Individual Assignment : Reflection Paper
Module: Professional Development
Date: 20 August
Interview with Teacher Smiley in Stage 1 “Survivor” of Katz’s Model of Developmental Stages for Early Childhood Professionals
Introduction
Our interview with Teacher Smiley provided ample evidence (Appendix 1, 1a, p.1) of a teacher in Stage 1 of Lilian Katz’s Model of Developmental Stages for early childhood professionals (Katz,1995). She has a mere 5 months worth of experience as a teacher of N1 children in a childcare centre. But at age 24 and with brimming enthusiasm, she was a picture of promise and potential as an early childhood teacher.
Our group therefore brainstormed on 2 possible metaphoric sculptures to represent her, namely, a bonsai plant on a ceramic pot or a flower bud in a steady container of earthy soil. We finally chose the latter, which captures the combined essence of youth and potential. We also added a strong base of fertilized soil in a steady plastic bottle for this flower bud to continue growing out from. The inclusion of fresh leaves in our metaphoric sculpture gave the flower bud we had chosen the additional opportunities for further growth and development, as they capture the essential sunlight and water to sustain that growth.
Body Content
Teacher Smiley gave the most obvious clue to her stage of development as an early childhood teacher when she revealed that she was only 5 months into her career at the childcare centre she was working in. She was clearly trying to survive (Katz,1995), as with each passing day, she was saddled with mounting pressures at work. Left without much assistance from her assigned mentor (Appendix 1, 2a, p.2), she was left very much on her own to manage the 3-year old children in her class. Compounding this situation was her seemingly unsupportive Supervisor, who was quick with her accusations of wrong-doing on Teacher Smiley (Appendix 1, 2b, p.2).
However, in the face of such a belligerent environment that she was in, Teacher Smiley was strong enough to soldier on. She dug deep into her resolve and told herself that she can learn from each episode, and to equip herself to teach and manage her young charges through tools such as observation, waiting and learning that she has learnt from her classes in preschool teaching (Appendix 1, 2c, p.3). She began to resolve her daily issues by carrying a positive attitude and by learning from each challenge that arose in her class (Appendix 1, 3, p.4), and improving her own communication and establishing meaningful relationships with her fellow teachers in the centre.
Teacher Smiley revealed her inner most feelings when she said that she would hope to share her experiences as a teacher by becoming a lecturer herself, and one day, reaching her dream of owning a childcare centre. This, despite her most challenging early days as an early childhood educator, when remained sleepless at night and questioned her own decision to take up this career (Appendix 1, 4a, 4b, p.5).
Conclusion
As an early childhood professional myself, I can feel for her early struggles in an environment where peer assistance and supervisory support were in short supply. However, Teacher Smiley appeared to have the necessary determination to not only make her career as an early childhood educator a success but also thrive in it. She has accepted responsibility for her own professional growth (Jalango, Isenberg, 2004), a most admirable trait for any early childhood educator. I can also empathize with her, especially her current disappointment with her unsupportive supervisor. One can only hope that other more enlightened supervisors can provide an environment that nurtures early “survivor stage” childcare educators like Teacher Smiley. The entire early childhood education sector would be the better for it.
References
1. Katz, L.( 1995 ). Talks with Teachers of Young Children : A Collection ( Chapter 12 ) . New Jersey : Ablex.
2. Jalongo, M.R.& Isenberg, J.P.( 2004 ). Exploring Your Role: A practitioner’s introduction to early childhood education. (2nd ed.). Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Pearson Merrill Prentice Hall.
Appendix
1. Questionaire and Responses – Interviewee Teacher Smiley
QUESTIONAIRE[1] AND RESPONSES - INTERVIEWEE, TEACHER SMILEY
S/N
Question
Response by Teacher Smiley
Remarks / Qualities
1.Background
a.How long have you been teaching ?
5 months
Teacher Smiley is in Lilian Kartz Developmental Stage 1 – Survival[2] where the teacher’s main concern is whether or not she can survive. During this period the teacher needs support, understanding, encouragement, reassurance, comfort, and guidance. She needs direct help with specific skills and insight into the complex causes of behaviour – all of which must be provided on the classroom site.
b.What age group are you teaching ?
3 year olds, Nursery 1
c.How old are you now ?
24 years’ old
d.Why have you chosen this profession as a preschool teacher?
Love for children and interact and socialize with them. Also, in my previous job in the hospitality industry there were ‘grave yard’ shifts from 10.30 pm to 7.00 am which I did not want to do. Presently, my working hours are from 7.00 am to 1.00 pm
Teacher Smiley meets one of the basic pre – requisites of a teacher i.e. she has to love, interact and socialize with children. Her ready smile cuts across as a warm and genuine person.
2.Issues Raised
a.At the time you joined your Centre, did you have a mentor ?
