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7. Questioning Style

The teacher uses both close ended and open ended questions during structured group

activities, circle time, and center time. For the close ended questions during structured group

activities and during circle time the teacher would ask the students “What are you building? Are

you building a bed? A measuring stick?” to the students at the block center measure spatial

intelligence according to Gardner’s Multiple Intelligences Theory. The teacher would ask these

close-ended questions to the children to get them thinking about spatial intelligences and

about different units in math and logic with different sized blocks to install logic and spatial

relationships in the child’s mind.

The teacher also uses open-ended questions for the children during structured group

activities, circle time, and center time. During circle time, she would ask the children to do what

the characters were doing from the book, and have them act it out. Using open ended

questions, the teacher would ask the children about their own cultures during circle time. The

teachers would ask questions such as “What food are you eating today? What did Mom pack

you for lunch?” in order to teach the other children about different cultures. For example, one

child is from India and often eats different foods from the other children, and the children at

the table were curious as to what Indian food was compared to other foods, such as chicken

nuggets and sandwiches which are more familiar to American children. It shows Gardner’s

Multiple Intelligences for the Interpersonal Intelligence Area.

The teachers ask both open-ended and closed-ended questions for the children but

prefer asking open-ended questions because they want the children to learn for themselves.

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The open-ended questions help the children to develop different skills and learn through

different activities during center time, group time, and structured group activities at the

different centers.

8. Teaching Strategies

The teachers use Vygotsky’s Theory of scaffolding and Bandura’s Social Cognitive Theory

of modeling to enhance children’s learning through play, food, and circle time. For Vygotsky’s

theory of scaffolding, the teachers use hints, advice and structure in order to teach the children

about playing soccer. The teacher has the children come outside in a line and sets up cones and

balls big enough for four to five year olds to kick around. When the children manage to get the

ball around the cones they are praised and encouraged to keep going. The coach and teacher

give hints to the children on what direction the ball is supposed to be heading in when being

kicked, and advice on when to kick the ball and where to push the ball with their feet. This

scaffolding is structured because the children know that every Friday they will have soccer

lessons during outdoor play.

Bandura’s Social Cognitive Theory of Modeling was also used by the teachers to

enhance children’s learning. The teachers used Bandura’s Social Cognitive Theory of Modeling

during circle time and outside play. For example, during circle time the teacher would choose

the child that was behaving the most to sit next to her and who would go first to eat lunch. This

way, the children will know that in order to wash their hands and get ready to eat, they have to

behave first in order for the teacher to call on them to go wash their hands and to go eat lunch.

The students will learn to follow the other students who listen and follow the teacher’s

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directions so that they can get a turn to go and eat lunch first. The students will also try to

follow the teacher’s example of waiting for their name to be called in order to go and eat lunch

instead of everyone going to the tables all together and creating a huge mess.

9. Adapting to the Strengths, Needs or Culture of All Children

The teacher adapts teaching practices to meet individual strengths, needs, and cultures

of the children in the classroom through asking questions about where each child would like to

go for center time, what each center has, which center each child has a preference for, and

which centers children need more to learn about. For the culturally responsive environment,

the classroom is hospitable for the children since the walls are filled with artwork the children

have made themselves and everything is at a height that a 4-5 year old child could reach. For

the social studies environment, the teacher did not talk about different cultures but instead

counted to ten in different languages and brought in souvenirs from different countries to show

the children. In music and games, the teachers would always have music playing in the

background, and when it was circle time the teacher would start off by singing a song and

asking who was ready to come and help her with the calendar and weather. The blocks are not

representative of various cultural groups but help with the children with learning different units.

In language arts, the classroom has a variety of books that are age appropriate for the children,

but there is no cultural diversity in the books for the children. Also, the children do not have

cooking experiences but do talk about different foods from around the world. For example,

with language arts the teacher would count from one to ten in English, and then repeat in

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Spanish and Chinese. Last week the children listened to someone from India count from one to

thirty, and the teacher had everybody repeat after him so they could learn a new language.

