The text described oral language as, “the means by which children demonstrate their understanding of the meanings of words and written materials.” I think that this is really important for teachers to realize and remember when teaching their students. If children are at a grade level where saying things like, “I putted my book in my bag,” are not the developmental norm, then the teacher needs to realize that for whatever reason, that child has a deficit in the grammar area of their language development. To implement this in the classroom, I would just make an effort to allow the students to practice their skills with oral language. Students should be allowed to respond to questions orally as well as being able to write the answers down. They should be allowed to engage in conversations with their peers and the teacher. We all know that practice makes perfect, so give them a chance to practice and allow their skills to develop. Another important part of the reading this week was the section on balanced curriculum. The key points to keep in mind about language and literacy curriculum are: 1) It is critically important to diversify instruction to meet individual needs. This means that as the teacher, I need to make a conscious effort to realize what students have different needs than others, and facilitate the learning of those students. In a nutshell, differentiated instruction becomes key in promoting the learning of all students in the classroom. 2) Keep instruction active and consistent with how young children learn. As the teacher, I need to keep children involved by allowing them to participate in tactile and kinesthetic tasks. The physical movement of their body often gives young children just one more thing for them to relate their learning to making comprehension and retention of a skill much easier. 3) Instruction should go beyond the acquisition of isolated skills. This means that I need to remember to build learning one concept on top of another. They need to know the alphabet in order to learn the sounds of the letters, to be able to turn the letters into words, words into sentences, sentences into paragraphs, paragraphs into many different types of writing years down the road. There is a higher purpose for everything that is taught rather than just teaching one specific skill at a time. 4) It is important to maintain a balance between explicit instruction and informal, incidental learning. There are certain things that children just have to explicitly be taught, but as the teacher, I need to remember that there is so much learning that goes on that is “accidental”. This type of learning occurs from allowing the students to explore in different centers so that they can experience the cause and effect of certain things that happen, and they can learn from their own curiosity and experimenting what happens next in order to make their own inferences and come to their own conclusions. 5) The prevailing method of instruction should be scaffolded instruction. This means that I need to model, guide, and gradually help the student(s) less and less as their performance of mastery progresses until they no longer need by help. Supporting the learning of the student(s) in this way helps them and allows them to get comfortable with performing the skill more and more on their own as they progress through it, rather than just teaching them the basics and throwing them into it with no further guidance. The section about literacy centers is obviously important because that is what we are working on developing ourselves this week. These centers are important in the classroom because they allow the students a chance to try things independently and it also allows time for the teacher to spend providing explicit instruction or working with smaller groups. These are important in any classroom and are definitely going to be things that I incorporate into my room as much as I can.
I agree that children need to have plenty of time to use their oral skills in many contexts. It is so sad that many classes only let their students talk a few times and is usually to the teacher or in a specific teaching setting. They need to talk during all parts of the day and with peers as well. How can we teach students to talk if they are not allowed to talk. You are right to say that we need to provide differentiated instruction and yes we need more tactile and kinesthetic tasks for students. In one of my classes we did an exercise to find out what kind of learner we were and then we graphed our findings. More than 75% of the class was kinesthetic learners and yet this seems to be the most underutilized way to teach.
Erin Flax This was a very good and practical chapter. I loved the examples of standards and curriculum and how we could meet them through our activities. As they stated examples I was relieved to see that many of the things I would have already known to do were tied to standards so it isn’t like we have to change everything to meet the standards. But we are adding more pressure to perform, and at an early age than before. Page 73 says that our traditional role has been to “gently ease” students from preschool to 1st grade. I feel we should still be doing that. Although we are meeting the standards we should strive to do so in a developmentally appropriate way. The book says we need to keep kindergarten a positive experience. We help set the child’s view of education and we need to start them out loving school. I will do all I can to make the day interesting, fun, and challenging for my students. One way to do this will be by finding out their interests and using those to teach.
My next point of interest was on page 74 where it discusses how they acquire their knowledge of language rules. This is an example of how young children learn. It is not primarily from us explaining how to use different language in different situations but rather through practical experience. It needs to be taught in context. For example, in my classroom I won’t just tell my students that their volume needs to come down when they are talking in close proximity to a peer. I will teach the skill when it happens also. This will better stick into the child’s memory. Teaching in context doesn’t happen as much in the primary grades as it does for young children and kindergarten I feel still needs this type of instruction. The last piece was on page 82 when it talks about how we need to track our student’s development so we know where they are at. We can use this knowledge to adjust how we are teaching the curriculum to the whole group as well as to individual students. We would not be doing our job if we didn’t constantly reassess where everyone is at and what we need to do to guide the students to where they need to be. I will try to think of fun ways to asses so it is not the same way all the time and the students get tired of it.
Erin, I completely agree with you that instruction needs to occur through practical experience and be taught in context as well. Quite frankly I think that this is one of the only ways that young children learn these skills. Like you, I also think that practical experiences are included enough in the primary grades. I feel that when children have something to relate their experience to rather than knowing that someone just told them to go do it, for one, they're much more likely to be willing to complete a task because they understand the reason behind it, and their mastery of it is much more liable to be much higher as well.
Erin, I really like your example of how to model what students need to do when they are working close together. I think that is a great way for students to learn and remember what they need to do. I was also glad that you stated that we need to remember to adjust our teaching for our students and not adjust our students. Reflection is one of the best ways to learn if they way you are teaching is working.
