Reflexive practise

for the REFLECTIVE JOURNAL

Description

A 2yrs - 4yrs dance class at their Primary School in a large school hall which took place yesterday morning from 9am until 9.40am.  There were two girls and ten boys.  Three other members of the kindergartens staff joined in with the children helping them with taking their socks and shoes off and repeating my instructions.

Looking back, I felt content and reassured that the method I used had worked and was effective for 10/12 of the children!  I felt I needed to put more work into understanding the two other children.  One little chaps disruption was not unexpected, but there was a definite improvement in his behaviour from previous classes.

I felt in a 'play moment' and concentrated on the age of children and gave careful thought to what they could identify with.

List

• Three addition staff members from the kindergarten.
• music worked from CD player.
• one child with limited hearing due to glue ear in both ears, a staff member stood beside him and he stood close to me.  I maintained eye contact when talking.
• one little boy still in his nappy and very young was new to the group - only just 2yrs old.
• two little girls, one well-established and one newcomer.
• other little boys, five focused, one tired and the other two easily distracted.
• We drew a circle on the ground and stepped into it.  Four of the children put their feet together in their own circle and once they had done this, one by one I asked them the colour of their circle.  They put their hands up and in turn I asked them to tell me.  Most of those that hadn't put their feet in their circle did so afterwards as they wanted to tell me their colour.  Once they had told me, I asked how their colour made them feel.  Some children needed their feet to be moved together by the teacher.
• Each child struggled to answer and I volunteered some ideas such as sunshine feeling warm or blue feeling cold or looking like the sky, etc.  Some children were able to tell me.  I asked the three teachers as well.
• Two children struggled to comprehend the instructions when they watched the other children doing it, but with the help and reassurance of the other staff repeating the request, they did so.
• Mostly everyone was then at ease.
• We all were ready to start apart from one little boy who ran up and down the full length of the hall screaming loudly in fun.
• I called his name, he looked and ignored, in turn I continued concentrating on the others, hoping it might spark his interest.
• Half a minute later, I called his name again asking him to come and draw his own circle, he looked and ignored continuing running up and down the hall.
• I told him, if he didn't come and stand in his circle he wouldn't be able to tell me what colour it was. He looked and ignored.
• I said if he didn't come and join in with the others he would have to sit out.
• He ran up, drew his circle and stood in it, telling me it was Blue.
• We put the music on once we were all still and started marching up to our treehouse counting the beat.
• The little boy Blue started running up and down the hall again once I turned by back to play the music.
• We painted our tree with our hands circling in our own colour and the leaves fell down.
• We caught a leaf and crumpled it in our fingers and blew the small pieces away. 
• We discussed Autumn as the children had been learning about this the day before.
• All the children joined in and one staff member decided to carry the little boy Blue out and back to his Kindergarten class.  I was concerned for her back.
• The new little girl was extremely sensitive as it was her first day.  This disruption upset her.
• I explained that her colour was Pink and so was the other little girls so they were Pink twins and she had made a new friend. They stood together. The tears stopped.
• It was windy and the tree house was swaying.  We swayed.  We climbed back down.
• The yellow sun shone in our eyes, so we found our big hat with it's wide brim to put on.
• The children showed me the back of their hat and the front of their hat, turning in half turns.
• The wind blew our hat away so we all ran after in our big circle, it but it was lost - gone.
• We crossed our arms, shrugged and sighed.
• We saw an animal in our tree, I asked the children in turn what was the animal that they could see?
• We had a Blue pig, a Yellow lion, an Orange Squirrel!  That's fine.  I said we needed a lift on the side of our tree house though so that the pig and lion could reach the tree house, as they can't climb!!
• We watched them going up and down in the lift and followed it with our finger and rising up.
• Some children used their right arm, some their left.
• At the bottom of the tree was a small ball, which we bounced and jumped with and threw it up to our animal friend in the tree.
• Then we found our hat.  We cheered.
• We put it back on to keep the sun from our eyes.
• We sat down and under the hat there was another creature.
• I asked the children what it was?  Silence.  I said it was green.  Silence.  I made it's noise.
• They guessed, a frog.
• We sat in our circle again as a frog, stretching our legs and webbing our hands.
• We thought what would the frog have been before it was a frog - a tadpole.
• We made our hands into the tadpoles head and swam up to the top of the pond for food and down again.
• I asked if the frog wanted to vanish what colour would our circle have to be?
• One little boy thought, hand up - green he said!
• We finished.  Folded up our imaginary circles and put them in our imaginary pockets. 
• I asked the children to remember to bring them along next week, to place down and stand upon.
• We said thank you to each other, one by one and put on our socks and shoes.
• The children went back to class with their teachers.
• I asked a teacher to please move up their pegs as a reward for such good behaviour.

