The Middendorf text had a lot of information about the learning/literacy centers that can be incorporated into the classroom and the different whole group activities etc. that can be done. One important thing that I read in this section was that, “Brain research validates the commonly held notion that talking anchors learning, and that rhythmic language is a powerful memory maker for embedding learning.” I think this makes a wonderful point because in my own personal experience, I can recall and sing thousands of songs word for word, and some of them I have hardly heard since I was a small child, and I still remember them, yet I have trouble recalling things that I did in my classes last week. I remember when I was in 4th grade we had to learn the capitals of all fifty states. Our teacher had a recorded capital rap that we learned to sing and we recited it as a class so many times per week…many years after learning that, I could still sing it, and I have not heard it since I was in 4th grade! I think music, raps, and singing are wonderful and enriching things that I plan on implementing into the instruction in my classroom. One thing that I really like is Zoo phonics. It implements singing and actions for the letters of the alphabet wonderfully and the kids love it! Another good point that the Middendorf text brought up was that, “all children, including the less verbal, less insistent, and less clamorous also have a basic daily minimal requirement for adult interaction.” This is really important to remember because as a para, I know how easy it is for the students that are really well behaved and quiet to get lost in the shuffle. It feels like you have to constantly devote your attention to those that are a little more rambunctious and those that may even have behavioral issues in order to keep the classroom under control. It is so important not to ignore the students that are quiet and do what they are supposed to do a majority of the time without being told. I will make it a point to speak with all of my students numerous times during the day. A deep, life altering conversation does not have to occur every time, but a simple conversation that lets them realize that you acknowledge and appreciate their presence in your classroom can do wonders for their self-esteem and confidence. The more that the teacher interacts with this type of students, the more likely the students are to probably start verbalizing more and becoming a little more outgoing, so the effort benefits everyone involved. In chapter #7 of the K Today text, the explanation of scaffolding was very beneficial to me. This is a term that I have heard time and time again, but have never been able to find a definition simple enough for me to understand exactly what its purpose was. The text says that, “First we show them how we do it…Then we invite them to try, and we help as they attempt to do it…When we think they are ready, we let them try on their own.” THANK YOU, I finally understand the concept of scaffolding! Scaffolding is of extreme importance and should be implemented by all teachers in all types of classrooms as much as possible. I will implement this into my classroom as much as I can across all subjects and with as many activities as I can. I think that children, especially young children, just learn so much better this way. They need to be able to see how it is done correctly, and then be allowed to try it for themselves, and have assistance available until they no longer need it and can complete it on their own.
I really like that you brought up rhythmic language because I also remember using it in school. I still remember how to do math equations because of it and I've seen it work in the school that I work at. I also like that you brought up the point that we need to pay attention to those students that are well behaved and make sure they don't feel neglected. There are always those students that need extra help or extra attention but we have to include all of our students in every day activities.
Jessica, I'm glad to hear about the different voices that you do in the classroom that you are in. How fun! I can imagine how much the children learn from that and enjoy it all at the same time. Fidgets are wonderful, speaking from my own experience. When I was younger I had no trouble staying awake in class, but ever since I have hit college, gracious! I have a teacher that lets us have fidgets at our tables when we are listening to a constant lecture or watching a video because I just cannot stay awake. It isn't that I think everything is boring it's just that sitting and staring at a screen while I'm in a dark room is a recipe for sleeping. Just being able to have something to dink with in my hands helps me focus on what I am listening to and more importantly...keeps me awake. I have never seen them implemented into a classroom of young children, but knowing how they have helped me, I can imagine that they would help with children that have attention issues.
Differentiating Instruction: This section of chapter 5 was about building skills for learners. My favorite part of this section is when the text states, 'Brain research validates the commonly held notion that talking anchors learning, and that rhythmic language is a powerful memory maker for embedding learning.' This is absolutely amazing to me because teachers have been doing this for years and it still works. Children love to sing and play with language and it does wonders for their learning. The second thing that I found interesting was the numbers outside activity with the paintbrushes and the water. I think this activity would be a lot of fun and the teacher would be able to monitor all of the children. The next part of the book that I found interesting was the number rhymes. I had never heard them before and I think they are fantastic. They are easy to remember and you can do them with a whole class. This is something that I would want to use in my classroom. There is a song that has to do with shapes that I will go around the school singing because it's fun. "Boom yea, I drew a square today, it has four equal sides..." sung to the tune of 'Ra ra ra boom de ay. It is just a fun song and the students love it. The fourth item I found interesting was making the number line and using questions of before and after. This is something that our kindergarten teacher has in her classroom and it is a great tool. It is something that I would love to use in my classroom because it teaches sequence. K Today: This section of the text was about creative expression and thought. I like how this section went through some myths about children's creativity. To me the first myth was a no brainer because I think that there are so many ways to be creative besides art. I for one am not big on art. I can't even draw a nice looking stick figure. I also don't think that creative thought and expression focus only of feelings. I think that thinking has a lot to do with a child's creativity. Myth three was about how creativity can not be taught and is free and natural. I think that you can help someone become creative. You initiate the idea and let them take it on their own. Children need the freedom and structure to discover the gifts that they possess. The second part of the text that I found interesting was what makes a learning experience creative. The books states that they require the least amount of teacher direction but the teacher must be there for guiding and scaffolding. I want my students to be able to create things on their own with little direction. I want them to find what media they are good with. The next part that I found interesting was how can teachers foster creativity while meeting the standards. I think that this area is difficult for every teacher, especially with all of the new push for children to be ahead. A kindergarten teacher should not have to justify creative arts in their classroom or doing physical activities. This is how children learn. I want to make sure to include creative activities in my classroom. The fourth part of the text that I like is where they give teachers some ideas for changes they can make. I think that if a teacher can't incorporate it all at once they can do it in small chunks and if they do incorporate all four items, they can do it in different parts of the day. This gives the students many opportunities to express their thoughts and feelings.
Yes Brandy B, that is an amazing quote from the book about “talking anchors learning.“ I know for myself this is true. When studying I have to say things out loud and I always do better when there are back and forth discussions in class also. Rhythmic language is another one that helps me with my memory as well so it makes sense that children would love it also. I also loved the number rhymes. Your song about the square sounds awesome. You are so right is saying that creativity is something students access all day not just in art. My experience in the past has been too much on the side of doing too much to help them. I need to make sure I don’t get into that rut but instead push and encourage them to be more independent, make decisions, and be creative all on their own with simple guidance and scaffolding from me. Thanks for your insight Brandy.