I agree with your point that you made about teaching the students when the problem actually occurs rather than just preaching to them the rules of the classroom. For example, if we constantly just tell the students to use inside voices but never correct them when they are being too noisy they will never know what "inside" voices mean. A good way to do this would be to correct them in a whispering voice so they know that you want them to use quiet voices when they are in the classroom.
Chapter 7 discusses language and literacy during kindergarten. The first part of this chapter that I found to be important was that teachers can foster language and literacy in children by engaging their physical, social, emotional, and cognitive selves at an early age. This is so important because all students learn differently. In my classroom, I want to be able to give my students a variety of ways to learn. The second part of the text that I found interesting is where it discusses that oral language is the foundation for literacy development. Oral language provides children with a sense of words and sentences. This is the first way that children learn about language. This is also one of the reasons that I do not like baby talk. It ruins the way a child learns to speak and maybe how they will speak for the first few years of school. I will make sure that there is no baby talk in my classroom. The last part of the reading that I found interesting was how they discussed creating a balanced curriculum. The first step was to diversify instruction to meet individual needs. This is very important for all students because they all learn differently. The next step is to keep instruction active and consistent. Then your instruction should go beyond the acquisition of isolated skills. You also need to maintain a balance between explicit instruction and informal, incidental learning. The last part of achieving a balanced curriculum is to make sure you are scaffolding instruction. I want to give my students the best opportunity they have to learn and in the best way they can. I want to make sure that my teaching meets their needs.
I know that very few of us like "baby talk," but I think it is really important to be careful how we address it. I think it is attention seeking behavior, much like whining, tattling, or other nuisance behaviors. By addressing it directly, we are awarding it attention versus gritting our teeth and letting peer modeling take it's course. It is also important to consider that this might be the culture of the family. Children learn quickly that there are different sets of rules at home and school and grandma's and the store, etc. They will learn as well what kind of speech is required where. But to imply that they are a baby or immature by their speech is to risk damaging their self esteem and self concept. It also changes their peer's attitudes towards them and could lead to teasing. I recommend to my pre-k teachers that they simply tell children what they want to hear. "Next time, please say, may I have the markers?" Then they are modeling the speech pattern they want - it becomes a teaching opportunity versus a reflection on the child's maturity. But perhaps there is another way we should be handling it too! :)
On page 74 the first point that interested me was when they talked about all domains of development playing important roles in children's lives. In the sections it talks about in order to learn they have to be physically healthy as well as being provided with an environment that supports the development of social competence and emotional well-being. I completely agree with this. Some teachers don't think about the little things that play a large role in students learning. If they aren't feeling good, or emotionally aren't engaged then they will have no motivation to learn. In my classroom, I will be sure that recognize each student and how they are feeling. If I notice that something is off I will communicate with the child and talk with their parents to see if something is off at home.
The second point that sparked my interest was on page 81 when it talked about using opportunities for language and literacy learning when children arrive to the classroom. Some examples include designating activities and areas for exploration. Provide books for the children to read as well as puzzles and games to play where the children can match words and letters. I really liked this idea for when the students arrive to the classroom. Rather than trying to get them to sit still and wait for all the children this can keep the students entertained in a educational way. I will definitely use this strategy in my classroom. I feel that it teaches children to not only make choices, but it reinforces and can extend previous concepts and skills. Rather than the beginning of the day starting out with hectic energy, it will start out with organization and discipline.
The last part that I enjoyed was on page 81 as well. This is where they talked about an organized way to have share time. I remember in kindergarten share time seemed like a very energetic day because everyone is so excited so show what they brought and there seems to be no organization. An example includes encouraging students to describe their activities during center or independent reading time, or they can share an activity in which they engage in out of school. The teacher will encourage them to show and explain what they have to share with the classroom. Share time can be anytime designated for children to share personal activity with the group. I will use this time in my classroom! This is the main age where children love to share what they have done or experienced. They are so excited to share their news with anyone and everyone. The children will learn that they can share their news when it is their turn. The purpose of this in my classroom will prompt the children to reflect on something of interest to them and to express that interest in a way that communicates with others.
I agree with you that all the domains play into learning. You can tell when a child has had a rough night the next day when they come to class. It is so important to remember all that the students are going through in their own lives and how that can affect their learning and even behavior at school. Communication between the teacher and student/parents is a major key to success.
Chapter 7 was over language and literacy in Kindergarten. Kindergarten curriculum seems to be up for much discussion. There are many demands put on teachers that ten years ago weren’t there. Should we include more play or should we focus more on academic readiness. My favorite part of this chapter is when Janet says that we must keep the experience positive. I think this is very important to remember. We are laying down the foundational skills but also creating lasting impressions about Kindergarten. I found it very interesting when the book said that before age 5 most children have mastered most conventions of oral language. This is the sounds of their language, it’s sentence structure and the meanings of most words. This is very important to note, because most of the conventions are learned before the student is ever in an educational setting. This shows us how important early intervention is and how important it is to educate new parents on the importance of language and literacy. They can help phonological awareness by using rhyming games and chants, often on their parent’s knee. Everything we as adults do, or don’t do, really help to support the child’s literacy and language. It’s important to remember that, “What children learn from listening and talking contribute to their ability to read and write and vice versa.” Another point I found to be important from the book was the experiences that are highly influential to language and literacy development. The first experience is the child’s background knowledge about the world. The second experience is the child’s background knowledge about print and books. These are both variables that the parents and teachers can help to control. As teachers we need to provide authentic learning experiences to help build background knowledge and present the students with materials to help build knowledge about print and books. When I am a teacher I will have all different types of prints and books available so the children can see the large variety of print there is out there. This could be a newspaper, magazine, letter, dictionary, and reading books of all kinds.
