Another disposition that is prevalent to this video was self-esteem and students figuring out about themselves. Students need to learn about themselves and others as part of their learning so that they can also learn in an academic sense. Learning through play is most of the learning that was happening, and this reminded me of the preschool that I once taught at. The preschool that I taught at thought that education happened through play, so students would play and learn through what they were doing. Observing children playing can tell you a lot about the learning experiences of a child because every child is different. Some might go for the same toy every day while others might explore new items each day. This is a huge part of early childhood learning, and it was a major idea from this video. The one thing that confuses me, though, is that since the curriculum is not standardized, some students might not be ready for kindergarten or might be behind some of their peers. If children from other preschools are learning letters and numbers while these students are learning through their play, they will be in different spots than their peers. 

This is inspiring because the teachers show that students can create their own learning experiences and classrooms do not always have to look like the “standard” classroom. I found this video to be more inspiring because it shows that teachers are able to accommodate their students’ wants and needs. This cultivates the dispositions of curiosity and wonder. This is because the teachers allowed the students to explore ideas on their own. They let the students figure out the type of ladder that would be best and what materials they could use to build the tallest tower. The children were able to make discoveries on their own, which is a very important part of developing dispositions that will last a lifetime for students. 

One question I have after this experience is about what happens after the students leave preschool and enter kindergarten? How prepared are the children for kindergarten? As we have learned, there are many different types of preschools, so when kindergarten starts there will be children from all different preschools and I wonder how the children from this preschool will adapt to it. I know Bennett Family Center has a kindergarten, but I am unsure of how many children will go there and how many will move to a different school. 

One piece of advice that I would give to future students in this course would be to try to get a spot in the morning section of this class. I had to make up hours so I went during the morning one day and I got so much more out of that experience than I do in the afternoon. More of the learning activities and group lessons happen in the morning, so I wish I was there to experience that. I feel like I would have gotten more out of the field experience if I was here during the part of the day that was not mostly free play. I know that is not possible for every student, so my advice for all of the students in the afternoon would be to really get involved in the classroom and with the students. The afternoon is a lot of free play time which can sometimes drag on, but if you get in the action and play with the students you will get so much more than just observing. Observing is important, but engaging with the students allows personal connections to form and an opportunity to be in the moment and enjoy the short amount of time we have in the field. 

My next key learning experience was when I did my literacy project because it really put me in action at my placement. I feel like I got so much out of doing a whole-class reading and activity with my preschoolers because it made me realize my purpose there. I was there to support the preschoolers and their learning through reading a book and having them plant some flowers to remind them to be kind to their friends. I learned about the importance of knowing how to meet the needs of your students along with how to make a lesson plan and how to execute the lesson. This was very meaningful to me because I got to put what I was learning all semester into action. Being able to teach a lesson to the preschoolers made me realize that what I am doing matters and that I am someone who my students can look up to and learn from. 

During this semester we learned about many different teaching strategies, including the whole book approach. I was able to utilize the whole book approach during the literacy project because I let my students interact with the book and talk about what they saw in the pictures. Lambert’s piece on the whole book approach because it talked about how the pictures in the book are just as important as the words and how students can make meaning out of every aspect of a book. I can frequently use the whole book approach in my future classroom because as an elementary educator, I will read many books to my students. I will teach my students about all of the different parts of the book and ask them what they notice about illustrations. I want my students to be able to connect to the books and the materials that they are learning, so utilizing the whole book approach will allow me to provide that opportunity for my students, just as I did during my literacy project.

My final key learning moment was not something that happened in the field, yet it was something that frequently happened in our seminar discussions. Whenever fellow peers would speak out about their experiences in their preschool classrooms I got to learn so much valuable information. It was super helpful to hear about the experiences that my peers were going through because sometimes I could relate to what they had to say and it was nice knowing that others felt the same. It was also helpful to hear about experiences that were completely different from mine because it showed that every class and every student is different. This was a key learning experience for me because I was able to learn from my peers. The learning that occurred from this was not just taught to me, but it was experienced. I then could take what I learned from my peers and apply it to my field experience. It was also very helpful to hear from the cohort A students at the beginning of the semester so that I had an idea of what to expect when I got into the field later on. 

This can connect back to the reading we completed on emergent earthen curriculum because it was written based off of experiences that happened at Hort Woods. I really enjoyed this piece not only because it was educational, but because it was about an experience that happened at a Penn State preschool. I feel like I could really connect to this reading since it was written about a field placement here, similar to the way that I really valued learning from hearing about the field experiences of my peers. This article gave me a way to experience the ways of the teachers and the experiences in the field on a second-hand account. I could really learn from this piece because I was interested in its contents since it was written by one of the course instructors, Misty Woods, and her peers. I can take what they wrote about in this piece, emergent earthen curriculum, and apply it to my future classroom. I can do so by providing my students with time to go outside and learn, and see where nature takes me. I can be open to discussing harder topics, like the death of this rabbit in this article, so that my students can learn about nature and the world in a natural way.