Erin Flax I loved chapter 11 in the K Today text as I love the idea of including fun and creativity into our regular lessons and to the standards in other areas. Page 117 states “brilliance in any field is connected with creative thought and expression.” Just to name a few other learning domains that use creativity are science, writing, and social skills. We use creativity when planning and organizing. If we train robots trained to follow instruction, who will be owners and managers, who will run companies or design our buildings, and who will find cures for diseases? I will use some of the examples in the book on page121. I especially like the math and music lesson using beans. This is right up my musical alley. This brings me to my second point from the book which is on page 118. It describes how students need freedom and structure throughout the day. Total freedom without boundaries or guidance will go nowhere. It is important for teachers to figure out how to provide structure and still allow for freedom. I will provide my class plenty of tools to use to be creative but will also instruct them on how to properly use the tools and give some guidance and encouragement as they go along. I will also work on teaching the students good work habits to give them more structure as they create. My third topic was on page 119. When I read that children should be allowed to talk to each other not just the teacher it reminded me of some things I have observed in classes. Several times I have seen teachers restrict student talking time to activities such as lunch and recess. I have seen a student ask a fellow student a question about their work and the teacher tell them to stop talking so everyone can do their work and if they have a question to raise their hand to ask the teacher. I feel the students are developing so many skills by asking and answering each other’s questions instead of only using the teacher. For one thing they are not growing in social skills and peer relations. In the school I used to teach at we sent many kids from our preschool to the kindergartens in the building. During the year we would see our students walking in the hallway and they would want to run up and give us a hug and say that they missed us. Many times they got in trouble for doing this. Even when they stayed in line but said “Hi Mrs. Flax” the teacher would say “voices off”. They ended up merely smiling at us eventually. That is cutting out relationships they have formed. What is that telling children?
The reading in the Middendorf text was great. It gave me so many examples of how to effectively integrate so many academic areas into simple activities. This will definitely be used regularly if I get to teach Kindergarten. I have done tons of highlighting in it and dog earing pages. It was hard to decide what to write about since I loved it all. One thing I loved was the whole activity on pg. 102 and 103. I will try to assimilate that into my room. I especially liked the learning center where they work on Name Grids and Pictures. It was great at differentiating instruction so seamlessly. Even though it was the same activity given to them, they had different ways of working with it that fit where they were at. The next part I loved was the math section. I am not a huge fan of math and this was extremely helpful to see how to integrate it into everything and ways of making math fun. On pg. 106 I loved the Number Rhymes. All of this will help me feel more confident as I teach math and be excited about it so that can spread to my students. On page 118 I am really excited about the Whisper Phones. At first I thought it would be a long pipe children use to talk to each other. Then I read that it is for themselves and has a lot of good benefits. It’s great for auditory learners. Maybe I should get one for myself …I will definitely be using this in my class. I also loved the guidepost on page 123 that helps remind us of what we should be doing everyday.
Erin, I agree, it is so important to have structured freedom in the classroom. Children need to get the chance to choose activities they would like to participate in. If we are always telling them what to do, we are not enabling them to become their own decision makers. We are there to help these students thrive and succeed, and by making all their choice for them, we are not doing that.
Oh my gosh, Erin! I was in love with the whisper phones. My husband has a bunch of PVC pipe sitting around from his duck blind. I'm already thinking about sneaking out to the shop to take some to make those whisper phones.
Okay, so I didn't read that we were only supposed to read only have of chapter 5 last week and then the rest this week. So my last week blog post just contained everything from that chapter. :) But in chapter 11 of Teaching and Learning in Kindergarten there were so many great things about creativity! I love working a child's creativity into everything, and this chapter emphasized that. Anything a child does is going to be unique since no two people think exactly alike. I also really enjoyed the chart on p.119 that helps teacher creating an environment that helps promote creativity. It drives me crazy when I see teachers that think a productive classroom is one where children are in their desk working on a worksheet. That actually makes me really uncomfortable. Children need to be comfortable with the surroundings and feel free to express themselves. They should be up moving around and learning from what and who is around them. I also reverted back to an earlier Skype meeting when it was said that teachers use meeting standards as excuse not to get creative with lesson plans. It may require a little more extra thought, and thinking outside of the box, but it can be done!
The different voices you brought up made me giggle! :) I remember having a D.A.R.E officer that would teach us a different clap each time he came. One of them was a valley girl clap. We loved it! He used them as motivators whenever we answered a question right. We could pick our favorite clap to do. I also love that you're familiar with Handwriting Without Tears! I was introduced to it last year(?), I think, and it was so great for the kids! They do so many different activities to get the kinesthetic learners involved!
Chapter 11 in the K Today book talked about creative expression and thought in Kindergarten. I thought it was very interesting point when they said that creativity is expressed in all areas not just exclusively the arts. To be creative it is more than just a feeling that one student gets, it is comprised of many different small choices that a child chooses to do to be successful in their activity. As a teacher you need to focus on the learning that occurs and the mental connections being made when a child is being creative, not the end process. You need to always allow for a child to be allowed to express originality. This needs to be a balance between freedom and structure. As a teacher it is our responsibility to give them the materials, learning opportunities, to be an enthusiastic role model and to give them diverse experiences. Another interesting part of the text was the classroom features that promote creativity. It is important for the children to have daily opportunities to creatively express themselves and to be able to talk directly to one another to explore more possibilities and ideas. As a teacher in my classroom I will handle and display the students works with respect and encourage them to revisit their work instead of rushing to finish it. Make sure that the environment that you are teaching in is predictable and you have clear expectations and a climate that will encourage the child to “feel” creative.
Chapter 5 in the differentiating instruction in Kindergarten covers skill-building activities. I enjoyed reading about the number rhymes. I can remember using lots of different rhymes in my classroom as a student. At the time I was not aware at how powerful of memory tool learning these songs were. The book says that rhythmic language is a powerful memory marker for embedding learning. This is very important because in Kindergarten, you are laying down the foundation of all the basic skills, and using rhythmic language is a great tool to have in your tool belt. As a teacher I would be sure to also incorporate other styles of learning with the rhythmic. The book gives some good examples for kinesthetic learners to use exaggerated air-writing when working with letters or numbers. For a visual learner you could have a chart on the wall that they could follow along to. Another part of this chapter I loved was all the different activities it presented to use in the classroom. This is a book I will keep forever, simply because it is such a great resource. One suggestion I liked was when you are scripting sentences to leave words out for the child to fill in, usually with sight words. This strategy helps the children to internalize the meaning. Later have the children draw what the sentence is talking about. This will check for comprehension and be a creative outlet for children. When writing the scripting, set up each child to succeed. This may mean that not every child has the same scripting on the worksheet.