I also felt that it is important to remember to keep the experience positive for the children. It's hard to include more play in the classroom since there is such a demand for more academic time. I thought the section on background knowledge was interesting as well. A childs worldly experiences play a large role in their language and literacy development and comprehension. It is important to remember this in our future classrooms.
There were a few things I found interesting while reading this chapter. Firth things first, under the section of All domains of development have important roles, I really like how it talked about how the Theorists were incorporated. This is particularly helpful for my internships when we have to incorporate theorists in our reflections.
I also like the section of Literacy learning starts early and persists throughout life. I am certain I talk about this every time it is mentioned, but I just don’t think it is talked about enough. I know that when I worked in Early Intervention, I could not stress the importance of early literacy enough to the parents and families I worked with.
Finally, the checklist on page 83 was extremely helpful for children’s knowledge of print. I have been in a few classrooms where the teacher writes everything and does not provide an opportunity for the students to do it on their own. Also, I have been in classrooms where the teacher doesn’t allow inventive spelling. My question is: When I am in a situation where I disagree with another teacher about things like inventive spelling, what are some ways I can address it without coming off as ‘all knowing’ – especially as a rookie teacher?
I might approach that teacher by asking why she doesn't allow inventive spelling (and I am curious why). That could lead to a dialog that would allow you to share some of what you have learned in class and from others about development. And hopefully if you are framing it as information you have learned from experienced teachers/experts in the field, etc, then that teacher would be open to the information and not view you as the upstart. :) Some people are just not open to learning and growth (and they really should not be Kindergarten teachers...or teachers in general). Unfortunately, we all know teachers like this that should choose another career path.
I agree with you on the importance of having parents read to their kids - and have their kids read to them. All too often, I have seen parents say that it is a waste of time. They figure that since their children cannot speak that they cannot comprehend. Which one thing I've always tried to explain is that receptive language develops before expressive language.
There is a big push for language and literacy development – we feel it down at the preschool level too. With all of the focus on meeting standards, the task of keeping Kindergarten a positive developmentally appropriate place is daunting. Seeing the standards listed as separate entities even though they are almost inseparable used to make me feel that I needed to have separate activities planned to meet each standard. It was reassuring to read that many activities that I might plan do incorporate the standards in a variety of ways. However, it is still challenging to “consistently plan for and assess specific language and literacy outcomes within the frame of an integrated activity.” The book reminds us that incidental learning can also provide opportunities for teachers to evaluate standard outcomes as well. Language and literacy can and should be included in activities throughout the day. The list of opportunities on p. 81 serves as a great reminder just how important language and literacy are! It shows explicit instruction as well as all the opportunities throughout the day that they are exposed. I think share time is such a great opportunity because the children get to talk about themselves, which is really what they want to do! Share time could be made effective and less chaotic in a variety of ways. Sharing in small groups or assigning children to specific days are two ways to help prevent chaos. For a whole group activity, I really liked the example they have in the Auburn video where the children can share a story and then the class votes to decide which one they will illustrate and retell.
Share time did seem like a fun activity! :) I remember having a show and tell day, and all the kids really loved it. I've also seen in some kindergarten classrooms, at the end of circle time, they have a "Big News" section. Children who have something very big or important to tell the class were invited up to share. They seemed to really enjoy that also!
When I was reading this chapter, it was nice to have examples to refer to throughout the text. The K-Today text had activities that teachers would actually use in their classrooms. I really liked seeing these in the graphs that were on pgs. 78-81. It's helpful to see the curriculum standard and then how this standard can be carried out in the classroom. I also liked how the text placed importance on early reading. I don't know if people realize how much a child can learn in their first few years of life! And how important it is for them to witness reading, writing, speaking, etc. They need people in their lives that can give them a good example to model. Lastly, the text brought up a good point that these standards can often be integrated throughout the day. Although they are separate, many of them go hand in hand. I believe one example the book gave was listening and speaking. These two are different standards that require different skills, but you really cannot have one without the other. A teacher could easily work both of these into an activity.
I find the examples to be very beneficial as well. It is nice to see how they incorporated different standards into these activities. I did not realize just how important it was to begin reading to your child as soon as they are brought into this world, and how much that influences them. It was not until I started taking these education classes that I have found this out. It is important information and something that all parents should and do need to be aware of.
