Studying Children and Adolescents in the Schools
Course Reflection
Goals & Objectives
Identify student's developmental abilities & how teachers nurture....
- Cognitive Development and Learning of Academic Domains,
- Emotional Development by Supporting Identity, and the
- Correlation of Symmetrical Development
in upper elementary classrooms
Creating
Piaget’s framework to develop the objectives of my lesson plans and identify students' Zone of Proximal Development. In addition to supporting student’s current knowledge, I will create disequilibrium in learning and provide scaffolding in instruction. The resulting gap between students’ current knowledge and the new information will provide students with learning opportunities that will take them to the next developmental step. During the process, I will allow students to collaborate and experiment with materials to gain new understandings and to discover information through active participation and social interaction.
http://www.celt.iastate.edu/teaching/RevisedBlooms1.html
Higher Order
Thinking Skills
Observations
Cognative Domain
Evaluating Observations-
Effective instruction for Cognitive Development
Tiered Instruction
Project based learning
Because.......
Disciplinary literacy – the ability to understand, critique, and use knowledge from texts in content areas .Deeper analysis of literature, informational text and reading comprehension is a focus of fifth-grade instruction across all domains as students are learning to read to learn..
Students engage in essential course content at varying levels of depth & breadth .
Depending on their initial readiness for success, different students have had different growth opportunities &
Utilizes Zone of Proximity to promote full potential in diverse learners for an inclusive classroom
Because.....
The long-term goal is to assist in the development of the students' abilities to learn for themselves. If learning is properly understood as an activity of constructing knowledge, then students need to be mentally active. Since this type of thinking activity is consistent with that of experts in the field, it is unrealistic for students to "come upon" these habits of mind on their own.
3rd-6th Grade
- Olathe USD 233
- KCK USD 500
- SMSD USD 512
- The Barstow School
Disciplinary literacy – the ability to understand, critique, and use knowledge from texts in content areas .Deeper analysis of literature, informational text and reading comprehension is a focus of fifth-grade instruction across all domains as students are learning to read to learn.
Reasoning skills -Across Academic Domains
Clarification requires students to identify and analyze elements of a problem, allowing them to decipher the information needed in solving a problem.
Analyze
Deductive inferences involve reasoning from general concepts to
specific instances. (Hypothetical)
Inductive inferences are based on extracting similarities and
differences among specific objects and events and arriving at generalizations.
Cognitive Development in the Academic Domains
Reading & Writing
Application
- Saw how children become increasingly able to draw inferences from what they read & their ability to draw inferences is a key factor in their reading comprehension.
- Use of figurative language hyperbole, similes,metaphors
- Through tiered reading groups, I was able to understand this shift as I saw children go from learning to read to reading to learn.
Science
- 5th grade science projects require the ability to think about abstract and potentially contrary-to-fact ideas, and a knowledge base that can help a person generate a variety of ideas to form a hypothesis.
- The ability to separate and control variables seems to depend partly on children’s working memory capacity and knowledge base.
- children contribute to their own science development through personal initiative and environmental experiences.
Math
- Abstract thinking in 5th grade math lessons start to go beyond simple addition, subtraction and multiplication as previous concepts could be visually recreated with manipulatives.
- Method of long division and other more complicated math processes that require 5th graders to rely more on mental math skills than pencil and paper.
Understanding
School- age children are avid learners who actively
build on the knowledge they already have.
5th-6th graders are transitioning from Piaget’s
concrete operations stage to formal operations stage;
- Beginning to understand abstract concepts, ascending from concrete thinkers who can classify, serialize, predict, and generalize; Logical thinkers who understand conservation and can reverse operations
Speed and efficiency of working memory improve dramatically
- making school- age children better thinkers as well as more strategic learners as they mature and develop a greater knowledge base. As control processes and metacognition advance, children are able to direct their minds toward whatever they want to learn.
Remembering
Cognitive Development
Children are active participants their own learning Development is driven by conflicts of thinking in stages and learning is built on prior knowledge
Lower order thinking skills
Piaget
Vygotsky
Piaget believed all children posses intrinsic motivation to learn and discover; development is guided by self-centered, focused activities.
Vygotsky believed that the child is a social being, and cognitive development is led by social interactions.
Emotional Development
The classroom framework to support children’s identity is built on accomplishment, belonging, and engagement
Because.....
Students need to believe that they are capable of accomplishing important tasks, that they feel like they belong within diverse social groups and that they are capable of engaging in challenging and productive activities.
