Assisting in Pre-K!

             Today was my second time in the preschool classroom, this time as one of the assistants to help facilitate and take notes for the two head teachers as they conducted their lesson. This week the lesson was on the sense of smell, which I found to be very interactive for this group of students. Looking back at my goals for this experience, I wrote that one of my main goals with ELL students is to simply gain experience working with them, because my experience has been so limited throughout my teaching experiences thus far. I feel that the best way to learn about teaching and working with students is to actually have those hands on experiences and make sure to reflect upon them before, during, and afterwards to ensure that I grow as an educator. This week I was able to interact with the students in a small group, as they worked at tables and held discussion about the mystery bottles and their different senses. I participated in small discussions with them while I simultaneously took notes for the head teachers. One thing I found interesting was the two girls who were sitting side by side. The first girl appeared to be very outgoing and forward, as she stated her thoughts and made connections out loud during the activity. I believe she is not a student who would be considered an English Language Learner. In comparison, the girl next to her was slightly unsure of herself and a little more quiet. The first girl was able to help this girl participate in the activity, asking her questions, helping to explain the directions and encouraging her, telling her that "she did it right!" I believe that the girl who was quieter was an English Language Learner. I felt there was a sense of community as the girls worked together to understand the lesson and had fun while participating in it. I believe creating that sense of community is very important in any classroom, but especially with students who don't have English as their first language. This girl was able to receive support from her peers while the teachers were helping others and I found that to be a beautiful thing! I believe learning is a social experience and saw the positive effects of that in class today.  

            My other goal for class was to discover the struggles ELL students face while in school and work to improve their experience. While this was only the second time in the classroom, I feel that some inferences can be made and allow me to reflect on how I would help improve the children's educational experience in the future. One little girl did not verbally contribute to the lesson and showed signs of confusion in what was expected of the students during the smelling small group activity. She was unable to answer whether it was a good or bad smell or predict what object was in the bottle creating the smell. When presented with crayons she was able to proudly state their colors. This led me to believe that her English vocabulary was very limited, but seeing her face light up when she spoke the colors of the crayons in English showed that she was proud to have some vocabulary in which she was able to contribute to the conversation. Because of this, I think I would have modeled the activity in depth and provided her with new vocabulary to use during the lesson. I would give her pictures of options of what could be inside the bottles with the names of those objects in both English and Spanish. She would be able to point to and practice saying these words before had so that she would become familiar with the vocabulary. Then she could refer back to these cards during the activity as a support. 

            During our short time spent in the classroom today, I was able to take away a lot of new experiences to reflect on and look forward to the next time we step in that classroom! I always feel like a giant when we first step in to the preschool, with all of the little faces peering up at us. However, as soon as the learning begins and we start to interact with the students I feel at ease and ready to learn more about working with a diverse group of students!

EXCEEDS: I went over 500 words :)