Observation In A Pre-K Classroom

As I walked into the classroom, I was immediately stuck by the noise. Sounds resonated from every corner of the room in discordant refrain, inflecting a deafening blow on my still-waking ears. “Welcome to morning in Pre-K”, I thought. While soaking up the sound, I followed the secretary who had led me to the classroom to meet the classroom teacher. She looked young and kind, the secretary securing this perception with her stamp of approval, “This is Mrs. Davis. She’s a great teacher”. The secretary then left, along with two other teachers who had been in the classroom assisting the arriving students. Myself, Mrs. Dennis, and another teacher were now the only adults remaining in a sea of students rushing to get food. As ninety-nine percent of …show more content…
Takoma is listed as a focus school, meaning that it needs targeted support and an intervention plan to address large subgroup achievement gaps relative to the DCPS schools ("Takoma Education Campus."). While it was irritating to experience the pre-K classroom to be what felt more like a day-care than a preschool education, it at least provided insight into the fact that these students can achieve success, that the students themselves incapable of success. I certainly cannot make generalizations of the school itself as I witnessed only one morning in the pre-K classroom. However, it is significant that pre-K is a vital age for many skills to be taught, and that if students advance to Kindergarten behind their peers, they are much more likely to remain and fall further behind their peers rather than advance. It was difficult to see in the classroom setting, riddled with boredom and disciplinary issues, how the classroom was effectively teaching the students these skills and preparing them to be at grade level. I felt utterly outraged that these students therefore appeared to be putting the students at a disadvantage from the very beginning of their lives. However, I was additionally inspired by this fact because as the problem is not the students, as indicated by the students themselves, it must be the gaps in the students’ education. Therefore, if struggling schools adapt, it then becomes very possible for students struggling in the current system of education to be able to succeed. I therefore left Takoma feeling disheartened for the current students that we are failing, but determined to ensure that change happens so that every child receives the quality education that they