Reflective practice logs template

REFLECTIVE PRACTICE ASSIGNMENT

______________________________

ECEP 132:Guidance and the Individual ChildCentennial College - Ashtonbee

(Winter Semester)

Submitted to:Priti Parikh

Submitted by:Khiara Remedios G. Albaran

Submitted on:April 4, 2012

Guidance Log #1______________________________________________________

Date: March 5, 2012Time: 9:00 - 10:00 A.M

Name: "Tyler"Date of Birth: January 13, 2011

Reflective Practice Guidance Logs

Part 1 – Objective Observation

(Clearly identify the problem. Examine the “context” of the problem)

Date: March 13, 2012 (between 9:00 to 10:00 AM)Pseudonyms: Marie and Marlo; JacobSetting: The situation occurred during their morning free-play, which is the suggested period where the observer can conduct her planned activity. It happened in one of the mat areas in the classroom – the observer and two other children were seated on the mat.

Observation: During the morning session in the centre the observer was conducting a planned activity with two children – Marlo and Marie. Marlo and Marie were holding on to a foam stick (each on one end) where they insert sponges with a hole in the middle. After 3 to 5 minutes of doing the activity, Jacob comes in, bent a little forward (standing) and grasp on the “stringing activity equipment” (foam stick and sponges with a whole in the middle). As Jacob pulled it towards him, the two other children just looked at him and the observer reached out her hand – attempting to stop it. The observer didn’t pull the toy back, then Jacob started touching the foams – trying to remove it from the stick, one-by-one.

Context of the problem: Jacob intervenes in an activity without waiting for his turn – the child is yet to develop the concept of taking-turns.

Part 2 – Decision(Clearly identify the guidance strategy and state why the chosen strategy is

appropriate for this child and the situation)

The observer chose redirection as the guidance strategy for the child. Redirection through diversion and/or distraction is believed to be effective for younger children (infants and toddlers). It is effective for younger children because of the concept of perception and attention. The perception skills of younger children are still in the developing stage, thus making it easier to distract them with a powerful stimulus. For example, one person can redirect an infant when he/she is crying by pointing to something even though it could mean nothing; but not only simply pointing, they alter their voice and their facial expressions and even their movements to make it look more exciting. Marion mentioned that “young children have difficulty ignoring irrelevant information (2011)” which makes it hard for them to control their attention. In this sense, in redirection we divert and distract the child with other things – this other things

may not be connected with what the child is focusing as of that moment. Since it is effective to children, redirection can be considered as an immediate response and solution especially in this situation where there are other children who are waiting for the activity to resume. This efficient response also indicated a positive guidance strategy where the observer was able to acknowledge a behavior without stepping into the child’s confidence and self-esteem.

Aside from that, with all honesty, redirecting through diversion and distraction can be considered as a typical response for caregivers or childcare provider every time faced in a situation similar to this one. Also, the observer used verbal communication through reminders – teaching them helpful or appropriate behavior. One may clearly assume that they are still young for such a guidance strategy, but it is typical for an adult to say something and communicate. It doesn’t make sense to them yet, but one must consider that they’re in their formation stage where they just absorb (for now) what they see, hear and learn, thus making modeling a great influence to them. At that time, when the observer used the said strategy, she didn’t expect for the child to respond and understand the statement like “it’s not yet your turn.” She just believes that by stating the word term, the child gets to experience the meaning of the concept which will soon help him to form his vocabulary words (when repeated or with consistency).

Part 3 – Actions(Clearly discuss your actions (what you did and said),

the child’s response and the results of the guidance strategy)

The observer, Marlo and Marie were all still seated on the mat while Jacob was standing between the observer and Marie but not exactly in the middle – around two steps away (right side of the observer).

Jacob remained standing as he pulled the sponges out of the stick, one-by-one. The observer placed her right hand on Jacob’s left shoulder (holding it just in case he gets out of balanced) while her left hand was holding onto the equipment. The observer then said, “Jacob, it’s not yet your turn … Marlo and Marie is still using the toy.” Jacob was not letting the toy go so the observer wrapped her right arm on Jacob’s waist, while her left hand was placed in Jacob’s stomach area - she held him over to sit beside her. Once Jacob was seated right next to her, the

observer held on to the equipment, and gave it to Marie (Marlo walked away since it took the observer more than a minute to resolve the situation) who was waiting for it.

