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In my experience working in a pre-school environment, there is a large relationship between the physical classroom environment and student behavior. When students are comfortable in their environment, there are less classroom management issues in terms of student behavior issues. For instance, in an early childhood classroom, organization and distinct centers are key. The environment should be child-friendly and engaging on their level, meaning all images are put on their level. Any information for them is available at the appropriate height, making it conducive to their learning. Materials should be at reach to explore so a child can learn from the experiences with that item. The science and mathematics centers can offer some familiar items, however; offer somewhat different purposes. Mathematic centers can include more manipulatives’ meant for counting or solving problems, whereas the science center would include those similar items, in addition to a variety of materials to perform experiments on. Both classrooms would contain rulers, calculators, and measuring devices. In science, those items mentions rely heavily on mathematical concepts. The inter-related subjects work together. Creating an environment that supports this is important to the development of a student and their behavior towards that subject.
I would prepare to discuss the students results by providing a portfolio of the students classroom test results, including informal & formal assessments, documentation on the students progress and development, and pieces of his or her work. To incorporate more on the speaking skill, I would implement more opportunities for speaking into the lesson design and implementation. One particular activity comes to mind, Tea party. In the tea party, students will use new vocabulary being studied to create sentences and discussions based on topics and questions within the unit theme, thus providing meaningful use of application into the student’s daily conversation. Research has shown that when students are able to apply this vocabulary in regular conversation, retention in greater. I would also incorporate a word wall to help the students understand the importance of the vocabulary in the book, understanding its relevance and meaning.
I would recommend testing the student in his or her own language and compare and contrast the results. While the student may be showing improvement outside of formal assessments, they may be nervous taking a formal assessment.
If this method is unavailable for the teacher, I would offer an alternative. I recommend more informal assessments to gauge where the child is in comprehension of the instruction and that would allow the teacher to understand where that child is falling short. I believe that bringing in more repeating reading exposure would also provide the student with a benefited approach to reading comprehension. Tompkins (2002) states that “repeated exposure to text allows for faster comprehension in terms of word recognition and syntax”. It is important that the teacher has many open ended discussions on the text, providing meaningful experiences to accompany the book. Echevarria, Vogt, & Short (2008) mention that :”connecting meaningful experiences to literature can increase comprehension skills and provide ELL learners with the opportunity to interpret meaning to images and print”. References Echevarria, J., Vogt, M., & Short, D. (2008). Making content comprehensible for English Learners: The SIOP® model (3rd ed.). Boston, MA: Allyn & Bacon. How does integrating science, math, and technology standards affect instructional planning?11/15/2011 I believe that integrating science, math, and technology standards allows teachers more creativity in designing their units of instruction. In my previous discussion question, Kirpan, Lindsey/University of Phoenix Week 1, DQ 2 (2011), “One creative way to integrate the use of science, mathematics, and technology standards to foster student learning I discovered was through Bautista & Peters (2010). In their article the discuss a first grade lesson where students design strong, cost-effective houses. According to Baustista & Peters (2010), “Making time to teach science can be challenging for lower-elementary grade teachers because of the emphasis on language arts and mathematics. We believe that hands-on real-world engineering or technological design experiences like this are an effective way for teachers to integrate different content areas—such as science, social studies, and mathematics—while encouraging students’ creativity, imagination, and problem-solving skills.” In this particular lesson, it sparked students interest in discovering ways to create something through a variety of materials, which although recycled, represented a certain outside material. In mathematics, they learned measuring and using a ruler. In science, they tested their models, and the reactions through a variety of ‘simulated’ weather, such as rain and earthquake. In technology, they designed their house using computer or hand drawings. I believe Bautista & Peters (2010) engineer approach allows students to integrate a variety of subjects, and really allow them to use real-world application and sparked the children’s interest in not only their designs and research, but the community around them.”
As a pre-school teacher, I currently incorporate math, science, and technology into my instructional planning as well. We are studying the different food groups through use of the book Follow the Line Through the House by Laura Ljungkvist, and some of my science integration has been in drying a variety of fruits and vegetables in the class with students. To incorporate the math, we have been counting and sorting the variety of fruits and vegetables. To incorporate technology, we have been logging our results with digital media. I believe that my students have benefited with this integration of subjects. To incorporate language and reading, I have been developing my own sorting and matching games with picture image correlation so the children develop their vocabulary and understand that pictures can have meaning. References: Kirpan, Lindsey/ University of Phoenix. (2011). Week 1, DQ 2. Retrieved from Kirpan, Lindsey/ University of Phoenix, MTE 532- Curriculum Construction and Assessment- Math and Science website. One creative way to integrate the use of science, mathematics, and technology standards to foster student learning I discovered was through Bautista & Peters (2010). In their article the discuss a first grade lesson where students design strong, cost-effective houses. Accodring to Baustista & Peters (2010), “Making time to teach science can be challenging for lower-elementary grade teachers because of the emphasis on language arts and mathematics. We believe that hands-on real-world engineering or technological design experiences like this are an effective way for teachers to integrate different content areas—such as science, social studies, and mathematics—while encouraging students’ creativity, imagination, and problem-solving skills.” In this particular lesson, it sparked students interest in discovering ways to create something through a variety of materials, which although recycled, represented a certain outside material. In mathematics, they learned measuring and using a ruler. In science, they tested their models, and the reactions through a variety of ‘simulated’ weather, such as rain and earthquake. In technology, they designed their house using computer or hand drawings. I believe Bautista & Peters (2010) engineer approach allows students to integrate a variety of subjects, and really allow them to use real-world application and sparked the children’s interest in not only their designs and research, but the community around them.
References Bautista, N., & Peters, K. (2010). First-Grade Engineers: Students build strong and cost-effective houses. Science & Children, 47(7), 38-42. Echevarria, Vogt, & Short (2008) mention using portfolios as a way of assessment in high school vocational or art programs to mark progress of speaking, listening, writing, and reading. Not only is making a portfolio a great way to assess the language skills of all types of students, but it also helps in preparing for college in regards to entrance essays. This practice allows students to visually see their improvements and understand how they are developing in terms of their academic writing and conversational language skills. When you comprehension improves, it can also improve a student’s conversational language skills. In elementary education, repeated readings are another way to improve academically and conversationally. In high school, having repeated exposure to text is a great way to improve. Reader’s theater allows for practice and repeated exposure also. I believe this can help improve comprehension of text and conversation skills.
In early elementary education through high school, reader’s theater can provide a great way to use repeated practice for developing reading comprehension skills in mainstream, ELL students, or gifted and talented students. According to Vasinda (2011), a way to extend this repeated exposure is through the use of podcasting. With podcasting, a student is able to feel the excitement of a performance through posting the theatrical performance online through recording. Due to the anticipation, practice and repeated reading of phrases occurs. Another great approach to the reader’s theater is that it can provide insight to different subjects, such as social studies, science, or history. This application is extremely versatile.
Reference Vasinda, S. (2011). Extending Readers Theatre: A Powerful and Purposeful Match With Podcasting. Reading Teacher, 64(7), 486. |
Lindsey PietrocolaSince 2010, I've been incorporating technology (in some form or another) into a classroom as a teacher. Archives
April 2019
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