This week we discussed Chap. 1-3 "Teaching and the Environment". We also looked at some images of preschools and designs.
For the blog this week I would like you to choose two ideas to write about, one paragraph each, or one idea that you elaborate more on. Please feel free to question the readings, extend the discussions, bring in your personal experiences or any other ideas related to our topics this week.
Our next class will be on May 30 due to the Victoria Day holiday. Please bring a pencil and eraser to class. Hopefully the weather will continue through the long weekend. Enjoy!
Link to image: http://www.google.ca/imgres?imgurl=http://www.shapecollage.com/collages/collage-apple.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.shapecollage.com/collages.html&usg=__Zqb8_DBrqNTDIzO732JP7iIOwZI=&h=2195&w=1808&sz=796&hl=en&start=7&zoom=1&um=1&itbs=1&tbnid=kn4Jo-WUEppt0M:&tbnh=150&tbnw=124&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dcollage%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26biw%3D1259%26bih%3D551%26tbm%3Disch&ei=c0PTTYmfGsbeiAK3psWYBA
One of the topics I wanted to discuss was the idea of colour in the environment. I noticed many of the photos we looked at were monochromatic, or very pale in colours. Some of the best centres I've been in are colourful ones with big scenes painted on the walls. I love the concept of having the walls painted in primary colours, or having all the bins and baskets coordinated by colours (all yellow bins hold blocks, all red bins hold doll things, etc). I find colour to be a very powerful tool to producing a great early learning environment. Children at these ages often can't read, but they can use colour to organize and understand their environment. I'm surprised there wasn't more of it. Having a colourful room makes it feel welcoming, less sterile. It also makes some expectations obvious to everyone in the environment (for clean up, etc).
ReplyDeleteSomething else we didn't discuss in class this week was changing the environment. When a group of children becomes established in a center, there's a good chance the environment becomes stagnant to that group. This can cause boredom, which leads to...trouble!! So I'm curious if anyone out there has some ideas about how to 'refresh' the teaching environment when access to new things isn't necessarily available. I was thinking that frequently changing the artwork helps, changing the furniture around... but what else?
I really enjoyed working on our collages with our groups this week. It was very interesting to see the various results. Every group had creative ideas and in turn, I was able to gather some good ideas for future projects with my own students. I have been thinking about the question that was posed about how would one showcase all of the collages as one entire grouping. I thought that it would be intriguing to place all of the various collages in an area and then pose the question to the viewer-"What do these collages/art works have in common?" If a similar project was given to a group of primary students, I believe the results would have been similar in terms of the difference in end products. Posting the various pieces and asking other students what the commonality is might make the presentation interactive? It might also spark conversation between the artists and the viewers provoking critical thinking and analysis. Just a thought.......
ReplyDeleteI have been pondering our conversation regarding effective ways to begin the day. It was beneficial hearing about what other teachers have done and what worked for them and their students. I really liked the idea of a mini project to start the day, or giving choices to the students as to how they would like to begin the day. Thank you for sharing your ideas everyone! Giving choice provides students with ownership over their learning. It also provides a safe and comfortable way to start the day. In my practicum class, we had a smartboard, therefore the students did their own attendance on the smartboard each morning followed by silent reading. I found this to be a very effective way to begin the day. The students had an incentive to come on time to have their turn with the smartboard and then had choice as to what and where they wanted to read. This system provided a calm and quiet atmosphere for the the students to enter in. It also helped focus the students for the tasks ahead that morning.
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ReplyDeleteI liked to write, and I am very wordy. I know this is long, but Sue if it is unbearably long, let me know and next time I will cut, cut, cut.
ReplyDeleteInvestigating classroom arrangements/design is always a favourite topic of mine, and I could spend the whole semester discussing it. In these classrooms, there seemed to be a theme of minimalism, which is quite rare for teachers. There were lots of materials, but they were neat and organized; also, there did not seem to be an abundance of unused materials taking up space. I think that by nature teachers are hoarders, not by choice, but by necessity. We do not want to throw out things that could possibly be used, or that we might have to buy again. Many teachers decide to keep all their materials in their classrooms, which leads them to be cluttered and ugly. I am quite neurotic, and seeing junk, un-organized materials, or too many things placed haphazardly (or in their proper place) around the classroom, gives me a stress headache. I think we are holding on to too much stuff. This negatively affects the atmosphere and learning. When there are too many materials, children will have difficulty finding things, putting them away properly, and using all the materials available to them. Also, it negatively affects the flow of the classroom. Children should be able to easily transition from one area to the next without encountering and obstacle course of materials and other children. The room these materials take up limits the potential of the environment, as well. In the minimalist classrooms, there seems to be more freedom for children. I know there are designated centres, but I love the potential of being able to pick a space on the floor to sit and begin something new, without getting in someone’s way.
After discussing the important process of scheduling in classrooms, I realized that there is something inherently wrong with this system in public schools. I think that instead of having a mandatory break scheduled for the entire student body, it should be dependent on the class. Children’s biological rhythms and needs are obviously unique to every child, and I think that it would be better to fine tune a schedule that is appropriate for twenty children, rather than force a few hundred to assimilate to the same schedule. As stated in class, the school I worked in had lower income students that were sleepy and hungry in the morning. I would ensure that the recess break came a little earlier than normal. I felt that schools bell schedule was too late for them, and they needed their break 30-45 minutes earlier. I did Daily Physical Activity during that block or let them eat their snack early, but to me it felt like if they went for their break when they needed, I could have optimized the learning time to better suit there needs. If teachers had a “draft” schedule at the beginning of the year, and observed their student’s needs and reactions to the break time for the first month, and then made a schedule for breaks would be beneficial. I think that this would help maximize the productive time, while meeting the needs of the students for play and relaxation.
In reply to Jenn.
ReplyDeleteI wanted to include this in my summary of the week, but remembered we were not allowed to peek at other people’s post.
