Observation Paper - Professor Carol Robinson PDF

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Oma Seepersaud, Jacqueline Saldana, Miranda Howard, Grace Olivier Foundations of Early Childhood October 14, 2015 Observation Paper- Virginia Marx Virginia Marx Children’s Center opened in 1986 in the Knollwood Center at Westchester Community College. Due to a demand in childcare the center gained funding from the state, donors, federal revenues, and other avenues to open a new building that is now triple the size of the original one. The center now accommodates not only children of students, but also children of faculty, staff and community members. The children’s center is a lab and demonstration location where WCC students do field internships. The philosophy at the Virginia Marx Children’s Center is children learn through play (Zucker, 2015). The classrooms in the center house low, wooden, square tables with small, wooden chairs. The classroom is clean, organized, and inviting with bright colors, toys, letters, and numbers. The materials are accessible to the children and appropriate for their development, following Maria Montessori’s theories of education (Mooney, 2000). There are different areas in the classroom like a music corner, reading corner, and a block corner, this setup along with the mostly free-scheduled day allows for the children to actually guide their own learning through play. Piaget thought that it was important for children to create their own concepts and construct their own knowledge, this theory is carried out at the VMCC when children have the opportunity to play in the blocks corner (Peltzman, 1998). The reading corner allows for children to develop their fine motor skills while learning to hold a book properly and flip the pages. There were a lot of toys in the classroom to promote development of fine motor skills as well, such as pegboards, circle stackers, interlocking bricks, and connectable tubes (Berk, 1999). On the walls of the

classroom are photos of the students, their names, and some of their art projects; this helps to create a culture for the classroom. Each student has their own cubby for their belongings that they can reach and are able to access when necessary. When we observed the children, they were playing outside mostly by themselves and sometimes with one other child. The culture of the outside classroom or playground is very independent. Outside the children were able to play with whatever toys interested them, following Dewey’s theory that learning should be child centered and it was mostly uninterrupted if it was safe, following Piaget’s theory that children need opportunities to create their own knowledge. The slide was the main attraction, among other toys such as a sandbox and some sitand-ride scooters. There were two teachers sitting at the bottom of the slide whom did not interfere with the children’s play unless their seemed to be a threat of danger, following Montessori’s theory of encouraging independence. We followed the children in from the playground to their lunchtime, which seemed to be the only routine they had besides naptime. Montessori’s theories that free time decreases disruptive behavior and helping out builds self esteem were portrayed right before our eyes as we watched the children very properly seat and serve themselves. The children had no problem with simply sitting down and getting their plates ready after they had their opportunity to play the way they wanted to. One of the students actually set up his cot for his nap before eating lunch because it seemed like he wasn’t feeling well (Mooney, 2000). The teachers were facilitating the students in their outside play and actively watching for dangerous activity. The teachers also acted as primary caregivers to specific students when they needed something in particular, for example one girl needed to use the bathroom so her specific teacher went with her. It seemed as if the teachers are very aware of the child’s best interest and

really did not get involved in the free-play unless the child requested or required assistance. One boy, about three years old, wearing a blue and white striped jacket was playing outside on the playground and noticed a plane. He looked up at the plane and tried to mimic the sound, saying “brrrr.” The same boy heard one of his peers say “no” and said “naaa.” This child requires no direct attention from the teacher because he is creating his own concepts (Peltzman, 1998). Another child received direct attention from the teacher while going down the slide, the teacher would say, “Ready, set, go!” This child was having a different kind of learning experience, one where the concept of going down the slide is paired with directions to follow, it was child centered and then followed through by the teacher to enhance the learning experience (Mooney, 2000). During our visit we spoke to Susan Zucker, director of the Virginia Marx Children’s Center, and she shared with us some of the most important policies, admitting that there were many more than she would mention. The most important of the policies was their sign-in and sign-out policy, it is crucial that every student is accounted for and that the parent and teacher are acknowledging one another during drop-off and pick-up. Some other policies were complying to licensing standards, NAYCE standards, and Quality Stars NY standards for which they received a 5/5 grade. A new teacher at the VMCC should embrace and implement the philosophy that children learn through play. He/she should feel comfortable and happy to use his/her and students’ interests and skills to better a learning experience for the students (Mooney, 2000). The most important thing for a new teacher is to be able to communicate with the student’s families and work with them for the success of the child. The center wants the teachers to walk away from it with professional development, personal growth, and lifelong lessons from children, families, parents, and coworkers (Zucker, 2015).

The most unique and heartwarming part about the Virginia Marx Children’s Center was the Student’s Journals. Each child has their very own journal that the teachers use to document their development and growth. The teachers will take pictures of the child, write notes about the child’s day, or accomplishments the child has made. The journals follow the child from each room in the center and when one fills up, it goes home for the parents as a keepsake.

Works Cited Berk, Laura E. Infants, Children, and Adolescents. 3rd ed. Boston: Allyn and Bacon, 1999. Print. Casper, Virginia, and Rachel Theilheimer. Early Childhood Education: Learning Together. New York: McGraw-Hill Higher Education, 2010. Print. Mooney, Carol Garhart. Theories of Childhood: An Introduction to Dewey, Montessori, Erikson, Piaget and Vygotsky. St. Paul, MN: Redleaf ;, 2000. Print. Peltzman, Barbara R. Pioneers of Early Childhood Education a Bio-bibliographical Guide. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood, 1998. Print. Zucker, Susan. Personal interview. 7 Oct. 2015....