This week I was in the pre-k classroom for the first time, and it was a really different experience compared to the kindergarten classroom. The children's behavior was the first thing that was very different. In kindergarten, the children very much so wanted to participate, talk, and interact. While I observed the two teachers teach the pre-k children, I noticed this group was the opposite of the kindergarteners. The pre-k children have a hard time answering simple questions, and it seems difficult to get them to engage.
This week, I mostly got to observe two teachers teach a lesson on the sense of touch. I did get to briefly interact with two children in a small group activity. This is where I was able to work more towards my goal. My goal is to become more comfortable when working with English Language Learners. I made this my goal, because it's sometimes hard for me to understand what the children are saying, and I honestly feel really bad asking them to repeat what they've said. This week, I worked with two children, one boy and one girl. The boy was very easy to understand, and I'm assuming that English was his first language. The girl on the other hand, spoke very soft, and it was difficult to understand her. I'm not sure if she was an English Language Learner, or if she was just shy, because she didn't know me.
During the interaction with the little girl, I was supposed to have her close her eyes and place an orange on her leg and a baseball on her arm. She was then supposed to guess which one was touching her arm. During this little activity, she struggled with keeping her eyes closed. I'm not sure if she was just afraid or nervous, because she didn't know me or any of the teachers in the classroom. Another thought was (if she is an English Language Learner) maybe this activity or telling her to "keep her eyes closed" didn't make sense. Reflecting back, I think this might have been the case. If this was my lesson and I was going to teach it again to a group I know would have English Language Learners, I might include a picture to help demonstrate what it means to "keep your eyes closed". This is something we've talked about in 276 along with most of my other classes. Lots of times pictures will help children who aren't as familiar with the language, because they can visually see what they're supposed to be doing. Instead of having to listen to directions, process, and try to figure out what they're supposed to do.
In the second part of the activity, I was supposed to have her put both hands out in front of her and place an orange in one hand and the baseball in the other hand. She was then supposed to guess which item was in which hand. Again, she struggled keeping her eyes closed, and she also didn't really understand what it meant to guess which item was in which hand. Reflecting back, this may have been because of a language barrier. Again if I was teaching this lesson to a similar group, I'd probably have pictures printed off to represent what I wanted them to do. Another idea I had was to maybe do a "trial" run first, so that she could understand the concept of closing her eyes, putting her hands out in front of her, feeling two items, and guessing which was which. Thinking back again, I think my directions to her may also not have been clear. When working with English Language Learners, it's very important to give very simple and clear instructions, and I'm not sure I did that with her. This is something we've talked about a lot in 276 and also in many of my other classes. This is actually an accommodation we had to make for our Bag-It project. This maybe something I can work on next in order to move towards my goal.
EXCEEDS: I went over the word count and I commented on Kacie's post
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