Chapter 7 in K Today is about language and literacy in kindergarten. It discusses the increased expectations and demands for accountability in teaching and how that affects the way in which kindergarten teachers teaches their students, specifically in teaching literacy and language arts. One important thing that was brought up is the fact that literacy learning begins way before your students even enter your classroom. This is shaped through oral language as well as their own experiences. Another important point that was brought up in this chapter is the three key points to be aware of in regards to language and literacy standards. The three key points are 1) language and literacy knowledge and skills are highly integrated, 2) opportunities to address standards occur incidentally throughout the entire day, and 3) kindergarten teachers should have intimate knowledge of their districts kindergarten standards. When creating your lessons it is important to include a wide variety of instructional activities. Activities need to be both formal and informal, differentiated, and the activities need to be meaningful for the students. On pages 78 and 79 there is a chart that shows typical curriculum components and instructional strategies that I found to be very helpful. It does seem very overwhelming and stressful when looking at the standards and seeing everything that needs to be taught, and to be able to figure out how you are going to teach it in a way that reaches your students and that is engaging for them. It is nice to have information like what is included on this chart to show you how you can do it, and it then does not seem like it is such a difficult task. I also like the information on page 81 that shows you how to include opportunities for language and literacy learning throughout the day. I plan to take the information from this chapter to help me to develop a classroom for learning language and literacy that is engaging for my students and that helps them to be successful learners.
Shanna, I like what you said about having learning opportunities all day long. It is important to encourage the students to learn all the way through the day. there is a teacher in the school that I work with how will randomly stop her kids in the hall way and ask them to mouth the something they see in the hall that they are working on. For-example if they are studying the letter R and she sees a the letter R in the hall way she will have the students point at it and mouth the R sound.
The text discussed a lot of information on how important language development is important in the kindergarten year. I think that I know that drawing was a prerequisite to writing and coming up with ideas but I really thought that it was a great idea to encourage students to draw a picture and write a sentence about it. I also really thought the chart on scaffolding was good. I can see my self having the teaching time set up to where at first I teach something then continuously add onto it and adjust different lesson for different learners. I think it is a good idea to keep students building off what they already know. The chart over curriculum components is a great resource to have to incorporate different objectives into a day.
Carrie, I also thought it was a great idea to have the children draw a picture and then write about it. It is so much easier for kindergarteners, or anybody for that matter, to write about something if they can visually see it in front of them. For kindergarteners, they are still developing their imagination so this would be extremely helpful for that process.
The chapter states on page 73 that teachers can foster language and literacy in children by engaging their physical, social, emotional, and cognitive selves at an early age. I felt this was a really important fact to remember in my future classroom. Children learn in so many different ways it is important to teach to all different modalities. In my future classroom I plan to teach to every childs needs and engage them in all of these areas. I also found the section about childrens previous experiences influencing comprehension was interesting. Background knowledge about the world and background knowledge about print and books are both very influential to language and literacy development with children. I will keep this in mind when teaching in my future classroom. I really liked the opportunities for language and literacy learning on page 81. They had great examples of various times during the day to promote language and literacy. I will use this in my future kindergarten classroom to help teach language and literacy in several different areas. It is a good reference for different opportunities to teach language and literacy.
I liked all of these things too, Leah! I was really drawn into the information about previous experiences as well. It is so important to introduce language and literacy to children early on, especially when thinking of future learning experiences. It should be encouraged for parents to read to their children. Our pediatricians office gives our son a book at every visit - there's nothing like giving your reading material to encourage early readers!
After reading chapter seven in our K: Today text, three specific items stuck out for me. The first on was the tables on pages 78 and 79. In these tables, they provide the curriculum components that are used in kindergarten along with instructional strategies to give us a better idea of some of the activities that correlate with the components. This table will be a great reference to use in our classrooms when we need help finding fun and instructional ways to meet the components that our kindergarteners need. The second part of the chapter that I found very useful was the table that included “Opportunities for Language and Literacy Learning” on page 81. This section included examples on ways to incorporate language and literacy when the children arrive, during specified language and literacy time, center time, science and social studies, and during share time. The last item that caught my attention during chapter seven was the checklist of print knowledge included on page 83. This checklist allows for the teachers to check off all of the skills that they should develop and show understanding of during their kindergarten year when it comes to print. Having this easy reference to go through and check off will make the task of assessing the children’s knowledge easier.
On page 74 of the text, the text touches on how important oral language is to the development of literacy. This part was especially interesting to me because I am able to apply it to basic parts of my life - especially that of my son! At 15 months old, my son's pediatrician was briefly concerned about his expressive speech. He was evaluated and it was determined that he did not have a deficiency in this area, but instead was focused on motor development. It was stressed to us how important it was for us to continue talking to him during this time by explaining what he was doing, talking to him about what we were doing and continually labelling items. When reading this part of the text, I was struck with how early language experiences are the forefront for the language maturities that take place as children age. For instance, by age 5 or 6 children have developed enough that their inflection changes with situations, they talk differently on the playground and at the dinner table and they are able to differentiate their feelings. On page 80 there was a graph regarding how to scaffold literacy experiences. As I prepare to begin teaching, I have noticed that the scaffolding explanation and importance is touched on in every aspect. The graph discusses reading and writing scaffolding and explains what each level means to the learner. I really enjoyed this because sometimes I get a little confused in regards. There are so many things in the KToday text that I just want to copy and put in a folder! One thing from the text that I really liked was the Checklist for children's knowledge of print and the children's "writing" sample on page 83. I didn't realize all of the different ways to assess a child's writing and reading abilities. I really think that allowing students to draw, attempt to write, and then dictate is a thorough way to identify their writing abilities. I can see myself using this in my classroom and doing it once a month or something as an informal assessment. I would add this to each students individual portfolio.
