Second Practicum
Week 1:
The first week back from the break between practicum 1 & 2 was pretty difficult for me. I felt as though I needed to find my footing again. I just went into the week not very confident in myself, I think I felt this way because I was having a very hard time in my personal life and I was kind of bringing that baggage into my feelings during practicum. After the week was over I reflected on myself and how it went and knew I had to make a change. I felt that I took a backseat and was as engaged which isn’t who I want to be.
Week 2:
This week I decided to go into practicum with more of an open mind, I wanted to leave my personal life at the door and just be in the moment. With this mindset the week went a lot better than the first. I felt more engaged and energetic with the children and I felt myself slowly getting back into the groove of things.
Week 3:
This week was when I truly felt like I had my ECE hat back on. I felt I was on top of everything that I could have been and I felt I was always saying the “right” thing. These feelings were then shared by my Mentor. She reinforced my feelings on how I was doing which gave me the confidence to start helping lead circle time with her instead of sitting with the kids.
Week 4:
This week Karolyn’s sister started her practicum at Creative Corner. This definitely shifted the dynamic not in a negative way but definitely did shift somethings. The centre is a very small space and doesn’t have many children so having three educators was very overwhelming but kinda nice. One thing that really stood out to me from this week was that I got to teach and “run” nap time. Kim had to talk to her licensing officer during lunch which ended up going longer into nap time. So I started the process of nap time with the kids while teaching Karolyn’s sister how we do nap time. Surprisingly it went really well and I ended up being very proud of myself.
Week 5:
The week started off on a really good note, Karolyn came to do a visit and it went really well, she gave me some feedback and for the most part it was all positive and I was doing great! Then the next day roles around and one of the parents informed us at the end of the day she just found out a couple hours after pickup that her two children had lice. Kimberly texted me about the news and that the daycare would be closed the following day. The next day I went to the daycare with Kim and I got to experience what a full stripping of the daycare would look like when there is a lice outbreak. While stripping the daycare Kimberly gave me a lot of useful tips on how to deal with lice which has made me a lot more calm about the situation. The next day I could feel myself being on edge about the whole lice thing, lice is my biggest fear when it come to ECE so I am glad I have gotten that experience under my belt early.
The thought that my centres situation with the whole lice experience was very positive in the way that non of the kids were out casted or bullied but I am aware that isn’t always the case. Being able to go through this experience the way I did makes me think about how I would have reacted if the opposite happened. What if the children out casted each other or bullied the siblings for getting lice? I believe that I would have definitely not of stayed quiet, I believe singling out someone for something they can’t overly avoid is wrong and frankly childish. I would like to have sit down the children and talked it over, why are those children singling out the siblings? Compare it to a situation they were singled out so I can try and get them to understand how the siblings could be feeling. I think the first step would be to properly educate the kids.
Week 6:
This week went by a lot smoother, still some rocks in the road but definitely better. A couple of the kids were starting to get sick so the energy levels weren’t at an all time high but that was ok. The whole lice thing was still on my mind but all the kids were checked again and no one seemed to have had any anymore which was nice to know. As far as myself I feel like I have been very calm in otherwise stressful ish situations so I was proud of myself for that. I also feel like I have been pretty on top of things around the daycare, for example when it comes to helping transition run smoothly or helping during nap time or when the kids are waking up.
Week 7:
This week went by really fast, it felt like I blinked and it was over. Sadly though at the end of the week we had two children have their last days at the centre. Both Ava and Sawyer moved and were now attending different a daycare closer to where they now live, I have known about them leaving for a couple weeks now but it still hit me a lot harder than expected, I am very happy for them but I am definitely going to miss them a lot.
As a proper send off Tracy’s daycare kids came over and all the kids got to enjoy a cupcake as a final treat!
Week 8:
This week I got the opportunity to “run” the daycare for a day. Kim got to sit in her office and catch up on other tasks while I went through the day with the kids. Going into the day I was very nervous about doing something wrong or messing up the flow of the day. But as soon as I got into the daycare and the day went on I was completely ok. The day went smoothly and the kids seemed to have enjoyed themselves. The only thing I would have changed was having done a circle time. I wasn’t very confident in my ability to remember the songs and to sing them well. I talked to my mentor about this and she assured me that it would be ok and if I needed help the kids would be their, they all know the songs relatively well and would be very willing to help me.
One of my favourite moments during the day was when I was sitting on a chair while the kids were all playing they slowly all grabbed their own chairs and sat with me and continued their play.
Week 9:
We started the day by going to the library for a story time. The children loved it and were super engaged for the most part, we had one child out of it but it was most likely because he was very tired.