As Jacob sat right next to her, the observer stretched her right arm and pointed towards the toy that was placed across them (north-east) and said “Oh what’s that Jacob?” – With eyes wide open and with a smile. The observer pulled the toy and started pressing the buttons and said, “Look Jacob! What do we have here?” She continued to press the buttons, producing a sound, and then she offered ot to Jacob. “Do you want to try it Jacob? You can have it” said the observer, still pressing the buttons and moving her head from right to left. The Jacob took it and started pressing the buttons – he also slightly moved his head sideways (left to right, right to left) while still sitting. The observer said, “da … da …” following the tone of the toy while looking at Marie as she continued with the activity.

Part 4 – Reflection(Clearly discuss your strengths and needs and the changes that

you would make if needed)

Strengths

For this guidance log I consider the following as my strengths: the ability to attract the child to proceed with the activity where he/she is being redirected to and the ability to control one’s emotion. First is the ability to attract the child with a different activity. If I didn’t take much effort with my facial expression, movement and tone there could be a possibility that the child won’t even look at me, or look at me but find it unattractive and continue to focus with what he is doing.

Second is the ability to control my emotions (esp. from getting upset). Even

Needs

Even though I was successful in redirecting the child, I can admit that I still need to form more confidence with regards to guidance strategies especially when the ECEs are around. I feel so shy whenever they’re around but I believe that I am getting more and more confident as time passes by and given the fact that I was told that I can act as an ECE with the children (thus, requiring me to be confident).

though it was an important activity, since the other two children were giving me a good response, I did control my tone of voice and facial expression which can immediately translate my emotions as of that moment. Sometimes, in situations like this, we tend to say no with conviction and just pull the toy away from the child. In this situation, I took my time to gently redirect him in a different activity and patiently waited until he settles down.

Discuss the changes that you would make and why you would make them.

If I am to change something with the redirection that I have performed, I think I would go for more available materials that are similar to each other instead of redirecting him to a different one. I feel so bad that the child wasn’t able to experience the activity because I feel his interest - him, interfering, makes me think that he is indeed interested with the activity but I was not able to cater to him.

Supervising ECE Signature

Dear ECE Supervising Teacher: Please read and review the guidance log. Select the appropriate box below.

o This log is accurate based on your observations. o This log is somewhat accurate.

Please explain : _______________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________

o This log is not accurate based on your observations.Agency Name: _____________________________________Phone Number:

_____________________________________Name of ECE: (Please Print)

_____________________________________ECE Signature:

_____________________________________Date of Signature: ________________________________ Thank-you!

Guidance Log #2______________________________________________________

Date: March 13, 2012Time: 9:00 - 10:00 A.M

Name: "Jacob"Date of Birth: March 18, 2011


Part 1 – Objective Observation(Clearly identify the problem. Examine the “context” of the problem)

Date: March 20, 2012 (between 11:30 am to 12:30 pm)Pseudonyms: Mark and MarySetting: It happened after having their lunch and while they were having their free-play. This period seems like their cooling down time, while they wait for their turn for diaper change and/or check - which is part of their daily routine before they head to their sleeping time.

Observation: The observer and three of the children were sitting on the mat and on the floor, playing with tambourines and singing songs. After 5 minutes the observer was reminded of the day’s program plan which aims to explore and play with the telephone set. Two of the other children walked away and played in a different area of the room. The observer took hold of one of the telephone toys and played with it and pretended to talk to the child (Mary) in front of her. When she caught Mary’s attention, she gave it to her and then they started playing. Pretending to talk to each other. The observer at that time was using her left hand, placed it on her left ear and pretended that it was a telephone. After a minute or two, Mark walked towards the observer and Mary. He was walking directly towards Mary who was playing with the telephone. At that point the headpiece of the phone was on Mary’s ear. He stretched his arm, getting hold of the telephone. The two children both held on to the telephone and pulled it towards their side but without too much force.