I think the imagery and story telling worked well, particularly for children so young. My thoughts were that three members of staff didn't really need to be present, perhaps two members of staff in case a child needed the toilet.  The staff member that decided to carry out the disruptive boy I questioned later.  I was uncertain as to whether removing him was the right thing to do as he got to go back to his classroom and play with the toys! However, we did discuss another option of keeping him in the hall sitting out, it wasn't a good idea at all as he would have screamed and cried and this in turn would have distressed the little girl who was new to the group and also disrupted everyone else. I am keen to see how many of the children next week join in though, as I think removing him may have created the wrong impression for the others?  I personally felt that he needed to be taken out of the class, but talked to firmly and told he had been naughty not allowing him to play with his toys, naughty step and his peg wouldn't be moved up this week.  Sewing the seed that perhaps if he was good next week...etc things could be different.  I feel sure he would understand this using logic and reason. It may work.

What I discovered was that the children responded really well to colour and shapes.  The colour was so important and imagined fully as the children continued with their colour throughout the story.  I think that giving them the chance to choose their own colour meant that they fully engaged with this throughout.  The circle and standing in it created a sense of order and calm at the start of the class.  Interestingly, later on, I asked them to find the place that their circle was in respect to the rest of the room.  Over half of the children remembered exactly where their circle was.  Some other children remembered who they were standing next to and others felt disorientated.  I find this interesting and realised which children were spacialy aware, which were observant and which had difficulty in visualising their space and surroundings.  Something I would watch for again.

My childhood was spent playing outside.  I did not have a treehouse, but always wanted one!!

I loved to run and play around trees and collect things from the garden to look at.  I kept tadpoles and watched them change into frogs.  As I taught the children I felt stress free and liberated.  I think how we feel as teachers is usually transmitted affecting the mood of the children.  I realise if we can draw on personal experience this is communicated on a deeper level, but it is important to draw on experience that the children at their age can identify with.

What if?

I had hoped that the little boy would watch and see the others participating and having fun and decide to join in.  He thought if he screamed loudly enough I would always be looking at him and ignore the others. This perhaps works for him in other settings or at home.  I would hate to find next week that other children follow the lead of disruptive behaviour thinking they will be able to go back to their classroom and play with toys. 

Another view

If a chair was looking on?  I'd like to think they would be pleased that nearly all the children joined in and danced steps without realising it.  I expect they may think the teacher is a bit eccentric and this could embarrass them.  They might worry that the little boy would slip and hurt himself, particularly on a wood floor.  Another viewpoint would be 'Is this a dance class'? Or 'Aren't the children just playing'?  They may not understand the reason behind the method.  Another teacher who isn't specialised in dance may think that they could do this just as well.

Themes

I valued the enthusiastic response with storytelling.  I was happy that two little girls had become friends through a shared experience.  Next time, I would explain to the little boy that if he didn't join in, he would not be rewarded with his peg moving up.  I would try to reason with him.

This class fits well into my day as it is prior to teaching other groups and is a good warm up.  I can also run my son to school before 9am and collect him at the end of the day.  The school is only round the corner from his school so this works well for my family as well. 

The class fits into the month as I will take note of the progression of the children, watch them, evaluate how each individual is motivated.  I will build in some repetition so they can recognise steps and arm movements so becoming natural to them with practise.  KOLB - active experimentation is based on doing. As the months go on and their understanding grows I will start to correct and position and develop their technique. Kolb - abstract conceptualisation is based on thinking.

This scenario fits in well with the course because it looks at the importance of how very young children respond to things that connect in their own world.  (sensorial response to experiences of the world).  Lewin (group dynamics)  and how the individual group members can alter the dynamics within the class.  The importance of positivity and encouragement.  It is a good reflection as I can discover which children are divergers, which need to watch and then do, which transform, (there was one child that started to jump around as a frog rather than just stretch) - he transformed, he was able to show he own ideas different from mine.  Some struggled to watch and copy and needed help to be placed into position, then once felt they understood.

Kolb - learning is a holistic process of accordance to the world.  Learning includes the interactions between an individual and his surroundings.

I find that one size doesn't fit all and it is our job as teachers to notice and wonder.

I wonder if the little boy who didn't join in is struggling to understand the class and its concept, if so, then I have to look at reasons why?  It could be behavioural but it could be something else.  I will watch, take notes and see if I can find out.  I may need another approach to connect with him.

Kolb - reflective observation is based on watching.  Reflective observation and active experimentation explain how an individual processes knowledge.

Please read and any feedback would be appreciated.

Have you reflected in your journals yet?