For me, I have always felt that in order to have a productive and enriching learning environment in your classroom, it is important to know the students who make up that learning environment. After reading the Lapp article, it reinforced this idea, which Lapp highlighted as a “Need for Deep-Level Cultural Understandings” which closely related to the ability to manage your classroom (Lapp 2004).
I think there are a variety of ways though, that teachers can begin and continue to know their students but many of these strategies depend upon the age and performance level of students. For example, younger grades may have a hard time filling out a questionnaire and would need some verbal interaction with the teacher or be given art materials in order to convey some information about themselves. Another strategy would be to invite parents/grandparents/aunts/uncles into the classroom to talk about different students' cultural backgrounds so that not only do you as the teacher have a better understanding of that student, but so does that students' peers or even the student himself. I do not feel though that this information must necessarily always be directly given from the students. Simply by watching the way that students interact with one another or how they deal with different situations that arise in the classroom can tell you something about that student. I also think that a teacher can learn a lot about his/her students through their writing. By giving students prompts that allow them to discuss what they did over the weekend or where their favorite place is, teachers are able to not only give students practice with writing, but learn more about where that student is coming from. For example, from the writing samples we looked at today with Marcus and the exemplary example, we were able to learn a lot about those students without even meeting them. Simply knowing that Marcus gets his haircut at a barbershop rather than at home gives you a clue into the other parts of Marcus’ life and can help you understand the background from which he comes.
In addition, I feel that it is important to know your students from multiple perspectives because if you only look at them in one way, then you are limiting their capabilities and potential for success. For example, if I only knew my students by how well they performed on tests, then I would find some very competent and others very incompetent. However, if I looked at them from another perspective, say from how well they did in art class, then my ideas about them would change, as would my teaching strategies towards their strengths.
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2 comments:
Katie, I enjoyed reading your post because although we did have many things in common that we wrote about in our blogs, I was also able to think about some new things I had not considered before reading your post.
I really liked when you said, “I do not feel though that this information must necessarily always be directly given from the students. Simply by watching the way that students interact with one another or how they deal with different situations that arise in the classroom can tell you something about that student.” I never really thought about how by just observing you can learn a lot. In the classroom that I am in for my placement sometimes I really enjoy just sitting in the back of the classroom observing the behaviors of my students to see who gets off task when, and to see their facial expressions when learning new concepts. My CT even asked me one day to just observe for 30 minutes to see how the students interact with one another because she did not know if the groups she placed her students in would work out or need to be changed. Being a Special Education major, I have to do lots of observing and recording behavior patterns for certain periods of time to see how frequent the behavior occurs and just by doing this, I am learning about my student. I am really glad you brought up how teachers can learn by observing because this made me think of so many things I currently do in the classroom during my placement.
I also liked when you said, “By giving students prompts that allow them to discuss what they did over the weekend or where their favorite place is, teachers are able to not only give students practice with writing, but learn more about where that student is coming from.” When you said this I thought your could definitely incorporate this into any upper elementary classroom because you could have a new prompt everyday in a daily journal. This would be a very informal way to get to know your students in an easy way!
Katie,
You've clearly thought about some really creative ways to get to know your students. Like Julie commented, I especially appreciated how you mentioned that we as teachers can learn just by watching. I too, like Julie, would sometimes just sit and watch my students. Sometimes I would watch them out at recess or down at lunch -who do they play with and talk with? What are their gross and fine motor skills like? Sometimes I would watch them right after I gave an assignment. I could learn so much from how they attacked their work. Do they get started right away? Do they take time to read the assignment over? Do they talk with their friends before getting started, hinting at their social nature?
And you're right - this "watching" has to occur from more than just an academic achievement lens. I know that our "specials" are sacred to us as teachers, but maybe once a month, we can follow our kids to gym or library or computers or art - you're right - learning and teaching is about so much more than scores on a test.
Sarah :)
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