Trip to a Local Kindergarten

¶ … trip to a local kindergarten class yielded some surprising, and some not so surprising results. The objective of the trip was to observe interactions between the students, between the teacher and the students, and between the two genders in the classroom. Of equal importance was how the adult(s) and the students in the classroom interacted with any special needs student(s) as well as who would take on a leadership role in the classroom.

One recent study seemed to "suggest that including children with disabilities in regular preschool classrooms does not result in lower quality programs or in less adequate teacher-child interactions" (Hestenes, Cassidy, Shim, Hegde, 2008, p. 520). It would be interesting to discover if there were any indications during this observation that would lend credence to that statement.

In the classroom were a number of students, both boys and girls, that all displayed signs of happiness at being in the classroom environment. The teacher was a young lady who was friendly with the children, yet firm in her posturing. The classroom was an open bay area with toys, books and supplies lining the walls. A montage of hand-drawn posters were stapled to a bulletin board. The children were well mannered and got along quite well with each other (for the most part).

There was one child who seemed to be a 'Downs Syndrome' child who, although stubborn at times, interacted well with the other children and the teacher. The visit was made during a time when the children were learning about constructing a birdhouse out of ice cream sticks.

The teacher patiently explained the process after grouping the children into groups of four, each with a chair at a table so that all four could view what the other three were doing.

The teacher may have been learned that "instructing children towards mastery goals appears to promote a more collaborative style of interaction" (Harris, Yuill, Luckin, 2008, p. 357) because she was very adept at using her instruction in pursuing the goal. One of the common interactions that took place during this time was the one of leadership by a different child at each table. There always seemed to be one child in each group of four that was the leader of the group, the one that the others looked to for guidance, the one that finished first and then to a certain degree helped the others with words of advice. One small boy even went as far as taking the Elmer's glue and putting it on the sticks of another child who was having difficulty in finishing his house.