First of all, thanks to Febe for getting an cross-cohort conversation started. I think it is a great idea! It is something you can use all the way through the program which will be such a valuable tool and support.
That said, I am going to ask you to blog here for the purposes of our class assignments. I know that is not quite as efficient for you, but it is helpful to me to have all of your responses in one place so that I can follow each of your posts and ideas.
Nice job Wed. on your back to school night presentations and your discussions regarding the 4 domains. I know this is a new language and way of thinking for many and you dove right in combining experience, observation and readings in new ways. People were thoughtful about their own frames and respectfully pushed each other through both challenge and support.
As you probably discovered, moving from what is prepared on the paper to responding to the questions of the moment requires a different level of understanding about your topic. There is more risk in the latter but more insight into what you know and what you are still working to understand.
Here is your prompt regarding our development discussion on Wed. A response is due before class on Monday.
As you are developing these frames for observing and teaching children I expect you will be developing and tracking in yourself the following 5 methods of interacting with our material: Questions (that makes me wonder...), Understandings (That makes sense to me), Observations (relating to real life), Treasures(I want to hold onto that), and Easy applications( for your future classrooms).
Please pick 2 of these ways of interacting with the material that you feel you have experienced related to the Yardsticks and Developmental Milestones readings. Please post a response giving us a peek into your thinking. I do expect to see specific references to text (no need to officially cite them or anything) as well as your own reflective process.
Thanks again for your patience with all this technology stuff!
Happy weekend,
Zalika
As I read “Yardsticks,” I vacillated between frustration and excitement. I was frustrated as a parent because I wish the milestones has been explained in such a specific and clear way as my daughter progressed toward and through them. But as a prospective teacher, I was excited because I see so many ways to apply what I am learning.
ReplyDeleteObservations: I spent much of this school year volunteering with third graders, and reading the “Yardsticks” chapters on eight-year-olds and nine-year-olds provided context for my experiences: That’s why the students loved group activities and cooperative work. That’s why they listened well, but had so many ideas that they wouldn’t always remember what they heard. That’s why they were quite industrious, yet exaggerated their own abilities. “Yardsticks” also increased my appreciation for the teacher I followed: That’s why she organized the students in grouped tables, yet also changed the groupings frequently during the year. That’s why she had so many group projects that built unity and cooperation. That’s why she pursued projects that emphasized neighborhood and community. Being aware of the milestones of her students, the teacher was able to create a classroom that worked well together and engaged students in compelling ways.
Easy Applications: I was assigned as an intern to the second grade and I was anxious because it wasn’t my preference and because I am only vaguely familiar with that age group. Yet “Yardsticks” has boosted my confidence in my ability to understand second graders as well as to serve them. I am actually quite excited now about working with second graders, especially given this description: “Seven is an age of intensity. Individualized activity consolidates new cognitive structures and feelings. A balance between hard work and self-assessment produces a sense of competence, setting the stage for greater self-direction at older ages.” While those type of statements help with my broader understanding of second graders, I especially appreciate the author’s inclusion of specific actions you can expect to see. Those range from how they hold their pencils near point three-fingered to preferring board games to gym games, from enjoying memorization to liking to repeat tasks, from preferring to work alone or with one friend to getting sick with worry about tests and assignments. I can see how these detailed bits of information, combined with the broader context, offer a strong foundation for teaching.
Questions: I know we were supposed to address two categories, but I do have a burning question I’m hoping to address in coming weeks. I will be working with many immigrant children for my assignment and I hope to do so in my teaching career. Author Chip Wood offers a section Latino students, but I would be interested to know more about how the child development milestones are different and similar for immigrant children. Beyond his limited offerings, are there more issues to consider for immigrant children? How do milestones differ for English language learners?
