Tales - Ch. 3,4, & 6

My favorite part was reading about how a teacher is an audience to children and just the act of being there for a child and listening to that particular child is a powerful teaching technique. Children definitely need undivided attention, and need to know that someone cares about them. It makes sense that if a teacher expects students to listen to him or her that the teacher should also take some time to listen to the students. Truly listening to children allows teachers a backstage pass into the individual child's mind and informs them of where the child is coming from. To know what a student is going through and the experiences he or she has makes teaching much more meaningful to both the teacher and the student. It can just be a minute or two each and every day that makes a huge difference in a child's life. In my opinion, my second grade teacher Miss Tucker had mastered the technique of giving me and my classmates her undivided attention. The fact that she would give us some of her time to listen to us talk meant the world to me. I try to remember this when I am with my own students.

Tales of Thinking

"Helping can also be less direct." pg. 32

This inspired me. All I ever see are teachers who are the end-all, be-all's. It's almost like a power trip, like so many of them get satisfaction in knowing that they hold the key(s) to deeper understandings and intelligence. I know we've talked about this ad nauseum, but I just really feel passionate about kids thinking they came to conclusions/realizations all on their own, without realizing that you indirectly guided them. They feel SO important and intelligent when they think they are the first people to ever have discovered ideas!

"The point of checking our daily schedule was not to have the children follow it so that my day went better. It was one way of responding to their endless questions ." pg. 38

Standards drive schedules. Schedules drive the lack of success. Many teachers complain about not having enough time to cover everything, nevermind doing anything "fun". I just want to shake them!! If they planned integrated lessons, they could knock out SO many at once it's not even funny! At first the GPS seemed overwhelming to me, but then I kind of realized that sooo many of them can be interlaced. It's like, okay, let's knock those out and get to the interesting stuff!!

I also have a HUGE issue with (some) teachers yelling/berrating(sp?)/pressuring students for not finishing activities in such-and-such available time limit. They're kids for goodness sakes! It's not like adults; we could crank out a concept map in no time! It takes them time to think, to process, to internally verbalize their ideas. And before they can get those ideas down on paper, we take it up, grade it "incomplete", and chide them for not listening/following directions!

In conclusion: No wonder America's education system is so inadequate in comparison to many other countries. We dangle expectations over their heads like a carrot too high for a donkey to reach, and right when they devise a plan to reaching the goal, we toss the carrot in the garbage. (Does this make sense at all??? I like metaphors...)

Okay, that's it! Totally tangents!

Chapter Three

The role that the teacher plays in the classroom is so important. I completely agree with the section in chapter three that mentions that the teacher sets the environment. I could not agree with statement anymore. If a teacher has a negative attitude then the students are going to have a negative attitude. Creating an environment that feels welcoming and comfortable is a great way to improve learning. I believe that students learn best when they are content in their learning environment. Not only is providing a welcoming environment, but also providing a flexible environment is important.
I also think that it is essential for teachers to step back and play different roles in the classroom. At time if the teacher acts as a helper, facilitator, and even as an audience is beneficial for the success of the students. Getting to know your students and what ways you can help them the most is very important, and I think that every teacher should take the time to do this.
Kayleigh Lemaster

Tales Chap 3,4 and 6

When reading chapter 4, I thought it was very interesting when they talked about structuring a classroom. Structure is needed to create a good learning environment that allows students to know what to expect. It also provides them with the personal responsibility within the structure of the classroom. One thing that really stood out to me with all this was about the importance of teaching scheduling and spontaneity I feel like too often that teachers feel that a classroom needs to predictable at every moment because doing something off the wall is scare the students and throw them off. At the same time though, students sometimes learn better when they are thrown off of their normal routine. Doing the same thing day after day can become un interesting. Yet, when you throw a wrench into the mix of their day once in awhile, they are suddenly alert because there is an unknown factor occurring in their day. It peeks their interests and shows students that spontaneity can be a good thing in their lives. I will be the first to admit I enjoy routine and schedules and I need to learn to be more flexible in my classroom. After all, I cannot ask my students to do something that I am not first willing to do myself.

Tales.... 3, 4, and 5

A couple of different things stuck out to me throughout chapter 3. The teacher takes many important roles in the classroom. First off the teacher sets the environment, which is so true. Teachers have to remember that the students might not all learn like they do. I even catch myself teaching things in the different ways I learn best, forgetting to think about how my students might learn. We as teachers need to make sure we don’t let our intelligences take over the way we teach different concepts to the students in our class or even the ways we set up our rooms.

Another thing that stood out in these chapters was the different roles of the teacher. The teacher as a “broker of information”, teacher as a helper, and teacher as a audience. Teacher as a helper was interesting to me because helping does not have to always be direct it can be indirect also. Giving a child new markers or new pencils if that child is a visual learner would be helping their intelligence. I never really thought about it that way, but it makes really good sense. I know that if I like to draw and write the different things I was learning, and I got new pencils, pens, or markers to write with I would feel great. I have also realized in my placement that my students like for the teacher to watch what they are doing. I try to call the students up to the board, or let them try to explain their thinking to me and to the class during the different activities we do throughout the day. This gives them the teachers attention as an audience. It seems like they focus and pay attention a lot more when the teacher and the other students are their audience.

