My job as a preschool aide has taught me a lot of things but one of the lessons I was reminded of recently was to lead the child lead. That everything I do with the children in group activities should be led and initiated by the children, and that I am merely their to follow along and assist.
I had four 3 year old boys with me and I asked them to draw a picture of themselves. I had envisioned adorable pictures with figures shaped like a ball/potato with some odd lines sticking out that were meant to be body parts. What I got instead from them was colorful scribble with no discernible pattern . I had them draw 3 seperate drawings and they all turned out to be colorful scribble. I was a bit worried I had someone explained the project in a wrong way to the boys but they were all very clear on the fact that the scribble were self-portraits. So I gave up and inquired about the drawing abilities of a 3 year old. Turns out they are still prone to scrabbling at this age :)
And I had the children point out their body parts among the scribble and they all did it with gusto. As it turns out they had a pretty arty perspective of their own selves but it was adorable. And the children were very proud of their projects which is what is most important.
I was able to get over my own pride that their projects must be perfect and should be in a certain way and enjoy them for what they were:the truly adorable scribbles of enthusiastic 3 year olds.
Friday, October 12, 2012
Monday, October 1, 2012
Multiethnic dolls
One of the things we are commited to doing at my preschool is exposing the children to various foreign cultures and languages and promoting a multicultar worldview. We do this pretty well, it´s a part of our daily routine and play and the children react well to it.
One of the things we are very careful about is exposing the children to the fact that there exist all sorts of skin colours out there. Although the biggest part of the group of children and workers are Scandinavian/European Caucasians, as a multi-ethnic preschool we got all sorts of races within our community. And one of the ways we expose the children to the normalcy of people having a different skin color/look is through our selection of toys, precisely our dolls.
Right now we have a collection of 7 dolls for the children to play with and they all represent various racial and ethnical identities. We have 2 African dolls (black skin), 1 Hispanic, 2 Asian and 2 Caucasian. It may not sound like a lot but hopefully, through this as well having a multiethnic group of children we can teach our children that skin colors vary but that it´s normal. If they grow up used to others looking completely differently than themselves, we are hopefully bringing up the next of culturally aware and open-minded children.
One of the things we are very careful about is exposing the children to the fact that there exist all sorts of skin colours out there. Although the biggest part of the group of children and workers are Scandinavian/European Caucasians, as a multi-ethnic preschool we got all sorts of races within our community. And one of the ways we expose the children to the normalcy of people having a different skin color/look is through our selection of toys, precisely our dolls.
Right now we have a collection of 7 dolls for the children to play with and they all represent various racial and ethnical identities. We have 2 African dolls (black skin), 1 Hispanic, 2 Asian and 2 Caucasian. It may not sound like a lot but hopefully, through this as well having a multiethnic group of children we can teach our children that skin colors vary but that it´s normal. If they grow up used to others looking completely differently than themselves, we are hopefully bringing up the next of culturally aware and open-minded children.
Tuesday, September 4, 2012
Paper snafuz
Yesterday I was doodling around with a few 4 year old girls while they were drawing and I decided to cut out some butterflies for them to draw which they liked.
A few minutes later I am told that we generally don´t cut out things/patterns for the children to draw on. So I stopped.
Why is it that so many things are not allowed?
A few minutes later I am told that we generally don´t cut out things/patterns for the children to draw on. So I stopped.
Why is it that so many things are not allowed?
Wednesday, August 15, 2012
Special Needs and behaviour
One of the things I have ran into at my job is that it´s alarmingly obvious that I need to raise my tolerance of disruptive behaviour from special needs children. I have been working with children for many years and one mentored a young child diagnosed with multiple behavioral disorders. I have studied developmental psychology, had an autistic friend and I naively thought I was quite experienced and ready to handle disruptive behaviour due to special needs because after all I was not a complete novice. But after I started working in a preschool setting, my attitude completely changed.
I realized that while I have certain experience (which has served me well) I still have very much to learn. So many times when dealing with special needs children and their behaviour, I tend to get very frustrated and that leads to me not dealing with the situation adequately. Instead of keeping my calm and using alternative methods to deal with the children (so often, the standard discplinging methods do not work) I end up using the typical methods and expecting that particular SN child to respond to them like a non-special needs child would. And of course they don´t.
So my job has made me start seeking out alternative methods to dealing with SN children and their behaviour and finally admit to myself how much I still have left to learn. Now I try to concentrate when things get tough on not losing my head and try using alternative methods. It´s a work in constant progress but I am getting better at it day by day.
My favourite methods to use with SN children are the distrace method (after redirecting the behavior (and that doesn´t work) the child is removed from the situation and given something else to do) and the storytelling method (get the child to do something by telling it an interesting story). I am still working on the distracting method but the storytelling method is a gem because it´s really easy for me to make up stories.
There are many things for me to learn and I am thankful to be in a job where I can learn so much practical knowledge.
I realized that while I have certain experience (which has served me well) I still have very much to learn. So many times when dealing with special needs children and their behaviour, I tend to get very frustrated and that leads to me not dealing with the situation adequately. Instead of keeping my calm and using alternative methods to deal with the children (so often, the standard discplinging methods do not work) I end up using the typical methods and expecting that particular SN child to respond to them like a non-special needs child would. And of course they don´t.