In the Differentiating text I was thoroughly engrossed in all of the material that was provided for effective teaching of math. When I think of math and young children it's hard for me to wrap my mind around. I have never been a fan of numbers but when you're so distanced from elementary math it's hard to imagine math as simply learning numbers. Because of that, I really liked the chants that were created for numbers and how to write them. also liked the mnemonic math rhymes of pg. 110. These are things I could see myself implementing in the classroom. I thought that the Differentiating text touched base on a lot of really important teaching tools this week. The second thing that attracted my attention in the Differentiating text was the part about children becoming authors in the classroom. To allow children to become authors in the classroom you can provide them with empty spaces to fill in, use predictable charts and allow for their pictures to be story starters. The idea I like the most is the whisper phones. I can completely see using these in the classroom! It's an effective teaching method, children can use more senses by using these and the materials are inexpensive and easily accessible. I am already thinking of making them. What a great idea. In the KToday text, I have to take a moment that to admit that I actually laughed out loud at the comment about the kindergarten revolt! There is always so much material to take in when reading the KToday text. I try to target things that I can take and use in the classroom and develop them into a stronger thought. The thing I liked the most in this text was on p.124-25 that addresses developmental needs. My mom was an early childhood educator for close to 30 years. One of the things she stressed to the staff she worked with was being developmentally appropriate. It's so important! I think this chart full of information is beyond beneficial.
Kimberly I also found the kindergarten revolt story funny. I also agree about the developmental needs. It is easy for us to get focused and say this is what you need to know with out realizing the level of the kid we are talking to. I have worked with a long term sub who is very sweet but does not understand the development of the students. It gets frustrating for both her and the students when she expects things form them that they are not ready to understand. I also think that it is important to understand that just because one of your students understands something that the rest may not yet and that is ok.
In k-today allowing the student to use their creativity stood out to me. It is easy to set up expectations and make things the way we as teachers want them to look like. but as teachers we need to remember that we are just guiding the students not controlling their thoughts. I also liked on page 118 when the book was talking about the children need to develop work habits that will serve them through out their lives. The skills and the habits that the kindergarteners learn are not just to help them move up a grade but they are skills that will stay with them and help them and develop over time. In the Differentiating text I liked all of the center and lesson ideas. reading about the examples helped me become more creative and think of some ideas that I can use in my future room. I also thought that it was awesome how they showed us how to use the one activity and adapt it to many learning stills and levels. I have really enjoyed learning about ways that can help students learn no matter what level they are or what kind of a learner they are.
The center ideas were really a fun idea. Centers are also a pretty easy way to reach every child on their specific learning abilities. I just realized that schools had centers up until second grade - at least at the school I'm working at. I thought that was pretty weird. I liked your statement that we as teacher need to remember that we are guiding and not controlling their thoughts. Nice post!
There were several things that stood out to me between the two texts. In K Today, it talked about how it was a myth that creativity is free, natural, and innate and cannot be taught. I really believed creativity to be natural. To me, I thought either kids were creative or they weren’t. When I worked at the preschool, we also gave the “crafts” which were in theory supposed to look alike. And like the teacher in the book, we used to correct the ones that placed the ears on the chin or the eyes where the ears would go. We never gave them true art and just said “Okay, create anything you want.” If I knew now – what I didn’t know then…
The next thing that stuck out to me was the section on what kids need to develop creatively. That section answered all of the questions I had on how I should have taught creativity in the preschool. One thing is for sure, I wish instead of having so many toy centers – I wish we would have had an “arts” center or at least incorporated art into a center somehow.
The last thing I want to discuss is the fidgets sections. I am not too sure that fidgets is necessarily that great of an idea for young kids. However, in my head, I’m picturing two different things. Mrs. Stoppel’s kindergarten and our preschool. On one end of the spectrum, I picture 22 kindergarteners sitting around at circle quietly playing with their fidgets while listening to Mrs. Stoppel read a story. On the other end of the spectrum, I pictured my preschoolers throwing the bean bags in the air, at each other, or even the other para. What a mess! It was almost always easier to not get them out at all. However, I never really explained the rules to them. I just said to grab a bean bag if you cannot sit still – which just gave them all permission to be wild and crazy. The difference: classroom management skills, my friends. The say hindsight is 20/20 – but I will always wish I could go back and do it all over again.
Fidgets are something that I use on a regular basis with the students with autism that I work with. Fidgets really do help students calm down and can help them focus on the task at hand. I do agree that in the kindergarten classroom it could quickly get out of control if clear expectations are not set beforehand.
I think that it's great that you can look back objectively at the things you wish you could change or wish you had done differently. I have worked with many teachers who couldn't! I look back at the things I thought were appropriate when I first started working in Early Childhood and cringe... As you say, hindsight is 20/20, but it is growth and the ability to learn new things and make changes that prevents us from doing the same developmentally inappropriate activities. For me, the most eye-opening experiences have come from having those incredible mentor teachers who put DAP into practice and make it come alive and achievable - not just best practices in a perfect book scenario.
In the K Today book it was full of great strategies to help create expression and thought in kindergarten. What I found to be very beneficial to me as a future teacher is the information on how to foster growth in your kindergarten students. This is done by showing caring g and acceptance with your students. You also need to have high expectations set and be enthusiastic about the activities you are doing in the classroom. This will get your students excited about the activities as well. It is also very important to have all the materials needed to get the attention of the students as well as keep them engaged in learning and using their imagination. There is also a chart on page 119 in the K Today book, which describes the classroom features that promote creativity, which will be something that I will refer to when creating my learning environment. The environment needs to predictable for the students and have clear expectations.
In the Middendorf there were several examples of differentiated activities that can be used in the classroom. I really enjoy reading the “A Look Inside Differentiated Classroom”. It really does a good job of showing how it is possible to make activities differentiated. When reading it, it seems like it is so easy and natural, but I feel I will definitely need some practice with coming up with different ways to present information to my students. But it does seem like a fun way to to be creative when creating lessons for your students. I was so amazed by all of the different activities that Mrs. K is able to have the students do in the Newsworthy Name. It is so cool, and definitely an activity that I would like to use in my own classroom. This book is full of such great information and activities that I am so excited to try out with my own students. On page 104, there is a chart called “Better Language for Learning , that I also found to be helpful. I really need to practice on coming up with questions that stimulate all types of learners, and this is something that I plan on continuing to work on improving on.
Shanna, Accepting and caring about your students are a few of the attributes that makes for a fabulous teacher. These qualities become even more important during the kindergarten year because the children may be starting school for the first time and might be a little scared because they don’t know what to expect. You want the children to have a great first experience and being accepting and caring will help with this task. Also making the schedule predictable makes the kindergarten year more comfortable for the children.
