The Head Start program in Newburgh, New York is a daycare for children around the ages 3-4. This daycare center is located in a low income urban area where most of the children are minorities. A high percentage of these children were of Spanish decent and many were also of African American decent. The teachers were of the same ethnicities as the children. Two of them were Hispanic and one of them was Black. From the start, it was plain to see that these kids were very energetic, like most children are.
There were about 18 children in the classroom with the three teachers supervising them. In the hour and thirty minutes spent with the children, they had free time to play and group time with the head teacher. During play time, all of the children were playing with each other and were very friendly with each other. As usual the boys were rough housing and a few times a teacher would have to stop them. The girls were reading books and would seldom play with the boys. It was easy to see which children were the aggressive ones. Sometimes one child would put their hands on another child and they would both hit each other until the teacher came. Other times, one child would just let another child beat on him until a teacher told them to stand up for themselves and tell the other child to stop. A child not defending themselves could be a problem of anxiety or lack of self confidence. The teachers seemed to deal with this by helping the child stand up for himself rather than just punish the more aggressive child. In this particular class, there weren’t any cliques or particular group of kids who clung to each other. Everyone knew each other’s name and treated each other equally. The only children who seemed to struggle to fit in with the other kids were the ones that had trouble speaking English. The children in this classroom seemed to be accustomed to being around people of different races.
During the group session with the head teacher, the children sat in a large circle. The teacher had puppets that all had names that the children had to learn how to pronounce. The teacher used positive reinforcement to reward the children when they pronounced a puppet’s name correctly. Most of the children cooperated with the teacher, but some students did not participate. The children seemed to be very excited to see the puppets when the teacher pulled them out of the bag. Some of the puppets seemed to be more popular than others. Since these children are still in the peak of their preoperational stage, they don’t realize what is in the bag until the teacher pulls the puppet out. This is probably what makes them so excited. The girls seemed to get the pronunciation of the names for the puppets much faster than the boys and were much more into the activity. A small amount of the children, about one or two could not speak English that well, so they kept quiet. These children, although they seemed to be very bored, were surprisingly well behaved. None of these children cried when they were reprimanded and did not proceed to do the same thing after they were told not to do it. The behavior of these children probably comes from the way their parents treat them at home. A majority of these children seem to have known the repercussions of doing something wrong. Only a few seemed to have behavioral problems, but these problems were miniscule.
Though these children were well behaved, they all tended to be disciplined for the same thing. All of these children seemed to have problems sharing with each other. They loved to play with each other, but each of them had to have their own toy. One child was playing with a drum, but when another child wanted to play with her, she rejected her harshly. She kept claiming that the drum was hers and she wouldn’t give it up until she was finished playing with it. When it was time to clean up, this is when the children had the most problems. These children were very independent. Everyone wanted to clean up their own toys. If someone tried to help them, they would get aggravated and upset. More than once, a teacher had to show them how to share with each other and help each other put the toys back together. These students are probably in Piaget’s preoperational stage. In this stage, children are egocentric and perceptually bound in their thinking. Each child thought that their peers saw things the same way that they did and couldn’t deal with the fact that some others had different views.
When it was time to leave, the children had to get their own coats and dress themselves to go outside for their parents to pick them up. These children proved to be very independent. Each child put on their own coat and only a few asked for help. When the children went outside to play, they were very obedient. The teachers did not have to raise their voices and the children seemed to be content with simply running around the blacktop. There were no jungle gyms, see saws, or any type of play area. The kids were just enjoying each other’s company. When their parents came, the children didn’t have any strong reaction. They looked as if they were tired and going home was a relief to their long day.
Observing these children and how they behaved was a wonderful opportunity. It was interesting to see how these children interacted with each other. This was a learning experience that few people are able to receive. The Head Start program seems to be a very nurturing daycare program for young children. The children were well disciplined and had a healthy relationship with their teachers. Hopefully these children continue on their path to achievement.