Chapter 2- Teaching and Learning in the Kindergarten year- Looking at Kindergarten Children-blog 2
-Chapter 2- Differentiating Instruction in Kindergarten- Modalities and Intelligences: The Channels for Learning- blog 2
Please respond to these readings in blog 3. Content criteria can be found in module 3
Chapter 2 was about modalities and intelligences: the channels of learning. “A modality of learning is a way in which we process and understand information that is presented to us, a route through which we subconsciously choose to interpret stimuli and make sense of the world around us”. The children who will be walking into the classrooms will have a variety of modalities. Each student may have on modality that they strive in, but like the book said it is important to remember that students can receive information through all modalities, some just not as effective as others. To me this means that even if a student is being taught a lesson in a different modality that he or she prefers, the student is still gaining some knowledge from it. A teacher must present all learners with the opportunity to learn with all modalities. This could be visually, auditory, physically etc. “This allows students to explore outside their own comfort zone.” In this chapter it also stated that many teachers tend to teach to the modality they prefer. I took the quiz in the book and my answers were not specific towards a, b, c or d. This just goes to prove that I was exposed to many different modalities throughout my schooling to make me a more well-rounded learner. As a teacher this is our responsibility as well.
ReplyDeleteChapter 2 was about looking at Kindergarten Children. In the beginning of this chapter we read that around the world the ages 5 to 7 is when most children begin ‘education’ of what they are expected to become as adults. I was amazed to read that, “during the preschool period and the kindergarten year, the brain grows steadily, increasing from 70 percent to 90 percent of its eventual adult weight.” The frontal lobe has most of the growth and reshaping. This ‘plasticity’ makes children’s capacity for learning so high and makes them “sponges” at soaking up information. This is a zone of development that is very important for the development of students. As teachers we need to work very hard at introducing many different methods of learning and many different lessons, since the brain is still forming. Kindergarten teachers have a very big impact on the future learning of students, because they lay a foundation that the student will carry with them throughout their schooling.
Autumn, I agree in the importance to teach in all modalities not just the one that works best for the child. I also thought it was interesting to hear that we tend to teach our preferred modality but that we need to teach all of them. When I took the quiz I ended up with 3 auditory and 3 kinesthetic. That is interesting how you didn’t show up as one (or in my case 2) particular modality. It is amazing how much and how fast the brain grows in this stage of life. How privileged we are to be able to teach students in this sensitive time.
DeleteAutumn, It is important to teach to all modalities instead of just the modality that the child prefers. My quiz was also all over the place. Although I had a few that were visual, but it just goes to show that each student will learn from all different modalities. Also, i agree that it is necessary to teach in several different methods since the kindergarten age student is going to absorb so much information at this age.
DeleteChapter 2 in the K Today text showed us more about where Kindergarteners are at and what they need. I don’t think most people understand how vast the difference can be between Kindergarteners. I liked how the book described it on page 11. Things that create these differences are: heredity, environment, developmental transition, wide and varying age range—4 ¾ to 7 ¼. Also many children are held back a year because they just made the cutoff and parents feel they should wait another year. This is called “redshirting.” One thing I mentioned was environment, and you may say that all grades deal with environment. However, many times Kindergarten is the child’s first time out of the home environment. So we are the first to see and deal with the issues or just differences they bring with them. Hopefully when we send them on to first grade we have helped the child make the transition and the new teachers won’t have to. I can use this information when helping parents who don’t understand why their child is not at the exact same level as another child. I will also use it to remind me of how each child is unique and needs teaching specific to their needs. Another topic that caught my eye was on page 13 where it talks about “experience-expectant growth.” It expressed the importance of providing a wide variety of experiences during this phase of young children. It was just helpful to have it reiterated that it may be even more important to provide this to young children in this phase than older children simply because of the brain development at that time. Knowing this will help keep me motivated to work hard at differentiating instruction for my students because I know how precious this time is. On page 16 I liked the section on emotional self-regulation. People probably don’t stop and wonder why young children have more meltdowns than older children. But it is due to the brain’s development. It is not until kindergarten age that children are better able to manage their emotions. I saw this a lot in the preschool I worked at. The three year olds had many meltdowns and were not always able to calm themselves down. They needed help to use strategies regulate their emotional roller coasters. But our four and five year old students did so much better. We had a safe place in the room that we taught the students how and why to use it. Many of the older students when getting mad would stomp off to sit in the safe place instead of throwing things and screaming. I would really like to have a safe place in my classroom as using other conscious discipline strategies.
