This week we discussed Chapters 29-31 and re-examined some of the strategies used in light of our school visits. We listed some of the "at risk" factors for children and read an article by Harrist, "You can't say you can't play" about social exclusion in the Kindergarten classroom and methods used by Vivian Paley. We also talked about the value of visual art and worked on some self-portraits of our own.
In the next two classes we will share three items from our portfolios, our best teaching ideas. The write up of the portfolios will be due July 25 for everyone.
For next class on July 18, please bring your textbook,
The Boy Who Would be a Helicopter. Also, I'd like you to bring three small items that are interesting/unusual for a writing exercise we will do.
Have a great week!
Post July 12th/11
ReplyDeleteIn my practicum I found that I was constantly using reinforcement in order to support my students. It was beneficial for me to hear in class today the “negative” outcomes of using this technique. With this new information, I can reflect on my practices in order to improve my craft as an educator. Reinforcing is a controversial topic as we learned in class today, similar to the idea of praise. Susan expressed that, opponents feel that at times it is inappropriate and children can feel manipulated due to only extrinsic motivation. I had not thought of this, but agree that an educator should be aware of their use of reinforcement. I found that in the classroom reinforcement was effective often paired with redirection techniques. For example, if a student in the class was behaving in a negative way, I would point out a student in the class that was close to the student in question, and note the positive behaviour of that student. In this way, I am not pointing out the negative; I am reinforcing positive behaviour in hopes to re direct the student with the undesirable behaviour. It is my opinion that in using these strategies teachers must reflect on the impact these have on their students and should demonstrate these methods in a thoughtful, clear manner at the right time in the right context
I really enjoyed reading the article on exclusion in the classroom. I found that this was an issue that I was faced with in my practicum, and toyed with a number of activities to minimize exclusion between students but realize after reading this article that my methods were too hypothetical and at times out of context. In the future, I believe that I will implement the rule of non-exclusion at the beginning of the year in order to set the standard that this behaviour is not acceptable in the classroom. I agree that the inclusion of gender is an issue in the classroom and that promoting cross gender friendships and working relationships is important. I also believe that it is important as teachers to show our students, that being different is a good thing, and that it is ok. If differences are celebrated in the classroom, exclusion might be minimized. I question though, how do we find the balance between allowing children to select their own friends, and the exclusion of individuals? Possibly giving students the tools and know how as to when it is all right to make the choice to play with certain people and when it is not? Maybe we could give students non-examples to show what it looks like to exclude others. This topic is something I plan to look into further as I feel that it is very important to provide positive learning experiences for all students in the classroom, which means that exclusion should not be prevalent in the classroom.
After reading the first two chapters of the book “the boy who would be a helicopter” I found many parallels to my experiences with a particular child as Vivian does. While working at a daycare there was a boy that I spent a considerable amount of time with from age 3 – 6. He had many similar traits as Jason; he didn’t play with other children he simply created an imaginative world in his mind and played alone. Unlike Jason, he didn’t use words to describe this word he created so it made it difficult for other children or even staff to draw attention and engage in any way with the child. What he did was make crashing noises; it was a mix of guns and other forms of destruction. Often he would be jumping around the room with his head down, with a very serious face. It was hard to stop him from engaging in this behavior, but we were told by a support worker that we should try and disengage him from this behavior at all times. This is easier said than done. When we tried to get him to come do another activity he would completely ignore us, get angry or outright refuse. There is only so much one can do without causing a scene. Vivian’s attitude towards disruptive behavior is another aspect of the book I really enjoy. Although she becomes frustrated with children it is more disruptive for a teacher to become angry or exert their power in these situations than just leave them be. Instead her tactic is to just acknowledge the behavior but simply informing and discussing with other students about the disruptive behavior. This awareness seems to be enough for students to understand that they shouldn’t do it. Furthermore, this approach allows children to feel comfortable in their environment.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed making self-portraits today in class today. I think this is a great activity for young children to do. One of my group members said that a teacher they know has their students draw a self-portrait every couple months throughout the school year and keeps them so students can see their progression in drawing throughout the year. This is a great way for students and parents to see how their skills have developed; I would love to see the changes!
