Ladybugs, Tornadoes and Swirling Galaxies Part 2

Let me start off by saying that this section of Ladybugs, Tornadoes, and Swirling Galaxies really captivated me! It was such a pleasure to read more about Brad and Amy's classroom and all of the wonderful things they are doing to implement skills into their students. Every time I read some new information from this text it really hits home for because I teach a large percentage of English Language Learners. I really liked how the authors helped me think about questioning and how that looks for kids. Buhrow and Garcia discussed how questioning is the catalyst for inquiry and gave examples of ways to help children question and how to note take. This is a strategy that I most recently tried with my students and for some reason it didn't go well. After reading the text, I know that reason is probably because the way that I framed some of my questions was difficult for students to think of their own (mainly since they haven't had much practice). I really like the idea of having a "I learned, I wonder" type of question based chart rather than the typical KWL chart. The main reason why I really thought the charts that Brad and Amy use in their classrooms might work in mine is because they integrate tons of pictures during their questioning and I didn't have any, I just used my words.

On top of the things that really squared with my thinking, there were several other aspects that pointed my thinking in a new direction as well:

"Kid generated word walls give kids more access to meaningful print" (Buhrow & Garcia, 2006, p. 81)

I absolutely loved this when I saw it and I cannot believe that I haven' thought to do this sooner! I truly believe that allowing the students to become more involved in their classroom that they really will begin to take ownership of their learning. I think something like this could work perfectly for all Pre-K teachers because they could get the students to draw pictures of the words that describe the theme for that week and the teacher can simply just label them.

Some Scaffolding Strategies for Inquiry Projects 
Drawing first
Lines for words
Scribing
Word wall
Compelling images
Modeling
(Buhrow & Garcia, 2006, p.83)

I think a lot of the strategies that the authors suggest are ones that I was trying before but I had no idea that I was helping to develop my students' inquiry based skills. I definitely would like to implement the use of lines for words because I think that would be extremely beneficial to Pre-K students. I recently tried an unsuccessful lesson using a KWL chart and I believe that my lesson would have went much more smoother had I had compelling images.

"By giving them the opportunity to choose we are giving them the opportunity to think and to explore what is relevant and pertinent to them. This drives their learning, and rarely do we find that kids are distracted or bored when they are working on something that they've chosen." (Buhrow & Garcia, 2006 p. 93)

I recently liked the fact the authors pointed this out because oftentimes children are bombarded with tasks that they do not care about and end up involved in other activities that will spark their interests. I think in a classroom where children are in charge of their own learning then it makes it way more easier for teachers to provide proper scaffolding because they are not as focused on the negative behaviors in the classroom.

In conclusion, of course with all great things there comes a few things that still float around in your head. Although I love everything that Brad and Amy are implementing in their classroom, I can't help but wonder how feasible is this really. It seems like the author's classroom is a set up where the children are very much in charge of what they are learning and how they are creating it. I guess my question now is in a place where standards and formal instruction takes precedence over exploratory learning, how do we balance and find that happy medium? I am excited about trying out a lot of the strategies that Brad and Amy use especially since they can really aid me in fostering the growth of my English Language Learners. I am just going to keep remembering the question of who holds the power in my classroom and continue to stay true to my answer: children.

Responses:

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October Theory in Practice Connections

Man oh man! October has truly been a roller coaster ride for me! Although I have only had three weeks to get to know my students, I have learned so much about them in such a short period of time. Looking over my Theory in Practice connections, the main patterns that I see during my highs is that I have the best days when my students are actively engaged in the lesson and are able to be very hands-on during the lesson. Many of my students are still four-years-old so I definitely had to reference back to Chip Woods' Yardsticks to re-learn four-year-olds and the best practices for them in my classroom.

In our Child Development course, we talked a lot about Piaget and his theory about children and the way that they develop. I learned that the vast majority of students in my class are still in the preoperational stage of development and have a very hard time seeing a perspective other than their own. This explains why so many incidents in my class have been due to students having a lack of empathy for their classmates because they haven't  quite developed to that stage yet. It was so very interesting to try out the Piagetian tasks with my students and be able to see where they were in the developmental continuum.

A lot of my lows for this month consist of classroom management issues. I'm not sure if it is because my students have not been properly introduced to the classroom rules or if they still aren't used to me yet but for whatever reason, I have been having a bit of difficulty trying to manage my classroom. I must say that Conscious Discipline has helped me a lot in thinking about how to keep my composure in the classroom and ways to approach managing my classroom better.

Despite all of the challenges that I have faced so far in the classroom, I have so many things to celebrate! One of my ELLs who first had a lot of difficulty recognizing and writing letters can now recognize the letters in her name and write them!
                        
 
My students are learning how to cooperatively work together and how each person has something valuable to add to the class!
                   

And also, they are making strides in their writing and coming along so very well in the writing process!!

                           

Looking at all of the things that I have to celebrate in short a short period of time gives me hope for how much more I will be able to accomplish in the future. I'm exciting to keep getting to know my students and keep seeing them grow in all aspects of learning. Also, I'm looking forward to seeing the growth that I am going to make as an educator and all of the memories I'm getting ready to make with the awesome students of Pre-K 3! :-)