Week 5

Melanie said she liked my PN, and I’m hoping to complete one more before the end of my practicum.

This week, my personal reflection includes that I wasn’t my best self on Monday, and so I didn’t stay as long at practicum. I am still on track to be completed by March 20. That would be my final day of practicum. I am hopeful the rest of the week gets better.

Mel asked: “if this was the ‘real world.’ and you were out in the field, would you have been able to just leave early like you did?”

At my previous job, yes. My boss was extremely understanding of period cramps being awful. She says that “if you can’t fake it, then don’t be here.” She would often cover shifts for people when they felt physically or mentally unwell.

Today(Tuesday), I got news that my Nanny position fell through, so I excused myself from the floor, called my mom, and calmed down so I could enter back to the floor in a better headspace. I am learning that when something is off, I just need time to process before reentering and it was nice to have the space to do that. I am aware that I may not be able to do that in a future word place, but I know how powerful communication can be.

  • I am hopeful that I am completing and doing what I need to be doing.

Notes from Melanie:

  • She would like to have a better way of communicating where Deb can see it. We have conversations daily, but finding a space to write and reflect on the practicum work can be difficult.
  • Could that ^ just be a WordPress issue?
  • She has read over my daily reflections and says they sound good.
  • I need to remember that all I know is what’s happening at daycare. I don’t know what’s happening at home that may be improving F’s mood lately too.
  • ^ Could be that it’s less time at daycare, could be more attention at home, one-on-one time at daycare, or a mix of all sorts of things.

Wednesday, Deb came in for a meeting. We discussed the next steps and expectations of my final 4 days of practicum:

I will be leading a group through snack time as well as a transition outside on Thursday this week and will reflect on it in next weeks post. I have tried to do these things in the past here, but have been told to just observe. I’m tired of observing, I miss ACTUALLY being with the children. So, I have communicated a plan for tomorrow morning with Melanie, so that she can discuss what that will look like with the rest of the team.

Thought/Feelings: I was asked to come do my writing while they have a team meeting, but Deb told me to be part of the team while I’m here, so I’m feeling a little excluded/unwanted if I’m honest.

This morning I spent time in the bouncing room, playing with the children, singing, and being silly with them. We sang a lot of Baby Shark, and did a lot of bouncing and “crash landings,” on the mats.

Wednesday, March 13th – Afternoon: While outside in the yard, I noticed two boys sitting on a plastic water table. They aren’t supposed to sit on/in it because it’s flimsy and not for sitting. Instead of saying no, or using the words above..I asked the children “should we be sitting on the water table?” They said yes and I said, “maybe not.” They said yes again, and so I said, “hmm, I wonder where else we could climb?” They got excited, and pointed, so I said “you show me, and I’ll come climb with you.” So, in the end I was able to direct them away from the activity they weren’t supposed to be doing, in a way that didn’t affect their sense of self or confidence. They were happy to go and climb elsewhere with me.

Pages: 1 2 3 4 5