Teachers interact with their students for several hours, every day, Monday through Friday. That interaction is important for the obvious, teaching whichever lessons pertain to the age group you are working with at any given time. But the videos share that there are additional skills that kids are picking up during the social interaction that is taking place during each school day. The language video made it very clear that children will build bigger, better, more complex language if they are hearing language at a higher level. Teachers might be tempted to speak in the most basic language, to make certain that their instructions are understood. After viewing the video, it is clear that this would be a big mistake. The research indicates that children have both larger vocabulary and more advanced language structure when they are spoken to in a more complex manner.
So, as a teacher, you are tasked with challenging your students by speaking to them at the next higher level - as compared to where there are currently, at the very least.
There were a lot of tips in the reading video as well. The use of word games and rhyming can be influential in developing skills. I found news that was actually a bit disturbing to me in the resources tab. According to a recent study (by Scholastic) the percentage of kids that read for fun is plummeting. This number, however, the resource page implied, could be affected if the kids are exposed to more reading time at school. For whatever reason, reading time at school had a link to kids then reading at home for fun. So lesson three (after speaking at a higher level, playing word games) is to program some reading into the day. The video cited reading as one of the best ways to improve language skills.
So for teachers, there is one more thing to remember when teaching - but it is easy - speak to kids at the level that you want them to climb up to, not the level that they are currently occupying. And, if you have a spare minute or two - put a book in front of them.
Saturday, February 28, 2015
Friday, February 13, 2015
What does it mean to be a relational teacher? If you had asked me when I was younger, I think I would have had the mistaken belief that being relational as a teacher meant being a friend to your students. Having lived life long enough to have some experience in working with kids, and adults for that matter, I think that it is more complicated than that.
On some level, it is a kind of friendship. But, you would make a mistake to equate it to the friendship of a peer.
My first job at a management level, where I needed to be responsible for my own department, taught me that you absolutely have to connect with people; but you should take care in how you go about this. I had to go out of the office quite a bit, and decided that since we were all adults, I could trust my unit to behave and follow procedure. What can I say - naïve. The hardest working members of the team became incredibly frustrated because those that were not as hard working abused the situation. I did not assert myself enough to stop this before it created a serious problem. I had made the mistake of acting like a peer, not the manager. I had connected with every team member, but not in the way that stated that I was the manager and I would lay down the law . . . Whoops!
I think that a relational teacher is the same sort of thing. You get to know your students. You invest time in trying to find out what is important to them and what you can do to help them knock down barriers. You care, but as the teacher. You are the guide, not the buddy.
I think that first and foremost, you create a friendly and safe environment. Greet the kids at the door, let them know you are happy that they are there. Set the expectation that while there are no dumb questions, there are boundaries -- like they have to respect each other.
I think that you also build them up with small group activities, where they not only learn together, but learn from one another. I also would tend to ask the kids what they liked as the year progressed, steering the class with input from the students.
The one thing that I have learned from coaching is that kids, especially the teenagers, will let you know exactly what they think - so bottom line is to pay attention, value the feedback, apply lessons learned along the way.
On some level, it is a kind of friendship. But, you would make a mistake to equate it to the friendship of a peer.
My first job at a management level, where I needed to be responsible for my own department, taught me that you absolutely have to connect with people; but you should take care in how you go about this. I had to go out of the office quite a bit, and decided that since we were all adults, I could trust my unit to behave and follow procedure. What can I say - naïve. The hardest working members of the team became incredibly frustrated because those that were not as hard working abused the situation. I did not assert myself enough to stop this before it created a serious problem. I had made the mistake of acting like a peer, not the manager. I had connected with every team member, but not in the way that stated that I was the manager and I would lay down the law . . . Whoops!
I think that a relational teacher is the same sort of thing. You get to know your students. You invest time in trying to find out what is important to them and what you can do to help them knock down barriers. You care, but as the teacher. You are the guide, not the buddy.
I think that first and foremost, you create a friendly and safe environment. Greet the kids at the door, let them know you are happy that they are there. Set the expectation that while there are no dumb questions, there are boundaries -- like they have to respect each other.
I think that you also build them up with small group activities, where they not only learn together, but learn from one another. I also would tend to ask the kids what they liked as the year progressed, steering the class with input from the students.
The one thing that I have learned from coaching is that kids, especially the teenagers, will let you know exactly what they think - so bottom line is to pay attention, value the feedback, apply lessons learned along the way.
Saturday, February 7, 2015
Discussion 3
While this week's information on detecting possible problems was really important, I think that I was most interested in the information on ADHD.
When I was growing up, my cousin Rob was really active; really, really active. And my Aunt Carole was always having to go to the emergency room because he was into everything. He was one of those kids that had to touch everything, experience everything through physical contact. Fortunately, none of the accidents were ever serious enough to be more than stressful for Aunt Carole and stitches for Rob. He is now a fully functioning adult with no issues.
I think that if Rob were in school today, he would have been marched to the doctor and prescribed Ritalin. While I understand that some medical treatments and intervention are crucial, I worry that it is too easy to prescribe a pill. I really liked having some information on how to just shift position in class to the front or actually communicate in the hopes of not just turning to pills.
I can only imagine if Rob had been raised in a household that was burdened with excessive stress. His hippocampus would be shrinking while everyone failed to meet the need for positive stimulation.
As a future teacher, I think that the information on nurturing was enlightening. The study from the University of Oregon about parenting skills can easily translate over to the classroom. Using positive language helps not only to maintain positive stimulation, but it models for kids how they should then behave. Aunt Carole would get frustrated, but I don't recall that she ever yelled when Rob had once again used a bicycle, or any other available object, to defy gravity. Maybe that is why he is totally "normal" today.
When I was growing up, my cousin Rob was really active; really, really active. And my Aunt Carole was always having to go to the emergency room because he was into everything. He was one of those kids that had to touch everything, experience everything through physical contact. Fortunately, none of the accidents were ever serious enough to be more than stressful for Aunt Carole and stitches for Rob. He is now a fully functioning adult with no issues.
I think that if Rob were in school today, he would have been marched to the doctor and prescribed Ritalin. While I understand that some medical treatments and intervention are crucial, I worry that it is too easy to prescribe a pill. I really liked having some information on how to just shift position in class to the front or actually communicate in the hopes of not just turning to pills.
I can only imagine if Rob had been raised in a household that was burdened with excessive stress. His hippocampus would be shrinking while everyone failed to meet the need for positive stimulation.
As a future teacher, I think that the information on nurturing was enlightening. The study from the University of Oregon about parenting skills can easily translate over to the classroom. Using positive language helps not only to maintain positive stimulation, but it models for kids how they should then behave. Aunt Carole would get frustrated, but I don't recall that she ever yelled when Rob had once again used a bicycle, or any other available object, to defy gravity. Maybe that is why he is totally "normal" today.
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