So my job has made me start seeking out alternative methods to dealing with SN children and their behaviour and finally admit to myself how much I still have left to learn. Now I try to concentrate when things get tough on not losing my head and try using alternative methods. It´s a work in constant progress but I am getting better at it day by day.
My favourite methods to use with SN children are the distrace method (after redirecting the behavior (and that doesn´t work) the child is removed from the situation and given something else to do) and the storytelling method (get the child to do something by telling it an interesting story). I am still working on the distracting method but the storytelling method is a gem because it´s really easy for me to make up stories.
There are many things for me to learn and I am thankful to be in a job where I can learn so much practical knowledge.
Tuesday, July 17, 2012
Speak Up - the subject of telling each other off
One of the things I have ran into at my job is the issue of teaching children (especially girls) to speak up. When it comes to the children hurting themselves, preschool teacher´s seem to have an inherent ability to hear the child cry and instantly respond to it and inquire what´s wrong. Children cry because they are hurt and they know that if they cry someone will come and help them. That´s a part of the job of preschool teachers, to be there for the children when they get hurt and thus teach them and offer the reassurance that they are cared for, help them address negative feelings and move on.
Children are alsovocal when it comes to another child hurting them or having done them injustice. They come to the teachers again and again (it can get rather close to nagging) and tell each other off. It´s up the teachers to respond to the children and address the issue at hand, be it reprimanding ("you do not hit your friend"), explaining ("you can both share"/"she´s feeling hurt because of....") or just affirming that there is no reason for nagging ("she has the same right as you to play).
And when the situation is serious, to address it immediately and take action. Let the child know it does not deserve to be hurt or treated in that way and address the wrongful action and reprimand the wrongdoer.
Children are vocal in my experience when they know they can tell adults and that they´ll help them. While it can get extremely tiring for the adults (and it´s necessary to teach the children the difference between telling and nagging) it affirms that the children trust the adults around them. That is a very important thing for the children to learn. That they can trust the big people in their lives to help them and care for them. While having the children constantly telling each other off can be very tiring it´s important to respond to the children. It shows them, that while their reason for telling off might be silly, they are worth listening to and that adults respond to them and value their voice.
In this day where sexual abuse is becoming more and more common as well as bullying it´s important that we teach our children to speak up and be vocal about their experiences and what has happened to them. They need to know that they will be taken care of and that adults will help them and that they do not deserve to have bad things happen to them (beyond the general daily scuffing). And their opinions and voices are important and matter.
I admit I can get extremely tired of the constant nagging and constant reprimanding/redirection/explaining and what not. But if that means that I am teaching the children that adults will listen and that their voices matter and that they should speak up, my annoyance is a small price to pay.
Children are alsovocal when it comes to another child hurting them or having done them injustice. They come to the teachers again and again (it can get rather close to nagging) and tell each other off. It´s up the teachers to respond to the children and address the issue at hand, be it reprimanding ("you do not hit your friend"), explaining ("you can both share"/"she´s feeling hurt because of....") or just affirming that there is no reason for nagging ("she has the same right as you to play).
And when the situation is serious, to address it immediately and take action. Let the child know it does not deserve to be hurt or treated in that way and address the wrongful action and reprimand the wrongdoer.
Children are vocal in my experience when they know they can tell adults and that they´ll help them. While it can get extremely tiring for the adults (and it´s necessary to teach the children the difference between telling and nagging) it affirms that the children trust the adults around them. That is a very important thing for the children to learn. That they can trust the big people in their lives to help them and care for them. While having the children constantly telling each other off can be very tiring it´s important to respond to the children. It shows them, that while their reason for telling off might be silly, they are worth listening to and that adults respond to them and value their voice.
In this day where sexual abuse is becoming more and more common as well as bullying it´s important that we teach our children to speak up and be vocal about their experiences and what has happened to them. They need to know that they will be taken care of and that adults will help them and that they do not deserve to have bad things happen to them (beyond the general daily scuffing). And their opinions and voices are important and matter.
I admit I can get extremely tired of the constant nagging and constant reprimanding/redirection/explaining and what not. But if that means that I am teaching the children that adults will listen and that their voices matter and that they should speak up, my annoyance is a small price to pay.
Wednesday, July 4, 2012
This blog
Who am I?
I am a 20-something Nordic girl that´s on leave from University, whom through various bizarre turns of events (which included volunteer work and a disastrous au-pair adventure) ended up on the job market. I am currently working at a lovely, if a little bizarre, preschool and have been there for 5 months and will work there until end of December most likely..
What is the preschool like?
It´s a popular public preschool set in a very family orientated neighborhood in a city located somewhere in Scandinavia. It has children aged 2-6 years old and it´s motto is: "Respect, joy, creativity". It emphasizes outdoor education, art, literature and language and creativity. It´s a preschool that is open to everyone, every child and worker and everyone is accepted on their own terms.
What is my work area?
I work as a teacher´s aide with a class of 24 children aged 3-5 year old. My work is mostly directly taking care of the children and ensuring their needs are met. And taking care of most of the "dirty" jobs in the class. I am also in charge of "game time" where I concentrate on developing their language skills through games and fun play.
Why this blog?
Throughout my work I have discovered a lot about myself and learned a lot. There are many things to the job and everyday I feel like I am learning more and more. It´s a very worthwhile job and it gives me a lot to think about it so I need an outlet to share my thoughts.
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