In an inclusive environment, the physical environment is full of toys that children of all

ages can use safely, and are clearly labeled in English and Spanish. In the visual environment,

the carpet used for circle time is vibrant and full of colors to differentiate the seven continents

and what can be found there, the window shades are drawn high enough for the child to see

the weather, visual clutter is avoided but changing what is on the walls for different themes.

Spot lighting is unavailable as the classroom is always brightly lit up in order to see things

clearly but different materials are used throughout the classroom. For example, in the physical

environment the sandbox is full of buckets and shovels that 3 to 6 year olds can use. However,

since almost all the classes are together for physical activity outside there are not enough

shovels for the children who want to go to the sandbox and can result in tears. An example of

the visual environment is when the teacher chooses to do an activity that deals with what the

children were learning. For example, last week the children were learning about different

materials used in making Hershey’s Kisses wrappers and the teacher used foil to show them

how to make their own wrappers out of it.

10. Managing Learning Behaviors

The teacher uses giving children choices and natural and logical consequences from the

“Ten Essential Guiding Strategies” from chapter 7 by allowing each child to decide on which

station he/she wants to go to, and natural and logical consequences by telling them what

would happen if they did not listen and obey the teacher right that moment. After circle time,

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each the teacher calls each child by name and asks which station they would like to go to. For

example, she would call student X and ask “Would you like to go to the painting station, block

area, writing center or dramatic play area?” That way, each child will get the chance to go the

center he/she wants to first rather than having the teacher make the choice for them. After

each child is finished at the first center, they can choose which center they want to go to next.

For example, after student X goes to the writing center first, then she may choose to go to the

dramatic play area. That way the student chooses the stations and the order they want to go in.

Another way the teacher uses the “Ten Essential Guidance Strategies” is by using

natural and logical consequences. For example, one student tried to choke another student by

putting him in a headlock. The natural and logical consequence was that the first student was

taken aside, put on yellow where parents were called, and banned from doing circle time

activities while sitting in time out. After putting a student in a chokehold the natural

consequence would be to admonish the child in front of the others; however, the logical

consequence would be to take the child out and admonish them softly so the other children

won’t hear, and tell him/her what else would be happening. After this incident, the teacher did

not allow the child to go to any of the centers and had him sit with her, move the student back

down a level to one of the lower classes where there are not that many students, and called

their parents.

11. Circle Time Activity

A circle time activity from start to finish includes the children doing the calendar by

putting what was yesterday, today, and tomorrow along with their dates in the calendar slots,

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doing the weather, reading a book together, learning the numbers, and deciding what child

should go to a certain station. According to the Circle Time Presentation Scoring Rubric, the

circle time at the observation site is good with the materials because it is a low level of

creativity and ready to use; however, there are not a lot of student-made material in the area

but instead are scattered on the room’s walls. The written plan is excellent because the activity

plan form is detailed with what will be taught this week and how it will be taught, is age

appropriate for four to five year olds and uses correct spelling and grammar in the descriptions.

With presentation, the observation site is good because there is high opportunity for group

involvement in each of the activities. The degree of challenge is sufficient because when

choosing the words “yesterday, today, tomorrow” to put in the calendar is hard for some

children but the teacher gives hints about which word is which to each child who goes up and

puts the word in the correct place. When asking open-ended questions and encouraging the

students, the teacher would score a “excellent” because she would nod or shake her head if the

student got it right or wrong and would reward them with a high five at the end of their turn.

She also presents information and terminology at the right times, but often times once she tells

them the word and the meaning they do not repeat it unless at a center with her. However, her

body language is appropriate with her voices, eye contact with each student, facial expressions,

and gestures when teaching during circle time. She uses developmentally appropriate practices

for the children in the “good” or “excellent” area of the circle time scoring rubric.