Visual Art in the classroom:
ReplyDeleteOur class self-portrait activity directed my attention to the fact that the visual arts play a role in young students process building their identity—for some more than others and to varying extents; but true nonetheless, I think, for all young children who have the opportunity to do art. Art, as was mentioned, is one of the first ways children represent people, concepts and things in the world.
Combining visual art and thinking about Paley’s non-exclusion policy article and her dramatic play curriculum made me wonder if visual art could play just as significant a role in learning and community building as does enforcing inclusion and facilitating a storytelling curriculum. If communal art activities were facilitated as rigorously and as a matter of daily routine as Paley’s storytelling curriculum is, I think it could be just as valuable. Since visual art has such a ‘primal’ and primary role in representation and ‘meaning’ (it comes before written language and is a part of literacy), who’s to say it couldn’t trump the effectiveness of the storytelling curriculum in building literacy and community?
When it comes to the fine arts, everybody has a favorite; this greatly affects what we find to be most important in our classrooms and our approaches to teaching. Paley’s favorite is drama and mine is visual art.
At-risk children
ReplyDeleteI think that it is extremely important to consider reasons why children could be at risk. If teachers know more about their students and their home environment teachers can help students deal with some of the circumstances. For example, in one classroom that I worked in many of the students come from a family of low socio-economic status, which affected their academic achievement. The children would often come to school with inappropriate clothing for the weather. In the winter some of them did not have warm clothing and would lose focus because they would be cold. The same goes for a lack of food that the family would be able to pack the child for lunch, which meant the child was often hungry and lacked concentration on school work. The teacher knew her students and prepared to help them succeed in school. She started to bring in clothing that she bought at garage sales for the students to wear if they were cold and she also kept snacks (crackers) for the students to have if they did not have enough food. Knowing your students and performing small gestures such as these can help students succeed.
Montessori
I thought that chapter 31 was very interesting as it went through different teaching techniques and philosophies. I really like Maria Montessori’s view of learning where children begin to develop and learn daily living skills. I like that children are active learners in their environment (Mac Naughton & Williams, 2011). However, I wonder if there is a fully developed Montessori program for children that are in the public school system in Canada. I know that it is easy to fully emerge children in a Montessori program for preschool or kindergarten but is this possible as children progress through their education? Another question to ask is if Montessori classrooms are occurring in the same building as the public school classrooms do the children in Montessori feel different or stigmatized because they are in a different program. I think that these children might be seen as outsiders or different as they are the students who are in ‘Montessori’. I am interested in this type of teaching and will continue training around it.
I have found reading The Boy Who Would Be A Helicopter to be very thought provoking and a very interesting text. In particular I found the comments by Paley on page 23, in Chapter Two (Teacher and Theory-Maker), to be very intriguing. It is here that Paley discusses the “social art of language”. Upon self reflection, I would say that I follow what Paley used to do, asking children not to interrupt others during storytelling and play. I do this to allow children to share what they would like to share when it is there turn. In my eyes, this was part of learning to work in a group and learning to wait for your turn. But Paley rephrases these interruptions as social interactions claiming that they enhance the story. I find it interesting how what I saw as interruptions can be used to enhance the story. These interruptions can enhance the story by providing guidance for the storyteller, or adding additional details or twists to make the plot more complex. This was certainly some food for thought that will make me reconsider the next time I start to say “Please don’t interrupt.”
