Robin Sweat

Observation Refection
EDUC 230
March 2014

1 Robin Sweat I have to say without a doubt that this was the best observation opportunity that I have had. I had a chance to really get in there and actually do something besides just sit, watch, and take some notes. The amount of learning that I acquired through this observation was also wonderful. There is a huge difference in the amount of information a person can learn when they are engage in the activity. I observed in a special education preschool room. Every student in this preschool classroom had an IEP. Some students were high functioning with mild intellectual, learning, and behavioral issues. Other children in class had severe and multiple disabilities. Generally there are about twenty students in one of Mrs. Petersons preschool classes. She has an AM class and a PM class. As you can probably imagine her classes are never dull. There is always something happening. Just observing in this class would be near impossible; it is truly a hands on experience when you are in a special education room compared to a classroom where the students are more independent. I did not waste too much time getting in there and helping those children learn and play. One of the very first learning observations that I noticed was that everything the teacher did whether it was a craft project, singing a song, and of course reading a book there was always pictures that went along with every word she had to say. I could tell that this made a huge difference in the way her students responded to her. During play time if she had something to say most of the children seemed to not even pay much attention to her but if she had a picture in her hand and asked what it was more than half the class would pay attention to the photo and try to answer her question. After observing in her room I found a study that five teachers did with Photovoice. Photovoice is an educational action research tool that embraces visual communication through photography and allows for individualization (Carnahan). Basically the idea is to embrace each students learning styles. For example this studies purpose was to help

2 Robin Sweat engage students with autism. In most cases the child with autism is drawn into themselves and it is very difficult to get them to communicate with their peers or the teacher. However with this Photovoice idea, teachers are able to decrease the reliance on verbal instruction while increasing the visual learning materials to engage students with autism in joint attention activities (Carnahan). The idea that it is possible to get one more child with a disability involved with regular interaction with their class if worth trying anything and this study along with my classroom observations of very similar techniques proves that this idea is working. Social interaction is preschool children is very important to their education. While helping Mrs. Petersons in her preschool room I noticed right off how small the room was in comparison to the amount of students she has. Because the spatial density of her room was noticeable to me immediately, I had to then wonder if that has an effect on the way the children learn. Spatial density is the amount of space available to a group of consistent size (Driscoll & Carter). High spatial density means 27 feet squared per child, medium density is 28-49 feet squared per child, and low density is 50 feet squared or more per child (Driscoll & Carter). The studies focus was to find out if there is more aggression in the preschool children in a high density setting. Driscoll and Carter found no evidence in their study to support this theory. In fact they found a problem that could potentially be more harmful to young developing preschool children. Their study suggest that if you spread the children apart more; putting them in a low density setting then there is less social interaction (Driscoll & Carter). The development of social interaction in preschool children is the key goal of early childhood education (Driscoll & Carter). The information I am taking from this study is if we socialize our preschool children more than the less aggressive they become in a social setting.

3 Robin Sweat From aggressive behavior to tantrums in the classroom, I watched a few meltdowns while I was in Mrs. Petersons preschool classroom. Most of them stemmed from the child not getting to do what they wanted to do when they wanted to do it. Almost all (83.7%) preschoolers have tantrums but only 8.6% have daily tantrums (Wakschlag, et al) However, sometimes with preschool children you wonder what is typical and what is abnormal. That 8.6% has to be abnormal. I have children of my own so I know that tantrums are generally part of having preschool age children. Thinking a little bit deeper though I was not sure in a special education class if the tantrum stemmed from the childs own selfish reasons or if they had a need to be understood and nobody was responding to their need. There were a couple of boys in her preschool room that may fall under that 8.6% and therefore I believe that they may be trying to express something other than being upset about not getting their way. One of my all-time favorite things to do is read and I feel like the more reading someone can do the better their vocabulary, reading comprehension, and fluency becomes. Mrs. Peterson started her day off with each one of her classes reading a book and most of the time they were Pete the Cat books by Eric Litwin & James Dean. The three stories that I heard the most are I Love My White Shoes, Pete the Cat and His Four Groovy Buttons, and Rocking in my school shoes. The children really enjoy listening to the different stories that she had to read to them. The National Reading Panel reports that fluency is among the most difficult of reading components to teach children who have reading disabilities (Oconnor, White, & Lee Swanson). Keeping all this in mind lets look at the bigger picture. Since I was in school every subject has seemed to push its way into the classrooms of students who are increasingly younger than previous generations, it is a fact of life that kindergartens are becoming more like the first and second grades of the recent past (Litty, C.G., & Hatch, J).

4 Robin Sweat Math for example; my children were doing linear equations in the sixth grade and I did not do those types of math problems till eighth grade maybe even ninth grade. However, I do not see that same growth with reading. All little children love to be read to, or at least most of them do I think. Students who have better reading fluency are more likely to read outside of school (Oconnor, White, & Lee Swanson). Therefore I wonder why there is not a bigger push to teach more syllables, alphabet, or vowel sounds. I believe that the information we give to our students helps them each step along the way. I observed a lot of activities in Mrs. Petersons preschool room. The children were learning to use scissors, glue, follow directions, and listen to the teacher but there seemed to be a lack of the basic curriculum that is required in kindergarten. I think that if we are expecting fluent readers by 2nd or 3rd grade then our students should have more of a foundation in reading created for them sooner. What better place to start than the preschool classroom. The boys and girls in Mrs. Petersons class are truly blessed children. First they have a wonderful teacher and second they are receiving services for their disabilities in a preschool classroom. It was not that long ago that this was not the case. An article from 2006 called Hurry Up and Wait: Rethinking Special Education Identification in Kindergarten discusses how those students in Kindergarten then had to be prepared for school but they did not receive any special services for their disabilities until after they were already in the first or second grade. Just observing these special education preschool classrooms you can see that the students are more socialized, better adjusted to school, and learning things that they normally would not learn at home.

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References
Carnahan, C. R. (2006). Photovoice: Engaging Children With Autism and Their Teachers. Teaching Exceptional Children, 39(2), 44-50. Driscoll, C., & Carter, M. (2010). The Effects of Spatial Density on the Social Interaction of Preschool Children with Disabilities. International Journal Of Disability, Development & Education, 57(2), 191-206. doi:10.1080/10349121003750836 Litty, C.G., & Hatch, J. (2006). Hurry Up and Wait: Rethinking Special Education Identification in Kindergarten. Early Childhood Education Journal, 33(4), 203-208. doi:10.1007/s10643-005-0048-9 Oconnor, R. E., White, A., & Lee Swanson, H. H. (2007). Repeated Reading Versus Continuous Reading: Influences on Reading Fluency and Comprehension. Exceptional Children, 74(1), 31-46. Wakschlag, L. S., Choi, S. W., Carter, A. S., Hullsiek, H., Burns, J., Mccarthy, K., & Briggs Gowan, M. J. (2012). Defining the developmental parameters of temper loss in early childhood: implications for developmental psychopathology. Journal Of Psychology & Psychiatry, 53(11), 1099-1108. doi:10.1111/j.1469-7610.2012.02595.x