Tales, chpts 3, 4, 5

I found the discussion of student work portfolios to be very interesting. The idea of having students help determine what work should be included in the portfolio seems so "duh" to me, yet I do not see this in my placement.

I think back to the work portfolio that was sent home with me at the end of every school year while I was in elementary school. Everything in that folder was teacher selected. The papers were the same in every students portfolio. The worksheets, paintings, stories, etc. that were in my folder were in Jason's folder, Kristy's folder, Erika's folder, Logan's folder and everyone else's folder. I had no control over what went into that portfolio and neither did the other students.

I am seeing this same process in my placement. The teacher chooses certain math worksheets, certain phonics worksheets, certain social studies/science worksheets, and all journals to include in the students' portfolios. The students do not have any role in determining what goes into their portfolio.

While I do not think that only student selected material should be included, I do think that students should have a role in selecting material to include in their portfolios. Teachers may need to require that some (types of) assignments be placed into the portfolio. For example, I may need to say, "One of your journal entries from this week need to be placed into your portfolio." However, I do not think that I should say, "Put Tuesday's journal entry in your portfolio." Some of my students may not have had as much to connect to Tuesday's journal prompt as they did to another day's prompt. The student can choose which prompt they would rather save.

I also like the idea of putting photgraphs/tapes/videos into the portfolio. This allows the student and me to show development of "smartness" that cannot be put onto paper.

Chapter 3 discussed the many roles of a teacher. Teachers must be the provider of knowledge as well as a learner along with their students. This chapter talked about how if we (the teacher) do not “wonder” or ask ourselves questions then our students will not ask questions. This made me consider the fact that young students do not understand or know how to ask meaningful, quality questions and must be taught this skill. Chapter 3 stated that one of our roles as a teacher is being a helper. As a helper we must assess or reflect our teaching. In my first grade placement I find myself reflecting a lot. I constantly think about how could I have gotten through to a student better or could that situation have been handled better? Another point that stuck out to me in this chapter was that as teachers we need to consider our intelligences and be sure that all intelligences are included in our classroom. Even though this statement is true, I have never considered the fact that I will be more likely to include the multiple intelligences that I best through. My students will all be different; therefore, as a teacher I need to meet their needs through incorporating all multiple intelligences. I can also meet their needs by assessing how I teach and help the students in my classroom.

Chaps. 3, 4, & 6

In Chapter 3, the roles of the teacher were discussed. It talked about how the teacher needed to be not only the provider of knowledge but also the learner and the audience. As the provider of knowledge, teachers have to build on the student’s prior knowledge and provide them with new knowledge. The teacher needs to be a learner because “if we do not wonder aloud in front of children and ask ourselves questions, how will they learn?" I have never really looked at teaching from this aspect before, but it makes a lot of sense. We as teachers have to be willing to learn new things. We will never master every subject we ever teach. In my placement, my host teacher and I both had to find information on rocks and minerals before teaching it to the class. When someone in the class asked a question we did not know the answer to, we admitted we did not know it and then looked it up. This helps to inspire kids to research their own curiosities when they see teachers doing the same. Another role of the teacher includes being a member of the audience. "If we want children to have longer attention spans, then we must first be the ones to pay attention." When kids see that the teacher has interest in what he or she is saying and doing, it tells them that we care. By being a member of the audience, teachers can also get a glimpse of the student’s learning styles and needs. In addition, it allows students to display “the arts, social skills, emotional wellness, creativity and personal reflection” as well. Chapter 4 confers about the importance of having structure within the classroom setting. Structure and routine in a classroom is crucial because students will not have to question, “What’s next?” But I feel it is important to allow students to be active in creating this daily schedule because it gives them a say in their learning.

tales ch. 3,4,6

In Chapter 3, it talked about the role of teachers. As teachers, we play different roles. It is important for teachers to realize that we are a dispenser of knowledge however we should be willing to learn new things everyday. I think it is important for students to know that the teacher is also learning things everyday. I liked the quote from the chapter " If we do not wonder aloud in front of children and ask ourselves questions, how will they learn?" Even in my 1st grade placement, i still find myself questioning the things that i say to them, wondering if what i am saying is right or wrong. The part about the role of the teacher as the audience was important to me because sometimes children have important ideas that they want to say. If they get shut down then they may feel like they cannot speak and then they may never feel like what they have to say is good enough. " If we want children to have longer attention spans, then we must first be the ones to pay attention."