ReplyDeleteThe idea of “You can’t say you can’t play” in a classroom setting is also something that is interesting for me. I have seen from within daycare experiences (with Kindergarten and Grade 1 children) that this can work, and children can find ways to include others. I feel that it made a more inclusive group, although we didn’t sit down and discuss it at the beginning of the year (something that I will do this fall). From my experience, a late child was usually given a new role to allow them to join in. This new role could be being the second brother or could be a whole new character to the story. However, if it was a more popular peer, they had the influence to often dictate who they were going to enter the scenario as. I think that there are benefits for children learning to incorporate others and be flexible in their roles to allow these characters to join. There are benefits in their social skills and I think it promotes a sense of community and equality that children are not being left out. I also find, like the interruptions that Paley mentioned, these new characters joining in can shift stories, and produce a more elaborate plot to play.
I really liked the “You Can’t Say You Can’t Play” article. It’s important to establish non-exclusion as a rule at the beginning of the school year, if you could get the kids to be involved in making this rule that would be even better. I think that showing kids that different people make good friends in different ways would be good because during elementary school they often get caught up with one group and rarely stray. One teacher that I have volunteered with often let children choose who they would work with, but they had to choose someone that they thought would be a good working partner, not just choose them because they’re a good friend. The kids were pretty good at knowing who they could work well with or who would be able to help them succeed. I think it’s important to have the kids get to know each other better through icebreaker activities, varied groupings and other means, this way they will learn more about the other kids and hopefully be more open to involving them in whatever it is they’re doing.
ReplyDeleteDoing the self-portrait was really fun. I think something that I might eventually do in my primary class is have the children keep a journal that they write in everyday and at the beginning of every month it could be neat to have them do a self-portrait. At the end of the year I would bind all of the months together for the children to have as a keep-sake. It would be neat for the kids to see how their portrait has changed over the course of the year. There are so many ways that you could do self-portraits too, for example, you could give each kid a small mirror to use, you could have the kids draw themselves in a Halloween costume for October, you could have the kids draw themselves making a funny face, etc., etc.
I was very interested in the article that we read in class. I remember having a similar conversation with a kindergarten teacher a few years ago. I was doing a research paper on play and social development. The teacher expressed that at the beginning of the year she informs the students that at school no one is allowed to stop another children from joining in on activities within the classroom. She told the children that they might choose the friends that they play with outside of school; however, when they are in the classroom no one is allowed to be excluded. I remember thinking at the time that I thought that policy was a good idea and was very impressed that this paper addressed that same subject.
ReplyDeleteWhen we were asked to discuss the question, “can a teacher help an excluded student form friendships” (I am paraphrasing, I can’t remember the exact wording)? I was reminded of a student that my son went to school with. He was a very troubled child who came from a very dysfunctional family. He was exposed to way more than a child his age should see. This child went his entire elementary school career without ever making a friend. I don’t think a teacher can force children to like one another. A teacher can influence how students interact within the classroom; however, friendships go much deeper than classroom inclusion. I feel that this is often the case with disabled children. If a student lacks some essential social skills they will seriously struggle with getting along with others. I believe that inclusion can promote acceptance, but creating friendships is an organic experience between two people that cannot be forced.
I found the self portraits to be quite interesting; you could really see a person’s personality, quirks and personal trademarks portrayed in them. It was neat seeing what it was that people emphasized and what they minimized about themselves; this made me think about what we are reading in our textbook, ‘The Boy Who Would Be A Helicopter’. Each person was telling the story of them self, reinventing and elaborating the story as needed to achieve the desired effect of revealing to each other what is viewed as their true self. In our textbook Jason defines himself by what he displays (words and behaviours) to his teachers and his classmates; he is the helicopter who requires repairs and buzzes into the landscapes, stories and lives of the other children, he is who he paints himself to be. I found this textbook to be an interesting insight and something that made me look at myself and how I deal with so-called problem children. By giving an outlet that caters to their needs and accepts their limitations (while trying to expand them gently) it gives the child the opportunity to feel safe and be willing to attempt new ways of doing, thinking or even being.
ReplyDeleteIt would be interesting to see how Jason would have responded to a Reggio Emilio style of learning environment. Would they have encouraged him to interact more with the other children, or would they have let him remain in his heliport in the block centre. Also, would the use of story telling (used by the teacher for the children) have fit into the 1 000 languages concept in the way that Reggio Emilio is typically known for?
