Running Head: JOURNAL ENTRIES OF REFLECTIVE PRACTICE 1

Journal Entries of Reflective Practice

Alba Figueroa
Raritan Valley Community College Room H122A
Associate Professor Kimberly Schirner, M, Ed.
April 17, 2019
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Journal entry 1: First day 3/20/19

Today is the first day of my placement at the YMCA Somerset hills. I am pretty nervous
because of course like any other place that I go to and I am not familiar about I get nervous about
whether the people are nice or will like me or vise versa. Once I walked in the teacher was so
welcoming, she took me to every room to meet everyone and all of the teachers. I felt so
welcomes by her and the children in the classroom. She introduced me to them and she said that
she had already told them that I would be coming in every Wednesday so that was nice of her.
The kids are so open to the idea of me being here. Right when I sat down next to one of the
students, she complimented everything I was wearing which I thought was so nice of her. There
is another teacher her helping as well and she was just as nice as everyone. I made friends here in
the classroom real fast! I was definitely not expecting that so it is an amazing thing because now
I feel a lot more relieved. My cooperating teacher is also amazing which makes everything so
much easier and I know I will get to learn a lot from her. Really looking forward to getting to
know all of them and be part of their learning experiences!

Journal entry 2: Second day 3/27/19

This morning I got here a little earlier than I expected so I was able to talk to the kids a
little better one on one. When I get here the kids are at center with different activities, like
puzzles, play-doe and blocks. I came to sit with one of the students and she wanted me to stay
there with her, I moved with another child to play with something else but she keeps following
me and does not want to let me go. I tried convincing her to let me go that I will be there in just a
minute after I finished playing with her classmate but she did not leave so I included her in what
we were doing. She then let go slowly and that’s when it was time to clean up and put all their
things way and sit on the carpet for book time. I have learned many new songs with them and it
is soooooo fun to see how enthusiastic they are about it. These are all really a good handful of
students I am very honored to be in their class on these days.

Journal entry 3: Third day 4/3/19

Now that the weather is getting so much better the teacher has come up with great ideas
that involve talking about all of the different ways to enjoy this weather. Each student is coming
up with different things to do outside like roller skating, walking, horse back riding, hiking and
many other activities. We are going outside today instead of staying inside to do book work. It is
“national walking day” today so in celebration to that we are going out to the back yard behind
the building and we are going for a small walk in the woods where there’s trails and two small
bridge. As we are walking outside the kids are absolutely loving it. Although the one that I am
holding on to because he is a little clumsy just fell anyways. As we are walking outside, we are
all listening at the different sounds and the birds chirping. It feels so good to be outside so
refreshing.