Understandings:
ReplyDeleteWood states in Yardsticks that "the whole child goes to school," asserting that a child's experience in the school setting is interwoven with and impacted by such extra-school factors as family circumstances, socio-economics, cultural background, etc. This really resonates with me in light of some of the experiences I had working at an elementary school during the past two school years, where the nuclear family ideal was rare, and where the consequences of lower working class struggle come in through the door right along with the students. One third grader I worked with had trouble focusing on assignments or expressing any enthusiasm for class activities. One day, she broke down, tearfully explaining to me that her mom was in jail, she was being shuffled back and forth between relatives' houses, and she hadn't seen her brothers in over a week. She was dealing with the stress and trauma of crushing losses on several fronts--it's no wonder that she could not engage in her own learning. Wood's child-centric approach and the insights he provides affirms for me that education occurs within a broader context for the individual learner, and my practice as a teacher will be better for knowing that context for each of my students.
Easy Applications:
After reading Wood's framework in Yardsticks for understanding developmental stages, I feel that I've got the guidebook that I wish I had read before working with children! As a leader of reading intervention groups last year, working with learners at all grade levels 1-5, I was at first frequently puzzled by and didn't know how to respond to the vast differences between students of varied grade levels. I learned what works from trial and error, of course, but with Yardsticks now I understand things like, aside from the obvious physical differences, cognitively, emotionally, and socially my first graders were worlds apart from the fifth graders, and thus needed completely different things from me. Now, after reading Wood, I reflect back and understand more explicitly the need for play, to interact with materials, for breaks, and the heightened sensitivities of my first graders, for example.
During my internship this coming year, and as a future classroom teacher, I see how understanding the "whole child," as well as having a firm grasp on developmental stages and their ability to inform teaching practice, will be a huge benefit as I produce lessons, set up the classroom, and engage with my young learners.
First of all I would like to mention that I loaned Yardsticks out to a classmate who does not have the book yet, and although I did the reading I did it like 4 days ago so in grad school time that's about a year and a half.I'm going to have a very difficult time firmly rooting my comments in the text since it's not here with me, and also I finished Theories of Childhood today and wrote the paper so that is really where my brain is at. Anyway, I'm just trying to explain why this may not be my most outstanding contribution to the conversation, and for that I apologize.
ReplyDeleteTreasures: When reading Yardsticks, I immediately knew that this would be a book that I would keep forever and constantly refer to, probably both as a teacher and one day as a parent. Each section is highlighted with such wonderful details of things that children actually do, and I often found myself laughing or saying. "oh yeah" out loud. Even reading about children falling out of their chairs either sideways or straight back instantly shot me back to elementary school and reminded me of several boys who did this over and over again.
Easy Application: I look forward to using Yardsticks and the Developmental Milestones readings to sort of check myself with lesson plans and activities that could potentially be done by a group or individually depending on what these resources recommend. The charts seem like a great, quick way to make sure that what I may be planning is age appropriate or help me tweak a lesson plan that I had done with 6 year olds but now want to try with 8 year olds, and so on.
Questions: To sort of add onto Michael's question, meaning understanding children with individualized needs, how do we relate these milestones to children with disabilities? So many children are considered to be on the autism spectrum, or are diagnosed with ADD, and so on, how does all of that come into play? I suppose I could figured out that my seven year old student is displaying more five year old behaviors and then look into that chapter to figure out more developmentally appropriate activities, but how does it all tie in? How do we incorporate all of that with the advanced learners? Is this an age old question that has no clear answer?
Well, I wish someone handed me Yardsticks five years ago when I first started working with children, what a help it would have been! Reading through it there were many thoughts to myself of, “oh, that’s why they did that,” followed by, “I wish I would have known that then!” I can see now, how having this book as a reference will be tremendously helpful to me.
ReplyDeleteObservations:
One of my first observations in reading this book came when I got to the sections on four and five year olds. I had worked with these specific ages for two years and was able to recall many incidences in which these stages of development as described in Yardsticks were apparent. One observation I have had was when the four and five year olds would be out walking how much more in control of their bodies the five-year-olds were in comparison to the four-year-olds. As the four-year-olds were more likely the ones to be tripping over themselves as they tended to focus on faraway objects. Another observation with this age group was how when asking a question that seemed to require only a simple response, I was always likely to get a story instead, that may, or may not have anything to do with the original question.
