Field Experience: Connections To Educational Psychology

My goal is to become a psychologist and help improve children’s learning abilities by developing ways for them to overcome academic challenges. I wish to develop and apply effective interventions to promote their psychological, social and emotional wellbeing. I want to become familiar with the major concepts, theoretical perspectives and historical trends in psychology. Through this, I would be able to apply psychological principles to personal and social issues and use creative thinking to solve problems related to behaviour and mental process. I want to gain the idea of how to implement psychological knowledge, skills and values in my occupational

I’ve always loved children and helping to care for them, and the opportunity to be a teaching assistant in SMIC’s annual summer camp in 2013 was perfect for me. I’ve always loved babysitting, but actually being able to teach seemed fun and different. For two weeks of July, along with the teacher I was assigned to, I helped teach basic English to eight year-olds from local Chinese schools. Although they could be rowdy or annoying at times, I grew fond of these kids and they of me. I learned to be patient with these children and not get irritated at what I thought were simple words or phrases. I discovered that teaching younger children was not only about teaching them the content in their textbooks, but also caring for them and helping them grow mentally. Situations like breaking up

I give the children the opportunity to socially interact with each other. I develop positive and secure relationships with each child. Children often participate in activities that require teamwork. I meet children’s social and emotional needs by talking and nurturing them. I tend to validate a child’s progress throughout the day. I read them books and have finger plays & flannel board activities available. I try and help

My experiences working with children officially began in 2012 when I started working for One of A Kind Progressive Early Education. I worked with children of all ages, primarily toddlers and preschoolers. While working at One of A Kind, I assisted the lead teachers as much as possible. I helped develop daily routines of activities, lesson plans, nap, and toilet-training times that seemed most effective for the students. I worked with parents during pick up and drop off times to make sure they were happy with the schedule and care their child was receiving. I was in charge of maintaining a safe environment for the students at One of A Kind.

For the past nine years I have been involved in a program called Jamestown Community Center, an after school enrichment program serving kindergarten through eighth grade students. I started out as a student in the program and became a teacher assistant as a highschool student. What got me into becoming a teacher assistant was seeing other high school teacher assistants be able to be strict with us, but at the same time be our friends. I admired their maturity at such a young age, and noticed how Jamestown was very supportive with each of the teacher assistants. Last year, I was assigned to be the teacher assistant to a first grade class who had just gotten a new teacher. I advised her to give the kids tasks in order to get the students to get

I have conducted my field of experience at Westside Elementary School, second and third grade classroom. The third grade class consists of 20 students. The teacher does not have any aide even though she needs some assistance, because two of her students are falling behind. The sad part about this is that the students have not being diagnosed yet, but they are having a lot of difficulties. The teacher mentioned that by fourth or fifth grade those two students will need to be placed in a special education classroom. The students both have a concentration problem and it causes them to struggle with reading, writing, math, listening, and speaking. The teacher asked me to

Very interesting post. Working in Psych must be hard. I would imagine this field would be difficult for some HP to set aside their own personal beliefs and judgement. I feel like as humans we always judge what we don't understand. I would assume that this field of work could lead to compassion fatigue and burnout due to the types of patients they care for. For example, when I worked in MedSurg I had a patient on the unit that was a "frequent flyer" and attempted suicide multiple times. She would stay on my unit they could place her on behavioral health, and it seemed like every time she was admitted I was always working. I never had her as a patient but I had spent a lot of time talking with her through the night. Some of the nurses that cared

Collaboration is required in order to have a successful learning environment. I also learned the importance of simple daily routine, such as mealtime and playtime and outside time or P.E. All of these activities promote more than play and exorcise. They promote social interactions, fine and gross motor skills, and functional and pretend play. I think it is important for a teacher to understand this importance. Another thing that I learned during my time of observation was the importance of being prepared. As a teacher, instead of just working with one or two children, I will be working and responsible for several children and being prepared is the key to providing an engaging and appropriate classroom experience. It is also important to be flexible and innovative. As a teacher, you have no idea what kind of predicament or situation you will be thrown into. As a future teacher I will take all the information that I learned while observing the camps and implement it into my skill set in order to be a competent and efficient Early Childhood Special Education

I observed the children and plan an activity that shows the children interest. I would ask children questions and

Between the times of 8:30-8:45, students are arriving, beginning their morning work, and finishing their breakfast. After this, from 8:45-9:10, we have a morning meeting and begin working on phonemes. Then we spend five minutes in a shared reading session. Next, from 9:15-9:30 we work on phonics. After this is completed within this fifteen-minute time frame, we work on interactive reading for the next fifteen minutes. We then start working on math from 9:45-10:50. DSA takes up our next fifteen minutes. Following DSA we do writers workshop from 11:05-11:45, which brings us up to lunch until 12:10, and recess until 12:30. Once the children calm down, we focus on reading aloud from 12:35 to 12:45 and then move into guided reading/centers until 2:00. Taking a break from reading and writing, we work on science and social studies from 2:00-2:35. I then give my kids eight minutes to pack up before the move to a special from 2:45-3:25. The specials they attend alternate daily. Mondays and Fridays, the kids special is physical education. On Tuesday and Wednesday, their special is music. On Thursday, they have art. Additionally, between 10:45-11:15 on Fridays we got to the library. This brings and end to the day as we work on dismissal from 3:25-3:30, and officially declare the end of the school day at 3:45.

Monday through Friday we were expected show up before 9 A.M. to the SMC (Sabine Medical Center), and shadow the workers as they did their rounds. There were many departments that we would rotate through: radiology, respiratory, the nurses’ station, the emergency room, out-patient, and the lab. We would then have a lunch break from 12 P.M. to 1 P.M. and then meet at Zwolle High School with Mr. Eaves for the classroom part of the program. Our days usually ended at about 3:30 P.M. I did not enjoy waking up early at first but I soon got over it.

Have you ever volunteered in the children’s schools or classroom? Have you even been in a classroom setting as a teacher? If so what have you used from past experiences, in working with these

My first challenge was if I should even work with little kids after regular work hour. Now my new challenge was “Who the heck are these kids?” Being the newbie, everyone except me was familiar with each kid’s name. I spent the whole afternoon yelling their names, going room to room to find them, just to find out that someone else took them out. My expectations of little kids came true; one of the 1st graders, Sherriff, threw a glass Snapple bottle because he lost a game, proving my theory that all little kids are difficult and that I do not have the patience to deal with rugrats. But then I met some preschoolers, Justin, Daniel, and Sophie, more curious than Curious George, who saw me playing cards with my co-counselor and some of the older kids.

At my internship at the Jordan Center I primarily interact with the children during their center time. I help them utilize their problem solving skills when they are building with blocks and have a hard time stabilizing the structure. Whenever they are building something very complex with a group of kids, I like to ask what it is they are building and then listen to them describe each part to me. When center time ends, I supervise the cleanup and make sure that certain children stay on track and don’t leave the center for someone else to cleanup. Once all the centers have been cleaned up I help direct the kids to the carpet for story time where we do breathing exercises to calm them down. Then I read a book or two to the kids that aligns with

To meet the requirement of 20 field experience hours for EDUC 2130, I volunteered at the Wood’s Mill Adult Education Center in Gainesville. The Wood’s Mill Adult Education center is operated by Lanier Technical College. This institution is an educational facility that helps students who did not complete high school prepare to take the GED. The program offers classes in mathematics, social studies, science, and reading. The class that I was placed in had six students. Four of the six students in the class I was working in had been coming to Wood’s Mill for more than three months. When speaking to administration, I was told that the average student stayed in classes for around six months before testing. When I asked for how many