With only two months to go until the beginning of the next school year, I've began to focus on the behavior of my class so they are prepared to move to the next class level at The World International Preschool.
I've redirected most of the English I am using throughout the dayto focus on behavior and classroom rules.
To remind the kids of the appropriate ways to behave, I made picture cards that we review every morning. Rather than telling them, "Don't run, or, no hitting!" I use positive language such as, "Our feet can walk, or, our hands can clean up." I prefer to tell them what they can do, rather than what they can't do. I want the first thoughts that go through their head to be positive, and for them to think about what they are able to do, rather than unable.
To focus on each student's individual needs, I made a goal chart. Every week the kids in Aurora have a goal that targets the one thing they are struggling with the most. Throughout the day they have reminders of their goal, but if they fail to meet it, they receive a sad face at the end of the day. Throughout the week, if they do not receive five happy faces, showing they met their goal, the goal repeats the following week. All of the children in Aurora know what their individual goal is, as well as what their friends' goals are, and this helps them keep one another on track. This chart helps them remember what they need to work on, as well as allows us to use English in a new way, because now I am asking them what they need to do, rather than telling them. They have been doing really well with meeting their goals and hopefully with enough time no child will need to repeat the same goal.
We also have a new tool called Magic Quiet Spray. Understandably, the first day the kids thought it was pretty funny and it didn't work as well as I had hoped. The squirt bottle is filled with air, and when the class gets too noisy I walk around and give them little "Shhh" sprays, and they have to capture the air in their mouth and keep their voice inside. Using it still makes me laugh, but it's starting to work and that makes me smile.
I can easily say that at twenty-six years old, managing a classroom of three and four year olds is the most challenging thing I've done. It amazes me that I began this year with a class of twenty kids, all but two who knew any English, and now I'm able hold conversations with most of them about what is and isn't ok in the classroom. They are able to articulate themselves in a way that I understand that they are aware of what is appropriate, and they are able to explain their behavior when something goes wrong.
I went to university for a degree in English, and somehow I have managed to translate that into becoming a preschool teacher and focusing on childhood development and children's behavior. While I never expected that this is what I would be doing, nor do I expect to be a teacher when I finally return to America, this is an incredible experience if I ever choose to have children. I've learned more from watching them interact with one another and myself than I could have ever imagined in a million years. For only being three and four years old, the kids in Aurora have big, strong personalities, and it's exciting to see kids with so much confidence at such a young age.
