Praxis Course: PSYCB215: Thorne School Practicum: Bridging Theory and Practice
Semester: Spring 2026
Faculty Advisor/Professor: Jodie Baird
Community Partner: Phebe Anna Thorne School: Kindergarten
Praxis Site Supervisor: Rachel Stern
Praxis Poster:
PSYCH 215 Julia_Azulay_Thorne Praxis Poster (1)
Further Context:
This semester, we had the opportunity to work at the Phebe Anna Thorne School Kindergarten as part of our “Thorne School Practicum: Bridging Research and Practice” seminar class. The Thorne School Kindergarten serves families from the broader Main Line and is housed near the center of Haverford College campus. The kindergarten offers a full-day program (~8:45 AM-2:30 PM). The classes are capped at 16 children and staffed at a high teacher-to-student ratio, allowing more closeness and teacher-child relationship-building. The small class is led by a lead teacher, assistant teacher, and learning specialist, who works together as a team to coordinate learning plans and daily classroom activities. The Thorne kindergarten’s mission is to provide play-based, developmentally appropriate, and child-centered learning experiences with a specific focus on social-emotional development, play, and academic preparation for first grade.
As part of our praxis course, we worked at the kindergarten as classroom aides for 3 hours a week, providing support to teachers and engaging with the children during routine academic blocks and recess. In our seminar class, we learned about various topics in developmental psychology and early childhood education. For our poster, we decided to focus on social-emotional learning (SEL) and executive functioning (EF)/self-regulation. We found that these topics were vital at the kindergarten level because they prepare children to effectively manage emotions and impulses, resolve conflicts, build positive relationships, and form the foundations for academic success and mental health. In class, we were able to directly apply the literature we read to our observations, which explored the benefits of incorporating SEL and self-regulation strategies in early childhood education settings. Our experiences at Thorne provided real-time examples of socially and emotionally based curricula and structured support of self-regulation skills. More broadly, working at the kindergarten gave us hands-on learning moments and avenues for personal reflection as individuals seeking child-centered careers in social work/child clinical psychology/education.
Julia Azulay:
Working in and contributing to this warm, nurturing educational setting that emphasizes social-emotional and personal growth has been meaningful for me, especially because I’ve never worked in a classroom like this before. I came into the kindergarten classroom worrying that I would not exactly “fit” into the role of a teacher and wouldn’t integrate well into the already-established community. However, as the weeks passed and as I got feedback from the teachers, I realized I have an instinct for working with children and that my presence was known and cherished by the teachers and the kids, even if I only saw them once a week. Seeing how effective coping and emotion regulation strategies are so central to the kindergarten’s pedagogy, I now recognize that therapeutic approaches can be readily integrated into classrooms (psychoeducation) to equip children with social-emotional tools. In my future as a licensed child psychologist, I want to bring the SEL curriculum and psychoeducational consulting to K-5 classrooms in schools serving low-income communities of color, due to systemic challenges producing a “care gap” and inequitable access to psychological resources for children at under-resourced schools. It has truly been a pleasure to work closely with the kindergarten, and I hope to continue supporting their mission soon!
Julia Jung:
Aside from babysitting, all of my experiences working with young children were in the context of after-school tutoring and homework help programs for predominantly low-income students of color attending public schools. My praxis at the Thorne kindergarten was my first time working within a predominantly White and affluent classroom at a private school. It was an amazing experience observing the classroom and getting to know the students. The Thorne classroom was peaceful, supported, and structured in contrast to the chaotic classrooms I had grown up in. This realization forced me to struggle with the reality of this large gap in academic opportunity, but it also inspired me to bring this type of education to my community at home.
Patience Bivins:
Working at Thorne has given me the chance to understand how imaginative and cooperative play influences EF and SEL. I am deeply inspired by the daily dedication of the teachers and students at Thorne. As I look toward my future career as a school social worker, this experience has taught me that the curriculum must be built on child development. I am committed to helping students develop the necessary tools for self-regulation and healthy relationship-building. Being able to apply what I have learned from Thorne and my seminar to work beyond the classroom as an educator has been exceptionally fulfilling!