The text described oral language as, “the means by which children demonstrate their understanding of the meanings of words and written materials.” I think that this is really important for teachers to realize and remember when teaching their students. If children are at a grade level where saying things like, “I putted my book in my bag,” are not the developmental norm, then the teacher needs to realize that for whatever reason, that child has a deficit in the grammar area of their language development. To implement this in the classroom, I would just make an effort to allow the students to practice their skills with oral language. Students should be allowed to respond to questions orally as well as being able to write the answers down. They should be allowed to engage in conversations with their peers and the teacher. We all know that practice makes perfect, so give them a chance to practice and allow their skills to develop.
ReplyDeleteAnother important part of the reading this week was the section on balanced curriculum. The key points to keep in mind about language and literacy curriculum are: 1) It is critically important to diversify instruction to meet individual needs. This means that as the teacher, I need to make a conscious effort to realize what students have different needs than others, and facilitate the learning of those students. In a nutshell, differentiated instruction becomes key in promoting the learning of all students in the classroom. 2) Keep instruction active and consistent with how young children learn. As the teacher, I need to keep children involved by allowing them to participate in tactile and kinesthetic tasks. The physical movement of their body often gives young children just one more thing for them to relate their learning to making comprehension and retention of a skill much easier. 3) Instruction should go beyond the acquisition of isolated skills. This means that I need to remember to build learning one concept on top of another. They need to know the alphabet in order to learn the sounds of the letters, to be able to turn the letters into words, words into sentences, sentences into paragraphs, paragraphs into many different types of writing years down the road. There is a higher purpose for everything that is taught rather than just teaching one specific skill at a time. 4) It is important to maintain a balance between explicit instruction and informal, incidental learning. There are certain things that children just have to explicitly be taught, but as the teacher, I need to remember that there is so much learning that goes on that is “accidental”. This type of learning occurs from allowing the students to explore in different centers so that they can experience the cause and effect of certain things that happen, and they can learn from their own curiosity and experimenting what happens next in order to make their own inferences and come to their own conclusions. 5) The prevailing method of instruction should be scaffolded instruction. This means that I need to model, guide, and gradually help the student(s) less and less as their performance of mastery progresses until they no longer need by help. Supporting the learning of the student(s) in this way helps them and allows them to get comfortable with performing the skill more and more on their own as they progress through it, rather than just teaching them the basics and throwing them into it with no further guidance.
The section about literacy centers is obviously important because that is what we are working on developing ourselves this week. These centers are important in the classroom because they allow the students a chance to try things independently and it also allows time for the teacher to spend providing explicit instruction or working with smaller groups. These are important in any classroom and are definitely going to be things that I incorporate into my room as much as I can.
I agree that children need to have plenty of time to use their oral skills in many contexts. It is so sad that many classes only let their students talk a few times and is usually to the teacher or in a specific teaching setting. They need to talk during all parts of the day and with peers as well. How can we teach students to talk if they are not allowed to talk. You are right to say that we need to provide differentiated instruction and yes we need more tactile and kinesthetic tasks for students. In one of my classes we did an exercise to find out what kind of learner we were and then we graphed our findings. More than 75% of the class was kinesthetic learners and yet this seems to be the most underutilized way to teach.
DeleteErin Flax
ReplyDeleteThis was a very good and practical chapter. I loved the examples of standards and curriculum and how we could meet them through our activities. As they stated examples I was relieved to see that many of the things I would have already known to do were tied to standards so it isn’t like we have to change everything to meet the standards. But we are adding more pressure to perform, and at an early age than before. Page 73 says that our traditional role has been to “gently ease” students from preschool to 1st grade. I feel we should still be doing that. Although we are meeting the standards we should strive to do so in a developmentally appropriate way. The book says we need to keep kindergarten a positive experience. We help set the child’s view of education and we need to start them out loving school. I will do all I can to make the day interesting, fun, and challenging for my students. One way to do this will be by finding out their interests and using those to teach.
My next point of interest was on page 74 where it discusses how they acquire their knowledge of language rules. This is an example of how young children learn. It is not primarily from us explaining how to use different language in different situations but rather through practical experience. It needs to be taught in context. For example, in my classroom I won’t just tell my students that their volume needs to come down when they are talking in close proximity to a peer. I will teach the skill when it happens also. This will better stick into the child’s memory. Teaching in context doesn’t happen as much in the primary grades as it does for young children and kindergarten I feel still needs this type of instruction. The last piece was on page 82 when it talks about how we need to track our student’s development so we know where they are at. We can use this knowledge to adjust how we are teaching the curriculum to the whole group as well as to individual students. We would not be doing our job if we didn’t constantly reassess where everyone is at and what we need to do to guide the students to where they need to be. I will try to think of fun ways to asses so it is not the same way all the time and the students get tired of it.
Erin, I completely agree with you that instruction needs to occur through practical experience and be taught in context as well. Quite frankly I think that this is one of the only ways that young children learn these skills. Like you, I also think that practical experiences are included enough in the primary grades. I feel that when children have something to relate their experience to rather than knowing that someone just told them to go do it, for one, they're much more likely to be willing to complete a task because they understand the reason behind it, and their mastery of it is much more liable to be much higher as well.
DeleteErin, I really like your example of how to model what students need to do when they are working close together. I think that is a great way for students to learn and remember what they need to do. I was also glad that you stated that we need to remember to adjust our teaching for our students and not adjust our students. Reflection is one of the best ways to learn if they way you are teaching is working.
