Week 6: Personal Contribution

While working at the Boston Outdoor Preschool Network (BOPN), I would say that my biggest day-to-day contribution was being an extra set of hands (and eyes, as we’re outdoors and don’t want to lose kids!) and being able to give special attention to students. At especially busy times I could not imagine how two teachers do it all themselves. Some students have more challenges than others and require a lot more attention from teachers and that type of specialized attention can’t always be achieved with just two teachers. Additionally, it was nice to have a lot of smiling faces there every morning to greet students and help them say goodbye to their parents and warm up for the day. Teachers can’t be everywhere at once, so having extra people around helps maintain the safety of children, support all students and give special attention to students that needed or wanted it, and have a variety of activities going on. 

During my final weeks at BOPN, I was responsible for coming up with an activity for the students with an emergent curriculum in mind. I met with the intern supervisor to brainstorm ideas, which was really helpful because she was able to help me understand what would be achievable for preschool students, an age group I did not have much previous experience with. I decided to make DIY birdfeeders with the students because they always express interest in the birds we see. I compiled a list of necessary materials and sent it to my supervisor and then picked up any materials I was able to. I also borrowed a couple of books about birds that I could read to the students. Running the project, however, was left entirely up to me and was a little more challenging (and messy) than I anticipated. When working with preschool-age students, you are not forcing them to do anything, and if you do it is not really a worthwhile experience for the student or teacher because a child that young does not want to participate in anything they are interested in on their own. It would have been easier for me to say okay everyone first we’re going to read this book and then we’re going to do this project, but that wouldn’t work. I made the project its own little stations and set up all the materials on a tarp so students could come and go as they please. To make the bird feeder, students spread sun butter on a toilet roll and then dipped it in birdseed. This might sound like an easy project, but for students that young, some of whom have really just learned to hold a pencil, it was challenging. I needed to be hands-on the entire time to help students work on their bird feeders and make sure the space wasn’t too crowded. At the end of the day, I tied a string to the birdfeeder so the kids could hang it in the backyard. The kids loved having something to bring home and show their parents and I think it’s always fun for the parents to be able to see something their child made.

In putting this activity together, I realized how much work teachers put in outside of the classroom. They might only be at school working students for a couple of hours each day, but skillfully putting together activities, communicating with parents, etc. takes a lot of time, effort, and practice.