HD-450 OBSRVTN

Observation Culmination

Moises Ruiz

HD-450

S. Bielecki M. Ed

July 16, 2016

RUIZ 1!
HD-450 OBSRVTN

Introduction

The five observations were made at two different programs run by Options for Learning

agency; State Preschool and Surround Care (before and after school-age) programs running on

site at an elementary school in Alhambra, CA. State preschool runs concurrently with the

Alhambra Unified School District calendar and Surround Care run year long, including the

vacation breaks.

State Preschool at Ramona Elementary is a half day program run from 8:45 to 11:45am

the staff observed were; Mrs. Yvonne Romero, Lead Teacher and Ms. Connie, Assistant Teacher

with some parent volunteers. They use High Scope type curriculum for the children which age

range is 3-5 years old. The program provide a wide range of learning goals and do have to assess

the children using the Desired Results Developmental Profile (DRDP) tools and 56 measure to

rate each student in the program. Children also receive lunch as part of the center base food

program on a daily basis.

Surround Care program observed was at Marguerita Elementary site and they were

running their summer program, since the children were already done with the school in May.

Surround Care operates full day care during non-school days and breaks from 6:30 am- 6:00 pm.

They do not have a set curriculum standard, but they do implement: Character Counts, multi-

cultural, S.T.E.A.M., Harvest of the Month-based activities, as well as various other themed

sources. Their summer program staff were: Ms. Diana Freeman, Site Director, Ms. Raj Presab

and Ms. Espie Sanchez are the Assistant Teachers, there are no parent volunteers and their theme

is- Exploring the Seven Continents for the 10.5 week 2016 program.

RUIZ 2!
HD-450 OBSRVTN

Summary of Observations

Observation one focused on classroom management, basically how the class and program

is run. What they do and why they do it. It was fun to how other teachers run their classroom and

how different approaches give the same outcome. One thing that stood out was how active and

engaging the students are. Ive have always worked with school-age because I did not think I

could handle dependent children, but I was surprised how the students have interacted and the

level of understanding they have. The teachers have build a learning around a routine and the

children have benefitted greatly this. From a sing-a-long to just open-ended questions the

interaction and knowledge exchange was nice to observe.

Observation two focused on classroom set-up, where things are in the classroom.

I love how the classroom is geared to learning and self-responsibility. All items are at the childs

level and designed for them to want to use and interact with. The amount of toy that are

strategically placed throughout the classroom is amazing. Each area with a specific set of toys

geared towards learning. Toys in the cabinets are labeled with pictures, words in two languages,

so that children are responsible to put things back when they are done playing with them. The

placement of their work is always great to see and even greater when they have a sense of

ownership of the classroom.

Third and final observation with State Preschool was instructional strategies, how the

teacher teach the students. It not so obvious to an untrained eye, but parents often criticize that

they don't do anything but play, but we know play is an essential and integral part of learning.

The teacher made this foamy goopy substance and the children were actively learning and

RUIZ 3!
HD-450 OBSRVTN

experiencing the sensations. The classroom was loud but not crazy loud, but fun loud, you can

hear the learning process from their excitement. Children were even creating things out of the

goop and showing it to everyone. It was learning at itss finest, when hidden under the guise

of play (Ballinger, 2009).

The fourth observation was done at the Surround Care program and focused on student

behavior. At this age childrens personalities are much more concrete then the previous stage.

Here you have a large group of ages ranging from 5- 12 years old, not including those who are

special needs. Student behavioral issues are more common in this age group and many conflicts

arise from this. When you have older students manipulating the smaller ones (or vice versa) then

we get into the realm of bullying and/or shaming. Also there is not one size fit all method of

discipline. What works for one student does not alway work for another. Seeing the teachers

come up with various techniques is quite taxing at best. Many of the issue also can stem form

home life and parental control (or lack there of).

The fifth and final observation was also done with Surround Care program and daily

focused on a specific child and her developmental level. Observing the four areas: cognitive,

social, emotional and physical aspects of the child. The child observed was named Serena and

she is a 5 year old girl who is going into first grade in the fall. It was observed that her behavior,

choice or words and actions are very disruptive to the class in general. Serena requires more of a

one-on-one guidance and support, she has no boundaries and personal space with herself and

peers. She tends to seek attention any way she can and sometimes in a negative way, teachers

have to focus their energies to have her comply. Serena also smiles when being disciplined which

aggravates the situation, and she runs away or hides when confronted. At the school-age level the

RUIZ 4!
HD-450 OBSRVTN

staff are confronted with unevaluated and undiagnosed children already in the program and it

causes some disruptions in the day to day operation of the program as well as conflicts within the

students.

Analysis

State Preschool goals are set to guide and prepare the students for elementary school.

They have a set of guidelines and goals that each student must reach as well as assess the

students using the state DRDP tool and bi-yearly Progress Form for conferences. There is a clear

focus on the goal, which are hidden with each activity and play. The classroom is designed to

enhance learning, and is sectioned off so that each area provides a different goal. Like the

House Area is used to promote socializing among the students through exploration of play with

each other. The Science/STEM Area enhances the biology learning with live animals/

classroom pets, where children learn about reptiles and fish, or building using various blocks to

create structures through engineering curriculum. Human beings, and children in particular, are

drawn to sensory and aesthetic properties of materials (Curtis & Carter, 2008, pg. 60).

