ECC 703 Journal 3

Stephanie Torres

Prior to entering my undergraduate career, I had no experience within the field of

education. That quickly changed once my first semester of college began. However, even though
my past experiences filled me with invaluable skills and knowledge, there are many aspects of
education which I have not had the opportunity to experience yet. During my time as an assistant
teacher, I had the opportunity to take some part in the lesson plan process. Our classroom team
held meetings once a week to address possible lesson plan activities for the following week, but
they were only 15 minutes. Even though my suggestions for activities were taken into
consideration, it was ultimately the choice of the head teacher in regards to what lessons would
be carried out. At times, the meetings would only be to inform us of the already set lesson plan
and to discuss any possible modifications. Unfortunately, there was seldom opportunity to sit
down and have a meaningful conversation with my classrooms head teacher regarding the
methods and strategies with entail planning a curriculum and its lessons.
As part of our field work, I had the opportunity of interviewing a teacher at Bright
Horizons; an early childhood school located in Midtown. Ms. DeRienzo is the head teacher of
the prekindergarten classroom at Bright Horizons. She works with children between the ages of
three and five years old. Although she revealed that her employment with that school is recent,
she mentioned that she feels comfortable at that site.
Prior to holding the interview with Ms. DeRienzo, I had planned a number of questions to
guide the conversation. During the interview, I found that the questions really helped the
interview flow smoothly and keep me on track. The first few questions for Ms. DeRienzo during
the interview were regarding the general background information about her employment site.

The rest of the interview consisted of questions targeting her philosophy on education,
curriculum, lesson plans, and her classroom.
According to Ms. D, her belief as an educator is that every child should have the
opportunity to receive an enriched education that is both full of learning and fun. Play based
learning and academics are an essential aspect of early childhood education and care for this
teacher. She stated that although teaching children their ABCs and 123s is a major part of their
prekindergarten education, children can explore their surroundings and learn so much more
through play. Her reasoning behind those beliefs was that not only does a childs social and
emotional development thrive through play, but that it also aids their physical, cognitive, and
creative development. Aside from play-based learning, Ms. D believes that children can best
learn from one another through modeling and imagination. A main part of her philosophy
suggests that educators have the responsibility to motivate and support their students in
becoming confident lover of learning. She revealed that she holds the constructivist view point
on learning.
During the interview, Ms. D mentioned that Bright Horizons follows a thematic
curriculum. She gets notified of what next months theme will be two weeks in advance. Bright
Horizons alternates Assistant Teachers between classrooms where the director feels need extra
help. For that reason, Ms. Ds classroom doesnt have stable assistant teachers who can
participate in the lesson planning process. She mentioned that she outlines the months lesson
plans a week before the month begins and then she plans each one out more detailed a week
before the lesson plans week begins. She always runs her lessons past the school director in case
there are any modifications that are needed.

Ms. D made it clear to me that although she follows the schools themes and she plans her
lessons in advance, she also leaves room for any modifications that she feels are needed
regarding her students interests. Aside from modifications due to her students topics of interest,
she also modifies her lessons based on her students strengths, needs, and where they are
developmentally. She observes each child so that she can get the full picture on how she wants to
target that specific child within her lessons. She stated, Differentiation plays a huge role in my
lesson planning because every student is unique in their own way and has their own methods of
learning. She also mentioned that she modifies her lessons by making each activity more
challenging for her advanced students while thinking of new methods to teach the subject or use
more meaningful material for the students who need more support.
Prior to asking Ms. D about anti-bias education in the classroom, I asked her to describe
the demographics of her classroom. She revealed that her classroom doesnt always have the
same children. She mentioned that for the most part, her classroom usually has about an equal
ratio of boys and girls. According to her, Bright Horizons is mainly a general education school,
but they accept all children. Currently, Ms. D has a student which she suspects may have a
special need, but they either have not been diagnosed or the parents chose not to disclose that
information to her. She informed me that she has been documenting observations on that
particular child so that if the time comes the director can address the childs parents with further
concerns and support. According to Ms. D, the demographics of her classroom are diverse. Her
classroom consists of different cultures and ethnicities, including a mix of Asian, African
American, Caucasian, Hispanic, and Middle Eastern children.
In regards to anti-bias education, she revealed that she attempts to incorporate anti-bias
education into her lesson planning to the best of her abilities. She does so through the use of

