REFLECTIVE PRACTICE GUIDANCE LOGS

DATE:___ October 29, 2012 Guidance Strategy Used:__ Active Listening ___

OBSERVATION(Observe, identify the problem, examine the context of the problem)

In the morning, during the free play time the preschoolers went to the Dramatic area and they

started playing with dishes. I went there and sat with the children. At that time, I heard that “J” said

to “O”, “We are only using the red dishes on the table.” “O” said to “J”, “But I like yellow dishes,

too.” Then “J” said, “My mom says we can only play with red dishes.” “J” began to arrange the

table with red dishes while “O” observes quietly. Then “J” said, “Looks red dishes are nice.” Then

“O” places a yellow cup on the table. Right after that, “J” removed it and said, “Only red dishes, no

yellow ones.” At this, “O” became very upset and started to cry and came to me and said, “ “J” did

not let me play with the yellow dishes.”

Context of the problem:

“J” (4 years) and “O” (3 years and 5 months) was playing together almost all the times. “J”

always tries to dominate other children, and loves to exercise her personal power. “O” is shy and

sensitive. In this scenario, when “J” tried to control “O”, “O” became very upset. According to book

titled Guiding Young Children, “Preschoolers are striving for personal power and control over their

world, they try all the tactics they think might work.” (Reynold, E. p.129).

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DECISION(Choose a guidance strategy from this course that fits with the problem. Clearly state

why the chosen strategy is appropriate for this child/situation)

At first, the student teacher (I) decided to use the Giving Information” technique to let “J”

know that her behaviour was not safe and she could make someone upset. But the Giving

Information technique is effective when an adult owns a problem. Therefore, I chose to use the

active listening technique because the problem arose was the child’s owns problem, and I decided to

lead “O” to solve problem by herself.

According to the book titled Guiding Young Children, “When child owns the problem, active

listening describes the first step of many problem-solving interactions. Active listing is the teacher’s

tool for interpreting a child’s feelings and reflecting them back to the child. The child thus receives a

message of acceptance and trust.” (Reynold, E., p.8, 97).

I used this strategy because I knew that the two children were not equal in power physically

and mentally, and also not able to talk with each other. I decided to support the child who was less

strong, physically and mentally, than the other. The submissive child should be and can be treated as

equally as the dominant child. According to Vygotsky, the difference between what the children can

do without the support of a more experienced caregiver and what the children can do with that

support (Kail, R. & Zolner, T., p. 248).

ECEP 211 Log template

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ACTIONS

(Clearly discuss your actions, the child’s response and the results of the guidance

strategy)

When I saw that “O” looked sad and started to cry, I approached her and got down to her level.

I kept my one hand on her shoulder, made eye contact with her and said, “That must be annoying,

Did you talk to “J” about the matter?” “O” then put her hand on her cheek and shakes her head and

said, “No.” Then I said to her, “It looks like that is so frustrating to you.” “O” nods her head and

said, “Yes.” After that I said, “You want to play with the yellow dishes but “J” is not permitting you,

right? Do you have to do what “J” tells you to do?” In reply, “O” said to me, “J” will not let me

play.” After that I said to her, “It seems to me that it is up to you to make that choice. What do you

think?” “O” thought about it while she was playing with her hands; soon after she came back to play

with “J” and put the yellow dish on the table. “J” said “Why are you putting a yellow dish on the

table? I only want the red ones!!!” “O” said to “J” using a stronger voice than before, “Well, it

doesn’t only matter what you want, what I want matters too. I want the yellow dishes.” “J” accepted

O’s decision and started playing along with her. While they were playing, “O” looked up and smiled

at me, and I smiled back. According to the book titled Guiding Young Children, “When one child

asserts herself, very often other will back off. It is surprising how a young child can sense strength or

weakness in a peer and will respective assertiveness.” (Reynold, E., p.130)

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Reflect

(Specify what went well. Are there some things that you need to change? Why?

Strengths

I have learned about my guidance strategies and

techniques from my class workshop, videos, and

professor Sheila Sullivan’s class lectures.

I have learned various practical guidance

techniques through observing my ECE’s work in

the preschool B room.

I am open, approachable and accessible, and put

myself at the child’s eye level.

I reflect my feelings by using a neutral, warm,

accepting and empathetic voice.

I give to the child accurate names to the feelings

such as how annoying, that must be frustrating,

and convey acceptance, trust, and respect.

I encourage and allow the child to solve his/her

own problems.