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ReplyDeleteChapter 2 in the Differentiating Instruction in Kindergarten text was very interesting. I like how the first page states “Although we tend to have one modality that is most comfortable, all humans take in information through all modalities,” modality being how we learn. Differentiating instruction doesn’t mean we find out what how that child learns best and only use that strategy. Studies show that student’s do best when they are taught using all modalities. I feel it was very important to include the different intelligences and then how to engage each of them. I liked how auditory learners like Readers Theater. I read about it in Reading and Language Arts and got to use it in my second grade internship. It helped get the children interested in the story as well as help them understand the story. I will definitely use it in my classroom. Page 26 touched me when it talked about how students who learn in “non-traditional” ways are sometimes seen as slow instead of the amazing unique children they are. They have so much to offer the world. It is almost scary to think of how much influence we can have on a young child. We can pull out the best aspects of the child and build them up so they can be who they are meant to be. Or we can be frustrated with how we have to work so much harder with them which adds to their lack of self-confidence and going through life believing that they have nothing to offer. This along with the whole chapter has definitely motivated me to be the best teacher I can be for these precious children. Differentiating instruction is huge and will help us to find the best parts of the child.
K Today- I thought the brain development section of this chapter was very interesting. The book states “the first five to seven years of life are a sensitive period for brain development. During this time, the brain is especially responsive to stimulation.” This proves that the preschool to kindergarten age is the most important time for learning and intervention. I will keep this information in mind while teaching my own kindergarten classroom. This is such an important time for these young students and it is important we use this time wisely to enhance their knowledge on different subjects and concepts.
ReplyDeleteI also found interest in the attention section. The book says that the capacity for cognitive inhibition increases throughout the preschool years but dramatic gains occur after kindergarten. So the attention spans of kindergarteners are still going to be rather limited. I will use this in my future classroom as a reminder that kindergarteners attention spans are short lived and to keep my lessons short and fun.
The section on emotional understanding, empathy, and sympathy had great information. I liked when the text stated, the more that adults acknowledge children’s emotional reaction and explain others’ feelings, the better preschoolers and kindergarteners become at reading others emotions. This is a good reminder to acknowledge each students emotions and their reactions to different situations as this could build their knowledge and understanding of others emotions. When in my own classroom I will use this information to help my students understand not only their own feelings, but their peers feelings as well.
Differentiating Instruction- This chapter talks about modalities of learning and how although everyone tends to have one modality that is most comfortable, we are all capable of gaining information through all modalities. This is a very important fact for teachers to remember. In my future classroom I will get to know each students most comfortable learning style but will use them all to teach. It is important to use more than one teaching strategy in the classroom because not everyone learns the same.
I really enjoyed the Learning Style Survey for Teachers on page 20. I discovered that I was mostly a visual learner but also a kinesthetic learner. This proves that most everyone learns in more than one way and my students will too as they become well-rounded learners.
I found the Strategies to Engage All Learners chart on page 25 was very helpful. It gave several different ways to teach to the different learning styles. This is a great chart to keep handy while in the classroom. It will also be helpful when teaching to different types of learning at once.
I also found it very interesting that the first five to seven years of life are the most sensitive when it comes to brain development. To me this means that the teachers in early childhood should take advantage of this because this is when most students are ready and willing to learn. I couldn't agree more with the area about a child's attention span. I work with a classroom of kindergartener's and our activities are fifteen minutes maximum or you lose them. They are ready for something new. You present them with the information and they have got it. But you must also remember to keep it fun and exciting and make sure that you can reach every student with the information.
DeleteThe information about attention span, brain development, and emotional understanding is definitely very helpful in planning activities, but also your own interactions with students, and how you help them understand not only their own feelings but that of their peers. The chapter mentioned using role play to help do this but in my own experience I have also found that teaching in the moment to be very beneficial. That is why it is so important to be moving around the room while students are engaged in activities with their peers so you can use these real life experiences as opportunities to teach students.