I am really intrigued by Vivian Paley’s “The Boy Who Would Be A Helicopter.” I have never really experienced a child like Jason but I find it interesting how the other children do not really find Jason to be all that strange. I really like Paley’s attitude toward story telling too. Children tell stories to each other and themselves all the time and her method of recording the stories and then allowing the children to dramatize them is so beneficial. Not only do the children get to record their stories like ‘grown-ups’ but they then get to act them out with their peers which helps solidify the story and clarify the parts of the story that maybe they had not thought about yet. I can see how Paley’s activity would get children ready for reading. She exposes them to literature, encourages their thinking, writes down their stories to connect spoken word to print, and then has them act out the story. I was also very interested in the fact that the children used bits and pieces of each other’s stories, which enhanced each child’s vocabulary. However, it also showed that the children were already thinking about the audience for their story and what the audience would approve of. That is a lot of development included in one activity.
ReplyDeleteThe self portraits were fun. It was interesting to see how people drew themselves. Realistically, as a robot, as a cartoon, etc. It was also interesting to see what features people identified as being ‘them’ and what they left out. All the perspectives were different too. Some people drew their whole body, some only their face and some took up the portrait style of the renaissance. I think it would be interesting to do with a young class. I think you could learn a lot about how students feel about themselves through this activity.
I really enjoyed the article that we read last class entitled “‘You Can’t Say You Can’t Play’. I feel that the issue of social exclusion, especially in a child’s early years, is one that deserves direct attention as its long term consequences can be so detrimental for any child. In my own experience, I was able to witness instances of social exclusion taking place for two different reasons in the Kindergarten classroom that I volunteered in this past year. The two reasons underlying the exclusions correspond with the reasons highlighted in the article. The article states that one reason that children are found to be excluded is because they “behave in ways their peers do not like” (186) and this was the case for one child in this class. This one little girl, although she was very bright and sociable with the teacher, became the target of exclusion by her peers because of her dislikable behaviour. The other girls in the class would complain this particular child was mean, as she would say things like “You can’t be my friend” constantly and they would say that she would lie about things that didn’t happen. This case of social exclusion carried on for weeks. The other case of social exclusion was not caused by unlikeable behaviour, but by two children being “‘different’, for having qualities that make them stand out” (186). In this case, it was due to two children having disabilities. Both these children where never mean or aggressive, but because they looked different and had developmental delays, they were excluded by their peer group. As a result, I would always see the two girls playing alone or with each other. It is because I witnessed these two, and other minor acts, of social exclusion that I realized how common exclusion is in many classrooms. It is why I find this particular issue and article to be very important and informative. I really liked how the article highlights how a non-exclusion rule should be introduced right away during the first couple days of class when the other rules are introduced. I feel that doing this would be a great way to inform children from the start that any type of exclusion will not be tolerated and that the focus should be on inclusion.
ReplyDeleteI also really enjoyed making our own self-portraits last class. It was so fun to look through old magazines and cut out words and pictures that I felt best described me. In my experience with a Grade One class, the teacher had the children do a similar self-portrait activity in the first week of class. She then put up the self-portraits around the classroom and they were left there the whole year. I really liked how, even though some of the kids’ artwork throughout the year would be put up and taken down, the portraits always remained in the same spot. I felt like those portraits let each child know that despite all their diversity, they all belong in the class. For me, it builds that sense of community and inclusiveness that educators should strive for.
Task analysis is a procedure in which learning tasks are broken down into smaller components. The chapter mentions how children benefit from learning this way, having teachers break tasks down into smaller sequential steps so that they can learn. I think it is a good way for children to learn certain tasks. Task analysis is really helpful especially for children with special needs. They learn to do a lot of practical or other skills when it is broken down into small steps. The field of Applied Behaviour Analysis is really important for children with autism and it utilizes task analysis in helping children to learn. Many children with autism benefit and learn a lot of practical and academic skills from this type of intervention. If the skills are not broken down for these children to learn, it would be too overwhelming for them. They would be unable to learn the tasks or learn it well. Children in primary classrooms often learn well with task analysis because they are young and they do not remember all the steps that go with a certain task. They also need steps to be broken down in order for them to learn in a successful way.
