This week, we will focus on the teaching skills and strategies to develop curriculum based on knowledge of the learners in your class.
Review:
- Basics of Developmentally Appropriate Practice, pp. 25-40.
- Nurturing Creativity, Chapter 9
For this assignment, write a short essay describing your strategy for knowing the learners in your class. How will you connect with your students? What information did you learn through the readings that will help you create learning experiences that meet each child’s needs?
JOnette Julien
11/20/21
Knowing your learners
Knowing my learners, when I say that it is very important. The readings helped me alot and gave me some more insight on how I need to actually tackle this topic of knowing my learners, and how to take that to help me prepare curriculums and activities accordingly. I actually work with children and for example I would use the PreK class for this assignment because they are older. Nap time for them has seemed to be one of those things that they tend to have somewhat of a struggle with. What I noticed from my time being with them was always the same 5-6 students that did not take or nap, and struggled staying on their cots. What I did with that was turn nap time for those who are awake into storytime. I read books and pace in between them reading book after book, and as I did that some actually fell asleep. Either they were tired or my reading just bored them to sleep. In my activity I have books that I selected for my Theme and sub-Themes, and this can work for me if during nap time they are wide awake. I realized that they were so engaged and still when I was reading, I’m sure if I was going to ask questions they would give me an answer. My theme are plants, and there are so many amazing books about plants and activities I can do. Even through nap time I can engage them in a good book about the topic and when they wake up, do an activity according to the reading or how can we take what we just read and apply it to our project and activities. I want my activities to be a bit more hands on and very engaging, so for some activities I would have to tweak it a bit. Jane, the teacher of the 3-4 year old, creates a challenge for her students, so I can take from that and create challenges for my students, to help them think and stay engaged. I want the learning experience for them to be memorable, as it stimulates their minds.
Working in a school before, I remember some of the ways I would interact with new students in my class. I tried to engage with them and make jokes so that they would feel more comfortable. But i know now, a strategy I would use would be talking to parents/guardians about the best way to incorporate the students into the classroom. If you engage their parents, not only will the child benefit, but the parent will thank you for keeping them involved. I will also hold activities where I can walk around and take notice to how each child is doing in the classroom and how they are adjusting. If I feel that a child needs more time to work on something I will talk to their parents about how they are doing in class and what the child actuallly knows. I say this because maybe the child is shy or there is some underlying reason why the child isn’t show their full potential in the classroom. Then I can take the children that need more time and work with them and then going back into group discussions slow down the pace and make sure everyone is moving together.
My strategy for knowing the learners in my class is to get to know them, make them comfortable and try different teaching methods and see which one works better. I will start my classes with ice breakers and then have hands-on and group activities to have everyone open up. A method I can use from the reading is to engage parents in the class. It benefits the relationship of parent- teacher – child.