[University Name]
Abstract
Being able to understand the development of a child is vital in aiding that child during that process. Parents play a vital role in this regard by offering the necessary support. On the other hand, once the child has been enrolled in a kindergarten or a preschool, most of the responsibilities of shaping the child are transferred to the teachers. This makes it vital for teachers to be able to help the child during their developmental stage. In this field report, the learner visits one kindergarten and one preschool to assess the learning environment. A comparison is made between these two schools as well as comparison with those proposed in Meier in her book The Power of Their Ideas: Lessons for America from a Small School in Harlem. The fieldwork also includes interviewing of two teachers and one Principal of one of the kindergarten schools.
Introduction
PART ONE
Sherwood Forest Montessori School Toddler Community Program
The kindergarten school is in Texas, Harris County in West Houston. The advantage of this kindergarten school is the fact that its enrolment is not dependent on specific times of the year but rather it runs throughout the year. Apart from taking interns and other part-time teachers, the school employs AMS certified teachers thus making the school quite competitive. The school’s environment is quite serene, specially made for children. From the entrance of the main gate, one is met by artistically drawn child-oriented graphics on walls, visible and legible alphabets and numerals zero through nine on the walls and pavements of the school.
It is expected that since it is the introductory class towards a long journey into formal education, the child’s environment is expected to be one that the child can easily identify with as well as comfortable with (Al-Hooli & Al-Shammari, 2009). Cartoon pictures from famous films like Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, Scooby Doo and Tom and Jerry among others are visible on various walls of the school making it an environment that the children can easily identify with.
Once inside the class, one is met by a neatly arranged posters and drawings from the students that make the class quite colorful. From the particulars of these drawings, it is evident that some of these posters have been bought. However, a majority of the posters are teachers’ and students’ artworks that encourages the students in their color me class.
On one side of the class, there is a section that is specifically set apart for scientific explorations decorated with colorful posters. On another section, there were small placards containing animals, objects, alphabetical letters and numbers. One cannot help but admire the smiles on these children’s faces as they learn. The first lesson is for learning alphabets and here the teacher calls out aloud the correct pronunciation of the letter and the associated article that the children can easily associate with. For example, the teacher says “‘e’ for elephant” and the students reiterate the same statement. The teacher goes ahead to demonstrate how an elephant looks like by imitation and the children laugh. Then the teacher points at one of the students and asks him to show the rest of the class which of the drawn animals on the placards was an elephant and the child shows the rest with much ease.
The teachers’ desk is at the middle front of the class, next to the entrance door. The arrangement of the class is such that on either side of the class there is a pair kids’ desk running three desks to the back making a total of twelve desks on the ends. There are three desks at the middle that are set twice on the middle row thus making a total of six on the middle row. At the back of the class, there is a book shelf that is set for storage of students’ books and other items. During this session two of the students seated on the back seats were demonstrating to one another what the teacher had just demonstrated after she had finished and the teacher noticed and she reprimanded them on talking without permission from the teacher. This session took about forty minutes. It is confirmed that students in kindergarten should spend more time seated as this helps build positive attitude towards learning since most of what they do is much of fun (Laboratory At Brown University, 1997). The succeeding session after a brief 20 minutes break was the color me session whereby the children were expected to independently color some drawings that the teacher drew on their sketch books using crayons while lying on the floor of the class.
Locust Pre-Kindergarten School Texas
On entering the school compound, one class hums in low tones on a familiar song. As the rest of the students hum to that musical piece, one of the students is encouraged by his teacher to narrate how she spent her weekend and she starts by exclaiming, Saturday was my birthday then she proceeds to tell the rest of the class of how they had partied and who came and what was brought and what they ate among other things. In so doing, the children were being taught how to develop confidence by expressing themselves in front of a big audience. The teacher beckoned the other students stop humming and to listen. For those that had attended the birthday party, they also chipped in with permission from the teacher once in a while. Since there had been prior arrangement with the school’s administration, upon arrival, the learner met with the Principal who then let the learner choose which class to attend and the one with the birthday story won the day.
On reaching at the class, the teacher noticed and remembering there had been an announcement of a visitor came and welcomed the learner into the class. The children were seated on the floor together with the teacher making a sort of circle and the learner squeezed in to fit with the children. There was laughter and a welcome unison from the children. The story teller had halted, there was some silence then the teacher made a brief introduction and urged the story teller to proceed reminding her of where she had stopped the story at. The teachers’ and students’ desks were arranged on the sides of the class and the group was at the center. Similar to the Sherwood Forest Montessori School’s classroom set up, the class was filled almost to the brim, with posters of various kinds and artworks from the students.
However, unlike in Sherwood Forest Montessori where the learner was more of a passive spectator, in Locust Pre-Kindergarten, the learner was given an active role and was even requested by one of the children to sing a happy belated birthday song. The teacher was very enthusiastic and freely interacted with the children. There were no signs of misconduct in that class for the time that the learner was present. The session lasted for forty five minutes. The children were happy and quite respectful to people older than them which are a sign that they were taught moral values.
There was a bookshelf at the front of the class on one corner opposite the main door. Looking at the educational approach that was demonstrated on this session, it was clear that there was application of Meier’s and Socratic circles where the students talk, the teachers and fellow students listen, support and encourage, students discover their agency, children enter the conversation and contribute to the society and the students talk again which is a cycle (Meier, 1995; Babione, 2009).
