Teaching young children is a challenging task that requires dedication and commitment to children’s needs and interests, constant examination and reevaluation of one’s beliefs and ideas, knowledge and skills to build harmonious relationships with preschoolers, as well as collaboration with parents, understanding of the curriculum and the ability to incorporate every positive aspect into one’s teaching.
My teaching strategies were children-centered, aimed at establishing effective communication with them. In many cases, I followed a child’s lead in the conversation and activities, instead of directing, telling or showing them what to think or do. I displayed genuine interest in what children thought or did through describing what the child was focused on, imitating their actions, paraphrasing their words, adding some comments, and extracting more information by asking open-ended questions. My strategies were effective and I retained children’s attention for the most part. When I noticed that children were not interested in the activity, I offered a new one directing their attention towards a new challenge.
Communicating with parents on a regular basis is an important aspect of the teacher’s work. As parents were interested in how their children were progressing, I eagerly shared this information, emphasized the areas of strength and the areas that could use more support at home, and suggested different ways to improve children’s performance record. I tried to be honest and as impartial as possible, when talking about children’s behavior and perception problems. I also invited parents to visit my classroom in order to give them a better understanding of how I was helping to prepare their children for success in school and what they should do on their part. All in all, my communication with parents was effective, because we took into account each other’s opinions and remarks.
My instruction helped students to master the intended learning goals, although the degree of mastery varied across the group due to individual differences. At the end of my teaching practice, students were reciting short poems about animals, demonstrating their best at memorizing and reproducing small portions of text. Besides, they were able to narrate Beauty and the Beast, Cinderella, Little Snow White, Prince Sneeze, The Golden Nugget, etc. with a number of details. I think that many students were successful at achieving reciting skills goal, primarily because of natural curiosity, the ability to absorb a lot of new information from the outside, and their inclination for repetition.
My students were least successful at achieving receptive and expressive language skills goal. Although I encouraged them to share their thoughts and ideas, some of the children were too shy to voice what they were feeling and thinking, others simply refused to follow my directions, but showed comprehension of what I was saying, and still others relied heavily on colloquialisms and slang words, because they heard them at home. Through games and talks, I tried to create a relaxed atmosphere, where the children could express themselves, and helped them to socialize with their peers, occasionally interpreting their words and deeds.
Most of my students …