12. Room Arrangement

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In the classroom, the bathrooms and computer tables are right next to the door on

opposite sides so the bathrooms are on the right and the computers are on the left. Farther in

and straight ahead is the manipulatives center with the circle time area and bookshelf right

next to it. Next to the circle time area on the left is the block center, the dramatic play center

and a door that leads outside. Overlooking these three centers are three windows with the

shades drawn and enough space is let through to let the children see what the weather is like

outside. On top of the manipulatives center is the rice table, and the science table is right next

to the rice table in order for the children to dig up toys. There are three tables-a circle table, a

long rectangle table, and a octagon table for the children. The teacher’s table hugs the wall and

is tall enough for the children to reach if they need something, and the cots are right next to the

refrigerator behind the circle table, stacked up so they don’t get in the way. The circle, octagon,

and rectangle tables are set next to each other and in front of a play center so it’s easier to

clean and get to by the children. Based on the “Six Criteria of Room Arrangement”, two

improvements I would make to enhance the room arrangement and have it to have a larger

area for dramatic play and an area for science. There is a science area, but it is only composed

of a table with some plants and other small experiments that the children have done and put

on display. I would make the science center a little bit larger instead of putting it next to the

computers and only having their experiments and plants on that table, since the children a ll like

the experiments being done. I would also make the dramatic play area larger because the

children who play there often go into other areas and the toys there spill out as well, and

sometimes there isn’t enough space to put all the different toys in a specific area. For example,

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they have a toy cash register but it will open up by itself and spill out sometimes, and there’s

nowhere to put it since all the other open areas where the toys are put are full.

13. Activity or Interest Areas or Centers

Activity centers are managed by all the teachers. While some centers may need one

teacher for the activity, they keep an eye on the center next to them in order to make sure that

nothing goes wrong. For example, last week the children were making “-ot” word books and

the art/writing center was next to the block center, and so the teacher at the art/writing center

would help the children write the words down and at the same time watched the children at

the block area to make sure that no one was accidentally hit by the blocks. The art/writing

center has two large easels for painting, and a small bookshelf for holding scissors, glue, paper,

and journals for the children to write in. The block center has a carpet of a street map and the

blocks are on a shelf hugging the wall. There is a small shelf that separates the dramatic play

area and the block center, and the dramatic play center has different costumes for the children

to dress up in. In the outdoor activity center, there are toys that children ages three to five can

play with, and are usually not rotated around and stay outside. One improvement I would make

for indoor activity centers include changing up the costumes in the dramatic play area so the

children do not always have to play in the same dress-up clothes, and can create something

new with new clothes.

One improvement I would make for the outdoor centers is to get more shovels and

smaller handheld toys that children can use. Last week at the sandbox there were only two

shovels for six to seven children, and whenever the shovel was free it was instantly snatched up

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by the older children so the younger children had to use their hands to pick the sand up. If

there were more shovels the children could take turns with it instead of having to wait for the

older kids to finish playing because the younger children leave the playground earlier than the

older children do.

14. Weekly Schedules and Lesson/Activity Plans

If I were a substitute in the class, the schedule would be enough to guide in

implementing the activities and programs because the teacher’s name is written under the

activity, and what the children will be learning each week. For example, in the “group time”

area, the activities for Monday through Friday are calendar, song, weather, and word family of

the week and reviewing what they had learned the past week. The theme is repeated each

month. For example, the weekly schedule talked about “March: Week 3-‘OT’ word family”, and

what the groups would be doing. For story time, the children would be reading books like

“Mouse’s First Fall”, “Leaves” by David Ezra Stein, “Ox Cart Man” by Barbara Cooney and “Fall

Changes” by Ellen B. Senisi. With small group activities they would be doing a different sensory

or practicing writing and doing fall related activities. With the special activities, it would change

on what day it is, and what activity is scheduled for that day. Some changes I would recommend

to make the schedule or plans more effective and helpful to a substitute teacher is to have a

sample already done for the children. For example, on Tuesday the special activity was to

“Make handprint shamrocks” after St. Patrick’s Day. For that, the teacher could talk about what

else we do to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day here and other activities that children could do as well

that is easy to clean up and will not be too messy. Another thing that could help is to have a

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backup plan ready in case something happens, like running out of green paint or the school is

shut down by bad weather.