ReplyDeleteI also found the article “You can’t say you can’t play” very interesting. In the article, it mentions how diverse approaches have been used to deal with the problem of social exclusion. It also mentions that class-wide interventions have been aimed at changing children’s attitudes toward their classmates and that they promote awareness, encourage interaction, provide problem-solving experiences and challenge stereotypes. If these interventions are implemented properly, I think that children would benefit from them. When exclusion is dealt with early in preschool and kindergarten, it minimizes the chances of aggression and bullying.
I also enjoyed the self-portrait that we did in class. I enjoy doing self-portraits as it gives me a chance to express who I am and how I see myself. It also let others to get to know me because the portrait tells a lot about my character, personality and what I like. I feel that students should draw their self-portraits at the beginning of the year and share them with their classmates because it helps their classmates to get to know them and find out who they are.
On the topic of reinforcement, I completely feel that rewards are an extrinsic motivation that should be avoided. How can rewards help students feel the need to learn and practice positive behaviour for their selves? I feel giving rewards, may result in students feeling that they are complying to what 'we' as educators want them to do.
ReplyDeleteDuring the school visits, in the K-1 classroom that I went to, the teacher would give each student a froot loop after reading a passage out of a book at the beginning of carpet time. And when recess came around, and there was some spilled yogurt in the cloakroom, there was a boy kind enough to point it out to us, but when we asked him to help us clean it up, he became resistant because he said it wasn't his to clean. Giving students rewards for good behaviour definitely can take away intrinsic motivation for students to do tasks for the sake of it.
On another note, I feel scaffolding is a very important practice in the classroom, especially with young children. The support and explicit guidance given by the teacher needs to be at a level that matches the pace of student's learning. This means that the teacher's instructions and modelling should not over-simplify that the student is not thinking for themselves at all, but still supportive enough where students can master a skill or concept with the teacher's help.
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ReplyDeleteI found this week’s reading particularly interesting. I had always wondered about the different teaching styles of preschools and early primary grades. I found the section about Montessori schools particularly intriguing. I found their fundamental teaching methods very appealing, as I believe there is immense value in self exploration. When students learn through self exploration they are more intrinsically motivated about what they are learning and often as a result learn more. However, I am not sure I agree completely to the degree that Montessori schools enforce self- exploration. The book discusses that the amount of interaction between teacher and students to be minimal both verbally and non-verbally.
ReplyDeleteIn “The Boy Who Would Be a Helicopter” the author brought up a point that rang true for me. She talks about a student who was the biggest trouble maker. She also mentioned how she is providing him with negative feedback 75% of the time; even though, he was engaged in non- aggressive play for 80% of the time. The author talks about how she was shocked at the difference between the amount of time she thought he was being a trouble maker and the actual amount of time he was misbehaving. This was eye opening for me. I began to reflect on my past experiences and wonder if there was ever a time when my view of a situation could be skewed the same as this teacher was. It made me think of ways that I can write down observations to ensure that when I am in this situation next time I will be better prepared.
I thought our textbook was a worthy resource. The author had some great insights on the many arena’s from room set up through to co-construction of knowledge and temperature management. It’s a worthy read and something I can see myself relying on later. Much of what she wrote about stereotyping of peoples really resonated and while this book was written in New Zealand it was completely applicable. She presented issues that aboriginal families and children experience and they are similar here in Canada.