Easy Applications:
Obviously one of the great things about Yardsticks is how user friendly it is, if I needed a quick review of a specific age all I have to do is pick it up and turn to that age and I can have a refresher in less than five minutes. As Zalika said I can totally see having this as teacher reference book in a classroom. It will be great to have it close at hand when developing lessons. This book would also be excellent to recommend to parents as they should have an understanding of their child’s development as well.
I’d just like to start out by echoing prior posts that Yardsticks is a valuable resource that should have fallen into our hands several years ago. Alas, that was not the case, and, having worked as a preschool teacher for about six years, I can honestly say that this book justifies the argument for requiring Early Childhood Educators to have a degree or at least a solid back ground in Child Development. One of the major understandings I came to was that many ECE programs are pushing children in directions that are developmentally inappropriate. In fact, I often gasped aloud while reading this book because I realized that many of my past practices were, in fact, developmentally inappropriate. For example, in Yardsticks, it is mentioned that it is natural for five-year-olds to reverse letters and numbers, and we should accept these reversals without comment, rather than correcting. Now, I was pretty aware that one shouldn’t correct such writing errors at this age because we do not want children to feel inhibited when writing. However, there have been times when I corrected children’s writing, although not by choice. In fact, I once worked at a language school where I was reprimanded for not correcting backwards letters in my students’ workbooks. Now, this was in Japan, and the person who reprimanded me had no knowledge of Child Development, but it is safe to say that there are many ECE programs in the States that do the same thing. If I had been armed with Yardsticks at the time, I would have been in a better position to defend my belief that my students’ writing did not need to be corrected.
ReplyDeleteAnother humorous discovery I made under the category of cognitive growth was that of repetitive behavior in five-year-olds. According to Wood, it is common to see five-year-olds stuck in the same repetitive behavior such as always drawing rainbows or flowers. This is because the child fears making mistakes when trying something new. Now I understand why Ella, my former student, drew pictures of doggies and cars every day for an entire school year!
Now I would like to fast-forward to the question form of engagement to relate concerns I have about working with eight-year-olds in the third grade this year. I have a fairly limited amount of experience working with third-graders and therefore am full of excitement, anxiety and curiosity in relation to this age. For starters, I was wondering if this is the age when standardized testing begins, and if so, how can we work to protect the interests of our students whilst still conforming to the testing standards? Also, it seems as if this is the age where more sophisticated tasks come into play (cursive, multiplication, etc.) and I am wondering how one teacher in a classroom of 25-30 can balance the wide range of variations in student abilities? Also, according to Yardsticks, this is the age where we begin to see a wane in motivation and often hear complaints such as “I’m bored” or “This is too difficult!” How can teachers maintain motivation and interest whilst teaching the vast amount of skills we are required to impart at this age?
-Andrea
I found some real gems in Yardsticks too; from the way it is laid out to the ‘Aha!’ moment I had while reading and reflecting on my recent observation. As I was reflecting I also thought about my classroom experiences with 9 year olds, usually in cross-age settings. What stood out to me was the section about their socio-emotional development; how self-critical they can be and the ‘it isn’t fair’ mantra. Afterward, I thought about how pair-sharing may be the perfect application for this particular age.
ReplyDeleteAlthough I enjoy cross-aged classrooms, I have to admit I didn’t always have the patience with 9 year olds that I did with kindergarteners. I know I prepared lessons that were specifically catered to them but I didn’t always think of this time as such a sensitive one. Looking back, I now realize I was not as encouraging as I could have been. I do believe in positive discipline and usually find it easy to compliment each student but now I understand that they need clarity when given directions and no wonder they spent so much time deciding who does what in a group. Another reason to have cross-aged groupings; it is needed when any new group is formed.
Now with my nephew, I am already applying more patience and just listen when he complains a bit or uses the ‘it’s not fair’ mantra. (Knowing is half the battle.) Realizing it is futile to try to solve these ongoing dilemmas when what the child needs is compassion and encouragement.