DeleteLeah,
DeleteI agree with you that preschool and kindergarten is such an important time for brain development and that proves how important those teachers are. Teachers of young children have a lot of responsibilities and will help shape the future for their young students. It is definitely important to remember that Kindergartners have a short attention span, I know this too well from working with them. If you don’t have something ready for them to do after one activity, don’t expect them to just sit and wait patiently.
K Today-The first part of this chapter that I found interesting was were it discusses a child's physical and motor development. 'As children participate in small-group games with reciprocal roles, they integrate previously acquired motor skills into more complex actions'. To me this is very important because these skills are necessary for a child to have and to build upon. This need could be met by using centers in a kindergarten classroom. Another area of the text that I found interesting discusses the brain development of a child throughout the preschool years. It is absolutely amazing how much a child can learn in the first few years of school. They have such a high capacity for learning. As children interact with the environment and with society, connections are made and they learn so quickly. I believe that I can use this information to the best of my ability in my classroom by giving my students a print rich environment. I want to be able to expose them to as much learning as I can while I have them and while they are ready and eager to learn. The third area that I found important in this text is when it discusses parenting. Research has found that authoritative parenting leads to a high-self esteem, cooperativeness, social and moral maturity, and favorable school performance. I can speak from experience that this is true. Throughout grade school, I had parents who were permissive and didn't really care how I did in school. They didn't talk to me about school and it wasn't really a priority for them. I didn't care about school because they didn't. I received poor grades and I didn't like going because I thought that I was dumb. But when I was adopted in middle school, things changed. My new family cared about how I did in school and they expected me to do my best. And my best was much better than I thought it could ever be. Thanks to them, I am were I am today. Parents have such a huge impact on their child's education and most of them don't even realize it. Parents need to be informed of how much they can help their children just by asking them questions and having a family meal.
ReplyDeleteDifferentiating Instruction-The first important part that I found in this text is that it explains the difference between modality and intelligences. A modality is the way in which we process and understand information that is given to use. An intelligence is a talent or strength. Intelligences are used to demonstrate our understanding of the world and to organize the information that our senses give us. This is something that all teachers need to remember. Each child is different and they will have their own strengths and weaknesses as well as their own way of learning. I also found it interesting that there are four primary means of gathering and processing information and they are as follows: visual, auditory, kinesthetic, and tactile. As a future teacher, I want to be able to expose my students to each one of these ways of learning. It is important that each child learn in the best way possible and as a teacher you need to provide those opportunities. The third part of the text that I found was important was the area about the multiple intelligences. This is information that I have heard over and over for the past four and a half years but after having experienced it in the classroom, it is completely different. You can actually see how each child learns and watch them as they try to learn in different ways. It is amazing how quickly they can pick up on a new task in a new way. That is not to say that they do not have a preferred way but if your expose them to more than one, they can learn in so many different ways.
Children's motor development is quite amazing during the early years. Like you said, they are always building on the skills they have acquired.
DeleteI also find it interesting how much the brain develops throughout the preschool years. They really are like little sponges that soak in everything around them.
In the Differing Instruction book, there is a section that discusses the modalities of learning. It focuses on the on the four primary means of gathering information- visual, auditory, kinesthetic,and tactile. I think that it is very important for not only Kindergarten teachers, but all teachers to keep these in mind. The best way to reach children and effectively educate them is to include as many different ways of teaching as possible. I would include this in my Kindergarten classroom by using as many pictures, videos, books, manipulatives, and movement exercises as possible.
ReplyDeleteThe K-Today book discusses emotional development for young children. The term emotional regulation is mentioned, which is the child's ability to adjust their emotional state in order to engage productively within the classroom. Understanding children's emotions and why they act a certain way is important information for all teachers. A sentence that sums up the imperative nature of this topic is "the more that adults acknowledge children's emotional reactions and explain others' feelings, the better Pre-k and K become at 'reading' others". I would incorporate learning about emotions in my Kindergarten classroom. I would do this by talking about how I feel and asking the students to talk about how they feel.
