The e-journals highlight my reflections during each significant visit to the locale. However, they mainly document noteworthy observations and exclude repetitive experiences where no new developments occurred.
March 10, 2025 was the official date I started my project session in my chosen locale. I was able to observe the class and assist the teachers for Pre-kinder and Junior Kinder. Although it is not required to assist the teachers, I gladly offered my help because their students can be uncontrollable, especially with the limited faculty. The students are aged 3-5, which is why it can be difficult to keep their attention and individualize their learning. By helping, I gained first-hand experience that I can reflect on, which can also enhance what I write in my research paper.
The students can understand both English and Filipino language, which is why the medium of instruction used in class is mixed English and Filipino.
I was able to observe that their learning materials or textbooks have a few mistakes, which can affect their learning. For instance, the English sentence talks about one dog, but the picture beside it shows three dogs. The students can get confused since they focus on the visuals of their materials. One solution I made was to cover the incorrect images and assist the students one-by-one.
Another problem I have observed was that some of the students are not focused on learning and just roam around the room or play with toys. They can still manage to answer their seatwork or textbooks, but it needs to be guided by adults. Aside from having a short attention span, there are students with special needs that are accompanied by their guardians during class.
During my first day, I was able to observe the different personalities of children aged 3-5 and some of the students' skills and competencies that they still need to work on. Some of them can read and write, while others cannot; or some of them excel in oral recitation while others do not. Since I have no experience in teaching or even being exposed to children at that age, I have learned that it is challenging to teach young children, especially if they are big in population. Despite the challenges, it is still enjoyable to handle them since most of them show their willingness to learn and socialize with their classmates and teachers. It is nice to see most of them be comfortable around the adults, joke around with them, and actively participate in the class.
I visited the locale on March 11, 2025. I was able to observe the class and assist the teachers again. I guided the students during seatwork, checked their assignments, recorded their grades, and kept them focused on class, away from wandering around. I have realized that it is difficult to manage kids at the age of 3-6 years old.
Since there are other students that the teachers have to guide, they tend to have no time to guide the others. Although they emphasize the importance of independent learning, they still have to guide the students who are lost and confused every lesson. Sometimes, the children just focus on playing instead of listening to the teacher. The teacher had to use loud noise (e.g., bell or sticks) to calm the students since they mostly scream during the class. Similar to pre-kinder, they are easier to handle since there are only five students in the class, making it easier to control the wandering behavior. Hence, it is significant for kindergartens to have just a few students per class to focus on the learning process of all the individuals.
I was also able to look at the lesson plan today, the teachers do not have a standard format for the lesson plans. It does not include learning objectives and sometimes, the learning materials are not specified. They base their lesson plans on the pointers to review for every quarter. Although their lesson plans are not much organized, it is the format that is familiar for the teachers and it works effectively when implemented in class. I believe that with their years of experience in teaching, they can easily conduct classes in accordance with their plans even without specified concepts and learning objectives.
I visited the locale on March 12, 2025. For the past two days that I went there, I stayed at the Pre-kinder and Junior Kinder classes. Today, I was able to observe the Senior Kinder and Pre-kinder classes. I couldn’t observe them all in a day since the Junior and Senior Kinder conduct their classes at the same time. Nevertheless, I also talked to some of the Senior Kinders as an initial informal interview for the research project. It is quite difficult to interview the children since there is limited free time. However, the Senior Kinders are still easier to communicate with rather than the younger learners since they are more matured and focused. It is easier to catch their attention, especially during discussion.
The teachers discuss, give seatworks, and give homeworks every day. In giving homeworks, the teachers will take a picture of the homework tasks that are written on the board, and then send the picture to their group chats in Messenger. The group chats consist of teachers and parents or guardians of their class. I believe it is a great way to take advantage of technological advancements since most adults use social media as a way of easier communication. If the teachers only write the homeworks on the notebooks, it is possible that some parents or guardians do not see them nor pay attention to them. Moreover, they have to pay attention to their kids’ education since these kids are not yet totally independent. The parents or guardians are responsible for guiding their children and accomplishing their continuous study at home.