After reading the second half of chapter 5 in the Middendorf text, one of the sections that I thought would be really valuable for me in the future is the ideas for the math activities as a whole group and the center ideas. My favorite activity that they included was “Before and after”. For this activity the children roll a die on a mat and then they have to write that number on the recording sheet. After they have done that, then they have to identify the number before and the number after. I love that they included the recording sheet in the text, which can easily be used for the children to show accountability for their learning center. Another section of the Middendorf text, that I thought was very interesting, was the class books. In the text they explain that “Class books serve as a way of fostering an attitude of cooperation and community as well as serving as an effective conduit for home-school literacy connections.” One of my teachers did this for us when we were in second grade and I remember it being a fun and helpful way to promote education at home along with being a way for the children to participate and provide their own works for the book. I like how there is a family comment page where the family can respond to whatever their child puts in the book. The last sections of the readings that I thought was very beneficial was the five questions that can help teachers promote kindergartener’s creative thought in chapter 11 of the K:Today text. The text explains that when choosing an activity you need to ask yourself if the activity makes content more accessible, if it encourages joyful, active learning, if it helps children express their personal connections to the content, if it helps children understand and express symbolic concepts, and does it help children develop collaborative work skills. This section also includes the four things that dilute the time for creativity which are time, materials, physical environment, and presentation. All of these concepts are going to be helpful to know when we come up with our own activities so we do all we can to make them beneficial for children without diluting them. These texts provide us with so many ideas and I have to say I’m kind of sad that the “Differentiating Instruction in Kindergarten” text is over but I know for sure that it will be a great resource to go back and look at when I’m in my own classroom.
Differentiated Instruction- I really liked the air writing numbers on page 105. I’ve seen this done in a previous kindergarten internship and the children really enjoy it. I’ve never seen it done with anything other than a pointer finger thought. I’d never thought to have them write the numbers with different body parts. I will use this in my future classroom to help students practice writing their numbers. I thought the Before and After My Number dice game sounded really fun for the students. This would be something I would use in my kindergarten classroom to help students learn their numbers. I also really liked the Class Book on page 114. This sounds like a great tool to help children review a theme. I also like that it can be sent home and can be used as a home-school literacy connection. This is also a great way to keep parents informed on the themes being taught in class. I will use this activity in my future classroom to give children a change to be creative while reflecting upon a certain theme.
K Today- I liked the five questions that can help teachers promote kindergarteners creative thought. This is a great checklist for teachers to use while encouraging creativity. I will use these questions in my future classroom to help myself promote creativity in lessons. I thought the myths about creativity were interesting. It is important to remember as an educator that creativity is not limited to the arts. Creativity can be used in every aspect of education. I also found the section on what changes teachers need to make to be helpful. Teachers are constrained by time, materials, physical environment, and presentation when it comes to creativity. On page 123 the book states to stop the ready-made crafts because this is just busywork disguised as art. I’ve never looked at it this way but this would hinder a students creativity. I will remember this for my future classroom.
I really liked the part about the air numbers too! I think that this is a very effective way for visual learners to learn. Although there is nothing they are actually seeing but they are making the action which helps them visualize it in their head. I have also seen this done in a classroom too, and the kids absolutely loved it. The teacher used it as a "brain break" even. They were having so much fun they didn't even realize that they were using their brains! Many of the kids would go home and have their parents play the "game" with them.
The part in chapter 11 on page 118 of the K-Today text was very interesting to me when they talk about what makes a learning experience creative. The book talked about the only way to determine this is if the experiences have meaning for the children or not. If they children aren't interested and don't want to know more then more than likely this is not going to be a learning experience for them. The experiences with the most potential for creative expression require the least amount of teacher direction and control. Although, we still have to make sure we guide the children. I absolutely agree with this. My reason being is if we all think back at the experience we had in the classroom when we were in kindergarten, the ones we actually remember are the ones we learned something from. For example, in kindergarten we had a pumpkin carving day. All of my class was so excited to do this, but we also learned the history of pumpkins and jack-o-lanterns. I was 5 years old and 16 years later I still remember everything we talked about. I will use this in my classroom by visually seeing what my students are interested in. If they are not asking more questions, or constantly getting side tracked I will change things up and move onto something else.
On page 119 in the Middendorf text it talks about "whisper phones." The whisper phone is a small phone like toy that you whisper into one end and you can hear yourself in the other end. These phones are especially useful for auditory learners. If they are reading and they need to pronounce a word they can hear themselves sounding it out and this will help them hear the sound. In my classroom I can use this to help reinforce letters and sounds. I can have a basket of them available for any student at any time when they are reading or writing certain words to themselves. This is also a great tool to use to help keep the classroom more quiet.
On page 121 in the Middendorf text it talks about "eyeball to eyeball." I really enjoyed this part of the chapter. It may seem like such a small part but I think that this is VERY important. In the book it says that we as teachers need to make an effort everyday to look each student directly in the eyes and speak to them. Although, in some cultures this is offensive to do so it is very important to get to know your students and the backgrounds that they come from. The reason I think that this is so important is because it is never to early to teach children small life manners. In the real world as they get older they are going to be required to talk to a professional for their work etc, and if they don't learn what is proper now and begin to feel comfortable with this then it will get harder for them to learn the older they get. In my classroom I will make an effort everyday to talk greet or talk to each one of my students individually so they feel important and learn to respond to myself as well as their peers as they get older.
After this week, I am sad to be done with the “Differentiating” text. It is so full of ideas and great information! I really like the idea of the class books. Not only is this a great way to allow all children to be successful, but it allows families to be involved as well. There are so many extensions to be done with class books as well. I think this would also be a great way to show growth throughout the school year. Another stand-out idea for me are the whisper phones. I was in Home Depot tonight and drug my kids over to pvc pipe aisle to do some price checking. I plan to put some of these together for our pre-k room. I think these are a fabulous idea and can help with the concept of volume control in addition to reinforcing sounds for auditory learners. I also really enjoyed the K-Today text chapter on creativity. I didn’t realize that projects could be too open-ended, but it does make sense that creativity can be encouraged by teaching technique. When I first started working with young children, I was guilty of having product-oriented crafts. I don’t think I have moved too far in the other direction to be too unstructured, but I think that I need to encourage my teachers now to show children ways to use the materials without stifling their creativity.