The K-Today book also mentions parents and how important they are to the development of their children. There are several styles of parenting, they include authoritative, authoritarian, permissive. The most ideal style of parenting is the authoritative as it fosters high self-esteem, social maturity and favorable school performance. It is important for teachers to get to know the parents of their students in order to effectively work together in educating the child.
I think the most important thing that I got out of the readings this week was being reminded of the importance of varying instruction to facilitate learning through all of the different learning styles that children possess. While we all know that every child is different, so therefore, they all learn differently, it is hard to remember to not put lessons into the format that you would personally want to receive them so that you would be able to learn best. I struggle with this because I am a very tactile and visual learner, so I gravitate toward activities where the children are making things with their hands, such as craft type projects. Luckily for me, generally, young children are all about tactile and visual learning- most often, the more times they see it done, and more importantly, the more opportunities they have to do it themselves, the greater occurrence of skill mastery you will see. Since I do know that I have a tendency to gravitate toward the visual and tactile activities, the chart on page 25 of the Middendorf text will help me a lot to be able to incorporate all styles of learning into my instruction.
ReplyDeleteI also think that learning about the different parenting styles and how they affect the behavior and performance of children is very important. While the authoritative parenting style is the most desirable, an educator cannot force or tell a parent what they can and cannot do with their own child- as much as we would sometimes like to! However, if there are certain things that are noticed and can be improved by talking to the parent and giving them the information that is available to help them, they can make changes at home that could take care of the problem. Through my job at the preschool, I have learned that not only is it highly recommended, but it is absolutely necessary to try and find the cause of behaviors and issues regarding performance when there is a noticeable change in a child. Often times, there is a perfectly logical explanation for a sudden change in their behavior or performance at school. Once one knows the “method to the madness” of why a child is doing what they are, it becomes fairly easy to decide on what course of action needs to be taken to redirect them to a more positive behavior or decide what to do to help improve their performance in class. Any time I see a change in behavior or performance with my students, I will make an effort to talk to their parents/care givers, just to see if there is something going on at home or in the child’s life that can explain the change. Like I said, once you know the source of what is causing something, it can help make the path to what should or needs to be done a lot more clear.
I plan on reading aloud to the students in my class as much as I can. The K Today text talks about studies that have shown that the more children are read to, the greater their chance of developing good literacy skills, and in contrast, children that have not been read to, are at risk of having difficulty developing the proper literacy skills that are necessary to reading. My efforts will primarily be targeted for those students that do not get the experience of read alouds at home, but the entire class will benefit from it. Whether a child is read to often both in and out of school, or whether what is read to them at school is the only time that they get read to, every little bit helps. At this age, additional instruction, such as reading books aloud at school when the child may already get plenty of that at home, can never be detrimental to their development, but can only enhance it.
Hi Kyla!
DeleteI also believe it is necessary to find the cause of behaviors and issues regarding performance. In Head Start or Part C, we can get a glipse into the home life on our home visits, but when students get older it is not acceptable to make those home visits anymore. At that point we will just have to rely on the parents and hope that they are honest with what they tell us. I just hope I am able to establish that kind of relation ship with all of my parents and students alike.
Jessica, I couldn't agree more with your comment saying, "that to really know the student you need to know where they are coming from." I believe that children aren't hard to figure out, their reactions generally aren't surprising if you bother to go to the source and figure out what makes them tick- once you know that, they become fairly predictable. I think that your information sheet is a good idea, but it might even be more beneficial that if circumstances allowed you to, to do it in a more face-to-face interview type of way, just to make it a little more personal. I also agree with you that emotions should be talked about more- as an adult, I know sometimes I have a hard time figuring out how I feel about something, so I can imagine how confusing it can be for a five-year-old to convey the reasons behind their emotions sometimes.