Jenn, when I was first introduced to nature based and soft colour palates in the classroom, I was upset. I grew up in bright and exciting classrooms, and I could not have imagined it without these. However, when I entered PDP and learned about the current educational movement in self-regulation, my perspectives began to change, and I learnt that although this is what we are use to, it does not mean it is better. More and more children are coming into classrooms without the ability to self-regulate. This can result in children acting out, unable to calm down, and numerous other behaviour problems. The ability to self-regulate is heavily dependent on the senses. It is important that when teaching students, they are in happy medium between being over-stimulated and under-stimulated, and the bright colours can be a cause of over-stimulation.
Understandably, every classroom is designed with that teacher’s expertise. However, with full-day kindergarten, many children are entering school before they are ready (especially boys), and the long day can lead to numerous behaviour issues. In one of the classrooms I worked in I had four identified children with (extreme) behavioural problems, and three more that were borderline; it was quite hectic, and I think it was the test I had to pass to ensure I wanted to be a teacher. After this experience, I am now focused on trying to create a calm environment, and I think that colour plays a huge role.
Scheduling is something that I have never been too strong at in my own life, so when it comes to teaching I have given a lot of thought to it. I know that there are certain times of the day/week/year when I am more likely to be focused and open to learning than other times, and I believe that it is important to transfer this knowledge into my future class scheduling. While working in a preschool classroom, it is easy to see (and hear) that the students are, for the most part, focused and on task at the beginning of the day. As time progresses however, attention starts to wander and noise levels increase dramatically. If it were my class, I think that I would attempt to schedule a break, to either relax or play outside, around the time that the students usually become distracted. As we discussed in class, scheduling the more cognitive work at the beginning of the day is something that I think would be highly effective.
ReplyDeleteAnother aspect of this week’s discussion that I would like to think more about is the use of collecting/ collages in the classroom. I had never given much thought to it before, but after this week’s class I think that it is definitely something that I will use many times in the future. My favourite part about making collages is that it gives students a chance to explore their own selves and their own personalities (i.e.: what is important to them,) while building fine motor skills and developing creativity. By sharing the collages with the class, all of the students will be able to get to know one another better and will be practicing speaking in front of people, which is a good skill to have later in life. All of this is based around a “get to know me collage,” meaning a collage that gets students to think about what is important to them and what they like/dislike.
Something that I was thinking a bit about is a way to use a collage in a math setting. I like the idea of bringing creativity into math, to add fun and understanding. For example, students could make a “five collage” and think of all of the different ways to add up to five. They could use a picture of two joggers and connect it to three cyclists, or four leaves connected to a pinecone. Each student could do a different number so that when everyone was done, much like the rainbow idea from Monday’s class, we could hang them around the class to make a number line.
Teaching and the environment:
ReplyDeleteTeaching and the environment is a topic that I am most interested in because my understanding is that there is a new shift in thinking about how a classroom should look. Previously, classrooms used to be full of stimulating colour, but recently there is a shift to promote all natural classrooms. At first I was sceptical about this new idea, but I witnessed something that changed my mind. I was helping a friend in her kindergarten class that was trying to follow the rules of an all natural classroom and within the play center there was a wooden board. I wondered why there was a board in the room until some students began to play with it. They used their imagination and used the board for 3 different activities. Maybe implementing all natural classrooms and eliminating realistic props can truly help foster a child’s creativity after all.
To expand on the natural classroom idea, I feel that natural objects from outside should be brought into the classroom environment. I appreciate the time that we were given to explore outside and find objects for our collages. I often allowed my grade sixes and sevens to take a nature walk and I know that a friend of mine often did this with her grade two class. Not only does this allow students of any age time to be outside and explore the environment, but the objects that are brought inside can be used in such a variety of ways. We saw this in class as some people used objects on their posters and some used them to teach the senses. Another positive aspect of the activity yesterday was that we were able to work in cooperative groups. I believe that group work is great to foster socialization and build classroom community. I hope that everyone had a positive experience exploring. See you next class.
A topic from the reading, and something that was mentioned in class that I find interesting, is the debate between a colourful and “busy” classroom, versus a more neutral, simplistic room. Some modes of thought suggest that a classroom with a lot of bright colours and pictures on the walls is over-stimulating and distracting for children. The counter argument suggests that it is in fact inviting and stimulating (but not too much of course). It seems that the notion of “stimulation”—what is too much or not enough—for a child’s development is at the base of every idea or argument regarding childhood education. Whether we’re talking about technology, a child’s exposure to the outdoors (http://youtu.be/VXAiJcMTkwc), or play-based learning, it all seems to come back to “stimulation”; an argument, which, undoubtedly, also involves the development of ADD and ADHD—some suggest that over-stimulation can be a cause of ADD/ADHD. I can understand and appreciate certain cases in which students with various diagnoses such as autism or ADD might need an environment adapted for their learning, but, at what point do we distinguish between a sterile, clinical-looking classroom and a room that resembles Synesthesia?
ReplyDeleteThe obvious answer might be in the perfect “balance”; but, aesthetics being such a subjective area, the idea of “balance” will look different for every teacher or every school. I have worked with one teacher who is partially blind, and the implication that has on the aesthetics of her classroom is endless. If the colours aren’t bold enough or bright enough she has difficulty distinguishing them from others. If items on the wall aren’t clearly placed or quite large, or if the lighting isn’t adequate she has difficulty seeing them. However, her students don’t appear to be over or under stimulated. The aesthetics of the classroom doesn’t seem to affect their learning or her effectiveness as an educator as her students have a reputation for moving on with great skill and knowledge. As each child is different and has individual needs, each child will require a different level of “stimulation”. Different colours, arrangements, layouts, etc will appeal to different children and it seems that finding a perfect “balance” is only relevant, year by year, teacher by teacher , and child by child.
http://youtu.be/VXAiJcMTkwc
ReplyDeleteI posted this link in my post, but thought I'd post it again. It's called "Mother Nature's Child" and it deals with the child's exposure to the outdoors/the lack thereof. If you haven't seen it, it's worth a look.