The Middendorf text had a lot of information about the learning/literacy centers that can be incorporated into the classroom and the different whole group activities etc. that can be done. One important thing that I read in this section was that, “Brain research validates the commonly held notion that talking anchors learning, and that rhythmic language is a powerful memory maker for embedding learning.” I think this makes a wonderful point because in my own personal experience, I can recall and sing thousands of songs word for word, and some of them I have hardly heard since I was a small child, and I still remember them, yet I have trouble recalling things that I did in my classes last week. I remember when I was in 4th grade we had to learn the capitals of all fifty states. Our teacher had a recorded capital rap that we learned to sing and we recited it as a class so many times per week…many years after learning that, I could still sing it, and I have not heard it since I was in 4th grade! I think music, raps, and singing are wonderful and enriching things that I plan on implementing into the instruction in my classroom. One thing that I really like is Zoo phonics. It implements singing and actions for the letters of the alphabet wonderfully and the kids love it!
ReplyDeleteAnother good point that the Middendorf text brought up was that, “all children, including the less verbal, less insistent, and less clamorous also have a basic daily minimal requirement for adult interaction.” This is really important to remember because as a para, I know how easy it is for the students that are really well behaved and quiet to get lost in the shuffle. It feels like you have to constantly devote your attention to those that are a little more rambunctious and those that may even have behavioral issues in order to keep the classroom under control. It is so important not to ignore the students that are quiet and do what they are supposed to do a majority of the time without being told. I will make it a point to speak with all of my students numerous times during the day. A deep, life altering conversation does not have to occur every time, but a simple conversation that lets them realize that you acknowledge and appreciate their presence in your classroom can do wonders for their self-esteem and confidence. The more that the teacher interacts with this type of students, the more likely the students are to probably start verbalizing more and becoming a little more outgoing, so the effort benefits everyone involved.
In chapter #7 of the K Today text, the explanation of scaffolding was very beneficial to me. This is a term that I have heard time and time again, but have never been able to find a definition simple enough for me to understand exactly what its purpose was. The text says that, “First we show them how we do it…Then we invite them to try, and we help as they attempt to do it…When we think they are ready, we let them try on their own.” THANK YOU, I finally understand the concept of scaffolding! Scaffolding is of extreme importance and should be implemented by all teachers in all types of classrooms as much as possible. I will implement this into my classroom as much as I can across all subjects and with as many activities as I can. I think that children, especially young children, just learn so much better this way. They need to be able to see how it is done correctly, and then be allowed to try it for themselves, and have assistance available until they no longer need it and can complete it on their own.
I really like that you brought up rhythmic language because I also remember using it in school. I still remember how to do math equations because of it and I've seen it work in the school that I work at. I also like that you brought up the point that we need to pay attention to those students that are well behaved and make sure they don't feel neglected. There are always those students that need extra help or extra attention but we have to include all of our students in every day activities.
DeleteJessica, I'm glad to hear about the different voices that you do in the classroom that you are in. How fun! I can imagine how much the children learn from that and enjoy it all at the same time. Fidgets are wonderful, speaking from my own experience. When I was younger I had no trouble staying awake in class, but ever since I have hit college, gracious! I have a teacher that lets us have fidgets at our tables when we are listening to a constant lecture or watching a video because I just cannot stay awake. It isn't that I think everything is boring it's just that sitting and staring at a screen while I'm in a dark room is a recipe for sleeping. Just being able to have something to dink with in my hands helps me focus on what I am listening to and more importantly...keeps me awake. I have never seen them implemented into a classroom of young children, but knowing how they have helped me, I can imagine that they would help with children that have attention issues.
ReplyDeleteDifferentiating Instruction: This section of chapter 5 was about building skills for learners. My favorite part of this section is when the text states, 'Brain research validates the commonly held notion that talking anchors learning, and that rhythmic language is a powerful memory maker for embedding learning.' This is absolutely amazing to me because teachers have been doing this for years and it still works. Children love to sing and play with language and it does wonders for their learning. The second thing that I found interesting was the numbers outside activity with the paintbrushes and the water. I think this activity would be a lot of fun and the teacher would be able to monitor all of the children. The next part of the book that I found interesting was the number rhymes. I had never heard them before and I think they are fantastic. They are easy to remember and you can do them with a whole class. This is something that I would want to use in my classroom. There is a song that has to do with shapes that I will go around the school singing because it's fun. "Boom yea, I drew a square today, it has four equal sides..." sung to the tune of 'Ra ra ra boom de ay. It is just a fun song and the students love it. The fourth item I found interesting was making the number line and using questions of before and after. This is something that our kindergarten teacher has in her classroom and it is a great tool. It is something that I would love to use in my classroom because it teaches sequence.
ReplyDeleteK Today: This section of the text was about creative expression and thought. I like how this section went through some myths about children's creativity. To me the first myth was a no brainer because I think that there are so many ways to be creative besides art. I for one am not big on art. I can't even draw a nice looking stick figure. I also don't think that creative thought and expression focus only of feelings. I think that thinking has a lot to do with a child's creativity. Myth three was about how creativity can not be taught and is free and natural. I think that you can help someone become creative. You initiate the idea and let them take it on their own. Children need the freedom and structure to discover the gifts that they possess. The second part of the text that I found interesting was what makes a learning experience creative. The books states that they require the least amount of teacher direction but the teacher must be there for guiding and scaffolding. I want my students to be able to create things on their own with little direction. I want them to find what media they are good with. The next part that I found interesting was how can teachers foster creativity while meeting the standards. I think that this area is difficult for every teacher, especially with all of the new push for children to be ahead. A kindergarten teacher should not have to justify creative arts in their classroom or doing physical activities. This is how children learn. I want to make sure to include creative activities in my classroom. The fourth part of the text that I like is where they give teachers some ideas for changes they can make. I think that if a teacher can't incorporate it all at once they can do it in small chunks and if they do incorporate all four items, they can do it in different parts of the day. This gives the students many opportunities to express their thoughts and feelings.
Yes Brandy B, that is an amazing quote from the book about “talking anchors learning.“ I know for myself this is true. When studying I have to say things out loud and I always do better when there are back and forth discussions in class also. Rhythmic language is another one that helps me with my memory as well so it makes sense that children would love it also. I also loved the number rhymes. Your song about the square sounds awesome. You are so right is saying that creativity is something students access all day not just in art. My experience in the past has been too much on the side of doing too much to help them. I need to make sure I don’t get into that rut but instead push and encourage them to be more independent, make decisions, and be creative all on their own with simple guidance and scaffolding from me. Thanks for your insight Brandy.