Multi-Cultural is prevalent in the classroom reflecting it student body and ethnic origins,

in this case predominately Chinese background. There are a number of displayed material

reflecting asian culture including the labels in each cubby and cabinets where toys are placed

when not in use. There are 2 visual cues including a picture of what needs to be placed such as a

catalogue image of a particular toy and written name of the toy in English and Chinese. This

provided an inclusive environment to the class as well as the Assistant Teacher, Ms. Connie,

speaking fluent Chinese and help the children learn and get that extra assistance. We all need to

RUIZ 5!
HD-450 OBSRVTN

know how to function within a larger group and be able to accept our differences (Tertell, Klien

& Jewett, 1998, pg.99).

Relevance & Theory

State Preschool has many children that are on the same stage or similar stages of

development, there we can see more uniformity in growth and learning. The students are all

learning to count, read, write, play and make social connections. Most students are in Piagets

Pre-operational stage, where as the students are now familiar with symbols that represent objects

(like words and pictures) they pretend, but do not yet reason logically (McLeod, 2009). The

students are learning the letters represent sounds and learning to sound out while they write their

names, as demonstrated when the preschool students started their day in class by writing their

names, they are learning cognitive skills by writing. Socially and emotionally the students tend to

be at Ericksons third stage of development; Initiative vs. guilt. The students begin to initiate

their own games without being directed by teacher (Erickson, 1988). For example, when they

are in the house area, they role play amongst themselves and come up with their own stories. The

student are emerging in many ways and it is demonstrated in the kinds of play or pretend

games they initiate.

Surround Care differs more so than Preschool, because most all the children are older and

in a different developmental stage then a 4 year old (although Kindergarten children share many

attributes along with preschool students). Most children are learning: how things work,

organize, classify and understand new concepts (Erickson, 1988). They are emerging into

Ericksons fourth stage of development; Industry vs. Inferiority. Their cognitive skills are

growing as they learn new concepts, and participate in group discussions like there was after

RUIZ 6!
HD-450 OBSRVTN

reading a story about bullying the older children discussed what it meant to them, and some

shared stories of what theyve seen or heard. The younger children understood the concept, but

only that it was wrong and that some used bad words. However all the children are seeking to

belong and need love, which is part of psychological needs reflected in Maslows hierarchy

(McLeod, 2007), there is a drive for them to form groups and build friendships.

Reflection

Seeing both program from a different point of view was interesting to see. Although State

Preschool program share the classroom with Surround Care during the school year at Ramona

Elementary, I have interacted but never observed the program through a students eye, mostly as a

co-worker and colleague. This gave me objectivity to see how they run and operated a different

program in the same environment. It was nice to see the students that are not my own or in the

age bracket that I am accustomed to, interact with the teachers and surroundings. I had always

believed, or at least told myself, that I did not have the patience and tact to run a pre-school aged

program. I always though they were babies that needed too much coddling and were too

dependent on adults, this observation taught me other wise. I felt very at easy and comfortable

with the pre-schoolers and maybe if I had the change cold teach in that classroom.

With Surround Care I know the program from beginning to end, but observing another

classroom I thought I was going to see the same things, same routine, etc. It was not the case,

I do firmly believe that teacher and students set the tone in the classroom. When there are many

special needs/un-diagnosed children mainstreamed into the same program, there can be chaotic.

Not to mention the staff who may or may not be adequately trained to handle some children,

which also can compound the situation, making it frustrating to both teacher and students. The

RUIZ 7!
HD-450 OBSRVTN

fact that there is no established policy in dealing with the children that are in the gray-zone of

social, or learning, disabilities is hurting then overall program and the families they serve. Until

it is address we will continue to face issue like: teacher burn-out, suspension, high turn-over rates

and dissatisfied employees.

I am reminded of a Epictetus quote we have two ears and one mouth, so we can listen

twice as much as we speak (Igoa, 1995). Hopefully, especially with the recent violence in the

world, we begin to listen to each other, thus avoiding violent resolutions. We are sending the

wrong message to our youths.

RUIZ 8!
HD-450 OBSRVTN

References

Ballenger, Cynthia (2009) Puzzling Moments, Teachable Moments: Practicing teacher research
in urban classrooms." New York, NY: Teacher College Press

Curtis, D. & Carter, M. (2008) Learning Together with Young Children: A Curriculum
framework for reflective teacher. Saint Paul, MN.: Redleaf Press.

Delpit, Lisa (1995) Other Peoples Children: Cultural conflict in the classroom. New York, NY:
W.W. Norton & Company, Inc.

Erickson, J. (1988) Wisdom and the Senses: The way of creativity. New York, NY.: W. W.
Norton & Company Ltd.

Igoa, Cristina (1995) The Inner World of the Immigrant Child. Yahweh, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum
Assoc., Inc., Publishers

McLeod, S. (2009) Jean Piaget. Retrieved from http://www.simplypsychology.org/piaget.html

McLeod, S. (2007) Maslows Hierarchy of Needs. Retrieved from http://

www.simplypsychology.org/maslow.html#classroom

Mena, Janet (2008) Diversity in Early Care and Education: Honoring differences New York,
NY: McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.

Terrell, E., Klein, S. & Jewett, J. (1998) "When Teachers Reflect: Journeys towards effective,
inclusive practice." Washington, DC: NAEYC

RUIZ 9!