Ok this may sound really strange and random but while I was interning in a preschool classroom I found that there are many things that need to be colored by hand. I have never been good at coloring. I can of course stay in the lines but it never looks nice when I am done. Is this just something that takes time and practice or does someone know any tricks. I feel as a teacher, especially to young children, I should have these skills to be creative and artisitc. My mom is really good at these sort of things but she doesnt really know how to teach me. I have tried to learn as much as possible from her. Thank you for reading and take care everyone.
Everytime I tell someone that I work with young children they always
ask how do I not lose my patience. I always found it funny because I do
not seem to have patience for some things but I seem to when it comes
to young children. Then I started to read a book called, "The Power of
Guidance, Teaching Social-Emotional Skills in Early Childhood
Classrooms" by Dan Gartrell. In it he explains that it is not about
having patience, its about having understanding of children. Of course,
that makes total sense. It is not about being able to just "put up
with" children, but having the knowledge of child development. As the
author says, having patience for children gives a negative connotation
to it which I agree with. When having patience with something, its
usually something you find annoying or unpleasant. Anything that gives
care takers more credit is great to know.
I've gotten so many papers from my childhood classes that might some
day be useful but no way to organize them all. I like to be organized
so this is bothering me until I can come up with a simple solution. For
now they are all in binders in page protectors. I guess the logical
simple solution would be to transfer it all to my computer. There is a
scanner downstairs in the basement. That just takes sooo long. I have
started a book collection of children's books! Ive got 12 books so far,
even a few hard backs. Its so fun adding books to it. Making a list of
books has helped to determine which ones to get. The Barnes and Nobel
website allows you to look up a book and see if any of the local stores
are carrying it which helps save time going to the store and finding
out its not there. If I didnt get to do anything but read stories to
children, I would still love it. The other day I got to read a sponge
bob square pants book. It was so fun making the different voices and
then mixing them up, everyone was laughing including the teacher of the
classroom. Still need some practice but getting better at it.
My child development teacher recommended this book to read for a class
on guidance. I loved it! It is so easy to read with cute illustrations
and comics included. This book is called "how to talk so kids will
listen & listen so kids will talk" by Adele Faber & Elaine
Mazlish. Not only can the methods talked about in this book be used for
kids but also for communicating with adults. I think it is filled with
basic communication skills that most people can benefit from. Not only
do the authors use their own lives for their information but also the
lives of other real family members that have been a part of their own
workshops. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.
