So in my
first entry I feel a lot of my anxieties overshadowed my excitement for
starting this new journey. This past week has been a crazy one for me, a lot
has happened and at the same time we’ve been doing classroom setup and had our
open house for the new families. And from my involvement I actually have gained
some confidence and got more excited.
Firstly,
I’ve learned I can really trust my team. At first I was intimidated because two
people on our team have a lot of experience with these children and had a
strong leadership presence. This was especially uneasy for me because I am used
to the one being in the leadership position so just not being that part of the
team was an adjustment to me. But really, these women are wonderful, they’re
patient and very happy to share their knowledge. When we were setting up the
classroom they shared ideas and if they thought something was not the best idea
they told me why so I felt like I was learning rather than being chastised.
They were also happy to show me where everything was which is always a tough
part of being in a new place. I’m actually very grateful for the time we had to
set up before the children were there because I do feel more comfortable and
bonded with the team which makes me feel better overall.
The biggest
confidence builder this week was the open house where our new families came to
visit the classroom. Despite all my anxieties about what I don’t know yet, I do
know one thing well – I can connect with the children. I was immediately
comfortable engaging the children in activities and getting to know them.
Talking to parents was actually easier than I thought to, it is amazing how
responsive somebody will be to you when they see you are enjoying their child
and care about their concerns. Within five minutes of having children in the
classroom I had forget all the things in my mind I was worried about and I was
having fun. And I was so happy the children were enjoying the materials we had
put out, that gave me more confidence in the choices that were made when
setting up the classroom. It also made
me a lot more excited. A couple of the children I already felt I really
connected with, especially one who clung to my leg when it was time to leave. It
was a nice reminder that I’m a good fit for this and if I can connect with the
children naturally then the learning specific skills and techniques will come
with time and I will be fine.
Which is
wonderful because now that I’m calmer and those anxious emotions are subdued a
bit that leaves room for excitement. I’m excited to get to know all the
children and their different personalities. I’m excited to try new activities,
get messy, and form relationships with these children and their families. I
already got plenty messy at open house because we put paints out for the
children. It is so fun to see the different personalities – a couple kids
shoved their hands into the paint and were happy having paint all over their
hands, arms, face, and goodness knows what else. Another children enjoyed the
painting with the paintbrush but wanted to wash her hands every time a drop got
on her hands. We had a couple children loudly trying to get as much attention
as possible and another child who was more timid and didn’t want to participate
much. In that short amount of time I learned a lot of this job is reassuring
parents that their children are doing normal child things – children will mix
paint, spill things, get loud, mix materials, and just generally explore in
ways that are meaningful to them. All of this is okay but the parents looked so
nervous every time the kids did any of this and need reassurance, which is
making me realize just how important it is to build trusting relationships with
the parents.
Mixing paint is actually a great way to learn about how to make different colors |
I feel bad
for them too, there is so much pressure to have perfect, quiet children which
aren’t really developmentally appropriate expectations. I used to be guilty of
this but learning more about developmental stages I became more patient and
adjusted my expectations a bit. Don’t get me wrong, there is a balance to
achieve between having realistic expectations and teaching children how to
behave in certain settings, I’m not saying we should not guide children. But we
do need to realize we are often placing children in environments that are
difficult for them and then get irritated when the children behave at their
developmental level. This comes into play a lot when designing both our
environment and our schedule. We try to have a balance of child guided and
adult guided activities that have developmentally appropriate expectations of
how long children will engage in different types of activities. We structure
the environment to give children outlets for their energy and desires to move
but in a safe way – for example we have slides and areas for them to bounce but
set up the room in a way where they don’t have space to run and be unsafe
inside.
So next
week along with working I will also be taking five classes. This sounds like a
lot but I’m confident I can handle it, when I was working on my bachelor’s my final
semester I had five upper division classes, a job, and an internship. Speaking
of internships my schedule this semester was not quite what I was planning. For
one class I need to do six intern hours per week and I was hoping to do those
hours on Tues/Thurs when I wasn’t working at the center. Unfortunately there
wasn’t a placement that worked with my class schedule so we decided that six of
my working hours would be unpaid and count for the internship class.
This is
both good and bad. The downside is that I’m losing out on six hours of pay and
I could really use the money, and it is always a bit of a bummer when you plan
something out and it doesn’t go that way. But there are plenty of positives to
this arrangement. The internship expects us to do a certain amount of
observing, planning, and implementing activities as well as taking a leadership
position in the classroom. I’m lucky because instead of having to do this in a
newer place I’m in an environment I know, with a lead teacher and other apprentices
I trust, and kids that I do have some experience with (at least some of the
class). Also since the center is at the college I’m doing the intern class
through they have a clear idea of the expectations of the class and know how to
help me complete everything I need. Not to mention this will give me time or
study or do other things on Tues/Thurs and not be as busy and stressed. So
overall I’m grateful it worked out this way.
So overall
I’m happy and excited for next week. I did just order my books a couple days
ago, oops! But I’m sure that will be fine, and I’m sure there will be another
entry or two next week as I settle into things. I hope you’re enjoying reading
this as much as I’m enjoying writing this.
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