Context of the problem: Mark attempted to take hold of the telephone toy while Mary was still playing with it. They both held unto the toy, pulling it towards their side.



Before the actual response of the observer, it is only appropriate to indicate that there was also a present indirect guidance in the environment per se – having two toys of the same kind available for the children to explore. As mentioned in the observation, the telephone exploration was part of the centre’s planned activity for the day, which is why (what they usually do) the ECEs brought out ample amount of toys for children to explore the same type of toy, all at the same time. Duplicating the toy can be considered as a prevention strategy to decrease the occurrence of fighting behavior over a toy. It was mentioned by Bullard (2010) that having the few materials, or in this case (if ever) having only one telephone available, does not only increase fighting behavior, it may also reflect that “children have limited choices and may waste time waiting for materials to become available. … Additionally, children’s ability to reach their full potential may be hindered.”

On the other hand, given that there was already a preventive strategy that was present in the environment, the observer also chose to apply redirection to the child. The difference this time is that, the observer was able to redirect the child towards the same toy – thus, still providing the appropriate material for his interest which supports his exploration and full potential. Aside from mentioning that it is the most effective strategies for infants, it can also be said that it is the most appropriate during that time since you want to get the attention of the child and show him that you have the another (same) toy available for him. Marion (2011) mentions that redirection is a technique that “may involve distracting a very young child with a more appropriate activity” – which in this case, the observer was distracting the child towards an available toy to prevent the occurrence of further behavioral issues.



Still sitting on the mat – the children and the observer are all in the same level. Mary was sitting on the right side of the observer and Mark was walking in front of them (towards them and is directed to Mary).

Once the observer saw that Mark stretched out his hand towards the toy, she immediately said “Look Mark, I have

another telephone here.” She first tried to catch his attention hoping that the child won’t pull further. As soon as Mark looked at her while still holding on the phone she immediately looked from behind – twisting her body instead of standing up and moving away. She searched for the other telephone on top of the cubby behind her (where it is normally found), and then she immediately grab it as soon as she saw it and placed the head piece on her right ear and said, “Hello Mark!” while looking directly at the child – hoping that she gets his attention once again. The child looked back at her let go of the other telephone and stretched his arm towards the observer. The observer did the same by stretching her arm, giving other telephone to the child. The child picked it up from her hands and the observer then said, “Hi Mary, its Mark! How was your lunch?” … “Hello Mark! My lunch was really yummy!” The pretend conversation went on repeatedly. After a minute or two, Mary stood up and placed her telephone’s headpiece on the observer’s right side of the face and the observer pretended to have a conversation with Mary. Mark looked at them and he stood up and followed what Mary did and placed his telephone’s headpiece on the left side of the observer’s face.

Part 4 – Reflection(Clearly discuss your strengths and needs and the changes that you would

make if needed)

Strengths

For this guidance log I consider the following as my strengths, which led to the success of the chosen strategy. First is the accessibility to the duplicate material. If we were not situated near the area where I can get the duplicate telephone, I may assume that redirecting the child to a different equipment won’t be that easy because the child could have or might insist of wanting the telephone and that getting his interest to the new one (where he is redirected)

Needs

What I thought of at first, as one of my needs is the accessibility of the materials. But then as I look back, I remembered that this need was covered by the environment. The environment per se, guided and supported not only the children, but also me as the facilitator of the experience (planned or spontaneous). The environment fosters an indirect guidance strategy that lessens the direct intervention that the facilitator needs to perform in such cases.

might not work immediately, which may result to a loud cry and negotiation. This situation may also affect the other child’s interest to the activity.

Second is the power and enthusiasm of my action and voice that enabled me to get his attention and persuade him towards the desired direction. Without this, I suppose, I failed to become an effective ECE since I wasn`t able to provide an experience that catered to the child`s interest.Lastly, even though it is not my strength per se, I consider the availability of a duplicate of the equipment as strength because it only shows that the environment is developmentally appropriate and that it fosters to the full potential of the children. I also consider it as a strength because it only shows that the environment is prepared to prevent fighting behaviours to occur. It was mentioned in one of our discussions before and in one of the videos that we used, that prevention is the key strategy for the ECEs, in terms of handling difficult behaviours inside the classroom.