Now I would like to be more diligent about using the pair-share technique. Pair-share is when, after giving directions or going over some idea that you would like the kids to remember, you ask students to pair-share. This is usually modeled often in the beginning of the year and it is when students simply turn to the person next to them and each share what they learned, clarifying directions or ideas. I loved the technique but thought it took to much class time. Now I realize I can apply it frequently and save myself from being the only one repeating the directions and ideas.
I really took this idea to heart after reading about Vygotsky and understanding how he does not separate social and cognitive learning. It really makes sense for this age group.
Reflection on "Yardsticks"
ReplyDeleteAs I was reading Yardsticks, I found myself remembering how I felt and acted at some of the certain milestone ages and through that gained a better understanding of not only children in general but also of myself. I realized that the reason I was so rebellious during my later elementary and early middle-school years was because I was testing my boundaries and independence. It all made sense at that point, for years I have just felt guilty for being such a difficult "tweener"! Learning about these different milestones and how kids act at different ages really brought a sense of connection and understanding within me that I will definitely be bringing to the classroom. I found these readings very insightful and extremely valuable when understanding where a child is developmentally in different stages of life. I found it very funny that there is actually a stage that kids go through that causes them to fall sideways and backwards out of their chairs, kids did that all the time in my classes!
I will really take a lot of this information away as I start working in the classroom. I think it's so important to understand why a child may be acting out at certain times because of the developmental stage he or she is in and to be empathetic to that instead of quick to discipline. I will also be taking away the importance of understanding what each child's background is and figuring out how to integrate different cultures and lifestyles into my classroom. This nugget of information really resonated with me because I believe it is my moral duty to instill tolerance and compassion for all peoples within the coming generations in my classroom.
Questions: When reading Developmental Milestones, I wonder in the classroom if it will be really hard to realize whether a student is falling way behind developmentally or going too far ahead. How as a teacher do you know to hold a student back or allow a student to skip forward and what does that look like? In Middle Childhood, it says socially peer influence becomes prominent and kids usually have a best friend. These are social milestones, but what about those rejected or neglected children? How do you work with them so they aren’t missing a milestone socially and at risk for things like trouble behavior or poor academic performance?
ReplyDeleteUnderstandings: In the terminology used with Piaget, Erickson, and Kohlberg, I lacked a full understanding. I looked up deferred imitation, symbolic play, all the steps under the concrete operational stage, industry, preconventional moral reasoning, and conventional moral reasoning. Deferred imitation, symbolic play, and concrete operational stage all fall under Piaget. Industry is an Erickson idea. Lastly, preconventional and conventional moral reasoning are milestones developed by Kohlberg.
Deferred imitation is when a baby can imitate they have seen not just right after they have seen it, meaning hours or days after. Symbolic play is as if a child is in a theater performance and using objects as if they were something else, for example a child must pretend they are a singer and use a hairbrush, which is supposed to be a microphone. In the concrete operational stage, there is seriation, transivity, classification, decentering, reversibility, and conservation. Seriation deals with a child being able to order things according to size or shape. Transivity is about making logical connections based on information. Classification is naming and identifying objects. Decentering starts thinking critically by looking at multiple aspects of a problem. Reversibility is when something is changed and the child understands the changed as well as if it goes back to its original form. How many, how long, or amount of an item has nothing to do with how an object looks or is arranged. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theory_of_cognitive_development#Concrete_operational_stage)
Industry has to do with a child’s achievements and how his/her self-worth is derived from those. (http://www.vtaide.com/blessing/ERIK4.htm)
The last two developmental milestones I researched to clarify were preconventional and conventional moral reasoning. Preconventional moral reasoning has to do with a child understanding that he/she must abide by rules and those rules shouldn’t be questioned. Eventually children reason solely for their own self-interests. Conventional moral reasoning comes about when a child understands rules but also that not everything is in black and white. Rules may be broken for good motives. The last stage in conventional moral reasoning comes when a child can reason as a full-participating member of society, making decisions for the society. (http://faculty.plts.edu/gpence/html/kohlberg.htm)
Observations: While reading Yardsticks, I kept comparing the ideas and information presented in the text to the schools I have worked in. Not surprisingly, these schools fell short in many ways. For example, Wood argues that social and emotional development are just as important as "curriculum and test results." The schools I have worked in are similar to schools around the country in that they are focused primarily on academics (cognitive development), specifically reading, writing, and math. Opportunities for students to develop in other areas, such as socially and emotionally are few and far between. After reading Yardsticks, I am even more troubled by this trend. Children of every age need support as they grow and develop, but unfortunately, based on my experience, I have not seen many of their developmental needs being met at school.
