Wylie House Visit

Hollie Wilkins
Social Studies
15 April 2012

IAEYC Alternative Assignment

            The Wylie House is something that I had never really paid a lot of attention to on campus.  I actually went here for the first time last summer.  I work at Knee High Daycare and we took the children on a walk here.  It was something that I found to be so interesting.  I loved that everything was still set in the 19^th century.  I was a little nervous about bringing such small children to an area like this.  I know that there are a lot of antique items that are very breakable.  I was so surprised at the way that the children reacted.  They seemed to really be interested in the things that were housed here.
            This got me thinking about how I would incorporate something like this into my future classroom.  I could potentially have kindergarteners and I would love to take them on fun field trips without fear that they would break something!  I want to be able to teach the children in my future classroom about history.  I want them to know about what things looked like many many years ago.  I think that something like this can be done in a more interactive way.  I would not want to just show the children different books that have pictures.  I would want to take them somewhere like this in order to see what their reactions would be like.  Places like the Wylie House are made for people to have a more interactive way of looking at things from our past.
            I went to the Wylie House again and had a wonderful time.  This time I did not go with the children at my daycare.  Although I enjoyed going with them, it was nice to really look around for myself and not constantly be counting to see that all children were accounted for in the group.  This also made me think about my future role as an educator.  I think that it is so important that teachers got to places like this first before they send the children. For one reason the teacher needs to go and see what an exhibit has to offer first and make sure that it is appropriate for the ages of the children that they will be bringing to the exhibit.  The second reason is so that the teacher can see what all the exhibit has to offer for herself/ his self.  I believe that it is very important that teachers get to have lots of information before the children arrive, that way they will have the same knowledge to discuss with the children when they return to the school.
            One of the things that I found most interesting was the textiles that were available to see in the exhibit.  It was so interesting to me that someone would be able to make something like this.  It would take so much time to and effort to put it together.  One idea that I thought of would be to do this in the classroom.  It would be wonderful to research why certain textiles are so intricate and if they have certain meanings.  Then the children could be given paper that would serve as their blue print for their cloth.  They could sketch out what they wanted their cloth to look like.  Then, I could work with the art teacher and this could be a project that the children work on in that special during the week.  It would give them a chance to research the importance of textile making and then let them reflect their creativity into what they are making in the classroom.
            Some of the paintings that were hanging on the wall were very interesting.  There were some of the actual Wylie family and then more from that century.  Art is also something that can bring a lot of conversation to the classroom.  In this case it would be wonderful to have the children pick as piece that they saw at the Wylie House and spend some more time looking into why it was painted and who was in the painting.  This could be something where the children could break into literacy groups and discuss what they found.  They would be able to share the knowledge that they have found in the research and make notes with the children in their group.
            I was very interested in the information that I was given about the Wylie House Barn.  I was able to see photos about the dissembling and assembling of the barn.  Something like this would be great to show the children.  We discuss other buildings in history that have been taken down and possibly moved to another area to preserve the legacy that they hold.  All- in- all I think that taking children on field trips like this would be so fun and entertaining.  Taking children somewhere like this would take careful planning to make sure that there would be enough parent volunteers.  Also I would want to make sure that the children could have a question and answer time with the staff.

Play!

I loved this week's article.  I think that it is so important that we encourage play in the classroom.  As mentioned in the article, children can reinact things that they have heard in a story or seen on television.  I think that this would be a wonderful way to assess children on stories that you have read in class.  I could read a story to children or teach a lesson out of a textbook.  Instead of asking the children questions, I could assign them different areas of the book and have them get into groups and "act out" what they think is happening in this part of the text. I think that this would be a way to get them involved in the learning process. I do not want them to be bored with lessons that I am being told that I must teach.

I think that this could also be used to help other students understand what the lesson is about.  Some children have a harder time understanding what the teacher is wanting them to get from the lesson.  This would be a way that children could work together and help one another.  They would be able to help each other understand parts that are confusing.  This would also teach other groups a more "child like" way of understanding the text.  Play can be used in such an educational way in the classroom and it should not always be viewed as a negative thing!

Reading Aloud

I think that reading aloud in the class is so important. We have spent a lot of time talking about popcorn reading and how that makes so many of us feel uncomfortable. I think that choral
Reading would be wonderful because it allows the children to all participate
But not be singled out.
I also love the idea of small
Groups. This would mean that the children would have smaller
Groups and would not feel threatened reading in front of the whole
Class. This would also mean that children could work
Together to help each other with words or
Phrases that they are stuck on.

Poetry

Poetry is so exciting to do in the classroom.  Children get a chance to really express the way that they are feeling in words.  I loved that the teacher encourages the students to say what they think rain sounds like.  As a class they are participate to mimic the sound of rain.  Using something like this in the classroom will make students feel that it's okay to join in because everyone is doing something together.  My favorite part was the teacher explaining how expressive and passionate you can be in poetry.  I think this is something that we can really share with our younger students because it will also encourage journalism because they are writing down their own thoughts and feelings!

Maturation

Maturation is a huge contirubuting factor to children's "readiness" to read.  Many times teachers assume that children may all be on the same "level" of reading capabilities when this simply is not the case. This article states that you could have a room of twenty kindergarteners that are on twelve different capable reading levels.  Maturation deals with children's exposure to reading at the age that they are in.  Some children may have been read to every night while others have only been exposed to books while in the classroom.  The child's mental capabliities may not be able to handle books that other children in the class are able to understand.  It is important as Early Childhood Educators that we know all children will not be "ready" to read at the same time as their peers.  Children will develope the "readiness" to read the more that they are exposed to it in the classroom.  As teachers, we must make sure that all children are getting exposure to literature throughout the day in the classroom!

Messy Hands

I thought this was a very interesting article. It really reminded me of the mad fans that you do for fun since you fill in the words. I think something like this would be great as an assessment for children. It would teach you a lot about how children think and what they put together. I think that this would be something neat to do at the beginning of a unit to see what people already know.

Leveled Reading

I was intriguided to read about  the level reading article.  I have always felt that level reading is something that a teacher would never do if the school did not insist that it was needed.  I understand that this is a way of doing assessment on children in the classroom.  My teacher spends time with different children every day talking about the books that they are reading and having them read to her.  She is always talking about the testing that they will start doing next year in first grade.  I think that level reading puts so much pressure on the children.  When a child is a strong reader, you risk the chance that they may become bored with what is being done during this time.  The biggest thing, is that the children know what the levels mean.  My kindergarteners know which colors mean easier books and which do not.  I think that this is something that makes some of the children embarrassed.  This is something that other peers can see as public knowledge on which book their peers are now reading.  I wish that there was something that the state could do that would allow for the assessment that I know is needed, with out having the children feel vulnerable and embarrassed.