Teaching and the Environment
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed making collages and I feel that I do a similar thing in my life. I love collecting stuff and although I don’t necessarily turn it into a collage I feel that there is great value in collecting items that have meaning to you. What I end up doing is every time I go on vacation I collect every ticket, map, brochure etc and turn it into a scrapbook. This is an excellent way to hold onto great memories and share them with other people. At the daycare I worked at, at the end of the summer program we made scrapbooks of our favorite days during the summer, which included a mix of pictures, drawings and writings, and then kids took them home with them. I think kids enjoy doing these activities. It gives them a chance to have choice in what items they collect. What I didn’t realize was so valuable about this activity was the bonding and group cooperation component. My group had a lot of fun and we learned so much about each other during this process. Putting the collage together allowed each of us to provide out creative input, learn about the significance of the items we choose and collaboration about what we collectively felts was important to be a focus on our collage. This is definitely an activity I would like to use in the classroom and it can be applied to so many different subjects! In a kindergarten class I think a great activity would be to collect pictures of items that start with the letter of the week and making a giant collage. This was students can look at the picture and have numerous different A letter words to add to their repertoire.
I think creating a routine is essential in the classroom. It needs to have a mix of high energy and low energy at the appropriate times as well. If the shape of the day was not on the board in the morning the kids would freak out. Also, if something changed they would be really confused and have a million questions.
As a way to start my day during the practicum we did a thing called “temperature of the day.” This required students to rate how they were feeling on a scale of 1 – 10, 10 being the highest. Every student was required to say something as their names were pulled out of a can and then that was their turn to speak. Many students like to give you details as to why they feel the way they do. As a teacher you need to make sure there is a time limit on this because kids can talk forever if you let them. I think this was a great way to start the day because it gave students practice identifying how the feel and it gives the students and teacher an idea of the student’s mood and therefore how to approach them. When you observe a kid having a low mood every day it may be the time to pull that student aside and find out what’s going on.
Two ideas from the readings:
ReplyDeleteCollecting:
The whole chapter about collecting was especially enlightening for me; I had not thought to use them in the primary classroom before. After reading this chapter I am convinced they are essential. I was really won over by the presentation of collections as a tool for cross-curricular learning. In particular, I can’t think of a better way to help students learn to be careful with items that need special care. I appreciate the way collections can inspire children to take good care. As I read the chapter I thought of how a teacher could encourage the student’s to create enough awe around the objects in the collection. This class-created sense of awe combined is re-enforced by the use of ‘special tools’ to observe and deal with the collection. A smooth progression of the whole process leads to students easily beginning to monitor the way in which they handle particular items. I feel students can also gain a new kind of focus and learn how to direct their attention by dealing with collections; I still remember the exciting charge of ‘special things’ in the classroom.
Scheduling and Equity Considerations:
I appreciated the reminder in the scheduling section that a teacher’s “use of time sends a clear message about who is most valued in the group” (p.38) I have found it a real challenge in my classroom experience to truly give equal attention to each student; in most cases this is because some children tend to want to ‘steal the show’ and I always feel like if they’re calling out for attention I should give it to them! I ‘know’ mentally that everyone deserves equal attention, but find it harder to put into practice. I find the suggestion of asking oneself the question “who are these children?” about those who get less or more superficial attention, extremely powerful. I think asking myself this question in the classroom, combined with conscious scheduling of even division of one-on-one time, will help me create a classroom where I can know all the students as individuals, and all students feel that I am attentive to them. If anyone has any good suggestions about how to better divide your teacher-attention evenly and support relationships with students who tend to shy away from one-on-one time, please give me some tips! (I have a suspicion this could be an on-going challenge!)
I really enjoyed doing the collage activity on Monday. Before then I had never realized how collage can be used to address the curriculum in such a fun, engaging way! Coming from a background of working with students with special needs, I appreciate how easy it is to adapt the collage activity to students who are at different academic/cognitive levels. Hence, all the students in the classroom are able to participate in the activity and feel included. I thought the collages in our class were amazing: extremely creative and educational. After looking at some of the collages (i.e. the five senses collage and the "what makes a good classroom" collage) I had a much better idea of how collages can be effective teaching tools. Thanks veryone for the great examples!
ReplyDeleteLately I have been reflecting on how a classroom teacher can address the needs and interests of all the students, regardless of their culture, beliefs, or backgound. I like the idea presented in the book of having students of different cultures bring to school a collections of items that represent their beliefs and traditions. In my school there is a high population of First Nations students, and it would be great if they could share their traditions with other students.
I found chapter two’s subject of collecting very interesting. I had never thought about using collecting in my classroom, other than allowing students to bring in their collectibles on sharing days. I started to think about collecting in terms of teaching and learning. My knowledge was extended when we went to class and were asked to collect items for a collage with some fellow classmates. Not only was I thinking about the value of collecting for its own sake, but I also understood how collecting as a group can foster social growth and collaboration. My group worked very well together and created something that we were proud to share. I loved how our collage evolved into something we had not planned for. The experience was very organic and natural. None of my group members had a preconceived notion about what we were going to create, it just happened. We all just enjoyed the process. This collage experience opened my eyes the value of incorporating collecting into my future classroom.
ReplyDeleteI also started to think about the value of collage making for boys. A fellow student brought up the idea that boys are generally hand- on learners who enjoy physical learning experiences. I now see the value of collage making on a higher level because of this classroom experience.
I found the lecture on Monday very interesting. I really enjoyed seeing the different pre-schools. It is nice to see the variety in early educational centers. I think as educators we need to understand and be exposed to different classroom settings as it may benefit our future students. Hence, I also agree that we need to have "changing" classroom environments were one month the classroom walls can be filled with bright colors and paintings and another month the classroom decor can be more towards neutral colors. This can also apply to the desk arrangement and the different play areas. I really liked the net play area that one of the preschools have. I think it is crucial for children to have their Daily Physical Activity, have having the open space were kids can be kids and just bounce around is such an inspiration.