ReplyDeleteIn response to the article “You can’t say you can’t play” and the subsequent discussion I think that labeling children has become a controversial issues with merit on both sides. If you label a child there’s a stigma that goes along with that. Children may carry these labels with them throughout their entire lives, which isn’t always fair or reasonable. On the other hand, however, if we don’t label or have children tested at an early enough age getting access to services and help may be delayed. With many childhood behavioral issues and disabilities the earlier we can access help for children the more likely they are to integrate into regular school with more success. This is often an issue of parental denial as well. Parents don’t want to believe there’s anything wrong with their children or believe, misguidedly, that time will allow their child to grow out of the behavior, which we know is not always true. What’s most difficult is that children may ostracize one another because they really do seem to notice differences in their own population more readily sometimes than adults do. I really appreciated and respect the authors want to be inclusive of her student and hope that Jason is empowered by her inclusiveness.
Reinforcing positive behaviors is a very common strategy to use when working with children with special needs, as these children often do not have strong intrinsic motivations to learn at school. However, the strategy should not be over-used, as children (with or without special needs) could become dependent on the adult who is reinforcing such behaviors. Ideally, reinforcement should be faded once the child is adapted to the school environment, and understands the rules, routines and expectations of the classroom. For instance, a child with special needs who is just starting school may have difficulties sitting down for a long period of time. This child may need specific direction and reinforcement in order to achieve the goal of sitting down during circle time. Maybe the child can have a walking break every 10 minutes until she/he gets used to the process.
ReplyDeleteTask analysis is a great way to teach difficult skills that can be overwhelming to children. Breaking down complex tasks into smaller components makes it easier for both the educator and the child involved in the task. I have used task analysis to teach children how to wash their hands (with visual cues of each step visible in the washroom), take the bus, grocery shop, etc. It is also a great assesment tool, which allows teacher to identify the specific needs of each child in regards to the task completion.
I found the article by Vivian Paley very interested to read. What stood out for me the most was how Paley insists on the implementation of a rule against overt exclusion in the classroom. Paley makes the argument that school is different from home. Perhaps at home they are able to make their own choices, but school is for everyone and no one should be excluded. While I understand that common argument Paley explains that teachers make—“children have the right to chose their friends” (p187), I feel that it more of a justification for not taking the responsibility that we as teachers in creating a classroom environment that promotes a sense of community. Yes, I agree that children should be able to chose their friends, however, in the real world we don’t always get to work with our friends. We don’t get to pick our co-workers, neighbours etc. Steering children away from exclusion practices helps them in the long run, especially for those children that have the potentional to be excluded. I think Paley’s rule is an important one that should be introduced to children at the beginning of the school year. It should become second nature for children. Perhaps through integrating activities that encourage togetherness and inclusion, children will grow accustomed to the idea of not leaving anyone out. Group activities provide socializing opportunities for children, perhaps relationships can spring from such experiences. Obviously it is easier said than done, but like they say “Rome wasn’t built in a day!” However with consistent attention to "excluding exclusion" in our classrooms it can be done!
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed reading Paley’s article in class, and as a teacher it is easy to relate to some of the struggles identified in the article. I have had difficulties encouraging other children to play with someone who is going to be disruptive and mean. It is a challenge, because you do not want a child to be isolated; however, it is not fair to other children to have to play with someone who is going to ruin their play. I think that the main thing to consider with children is their own awareness of what they are doing. Some children have poor social skills, or may not be used to playing with peers and the compromise that goes into these situations. When this happens it is important that the teacher integrates social skills lessons into their curriculum. Role-playing, reading stories, and discussions about these skills should be integrated. I think that the teacher should teach these children these skills and let the children test it in their play. For the first few weeks, the teacher should be there to model or guide them through difficult situations. As the children become more competent in this type of problem solving, the teacher should not get involved. For children that continually ignore or choose not to follow these social skills, I think that only so much help should be given before the teacher, asks them to play alone. Obviously, this is in extreme cases, and should not be permanent. I had one child in my class, whom I called the fire starter (in my head only); he seemed to have no conscience. He would go around and purposefully start fights and cause trouble consistently through out the day; it seemed that he would always be pushing others buttons to try to make them upset. When I would talk to him about the hurtful things that he said or did, he was able to clearly describe what he did and why it was wrong, but there was never any change in his behaviour. Even completing social skills and social responsibility exercises did not work. . One day I had enough, and gave him an ultimatum; he was to play nicely and cooperatively, or he would have to play by himself. The first day he choose to play by himself, but he eventually missed the companionship. He went back to playing in groups, and although there were still difficulties with other children, he seemed to be cooperative to his group members.
