September 30, 2009

Basic Info
Room: 1
Age Group: early-3s

Adults
Ms S, lead teacher
MJ, teacher (other room)

Children
Ma, girl

A, girl
C, boy
I, girl, mostly kept to herself
P, girl
G, boy
N, girl
E, boy
H, girl
L, girl
S, girl
Mi, boy, occasionally in care here when a parent is in town on business

Space
Room 1 is a large room divided into separate areas by three-feet high shelving units that house toys, puzzles, and activities. A large loft creates yet another area in the room, where children can go to look at books or for quiet play.

Atmosphere
Today was Picture Day; many of the children were dressed up, and all the children were excited by the break in routine.

Observation/Notes
I arrived in the room about 8:40, just as many of the children were returning to the room after potty break. When I arrived, many of the girls had already taken pictures. Three of the girls were down the hall having their pictures taken.

Ma and A sat at a table in the middle of the room and put puzzles together. Ma seemed possessive of the puzzles and did not want to share with A. The first time that Ma took a puzzle away from A, Ms S gently talked to Ma and asked her to share. When Ma refused to share with A again, about 5 minutes later, Ms S asked Ma if she would do her a favor and help MJ make some copies at the copier. When MJ went to the copier, Ma seemed more than happy to go with her and help.

As I was observing the class, H, P, and S played in the area where I was sitting. H made a game of picking up tools from a playset and asking me the name of each tool. When I told her the name of a tool, she would pretend to use it (e.g., hammer, wrench, level, etc.) on the play workbench next to us.

Three girls came back from pictures just before outdoor-time; they had missed a morning snack, so Ms S asked them to sit at a table in the front of them room. Ms S opened for each girl a container of yogurt. After the girls finished their yogurt, everyone lined up, and we went outside to the playground. Just before we left the building, a parent brought M to the room. M is a boy who had come to the center regularly until his family moved out-of-state. One of his parents occasionally travels on business and brings M to the center when in town. (I had met M in another classroom in 2007, when I observed another classroom for TECA-1321, The Infant and the Toddler. My wife and I had also met one of M's parents at a Fall Festival in 2008.)

Playground
Rm 1 uses the playground area for three- and four-year olds at the back of the center. this area is fenced-in and separated from the older preschoolers' area to the West and from the younger children's area next to the center to the Southeast. The area contains a track on which children can ride tricycles; a slide playscape with a ladder, tubes, and some things on which to climb; a sandbox; a little storage barn where trcycles and some outdoor toys are stored. Between the center and the track is a small ampitheater-like area with benches. Initially, most of the children chose tricycles and rode them around and around the track. Three of the boys played with balls: a soccer ball, a basketball, and another small, air-filled ball. I spent approximately 20 minutes with the class on the playground.

Upon arrival, M had been a bit shy and kept to himself. Outside, however, M and the other children warmed up to each other very quickly, and he seemed to be accepted and included in each group of children as they played.

Who I am and why I'm here

[Jim reluctantly stands up, looks around, and speaks hesitantly:]
My name is Jim Gillespie, and I'm. . . I'm determined to become more involved in early childhood education.

The short version
I'm a technical writer, musician, parent, student, and sometimes educator. Among other labels, I'm also a father, son, husband, brother, uncle, cousin. Apparently, once you're a scout you're always a scout (my rank was Life). And according to the Myers-Briggs test, I'm an INFP (introversion/intuition/feeling/perception). During the week, I work full-time as a technical writer. Until February 2009, I worked as a technical writer at IBM. I now work in a temporary contract position at National Instruments. This semester (Fall 2009), I'm taking a full load of Child Development courses at Austin Community College (ACC):

• Families, School, and Community (TECA 1303)
• Educating the Young Child (TECA 1311)
• Wellness of the Young Child (TECA 1318)
• Children with Special Needs (CDEC 1359)

Each course requires students to spend a certain number of hours observing classrooms at the ACC Children's Lab School or at a child care center in the community. This semester, I will spend about 40 hours observing classrooms at two different child care centers. in addition to my written assignments for class, I plan to keep a blog of my field experiences. Note: I'll use initials rather than names of children and teachers, and I won't disclose the names of child care centers.

More than you really want to know about me
I have two daughters: a preschooler and an almost-toddler, both of whom I love dearly. For now, we'll just call the girls Cricket and Kat. A few months after Cricket (daughter #1) was born, I took several weeks off work (FMLA), and she and I spent days together reading poems and stories, singing songs, playing, puttering about the house, cooking dinner, shopping, doing laundry, and watching important videos like George Harrison's Concert for Bangladesh -- Cricket LOVED Billy Preston's performance of "That's The Way God Planned It." When Preston got up from behind the organ and started dancing, well she was just awe-struck. She'd get a huge smile on her face and try to clap in time. When my leave from work was over, I was quite sad. I thoroughly enjoyed the time I got to spend with my daughter, and I wished it didn't have to end.

When Cricket was two years old, I took an introductory Child Development course at ACC. I was working full-time during the day, but was able to complete reading and homework assignments at night. I figured I owed it to my child to be as good a parent and caregiver as I could be. My first development course was TECA 1354: Child Growth and Development, with Stephanie Miller. I learned a great deal and found that I enjoyed the class even more than the computer science and programming courses I'd taken previously at ACC. I took a second Child Development course, CDEC 1321: The Infant and the Toddler. This course required me to spend a certain number of hours in a classroom with toddlers. I loved the experience and learned a lot about child development, behavior, nutrition, and the value of play.

My experiences with my own toddler, the more formal education I was receiving through child development courses, and my 16 hours of field experience with a couple of wonderful teachers and a roomful of toddlers were incredibly inspiring to me. I started looking for ways to connect more with my child and to become more involved in early education. Although I was working full-time as a technical writer and playing music with a band on weekends, I looked forward to my homework assignments and spending time in the classroom. I also taught Sunday school at church, read stories to Cricket before bedtime, and began listening to and writing songs that I thought Cricket and kids her age might like.

Around this time, I'd stumbled on a genre of music I knew nothing about, family-friendly music intended for kids, parents, people who love kids, really anyone who likes upbeat music with a positive message. Traditional songs are fine, the Wiggles are pretty decent guys, and then there are Dan Zanes, Laurie Berkner, and Imagination Movers. But I really got a charge out of a Chicago-based band called Scribble Monster & His Pals.

Maybe even a little more background might be useful. I'm not a classically-trained musician, but I did start taking piano lessons at age six or seven. In fourth grade, I started playing alto saxophone and took piano and saxophone lessons. In high school, I played in marching band, concert band, pep band, and jazz band. When I was 17, I taught myself to play bass guitar and occasionally played bass guitar in jazz band (as well as alto and baritone saxophone, bass clarinet, and keyboards). For admittance into Ball State University School of Music, I auditioned on electric bass guitar playing an Aria by Henry Purcell and was awarded a scholarship to study double bass.

During my sophomore year at college, after completing about 40 hours of credit in music theory, education, and jazz, I changed my major to English. At the time that I graduated from Ball State University with a BS in English, I was playing regularly in four bands. In September 1991, I moved to Texas for graduate school, and quickly found myself engrossed in the music scene in both College Station and Austin. I graduated from Texas A&M University in 1995 with an MA in English, and soon moved to Austin to continue performing and recording music with the band in which I'd been playing.

Thirty-some odd years after my first piano lesson, I continue to play music. But I also have a passion for early education and the innate creative capabilities of young children. If we can teach children early such values as truth, justice, knowledge, diversity, creativity, the importance of making good choices, and so on, then we can make the world a much better place in which to live.