ReplyDeleteEasy Applications: Yardsticks is such a valuable tool for envisioning my future classroom. It will serve as a quick reference when I have questions about developmentally appropriate activities for my students. While each child is unique and in a different place developmentally, it is nice to have a general reference. I will be interning in a second grade classroom next year and I noticed some significant differences between seven and eight year olds, specifically in their social development. This is something I will keep in mind when working with my class next year. This information, combined with my observations and knowledge of the students, will aid me in planning for the class.
-Lauren Thompson
I find "yardsticks" a very useful source of information for us as future teachers. I am excited to get in the classroom and start teaching, and a week into graduate school there
ReplyDeleteAre a million things going through my mind! Here are a few of my thoughts.
Question:
"Yardsticks" talks about how schools don’t always pay attention to the modern day child,
And how the development of the modern day child is always changing. The question that comes to my mind is that as teachers in the classroom we will always see changes in how a child develops, so what can we do to help make sure the schools and the higher up's are aware of this? Wood makes a good example with the theory
Of having lunch after recess instead of before! Wood claims many schools have been experimenting
With this, and already seen improvement in children’s afternoon behavior! This is just one
Of many examples we as teachers will most likely
Observe.
Easy Application:
I really like how "Yardsticks" outlines at the end of every chapter the usual growth patterns
And the classroom activity by the students age.
I am mostly interested in teaching second and third grade, so for me it is good to note the small differences in children ages 7-9. For example Wood says it might be good to challenge a 7 year old to do more individual reading, but
9 year old may benefit by reading in groups.
I think I will find all of woods notes useful in the future!
Ryan
Reflection on “Yardsticks”:
ReplyDeleteOne of the major points that hit me while reading was how completely skewed I think our societies’ notion of time has become. Though this is in regards to nearly every aspect of our lives, it is very evident when related to our children.
We focus on homework deadlines, test deadlines and graduation dates as though the entirety of education is building up to these dates. These milestones, we have decided, are when the true measure of ones ability to learn, and another’s ability to teach, are going to show themselves. Not only is that an incredible amount of pressure to put on all involved, it is also a completely ludicrous thought.
Chip Wood mentioned different aspects of time in the book that need to be acknowledged in our educational system. Not only does he bring time up in regards to the organization of the school day, but also in concern to the rate at which children learn, the amount of time students stay with their teacher, and what teachers should be doing with his or her time.
During the school day, Wood makes a case for more time going towards reflection, rest and rejuvenation for children in which they can “energize their brains and refresh their spirits.” Just as adults often comment on the need for breaks and time to “regroup,” children also need the same time – if not more. It seems silly that we are making such high demands of our children and then complaining when they are tired or not performing at their best (side note: the fact that we use the verb “performing” to describe how children behave in school speaks volume about the kind-of expectations we are putting on them…).
I agree with Wood that fundamental changes on the way we view time in our classrooms and in our daily lives ought to be addressed. There should be more reflection and relaxation time in our days. Children need to be given time to work through experiences, the new information and his or her own developmental process to own the information as his or her own. For most children, there will be an added benefit in having a teacher stay with him or her for a few years. Not only does the teacher become more familiar and attuned to the students in this scenario, but also there is as greater level of trust on the part of the student. The time of the teacher does not just need to change so that more years are spent with one classroom, but also more time observing, reflecting and becoming involved and engaged with the community surrounding the students.
The more I think about it, the more I realize how much positive change could come in our schools if we altered our viewpoint on just one variable – time. However, there are questions I have and things I want to explore more in regards to time. I know that time is not just an easy thing to renegotiate. The choice of what to do with time can be a privilege not given to all people. How can we equitably redistribute ownership of our own time? What resources are required? What resources are we wasting or not using efficiently? In what areas is efficiency beneficial and when is it a hindrance? What cultural and societal changes would need to take place for our country to take on a new view of time?