tools and resources which she makes available for all her students. According to Ms. D, she tries
to incorporate a wide variety of material that the students can use to explore and learn with.
Some of those materials they may be familiar with from the cultural background, whereas other
materials may be completely new to them.
During the interview, Ms. D also described her classroom setting. In her opinion, her
classroom is rather small; however, she tries utilizing the space in her classroom in various ways.
She has different learning centers set up throughout the classroom including a math center, a
science/discovery center, an art center, a writing center, a reading center which is near the library
and pillows which they call the "cozy area", a blocks center, a literacy center and a dramatic play
center which is underneath a loft so it's inside a nook area. There is a large round table towards
the center of the classroom which can be separated into two semi-circle tables. This table is used
for meal times, group activities, independent play, and for learning center times. The classroom
also has a large sand table that is used as the sensory center. There is a couch near the library and
writing center. The art, science, math, and literacy centers (shelves) are spread out around the big
round table so that it can be utilized by students when they are using manipulatives, doing a
science experiment, creating an art project, or learning their ABCs. The blocks center is near a
corner of the room so the children have their own space to build. The writing table and chairs are
near the library for a quiet area. According to her, the set up of her classroom highly influences
the way her lessons go about.
Through this interview with Ms. DeRienzo I realized how important discussing an
educators philosophy and classroom can be, not only for someone who is learning, but also for a
fellow educator. Before our interview, Ms. DeRienzo was unaware of anti-bias education. It was
an enlightening experience for me as an aspiring educator to realize that it is never too late to

learn something new. It was a wonderful experience to explain to an experienced educator

something that I learned in one of my classes. It doesnt take anything away from her as a
professional, rather it makes her a stronger one in my opinion for wanting to know more about it.
I found it very courageous on her part to admit that she was unaware of the topic, but that she
wanted to know what it was in order to answer my questions as honestly as possible. Even
though its something that Im aware of, it made me consciously recognize that educators are
constantly learning new strategies and skills to incorporate in their teaching. It really gives light
to the importance of professional development.
In terms of the knowledge I obtained from Ms. DeRienzo, the strategy which she
implements in her work and which is her biggest strength in my opinion is the process of
modification. She is aware that every student is a unique individual and that what may work for
one may not work for all. Planning lessons which have the possibility to be modified based not
only on interests or unsuccessful activities, but also on strengths and weaknesses demonstrates
that she constantly keeps her students in mind. The importance of modification is what I am
going to take away from this interview with Ms. DeRienzo. It is an essential aspect of teaching
which I will incorporate into my teaching.
Even though Ms. Ds method of teaching seems to be working very well for her my only
suggestion would be to look further into the subject of anti-bias education. It seems as though
anti-bias education is an aspect of teaching which gets look over often, mostly due to
unawareness. Bright Horizons School can benefit in hosting a professional development seminar
for their teachers on the importance of anti-bias education and some simple strategies in how to
incorporate it into classrooms.

From my personal experience, I learned about specific ways in which the teachers I
worked with set up their classrooms and planned their lessons, but I hadnt realized how many
different viewpoints and strategies there could be. Ms. Ds philosophy and classroom handling
seems to be what works for her. That in turn makes me wonder about which strategies I may
need to experiment with in order to find what works for me as an educator.

Interview Protocol
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.

As an educator, what aspects of early childhood care and education are essential to you?
Can you tell me a little about your teaching philosophy?
With what age group are you currently working with?
Can you describe how you set up your classroom?
What curriculum or curriculum scope do you follow? (example: thematic)
In what ways do you integrate anti-bias education into your curriculum? (If you do.)
Are there any special needs children within your classroom?
Are the demographics of the class diverse?
9. What, if any, are the modifications you make in your curriculum to meet the needs of all
children?