Kirsten Blomster

Field Experience Multi Culture Setting

ECHD

4/9//2017

Observation 2
 I. Observation 2:
Guidance

II. Grade:
Kindergarten

III. Students:
9 girls, 9 boys

IV. Setting:
Lamonte Annex, Bound Brook NJ
Multi-Age (5-6 years old) classroom, 18 students, 1 head teacher.

V. Pre Observation
I conducted this observation to analyze the guidance in an early childhood
education classroom. I also planned to identify any improvements that could be
made. I selected a kindergarten class from the Lamonte Annex, an elementary
school in Bound Brook, NJ. I set aside a three-hour block to use to observe and
form a running record. To better prepare myself for this observation, I conducted
some research about developmentally appropriate classroom guidance.

VI. Data:
Observations were conducted on March 17, 2017.

- One child is acting out during carpet time. He is talking out of turn and to
other students and he is not sitting properly.
- The teacher tells him to stop or he is going to lose his recess.
- The child begins to cry
- The teacher ignores him and looks annoyed
- The student begins to kick and scream
- The teacher tells him hes lost his recess
- He cries and says he wants his mom
- The teacher then asks him to sit on a chair in the corner
- He sits there crying, disrupting the whole class
- The teacher then stops teaching entirely
- The teacher walks over to the student and tries to console him. She tries to
make him laugh, but it doesnt work
- The rest of the students in the kindergarten classroom became rowdy while the
teacher is dealing with the other student
- Finally, she gets the student who was acting out to stop crying
- He joins the rest of the class again
- The teacher then tries to settle the rest of the class, but has difficulty
- She then threatens that they are all going to lose their recess if they dont quiet
down
- One student raises his hand, open palmed
- The teacher tells him this is not the time for questions or comments
 - He responds that he is simply giving her five which is what the students use
to settle themselves. When they are giving the teacher five, they are quiet and
understand that it is time to behave
- The teacher smiles and thanks the student for his cooperation
- Other students start raising their hands too in support
- Within a minute, all students were quiet and raising their hands to give the
teacher five.
- The teacher then gave them all stickers and went back to teaching the lesson

VII. Analysis:
In this classroom, students were disruptive. The teacher tries to handle the
situation by threatening the student in question. Singling out the one student in
front of the whole class could not have been good for his self-esteem. It only
made him more upset. Additionally, the teacher threatening the student was not a
proper way to deal with the situation. She should have instead promoted good
behavior by offering rewards if he displayed positive actions. However, she
quickly adjusted her tactics once she realized that the threats were only making it
worse and she then instead guided the upset student in the right direction. She
helped him see that there was nothing to be upset about. She convinced him to
rejoin the class with a smile on his face. When the students got rowdy, it was hard
for her to reclaim a handle on them. But she had previously taught her students a
method for quieting down, called giving the teacher five, where a student raises
his or her hand in silence, and the rest of the class follows suit. This method of
guidance saved the day, and allowed the students to continue learning.

VIII. Recommendations:
I think that the teacher demonstrates good guidance skills. They could be better
though; she didnt have to threaten the one student and yell at him in front of the
entire class. Singling him out wasnt developmentally appropriate. I would
recommend that the teacher not yell at her students the way that she did this one
student. I would also recommend that she deals with her students disruptions
privately and away from other students. Maybe she could talk to them during
recess, or pull them aside while the other students are doing busy work.

IX. Post Observation:

This observation went well. The guidance in the classroom was at times
developmentally appropriate, and wasnt at other times. I learned what both ends
of the equation look like, so I now know what to do and what not to do. My
research told me that rewards for good behavior was much better guidance than
punishment for poor behavior. In the end, the teacher followed just that.

X. Citations:
Hart, C. H., Burts, D. C., & Charlesworth, R. (1997). Integrated
curriculum and developmentally appropriate practice: Birth to age eight. New
York: State University of New York Press.