Explore resources and activities relevant to student teaching seminars. These types of courses, often taken concurrently with student teaching/internship, focus on supporting all young children and their families in early childhood programs. These types of interactive courses emphasizes skill development, brainstorming, and problem solving. In these types of courses, students discuss issues raised and experiences encountered in student teaching/internship, and how these relate to the broader experience of teaching young children.
Course Activity 1: Outdoors with Young Children
*The IEL Tip Sheet, Neighborhood Geography with Young Children describes how outdoor walks in the neighborhood can be important parts of the curriculum. The IEL Tip Sheet series, “Outdoor Field Trips” is intended to help teachers plan and conduct outdoor class trips. They offer “step by step” suggestions for safe, educationally appropriate outdoor field trips. Although written for teachers of preschool, the tip sheets cover much, if not all, of what might be involved in field trips for older children. Students in practicum may use them as a guide, 1) to practice for when they are eventually able to set up and lead a real outdoor field trip, or 2) to plan a short outdoor trip they would like to take with a small group of children during their placement (with full approval of the cooperating teacher).
Before students read the tip sheets, ask them to recall and jot down notes about an outdoor field trip they took during their PreK-12 education. How old were they? What was the purpose of the trip? Where did they go? How did they get there and back? If a school did not allow such field trips, what was the rationale? Questions for reflection/discussion may include: To what extent do students recall knowing what the teachers and other adults did to plan for a particular outdoor trip? Was the class involved in the decision-making or did it all happen “behind the scenes”? What do students recall as making a particular outdoor field trip memorable or successful? What changes or accommodations would need to me made in order to have such a trip now, given concerns many families and school personnel have about COVID-19 or other health matters?
Activity: Ask students individually or in pairs to develop a basic plan for a field trip appropriate to their placement, using the steps and suggestions in the Outdoor Field Trips tip sheets. Suggest that they share the ideas with their cooperating teachers for feedback.
Course Activity 2: Fun with Fine Arts
*The IEL Tip Sheets, Sing, Play, and Hear: Music’s In the Air! and Out and About with Preschoolers: Dancing on the Sidewalk provide some creative suggestions for fine arts activities. The video, Drawing a Friend illustrates how art (in this case, drawing at the writing center) can be a catalyst for positive peer interactions during choice time.
Activities: Ask students, in pairs or individually, to plan a brief activity for their classmates based on suggestions in one of the tip sheets. Help them locate materials if needed (such as art supplies to make drawings inspired by a piece of music). Afterward, ask them: What went well? Were there any surprises? How do they think children will respond to activities like these?
View the video, Drawing a Friend with the students, and review the transcript and accompanying text. What do they think about the interaction between the two children? Knowing that this kind of activity can strengthen peer relationships, how might they encourage children in their classrooms to draw each other? Questions for reflection/discussion may include: What sorts of fine arts activities do the students observe in their placements? Are bulletin boards full of nearly-identical “projects” that were teacher-led? Or are the activities more open-ended, with emphasis on children’s creativity? Do children do their own storytelling to peers? Are they encouraged to make music in a variety of ways? How comfortable do students feel about encouraging children’s creativity in all areas of the arts? What, if anything, do they feel they need to know in order to foster children’s engagement with the arts?
Course Activity 3: Active Play
*The IEL blog post, Active Play Promotes Young Children’s Development by Dr. Bernadette Laumann suggests ways adults can encourage all children to engage in active play, while also promoting their language learning and development. Activity: After reading the blog, ask students to talk about what sorts of active play they observe in their placements. Does active play seem to be valued? How do the teachers build active play into a typical day?
Questions for reflection/discussion may include: What do students recall as the role of active play in their own early childhood years? Where did they play, and with whom? What do students think about the opportunities for physical play in the lives of children today? Do they believe it is encouraged generally in society? What do they think should be the role of schools in children’s physical “fitness” and development?
The IEL videos Experimenting with Balance and Keep It Moving: Playing with Hoops show preschool age children in solitary active outdoor play.
Activity: View each video with the students and call their attention to the accompanying explanatory text. Questions for reflection/discussion may include: How do students feel about the kinds of physical activities shown in the videos? Do they visualize having, say, an obstacle course with developmentally appropriate physical challenges available? How do students feel about assisting children who may need some help with particular physical skills, as the teacher does in the hoops video? Are they confident about helping, or do they feel they would need to know more first?
Activity: Ask each student to create a lesson plan for a physical activity they would like to try with children in their placements.