EDUC podcast

The speaker interviews their mom about her experience teaching a pre-k through kindergarten class. They discuss the impact of the teacher's energy on student learning, must-have toys in the classroom, the hardest thing about teaching, favorite topics to teach (particularly science), strategies to keep kids engaged, and handling behavioral problems. The speaker thanks their mom and announces the next interview with their boyfriend about his elementary school experience. Hey guys, so today I'm going to be interviewing my mom about her previous experience in her pre-k through kindergarten class. So, mom, do you want to tell us a little bit about yourself? Sure, my name is Lori Kramer and I have been teaching at our homeschool co-op for about eight years, my 8th or 9th year, teaching a preschool kindergarten class. It's a learning through play class, so we do a lot of themes and hands-on playing and learning, reading books and crafts and large motor, fine motor, all kinds of different skills that they get to learn. Awesome, so I am going to start my first question, which is how do you feel that your energy affects the way that your students learn? Well, I know when I'm in a more positive, uplifting, uplifted place, I definitely can bring more positive energy to the class. If I feel like I'm, it's an off day or if I feel less prepared, I feel like I'm not as able to get the kids as interactive or able to transition as well, so I definitely feel like my frame of mind impacts the kids. Yeah, and I can definitely see that in myself when I'm babysitting as well. So, the second question that I have to ask you is what are your top three must-have toys in the classroom for your kids? Well, I love having a sensory bin, some sort of sensory station with beans or rice, and then I'll put, depending on what theme we're doing for the week, I'll put in some, like we did apples, so I have apples. I'll have letter A's mixed in with the beans and letter A, things that start with an A, I'll have scoopers and funnels and all kinds of things. They love that. They love Play-Doh. Those can be great, especially if you have a mat and you can bring in letter stuff and having them make little letters and shapes and different things. And some sort of game. They also have been really enjoying a fishing game where it moves the fish around and they have to get the fish and do that. Those are just top three for right now. That's perfect. My next question is what is the hardest thing you feel about teaching kids? What's the hardest thing to teach? I think, oh, the hardest thing to teach. I think for me, I don't necessarily find specific things as hard to teach as much at this age as it is transitioning from the different activities and trying to keep, when certain kids have finished an activity, and trying to manage that while they're waiting to move on to the next activity, I find that that is the most difficult thing. Yeah, no, that definitely makes sense. And for my next question, it's a little bit of the opposite. What's your favorite thing to teach? What's your favorite topic or subject to teach your classroom? I love teaching things that are related to science. I love reading a good, fun, it could be a fun book about how things grow or animals or anything along the lines of science are fun. It's fun to do an experiment, you know, small experiments in the class. They always love to see things like that, so it's fun to find a great book that brings a little bit of fun in with science and then also doing an experiment, something hands-on. Yeah, so what do you think in something like science or something that's hands-on, what do you think is your favorite strategy to keep kids engaged when you're teaching something like that? Something that is kind of nothing too lengthy, something kind of short and sweet. And it's great if they can participate to some extent, although it's hard to sometimes have them participate because there's usually anywhere from 12 to 16 kids in the class. But if there's something that after we're done, if they can all either touch it or try to interact somehow with it or get up close to it, I find really fun. Yeah, and on the topic of keeping kids engaged, what do you do when you see consistent behavioral problems in certain students? What's your strategy to handle that situation? Well, sometimes having to relocate if there's a couple kids that are finding themselves talking too often. We'll try to maybe find another spot by a parent helper possibly, or having them, having all the kids sit in a little bit further apart. Currently, we have a big rug that has separate squares, and so I've been telling the kids to sit in the square. And so then it gives them just a little bit extra inches so they're not all on top of each other. It takes time to do. It gives them a spot to sit. But one of another thing that I've also incorporated lately has been kind of a marble jar. So when they're behaving and listening attentively and not speaking, I get to put a handful of marbles in the jar, and it encourages their listening. But when they're not, then I'm kind of pointing out, asking, you know, how well that will help that they're not able to catch up. That they're missing out on their marbles. Yeah. Getting their marbles in their jar. Yeah. Big thank you to my mom for answering some questions and being willing to talk on Kayla's Kiddle Corner. And on the next episode, I will be interviewing my boyfriend, Lazaro Marquez, about his experience in elementary school and what he liked and disliked. Thanks so much.