With this in mind, on the other hand, I consider ``foresight`` as a need. When I say foresight, I should have gotten the cue that Mark was showing right in front of me – I already saw him walking towards us. I should have invited him to come over, with the phone in my hand and not wait for him to stretch his arm – aiming for the telephone.

Discuss the changes that you would make and why you would

make them. If I am to change something in my strategy, I can say that I

would apply ``foresight`` like what I have mentioned in my needs. To effectively do this, I should have used the duplicate toy instead of using my hands as a pretend phone – knowing that it is available. This for me, is considered as a prepared tool, so by the time comes that a child joins into the activity I could apply an immediate response by offering or giving it to him and at the same time including him or her directly to the experience.

To better illustrate the change, I choose to apply it to the given situation in this log. If, let`s say, I was using the duplicate toy and Mark comes into the activity, I could have (might have) provided a spontaneous action or response to him and at the same time, I could have or might have provided continuity to Mary`s exploration – without interruptions. Such interruptions could have caused Mary`s interest to decrease, given that in some cases, as explained by my ECE, children tend to move away once you don`t give them the attention that they need and at the same time, your actions (looking for the toy, standing up or turning your back) might also be seen by the children as a redirection as they watch you. For example, during an experience, I stood up and went to look for a toy on a bin. I successfully saw the toy that I was looking for, and the child sees that I was able to get a toy on that bin; there`s a possibility that the child will also stand up and move towards that bin leaving the experience that you are providing.

Supervising ECE Signature

Dear ECE Supervising Teacher: Please read and review the guidance log. Select the appropriate box below.

o This log is accurate based on your observations. o This log is somewhat accurate.

Please explain : _______________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________

o This log is not accurate based on your observations.Agency Name: _____________________________________Phone Number:

_____________________________________Name of ECE: (Please Print)

_____________________________________ECE Signature:

_____________________________________Date of Signature: ________________________________

Thank-you!

Guidance Log #3______________________________________________________

Date: March 20, 2012Time: 11:30 AM - 12:30 PM

Name: "Mark"Date of Birth: March 18, 2011


Part 1 – Objective Observation(Clearly identify the problem. Examine the “context” of the problem)

Date: March 5, 2012 (between 9:00 to 10:00 AM)Pseudonym(s): TylerSetting: The situation occurred during their morning free-play, which is the suggested period where the observer can conduct her planned activity. It happened inside the classroom after the child performed an activity with a water table and a few pieces of balls of different makes and textures.

Observation: During the closing part of the planned activity, the observer asked Tyler to place the balls, one-by-one, on the bin that she was holding. The child picked up a ball from the water table using both of his hands and dropped it on the bin on

his left. He did this for four times, getting all the remaining balls into the bin (some of the balls were on the floor, because the child threw some during his exploration). After the water table was cleared with all the balls, the child started to play with the water by pounding on it with his right hand and then both of his hands. The observer started singing, “wash our hands, wash our hands…”, bent down and held on to the child’s left arm. The child pulled away and pounded on the water using his right hand. The child cried and pounded more times on the water when the observer tried to take him away from the water table.

Context of the problem: The child refused to be taken away from the activity that he seems to be interested with (the planned activity was based on the child’s cues and interests).



The observer chose to apply redirection and at the same time, limits. Redirection, particularly diversion and distraction, is said to be very effective for young children because they are still developing their ability to control their attention – knowing what to ignore and where to focus on. One of the major factors that one must consider in guiding children is the development of their perception. Marion mentioned perception as “one part of the whole process of cognitive development (2011).” He defined it as the “process of organizing information obtained through seeing, listening, touching and smelling (2011).” Children’s perception of things greatly affects their attention, most especially for young children. When faced with intense stimulus (bright colors, loud sounds and powerful emotions), young children experience the difficulty of ignoring it most especially when that certain “stimulus” captures their attention. With this in mind, diverting and distracting infants becomes an effective guidance strategy.