The Supervisor introduced me to a ‘buddy’ who was supposed to mentor me but it was done in name only as the ‘buddy’ remained as another busy teacher who hardly mentored me. Moreover, the Supervisor did not brief me on the standards of teaching or services expected or the important ‘dos’ and ‘don’ts’. The Supervisor herself was busy giving the impression that she was inaccessible to her staff.
Teacher Smiley was left on her own literally to ‘swim in the deep pool’. As she felt the full impact of responsibility for a group of immature 3 year olds but vigorous young children, she inevitably felt her teacher anxieties including inadequacies and being ill prepared. Notwithstanding this she sojourned on.
b.What are the other issues you faced which had affected your morale or had irked you ?
I felt being picked at by the Supervisor over personal and administrative issues that did not have to occur. One day, I was alleged by my supervisor that I had used the photocopier to photocopy a large number of printed materials. Thereafter, I explained that I had indeed gone into the photocopier room to photocopy some printed materials for the class but several ( and not a large number as claimed ). I admitted that in my hurry to deliver the curriculum materials for class work, I had forgotten to record in the book. I informed that on that day, there were also other users of the photocopier.
Teacher Smiley obviously would have felt if she could indeed get through the day in one piece when she was picked for seemingly minor personal and administrative issues, in particular, in the way she was alleged and confronted by her Supervisor with no briefing on key and standard practices and concerns by the Supervisor.
c.What would you consider to be the characteristics, performance, thought processes, beliefs and values of a teacher that would help her anchor as an educator and teaching professional?
With demands for teaching increasing in the Centre, I had to construct my own knowledge and experience as quickly as possible. I’ve to equip myself to teach and manage my young children through various tools like observation, waiting and listening ( OWL ) as I see myself as being able to impact significantly on my young children. IMPACT incidentally, is my acronym for teaching and learning through Interaction, Motivation, Patience, Attitude, Care and Time management. I love children so that I can communicate and understand each child’s unique needs.
Teacher Smiley through her own experiences and learning has reinforced in how she sees herself as the Teacher with the required characteristics, beliefs and values to teach and manage her young children with herself as the role model. Moreover, she has begun to regulate herself cognitively through her own intuitive reflections to review, monitor and execute her day to day teaching demands.
3.Resolutions
Are there resolutions to the issues raised by you? You have to a certain degree highlighted your tools of OWL and IMPACT to overcome the issues you faced each day. Can you please elaborate other tools outside what you have already discussed with us ?
To each issue there’s always a strategy to implement and effectively done to address and overcome the issue. There’s no need to reinvent the wheel for adoption of strategies but to recognize their implementation considering the different contexts and conditions that we need to address and apply. Each day I treat each occurrence in the Centre as an opportunity for my learning and effective and appropriate practice . For example, in positive guidance and classroom management, I learn that to bring down inappropriate behaviour I need to recognize every appropriate behaviour in the child and highlight it for all children to notice so that in so doing, ironically, I can help bring down inappropriate behaviour. I noticed that a tendency of the teacher is to notice inappropriate behaviour rather than appropriate behaviour.
Teacher Smiley is inspiring given that she’s very young and she’s only in Lilian Kartz Developmental Stage 1 – Survival. She shows her potential of a leader for being a true teacher who does not only teach but the ability to inspire.
4.Other Essential Aspects
a
b.What other aspects would you deem as essential ?
How has this experience of 5 months in teaching young children impacted your own personal life?
Each day I need to communicate, establish meaningful relationships and lead in thought and actions. This will form the basis for me to learn to effectively fulfill my roles and responsibilities as a teacher in administration, management and leadership apart from my passion to be a teacher professional in both the short and longer term. I dream the day will come when I’m able to share my experiences with student teachers and young children as both a lecturer and owner of a preschool centre.
It has taught me a few good lessons. One is that the real working world is different from what I had imagined. It is a lot tougher than I’d thought. Colleagues are not necessarily there to help, as my “buddy”, had shown. And the boss can be quite a difficult person to work for. I thought all bosses were supposed to be supportive and helpful. Secondly, the children are more difficult to manage in class than I originally thought. So, these 2 realities have taxed my own resolve to be an ECE. I stay up at night during my first 2 weeks wondering if I am in the right profession. I am now more accepting of imperfections, however.
Teacher Smiley shows her potential in pursuing and realizing her dream with her ‘helicopter vision’, power of analysis, imagination and sense of reality.
Clearly, despite a heavy dose of reality being thrown at her, Teacher Smiley appears to have learned from here 5 months of experience as an ECE, and is willing to soldier on. Her perseverance will stand her in good stead in the years to come.
[1] In alphabetical order, prepared by Study Group comprising George Lee; Heng Yang Pheng; MS Kartini; MS Kathleen; MS Margaret; MS Maria and MS Sudha
[2] Katz, L.( 1995 ). Talks with Teachers of Young Children : A Collection ( Chapeter 12 ) . New Jersey : Ablex
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