ReplyDeleteThe text talked about that “as teachers we must understand that a child may have intelligences that have not been developed simply because he has not had the opportunities to explore his world in multiple ways” (Middendorf 18). This is an important conversation to have with parents. When I worked in Great Bend, I taught preschool as well as worked in Early Intervention. This topic came up in each situation under different circumstances. In preschool, we would have parents would be concerned and sometimes offended when we would say that their child was struggling a little bit with the alphabet letters or counting the numbers. Sometimes, they’d even get upset. It is important to really approach this subject with great care. Parents don’t want to be scolded for not giving their child certain opportunities, simply because they didn’t know. As I learned in Part C, parents did not always know that they should give their child opportunities at home even if they allowed their child to cut up old magazines with safe scissors. I was surprised at how many parents never let their child play with play-doh. Usually, I found that if I told the parents what the child “got out of it” they almost always had play-doh out at our next visit.
ReplyDeleteThe second thing that I found interesting is that I’m a tactile learner. I always thought I was a kinesthetic learner. So, when the book talked about something kinesthetic and tactile were sometimes classified as the same I wasn’t as surprised. My answers were literally one answer away from being kinesthetic though. I just want for the one I do most often although C and D could both be true. I fidget. A lot. I have been to several professional meetings where more than once I have ben scolded for doodling, drawing, playing with my pencil, gum, eraser, paperclips, just whatever I can get my hands on. In Kansas, we had meetings that were sometimes 4 hours long, so I had to find things to do during the meeting that weren’t distracting to other people, but I still felt “busy”. I was always listening as long as I was “busy”.
Finally, I while reading in K Today I found the section Parenting was closely related to everything I talked about in Paragraph one. Now that I’ve worked in Part C, I am an absolute believe that parenting and the environment in which you raise your child directly affect your child’s abilities. I believe that you can either water your child and watch them grow. OR, you can deprive your child of water and sunlight and squash everything you child can be. Parents are always the first teachers. Do I believe that it will make your child feel any less loved? Absolutely not. I have one personal example. My older sister and her husband are both high school drop outs. Neither parent works. My brother-in-law works about 6 months out of the year and then quits right before tax time. They have three children. My nieces and nephew really do not have any ambition to do anything. Now, they are young, but their oldest daughter just turned 17. She doesn’t want to go to college. She doesn’t want to work, because she doesn’t like counting money or people. Her parents are okay with that, because that is how they’ve lived their life. However, I do not feel like my nieces and nephews are any less loved than any of their peers, any less taken care of. All of their needs are being met. They are still in school, so that says something. They love their parents. They aren’t run-aways. They aren’t abused. They are just happy. I believe that happiness comes from the home. My sister taught her kids to be kind, caring, lovely individuals. Do I wish she would have made school and education more of a priority? Yes, of course I do, but those kids are going to be okay. I want to really incorporate parents into my classroom, because I think it is that important.
Working with families is so difficult! There are so many ways to raise children and so many beliefs and differences! Culture plays a huge part in what families expect young children to know and do. Working for early head start showed me many different realities for families. Some cultures expect their children to achieve early independence while others still spoon-feed their children in their laps at preschool age. Some families view the teacher as being the expert while others will question your every move. Families are diverse and amazing and they all have something to offer if we can just figure out how to connect with them!
DeleteKyla, I completely agree especially with your first statement. Every child is different and should be taught the way that works best for them. As a teacher it is so hard to make sure that every students needs are being met.I have worked in pre-k for a few years and have had some students that seem to never be paying attention but one day out of the blue it completely clicks. The more the ways information is given the more students are going to understand. .
ReplyDeleteOne subject that I found especially interesting from the K: Today text was the different styles of parenting and how much they influence kindergarten readiness. This section of the chapter explained that an authoritative parent fosters task persistence, cooperativeness, high self-esteem, social and moral maturity, and favorable school performance. A parent that uses the permissive style of parenting is usually overly indulgent or inattentive. Knowing what kind of parents a child has can greatly impact the way you can help the child in your classroom.
ReplyDeleteA very interesting and useful section of the “Differentiating Instruction in Kindergarten” text is the differences between the learning styles of a visual learner, an auditory learner, a tactile learner, and a kinesthetic learner. This section explains that “honoring those learning preferences will allow each child to use his or her natural talents to enrich learning.” That statement is the most important for teachers to remember because they can’t teach a subject to all the children in the classroom the same way.
