Classroom observations and learning outcomes

¶ … general education Kindergarten and a pre-K classroom for a period of eight weeks. In addition the writer observed an inclusion pre-K and an inclusion Kindergarten classroom for a period of eight weeks. The writer than explains how the preconceived notions about the students and teaching in general changed during these observations.

Observation Reflection

As I entered the idea of observing in a general education and inclusion education classroom for both Kindergarten and Pre-K levels I had many ideas about what I tought the students would be like and how they would benefit from their individual experiences in the classrooms.

As I began my eight-week observations however, I found that many of the ideas that I had prior to the observation period simply would not work or hold up in the reality of an everyday classroom. In addition I didn't understand how important inclusion is not only to the special needs students but to the students who are not special needs. The eight-week observation period in each classroom style with each age level encouraged me to develop new ideas and beliefs about the importance of inclusion at this age level and encouraged me to be open to new ideas in regular general education as well.

General Education Kindergarten

The general education classroom I was assigned to observe for eight weeks at the Kindergarten level was a classroom that was comprised of 15 students. Seven of those students were boys and eight of those students were girls.

Within the classroom the demographic makeup included one Hispanic non-English speaking boy and two bilingual girls. There was one African-American student, and two Asian students and the rest of the classroom population was Caucasian.

The inclusion Kindergarten classroom had a similar demographic makeup.

The general education Pre-K classroom was primarily African-American with three white children and one Hispanic child while the Inclusion classroom was made up of eight African-Americans, Six Caucasians and one Hispanic child.

Prior to Observing Kindergarten

Before entering the Kindergarten classroom I had beliefs that had been derived from my life and the lives of friends and their children who went to Kindergarten. I believed that they were basically all at about the same level emotionally, academically and physically. I thought that most children in the Kindergarten environment were ready to read but not yet reading, able to count but not do math and able to color within the lines. I quickly found out through my observations that it was not true and that this grade level perhaps more than any other grade level has a large number of abilities and needs in its population.

The children in the general education classroom varied from already able to read short chapter books to being unable to sound out the letters of the alphabet. In addition I observed the emotional gaps between students as some suffered from mild separation anxiety when their parents dropped them off, while others raced in without glancing back.

When I got into the classroom I also noticed that many students enjoyed helping each other which helped me to change my ideas about the importance of inclusion before I ever got into the inclusion classroom.

When I used to think about being a teacher I dreamed about quiet classrooms where everyone was on the same level and doing the same work.

A realized from observing this general education classroom that teachers need to be flexible and understand that each student is an individual in their personality and their abilities.

In observing the inclusion classroom I found that many of my preconceived notions would fall by the wayside. In an inclusion classroom I got the chance to observe Kindergarten students who had varying degrees of abilities as well as special needs. I saw that the students who already knew how to read would eagerly assist the special education students with their letters and blends of sounds and that the ability to help those students helped them increase their own sense of worth and ability.

A also found that the students who were not labeled as special education also learned lessons from those who were. In the class I observed there was a special education child who was deaf. Each of the regular education students in the classroom adapted quickly to having a deaf peer in the classroom and they would make a point of being sure to have his attention before they moved on to their play activities on the playground. At the lunch table they made sure to include him as well.

Before observing this classroom I had thought that students this young were unable to give of themselves so selflessly however I found that they are not only able that they take it in stride which creates the foundational understanding and acceptance of the world's diverse nature.

One of the things I thought that turned out to be the case was that Kindergarten students in both classrooms needed time to get the physical energy out several times a day. I watched the teacher as she invented and used letter and number games that allowed the students to jump n place, or make loud noise as they were learning the lessons while at the same time being able to make noise and move about.

Preschool

When I was observing the preschool I began a bit behind because I had not before been in a teaching setting in a preschool.

The teacher of the class asked me to describe in a few sentences what I thought teaching preschool was like and I told her lots of playing and a little learning.

It was through this eight-week observation that I realized how much playing is about learning.

The regular education teacher asked me to develop a lesson that would help them with their fine motor skills and I developed a game that had them place small shapes into empty shaped holes. The lesson I learned from that was that this age bracket has a hard time focusing for very long and I probably would have been better off using an art lesson for them to practice their fine motor skills with.