ReplyDeleteI also enjoyed the college making. Everyone in the classroom is so talented in their own way. I love seeing how the groups were able to collaborate and come up with such different and eye catching collages. I think the flexible criteria really helped us bond as classmates and see our similarities and differences. This class assignment can also be used within our future lesson plans, for example the sensory collages, like the "smelling" cups and "feelining" box.
I found the first three chapters really interesting. I never really thought about how strategically placed items (such as shelving) in the classroom are to create separate areas; or how placing equipment (like blocks or a book) in a certain area (“house”) of the class would change how children play in that area. I just thought things were placed where they were for convenience. It is going to be hard to not notice this now when I’m in a classroom and observe how children interact with their surroundings. On collecting, I think it’s a great idea for every child to engage in collecting of some kind. When I was a child I loved collecting all sorts of things, some of which I’m were unusual things to be collecting. I was always interested in everything! My brother on the other hand was super shy and seemed to not be interested in anything, yet he collected baseball and hockey cards like nobody’s business. I was just recently looking at his collection at my dad’s house and he had not only organized them in alphabetical order by last name within teams but also organized the teams in alphabetical order by city….what 7 or 8 year old kid does that?!?! Clearly kids are able to find many ways of collecting and organizing things which I find very inspiring!
ReplyDeleteI was not in class on Monday but I wish I could have been there. Making collages was one of my favorite things to do through high school. I would always be working on something depending on what was going on in my life or even when I was making a card for someone it would have a collage on the front… yes, I am that cool. Later in the week I had another class in the same classroom and I got to take a look at some of the work you guys did- it looked like it was an interesting class! I’m assuming all the coffee cups with things inside to smell was part of the class as well? I thought that was cool, it got me thinking about what they could be and I’m sure that children’s minds would really be working during that activity!
I really enjoyed the team-building experience of making a collage. I learned more about my group and we were able to make connections with one another by discussing how we each relate to our shared environment. One point that was not addressed in class but that I think is worth noting before trying this in the classroom is that, especially with young children, I would first hold a discussion about what items are not appropriate to collect from the environment.
ReplyDeleteI agree that scheduling is definitely an important part of the day in a primary classroom. When I was observing at the beginning of 401/2, I found myself relying on the “Shape of the Day” to help me make sense of the day so I can see how it is a valuable tool for children to have a visual reference. When I was teaching, I would occasionally return to the Shape of the Day to help refocus the class. I would read out the activities we had already completed and the class would respond. For example, I would say, “Booktime is….” and the class would respond, “Over!” and I would flip over that activity card. The students enjoyed this and could track our progress through the day. We would flip over all finished activities and then when we reached the upcoming activity I could say, “Next is…” and the class would read out the next activity. I found this to be a quick and effective way to ease the transition to a new activity as well as a way to remind students that they can use the Shape of the Day as a reference tool.
I really enjoyed working together as a group to complete our collage. It was interesting how each group ended up with different ideas and concepts. I really liked the idea, that one group came up with, to use your senses to build a collage. I believe that is a great way to get children to interact with eachother on more than one level. They not only can talk about what they see, but also what they smell, hear, etc. Collecting and creating collages is a good way to get all children involved.
ReplyDeleteBuilding collages is a great team building experience. I found that even collecting items, or trying to figure out a topic for the collage helped each of us get to know one another. I think it could be quite useful in the beginning of the year to do something like this to help the students become more comfortable with one another. I believe this was mentioned in class but it would also be great to create collages before and after certain units are learned throughout the year. This can help the teacher understand the children's previous knowledge of the subject and how much they have learned after the unit is completed. Overall, I believe that collages can benefit the majority of students and teachers in the classroom.
From the Week Two readings, the idea of using the environment to break stereotypes stuck out to me. From my experience with children, stereotypes and gender roles are things that have drawn my attention. The text suggested using images of males doing typical female roles, while a woman may be depicted as a construction worker. This can help children see that either gender can perform a task or do a job. The authors also extended this idea to people with disabilities, suggesting that pictures of disabled athletes or people doing extraordinary tasks can help break the negative stereotype often placed on these individuals.
ReplyDeleteAs for the collages, I found it to be quite an interesting activity, seeing how different groups went about gathering different materials and how each group chose to display their theme. I have made different collages with my kindergarten and grade 1 day care kids and the different presentations are quite intriguing. Our most recent collages were cut outs from magazines. There was a large degree of freedom as the only instructions were to be safe and respect each others work. (Since we had done collages before, many children immediately thought of this idea.) I then laid out magazines, felts, scissors, glue and paper on a table, and provided no sample for our art project like I usually would. The result was a wide array of artwork. One student found any page in a magazine with fish, he cut them out, spent a long period of time looking over the pages and shuffling them around, before then asking me to staple the sheets together as a book. Other students made it all about themselves picking their favourite things, like dogs, cupcakes, flowers. And then there were some children who chose themes, like nature photos, while others just cut out interesting or weird pictures. Similar to the differing collages that our class created, it was quite intriguing to me how each child seemed to find their own way to interpret what to do with the materials I laid out.
Well this will be my second time writing this post as the first one chose to disappear... sigh...
ReplyDeleteHere goes...
This week we were given a great deal to think about. The idea of collages and their use, the physical structure of a daycare and our critique of the buildings, and the information that we read in the text.
I found all of these subjects to be of great interest.
The collages were of particular interest since I can see how the collage idea could easily be incorporated into a classroom situation. In language arts we focus a great deal on "connecting" to stories. This means taking ideas from the story and connecting them in some way to your life, another story, or the world around you. By using a collage the students could easily make a collage of all of their connections to a particular story. By doing this in such a visual form it would be a great way of incorporating those who struggle with reading and writing. This activity would essentially put all the students on a level playing field. I was interested to see how all the students in different groups in our class decided on a topic, negotiated who would do what, and how they were assembled and presented. All the ideas were different yet each was well thought out and complete.