PART TWO
Interview with the Teacher
Upon completion of the classroom sessions, the teacher gladly accepted to be interviewed by the learner with regard to various issues pertaining education. According to the teacher, the schools are indispensable especially when it comes to embedding morality on children. The teacher was kind enough to quote a scripture in the Holy Bible that says that once one teaches a child good ways to follow, even at old age that child will always find these ways leading them home.
The teachers invested more on the children because they have a deep feeling that they are creating future leaders and responsible citizens. To a great extent, the teacher noted that the student tend to copy what they see the teacher doing. For example, as a good example, the teacher makes sure to use kind words like please, excuse me and thank you among others. Since this comes from their mentor, the children lovingly adopt the same mode of communication as a demonstration of the effect that teachers have on children.
The teacher noted that since it was rare to find some animals within the region, thus leading to the teacher’s utilization of Encarta digital library for kids© that help the children to see the animal on transit and doing various things. This is made possible by utilization of new technologies like using tablets and laptops. The digital library is specifically made for children and they enjoy seeing things with this new technology apart from playing games with the computers which they do at home (McKenney & Voogt, 2010). The teacher noted that the digital library has very simplified and beautiful graphics and videos that the children would love. The teacher was however quick to note that some technologies should not be entertained especially those that are aimed at replacing teachers with robots terming that the students needed human contact for emotional identification. The teacher added that some things can never be replaced with machines giving an example of personal experiences that can be shared with the children.
The teacher seemed to share the same sentiments that are echoed by Al-Hooli and Al-Shammari (2009) that children need to be led, protected from physical and psychological harm, be kept safe and loved at all times. From the interview, the teacher seemed to take personal responsibility to ensure that the children are safe as long as they are within the school’s jurisdiction.
As far as social responsibility for students is concerned, the teacher noted that by giving continuous and consistent responsibilities, like tiding up the class, arranging the desks and collecting litter, students learn to be responsible from a tender age.
The teacher believed that the future of education will be more integrative with new and emerging technologies that will ease the work of the teacher and the learning environment.
PART THREE
An Interview with the Principal
According to the principal of Locust Pre-Kindergarten, it had been noted over the years that there was a continued decrease in the number of children enrolling in the regions’ district schools this was mainly attributed to the fact that the region lies within a seismically active region that experiences earthquakes often. Additionally, it has been noted that the region is more susceptible to floods during rainy seasons and thus people opting to take their children to safer grounds for studies. This in return creates a dent in the financial position of the district thus causing a relative financial crisis in the institution due to decreased enrolment and shifting kids from this region.
In an effort to curb the financial shortfall, the district reduces the number of teachers to a bare minimum. In so doing, those who are left are rewarded heftily so as to remain in the region lest there be a shortage of teaching staff. Additionally, there is removal restrictions as to the time one can enroll thus creating a freeway for parents to enroll their children at any time of the year. In so doing, the district is able to have funds trickling in at any one time of the year unlike in other areas where funds are concentrated on specific times of the year.
The school is safe in that every class has a door that interconnects it to the other class such that in the event of an emergency, students have an escape route through the adjacent classes. There are fire extinguishers in the compound and the school is connected to the regions fire brigade and they also have an ambulance at their disposal. Once every month on a randomly selected day, fire drills are run within the school and children are taught what to do, what not to do and where to report. In so doing the children, the administration, the teaching and non-teaching staff as well as the parents perceive a higher level of safety within such an environment.
In case of medication, a school nurse is given the responsibility of dispensing the drugs that are only accessible by the nurse and the principal alone. Once the medicine has been brought in school, it cannot be taken out of school except in the event where the child is supposed to take medication in the middle of the night. This ensures safety in medical administration to the children and consistency as well as avoiding interference with the medicine by other parties.
The principal believes that the future of education lies in the fact that all the stakeholders have to continuously invest in education due to its constant changes in order to accommodate better technologies. This, the principle adds, can only be achieved by investing in children and academic institutions especially by the federal governments.
Conclusion
In conclusion, it is clear that the learners’ environment should be made appropriate if at all learning has to be enjoyed by the students. It is inevitable to invest in children from a tender age on all areas of development including learning to use the common senses and express one. Safety is paramount to all parties for success in education without disregarding integration with appropriate technology.
Reference
Al-Hooli, A., & Al-Shammari, Z. (2009). Teaching and learning moral values through kindergarten curriculum. Education, 129(3), 382-399.
Babione, C. A. (2009). Rural education responding to state education initiatives, Paper presented at the annual meeting of the ATE annual meeting, Hyatt Regency Dallas. Dallas, TX. Retrieved from http://www.allacademic.com/meta/p277648_index.html
Laboratory At Brown University. (1997). Looping: Supporting student learning through long-term relation,Themes in education. Providence, RI: LAB at Brown University. Retrieved from http://www.alliance.brown.edu/pubs/ic/looping/looping.pdf
McKenney, S., & Voogt, J. (2010). Technology and young children: How 4–7 year olds perceive their own use of computers. Computers In Human Behavior, 26(4), 656-664. doi:10.1016/j.chb.2010.01.002
Meier, D. (1995). The Power of their Ideas: Lessons for America from a small school in Harlem. Boston, MA: Beacon Press.