ReplyDeleteI found it very useful to re-visit and re-evaluate our classroom visits. There were several things that I realized I did not focus on right after I did the classroom visit because we had not gone over them yet. The teacher did a great job at working on her classroom community building by putting the students in pairs weekly. She changed the pairs each week to ensure that each child worked with every other student in the class. In these pairs the students were responsible for on class job that week. Some of the class jobs were: stacking the chairs, collecting papers from students and handing them in, bringing the attendance down to the office, handing out notices to the students, etc. I found that the students really enjoyed having different responsibilities in the classroom. They also really liked being able to work with different students each week and this helped them get to know their classmates.
ReplyDeleteI also think that this buddy system is a great way to avoid exclusion in the classroom. The “You Can’t Say You Can’t Play” article brought this to my attention. To avoid exclusion in the classroom it is important to get the students to work together and to get to know every student, not just their friends. I think that it is crucial to introduce students to not excluding other students from anything, and I think that this is a very important thing to introduce in the earlier stages of a child’s life.
The concept of redirection is easier said than done with children. Every child will respond to this tactic in a different way, and it's incredibly difficult (at least for me) to modify my redirecting approach for each child. Therefore, for me, I find it often falls flat with most children. It comes out as background noice, "oh wow, I really like how well Johnny is cleaning up" typically only motivates a few additional students to clean up.
ReplyDeleteHowever, this tactic worked quite well for my SA during my long practicum. I have yet to figure out the techniques I suppose.
Something I find that works really well with most children who are slightly out of control more than most is a small amount of individualized attention. And in a positive way. Rather than pointing out that Brandon is throwing pencil crayons across the table, I might go over and make a comment about his picture, and have him engage in a quick conversation with me. This distracts him from what he was doing (throwing things), and refocuses him on his work. It also allows me to remain in control of the situation without exerting force, and to also show him that his work is valuable and I'm interested in what he has to share.
I really enjoyed the concept in the article we read as well. I find that most cases of bullying in early childhood are passive aggressive and consist of 'you can't play' or 'you can only play if you do what I tell you to'. The article gave some interesting insights into how to approach these issues, and I actually plan on using it for a paper I'm writing in another course. I agree that the idea of inclusion, regardless of who the child is, is important to emphasize right from the start of class. Otherwise it can get ugly by the end of the year. Students need to begin learning these concepts at young ages as well, while their are still socially and cognitively developing some basic skill sets.
It's a simply fact of life, as someone pointed out in class, that you are going to have to be around people you don't want to be around. And you have to be civilized about it. May as well start practicing now.
I enjoyed reading the article "You can't say you can't play". Initially, I had a difficult time buying in to it Paley’s rule because I, like the teachers discussed in the article, feel that students have rights as far as choosing their friends. However, I do feel that if students have the ability to exercise that right on the playground, the classroom is a learning community where part of the learning should include learning how to get along with and include others - even if one doesn't particularly "like" them. This is definitely a life skill that everyone needs. I would be interested to see longitudinal research done that examines if inclusion in an intervention classroom has a lasting effect once these children have moved on to new classrooms. Have at-risk children formed friendships that carried with them? Are they facing new challenges due to not having coping skills to deal with exclusion? This is definitely an area that I would like to read more about.
ReplyDeleteFrom this week’s reading I noticed that in the section on Montessori education in chapter 31 the primary role of the teacher is described as being an observer. It struck me that, although different in philosophy, Paley is also primarily an observer. Journaling is not a strength for me, but I see through Paley the value it can bring to one’s understanding of the underpinnings of the classroom. While I feel like I am fairly observant, I know that I am not observant in the way that master teachers are observant. Two of my goals as I embark on my teaching career are to further develop my observation skills and to learn to journal in a way that is meaningful for my teaching.