The idea of collages also reminds me of the information in the text regarding collections. The collage is in essence a collection which is presented in a different way. I like the idea of having a shelving unit in my classroom that all children can add to whether there be a theme or not. By having a collection shelf the students are able to share their interests, knowledge and ideas with their peers. All students are able to participate and help to create and maintain the collection. Currently in my class we are examining seeds and how they travel. We have been on a seed walk to find a variety of seeds which were brought back to the classroom to be examined by the students. We discussed how they travel from place to place and any other observations we may have. I can see the collection idea being a very valuable tool in the classroom and will try to incorporate it.
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ReplyDeleteGreetings fellow classmates!
ReplyDeleteWhat stood out to me the most from Chapter 1 would have to be the discussions about the ways to optimize student learning through the physical environment, that is structured by the teacher, and how materials are organized and/or available for student-use. Moreover, I like the part where peer interaction and sensory exploration is encouraged in early learning. It's so important to ensure that student creativity is embraced and not restricted to few options from the materials and resources nearby. The biggest concern I've noticed when working with young children is safety and supervision. I have more experience working with kids from the intermediate years, and when I engage in discussion with colleagues how their experience differs from mine when working with primary students, they brought to my attention that the classroom set up and safety is the most important thing! This shows me that classroom priorities do change depending on what grade or age you are working with. This can also be understood as a way to meet the students' needs depending on the range of students you are responsible for.
The part about organizing time to support children's differing learning styles and patterns in Chapter 3 really stood out to me, as this section discussed how important it is to let children finish activities according to their own pace, rather than imposing pre-set time periods onto them. And for the children that finish early, adaptions and extensions can be provided. This can be used in intermediate learning too, especially when you have a split classroom of two grades I think. Feel free to expand, question, further explore or anything else any of the ideas I mentioned in my posting :).. Hope you all had a wonderful weekend, see you all next week!
The part that got my attention in the readings this week, was the attention paid to the physical arrangement of the classroom. I really like the idea of arranging the space of the classroom so that it caters directly to the needs of the child to be both functional (on their level) and aesthetically pleasing. I have seen a few early learning spaces and most of them are organized in a fairly haphazard manner. Items and materials are just there, but are not arranged in a way to be enticing or visually stimulating. Most of the toys and activities have been arranged in such a way that each activity is separate and self-contained so that it inhibits play from crossing over into other areas (and making a mess). As well, the materials (tape, glue, crayons etc) that the children are allowed to use are awkwardly placed so that they are not always available to the children when they want to use them. Looking at this idea of arranging the spaces so that are not only child friendly but also child stimulating, I think could improve the mentality of some of the children I work with, especially in regards to them doing their work and in helping them to evolve their play into something that is more mature.
ReplyDeleteAs well, I am not sure how I feel about the idea of using neutral or stimulating colours in the classroom. I have found that when neutral colours are used too broadly or when the wrong shade has been used in a space, that space becomes rather dull and uninspiring. On the other hand, if there is too much vibrancy and pattern, I have found that some children become so over stimulated that they find it hard to calm themselves down and can become rather agitated. Both colour palettes have their pros and cons and I myself favour a mixture of both; having areas of the classroom that would be more stimulating and others that are more subdued and have materials and the classroom arranged accordingly. For example, having the more stimulating colours in the area of the classroom where children would engage in active play and creative endeavours and a more subdued colour scheme where quieter activities and directed learning would take place.
I would like to know other people’s opinion on the use of colour in the classroom.
2. Last Monday’s class and materials were very fun and interesting. I love to discover new ways to explore environment and use space in different but productive ways. In the articles on space the one thing I kept thinking about was all the classrooms I have been in, volunteer and practicum, were pretty much static in their materials and set up other than changing art on the walls. I LOVE the idea of using room design to enhance learning. I could see myself leaving the set up of the room to the students as part of my beginning of year ritual. Have the students arrange the desks, decide where they would like to put a reading corner how to arrange materials and where to put them so everyone feels like they have ownership over all equipment and books so they feel free to explore them. I also love the idea of rotating materials and if something isn’t being used anymore then replace it with new materials. I feel like there are often too many rules about using material that make it so the students don’t play or use them – rules need to be about care and attention rather than restriction.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed making our collage (and the sun did come out, right! lol). I feel like this was a great exercise that was completely open ended and the variety of collages and explanations of uses were so diverse. Each group had a different method of approach to design and how they could use it with their students which is how art should be in my mind. Students often are given an example of art and told to copy it as best they can, but I enjoyed the open interpretation of the project. None of the collages were even similar to the others but all were given equal importance, all of us were engaged in our projects, finding the materials and working together.
I really enjoyed the collage activity we did in class. It was a very interesting and engaging activity. From the activity, I saw how my classmates were very creative and had lots of different ideas regarding the different themes that we can teach students in the primary grades (from 5 senses to different colour themes to texture box). Students in the primary grades love these activities. They also enjoy collecting things and having students collect things to make into a collage is a fun and engaging way for them to learn. A classmate mentioned that the collage activity could be used in the class as pre and post assessment. Students could make a collage in the beginning of the unit and later at the end of the unit. The collages could be used to compare what students had learned after the unit. I think this is a very interesting and innovative idea for assessment. After this collage activity, it definitely gave me a lot of ideas about making collages with the students. I think the idea of collecting and collage making can be tied together. A kindergarten classroom that I volunteered in, the teacher would take the students to a forest area near the school. The students would start gathering leaves and stones in a pile. The students also played around with the puddles of water and tried to form a stream. This was part of their exploration for the day. In hindsight and after the collage activity we did in class, I think the teacher could take the exploration further and have the students collect the rocks, leaves, flowers, etc. and bring them back to the classroom. She can have them classify the things into different groups and have the students create a collage based on a theme (maybe a theme about nature). It would have been interesting to see what the students would come up with.
