Journal Composition 4: Developmentally Appropriate Practice and Curricular Areas
According to Dewey, who is part of the basis of Developmentally Appropriate Practices, “We learn from our experiences. To facilitate learning, the teacher needs to create an environment that motivates interest and curiosity” (Lemlech p.41). Students need to be engaged in the lesson and need to make connections with what they already know in an attempt to build on their previous knowledge. This principle correlates with Piaget as he says, “the individual gathers information or data through experiences and takes into account prior knowledge” (Lemlech p.41). This is important in the classroom so students don’t get bored, tired, or uninterested. Another way to keep that from happening is to use a variety of teaching methods to make sure you are catering to the needs of every individual student.
Mrs. Hodges has not used many strategies in her teaching methods. During math, she tells each student to open their book to a certain page and they go over homework from the night before. She works most of it out on the board and then asks the students if they have any questions. The work is too hard for some students and they need to move at a slower pace or have different work to adjust to their capability. This is not happening; therefore there are a handful of students who are doing poorly in math because they are not getting the individual help they need to succeed.
I would not say that there is a lot of student-centered teaching in this classroom. In this strategy of teaching, the child has an important role in learning their part of the assignment and is then responsible for sharing or “teaching” their part to the group. (DAP Power Point slide 14). There is no group work, and all of the teaching I have seen has been done by the teacher at the front of the room, using the expo board. The students have never moved their desks around or even participated in a class activity that is not done in their seats since I have been observing. Interactive activities are not present and neither is incorporating ongoing experiences with real life situations. Those examples are part of the constructivist view of teaching and I just don’t feel a lot of those strategies are being implemented in her classroom.
3 comments:
I agree with you that the classroom should be student centered and include a lot of interaction. It is hard to work in a classroom that is so “uptight”, can you only imagine how the students feel? It is so important to spark interest in what you are teaching. Every good lesson begins with a good hook. I can tell a difference in a class where the teacher implies variety and excitement to his or her lessons. The children are smiling and anxious to learn. A class like the one you are in the students watch the clock!
I agree that students need to interact during classroom instruction. You will a child's attention if you lecture the entire time. When I plan my lessons, I try to make sure there is at least one hands-on activity. I remember when I was younger; I enjoyed learning that consisted of me doing something. Reading a book and a PowerPoint is great. However, it is important for a child to get a social interaction during school also. As a child gets older, they will need to communicate with others. What better place to learn how to communicate effectively than the classroom. Student interaction with great management skills is key when it comes to the classroom success.
Do you ever feel like “Boy I won’t be doing things like that”? I feel as though that’s maybe what you’re feeling about this situation. That’s one thing that I have found in my experiences so far is that there are definitely things that I will not do. I especially have this thing about organization and boy neither class have I been in has there been much of it. I’m like this big organizer freak that has to have things in just the right order or I’m totally lost. I feel as though this could also affect the children. If I have so much going on that I can’t concentrate then how could I ever expect them to be able to stay focused and on task. The class that I’m in now that’s the exact way I feel that my mind goes in a million different directions. She has a lot of things in the class that would just makes my head spin.
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