After the library we went to riverside park, all was going well, the kids were excited but immediately as soon as I saw the park I noticed how open it was, it didn’t seem like just me and Kim could watch only 5 kids at all times making sure everyone was accounted for. I have seen riverside park before I guess I never looked at it through educator eyes. We started off by all sitting at a bench to eat lunch, while the kids were eating I shared my concerns about how open the park was with my educator. We came up with a plan that each of us would watch 2 kids (the 5th as in Luke was in a stroller) just to make sure we all stayed together. Even with my reservations at the start it ended up being a lot of fun and the kids enjoyed it!
Last Practicum
Week 1:
For my last practicum, I have moved centres from Creative Corner to Kiddies Korner. I had worked at Kiddies Kroner over the summer and fell in love with the program. I wanted the experience in both a smaller (Creative Corner) and larger (Kiddies Korner) centre.
For my first day we did a lot of things, we started the day off with some free play then we transitioned into morning group where my mentor led group and I set up for snack. After group all the kids sat down for snack then when they were done they used the washroom and got ready to go outside. We stayed outside for a little then came inside for lunch. After lunch they all layed down for rest time. In the afternoon they have been working on getting the kids into kindergarten mode, so we were working on their tracing today. After that I got to lead afternoon group and it went really well, I read two books and did some felt stories and they all loved it! The rest of the day was pretty chill till they were all picked up 🙂
Also during the day the kids did a “self portrait” art that they really enjoyed, they got a lot of creative freedom with it and some got a little silly but in the end they all turned out great
Week 2:
This week was a pretty chill week. We had a couple children that had outbursts but nothing extreme. I got to lead morning group one day which is the bigger group time. We did calendar, worked on our letters, read some books, and played a game. I would say it went pretty well, near the end I was loosing some children because all they wanted to do was play and others were emotional but all and all I would say it was successful!
We also did a lot of different art activities! And even got to go on a walk to a nearby arena and played some floor hockey!
Week 3:
This week felt like it flew by. We didn’t get up to really anything new, we continued doing our normal groups, art activities, etc. We also spent a lot of time reorganized the room and planning out how we want to use the wall spaces. I volunteered to help out with some decorating of the main board and decided to create my own board on the side where I will display my pedagogical narrations. I also decided to put myself more into the program by taking charge of activities I have thought of and running those activities on said days.
Week 4:
The first day of this week flew by rather quickly, but the second day was definitely interesting to say the least. Me and Janell decided to bring the kids back to the arena to get out of the usual grove of the yard. However this time we ended up have difficulties with one of our children which ended up in a chase which escalated into that child needed to be sent home. This child in particular has been having difficulties integrating into the flow and schedule of the room. We hope to make more progress tomorrow and text week to hopefully get this child on track!
Week 5:
This week was definitely interesting to say the least. Although we have been having more challenges with this specific child I feel like I am learning a lot not only from this child’s support worker but also from my fellow staff members. I have had prior knowledge on how to accommodate and support challenging children but this had definitely opened up a whole new side I wasn’t aware of. I now feel more comfortable when dealing with this particular child. I just wish the rest of the team would trust me in helping out a little bit more with this child. But I understand why not at the same time. Hopefully next week after his care plan is made up we as a staff team can figure out how to accommodate this child into our program better.
Week 6:
This week we brought out the dress up clothes/ costumes, the children went crazy they loved it so much. The whole Wednesday morning during free play was just the children putting on all the costumes and showing each other. Another thing one of the staff brought out for Halloween was a potion making station in the dramatic play area. We ended the week with going outside in the pouring rain and going to the field beside the centre and racking up a lot of leaves and I grabbed a slide and made is so the slide ended in the pile of leaves and the children loved it, it was all the talk was about for the rest of the day.
Week 7:
this week was full of finishing up setting up for Halloween. The children all really enjoyed it and we as an educator team wanted to make sure the children were involved in setting up with us. The rest of the week remained as calm as it could have went, all the children were really excited about Halloween. Besides all the excitement everyone was really good and the week flew by really nice and easily.
Week 8:
this week was my final week and it also just so happened to be the week of Halloween. My last day ended up being Halloween! The couple days before Halloween I struggled on what I should do as a goodbye because I work at my centre and it would have been strange if I said goodbye but then came back the next day. So instead of saying goodbye we had a great big party, we all had a blast! As far as my educators go I was planning on getting them either flowers or a small thank you gift but that still hasn’t been decided, but it will soon and they will get something as a token of my gratitude.
This final practicum has really made me think back on who I was as an educator to begin with and who I am now. I would say I have changed immensely and have learned so many things from all of my educators, I definitely wouldn’t be the educator I am today without all of the support and guidance I have received from everyone along the way.