ReplyDeleteI also enjoyed looking at the pictures of the different preschool/kindergarten centers. The pictures were very interesting and it gave me a lot of ideas about how to utilize the space to help children learn. I think that it is very interesting that those centers are award winning places for young children. Obviously, the placing of the furniture and the usage of space are child friendly that they would be considered award winning. However, I could not help but notice that a lot of the centers that were shown used very little colour. In my mind and in some centers or kindergarten classrooms that I have been to, I have seen places with lots of different colours, posters of different shapes, letters and posters of animals. I always thought that having different colours and pictures would stimulate young children’s mind, help them to learn and help them to organize their environment.
I have never worked in a preschool but I have volunteered in Kindergarten classes. However until reading the chapter on environment and discussing it in class, I never really understood the importance of the classroom environment to young children. Safety is obvious, but I had never thought about colour and the type of furniture, light and outdoor space as components to a child care center. It seems logical and obvious, but there is a lot of thinking that goes into designing a classroom. However, I did not particularly like some of the award winning classrooms we were shown. Many of them seemed too neutral and frankly kind of boring. The classroom with the brick wall was my favourite because even though the furniture was neutral, the walls and other big toys were colourful. I can understand having more calming colours in the reading area though.
ReplyDeleteI like the idea of making collections as a class. Kids are always collecting shiny rocks or pinecones or something on the playground. Creating a space where they can all contribute to a collection would be exciting for them, I think. Also there are so many things you can talk about and do with collections once they are formed, like find different ways to categorize them, have a unit surrounding the kid’s finds, or talk about where the found items were found and why the kid’s think they found them where they did. I personally still have a rock collection.
Mark wrote:
ReplyDeleteI have enjoyed learning about the philosophical thrust behind the movement away from bright and busy classrooms. I have worked with persons who have disabilities for eight years now; this experience has opened my eyes to the role stimulation plays in the emotional wellbeing of the people I support. Slowly letting go my own schoolboy nostalgia, I have come to support more subdued, minimalist classroom decor and open space design. I have seen the relaxing influence of a more natural earth-toned decor on students with autism. These observations coupled with my own childhood love of the natural world have set me on a small pedagogical adventure recently.
In the past year I have become increasingly interested in the “outdoor classroom.” Following the movement away from unnaturally bright and busy classroom walls I’ve yearned to push the boundaries a little further and explore teaching outside the classroom altogether. I will discuss this in depth here, as it dovetails nicely with what we’ve been reading about the learning environment. What I am coming to believe more strongly is that a part of the problem with the ‘traditional classroom’ is not simply over-stimulation; on the contrary it’s deprivation of the right sort of stimulation necessary to develop a healthy, balanced learner.
I work in an inner-city school, downtown Vancouver. Last year I went on a field trip to UBC farm with grade fives; I was amazed to see their collective awe when introduced to the basic processes of composting. These kids had all heard or read about it, but living in apartments they only had contact with the beginning of the process (i.e. their discarded apple cores and orange peels). On the farm it was all laid out for them; all the stages of composting were there to see, and to smell!
When the end-stage pure, rich soil from the compost was sifted out before them, most of these kids recoiled at the invitation to take some in their hands. “Ewww! Disgusting! It stinks and it’s a mess!” I was disgusted myself! But not by the dirt; it was the reaction of the students that disturbed me (for my own part I picked up a big handful of soil, smelled it approvingly, and even tasted it… that got a reaction!).
The contrast between “book knowledge” the students already had about composting and “knowledge through direct experience” could not be more plainly exemplified in these kids’ reactions to the farm field trip. If learning environment is the “third teacher,” how much more authority this teacher commands when the teacher itself IS the very lesson being taught!
This field trip was also my own introduction to what I now identify as, “Nature-Deficit Disorder.”
I picked up a book last Fall with that term in the subtitle: “Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children from Nature-Deficit Disorder.” Author Richard Louv sustains an argument that modern, urban children are suffering from a host of ailments (obesity, depression, attention disorders, etc.) that are at least partially due to profound disconnection from nature. Saturated by digital, wired stimuli today’s kids are quick to dismiss a forest or lakeside as “boring.” They are not helped by increasingly sterilized ‘city parks’. Safety must remain primary in our environmental considerations, however I would caution not at the expense of experience potential. We have a spot in our schoolyard that is called, “The Mountain”. Exciting name right? However, “The Mountain” consists of a large hill planted with some trees and scattered logs and rocks chained to their spot. The dirt is pounded to the ground daily by a thousand footsteps; the branches within reach are stripped of foliage; and the whole hill sustains an insect population of maybe a dozen insects observable in a half hour of searching (I know, I’ve searched).
If this is what city kids know as “nature,” their damn right it’s boring!
Mark's posting continues:
ReplyDeleteSo, what can we as educators do? This is a HUGE topic; personally I have only begun to explore it. I took an “outdoor classroom” ProD workshop at the Vancouver Aquarium this year. We were encouraged simply to take kids outside the classroom and into whatever nature is available. That’s exactly what I and my grade one teacher have done with our class. This feels risky at first, and it’s been a challenge in the class I currently work in (I am there to support two boys with autism). Bear in mind that kids are 100% conditioned to associate inside with learning/work and outside with play/freetime. At first a LOT of challenges stem from this alone! But with time the kids I work with have gotten used to learning outside.
Another tip is to change your expectations outside. Teacher control feels different without walls. Embrace it. And embrace the flexibility necessary to pursue teachable moments: I find I’m best served by an integrated-curriculum approach. Teach about sound and attention when a dog barks and distracts kids. Let them explore, document living things and habitat, then journal about and draw their scientific findings.