Journal entry 4: Fourth day 4/10/19

I came in this morning and there aren’t as many kids here yet as I’m used to. A lot of
them were running later than usual. I was able to play on the rug with some of the kids, there
were some puzzles that I thought were so cool because they have rhyming words and there is
pictures to help them identify what the word is on each piece. It is now time for the children to
listen to the teacher she instructs to get a small blackboard, marker and a tissue and sit on a dot
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that has been placed on the rug. Today the teacher has been talking to them about “kindergarten
behavior” and what their future teachers will expect from them. She has been instructing and
directing them to draw specific things on the boards. A lot of them are having their kindergarten
orientation tomorrow so that is why she decided to talk about that today in her lesson.
Journal entry 5: Fifth day 4/17/19
It is now the week before Easter Sunday and the kids are so excited. I have been filling
up some of the cutest little eggs with snacks for the kids to be able to egg hunt. This morning we
have been able to dance to a couple of kid’s songs to get the kids active and exercising. They are
so excited to be able to go out and hunt for their eggs. The teacher has read them books this
morning that talk about different ways they can help keep the earth clean. Through out the book
it explains to the kids why it is important to keep their environment clean. There are different
ways they can help keep it clean. When brushing your teeth turn the water off, use both sides of
the paper and recycle bottles, no littering. Today the girls do not have valet so they are all in the
classroom after lunch and ready for nap time. Some were happy they did not have to go but some
were disappointed because they actually love going. Their lunch was rice with chicken and many
of them liked it but some did not even touch it.
Journal entry 6: My time here has been great
The end of my time here is now approaching and I honestly love coming here. There are some
new places I have had to attend to daily or on a weekly basis but it feels nothing like coming
here. The environment is so calm everyone here is so nice to me and so welcoming in every
aspect. The student’s parents in the morning always say hi, they do not just disregard that I am
here. It is so nice to be able to come here on a weekly basis and to feel no pressure or anxiety or
to dread coming here. I have heard that many of my classmates do not like their cooperating
teacher or their classroom but I could not have been luckier than to be completing my hours here.
Time has really gone by so fast I cannot believe it.
Journal entry 7: What I have learned during my time here
From past experiences I have been able to observe various teachers and classrooms and
they are not all the same. Some teachers have such a higher tolerance for their students than
others. Many will lose their temper so fast and some you will never hear them yelling. I do not
agree on the idea that teachers should yell at their students because that is not really going to
make them understand what you are trying to tell them. My cooperating teacher is so good at
talking to the students when they do something wrong or if the whole classroom is doing
something that they are not suppose to then she will pause what they are doing and make sure
they understand what they are doing wrong. This class is so respectful of each other. They treat
each other nicely and mostly all of them are friends between their classmates. Being able to work
in an environment like this makes it so much easier to teach them and be able to do many fun
activities that they will enjoy.
Journal entry 8: Reflecting
Through the couple of weeks, I have been able to be here my cooperating teacher has
been nothing but helpful with me. As I was talking to her she was telling me that she does not
have a teacher assistant and that it has been so hard with lots of things to keep up with and to be
able to do that extra things like newsletters and make pretty wall boards she does not have the
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time she used to have anymore. Another issue she is having is the shortage of staff so in the
morning they have been switching assistants because most of them are just temporary. So, when
they see different adults come in and out of the classroom to help the children get a little antsy
and they know that the helpers that come in are not permanent so that’s when they feel like they
can surpass the rules. This classroom does not have a lot of behavioral issues but they do
sometimes act out towards one another. I think that it really isn’t something out of the norm at
the end of the day they are about 4 to 5 years old. All kids are different in their own way and
each of them are honestly great kids to deal with. They are not mean and they respect what the
teacher has to say.
Journal entry 9: An interesting experience
Last week I was here in the classroom and one of the girls in the classroom said she could
not play with the other girl because her mom told her so. So, then the teacher was explaining to
me that the mother of the student told the student she did not like that girl. This 4-year-old has
not idea why her mother told her that so now here she is not being able to play with the girl just
because her mother does not like her. I was really shocked to think that something like this could
really be happening at such an early age. These kids are in daycare not even in regular full day
school. I thought it was so sad to see this happen with parents. Here there is a parent not liking a
child that has no concept of life yet and so her daughter is also involved because it is her
classmate. The other girl felt bad when she told her she couldn’t play with her and I think that is
the worst you could do to a child this age. They do not even know what is happening and now
here she is experiencing hate at such a young age when she doesn’t even have clue what that is.
There are certain things you see while observing and I think its so frightening to believe that this
could also happen in my own classroom one day. I will not have tolerance for that and I will not
allow that type of behavior in my classroom. It is unacceptable. When they are in my care and
responsibility in my classroom there will be nothing but respect and tolerance for each other.
Journal entry 10: My last day
Today is officially my first day and I am feeling so many different emotions right now.
The children get used to having you there every week that it starts to feel so much like part of
your schedule and not just for a couple of weeks. I came into the classroom and the students had
made me these beautiful colorful “thank you, I will miss you” cards. It was heart warming to see
their appreciation towards me helping out in the classroom. Some of them even wrote, “ I hope
you come back” . I though it was the cutest thing and I cannot be more grateful to them and the
teachers in the classroom that answered absolutely all my questions and even gave me some
advice in along the way. When I walked in the children knew it was my last day and so they were
a little off to say because they were not really following their routine. Many of them when I
stepped into the classroom were already telling me that they were going to miss me. From all the
time I have spent in the classroom I have learned so much from the students as I have learned by
observing the teacher and the way she directs her classroom and guides their behavior. It was
definitely an experience I will never forget and I can sincerely say there was nothing I did not
like from my time there starting from the moment I spoke to the supervisor over the phone to the
experience in the classroom with students, teachers and staff.
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