Running head: PEDAGOGY PROJECT 1

Pedagogy Project

EDCI 3382

Mary Jane Walker

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Introduction

Within early childhood education, there are various methods of enhancing the

development and learning within the classroom. Teachers must use their knowledge and

judgment to make decisions about what types of material, interactions, and learning experiences

will be most effective for the group as well as each individual child. In this paper, we are going

to take a look at some of the teaching strategies and learning formats I have witnessed within my

own placement during this fall 2018 semester.

Classroom Summary

My current placement is within the LSU early childhood education laboratory school, and

my mentor teacher is Ms. Kelleigh Berryhill. The LSU ECE Lab school is considered to be a

private school. It can also be classified as a small urban school. The Classroom I am placed in

with Ms. Kelliegh is a pre-kindergarten 4 year- old class. There about fifteen children, and the

class is split into eight boys and seven girls. The classroom is a very diverse place with around

seven children of various ethnic backgrounds speaking various languages, including mandarin,

Spanish, and Arabian, other than English. None of the children have been identified as special

needs and none experience allergies or severe medical conditions. Within our classroom there is

typically the head teacher, an assistant, and myself, the student intern.

The class room is arranged into sections for areas of play centers, there is a library with

soft pillows in the corner of the carpet floor for soft contact space. There is a dramatic play

kitchen on the other side of the library, the art station is set near the windows on the tile floor to

make clean up easier, the light and shadow table and sensory bin are set together and the nature

and construction centers are near the door.

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The schedule for a typical day consists of playing with table top toys for an hour prior to

breakfast being served, then outdoor play for around an hour. When we come in from outside we

sit in morning meeting and go over our question for the day, afterwards is morning investigations

followed by lunch and nap. After nap, the children will eat snack followed by an enrichment

activity before heading back outside for an hour they then return to the classroom and prepare to

go home.

Learning Formats
Small Group

There are various categories of learning formats, but small group is one of the most

widely known practices. Small instruction is most effective when working with three to six

children. Small group can help a teacher to offer a more focused experience on things like

introducing a new skill, engaging children in problem solving, or applying a concept already

introduced. In this small group setting, teachers can give more attention and provide support or

challenges tailored to each specific student. (Copple, 2012. P.40)

While observing within my placement school, I witnessed my teacher preform one small

group activity. The teacher had introduced a game that was her spin-off of the board game

Operation, however the students placed large fluff balls onto a peer and used tongs to remove

them. The small group consisted of about five children. They were asked to take turns pretending

who was patient and who was doctor. One child had difficulty using the tongs so the teacher

guided him using the scaffolding technique, and also used the teaching strategy of giving

assistance. First, she showed him how to pick up the ball by using the appropriate grip and

squeezing the tongs together, then she helped him place his hand on the tong in the appropriate

grip and held her hand over his practicing how to squeeze, finally she watched him complete the

action alone. The teacher had an assistant who helped to watch over the children who were not
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participating in small group, these children were playing in their normal centers. When children

in small group became distracted by their peers who were in centers the teacher would use the

strategy of redirection by bringing the students attention back to the activity by calling on them

or by switching which student was playing doctor and who was playing patient to refresh the

game. I think the strategies of redirection and giving assistance, along with the scaffolding were

effective strategies. They both helped lend to a more directed and focused experience for each

child.

The children were able to master standard 2: develop small muscle control and

coordination, in the physical well-being and motor development domain. More specifically I

witnessed the children effectively demonstrated the completion of the indicator 4.1, that four

year olds use hands, fingers, and wrists to manipulate large and small objects with strength and

good control of small muscles. (Louisiana Department of Education, 2016. P. 71)

Whole Group

There are many types of learning formats, but one of the most common is whole group.

Whole group instruction is best used when trying to have children share experiences. Another

great advantage of whole group is that it gives children opportunities to practice skills like

talking to a group, listening to their classmates, and the like. (Copple, 2012. P.75) Whole group

can be a great way to introduce a concept or skill and then have children take that new

knowledge and develop it individually or in small groups.

When observing within my placement school, the Early Childhood Laboratory School, I

was able to witness my teacher using whole group teaching strategies. My teacher initiated the

start of the meeting by having children sit down on rags, she explained to the kids that the rags

were called sit-upons and that they were new and used the teaching technique of defining
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expectations by telling them they were to sit on the sit-upons and not play with them or move

them. Continuing with the whole group, the teacher asked the children a “why” question

pertaining to the current project. This question was “Why tools Doctors use?”. The children

were encouraged to raise hands and then were called upon. If children started to talk while a

friend was talking or when answers started to drift off topic the teacher used redirection to get

the children’s attention centered. One child raised his hand but when his time to speak came, he

had difficulties explaining his answers, the teacher used the strategy of filling in words to help

him along. He started by saying that “doctors use…” and trailed off and therefore the teacher

took the opportunity to say “Do you think they might use something to listen to your body?” and

the child was able to remember that a tool was used to listen to a heart. When the children began

to really drift their attention the teacher decided to end the meeting by clarify the question again

and then using some of the children’s answers to reveal what the correct answer was. I believe

that my mentor teacher used techniques that were very effective based on what I know to be true

from principles of child development, especial principle seven, because the teacher maintained a

positive control over the group, this positivity will help to ensure that the children have a secure

relationship with a responsive adult.

