Topic: Tell of an opportunity you had to work one on one with a student.
One of the students I worked with was, "Leo". Although Leo is the oldest student in class as well as the biggest and tallest, he is the most unsure of himself. Leo has shown me how smart he really is, but what he lacks most is self confidence. I remember specifically on certain assignments such as puzzle worksheets Leo would ask for help when he could obviously do it himself. If you encourage him to work through the assignment on his own he gets very upset and shuts down. Bringing Leo out of his breakdown is the hardest part. He will say over and over again that he cannot do it making himself feel worse. What I learned from Leo, is that there are some student who need praise and individual help far more than others, particularly student who may not receive it elsewhere.
Another student I worked with a lot was, "Tanner". Tanner is in first grade and when he started school this year he wan't able to read or write most of the alphabet. He has made outstanding progress and really loves knowing how much he has learned. Tanner would also ask for help on assignments however, unlike Leo, he knew that he could do them, he just didn't want to do it incorrectly on his own the first time. Tanner could work through the assignment alone if he was reminded of how much he has accomplished. What I learned from Tanner is that encouragement is good, but praise is better.
Tuesday, May 28, 2013
Saturday, May 11, 2013
How Do People Learn
Topic: What developmental differences do you see in children in the classroom?
I did my field work in Spanish Fork in a self contained classroom. The teacher has set up the classroom with a daily routine of ten workshops made up of some worksheets and some hands-on puzzles. I spent individual time with each student and observed there learning modalities. The first child, a boy in second grade was always the first in the class to finish his work shops. I think this says that his learning modality is both visual and kinesthetic because he does well on both the worksheets and the puzzles without much aid from the teacher. The second child, a girl, also in second grade rarely finishes her workshops at all with out continues one-on-one assistance, however I found that the worksheets for her took much longer than the hands-on puzzles. This says to me that her learning modality is more kinesthetic and less visual.
The second thing I observed in the classroom was the learning theory of behaviorism. In my learning theories paper, I researched a particular type of behaviorism where a child could be encouraged to make a choice based on positive or negative reinforcement. In my field work, I saw this every day, it is how the teacher controlled each child's individual behavior. One example of this is the hard worker bell; the teacher sets a timer for 5 minutes and when it goes off she selects a student who is working hard to choose a treat. The treat is then passed out only to the children who are working hard. A second example of this is free choice; at the end of the day for about 20-40 minutes the teacher allows free choice to those students who have worked hard and finished their workshops. If a child hasn't finished their workshops they must finish them in order to have free choice. These are only two examples of a very well designed classroom.
I did my field work in Spanish Fork in a self contained classroom. The teacher has set up the classroom with a daily routine of ten workshops made up of some worksheets and some hands-on puzzles. I spent individual time with each student and observed there learning modalities. The first child, a boy in second grade was always the first in the class to finish his work shops. I think this says that his learning modality is both visual and kinesthetic because he does well on both the worksheets and the puzzles without much aid from the teacher. The second child, a girl, also in second grade rarely finishes her workshops at all with out continues one-on-one assistance, however I found that the worksheets for her took much longer than the hands-on puzzles. This says to me that her learning modality is more kinesthetic and less visual.
The second thing I observed in the classroom was the learning theory of behaviorism. In my learning theories paper, I researched a particular type of behaviorism where a child could be encouraged to make a choice based on positive or negative reinforcement. In my field work, I saw this every day, it is how the teacher controlled each child's individual behavior. One example of this is the hard worker bell; the teacher sets a timer for 5 minutes and when it goes off she selects a student who is working hard to choose a treat. The treat is then passed out only to the children who are working hard. A second example of this is free choice; at the end of the day for about 20-40 minutes the teacher allows free choice to those students who have worked hard and finished their workshops. If a child hasn't finished their workshops they must finish them in order to have free choice. These are only two examples of a very well designed classroom.
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