Another guidance strategy that was used by the observer was to help the child accept limits particularly through decreasing the distance between her and the child and through getting the child’s attention politely. We are all aware that these strategies won’t mean that much to the infants since they are still developing (esp. their language), but with all honesty that was one of the natural responses that the observer was able to apply. In decreasing the distance between the educator and the

child, the observer bend down to be able to talk to the child directly – giving eye contact. Also through this, the observer was able to convey her actual message through a visible expression that the child can actually/clearly see. In getting the child’s attention the observer used a nonthreatening verbal cue and physical contact that she assumes to be helpful in stating the limit to the child. As mentioned by Marion, “using nonthreatening verbal or nonverbal cues and appropriate physical contact is essential with toddlers and is highly recommended with preschoolers, especially those who have not learned to live with reasonable boundaries and limits (2011).” Though it was not mentioned that it is effective for infants, one cannot consider this as a useless strategy; instead, this could serve as an introduction for the child as he is about to enter toddlerhood and at the same time, the observer thought that this won’t do harm for him.



Still beside the water table – the observer was kneeling down, while the child was standing on her right, facing the water table.

The observer started singing “wash our hands, wash our hands [Mr. Thumbkin tone]” again and said, “Tyler, let’s go and wash our hands” while holding on to his left arm. The child pulled away – moving his body away from the observer. The observer didn’t pull against it or Tyler might fall to the side. She replaced his left hand on the child’s arm and used her right to hold the other side of the child’s body. The observer moved her body behind the child – now like squatting (legs fully bent, sitting on the ground). The observer is now holding both the sides of the child. The observer pulled the child away from the water table, then his body started moving against the pull. The observer stood up, bent over the child and held his left hand with her left hand, and his right hand with her right hand. The observer raised both hands away from the water table and said, “Tyler, it’s time to wash our hands.” Let go of the child’s left hand and stretched her arm and pointed to the sink behind the gate – 10-15 steps away from them, “look Tyler! There’s water there, remember? Water! Water! Yes, there’s water! (tone of excitement)” while the child pounded again to the water table. The child stopped and looked up (instead of looking down to the

water table) the observer held on to the child’s left hand again and then they started walking towards the sink.

Part 4 – Reflection

(Clearly discuss your strengths and needs and the changes that you would make if needed)

Strengths

For this guidance log, I consider the following as my strengths: patience & determination, composure and ability to show excitement, thus attracting the child. First is patience. One can feel like giving up since it shows that there could be no way to stop the child without actually pulling him physically away from the water table. But I was so patient and determined to persuade the child to proceed to the next activity without actually making him feel different as I pull him away. I don’t actually want to do it since I don’t want to intervene to the activity that he wants to do – but we had to.

Second is composure. As the facilitator, we are told not to show our emotions to children since this will greatly affect them. While the child doesn’t want to leave the water table and that when he kept on pounding on the water table – water splashing on both of our faces, I must hold on to myself and

Needs

With all honesty, the need that I’m thinking of right now is not yet that effective for infants – limits. When the time comes that I move to the other level, I realized that truly, limits, transitions, boundaries and the like are a must to make things easier not only for the teacher but also for the child.

remain calm ( don’t get pissed off). Even though in some way, it could be frustrating we should not show it to the child. We should always remain our calmness, still act positive whenever possible and respect the child. We are here to protect the child, which is why, as how Marion puts it, “we are obligated to reject any strategy that is ‘disrespectful, degrading, dangerous, exploitative, intimidating, psychologically damaging, or physically harmful to children (2011).”

Third is the ability to attract the child with a new object or new activity. Since we know that children can easily be redirected because of their developing perception, it is still a task for us to think of ways on how to redirect them. We have to create an “intense stimulus” to attract them. With this in mind, we result to excited expressions, excited tones and the like – acting out that the other one (where we are redirecting them) is more fun!

Discuss the changes that you would make and why you would make them.

If I can only change something, it will be the location of the water table – putting it somewhere where the sink is close and really visible. The gate at the time was covering the sink – preventing Tyler to see it

fully. Redirecting Tyler to the sink could have been easier if he can see it in the first place. Changing the setting could also be considered as a preventive strategy which is essential for guiding children – “prevention is (always) better than cure” as how some people will say it.

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