I would like to investigate these questions and also explore how different schools – both public and private – with different methodologies use their time. I have spent some time looking at the Montessori, Waldorf and Reggio Emilia ways of teaching, and have gained very important insights on time in doing so. Hopefully by looking at more places, talking to more people and gaining more experiences, I can see how we can give back time.
Observation:
ReplyDeleteThe common characteristics of children's develepment by Chip Wood is very helpful. It will help me select developmentally appropriate task and activities for my students. I agree with Wood's statement: "The patterns of child development have emerged and been documented but the are never absolute. Sometimes a child's behavior or learning style is a puzzle."
Working at an Elementary School in a Mulnomah County School District, I noticed that some developmental characteristics for some children are not typical for their ages. I learned that those unusually behaved children need more detailed assesments and observation by specialists. I was involved as a Russian culture specialist and participated as part of a teachers/specialists team, called "Kids Talk Team." The Psychologists, Title 1 Teachers, ELL Teachers, Special Add Teachers, Counselors etc. all worked together sharing their knowledge and information of particular children. We gave advice to classroom teachers and explained the reason(s)of those behaviors. We solved many complicated puzzles. We gave some tools for the teachers that helped them guide those students and create for them a special learning environment.
I was glad to share my knowledge and help many Russian speaking students, espacially newcomers.
One of those students was a boy I will remember all my life. He had recently emigrated from Ukraine and didn't speak any English. He crawld under the teacher's chair and made funny faces. He also moved back and forth during reading times. He didn't show respect for the teachers. Even the PE teacher had problems with him. She said that the other non-English speaking students who didn't understand her directions looked around and copied the other students, but
not that boy.
Talking to him, I found that he lost his father and didn't have therapy and counseling. He was emotionally disturbed. His language barrier isolated him from classmates and he needed their and teacher's attention. The classroom teacher set up the conferences with his mother and relatives. They described how he acted at home, as well as indicating things that he likes and is intersted in. The grandma decided to come to the school and share aspects of his home culture with all of the classmates by telling a traditional story. The step father brought the Russian musical instrument (garmoshka) and played to the class during the circle time. The classroom teacher asked me to share the culural differences and educational methods of teaching in Ukraine and how they can affect the child's performance at an American school. Connecting with the boy's relatives, sharing ideas about cultural differences, sending messages in their primery language, having an interpreter available during home visits, a lot of counseling hours with a school counselor and psychologist helped hat boy be successful in school. He still works on his temper and sttitude but he has made a lot of improvement.
This example shows how specialists and teamwork can help understand an atypical children's behavior.
Questions: As I was reading Yardsticks, I was really struck about the idea that we are pushing our children more and more to live in an adult world. There seems to be a loss of childhood that is happening where we are structuring tighter shedules with a lack of time for children to relax and breathe throughout the day. Many schools are cramming more and more in to a day and some schools are eliminating recess. This rushing that is happening is contributing to stressed out children who become anxious, exhausted, and are not able to function in ways that are developmentally appropriate for their age. A question of mine is: What can we as teachers do in the classroom to counteract this trend, especially with the growing pressure on teachers to prepare the children to pass numberous tests? On a personal note, I lived in Winnetka, Illinois for ten years and I saw how the affluent pressure their children to prepare early for the adult world of strict schedules and competitiveness. Most children seemed exhausted from playing 3 sports, an instrument, and having excessive amounts of homework. These pressures have to contribute to emotional distress and difficulty in transitioning from childhood to adulthood.
ReplyDeleteObservation: The book talked about bilingual education as being necessary in order to integrate children from various backgrounds into the classroom in our growing global economy. My only concern about this would be how children can become competent in English if this is the case? Does bilingual and/or multilingual education hamper the acquisition of English? I believe that new languages should be taught, but I am not sure whether the whole curriculum should be taught in a foreign language. I believe it is crucial for teachers to be knowledgeable about the various ethnic backgrounds and cultures. With children who have recently immigrated to this country, there are ways that teachers can find to connect with them and we need to even think about whether we could offend them in small ways without being aware of it.