DeleteErin Flax
ReplyDeleteI loved chapter 11 in the K Today text as I love the idea of including fun and creativity into our regular lessons and to the standards in other areas. Page 117 states “brilliance in any field is connected with creative thought and expression.” Just to name a few other learning domains that use creativity are science, writing, and social skills. We use creativity when planning and organizing. If we train robots trained to follow instruction, who will be owners and managers, who will run companies or design our buildings, and who will find cures for diseases? I will use some of the examples in the book on page121. I especially like the math and music lesson using beans. This is right up my musical alley. This brings me to my second point from the book which is on page 118. It describes how students need freedom and structure throughout the day. Total freedom without boundaries or guidance will go nowhere. It is important for teachers to figure out how to provide structure and still allow for freedom. I will provide my class plenty of tools to use to be creative but will also instruct them on how to properly use the tools and give some guidance and encouragement as they go along. I will also work on teaching the students good work habits to give them more structure as they create. My third topic was on page 119. When I read that children should be allowed to talk to each other not just the teacher it reminded me of some things I have observed in classes. Several times I have seen teachers restrict student talking time to activities such as lunch and recess. I have seen a student ask a fellow student a question about their work and the teacher tell them to stop talking so everyone can do their work and if they have a question to raise their hand to ask the teacher. I feel the students are developing so many skills by asking and answering each other’s questions instead of only using the teacher. For one thing they are not growing in social skills and peer relations. In the school I used to teach at we sent many kids from our preschool to the kindergartens in the building. During the year we would see our students walking in the hallway and they would want to run up and give us a hug and say that they missed us. Many times they got in trouble for doing this. Even when they stayed in line but said “Hi Mrs. Flax” the teacher would say “voices off”. They ended up merely smiling at us eventually. That is cutting out relationships they have formed. What is that telling children?
The reading in the Middendorf text was great. It gave me so many examples of how to effectively integrate so many academic areas into simple activities. This will definitely be used regularly if I get to teach Kindergarten. I have done tons of highlighting in it and dog earing pages. It was hard to decide what to write about since I loved it all. One thing I loved was the whole activity on pg. 102 and 103. I will try to assimilate that into my room. I especially liked the learning center where they work on Name Grids and Pictures. It was great at differentiating instruction so seamlessly. Even though it was the same activity given to them, they had different ways of working with it that fit where they were at. The next part I loved was the math section. I am not a huge fan of math and this was extremely helpful to see how to integrate it into everything and ways of making math fun. On pg. 106 I loved the Number Rhymes. All of this will help me feel more confident as I teach math and be excited about it so that can spread to my students. On page 118 I am really excited about the Whisper Phones. At first I thought it would be a long pipe children use to talk to each other. Then I read that it is for themselves and has a lot of good benefits. It’s great for auditory learners. Maybe I should get one for myself …I will definitely be using this in my class. I also loved the guidepost on page 123 that helps remind us of what we should be doing everyday.
Erin,
DeleteI agree, it is so important to have structured freedom in the classroom. Children need to get the chance to choose activities they would like to participate in. If we are always telling them what to do, we are not enabling them to become their own decision makers. We are there to help these students thrive and succeed, and by making all their choice for them, we are not doing that.
Oh my gosh, Erin! I was in love with the whisper phones. My husband has a bunch of PVC pipe sitting around from his duck blind. I'm already thinking about sneaking out to the shop to take some to make those whisper phones.
DeleteOkay, so I didn't read that we were only supposed to read only have of chapter 5 last week and then the rest this week. So my last week blog post just contained everything from that chapter. :) But in chapter 11 of Teaching and Learning in Kindergarten there were so many great things about creativity! I love working a child's creativity into everything, and this chapter emphasized that. Anything a child does is going to be unique since no two people think exactly alike. I also really enjoyed the chart on p.119 that helps teacher creating an environment that helps promote creativity. It drives me crazy when I see teachers that think a productive classroom is one where children are in their desk working on a worksheet. That actually makes me really uncomfortable. Children need to be comfortable with the surroundings and feel free to express themselves. They should be up moving around and learning from what and who is around them. I also reverted back to an earlier Skype meeting when it was said that teachers use meeting standards as excuse not to get creative with lesson plans. It may require a little more extra thought, and thinking outside of the box, but it can be done!
ReplyDeleteThe different voices you brought up made me giggle! :) I remember having a D.A.R.E officer that would teach us a different clap each time he came. One of them was a valley girl clap. We loved it! He used them as motivators whenever we answered a question right. We could pick our favorite clap to do. I also love that you're familiar with Handwriting Without Tears! I was introduced to it last year(?), I think, and it was so great for the kids! They do so many different activities to get the kinesthetic learners involved!
ReplyDeleteChapter 11 in the K Today book talked about creative expression and thought in Kindergarten.
ReplyDeleteI thought it was very interesting point when they said that creativity is expressed in all areas not just exclusively the arts. To be creative it is more than just a feeling that one student gets, it is comprised of many different small choices that a child chooses to do to be successful in their activity. As a teacher you need to focus on the learning that occurs and the mental connections being made when a child is being creative, not the end process. You need to always allow for a child to be allowed to express originality. This needs to be a balance between freedom and structure. As a teacher it is our responsibility to give them the materials, learning opportunities, to be an enthusiastic role model and to give them diverse experiences. Another interesting part of the text was the classroom features that promote creativity. It is important for the children to have daily opportunities to creatively express themselves and to be able to talk directly to one another to explore more possibilities and ideas. As a teacher in my classroom I will handle and display the students works with respect and encourage them to revisit their work instead of rushing to finish it. Make sure that the environment that you are teaching in is predictable and you have clear expectations and a climate that will encourage the child to “feel” creative.
Chapter 5 in the differentiating instruction in Kindergarten covers skill-building activities.
I enjoyed reading about the number rhymes. I can remember using lots of different rhymes in my classroom as a student. At the time I was not aware at how powerful of memory tool learning these songs were. The book says that rhythmic language is a powerful memory marker for embedding learning. This is very important because in Kindergarten, you are laying down the foundation of all the basic skills, and using rhythmic language is a great tool to have in your tool belt. As a teacher I would be sure to also incorporate other styles of learning with the rhythmic. The book gives some good examples for kinesthetic learners to use exaggerated air-writing when working with letters or numbers. For a visual learner you could have a chart on the wall that they could follow along to. Another part of this chapter I loved was all the different activities it presented to use in the classroom. This is a book I will keep forever, simply because it is such a great resource. One suggestion I liked was when you are scripting sentences to leave words out for the child to fill in, usually with sight words. This strategy helps the children to internalize the meaning. Later have the children draw what the sentence is talking about. This will check for comprehension and be a creative outlet for children. When writing the scripting, set up each child to succeed. This may mean that not every child has the same scripting on the worksheet.