DeleteI agree with your point that you made about teaching the students when the problem actually occurs rather than just preaching to them the rules of the classroom. For example, if we constantly just tell the students to use inside voices but never correct them when they are being too noisy they will never know what "inside" voices mean. A good way to do this would be to correct them in a whispering voice so they know that you want them to use quiet voices when they are in the classroom.
DeleteChapter 7 discusses language and literacy during kindergarten. The first part of this chapter that I found to be important was that teachers can foster language and literacy in children by engaging their physical, social, emotional, and cognitive selves at an early age. This is so important because all students learn differently. In my classroom, I want to be able to give my students a variety of ways to learn. The second part of the text that I found interesting is where it discusses that oral language is the foundation for literacy development. Oral language provides children with a sense of words and sentences. This is the first way that children learn about language. This is also one of the reasons that I do not like baby talk. It ruins the way a child learns to speak and maybe how they will speak for the first few years of school. I will make sure that there is no baby talk in my classroom. The last part of the reading that I found interesting was how they discussed creating a balanced curriculum. The first step was to diversify instruction to meet individual needs. This is very important for all students because they all learn differently. The next step is to keep instruction active and consistent. Then your instruction should go beyond the acquisition of isolated skills. You also need to maintain a balance between explicit instruction and informal, incidental learning. The last part of achieving a balanced curriculum is to make sure you are scaffolding instruction. I want to give my students the best opportunity they have to learn and in the best way they can. I want to make sure that my teaching meets their needs.
ReplyDeleteI know that very few of us like "baby talk," but I think it is really important to be careful how we address it. I think it is attention seeking behavior, much like whining, tattling, or other nuisance behaviors. By addressing it directly, we are awarding it attention versus gritting our teeth and letting peer modeling take it's course. It is also important to consider that this might be the culture of the family. Children learn quickly that there are different sets of rules at home and school and grandma's and the store, etc. They will learn as well what kind of speech is required where. But to imply that they are a baby or immature by their speech is to risk damaging their self esteem and self concept. It also changes their peer's attitudes towards them and could lead to teasing. I recommend to my pre-k teachers that they simply tell children what they want to hear. "Next time, please say, may I have the markers?" Then they are modeling the speech pattern they want - it becomes a teaching opportunity versus a reflection on the child's maturity. But perhaps there is another way we should be handling it too! :)
DeleteOn page 74 the first point that interested me was when they talked about all domains of development playing important roles in children's lives. In the sections it talks about in order to learn they have to be physically healthy as well as being provided with an environment that supports the development of social competence and emotional well-being. I completely agree with this. Some teachers don't think about the little things that play a large role in students learning. If they aren't feeling good, or emotionally aren't engaged then they will have no motivation to learn. In my classroom, I will be sure that recognize each student and how they are feeling. If I notice that something is off I will communicate with the child and talk with their parents to see if something is off at home.
ReplyDeleteThe second point that sparked my interest was on page 81 when it talked about using opportunities for language and literacy learning when children arrive to the classroom. Some examples include designating activities and areas for exploration. Provide books for the children to read as well as puzzles and games to play where the children can match words and letters. I really liked this idea for when the students arrive to the classroom. Rather than trying to get them to sit still and wait for all the children this can keep the students entertained in a educational way. I will definitely use this strategy in my classroom. I feel that it teaches children to not only make choices, but it reinforces and can extend previous concepts and skills. Rather than the beginning of the day starting out with hectic energy, it will start out with organization and discipline.
The last part that I enjoyed was on page 81 as well. This is where they talked about an organized way to have share time. I remember in kindergarten share time seemed like a very energetic day because everyone is so excited so show what they brought and there seems to be no organization. An example includes encouraging students to describe their activities during center or independent reading time, or they can share an activity in which they engage in out of school. The teacher will encourage them to show and explain what they have to share with the classroom. Share time can be anytime designated for children to share personal activity with the group. I will use this time in my classroom! This is the main age where children love to share what they have done or experienced. They are so excited to share their news with anyone and everyone. The children will learn that they can share their news when it is their turn. The purpose of this in my classroom will prompt the children to reflect on something of interest to them and to express that interest in a way that communicates with others.
I agree with you that all the domains play into learning. You can tell when a child has had a rough night the next day when they come to class. It is so important to remember all that the students are going through in their own lives and how that can affect their learning and even behavior at school. Communication between the teacher and student/parents is a major key to success.
DeleteChapter 7 was over language and literacy in Kindergarten. Kindergarten curriculum seems to be up for much discussion. There are many demands put on teachers that ten years ago weren’t there. Should we include more play or should we focus more on academic readiness. My favorite part of this chapter is when Janet says that we must keep the experience positive. I think this is very important to remember. We are laying down the foundational skills but also creating lasting impressions about Kindergarten.
ReplyDeleteI found it very interesting when the book said that before age 5 most children have mastered most conventions of oral language. This is the sounds of their language, it’s sentence structure and the meanings of most words. This is very important to note, because most of the conventions are learned before the student is ever in an educational setting. This shows us how important early intervention is and how important it is to educate new parents on the importance of language and literacy. They can help phonological awareness by using rhyming games and chants, often on their parent’s knee. Everything we as adults do, or don’t do, really help to support the child’s literacy and language. It’s important to remember that, “What children learn from listening and talking contribute to their ability to read and write and vice versa.”
