Week 1
I will be completely honest, day one almost broke me. I began to sense tears running down my face an hour into the day. I felt incompetent and unprepared, like I had no idea what I had gotten myself into. I questioned whether or not I knew how to hold a baby, how to feed a baby, how to put a baby to sleep. It truly affected me, nobody likes feeling stupid. I cried a little on my break, but then took deep breaths, and tried again. I thought about the things we’re learning and realized that I had still gone into my practicum with the thought that infants and toddlers are beings who need to be coddled and helped through everything. I re-entered the space with the opposite idea, and slowed myself down. I realized that the educators around me have been doing this for a very long time and it would take me longer than a morning to get used to the routine. I sat on the ground and watched, infants immediately came to me bringing me toys and books. I watched their interactions and began to understand that infants are capable. It amazed me to see the connections they made, the relationships they have with each other. I had to breathe to not immediately step in when a child was hurt, or make a gasp indicating that it worried me, but, slowly, I began to feel more comfortable in the afternoon. I put a baby to sleep just by holding them when they needed me. I slowed down changing diapers and made it a relationship building experience. I still have a long ways to go, however this first day was the first time I was able to see theory in practice and it helped a lot.
Over the course of the week, I slowly began to feel better. I had to ask lots of questions and get advice from my coworkers but they assured me that they were there to help me. I got a grasp of the routines and built relationships with most of the children. When I was on the 3-5 side I would often come and visit the infants and toddlers so I already had relationships with some of the children.
Week 2
I have noticed the infants and toddlers have been interested in drumming. I learned the Secwepemc words for drum (pumin) and drumstick (pumeke7) to be able to identify these objects when exploring them with the children. I noticed a moment between Elias and Kaizleigh, where Kaizleigh had the drumstick but no drum, and Elias brought her a drum to use and they shared drumming with the drumstick. This was interesting to me as Elias hadn’t interacted much with other children prior to this, and it was neat to watch one of his first invitations to play at the centre. I have started feeling better about the routines and began finding my footing in my placement which felt good. I connected with families lots this week with conversations about their children. It is so heartwarming to hear the families talk about their children, and how their eyes light up when they hear about their child’s day.
Week 3
Today was a good day at practicum. I took the toddlers on a walk in the community and walked slowly with them so they were able to engage with their curiosities. They often walked into the bush, finding sticks and pinecones along the way. They traced the dirt with their fingers and felt the different textures of the dirt along the way. We ran into the 3-5 group that Briar’s older brother is in, and when we were about ten feet away, carver yelled “Briar!!!” and Briar yelled back to him as loud as she could. They both ran towards each other and met each other in the middle with a big hug. We walked over to the beach, and I was about to help the children get through the sand that made them sink, but watched as they slowly made their way to the water. Since the water is so low right now, the sand at the beach is sticky. I allowed them to take their gloves off and feel the texture of the sticky sand versus the dry sand. They found sticks and oyster shells that I collected in my pocket to bring back to the centre. The three toddlers, Briar, Avery, and Mikani were very interested in throwing the big sticks into the sticky mud, continuously collecting new sticks to throw along the way.
The weather was beautiful this week so we went on lots of walks and made sure to slow down and look at things that intrigued us. We collected some items to bring back to the centre such as shells from the beach, pinecones, sticks, and rocks. I would like to find a way to have these items present in the room without them being available for the infants to put into their mouth.
We connected with the 3-5 group lots on our walk this week, they made traces in the dirt for us to find on our walk as they were ahead of us. Briar found an X that her brother, Carver, says “mark is the spot!” I would like to walk with the 3-5 group more as they help the infants and toddlers see things that they normally would not notice. I also notice that Avery does not enjoy walking outside very much as she has been protesting it, and sometimes when we begin our walk she will turn around and try to go right back to the centre. I am wondering how to connect her to the land and the community without having her be uncomfortable on these walks, she likes being in the wagon so I feel that if it is what she needs on walks then we can surely accomodate that. Due to her not being able to reach and touch things that she sees, I feel that I can pick things up and show her, and have photos we bring of our walks on the walks so she is still able to connect.
Week 4
This week we had lower numbers due to illness. It has been nice to slow down and focus on my traces and curriculum this week. After a visit from Kathleen, I have many ideas about what to bring into the centre to make my traces more visible for my mentor educator. I began creating a book of our walks and I plan on having it be interactive so the children can move themselves throughout the pages with velcro tabs. I began printing and laminating pictures of the children drumming to add to our drum shelf so they can see themselves drumming. We have been playing lots of powwow music recently and have heard from parents that the children have been singing and dancing more at home.
Today I almost completed our walk book, all of the photos of our walks are laminated and on a ring and the front page is completed, I have all of the translations in Secwepemctsin written although our elder has been away this week and I would like to make sure he checks them over to make sure they’re correct before I put them into the book. I have the book out on the shelf for now, and both the infants and toddlers have been loving it and pointing themselves and the other children out! It is neat to see them recognize themselves. In the future, I would like to make a smaller one so that the babies can hold it more easily.
The children were loving the large drum this week. After I posted drumming photos to the wall, the children would take them off and drum with the other children in the photos. I cannot wait for the tiny tot powwow so I can add photos and sound recordings of the children there and see how they engage with them!
Week 5
We went on lots of walks this week, it was a bit wet out so I did not want to bring the drums out in case they got damaged. We spent lots of time in the puddles. At the beginning, another educator was uncomfortable with the children playing in puddles but I explained that I thought we should let them, as their boots will dry and there is no harm in it. The toddlers were very intrigued by them and it was so special to watch them be able to enjoy the puddles. One day we planned on a big walk, but since the children did not want to leave the large puddle, we let them play in it the whole morning! I noticed Mikani and Avery jumping in the puddles and making big splashes, followed by lots of giggling! I wonder how we could explore deeper into puddles with the children.
We walked to the Kekuli with the toddlers and decided to bring drums. I felt that this connected well to my commitments, and I wanted to see if the children engaged deeper with drums outdoors rather than indoors. Avery preferred to drum in the wagon, but when we got to the kekuli she sat on the ground and drummed with the older children. Mikani enjoyed drumming with her older sister, Haisley. Mikani also enjoyed helping me push the wagon with the drums in it, but she did not drum until we were in the kekuli. Within this, I thought about the knowledge-keeper telling me that the drum is the heartbeat of mother earth, which is why I thought about participating in drumming on the land.