We can apply what we’ve learned about scheduling to the outdoor classroom. For example I have developed a little teaching strategy that helps with the energy endemic to outdoor teaching. I call it, “Burn, Learn, Return.” In over-simple terms the ‘burn’ phase is a small, quick game the kids play at the start of the outdoor lesson. Be creative and adapt a familiar game to the material your teaching (e.g. “decomposition tag”). The ‘learn’ phase is the body of the lesson, where kids sit down and write on their versatile clipboards (easy to make), while you teach them something (say, three criteria for classifying something as “alive”). The final stage, ‘return’, is both a physical return to the classroom and also a mental return to the lesson content. It consists of a summary of the main lesson points in a new (classroom) environment, thus reinforcing the new learning by repeating it in a second environment. This is a great way to take learning out of the ‘laboratory’ (i.e. classroom) and make it more accessible in everyday life.
I have here only begun to delve into the exciting new territory that outdoor teaching opens up! There is so much more to say, and I’m still on a sharp learning curve myself. But it’s fun stuff!
I will leave off with a few points from Environmental Educator Professor Leslie Owen Wilson’s list of characteristics observable among kids who have the “eight intelligence” (i.e. Naturalistic Intelligence, a late addition made by Gardner himself to his famous list of seven intelligences).
Those of us who, like myself, took great pleasure in the outdoors portion of our collage making may find these particularly interesting. (From p. 72-73 of Louv’s book)
Students with keen ‘Naturalistic Intelligence’:
- Readily use heightened sensory skills to notice and categorize things from the natural world
- Easily notice patters from their surroundings; likes, differences, similarities, anomalies.
- Notice things in the environment others often miss.
- Create, keep, or have collections, scrapbooks, logs, or journals about natural objects.
I hope this has generated a little excitement about using Nature as an excellent, even essential learning environment.
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ReplyDeleteBefore I began my practicum in a full day kindergarten classroom, I envisioned my classroom as a splash of primary colours, posters, crazy boarders, rainbow coloured bins, bright coloured books and toys. I did not have any understanding about the importance of environment for your students as well as yourself. This first time I walked into my practicum classroom, I noticed how dull her room was, all the cabinets and shelves were woo, she used wooden baskets to hold all the toys and books in the room and all the bulletin board had a yellow background. I did not understand why a teacher would want such a plain, dull room and was uninterested in the ‘natural’ look of her classroom.
ReplyDeleteThroughout the few months was there I slowly began to understand why the teacher had decided to make her classroom look more natural. I learned that if the classroom was too colourful, it would be more challenging for students to pay attention to what they were learning because they were surrounded by distracting colourful posters and materials. I learned the natural woods and colours used in her room helped students focus better on their learning because they were not as overwhelmed by the colour. I also learned a helpful hint, that the reason the teacher used yellow for all the bulletin boards was because it is the only colour that will not get faded by the sun, that way the teacher could leave the same paper up for the entire year!
By the end of my practicum I learned that my previous vision of the perfect classroom was probably the perfect setting for the students to go ballistic! A calmer colour pallet and natural materials is a much better environment for young children as well as adults to learn in.
After class I walked away with a number of different topics sparking interest in me, but the one thing I keep going back to was the topic of aesthetic appeal of a classroom. The photos of the classrooms we viewed really stuck with me. I know these are award winning classroom setups but many of them feel barren, and uninviting. I feel like the neutral walls make the room uninviting, classrooms should feel relaxing, inviting and provide stimulation. I believe a classroom should feel inviting not intimidating. When I say this I do not think that the room should be painted neon yellow, white walls are great. Just adding a few fun educational posters and children's work will make a room warm and inviting. I understand as well that over stimulation of color can also have a negative effect on children's learning, but a classroom should feel “played in”.
ReplyDeleteI was very surprised how much I enjoyed making the collage. I am not an overly creative person, but I found myself really enjoying this activity and will definitely use it when I am teaching. I found it exciting being asked to go and find things to use in the collage without any real strict guidelines. It allowed us to express our own ideas, beliefs and creativity. I look forward to other the other activities we will be doing this semester.
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ReplyDeleteThe two ideas that I would like to focus on is the benefit of collages and the importance of having a well-planned schedule in the classroom.
ReplyDeleteOne of the things I really enjoyed doing last class was our group collages. It was really interesting to see how many different ideas that people came up with in such a short period of time. It really emphasized how a collage, which is such a simple concept, can be broad enough to represent differing themes and ideas while providing such a rich learning experience for children. At the daycare that I work at, one activity that we have for the kids is called Imagination Market which I find similar to collages. In this activity, the children each have their own paper and can use a variety of different materials including feathers, cardboard, felt, etc in order to create whatever they like. I have noticed that when the children do this activity, they are highly focused on it because it stimulates their interests and it fosters their creativity and their imagination. Even though this activity is slightly different than collages, I still find that it provides similar positive results as collages do. Also, alongside doing collages individually, I feel that group collages, like the ones we did in class, can be very beneficial for kids. Even though we touched on this a bit in class and in the readings, I like how group collages can build up social relationships with peers. I find that the primary years of a child’s life, it is really important for them to learn the skills to build relationships and enhance their social skills. This can be beneficial for all kids but especially children with special needs or ESL. By having children with special needs or ESL work with other in the class, it can help them feel included and foster a sense of respect within the entire classroom. In my opinion, I feel that collages are a great teaching strategy that should be done more often in classrooms of any grade due to its positive effects.
The second point that I wanted to write on briefly is the topic of scheduling in the classroom. I found the chapter on scheduling very interesting because I never really thought about the positive effects of having a well-scheduled day. One of the points in the text that stood out for me is the section describing how staff need to organize time for children’s sense of security and competence and how there should be a “regular pattern to the children’s day, providing them with predictability” (p. 35). In the Kindergarten classroom I volunteer in, the teacher puts up visual aids to show the children what the schedule will be like for that day. A lot of the time I find that the children really do pay attention to the schedule and whenever there is a change to the routine or a mistake, they are always call attention to it. This point, as well as the chapter as a whole, really made me realize how much work has to go into planning a daily schedule in a classroom but I feel that all the work will off in order to be able to provide students with the best education they can have.