Another point I found to be important from the book was the experiences that are highly influential to language and literacy development. The first experience is the child’s background knowledge about the world. The second experience is the child’s background knowledge about print and books. These are both variables that the parents and teachers can help to control. As teachers we need to provide authentic learning experiences to help build background knowledge and present the students with materials to help build knowledge about print and books. When I am a teacher I will have all different types of prints and books available so the children can see the large variety of print there is out there. This could be a newspaper, magazine, letter, dictionary, and reading books of all kinds.
I also felt that it is important to remember to keep the experience positive for the children. It's hard to include more play in the classroom since there is such a demand for more academic time. I thought the section on background knowledge was interesting as well. A childs worldly experiences play a large role in their language and literacy development and comprehension. It is important to remember this in our future classrooms.
DeleteThere were a few things I found interesting while reading this chapter. Firth things first, under the section of All domains of development have important roles, I really like how it talked about how the Theorists were incorporated. This is particularly helpful for my internships when we have to incorporate theorists in our reflections.
ReplyDeleteI also like the section of Literacy learning starts early and persists throughout life. I am certain I talk about this every time it is mentioned, but I just don’t think it is talked about enough. I know that when I worked in Early Intervention, I could not stress the importance of early literacy enough to the parents and families I worked with.
Finally, the checklist on page 83 was extremely helpful for children’s knowledge of print. I have been in a few classrooms where the teacher writes everything and does not provide an opportunity for the students to do it on their own. Also, I have been in classrooms where the teacher doesn’t allow inventive spelling. My question is: When I am in a situation where I disagree with another teacher about things like inventive spelling, what are some ways I can address it without coming off as ‘all knowing’ – especially as a rookie teacher?
I might approach that teacher by asking why she doesn't allow inventive spelling (and I am curious why). That could lead to a dialog that would allow you to share some of what you have learned in class and from others about development. And hopefully if you are framing it as information you have learned from experienced teachers/experts in the field, etc, then that teacher would be open to the information and not view you as the upstart. :) Some people are just not open to learning and growth (and they really should not be Kindergarten teachers...or teachers in general). Unfortunately, we all know teachers like this that should choose another career path.
DeleteHi Jessica!
ReplyDeleteI agree with you on the importance of having parents read to their kids - and have their kids read to them. All too often, I have seen parents say that it is a waste of time. They figure that since their children cannot speak that they cannot comprehend. Which one thing I've always tried to explain is that receptive language develops before expressive language.
There is a big push for language and literacy development – we feel it down at the preschool level too. With all of the focus on meeting standards, the task of keeping Kindergarten a positive developmentally appropriate place is daunting. Seeing the standards listed as separate entities even though they are almost inseparable used to make me feel that I needed to have separate activities planned to meet each standard. It was reassuring to read that many activities that I might plan do incorporate the standards in a variety of ways. However, it is still challenging to “consistently plan for and assess specific language and literacy outcomes within the frame of an integrated activity.” The book reminds us that incidental learning can also provide opportunities for teachers to evaluate standard outcomes as well. Language and literacy can and should be included in activities throughout the day. The list of opportunities on p. 81 serves as a great reminder just how important language and literacy are! It shows explicit instruction as well as all the opportunities throughout the day that they are exposed. I think share time is such a great opportunity because the children get to talk about themselves, which is really what they want to do! Share time could be made effective and less chaotic in a variety of ways. Sharing in small groups or assigning children to specific days are two ways to help prevent chaos. For a whole group activity, I really liked the example they have in the Auburn video where the children can share a story and then the class votes to decide which one they will illustrate and retell.
ReplyDeleteShare time did seem like a fun activity! :) I remember having a show and tell day, and all the kids really loved it. I've also seen in some kindergarten classrooms, at the end of circle time, they have a "Big News" section. Children who have something very big or important to tell the class were invited up to share. They seemed to really enjoy that also!
DeleteWhen I was reading this chapter, it was nice to have examples to refer to throughout the text. The K-Today text had activities that teachers would actually use in their classrooms. I really liked seeing these in the graphs that were on pgs. 78-81. It's helpful to see the curriculum standard and then how this standard can be carried out in the classroom. I also liked how the text placed importance on early reading. I don't know if people realize how much a child can learn in their first few years of life! And how important it is for them to witness reading, writing, speaking, etc. They need people in their lives that can give them a good example to model. Lastly, the text brought up a good point that these standards can often be integrated throughout the day. Although they are separate, many of them go hand in hand. I believe one example the book gave was listening and speaking. These two are different standards that require different skills, but you really cannot have one without the other. A teacher could easily work both of these into an activity.
ReplyDeleteI find the examples to be very beneficial as well. It is nice to see how they incorporated different standards into these activities. I did not realize just how important it was to begin reading to your child as soon as they are brought into this world, and how much that influences them. It was not until I started taking these education classes that I have found this out. It is important information and something that all parents should and do need to be aware of.