Understandings:
ReplyDeleteWorking with K-5 students i noticed the importance of need for food, water and exercise. At this age children physical growth and effective learning requires healthy food, drinks and a lot of exercise. The children who have snacks during the school day are happier, focused and performed better. It is beneficial to have a little snack ( fruit or nuts) before test.
Teachers should encourage children to drink water regularly, especially when they are active and in hot weather. It will help their brain and bodies function well. Children who dehydrated and thirsty may get a headache, become dizzy or feel very tired.
All children need exercise because it benefits the body and delivers oxygen to the brain. Lack of exercise leads to discipline problems. Children need physical release in their school day. Receiving vitamin D by having outdoor recess (through sun light) helps children become healthier. Good health is a base of successful development of all multiple intelligence.
I would like to echo a lot of the other comments people have made by saying that I think this is a great practical reference for teachers and has helped me to see a lot of things in a new light.
ReplyDeleteUnderstandings: I agree with Mike that the regarding the "whole child" going to school really stuck in my mind. The idea that food policies, recess, sports and play are equally as important in early childhood development as reading and writing made a lot of sense to me. Related to the idea of recess and play, I'm particularly interested in Vygotsky's theory that social interaction is critical to education. I'm interested in exploring how we can incorporate things like recess and snack time as part of the learning experience and not just something extra added in mid morning or mid afternoon.
Questions: I haven't been in a classroom in the US in over 6 years so I'm curious to learn how schools in Portland handle these issues. Do schools still have recess? Are snacks and drinks allowed in class? How can we apply these ideas to our classrooms without infringing on school policy?
Observations: From reading Yardstick, what really interested me was when Chip Wood would talk about early development. My cousin who just turned four is going through these stages and I thought it was really interesting to see how she was developing through the lenses of what Chip Wood would say. And going off of what Jen was saying about recess, I was wondering (since 4 is the age of adventure and curiosity), if recess is cut from schools, is it providing a structure that will fit the needs of children that age?
ReplyDeleteQuestions: I really enjoyed reading Yardsticks, it really outlined the age differences and what goes on in the classroom. But as I was reading through some of the specific age groups, I was wondering what happens when the child doesn't achieve certain skills? How does that impact the child and self esteem?
Yardstick also talks about how the school isn't paying attention to the child. My question is does NCLB make it this way? or is it the people
who are in the school (teachers, admin) that aren't paying enough attention to the student's need.
Easy Applications:
ReplyDeleteLike many of you have expressed, I ADORE THIS BOOK. There's a level of uncertainty when it comes to which grade I want to teach, being torn between 1st, 2nd and 3rd. The developmental stages between these grades are so significant as students become more autonomous in their learning habits and their physical and cognitive skills develop. Having a "go-to guide" like this, detailing the developmental expectations of each is invaluable--if only to get a grip on what the skills and needs are of the students you're teaching. But more than that, a problem I've seen (and I suppose this ties over to observations) is that teachers who are accustomed to instructing a specific grade tend to get in the habit of dealing with ALL students in the school in the same way, ie, they approach a fifth grader with the same language and strategies as they've grown accustomed to with the students in their second grade classroom. As a teacher being a part of the COMMUNITY of a school, we should be interacting with all students, and be able to cater to each with a comprehensive understanding of what each age is coming from. One needs to understand that the motivations for a 5th grade student are entirely different than that of a 2nd grader, and should be recognized as such.
Questions and Observations:
One of the points of Yardsticks that surprised me the most was the idea of retention, and how it should never, under any circumstances be due to academic struggles. I was interested to know, how clearly can we differentiate between academic struggles that are purely such, and those that are evidence of developmental lagging?