The third concept that I found interesting from the Middendorf text was the explanation of Gardner’s Multiple Intelligences. The chapter explains that, “to better serve your students, to better understand their behaviors, and to tailor your menu of instruction, you need to observe the strengths of each.” This section also mentioned that, as teachers, we also need to remember that at the early childhood age, children are still figuring out their strengths and weaknesses.
All of these informational facts are going to be helpful to all of us future teachers in that we will know what to expect with each child we work with. It won’t matter what background they come from or what kind of learning styles they have or what kinds of multiple intelligences they acquire, we will be prepared to handle the situation.
1. In reading Chapter 2 in the Differentiating Instruction book, I really liked how it broke down each of the multiple intelligences, gave examples of the different student intelligences, and then offered strategies to use in the classroom so that you are able to reach all types of learners. I can definitely use this information to better prepare me for teaching my students in my classroom by planning different activities to reach all of my students. This strategies listed on page 25 is something I know I will definitely reference in the future, and I have it marked so it is easy to find.
ReplyDelete2. Chapter 2 of K Today was full of lots of information in regards to developmental milestones for kindergarten students. Brain development at the time a child enters kindergarten is very impressionable and it is a great time for a child to learn. During this developmental milestone it is important to provide activities that are good for experience-dependent brain growth. This means that there should be balance between learning social skills as well as academic.
3. Chapter 2 of K Today really reinforces just how important the kindergarten classroom truly is. It sets the stage for how the child feels about school and learning. It is a time of their life when they are very impressionable and it is on our shoulders as teachers to help develop a love of learning, support and compassion for these students. It is a great responsibility to have as a teacher but one that I imagine that will be greatly rewarding.
Shanna, I also thought that the strategies in page 25 of the "Differentiating Instruction in Kindergarten" text will definitely be ones to save for the future to help us reach all of our students. As early childhood teachers, we are some of the people that get to help "mold" the students' brains because at this fragile age, they are still developing. So, keeping that in mind, K:Today explained this process very clearly and I also loved how some activities were provided to help us along the way. These texts are going to be great references to look back on as we go out into our own classrooms.
Delete1. In K Today, I liked how it broke down where kindergarten students are developmentally. It is amazing how children have double the number of synapses than adults between the ages of 4 and 5. Their brains are just amazing and learning large amounts everyday. It was also amazing that children learn 20 new words a day in kindergarten and early elementary. When teaching kindergarten, I think this rapid time of learning is always important to keep in mind. As a teacher I will try to take advantage of every learning opportunity.
ReplyDelete2. In K Today, I also thought it was interesting to see how much family and culture can effect a child's learning. It was sad to think that a middle-class child starting kindergarten, had been read to for 1,000 hours, where a child living in poverty had only been read to 25 hours. I did like how the book pointed out that these students may be behind in many academic areas, but have developed strengths in other areas. As a teacher, I would try to encourage students from all backgrounds by acknowledging their strengths while supporting them in overcoming their weaknesses.
3. I really enjoyed the chapter in Differentiating Instruction in Kindergarten. I like how it pointed out all the different types of learning and told us that while students may have an easier time learning in their natural learning style, they will take in information through each type of learning. I also liked how it described each type of intelligence. I believe all students have areas of giftedness, many of the gifted areas are not praised as highly as the ones that produce success in our school system. As a teacher I will try to develop a students gifts. I will also try to provide many types of learning as I teach.
I too found it interesting how fast children's developmental skills develop. Their brains are like sponges and they just soak up the information. If you continue to guide them and introduce them to new ideas. I enjoyed reading your idea's and they are pretty much along the same lines of what I love reading about in children and how they learn. Encouraging the different backgrounds to strive towards strengths rather than focusing on weaknesses is excellent.
DeleteI agree with you that emotions are not just a lesson, but should be incorporated into the daily routine of a classroom. Emotion should be something that is discussed as it comes up, which will be daily. Students should know emotion is ok, and it should be ok to talk about how they are feeling. This helps them not only understand their own emotion, but also begin to understand how others around them are feeling tool
ReplyDeleteOnce again, I really enjoyed the information presented in these two books. I found the teacher survey in the Differentiating text to be eye-opening. I did not consider myself to be a tactile learner, but now I can see quite clearly that I am. It dawned on me that as I was reading, I was flipping a pen around with my fingers. This probably is also why I am such a strong proponent for hands-on experiences in my building! This knowledge will continue to benefit me in the future so that I can be sure to offer more experiences than just tactile. It is tempting to rely on using learning strategies that I am most comfortable with, but it will benefit myself and my students to offer experiences that speak to a variety of learning styles.