It’s unbelievable to know that children already exclude others during early childhood. I witnessed it first had during my practicum, some kids only wanted to play with their “best friend” and would leave others out that wanted to join them. In one situation girls were arguing and excluding others because they all wanted to play with the same girl and no one else was allowed to. The poor girl everyone was fighting over felt as if she was being bullied into playing with them because she never got to choose who she actually wanted to play with. My SA and I came up with a plan to share with the class that we can all have more than one best friend and that the whole class was best friends because they got to spend every day together. The class was excited and came up with a BFF group that we stated had to include everyone. All students who wanted to participate were allowed to and they built BFF tents and made camp fires, it was really quite amazing in the end.
ReplyDeleteI was really excited to have the opportunity to create a self portrait. I always loved art and drawing when I was in school, and I feel like I never have the chance to just sit down and draw anymore because of everything going this year with PDP. I felt every relaxed doing this exercise. I really enjoyed seeing everyone else’s self portrait; I just drew mine, but others in my group used magazine pictures to create their self portrait and some were quite abstract. They were all very lovely. I would love to let students create their own self portraits by drawing themselves and then create another one with all their favourite things on it. Sometimes seeing all the things one is interested in creates a better picture of someone rather than just drawing their true features.
This was a very interesting discussion week for me, since this is a topic that comes up often. Children come and say that somebody wont let them play, and then there comes the issue about whether or not we should be forcing children to let everyone that asks play.
ReplyDeleteSome children are unfriendly to others, despite intervention from teachers or parents. These children go out of their way to bother other children. The children they bother may be resistant to playing with these children, so the question becomes, should we force children to play with children who bother them. Isnt this working against natural consequences or life lessons. If you are mean to others, then they will not want to play with you. I am not saying that children should be shunned or excluded for a long period of time, but this is a teachable moment. "Why do you think they children are reluctant to let you play with them?"
The author spoke about the importance of special needs students being included and the work that needs to happen around this. In my experience I have found that my students have always been quite protective of any special needs students that I have, and always work hard to make sure that they always have a friend to play with or a partner for classroom activities. This article was interesting, but I do have some parts that will make me think more as I do not necessarily agree with all of the points the author makes.
I loved making the self-portraits! It reminded me of back in elementary school where we used old magazines and made collages of specific topics. It was also fun to listen to different group members explain their self-portraits; you got to learn a something new about each person! The article was an interesting read and I feel that social inclusion is such an important topic because I have seen so many cases of students being excluded or an individual would be “running the friendship circle”. This happens a lot more with girls as they begin to form cliques, even at an younger age. I remember I used to teach piano to this girl and every week before the lesson begins I would ask her how her school day went. Every time, I would be updated on the “friendship situations” within the classroom: who hates who, who didn’t get to play with who, who wasn’t invited to who’s birthday party. I think a part of this influence comes from social media nowadays, with many books and tv shows about cliques in school. A very interesting thing I learned from the article was that even having one friend would be of the same self-esteem level as someone who has many friends. As long as an individual has someone to talk to and share things with, he or she will not feel excluded and their self-esteem level will rise.
ReplyDeleteSelf-esteem arises from social encounters. It is how the values, emotions and affects one puts on their characteristics and limitations. Many cultures view self-esteem in different ways. For example, many teachers attempt to facilitate self-esteem in their students by providing them with praise and public displays of praise. Some cultures may teach their children that public praise is unacceptable and that it is embarrassing to accept such praise. Thus it is important for teachers to identify these cultural differences amongst their students and to find other ways in which they can help to increase self-esteem by having open ended class discussions. I also think doing self-portraits is a great way to display an individuals uniqueness. Peers and teachers get to learn how one perceive themselves and can potentially learn something new from them. The individual may also gain new insight and a boost in their self-esteem by sharing their portrait.
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