not, it becomes imperative to identify the interests of the kids of this level by the teacher. The teacher was intended to create trust in the children so that they confide on her and feel free to grasp from her teaching. The teacher was friendlier and involved herself with the kids to perform activities and at the same time she was explaining these activities with the help of stories and rhymes. Some of the kids could follow the teachers' instructions while others were not able to understand anything and were crying all the time asking for the mother. The teacher was forced to take more care of such kids and helped them with chocolates or any toys of their interest. Some kids felt hungry and they asked for food and teacher had to open their lunch boxes for them to provide them their favorite stuff to eat while others were not intending to eat. This was creating a bit of chaos in the classroom and was becoming difficult for the teacher to manage out well with the kids of this age group. The teacher was intentional to keep the children engaged but was not able to differentiate the instructions and therefore could not keep the children engaged as otherwise she could have with a planned work. Teaching/Instructional Process A proper planning is vital to teach and handle these young budding minds. It is the formative years of their lives and therefore it is imperative to make them learn under discipline. The prime responsibility of the teacher is to create interest and also at the same time understand the psychology of the child, his/her likings and disliking and also the interest of each and every child. If this is done then half of the job is done for the teacher. In order to minimize the chaos there has to be a proper training to differentiate between eating and playing/ activities timings. When the child is not taking much interest the teacher should have involved the child making him/her sit near her and do the work or if the child needs help the teacher should provide help to the child in making the blocks arranging the pictures in a particular order and solving the puzzles and the teacher should be a constant source of encouragement to the child if he/she does even the minor things, this was lacking in the class and therefore there was so much chaos and the teacher was not able to handle them well. Kids need to eat and drink water quite often so after the accomplishment of a particular task they should be appreciated and when all have finished their task then they should be allowed to eat. This practice will make them be disciplined and will eat only at the time of eating rather than creating the chaos as some are eating while others are not. This will help the teacher also to manage the kids well and also to keep the kids engaged in one particular directed activity. When the teacher was playing with the kids, e.g. moving in a circle then at that time the teacher was saying "round and round kids" rather she could have taught them rhyme "ring-a-ring roses.." this rhyme is enjoyed by the kids and will help them learning during fun. The teacher was simply telling story to the kids rather she could have involved the kids in the story by distributing the characters and appreciating them like yes Tom is strong so he can become the King. This helps the kids to grasp that yes, King is a strong character. Similarly, when she was talking about Cinderella then she could have asked the prettiest girl to stand up and play the role of Cinderella this gives the picture in young minds about the characters of the story. The stories should be more involving and the teacher must create the atmosphere where kids can enjoy. With the help of charts and sceneries the teacher can create a scene of forest/moon light, thus at the same time the teacher is also imparting the sense to the kids about the day and night and what forest is Where animals live This will generate a sense of segregation in young minds. Conclusion Learning with the fun is always the prime necessity of the preschool teaching and therefore teacher must give importance to such a practice. In preschool kids are in their formative years and therefore their activities must be directed to discipline and for the development of gross motor co-ordination encompassing crafts and picture identification, arranging them in line, draw lines in order, able to hold the pencil or any object firmly, and should be able to use the pencil to draw lines and gradually help them to identify alphabets and learn them and also write them properly in the correct manner also in the sequence. This training will help them all through their lives and keep them disciplined forever. The teacher must remember that there must be a room for entertainment for them so in-between the teacher must play some rhyme on the CD making the kids sing and dance with actions. References First School http://www.first-school.ws/ Read More