I really enjoyed that collage activity that we did last class. One thing that I found interesting was the collecting portion of the entire process. I noticed that quite a few groups mentioned that the collection process helped them decide on a theme, modify their initial theme, or actually change it all together. The collecting portion of the activity was also a brainstorming session among the groups where they could discuss their own ideas and work together towards a common single goal. The activity also took us out of the classroom to the outside environment and forced us to look at our surroundings differently. Signs on the boards, letters, pictures all took on new meanings and new purpose. I can only speak for myself, but I usually walk into school with a lot on my mind that I don’t usually stop and actually read many of the postings on the walls around campus. During this activity I was forced to take a second and third observation of all my surroundings. Chapter 2 of the text discusses the many developmental advantages of children engaging in collection activities. Collection of objects serves as a social skill building activity, it also encourages children to observe and explore the world around them. It encourages children to classify and match objects in the environment, thus leading to the development of cognitive skills (Naughton & Williams 2009). The act of collection is such a useful learning tool with young children. It’s a great as a hands-on, exploratory learning activity. Children are given a sense of control over their learning. There are a number of ways that teachers can include collection into a number of specific curriculum domains and Naughton & Williams mention mathematics, literacy, science and the social domain as examples.
ReplyDeleteIn regards to scheduling and the examples of classroom schedules that we discussed, I found it interesting that a classroom their meal time after free play. I think that is such an awesome idea. When I was working in a kindergarten class, I found that the actual time that was dedicated to eating so rushed. It was the same thing everyday; the children that ate fast rushed through their meal and anxiously waited by the door. Unfortunately they had to wait for the other children that usually ate slower. Then what started to happen, was the slower eating children began to feel rushed. I found it to be a bit stressful for everyone. Some kids were dying to go out and play, while other just wanted to eat in peace. What the teacher started doing was, she would take the first group of fast eaters out, while I stayed with the slow pace eaters until they were ready. However the time for the slower eaters was still limited, because we believed that it was important they still receive free play time outside. I believe having meal time after play time would be a lot better. Children will have the same time to play outside, which is very important. Then if children finish faster during the time allotted towards lunch or snack, they could partake in a classroom activity while the other children finish eating. Perhaps the faster eating children will no long eat rushed, because they have already had their time outside. The meal portion could be more of a calm socializing event during the school day. Also, not all classes have the luxury of splitting up the class like we did in our kindergarten class, this way the class stays all together and no one feels rushed.
A topic from the text book in which I found profoundly fascinating was the chapter entitled “Positioning Equipment and Materials”. Prior to reading this chapter, I was aware of the importance of encompassing a vast variety of materials within the classroom as a means of facilitating creativity and cognitive development. For example, through the use of symbolic props, such a paper plate, it allows the child to creatively manipulate the prop and transform it into any object of their choice; therefore, potentially transforming the paper plate into a hat, a frisbee, a hot dog, an ear ring, etc. However despite this knowledge, I had not put into consideration the importance of strategically positioning these materials within the facility; as easy accessibility to this material can promote cognitive development, promote social skills and influence a child’s understanding of normalcy. Furthermore, I was especially amazed at the notion that “children’s understanding of what is normal for males and females to do, think, and feel can also be challenged by careful positioning of images in the centre” (Page, 12). While reading this section of the chapter, I was reminded of an incident where a child I was tutoring was accused of wearing boy’s clothing because she was wearing a blue shirt. As I feel that in the classroom it is imperative to challenge the conventional understanding of gender, I was compelled by the text book’s suggestion of displaying images of men and women participating in tasks that defy conventional norms as a means of addressing this issue. I think the strategic placement of these images would possess immense value and would allow for the children to expand their understanding of each other and themselves.
ReplyDeleteThe additional idea I would like to discuss is the benefits of facilitating the collage activity, which we participated in last class, within the classroom. I had a lot of fun participating in this activity and was able to experience firsthand the benefits in which it encompasses. While collecting random items around SFU, I found myself consistently thinking of how these items would fit into my group’s theme. This reflects the aspect of the activity where the children would be able to practice the skills of categorizing and rationalizing; as they figure out how the items they found match their theme or rationalize the discarding of items that they perceive as not accurately corresponding to the theme. Also, I found that doing this activity within a group involved a lot of discussion between group members; thus this is exceptionally beneficial as it assists children in strengthening their social and dialogue skills. Finally, I loved this activity because it allows children to be engaged in the material as they are learning; as opposed to learning the material by being directly talked at.
Something that jumped out at me from these chapters was related to the act of collecting. I was intrigued by the idea of sensory experience and collecting different smells such as aromatherapy and herbs and oils. I have always found it to be true of myself that a sense of smell can be so profoundly tied to memory. It can almost inherently take you back to a time in your life that you associate with that smell. Therefore, I never would have thought about "collecting smells" as part of the overall sensory experience, but it makes complete sense as something that children in early childhood would enjoy and be interested in.
ReplyDeleteI also found the classification process within the art of collecting to be an interesting concept. For example, I never would have thought to collect "things that appear and disappear"
(p. 26)but in thinking about fine-motor skill development and the thrill of something like a jack-in-the-box, it makes perfect sense. I had a similar feeling with collecting "take apart" items, as my Dad just retired from teaching and for years taught a "Take Apart" unit to his grade 7 students. I just realized how fundamental classifying and collecting is as a part of our world and school culture.
I really enjoyed the lecture that we had on Monday. It was really interesting to look through the slideshows of the many different layouts of early childhood classrooms. When I do enter in an early childhood classroom setting, I never really take time to pay attention to how there is a specific layout for the classroom to make it more childproof or more easily accessible for children with disabilities. I also had a lot of fun making the collages with group members. Collages are such a great idea for a classroom activity as kids tend to really enjoy them and it allows the kids to express their creativity and allows the educators to gather an idea of how children think. This ties in with the idea of collecting that was in the textbook. Collecting things are a great way to preserve memories and to express thoughts and beliefs.
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