Supporting Accomplishment
teachers encouraged students to use their prior knowledge and skills during active knowledge construction. They provided opportunities for students to take personal responsibility for learning and actions. Student’s aspirations drove their current learning and goals
teachers practiced effective leadership, classroom management while providing a safe and structured learning environment where students felt secure to learn by establishing caring, trusting relationships. They engaged in discourse and interactions that are kind and considerate even when corrections and differences of opinion were expressed. Everyone worked collaboratively supporting the sense that students are welcome and contributing members of society.
Strengths & Weaknesses
making material relevant when connecting learning to the outside world and students’ learning focused on concepts and relationships within and across subjects. I observed engaged children learn through dialogue, exchange of diverse ideas, and careful listening in a social context and they were encouraged to ask questions.
- Passionate, motivated
- Perpetual learner
- Ethical,flexible,patient
Goals
- Address the fundamental characteristic of effective classrooms: the active engagement and involvement of every student with meaningful learning
- Gain insight through observation to decide which my in education to pursue
Introduction to The
Teaching Profession
Objectives
procrastinate, disorganized
time efficiency
"narrow down"
- How educators establish and cultivate meaningful and interpersonal relationships with students
- Methods by which a teacher recognizes students’ developmental abilities and incorporates effective teaching and learning strategies that promote individual success
Reflections
Observations
After observing several upper elementary classrooms I came to the conclusion that at this stage of development, students tend to be improving their self-concept is an impeccable time to facilitate the foundation of their academic future.
I observed in six different settings consisting of two private schools & three separate school districts grades ranging from 5th- 12th
Upper Elementary
Philosophy
Stage 4 Ages 6-12
Attributes of Sixth Graders
- The average eleven-year-old is heading towards adolescence. He: Shows more self-assertion and curiosity.
- Is socially expansive and aware.
- Is physically exuberant, restless, wiggly, and talks a lot.
- Has a range and intensity of emotions.
- Is moody and easily frustrated.
- Can relate feelings.
- Is competitive, wants to excel, and may put down the "out group."
- Exhibits "off-color" humor and silliness.
- Teases and "tussles"
Attributes of Fifth Graders
- The average ten-year-old has a positive approach to life. Tends to be obedient, good natured, and fun.
- Possesses a surprising scope of interests.
- Is capable of increasing independence.
- Is becoming more truthful and dependable.
- Tends to be improving her self-concept and acceptance of others.
- Forms good personal relationships with teachers and counselors.
I aim to promote sound scholarship and to give symmetrical development to mind, body and character. I believe excellent academics in combination with quality interpersonal relationship between students and their mentors is vital in encouraging a circumspect, life-long learning mindset.
Industry vs. Inferiority-Children begin to develop a sense of pride in their accomplishments. They initiate projects, see them through to completion, and feel good about what they have achieved. During this time, teachers play an increased role in the child’s development. If children are encouraged and reinforced for their initiative, they begin to feel industrious and feel confident in their ability to achieve goals.
Humanistic approach
Stage 5 Adolesence Ages 12-21
Sixth Grade Basic Skills
- In sixth grade more emphasis is placed on increasing student's proficiency in the basic skills. Students usually have more than one teacher because teachers are becoming subject specialists. In sixth grade, most students will: Identify major chronological events in history, as well as find the areas studied in history on maps and globes.
- Understand our legacy from ancient and early civilizations.
- Understand and perform all operations for rational numbers.
- Write, simplify, and manipulate expressions and equations in all areas of problem solving, including ratios, proportions, geometry, statistics, and probability.
- Use all stages of the writing process (organizing, drafting, revising, and editing.
- Write essays, reports, letters, stories, and poems.
- Set up and conduct simple scientific experiments.
- Understand the concepts of gravity, motion, energy, chemical compounds, the ecosystem, fossils, heredity, weather, and the classification of matter.
Fifth Grade Basic Skills
- A fifth grader needs to take almost full responsibility for her homework. She will be using assignment notepads and learning good studying and note-taking habits. In fifth grade, students will:
- Follow all capitalization rules &use all punctuation marks appropriately.
- Appreciate different forms of literature.
- Increase their vocabularies through the use of synonyms, antonyms, homophones, and analogies.
- Recognize and use all parts of speech.
- Add, subtract, multiply, and divide fractions and decimals.
- Recognize relationships between fractions, decimals, and percents.
- Determine the perimeter of polygons and the area of squares and rectangles.
- Use basic spelling rules.
