Well, I told you all to wish me luck last weekend because this week I was having my first observation in my classroom for my pyramid journey. Not that it counts towards my practicum but the information I received has been so helpful to work towards my practicum goal of completing this resource.
So let's Dive in, I had my TPOTS on Wednesday, October 2, 2024. This process for me looked like any other typical day in preschool except that I had to keep a group of children inside during their normal outdoor time instead of going out. Don't worry they got to have some outdoor time before lunch, as per regulations. My day, however, did not feel normal. For starters, I could not sleep going over the list of red flags I knew this observation would be looking for and worrying about them all night. Why was I worried, I do not know, because they are things I would never do in my practice.
Some of the problematic practices that they look for are the day being mostly adult-led activities, transitions being chaotic, teachers talking to the children mostly to give directions, and the children not being engaged. There are more, but it is a very long list. My coach told me that I could tame my fears about this observation by just being myself, and trying to have fun. So that is precisely what I did!
We transitioned into my classroom from the combined preschool/toddler group at 8:20 am. I had set up some invitations to play on the tables in the classroom and the sensory bin. We do this as a normal practice in the classroom as part of the curriculum planning. On this day I had a cutting activity on one table, pumpkins with golf tees and elastics at another, and in the sensory bin, there were the hallowed-out pumpkins turned into mixing cauldrons for the children to explore mixing and reactions. Coming into the classroom we followed our normal routine and we explored our play. Talking to the children I asked about their work, was excited about their discoveries, and managed the fact that about 6 different things were being asked of me all while I was trying to keep on routine.
Funny enough two hours passed so fast, and then it was meeting and interview time for me. We sat down and discussed how the TPOTS went based on what was seen, then I was told next week we will be getting another meeting to go over the data from the TPOTS observation. I was then asked a series of questions to help me reflect on the practices I currently have in the classroom and to my surprise many of them ran into one another which started to feel more like I had nothing to be nervous of in the first place.
After this process I feel like I am ready for the next steps of setting goals and working towards them in my classroom.
I will share my data with you all next week.
Liz
