At my placement this week my mentor had asked me to guide an activity with the junior kindergarteners. It was an activity practicing drawing a star. It was a little out of the blue as she hadn't really asked me to do something like this yet. I had done one of my activities but that was something I planned. She also told me I was leading it like right before we did it. Ill admit it made me a little nervous. Even though I had done something like this before, her letting me do the whole thing by myself shocked me a little bit. Afterwards we were talking about it and she said I did a good job I admitted to her that it made me nervous.

Since I am still new to this classroom I am trying to learn as much as possible about the children. I want to make the short amount of time that we are together memorable. To do that I want to ensure that I am present it was is going on. I would never be in the corner not engaging with the activities or the children.

I like to do this as well by engaging in conversations with the children and being able to connect with them. Just today I was interacting with a child, we were just chatting and she was telling me about the city she lived in and how many brothers she had. I was able to relate with her on so many of the things she brought up. Her face just lit up when I said I had the same amount of siblings and that I also just live around the corner. That conversation could have gone so much differently if I wasn't present in the conversation and just said "Oh that's cool"

Individuals present: Jada and Charliena

Paige

Chelsea

This website helped me lay it out clearing so I could understand what is going on in my classroom. It helped me understand why we are doing it the way we are and some tips that I could apply when I am working on it with the children.

https://www.playloft.ca/jolly-phonics-explained

I took this moment to say to my mentor that I didn't know a whole lot about Phonics. She told me that she also didn't know that much about it when she started and she is still to this day learning about it. She told me that she was used to using Jolly Phonics and she likes the way that it works and she thinks it is easy to understand. She was not liking that she had to use UFLI. She had just went to a learning conference and learned more about it. She admitted to me that now that she learned more about it she likes it more. I thought it was human to admit that she was wrong.

Charliena's P.A.T.H.

(Present)

Being present as an educator is vital to the role we play in the lives of the children we care for. Allowing children to be themselves, while also catering to their needs and interests is beyond important. This can only be done when we as educators are fully present, no matter the chaos, in order to further the lives of those we teach and love.

(Truth)

Speaking my truth

As an educator speaking my truth is about honesty and respect: this means using simple and meaningful words. Speaking my truth means using language validates their feelings. If a child is upset I don't say, "you're okay", instead I can say something like, "I can see that this is creating some big feelings for you and you're feeling frustrated". Naming the emotions can help children build trust. Truth is about respecting each child's perspective on what is happening. During my time at placement, I have embraced my truth with children and other educators.

(Human)

Throughout my time in placement, I've taken notice to how important being 'human' really is when it comes to the profession of Early Childhood Education. It allows for building those meaningful connections with children, families and other educators.

To foster the element of being human, I ensure that I always greet each child by name every morning or when I arrive, and I take the time to check in to see how they're doing. By doing so, I'm demonstrating that they matter as an individual, and not just the activities they participate in or group they are a part of. Having this human connection builds trust and can help to set the tone of the learning environment of the day.

I have been really trying to be able to help the children more when they are distressed. I feel like my first week I wasn't exactly sure what to do because I didn't know much about the children yet. I feel like I have improved my skills a little bit in this area by watching my mentor in what she would do in this situation and also watching the children's habits. Today I had no trouble admiting to my my mentor that I didn't know what to do. A child was feeling unwell and they were crying. I wasn't sure what to do in this situation because I didn't know if a child not feeling well was a different scenario so I asked for help and watched what she did.