I believe the children demonstrated that they are on the way to meeting standard 2 of

approaches to learning, demonstrate attention, engagement, and persistence in learning. I am

inclined to believe they are on the way to meeting this because the standard has indicators,

specifically 3.2, that three year olds can maintain focus on adult initiated activities with help but

that the indicator 4.2 explains four-year-old should maintain attention activities despite

distractions and interruptions. The children are almost at the point where they can focus on

activities despite distractions but some still need small amounts of adult guidance.
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Learning Centers/Play

Learning centers are another format of learning found in many preschool and

kindergarten classrooms. Learning centers are best used for offering children a wide range of

options for engagement. It is vital to a young child’s development that they have significant

periods of time where they can choose what they want to do and, with other children, direct their

own activities.

Within my classroom we have a few different learning centers, one of which is the

veterinarian hospital. During one instance of learning center play, a child was playing with the

stuffed animals in the veterinarian hospital. The child was not playing with the animals in the

appropriate way as he had left the vet clinic center, and was instead pretending the animal was

knocking over towers other children had created in the block center. The teacher witnessed the

commotion and made her way towards the student. She addressed the situation by first having

the student repeat to her the known rule of the classroom that toys could not travel from one

center to the next and asked him to return to the vet center, using redirecting she had successfully

removed the student from the area where they were causing problems. Once redirected to the vet

center she asked the student a question about if they thought maybe the animal had suffered an

injury while knocking the towers over, this was another form of teaching strategy, asking

questions to provoke child thinking. The child answered that yes, the animal had hurt himself, so

the teacher asked more questions about how the child might use the tools in the vet clinic to help

treat the animal. While explaining their answer, the child moved to the tools within the center

describing how they could treat the animal and the teacher used the teaching strategy of

encouraging the student by telling them those were excellent ideas. The teacher then stepped

away and let the child plan and complete the “treatment” of their animal alone but would give
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acknowledgment in-between doing other things for the remainder of the time to help reinforce

the child’s good behavior and appropriate play. With all of these strategies, the teacher had

successfully redirected the child’s play into productive play in the appropriate center. I think this

was very appropriate and was well aligned with the twelve principles of child development and

learning, especially the seventh principle that states “children develop best when they have

secure, consistent relationships with responsive adults” (Copple, 2012. P.13). I believe this

because the teacher reacted positively and asked questions and gave positive feedback which

shows the child they are being responsive to the child’s actions. The child demonstrated they

were on their way to mastering standard AL 2: Demonstrate attention, engagement, and

persistence in learning, by showing the attempt to meet indicator 3.3, With prompting and

support, develop a simple plan for and work towards completion of short tasks, and activities.

(Louisiana Department of Education, 2016. P. 21)

Children with exceptionalities

In my placement, we have no children with identified exceptionalities, however we do

have a child who exhibits behaviors and other problems that prove to have a more complex

solution than those of his peers. During free playtime, this student has difficulty with attaining

meaningful functional play. My assistant teacher has begun to use a few methods combined to

assist him in developing deep imaginative functional play. Typically, he will begin free time by

choosing his preferred center of blocks, the assistant teacher with initially allow him to develop

his own narrative, only offering teaching strategies such as acknowledgement of his actions and

encouragement to help engage him. When he begins to transition into non-functional play she

will enter his play area and either will model play, give directions, ask questions or give physical
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prompts to help he reenter functional play. These teaching methods have proven to be helpful to

the child’s functional play.

Sensitivity for diversity

My placement classroom is made up of a diverse group of children. In an attempt to show

a sensitivity for diversity she encourages the bilingual children to speak in their native language

as well as English and even will sometimes speak simple phases like “Wash your hands” to these

children. It always makes them giggle and I believe they enjoy it. We also encourage the children

to bring books relevant to the learning topic of the week, and many times we have our diverse

student bring in books in foreign languages. The library in the classroom also contains books in

various languages to reflect the diversity of the classroom.

Summary

All in all, I believe my placement is doing a wonderful job. I have been exposed to

various types of teaching strategies, and have had the opportunity to witness five of the most

frequently used learning formats; small group, whole group, learning centers, children with

exceptionalities and sensitivity to diversity. I have been able to realize the importance of a

teacher being able to know her students well enough to know what experiences will be beneficial

for not only the whole group but each individual child.

Reflection

While completing this project I have been able to identify the necessity of the teacher to

be able to identify each child’s characteristics and identify their needs, in order to provide the

most appropriate teaching strategies. I have also witnessed first-hand how important it is to

identify the correct strategies in order to be an effective teacher. Each child develops differently

and therefore each strategy has a unique effect on each of the students.
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References

Copple, C., & Bredekamp, S. (2012). Developmentally Appropriate Practice in Early Childhood

Programs Serving Children from Birth through Age 8 (3rd ed.). Washington: National

Association for the Education of Young Children.

Louisiana Department of Education. (2016). Louisiana Birth to Five Standards. Early Learning

& Development Standards (ELDS), Retrieved from

https://www.louisianabelieves.com/resources/library/academic-standards