Lead Teacher

1. What went well today? Provide 2 specific examples of children’s

actions/comments that occurred during self-selected activities. What evidence do
you have for your conclusion?
a. Every activity was played with by at least 6 children. At the alphabet soup
activity, there were 6 children there at one time. There were 7 children at
the block area at one time, and 3 children that were there for 25 minutes.
One boy was at the science activity for 20 minutes. There was some
collaboration today, as children made each other sandwiches and pizzas,
and shared the cupcakes they “made”.
2. Evaluate gathering time. What were some positive aspects of gathering time?
What were the participation needs of the children and how were they met? What
would you change for next time?
a. The children were really engaged. The first activity, they really enjoyed
guessing what the shadow was, and every child did the actions that went
with the utensil. During the story, the children were all quiet, and counted
with me as I added food to the stone soup. The children were a little
confused while singing, “I’m a Little Teapot”. Next time I would sing it a
first time, then have them sing it with me line by line while doing the
actions. There was plenty of movement in the first and last activities, and
they were able to talk during the first and the last activities as well.
3. Evaluate small focus groups. What were some positive aspects of small focus
groups? What were the participation needs of the children and how were they
met? What would you change for next time?
a. The children seemed really engaged in the activity, as the children were
jumping over each other to get a turn to scoop food into the blender. The
children were each given a turn to pour different ingredients into the
blender. I thought they would like pressing the buttons on the blender, but
they mostly just wanted to cover their ears, and seemed a little weary of it.
I think the biggest problem for this small group was teachers not reviewing
the activity before hand, and tables. The tables make it really hard for all
the children to be able to participate. We needed more of the U tables for
this activity.
4. Evaluate opening and closing circle. What were some positive aspects of closing
circle? What were the participation needs of the children and how were they
met? What would you change for next time?
a. The children have become less enthused for some of the songs we would
play all the time, so we are trying to find new songs. The new songs take
 time for the children to get used to, so they weren’t too over the moon
excited for them, but they tried to participate. I think I did a better job at
having an even mix of games, songs, and stories today. The children
cheered when I brought out a prop for a certain game, and when I brought
out the pieces to a felt story they really liked. One little boy that was the
last to leave asked to play with the felt pieces. I tried a new activity, which
was having each child hold up a picture of the story of, “Are You My
Mother?” to help them interact with it more. They really got into it, but it
would have been better if I had them all stand up, so everyone could see
better.
5. How did you set clear expectations for children’s learning/ behaviors throughout
the day?
a. The activities were set up in a way that the play could be child-led.
Monday and today we had a few children that seemed to have off days, so
there was a little bit of teacher mediation to remind the children to explain
their feelings in a nice way, rather than yell. The CHILD 150 students
brought in an activity that was not child led, and we all prepared a backup
because another teacher tried that activity before, and not a single child
touched it. However, this time, the children were really engaged and kept
going back to play their game. The students did a great job at inviting
children over, and making the game really exciting.
6. What changes, or deviations, from the written plan did you make? Were they
helpful? Why or why not?
a. We agreed as a team that we would change the transition to small groups,
so that it would be the same everyday, which is an awesome idea that I
have been wanting to do all semester. So instead of my transition, we did
the song. The song worked pretty well, but we were not very practiced in
it, as we had just learned it that morning. It went just as well as the other
transitions have gone, but I think it will really help the children as we
consistently use it for the same transition every day.
7. If you were to teach this plan again what would you do differently?
a. If I did it again, I would make better playdough. I tried to make different
colored play dough for pizza dough, sauce, and toppings, but every
playdough I made came out as a different texture, and some hardened
overnight. So we used our backup playdough instead. I think the activity
would have been better if I could have made successful playdough. Only
half of our class visits the art table, so I tried to do a different kind of art,
but it wasn’t as popular as paint and brushes were, which is what our
children like the most. I think I should have stuck more to the painting with
brushes idea, rather than switching it up.
8. How was your lead teaching better this time compared to the last time you
taught?
a. I was a lot more relaxed and confident in what I was doing. I think opening
circle, closing circle, and gathering time went a lot better because of that. I
felt more comfortable with the activities that I planned, and planned them
to be more active, especially for gathering time, and the children were so
well behaved throughout all of those, so I think it worked.
9. What did you learn about yourself as a preschool teacher? What are some
specific goals you would like to work on for your next lead teaching day?
a. Seeing the CHILD 150 activity go really well, instead of a total flop really
struck me. I think it had a lot to do with the energy the students brought,
the display of their activity, and their intentionality of the game. I feel bad
for being so negative about their activity now, and can see that it really just
depends on the teachers for activities like those. I learned that I do a lot
better and get way more into activities that I am excited about. I am done
with my lead teaching, which is super exciting and relieving to me.
However, we do have another team day, and I am excited about being
able to lead another part of the day again, whatever that may be.