In the Differentiating text I was thoroughly engrossed in all of the material that was provided for effective teaching of math. When I think of math and young children it's hard for me to wrap my mind around. I have never been a fan of numbers but when you're so distanced from elementary math it's hard to imagine math as simply learning numbers. Because of that, I really liked the chants that were created for numbers and how to write them. also liked the mnemonic math rhymes of pg. 110. These are things I could see myself implementing in the classroom. I thought that the Differentiating text touched base on a lot of really important teaching tools this week.
ReplyDeleteThe second thing that attracted my attention in the Differentiating text was the part about children becoming authors in the classroom. To allow children to become authors in the classroom you can provide them with empty spaces to fill in, use predictable charts and allow for their pictures to be story starters.
The idea I like the most is the whisper phones. I can completely see using these in the classroom! It's an effective teaching method, children can use more senses by using these and the materials are inexpensive and easily accessible. I am already thinking of making them. What a great idea.
In the KToday text, I have to take a moment that to admit that I actually laughed out loud at the comment about the kindergarten revolt! There is always so much material to take in when reading the KToday text. I try to target things that I can take and use in the classroom and develop them into a stronger thought. The thing I liked the most in this text was on p.124-25 that addresses developmental needs. My mom was an early childhood educator for close to 30 years. One of the things she stressed to the staff she worked with was being developmentally appropriate. It's so important! I think this chart full of information is beyond beneficial.
Kimberly I also found the kindergarten revolt story funny. I also agree about the developmental needs. It is easy for us to get focused and say this is what you need to know with out realizing the level of the kid we are talking to. I have worked with a long term sub who is very sweet but does not understand the development of the students. It gets frustrating for both her and the students when she expects things form them that they are not ready to understand. I also think that it is important to understand that just because one of your students understands something that the rest may not yet and that is ok.
DeleteIn k-today allowing the student to use their creativity stood out to me. It is easy to set up expectations and make things the way we as teachers want them to look like. but as teachers we need to remember that we are just guiding the students not controlling their thoughts. I also liked on page 118 when the book was talking about the children need to develop work habits that will serve them through out their lives. The skills and the habits that the kindergarteners learn are not just to help them move up a grade but they are skills that will stay with them and help them and develop over time.
ReplyDeleteIn the Differentiating text I liked all of the center and lesson ideas. reading about the examples helped me become more creative and think of some ideas that I can use in my future room. I also thought that it was awesome how they showed us how to use the one activity and adapt it to many learning stills and levels. I have really enjoyed learning about ways that can help students learn no matter what level they are or what kind of a learner they are.
Hi Carrie!
DeleteThe center ideas were really a fun idea. Centers are also a pretty easy way to reach every child on their specific learning abilities. I just realized that schools had centers up until second grade - at least at the school I'm working at. I thought that was pretty weird. I liked your statement that we as teacher need to remember that we are guiding and not controlling their thoughts. Nice post!
There were several things that stood out to me between the two texts. In K Today, it talked about how it was a myth that creativity is free, natural, and innate and cannot be taught. I really believed creativity to be natural. To me, I thought either kids were creative or they weren’t. When I worked at the preschool, we also gave the “crafts” which were in theory supposed to look alike. And like the teacher in the book, we used to correct the ones that placed the ears on the chin or the eyes where the ears would go. We never gave them true art and just said “Okay, create anything you want.” If I knew now – what I didn’t know then…
ReplyDeleteThe next thing that stuck out to me was the section on what kids need to develop creatively. That section answered all of the questions I had on how I should have taught creativity in the preschool. One thing is for sure, I wish instead of having so many toy centers – I wish we would have had an “arts” center or at least incorporated art into a center somehow.
The last thing I want to discuss is the fidgets sections. I am not too sure that fidgets is necessarily that great of an idea for young kids. However, in my head, I’m picturing two different things. Mrs. Stoppel’s kindergarten and our preschool. On one end of the spectrum, I picture 22 kindergarteners sitting around at circle quietly playing with their fidgets while listening to Mrs. Stoppel read a story. On the other end of the spectrum, I pictured my preschoolers throwing the bean bags in the air, at each other, or even the other para. What a mess! It was almost always easier to not get them out at all. However, I never really explained the rules to them. I just said to grab a bean bag if you cannot sit still – which just gave them all permission to be wild and crazy. The difference: classroom management skills, my friends. The say hindsight is 20/20 – but I will always wish I could go back and do it all over again.
Fidgets are something that I use on a regular basis with the students with autism that I work with. Fidgets really do help students calm down and can help them focus on the task at hand. I do agree that in the kindergarten classroom it could quickly get out of control if clear expectations are not set beforehand.
DeleteJonelle,
DeleteI think that it's great that you can look back objectively at the things you wish you could change or wish you had done differently. I have worked with many teachers who couldn't! I look back at the things I thought were appropriate when I first started working in Early Childhood and cringe... As you say, hindsight is 20/20, but it is growth and the ability to learn new things and make changes that prevents us from doing the same developmentally inappropriate activities. For me, the most eye-opening experiences have come from having those incredible mentor teachers who put DAP into practice and make it come alive and achievable - not just best practices in a perfect book scenario.
In the K Today book it was full of great strategies to help create expression and thought in kindergarten. What I found to be very beneficial to me as a future teacher is the information on how to foster growth in your kindergarten students. This is done by showing caring g and acceptance with your students. You also need to have high expectations set and be enthusiastic about the activities you are doing in the classroom. This will get your students excited about the activities as well. It is also very important to have all the materials needed to get the attention of the students as well as keep them engaged in learning and using their imagination. There is also a chart on page 119 in the K Today book, which describes the classroom features that promote creativity, which will be something that I will refer to when creating my learning environment. The environment needs to predictable for the students and have clear expectations.
ReplyDeleteIn the Middendorf there were several examples of differentiated activities that can be used in the classroom. I really enjoy reading the “A Look Inside Differentiated Classroom”. It really does a good job of showing how it is possible to make activities differentiated. When reading it, it seems like it is so easy and natural, but I feel I will definitely need some practice with coming up with different ways to present information to my students. But it does seem like a fun way to to be creative when creating lessons for your students. I was so amazed by all of the different activities that Mrs. K is able to have the students do in the Newsworthy Name. It is so cool, and definitely an activity that I would like to use in my own classroom. This book is full of such great information and activities that I am so excited to try out with my own students. On page 104, there is a chart called “Better Language for Learning , that I also found to be helpful. I really need to practice on coming up with questions that stimulate all types of learners, and this is something that I plan on continuing to work on improving on.