- Understand basic United States history, geography, economics, and government
Identity vs. Role Confusion. During adolescence, the transition from childhood to adulthood is most important. Children are becoming more independent, and begin to look at the future in terms of career, relationships, families, housing, etc. During this period, they explore possibilities and begin to form their own identity based upon the outcome of their explorations
- Education is about creating a need within the child, or instilling within the child self-motivation.
- Understanding of ones' strengths and weaknesses, and a belief in one's ability to improve.
- Learning is not an end in itself; It is the means to progress towards the pinnacle of self-development-Maslow terms "Self-actualisation"
- A teacher’s self-understanding and self-acceptance help students to know and accept themselves
- Student characteristics such as aptitudes, talents, learning styles, stages of development,and readiness to learn new material are among the essential knowledge
Pragmatic Approach
- seek understanding, coordinate all environments into a whole, teach a process of inquiry, and promote personal growth
- learner-centered approach, the role of teacher is to identify the needs of the learner and to serve as a resource person
If he is indeed wise he does not bid you enter the house of wisdom, but rather leads you to the threshold of your own mind.
The astronomer may speak to you of his understanding of space, but he cannot give you his understanding.
The musician may sing to you of the rhythm which is in all space, but he cannot give you the ear which arrests the rhythm nor the voice that echoes it.
And he who is versed in the science of numbers can tell of the regions of weight and measure, but he cannot conduct you thither.
For the vision of one man lends not its wings to another man.
And seek not the depths of your knowledge with staff or sounding line.
For self is a sea boundless and measureless.
Say not, "I have found the truth," but rather, "I have found a truth."
Say not, "I have found the path of the soul." Say rather, "I have met the soul walking upon my path."
For the soul walks upon all paths.
The soul walks not upon a line, neither does it grow like a reed.
The soul unfolds itself, like a lotus of countless petals
Cognitive Theories
Interpersonal Relations & Student Rapport
Diverse Learning Abilities
- Witkin’s Field Dependent or Field Independent,
- Myers-Briggs Personality Type Indicator,
- Gardner’s multiple intelligence,
- Kolbs learning styles,
- Honey and Mumfords and
- VARK
A significant body of research indicates that academic achievement and students' behavior are influenced by the quality of the teacher-student relationship
"You find strength within the classroom, not based simply on the commonalities….Those are there, but
the strength comes through the differences…the different stories you have to tell, the different things
[you] can learn from one another and about one another and then celebrate….”
- cognitive style is “the way in which a learner approaches a learning task across a range of different domains” where as a
- cognitive strategy involves a conscious choice by the learner as to how they will handletheir behavior in a particular learning situation.
- It is understood that although a cognitive strategy can be adaptable it is still influenced by the underlying andmore permanent and persuasive cognitive style
- Maximizing impacts as an instructor requires artful alignment of tasks and activities. Curriculum is designed in response to preferred learning styles.
Children
For life goes not backward nor tarries with yesterday.
You are the bows from which your children as living arrows are sent forth.
The archer sees the mark upon the path of the infinite,
and He bends you with His might that His arrows may go swift and far.
Let your bending in the archer's hand be for gladness;
For even as he loves the arrow that flies, so He loves also the bow that is stable.
Throughout my observations I learned that the most valuable method to motivate students is to establish student rapport and cultivate meaningful and interpersonal relationships with students.
- Share with them the pride that is taken in molding them into who they are going to be.(Holly Hatton, Roseland Elementary)
- Smile until they smile
- Model Behavior & Respect
- By creating a balance of like and respect, students will be more eager to please, creating a positive learning environment (Turner)
http://www.computing.dundee.ac.uk/staff/sgrice/Review2.pdf
Course Conclusion
Eight Ways of Learning
John Dewey
“Reflection is an active, persistent, and careful consideration of any belief or supposed form of knowledge in light of the grounds supporting it and future conclusions to which it tends...it includes a conscious and voluntary effort to establish belief upon a firm basis of evidence and rationality”.
As a future teacher I am committed to developing the abilities of all learners by understanding and valuing diversity. This course has extended my awareness of the development of learners. Applying several developmental theories I have learned will challenge my ability to generalize, from creating strategies for the individual learner to coordinating the learning of an entire group. I will go forth with the knowledge, skills, and disposition to meet the challenges of today and tomorrow and the expectation to sustain myself as I shape the future. I must also support my own learning and development as I move along a continuum from novice to expert
Eight Ways of Teaching
Blooms Taxonomy
Blooms Taxonomy & Multiple Intelligences
(Ecology Unit: Local environment-trees in your neighborhood)
http://surfaquarium.com/MI/intelligences.htm