Positive Presentations

To begin my work in the classroom, I assessed the room arrangement and made adjustments. I completely altered the arrangement of learning centers and tables in the room. In doing so, I removed a shelf, a table, and created a more open learning space for children. I placed the “Library” center closer to the entrance of the classroom and repositioned the ‘noisy’ interest areas (such as Dramatic Play and Blocks) near the back of the space. Large tables were placed toward the corner of the classroom to avoid unnecessary emptiness.

Next, I rewrote the classroom schedule in collaboration with the teachers. The main adjustment reflected a longer outdoor playtime before lunch. Instead of a thirty to forty-five minute gross-motor activity allotment, one hour was planned before lunch. Our expectation was that children would that after curricular activities from 9-11 AM; they would need an hour of unstructured ‘free play’ before lunch and nap-time.

On Wednesday, March 11^th, I printed, cut, and laminated gender-neutral pictures and created posters for the classroom walls. The pictures were organized into categories (women in non-stereotypical roles, men in non-stereotypical roles, boys playing with non-stereotyped materials, girls playing with non-stereotyped materials, etc.) and presented on a poster with open-ended questions posed for teachers to ask. None of the classroom display, which was previously posted, was determined stereotyped; therefore, they were not taken down from display.