ReplyDeleteAnother important point was in the K-today text. As a student of ECE, I know that brain development is in a critical and explosive growth period in the first few years of life. What I didn’t know, was that this time frame extends into Kindergarten! The text says that children age 4 to 5 have double the synapses in the frontal lobes of their brain than adults. This is such an important thing to know and understand because as a Kindergarten teacher, I have the incredible opportunity and responsibility to help determine which of these connections are strengthened as the brain begins to prune them away.
Finally, I found the discussion regarding sociability interesting. I was surprised to read that parallel play and solitary play are acceptable and even common in kindergarteners. I expected those types of play to be a bit unusual and perhaps even signify a need for concern. However, it is still important to watch these types of play to be sure that children are not retreating after being rejected or because they don’t know how to join or initiate play in a group.
Oh my goodness! I thought the little test in the book was neat. Seeing the different signs that the kids displayed, and then applying it to yourself is funny. All the sudden you're catching these little quirks that are just second nature. Also, regarding children's personalities, that is such a sensitive age. You want them to develop in their own way and grow into their own, but you also don't want them to be secluded or left out.
DeleteThe discussion about parallel play and solitary play was one that I found interesting as well. (I even underlined it!) With so many people raising so many flags about students who may have special needs (such as autism) I was surprised to see that this was socially acceptable behavior. However, when thinking back retrospectively I remember being someone who enjoyed solitary play. I thought that the correlations were interesting as well. I was surprised to see that some kids who play in a solitary manner are able to participate with others appropriately. I appreciate the way that you point out that it is important to encourage and continue to develop the brain development of students in kindergarten because their brain development is still rapidly growing. Great post.
DeleteThese chapters were both very interesting to read. I really enjoy learning about kids' different learning styles. It was really neat when they took the individual kids and the characteristics they displayed, and connected it to their different way of learning. All the sudden past students started popping up in my mind and made me realize, "oh, so that's why they did that." Another thing that I really connected with was the developmental milestones children reach when they hit kindergarten. Working in a preschool I often was working with early 4 to late 5 year olds. It doesn't seem like a huge difference, but a year of development is huge! I always loved doing the developmental tests to see where they were at. We did one at the beginning of the year and one at the end. The difference was sometimes mind blowing! They're little brains are just moving so fast. A fact that took me back was that kindergartners, on average, learn 20 new words a day. I can't even imagine learning 10. Lastly, I loved the strategies at the end of Differentiating Instruction for Kindergartners. I like how it gave ideas on how to connect with each one and that they were simple enough that they could be used with everyone. I would love to practice all of these in the classroom and expose the children to all different types of learning styles. In the future, their teachers and professors aren't going to teach to reach the masses, so I think it's important for them to be somewhat proficient in learning in other styles.
ReplyDeleteI am still working with just the K Today text. I have the second text ordered but it is marked 'shipped' and has not yet arrived. I'm hoping for it tomorrow.
ReplyDelete1) Address 3 important/interesting points from the readings and why you think they are important.
In the K Today text I was moved by the amount of statistical information. I was shocked to see the difference in the amount of time spent reading to a child who lives in a middle class home v. a child who lives in poverty. The difference in hours was astounding. Especially when thinking of information received on p. 13 - the child's brain is more malleable than it will be later, making preschool and kindergarten an optimum time for learning and effective intervention with all children. It was interesting to read how there is still time for growth and change when so much can be drastically different between students who have received appropriate early childhood experience v. those who have received no previous formal instruction. I was also interested in the information about the required balance that is necessary in kindergarten. An appropriate balance between play, child choice, verbal interaction, and learning of foundational skills are all beneficial to the kindergarten child. I was also very interested in all of the information about the brain and how it applies to the way that the kindergarten child develops. The development of the brain applies not only to gross and fine motor abilities but also to social and emotional development.