I listen carefully to what the children had to say

before I started saying anything to them.

Needs

I feel that I want to be more verbal and also want

to provide more verbal activity to show how to

develop owns right strongly.

I also feel that I should identify children needs

first and then help them accordingly. So that

children can call on their own inner resources to

cope with the situation, because that’s what will

continue with them throughout their lives.

I need to discuss with my ECE supervising

teacher to develop strategies to build children

assertiveness. For example, help children to use

phrases such as I want this, my turn, I don’t like.

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Changes

The main change that I would like to develop is the children’s confidence to recognize their own

inner resources to cope with the situation. First, I would observe the children and identify the

children who are mentally weak. By taking permission from my supervising teacher, I would play a

role as to how to establish own decision and also tackle the person who want to establish his/her

voice. I will read books to learn how to establish children’s own voices and wishes.

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Dear Supervising Teacher: Please read and review each guidance log. For each

log, please select the appropriate box below.

O This log is based on your observations of the student’s actual in practice.

O This log is somewhat accurate.

O This log is not accurate. Please explain:________________________________

Agency Name: _______________________________________

Agency Phone number: ________________________________

ECE name and signature: _______________________________ Date: __________

Thank you.

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Self-Evaluation

I have successfully completed my “Reflective Practice Guidance Logs” assignment. It was a

great opportunity for me to learn the different guidance strategy practices. I believe that good

guidance from adult can make a child perfect. As a future early child educator, learning different

guidance strategies is very important for us. During this assignment, I observed children in three

different situations in different time and dates. I applied different strategies in different situations.

Sincerity and in-depth observation were my strengths while doing this assignment. I got a clear

idea from our teacher and the text book ‘Guidance of Young Children’ about different guidance

strategies. In her lectures, our teacher spoke on various valuable aspects of different guidance

strategies. She also gave us organized class notes. I studied the ‘Age and Stages’ booklet, and the

book titled ‘Children: A Chronological Approach’. From those books, I acquired knowledge on the

children’s behaviour at different ages. The knowledge about their age and behaviour helped me to

apply my skills. During my placement days at the centre, I always observed how my supervising

ECE teacher and other staffs guide the children to practice positive behaviour. I also observed their

various guidance techniques in everyday situation.

My passion, affection and devotion for childcare also supported me to minutely observe the

different situations and resolve the problems. Skills and precision in observation is required for

completing this assignment. I used my cognitive skills to comprehend theoretical techniques, and

applied them in concrete and realistic way. Learning of theoretical approaches about guidance

techniques is completely different from their actual application in real-world settings. I was able to

successfully relate between theories and practices.

Preschoolers are curious, energetic, and powerful. They are striving for personal power and

like to control over the world. For me, the great challenge was to predict their behaviour because the

prediction of a preschooler’s is very difficult as they may become aggressive and may have the

intent to hurt others. I, therefore, need to be more patient and experienced to be capable enough to

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guide a child.

How this assignment would relate to my future goals.

It is apparent that this assignment is applicable in the field of early child hood educator.

Effective and specific guidance technique is essential for me. I believe that for my future goals of

becoming an early child educator, this assignment will help me in a classroom setting. In short, this

assignment experience will support me to work and guide children in positive and responsive ways

in my future profession. I also believed that in our profession, there are some complexities of

teaching profession. Every individual child comes from different cultures background, languages,

and religions, there can be children of special needs; so the task of fulfilling their individual needs by

treating them equally challenging for an Early childhood educator. WE need to be warm and

responsive, as well as enthusiastic about nurturing children’s first steep of learning. We should use

respective language and positive guidance strategy in order to respect child individuality .I also

believed that in order to get better result in child’s personality and better bonding between the

caregiver and children, it is essential as an Early Childhood Educator to welcome the parents and

exchange information with them to meet the needs of parents/children by using different method.

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Bibliography

Kail, Robert V, and Zolner, Theresa. Children A Chronological Approach. Toronto:Pearson, 2009. Print.

Allen, K. Eileen and Marotz, Lynn R. Developmental Profiles. USA: Thomson, 2007. Print.

Bullard, J. (2010). Theorists and Approaches Supporting the Importance. Creative Environments for Learning (pp. 11–12). New Jersey, NJ: Pearson Education Inc.

Marion, Marian.(2007).Guidance of Young Children. New Jersey, USA: Pearson Education, Inc.

Reynolds, Eleanor. Guiding Young Children: A Problem – Solving Approach. NY: McGraw-Hill, 2008. Print

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