DeleteChapter 7 in K Today is about language and literacy in kindergarten. It discusses the increased expectations and demands for accountability in teaching and how that affects the way in which kindergarten teachers teaches their students, specifically in teaching literacy and language arts. One important thing that was brought up is the fact that literacy learning begins way before your students even enter your classroom. This is shaped through oral language as well as their own experiences. Another important point that was brought up in this chapter is the three key points to be aware of in regards to language and literacy standards. The three key points are 1) language and literacy knowledge and skills are highly integrated, 2) opportunities to address standards occur incidentally throughout the entire day, and 3) kindergarten teachers should have intimate knowledge of their districts kindergarten standards. When creating your lessons it is important to include a wide variety of instructional activities. Activities need to be both formal and informal, differentiated, and the activities need to be meaningful for the students. On pages 78 and 79 there is a chart that shows typical curriculum components and instructional strategies that I found to be very helpful. It does seem very overwhelming and stressful when looking at the standards and seeing everything that needs to be taught, and to be able to figure out how you are going to teach it in a way that reaches your students and that is engaging for them. It is nice to have information like what is included on this chart to show you how you can do it, and it then does not seem like it is such a difficult task. I also like the information on page 81 that shows you how to include opportunities for language and literacy learning throughout the day. I plan to take the information from this chapter to help me to develop a classroom for learning language and literacy that is engaging for my students and that helps them to be successful learners.
ReplyDeleteShanna, I like what you said about having learning opportunities all day long. It is important to encourage the students to learn all the way through the day. there is a teacher in the school that I work with how will randomly stop her kids in the hall way and ask them to mouth the something they see in the hall that they are working on. For-example if they are studying the letter R and she sees a the letter R in the hall way she will have the students point at it and mouth the R sound.
DeleteThe text discussed a lot of information on how important language development is important in the kindergarten year. I think that I know that drawing was a prerequisite to writing and coming up with ideas but I really thought that it was a great idea to encourage students to draw a picture and write a sentence about it.
ReplyDeleteI also really thought the chart on scaffolding was good. I can see my self having the teaching time set up to where at first I teach something then continuously add onto it and adjust different lesson for different learners. I think it is a good idea to keep students building off what they already know. The chart over curriculum components is a great resource to have to incorporate different objectives into a day.
Carrie,
DeleteI also thought it was a great idea to have the children draw a picture and then write about it. It is so much easier for kindergarteners, or anybody for that matter, to write about something if they can visually see it in front of them. For kindergarteners, they are still developing their imagination so this would be extremely helpful for that process.
The chapter states on page 73 that teachers can foster language and literacy in children by engaging their physical, social, emotional, and cognitive selves at an early age. I felt this was a really important fact to remember in my future classroom. Children learn in so many different ways it is important to teach to all different modalities. In my future classroom I plan to teach to every childs needs and engage them in all of these areas. I also found the section about childrens previous experiences influencing comprehension was interesting. Background knowledge about the world and background knowledge about print and books are both very influential to language and literacy development with children. I will keep this in mind when teaching in my future classroom. I really liked the opportunities for language and literacy learning on page 81. They had great examples of various times during the day to promote language and literacy. I will use this in my future kindergarten classroom to help teach language and literacy in several different areas. It is a good reference for different opportunities to teach language and literacy.
ReplyDeleteI liked all of these things too, Leah! I was really drawn into the information about previous experiences as well. It is so important to introduce language and literacy to children early on, especially when thinking of future learning experiences. It should be encouraged for parents to read to their children. Our pediatricians office gives our son a book at every visit - there's nothing like giving your reading material to encourage early readers!
DeleteAfter reading chapter seven in our K: Today text, three specific items stuck out for me. The first on was the tables on pages 78 and 79. In these tables, they provide the curriculum components that are used in kindergarten along with instructional strategies to give us a better idea of some of the activities that correlate with the components. This table will be a great reference to use in our classrooms when we need help finding fun and instructional ways to meet the components that our kindergarteners need. The second part of the chapter that I found very useful was the table that included “Opportunities for Language and Literacy Learning” on page 81. This section included examples on ways to incorporate language and literacy when the children arrive, during specified language and literacy time, center time, science and social studies, and during share time. The last item that caught my attention during chapter seven was the checklist of print knowledge included on page 83. This checklist allows for the teachers to check off all of the skills that they should develop and show understanding of during their kindergarten year when it comes to print. Having this easy reference to go through and check off will make the task of assessing the children’s knowledge easier.
ReplyDeleteOn page 74 of the text, the text touches on how important oral language is to the development of literacy. This part was especially interesting to me because I am able to apply it to basic parts of my life - especially that of my son! At 15 months old, my son's pediatrician was briefly concerned about his expressive speech. He was evaluated and it was determined that he did not have a deficiency in this area, but instead was focused on motor development. It was stressed to us how important it was for us to continue talking to him during this time by explaining what he was doing, talking to him about what we were doing and continually labelling items. When reading this part of the text, I was struck with how early language experiences are the forefront for the language maturities that take place as children age. For instance, by age 5 or 6 children have developed enough that their inflection changes with situations, they talk differently on the playground and at the dinner table and they are able to differentiate their feelings.
ReplyDeleteOn page 80 there was a graph regarding how to scaffold literacy experiences. As I prepare to begin teaching, I have noticed that the scaffolding explanation and importance is touched on in every aspect. The graph discusses reading and writing scaffolding and explains what each level means to the learner. I really enjoyed this because sometimes I get a little confused in regards. There are so many things in the KToday text that I just want to copy and put in a folder!
One thing from the text that I really liked was the Checklist for children's knowledge of print and the children's "writing" sample on page 83. I didn't realize all of the different ways to assess a child's writing and reading abilities. I really think that allowing students to draw, attempt to write, and then dictate is a thorough way to identify their writing abilities. I can see myself using this in my classroom and doing it once a month or something as an informal assessment. I would add this to each students individual portfolio.