Taylor Smith

ECD350L

3/10/18

Second Lead Teaching Day Reflection

For my second lead teaching experience, I felt that my plan went just as successful

as the last. The toddlers explored the fine motor area and sensory areas to their full extent.

I would have been a little more satisfied if the toddlers had discovered the color changing

touchboards and pin prints in the cause and effect area the first day of the week instead of

the last, but when they did they seemed to really enjoy them. I also was impressed the first

day in the art area since the toddlers had no interest of tearing the markers off the cars

when drawing, but the second day they figured it out and I wished they would have left

them on so they could continue exploring the activity the way I had planned.

I believe there was plenty of space and walkways for the children to maneuver

around and that the children mostly behaved in conduct. However, in the art area, a marker

car was taken from the art area and placed on the blocks shelf where they proceeded to

color on the furniture. We caught them very quickly and explained why we don’t color on

the furniture and that it needs to be used in the art area. The children also had a little

difficulty sharing nets in the sensory area, even though there were plenty to go around. I

think they just wanted a certain net and became fixed on acquiring that specific net.

I did not depart from my plan, but used a couple of substitute items very similar to

the ones I had planned on my lesson plan that could not be found in the resource rooms.

As I walked around the classroom, I asked open-ended questions and got down to

their level when speaking to them. With my instructional delivery, I believe I wasn’t firm

enough this time on my expectations for the children. Instead of telling them, I asked them
Taylor Smith

ECD350L

3/10/18

in question form, “Can you sit back down on your carpet squares?” Of course they’re not

going to listen if I’m not strict and have a firm enough tone in my voice. Next time, I will

strive to have a firmer voice when the children don’t listen to ensure they follow through

with my expectations. No issues with the children came up today where I needed to

intervene. However, I struggled with transitions. From the moment I forgot to set out the

cleanup buckets before the clean up song, it threw off the rest of my momentum. I also was

not completely ready for large group before we started singing, which also threw me off

and the children since there was no teacher for them to focus on. I am honestly very happy

with the interaction and engagement involved during my large group, and I’m glad they like

it so much, but several of the toddlers stood up and came running over to point at the book

which prevents others from seeing. I explained this to them and told them they had to sit

back down and they would, but they just kept getting back up every time I turned a page.

This happened four to five times before I had to completely close the book and tell the

children we could not continue reading until everyone was sitting back down on their

carpet squares.

If I had the opportunity to implement this plan again with the same group of

children, I think I would have done large group a little more differently. I think I should

have been firmer and closed the book in the beginning so the children knew if they got back

up we could not continue reading the story. Every group of children may be different, but

for this group of children, I should have known that I needed to set very clear expectations

from the beginning and made sure they understood. Sorry this was such a long reflection!