Assignment #1
Click on
the link: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B72Gis40Rnv3ajZMWkU3R2F2d2s/view?usp=sharing
Read the article and consider the
following guiding questions:
- What stood out in the article?
- What did you connect to in the article?
- How does it apply to the work you do now?
- What did you like about the article?
- What can you implement in your classroom?
- What other questions do you have after reading the article?
→Post a “Comment” based on your
response to one or more of the guiding questions
→Post a “Reply” to a “Comment” posted
by 2 different peers
This article reminded me of High Scope strategies. This is actually a practice I have continued in my classroom when students transition to centers. I have the students tell me where they want to play. As the year progresses, their planning progresses as they elaborate on what they are going to play with. As a teacher it is rewarding to see their progress/ language develop and the use of it. I also use this strategy as a closer for centers and have a few students share what they did. Some students like to show their "art work". I enjoy using this strategy.
ReplyDeleteSo glad you were able to relate the article to something you already use/do!
DeleteI really like the idea for using it as a closer for centers. That is something I may try now as well.
DeleteI also found similarities to high scope. My students have all become problem solvers and this carries on to the academic areas as well.
DeleteI have also started using this as a transition to center activities. I found it very useful in that students were very excited to show me their work and are working more purposefully. Once they give me their plan I say, "I can't wait to see it!" and they just love to show it off.
DeleteI am glad this practice has been successful for you. Seeing our students grow throughout the year is always rewarding.
DeleteI am finding myself trying to use more open ended questioning and Asking students where they plan to go to centers and what will they do. Some of my 3 yr olds are still pointing so I try to verify where they are pointed and model the language for them. As I observe them in centers, I am asking them what they are working on and asking more why and how questions. I notice that students like to share.
ReplyDeleteThat's good way to close the day. I will try that too, have students share what they did in their centers to promote language and purpose.
DeleteThat's great and wonderful way to us this strategy!
DeleteSame here! I have some 3's who will point. At the beginning of the year I was letting them just do that, but now I'm trying to get them to talk more by using guiding questions such as, "what center is that over there?" and then list the centers in the area they are pointing to see if they can think about which one they want.
DeleteI like the idea of modeling the language for the students that may not have that skill just yet. I love that I have a mixed age class because I am able to have an older student give me a plan and the younger ones usually try to use that plan as a starting point. I also will assist them with expressing the ideas they may be struggling to get across.
DeleteUsing open ended questioning is difficult at first but becomes easier with practice. I have been working on this for a long time and have to mentally remind myself that I need to avoid questions for the kiddos that only have one response.
DeleteVerna Simpson
Yes, it is difficult to asking open ended questions to students who are limited in speech. I begin with a step-by-step process. It does take a lot longer, but it is definitely worth it. Here is an example- We start out with one word, "Math." Then I will go to the center with him and ask what he would like to play with. Let's say he pulls out the colored insects. I would say, "Colored insects." Then he would repeat (In this center, students will sort the insects by color or by what insect it is). We continue on until we make a full sentence. Again, it does take a long time but it is worth it. It has led to this student saying 2-3 words now!
DeleteThe article reminded me of what I am doing for centers right now. When the child says what center they want to go to I ask them what they plan on doing over there. Since my class age is very ranged some students can now give me a complete, thoughtful sentence while others are still building language skills. The article also reminds me of my goal for the year which is having students being able to explain their reasoning to the answers they give. I've been trying to ask follow up questions to my students who have the higher language skills. I like this article since it reminds me of the goals I am trying to set for myself and has given me some ideas on how to get my students more focused on what they want to do. In my classroom I feel I can keep using the open-ended question and when asking the students what they want to do in centers I can ask them what they are going to do with the other students who are also in that center.
ReplyDeleteYes, the follow up questions are important. That is something I need to work on as well.
DeleteAsking the students what they will do with the peers in the same center is a great question for social interaction.
DeleteI truly believe in the psychology behind this article. I have been using Highscope as my curriculum for my little ones for the past 11 years. This curriculum greatly resembles what this article is informing about best practices in the classroom. This allows our children to develop and mature and through experience allow them to problem solve and learn how to investigate in all socio-academic areas.
ReplyDeleteThe concept of planning for center time really stood out to me in this article. In the past I have seen student run around the room looking for a center without any goal in mind and I found it difficult to have students engaged in the activity. I believe that a great transition to centers would be to have students identify the center they plan to work at and what they hope to achieve at that center. With this students are heading to a center with a purpose.
ReplyDeleteYes this is a great practice to plan. Do you have students place their letter links at centers? This helps planning and forms structure.
DeleteThe planning portion has really helped my students choose and stay at their centers rather than wondering around.