2) Discuss how you would use this information in your own kindergarten classroom.
One of the examples from the text discussed a teacher who had students on very different levels. One of the students came from a home where he had been read to often and had attended a quality early childhood program while another student came from a home with limited exposure to literacy and no previous formal education. This teacher discussed the development of the children throughout the year and then discussed things that he had implemented to encourage further development. He held a literacy night which benefits all families. Things of this nature are things that I hope to see in my classroom. I also want to ensure that I am putting forth effort to encourage all families. One of the things that I want to do in my classroom is use centers. Through the text and the article we read on the KSDE website it has been proven that the use of centers is invaluable in regards to development in kindergarteners.
In the readings I found a lot of the information very informative. In Chapter two of K-Today the initial interest to me was how the author addressed the necessity of good parenting and how important it is for parents to protect their children from stressful life situations. They stated on page 19 that research confirms that, "authoritative parenting tends to foster task-persistence, cooperativeness, high self-esteem, social and moral maturity etc." I love that they address this and this is something I can use as a base to show my parents that our children need their attention and cooperation and involvement in their education at home and in school.
ReplyDeleteThe other interesting point was how important kindergarten is to the success of the student in future education. Children need to experience learning experiences that will not only instruct them but challenge them in many ways to reach beyond what they know pre-school and kindergarten should be a transition that goes hand and hand.
Lastly in Differentiating instruction I love how they teach on Multiple Intelligences. While we are taught to look and be watchful for those children who may exhibit particular behavior instead of adapting to that or guiding the child in that particular way we should remember to allow the child to continue to explore.
In the future I can utilize this technique in the classroom allowing my students to explore their uniqueness and their strengths to give them an excitement about learning.
I believe each point can be utilized in future instruction and keeping in mind that encouraging your parents to stay involved in many different ways and having a hand in their child's learning is an encouragement not a judgement.
I found a lot of interesting information in both books. In K-today I thought that it was interesting about how much a child home life will effect their learning. I found it interesting the different between nature and nurture and how important a child's first few years of life will make a huge difference on the rest of their lives. The support of loved ones and the exposure to different activities makes a big difference in a child's educational life.
ReplyDeleteI found it interesting that an average 6 year old has around 10,000 words. Most kids learn form their the home environment and if their is not a lot of vocabulary at home then the smaller their vocabulary. Children also increase their conversational skills and are able to understand adult language between ages 4 and 6.
In my future classroom I would try to treat each child as an individual and try to cover every learning style that is represented in my students. I will also encourage all of my students in the way that they best learn and not try to make them fit into a mold.
The first point that really stood out to me was Middendorf text. I really enjoyed reading about all of the different types of learning styles. In the text they also pointed out how each child is comfortable using their own learning style which is understandable. In my kindergarten classroom, I would use this point by remembering that I need to learn how each child learns their best. This is going to be very important because if I don't learn this the children won't be learning in their most productive way.
ReplyDeleteThe next point I found interesting was in the K-Today text. All of the information about major development milestones and individual variations is so important at this age. During kindergarten the kids are going through a wide range of changes including physical, neurological, cognitive, emotional and social. This is a HUGE time for them to learn. The first 5 years of a childs life are the main time for brain development. There is so much progress made and chances a child can learn that some people don't realize. In my kindergarten classroom I will be sure to allow to children to experience as much as possible in order for them to learn in many different ways.
In this text it stated that, "at about age 4 to 5, children have nearly double the number of synapses in some brain areas that adults have." This fact was a shock to me! I knew that children have a large number of synapses making connections but I never thought that it would be to this extent. With this being said, this proves that children have so much learning going on in their head at this time. Everything they do is a learning opportunity. In my classroom this will help me understand why the children are so curious and why certain children want learn at a different level with certain subject than other children.
I too am a visual learner! I have to see the information in order to take it all in. I also liked your point that you made about how you must engage all of your learners. This is very true. It's little things like these that some teachers don't think about. If you aren't engaging your whole classroom then the proper learning won't get done. We as teachers must remember this otherwise we will be leaving some learners out.
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