On March 13, 2025, I was able to visit the locale and observe the Senior and Pre-Kinder classes. Similarly before, I assisted the teachers by guiding individual learners, checking their outputs, recording their grades, and entertaining the children. I was able to informally interview a few Senior Kinder for my research study. However, I have encountered two challenges. Firstly, there is not enough free time to finish the set of questions. Secondly, the young learners are not that easy to talk to since they prioritize play and are not interested much in communication. Hence, what I will do is informally interview random students every day until I finish the set of questions. I will make the process as entertaining as it is to catch the attention of the young learners. It is easier to accomplish the informal interview with the Senior Kinder since they are more mature. I understand that their attention spans are short and that their class schedule is tight, which is why I have to slowly build my responses to accomplish my research. Despite that, it is easy to gain the children’s trust, making it easier to approach them. Every day, I enjoy interacting with the children since they are sweet and funny.
On March 14, 2025, I was able to assist the teacher again by checking outputs, homework, and guiding the children. Their schedule was cut short today since they had a teacher-parent meeting for the moving up ceremony or graduation, and then they also distributed the cards or quarterly grades of the children. I was not able to continue my informal interview with the children since they had limited time. Although I was the one who watched over the children as their parents were in the meeting, I still couldn’t talk to them seriously since they were too focused on playing and having fun. It was my task to keep them quiet so they don’t disturb the meeting. I have learned that it is difficult to keep the children from behaving as they shout, cry, run around, and become violent when playing. It was challenging and tiring to manage them but I had a proud moment because I was able to influence one child.
One child cries and gets angry every time the others steal his toy blocks. He said he wanted to build a tower but they kept destroying it. I told him that we can look at the bright side; once the tower gets destroyed, he would have the chance to build another tower–different kinds of tower. He stopped crying, agreed, and said it would be more enjoyable to build different kinds of tower. I also taught the other children to ask for permission first if someone else is playing with a toy. I also emphasized the importance of sharing toys.
I was glad that I was able to involve education in their play-time by teaching good manners and right conduct. I have now seen how play can contribute to their development and learning. Playing does not only show them different concepts, but also teaches them how to be social and control their emotions. This is one of the reasons why play is significant in early education.
On March 17, 2025, I was able to assist the teachers. There was a new child and parent inquiring about attending the kindergarten. The teacher assessed the child’s current skills and knowledge by communicating with the little girl, and letting her read and write the alphabet and numbers. The child is a foreigner, which is why she is not knowledgeable in Filipino. I think it would be easy for the child to learn the Filipino language at an early age since they can easily adapt and progressively develop their skills at that phase. The child is literate and can communicate with people, and I believe that the parents will make the right decision if they enroll their child in early education so they can develop their emotional, social, and cognitive skills further. Thinking about it, letting the child learn only at home will miss their opportunity to interact with other children, play educational games, and stay in an educational environment. These are important factors in the children’s growth, which can also help the parents worry less about their child’s future.
On March 18, 2025, I was able to assist the teachers in all classes (i.e., pre-, junior, and senior kinder). Due to an emergency situation, the other teacher that used to assist the Junior Kinder (i.e., School Directress) had to leave, which is why I assisted the two ongoing classes in half-time. I have realized that it is difficult to manage many students if you are alone. These kindergarteners aged 3-6 years old are energetic as they scream, run around, and play during class. How do we ensure that all students are learning if the teacher can only focus on a few students at a time? Aside from the recommended low number of students per class, I recommend having more teachers (e.g., assistant teachers) that can individually guide many students at once. In that way, the students can raise their concerns, be heard, and receive individualized attention to address their educational needs.
On March 19, 2025, the teachers had shared that the children’s behavior had changed. They said the children used to be quiet and participative, now they all scream for no reason. The teachers were figuring out whether they do it due to excitement or something else. The teachers do not want to use punishment as a form of controlling the children since others might get traumatized. However, she said even if she uses a stick by striking it on the table to keep the children quiet, the children still do not care, making it difficult for them to control them. I agree with the idea that punishment is not a good way to control children.