There was a student at the elementary school where I worked that was too old to be retained in 2nd grade, despite his teachers constant imploring to the contrary. He wasn't grasping concepts as quickly as other students and the teacher was certain that she needed to hold him back so that he could "catch up" -- words that Yardsticks warns against. He went on to 2nd grade, and has since improved immensely. I attribute this development largely to the fact that developmentally, he progressed as Yardsticks described for 2nd graders into a learner that "loves the routine and structure of school." He fell in love with the routine of getting out his little notebooks and doing the task for the day, staying organized with his pencils in a row, and markers in colored order. This development largely influenced his view on learning in general. The gimmick made it fun, and he gradually improved in the quality of work. And another thing that made me laugh: all the 2nd graders I worked with LOVED ERASERS. Just as Yardsticks talked about they would obsess over fixing each mistake and wiping away the eraser shavings. God love em.
'Yardsticks'
ReplyDeleteObservations:
One thing that bothers me is the imbalance in our schools. We seem to be steering farther and farther away from finding an equilibrium for students needs. We are pushing physical play, imagination, curiosity, and creativity to the side and replacing these activities with testing. I understand the relevance for testing child development, but there needs to be a limit as to what we shove out of the picture. Cutting recess for one thing is going to create a restlessness among students and their attention will be elsewhere. I've recognized the imbalance in American schools fluctuating, but to find out that physical activities are being thrown out of our curriculum is just going to create a mess for teachers and create an environment where children will begin to loose focus.
Easy applications:
Well this entire book of course! I have referred back to specifics for a couple different assignments and will always keep a copy handy while teaching. It's the perfect reference for specific ages if you need a quick review for the 5 year old class you're about to substitute. I see myself referring to it for lesson plans to make sure I'm on target with developmental needs. It's also a book I see myself referring to when I have children, not to mention a great book for parents who are interested in discovering why their children are behaving or not behaving the way they imagined at their age. I imagine there will be many books and articles we will come across to compliment the book, and it has opened a lot of insight that will help me with teaching.
Yardsticks will be a great resource once I'm in the classroom because of it's simple, straightforward style.
ReplyDeleteObservations: I have two children, one of them just finished the third grade, and in reading the assignments, I found my experience with children reaffirmed. It's so important to take into consideration children's developmental place and at the same time consider their basic physical needs and their environment. I don't think Wood stresses enough how necessary it is to first take care of food, water and exercise. So many meltdowns and inflexibility are due to hunger and exhaustion.
Treasures:
One thing I had not thought of was talking to parents about their children's developmental stage. The fact is as a parent you don't have to know this information, so taking that role as a teacher would really help out students and establish clear expectations for the family.
Easy applications:
Yardsticks is a gold mine. The sections which describe every age will be extremely useful in the classroom. I remember my daughter's second grade teacher was teaching that grade for the first time, and she had no idea what 7 year olds were like. It took a while to figure it out, so I know how necessary it is to really understand the age you're teaching.
Treasures. In the past few months I had been baffled by my almost six-years-old daughter and why she wasn't talking much about her experiences at school. Yardsticks provided me with immeasurable insight into why this might be. I learned that at this age children tend to provide one word answers for questions, especially if they aren't open-ended. So for instance, I would ask Emily how was school and she would simply reply "fine" or "good" - and would be very reluctant to extrapolate on her answer.
ReplyDeleteEasy Applications: As teachers we need to impart our child development knowledge with parents so reasonable expectations prevail at home. This could be as simple as creating a part of a weekly newsletter that has the 'development tip' of the week.
Similar with everyone else, I found Yardsticks to be an amazing book that I will probably keep using for a VERY long time :)
ReplyDeleteSince I will be working with grade 5 at Buckman, I decided to look at the section on ten year olds. I was delighted to find that they are generally content, and enjoy family, peers, and teachers. As the book mentions at the beginning, it is the “golden end of childhood”. Hopefully I will be seeing this golden end soon.
While comparing some of the ages, I noticed how important snacks and exercise is for children of all ages. It angered me that so many schools seem to ignore this important fact. It makes me question the priorities of the schools and the current education system. (I realize the scores on tests and such are the priority at the moment for so many schools, but it makes me question so much of the government standards and morals and so much more). It seems (at least according to the book) that children do better when they are given these basics as well, and taking these away from the children seems to make very little sense.