Shanna,
DeleteAccepting and caring about your students are a few of the attributes that makes for a fabulous teacher. These qualities become even more important during the kindergarten year because the children may be starting school for the first time and might be a little scared because they don’t know what to expect. You want the children to have a great first experience and being accepting and caring will help with this task. Also making the schedule predictable makes the kindergarten year more comfortable for the children.
After reading the second half of chapter 5 in the Middendorf text, one of the sections that I thought would be really valuable for me in the future is the ideas for the math activities as a whole group and the center ideas. My favorite activity that they included was “Before and after”. For this activity the children roll a die on a mat and then they have to write that number on the recording sheet. After they have done that, then they have to identify the number before and the number after. I love that they included the recording sheet in the text, which can easily be used for the children to show accountability for their learning center.
ReplyDeleteAnother section of the Middendorf text, that I thought was very interesting, was the class books. In the text they explain that “Class books serve as a way of fostering an attitude of cooperation and community as well as serving as an effective conduit for home-school literacy connections.” One of my teachers did this for us when we were in second grade and I remember it being a fun and helpful way to promote education at home along with being a way for the children to participate and provide their own works for the book. I like how there is a family comment page where the family can respond to whatever their child puts in the book.
The last sections of the readings that I thought was very beneficial was the five questions that can help teachers promote kindergartener’s creative thought in chapter 11 of the K:Today text. The text explains that when choosing an activity you need to ask yourself if the activity makes content more accessible, if it encourages joyful, active learning, if it helps children express their personal connections to the content, if it helps children understand and express symbolic concepts, and does it help children develop collaborative work skills. This section also includes the four things that dilute the time for creativity which are time, materials, physical environment, and presentation. All of these concepts are going to be helpful to know when we come up with our own activities so we do all we can to make them beneficial for children without diluting them.
These texts provide us with so many ideas and I have to say I’m kind of sad that the “Differentiating Instruction in Kindergarten” text is over but I know for sure that it will be a great resource to go back and look at when I’m in my own classroom.
Differentiated Instruction- I really liked the air writing numbers on page 105. I’ve seen this done in a previous kindergarten internship and the children really enjoy it. I’ve never seen it done with anything other than a pointer finger thought. I’d never thought to have them write the numbers with different body parts. I will use this in my future classroom to help students practice writing their numbers. I thought the Before and After My Number dice game sounded really fun for the students. This would be something I would use in my kindergarten classroom to help students learn their numbers. I also really liked the Class Book on page 114. This sounds like a great tool to help children review a theme. I also like that it can be sent home and can be used as a home-school literacy connection. This is also a great way to keep parents informed on the themes being taught in class. I will use this activity in my future classroom to give children a change to be creative while reflecting upon a certain theme.
ReplyDeleteK Today- I liked the five questions that can help teachers promote kindergarteners creative thought. This is a great checklist for teachers to use while encouraging creativity. I will use these questions in my future classroom to help myself promote creativity in lessons. I thought the myths about creativity were interesting. It is important to remember as an educator that creativity is not limited to the arts. Creativity can be used in every aspect of education. I also found the section on what changes teachers need to make to be helpful. Teachers are constrained by time, materials, physical environment, and presentation when it comes to creativity. On page 123 the book states to stop the ready-made crafts because this is just busywork disguised as art. I’ve never looked at it this way but this would hinder a students creativity. I will remember this for my future classroom.
I really liked the part about the air numbers too! I think that this is a very effective way for visual learners to learn. Although there is nothing they are actually seeing but they are making the action which helps them visualize it in their head. I have also seen this done in a classroom too, and the kids absolutely loved it. The teacher used it as a "brain break" even. They were having so much fun they didn't even realize that they were using their brains! Many of the kids would go home and have their parents play the "game" with them.
DeleteThe part in chapter 11 on page 118 of the K-Today text was very interesting to me when they talk about what makes a learning experience creative. The book talked about the only way to determine this is if the experiences have meaning for the children or not. If they children aren't interested and don't want to know more then more than likely this is not going to be a learning experience for them. The experiences with the most potential for creative expression require the least amount of teacher direction and control. Although, we still have to make sure we guide the children. I absolutely agree with this. My reason being is if we all think back at the experience we had in the classroom when we were in kindergarten, the ones we actually remember are the ones we learned something from. For example, in kindergarten we had a pumpkin carving day. All of my class was so excited to do this, but we also learned the history of pumpkins and jack-o-lanterns. I was 5 years old and 16 years later I still remember everything we talked about. I will use this in my classroom by visually seeing what my students are interested in. If they are not asking more questions, or constantly getting side tracked I will change things up and move onto something else.
ReplyDeleteOn page 119 in the Middendorf text it talks about "whisper phones." The whisper phone is a small phone like toy that you whisper into one end and you can hear yourself in the other end. These phones are especially useful for auditory learners. If they are reading and they need to pronounce a word they can hear themselves sounding it out and this will help them hear the sound. In my classroom I can use this to help reinforce letters and sounds. I can have a basket of them available for any student at any time when they are reading or writing certain words to themselves. This is also a great tool to use to help keep the classroom more quiet.
On page 121 in the Middendorf text it talks about "eyeball to eyeball." I really enjoyed this part of the chapter. It may seem like such a small part but I think that this is VERY important. In the book it says that we as teachers need to make an effort everyday to look each student directly in the eyes and speak to them. Although, in some cultures this is offensive to do so it is very important to get to know your students and the backgrounds that they come from. The reason I think that this is so important is because it is never to early to teach children small life manners. In the real world as they get older they are going to be required to talk to a professional for their work etc, and if they don't learn what is proper now and begin to feel comfortable with this then it will get harder for them to learn the older they get. In my classroom I will make an effort everyday to talk greet or talk to each one of my students individually so they feel important and learn to respond to myself as well as their peers as they get older.
After this week, I am sad to be done with the “Differentiating” text. It is so full of ideas and great information! I really like the idea of the class books. Not only is this a great way to allow all children to be successful, but it allows families to be involved as well. There are so many extensions to be done with class books as well. I think this would also be a great way to show growth throughout the school year.
ReplyDeleteAnother stand-out idea for me are the whisper phones. I was in Home Depot tonight and drug my kids over to pvc pipe aisle to do some price checking. I plan to put some of these together for our pre-k room. I think these are a fabulous idea and can help with the concept of volume control in addition to reinforcing sounds for auditory learners.
I also really enjoyed the K-Today text chapter on creativity. I didn’t realize that projects could be too open-ended, but it does make sense that creativity can be encouraged by teaching technique. When I first started working with young children, I was guilty of having product-oriented crafts. I don’t think I have moved too far in the other direction to be too unstructured, but I think that I need to encourage my teachers now to show children ways to use the materials without stifling their creativity.