Additionally, I have noticed there were some times when the teachers say some words to the children that does not seem to be the best comments. They compare children's work like "Bakit ganyan sulat mo, tignan mo si (student's name), mas magaling pa siya sayo." or "Bilisan niyo naman diyan, may gagawin pa tayo. Paulit-ulit na tayo diyan (sa topic), hindi niyo pa rin kayang sagutan." These comments might not help with increasing the self-confidence of children. Instead of encouraging the children to keep up their good work, they comment on the negative side. However, the teachers might not have realized the impact of their statements, and there might be other factors that affect their frustration. Nevertheless, I am not in their position to determine their frustration and address them; however, I can suggest ways to address them.
I thought of implementing a rule that states how teachers should be mindful of their comments, and apply positive reinforcement such as giving rewards to behave students. The teachers give out star stamps at times for good students, but it was not emphasized. I was thinking of increasing its value such as giving out stars to behaved and good students, which they can collect and keep until the end of the quarter. Their collected stars can be equivalent to another reward such as candies or toys to motivate the children to behave and increase academic performance. Although it would cost more effort and finances, it might be an effective way to keep them controlled and participative.
On March 21, 2025, I was able to observe how the teacher used games to educate the children. She had a box full of questions and the children were to pick and answer one of the questions. If they answer correctly, they can pick out a prize of snacks. All of the children had the opportunity to answer more than once, and all of them received prizes. It was fun to see the children actively participate in the games and how it allows their minds to function. It also serves as a review for their nearing examination period. Nevertheless, no problems occurred today, and most of the children enjoyed learning. It truly shows how games and rewards are one of the best ways to make learning fun and motivating.
To accomplish my research’s data collection process, I was able to interview a teacher or the school director on March 28, 2025. I expected the interview to last for 10-20 minutes. However, the whole interview lasted for an hour. Fortunately, the teacher had no other business that time and we started early, which is why they were just in time for lunch after we ended. I had decided to interview the other teachers next time to match their availability. I already asked the other teachers and informed them about the interview, and all of them agreed and told me their free schedules.
I went back to interview another teacher on March 31, 2025. The interview lasted for an hour again. For this reason, I had to interview the last teacher at another time to not take too much of their schedules. Originally, I was supposed to interview the last teacher on this day since she had mentioned that this is her availability. However, due to health issues, I did not continue the interview with her and asked her to rest. Fortunately, the other teacher was also available at that time, which is why my interview plan had changed. Luckily, upon taking the last teacher’s blood pressure, it turned out normal, and she got a little better after resting and taking medicine.
On April 4, 2025, I helped the teachers assist every student during their last examination period. It was their last day of doing academic-related activities. After that, they will rehearse for their performances for their graduation or what they call, moving up. No problems arose during the last day of their exams, just a sigh of relief for the teachers as their job has come to an end. Nevertheless, I was able to interview the last teacher after the exams. Fortunately, the teacher was done checking the exams and updating their grades so I did not interfere with her work. Unexpectedly, my interview with her was the longest, and she was able to share a lot of information on her experiences. No problems occurred during the interviews.
I was glad that I got to know all of the teachers personally. It made me feel closer to them. I was enlightened that this project helped me gain positive relationships with new people. Through this project, I was able to bond with teachers and young children, whom I will miss a lot after we go our separate ways. I only had little knowledge on Early Childhood Education or in teaching as a whole, and this opportunity made me learn a lot about it. Despite not having interest in children, I grew into loving them and the memories I spent with them. I was aware that I was conducting a research study in that institution and not doing an internship. However, immersing myself in that environment helped me learn more about the concepts of education, aside from achieving my research goals. Overall, I am thankful how this project allowed me to connect with new people, and I will be forever grateful for how they accepted me wholeheartedly.
This e-Portfolio is submitted in partial fulfillment of the capstone requirements for the degree of Bachelor of Education Studies.
Presented to the Faculty of Education at the University of the Philippines Open University, Los Baños, Laguna.
EDS 199: Special Project 2T-3T-24-25 | jfto@up.edu.ph | 2025