On September 14th, 2015 | observed a classroom at Weslie Way Preschool. The preschool classroom consisted of six students, but only five of them were present on the day that I did my observation. The group consisted of two girls and three boys that were all four years old. Later on in my observation, a firefighter came to talk to the students about fire safety. During this time period, all of the classes in the school gathered together outside. I was able to observe thirty students, all of which were different ethnicities between the ages of two and five.
Tarrived to the classroom at nine in the morning, just fifteen minutes before the students were expected to be at school. The preschool teacher allowed me to look through her plans for the day, which consisted of students writing and drawing in a journal, learning about the letter E, and attending a firefighter’s presentation on fire safety. When the students first arrived, they were allowed a period of playtime were I was able to observe their personalities and self-concepts. Student A and Student B were two males that stuck together throughout the entire observation period.
They played with dinosaur toys, pretending to make them talk and fight one another. They both seemed confident and happy to be at school. Student C and Student D were two females that also gravitated towards one another, although Student C enjoyed socializing with the teacher and me for most of the time. She was very outgoing and friendly. Student D seemed more shy and introverted, but she was still friendly and enjoyed the presence of her friend, Student C. When Student E arrived, he held on to his dad and seemed very tired. He was very introverted and played alone most of the time.
He tried to play with the two other boys, Student A and Student B, but they seemed too involved in one another to include Student E. Student E was by far the sweetest child in the class, but the least social. It was time for the lesson to start and the teacher asked the students to return to their desks. The students complained for several seconds, but settled down when the teacher started speaking. She asked the students to draw a picture in their journal. This is something that appeared very routine to them and they got started immediately after the teacher instructed them to.
Student A’s picture was of two green zombies, Student B’s picture was a purple banana, Student C’s picture was a rainbow, Student D’s picture was a big purple grape, and Student E’s picture was of the letters A, B, and C. Student C showed me other pictures in her notebook, most of which were other rainbows. This reflects her colorful and bright personality. Student E’s picture reflects his intellectual side. Most of student E’s drawings were pictures of subjects he had recently learned about in class. He was even able to write out his full name. Next, it was time to for the teacher to lecture the students about the letter “E”.
She had numerous print outs and activities that allowed the students to trace and practice writing the letter with pictures of things that start with the letter E, such as an elephant, an eggplant, and the earth. Student C seemed more interested in the information being taught when the teacher showed the class pictures. It can be assumed that she is a visual learner. Student E responded best when the teacher wrote out the letter several times. He is most likely a kinesthetic learner, because he responding best to her actually writing out the letter as opposed to showing him pictures or making the E sound.
Students A, B, and D responded best to the teacher making them repeat words that started with E. This went on for about fifteen minutes before the fire truck arrived. All of the classes with students from ages two to four gathered outside. The two year olds were completely uninterested from the beginning. They kept trying to walk out to the parking lot or dig in the dirt. The four year olds seemed attentive at first, but that slowly started to go away as the fire fighter’s presentation went on.
By the end of the presentation, all of the students were chatting amongst themselves or digging in the dirt, although the teachers kept begging them to pay attention. When the fire fighter turned on the blinking lights of the truck, the interest was regained. Also, when the fire fighter put on his full uniform, the boys in the group seemed really fascinated. One of the most prominent things that I learned during this observation is that students of this age group respond best to teaching that heavily involves their senses as opposed to simply being talked to about a subject.
The two students that stood out to me most were Students C and E. Student C was extremely social and made her peers feel comfortable and accepted. She also seemed willing to learn and interested in what the teacher had to say. In her future academic career, I think she will be great with communication subjects, such as public speaking, English, and history classes. However, she didn’t seem very analytical and depended on her social skills more so than her logical skills, so it can be assumed that she may potentially struggle in areas such as math and science.
Student E was incredibly intelligent for his age group and I predict that he will have a very successful academic career. He was able to grasp the letter concept easily and went above and beyond by writing out his entire name. A weakness he may encounter is not being able to effectively communicate. His shyness got the best of him at times and it was obvious that he wanted to play with Students A and B during playtime, but he quickly gave up when he felt the slightest feeling of rejection. I found all of the students in the preschool classroom really interesting and special in their own way.
They all seemed very comfortable around me and even involved me in their games during playtime. As I observed the teacher, I realized how much she cares about each student and how nurturing she was towards them. The students absolutely adored her. However, when the students were outside their behavior seemed really unpredictable and out of control, which is one thing that I will have to adjust to when I start teaching. I look forward to my future observations and I hope I learn more about each age group so that I can better decide what level I want to teach on.