Tales 3,4,6

As teachers, it is important for us to be conscious at all times of our teaching methods. Like the book said, sometimes we accidentally focus more on teaching through our own intelligences because that is what comes most naturally to us. We need to encourage ourselves, as well as our students, to test our many different ways of learning. By doing this, we allow our students to expand and develop other aspects of themselves and their learning. "A 'teacher' can also be another student or an adult as well as the actual teacher." I LOVED this sentence from the reading. I think it is easy to forget that the students can learn so much from each other, as well as the teacher being able to learn from the students. They may be young, but they also have a story to bring to the table and things to share with the class. Their perspective can help open the eyes of other students as well as the teacher. Just because we are the teacher in the classroom, doesn't mean we can't also be a student at times.

Because of the different intelligences, learning styles, and individual student's needs, there really is no good way to fairly evaluate their intelligence on one big scale. I feel like many people in education are aware of the differences in our students, yet we still have a CRCT based classroom. I don't want to get on a soapbox and I understand the need for some sort of assessment for students at the end of each grade, but wouldn't it be great to be able to incorporate all of these intelligences in that test??

Tales of Thinking Chap 3,4, & 6

"Teacher as Audience"

I really liked this part. It's so easy to view the teacher as the provider of knowledge and the one with all the answers totally neglecting the fact that there is a world already existing within our students.
Being a good audience member means knowing the correct times to applaud and the correct times to be quiet.
Being a good audience member means encouraging that performer with your presence.

Allowing a child to know that they have your attention and that you are watching them learn, can be much greater than you showing them what you want to see. This also allows them to show you their interpretation of the world and not only gives you insight to who they are, but can often give their own selves, insight into who they are. Through this exploration and students making discoveries in their own way and in their own time, I beleive they have received the most authentic learning experience and it will be one that they will remember.

The point about children needing time to learn,I COMPLETELY AGREE. I feel like because of all of the standardization, true childhood is being ripped away from our children. They are'nt allowed to wonder or search. They don't get to seek and find. In essence we strip them of the creativity and send the message that they all must be the same.

WOW......I say all of this and feel such a great sense of conviction to help create change. I can't control what occurs in other classrooms, but I can control what happens in mine and in mine, children will explore, they will play, it will happen. I will find a way to make it happen. I gotta be the change I want to see, just like Gandhi said. :)

And these are my thoughts while reading. :)

Chpt. 4 Tales of Thinking- Creating Indvidual Thinkers

Chpt 4 of Tales of Thinking goes deep into how important structure is within the classroom setting. A thought provoking question regarding this structure is how 'direct' or 'indirect' we, as teachers, need to make this structure. I have seen structure in all my placements thus far, however, the type of structure that I see occuring more often is direct structure where all children are given clear instructions and are aware of the steps they need to take to succeed. For example, in the hallway of Blandy Hills, there are bulletin boards of cookie cutter art projects that the teacher clearly modeled for the students before they completed them. If things were glued in the wrong place, the student was surely corrected by the teacher before she or he were to hang it in the hall. What happens though if there is that one teacher who doesn't follow the standard? What if there is that bulletin board in the hallway where nothing looks the same, it is all different, it is all individual. In the chapter it states, "to be indirect is to chance some of the knowledge that would enable learners to move forward quickly and exercise individual expression." Teachers are so scared that if students don't follow the model given, then they won't show what they know, or they simply won't know what they are supposed to. My goal is to be that teacher that can give students that freedom to be their own thinkers and not have projects that are all cookie cutter images of one another, but I will still be confident through taking the time to see their individual pieces that they have learned what I have set out to teach them.

Bridges can be spread into all areas of curriculum. I think it is a wonderful idea to use that as a topic to teach many subjects and life skills around. It is obvious that when students are able to use the information they are learning in a concrete way, or for a reason they understand, they enjoy it, it makes sense to them, and they make it their own. I do not understand why this practice is not in place more in schools. It seems like it would be much more enjoyable for the students and the teachers, and easier to explain more abstract concepts. This is something I continually think about through all of the readings. If this method of teaching is shown to work, why isn't it used more?
Through working with children the small amount I have in the wide spectrum of things, I have found that students thrive when a schedule is present, but do more so when they are informed of it, and see what they are going to do, and what they have done. Even though we are almost two months into school, and the daily and weekly schedule is the same for the most part, students still ask what we are doing later in the day, or what exploratory they have that day. This shows me that they are just not developmentally ready to be able to keep track of that sort of thing without being told what it is directly. I am sure that some of my students do not even realize there is a pattern we follow every week for specials. Allowing the students to be part of making and reading the daily schedule seems like they would be able to take more ownership in it and value what has to be done more.
As I was reading chapter six, I was thinking about my unit, and how to show the students their own progress of their writing. It really makes sense to use a portfolio as a tool to show growth, and not as something they are required to fill with certain things. So many times portfolios are used as a checklist of things they must put in it, instead of proof of progress. I am not sure if the students have had much experience with using a portfolio, or really understand what it is used for, but there is a first for everything. I think that showing how the students progressed gives them great confidence, and makes school more meaningful for them.