DeleteI use a center management tool- an owl with the student's name. I stopped using letter links after the first nine weeks. I just cut off the picture and kept the student's name in the letter link font. The owls have Velcro and each center has a sign with Velcro pieces, where they can attach their owl to. This helps students see where they are at and have the ability to switch centers as they choose.
DeleteSeveral things in the article reminded me of High Scope and the emphasis on planning and recall. We do practice planning and recall in our classroom. We encourage the children to use complete sentences, guide them when trying to explain themselves and encourage them to describe what they are doing when in centers and other times throughout the school day. We also comment on what we see them do, ask open ended questions during small groups/lessons to encourage their thinking. Providing visual supports for some of our kiddos who are still developing language helps them to express and understand concepts, a read aloud, etc. The statement "Planning and reflection thus involve decision making and problem solving" stood out to me because sometimes we may overlook the fact that these two strategies can lead children to not only making decisions and solving problems but help them build language, process what they are doing/have done and building their thinking skills in future endeavors.
ReplyDeleteI do feel that we need to increase the expectation for our students planning. When they choose centers, they are doing well with giving us complete centers, but we need to encourage more from them such as: What will you do at that center? What will you need to carryout your plan? Whom do you want to work with? Perhaps increasing this expectation will decrease the amount of movement from center to center for those kids who like to change centers constantly.
DeleteI do think we do better with then planning aspect in our classroom. Reflection needs to happen more often, which can be easily done through conversations at circle or lunch time.
See you Monday!
The importance of planning and reflection really stood out to me. It really makes sense about how language development, problem solving, and thinking processes are linked to the children's ability to plan and reflect on their day to day lives.
ReplyDeleteIn our classroom we do offer opportunities for our students to plan. In particular we have them use complete sentences to plan out where they want to work at during center time. I do however feel that we need to encourage our students to plan more elaborately. (i.e explain what materials they will need to carry out their plan, whom they plan to work with, etc).
I do feel that in our classroom, we do better at having out students plan vs having them reflect on what happened while carrying out their plans. Therefore, I will try to purposely plan times throughout the day during circle time, lunch/snack time to allow my students to have conversations about such reflections.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteThe article explained a deeper understanding to how children’s minds work on a concrete level. They devise simple plans and focus on the objects or events. Its phenomenal how the human minds works. As I observe students I can collect notes on their thinking to support and extend their emergent thinking skills. I learned strategies to promote student planning. Before we go to centers I ask the students to plan which center will they go to and what will they do. When observing students in centers I ask what are you doing. The students use language to express or show using gestures. The article stated various strategies I will use all but mostly learn to support, accept, and extend all the ways children express their plans. It is often difficult to guide students to new centers. I will observe what interests the child in the center and think of ways to extend it. I like asking open-ended questions to generate the students thinking. I will utilize the strategies to develop the children’s thinking skills.
ReplyDeleteI understand what you are saying! I want to be able to help extend my students learning in their centers! I love observing my students during their centers because I get to learn more about them and their thinking skills.
DeleteI really enjoyed reading this article. I love learning how a child's mind work and how they develop a deeper understand. I know that I connected with this during center time. I am constantly asking my students open-ended questions during center time. I want my students to develop their language and being able to express themselves. I am using the centers that most of my students enjoy and extend the learning to get them to learn more by playing.
ReplyDeleteI also enjoyed reading this article. Using the open ended questions really helps and encourages a child to use more language to express themselves. This is an effective strategy to help kiddos who are struggling with speech and language skills and does not make the child feel embarrassed or want to "clam up" and shy away from sharing their feelings, opinions, etc.
DeleteThis was a great article. I like how it emphasizes open ended questions. It also reminds me of highscope.
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed reading this article because it helped me reflect on areas I can improve in to help my centers be more effective. I can see the importance of being more purposeful in my questioning for S planning and reflection in centers. I was able to add the planning portion before sending my students to centers and I saw a shift to more meaningful activity during this instruction time. S were held accountable for their "play" in centers and I was able to redirect S to help them stay on task. I would like to work more on reflection and I feel that will add more accountability to their work in centers.
ReplyDeleteI loved when the article touched on strategies to promote reflection. Not only do students plan and execute it, but we as teachers need to push it further. When we encourage them to think about what they did, it propels them to figure out what they're going to do next. We can do this by asking open ended questions, not just a yes or no, which at time can be easy for us, as we are multitasking at the same time. We NEED to make the time to engage in sustained conversation with them. We can also promote reflection by expanding what our students say. The article gave an example of students building a tower out of blocks. The teacher observed the conversation students were having, but then stepped in and introduced vocabulary words. She then asked them to re-create what they did and began her questioning as they were doing it.
ReplyDelete