Chris Blankenship
Education 114
April 28, 2014
The grade of study that I was assigned to observe was a kindergarten class in an elementary school. Therefore, the material that was covered was nothing groundbreaking to those of college education, but at the same time it was extremely foundational for what would come in, not only their academic careers, but their lives in general as well. So in writing this overall refection, I chose to keep the question of what exactly was being taught, and how was it being taught in mind. This was also prevalent as I was taking notes and observing and the results that I found were very interesting indeed.
The first lesson I saw was one in which the children were being taught to improve their handwriting and learn new letters and numbers at the same time. While this was ongoing she, being the teacher of the class, instilled confidence in the students with every opportunity she saw. For example, when writing these new letters she would ask each of them to circle the one that they thought was their personal best. This not only caused the students to realize which example was closest to the actual letter, but it also gave them a feeling of accomplishment. This confidence will go a very long way in their lives, as well as their academic lives where such confidence in one’s work is needed.
Not only is confidence taught by this teacher, but other life lessons are also infused with the regular curriculum. Since the teacher is with the children all day, she takes the time to slip in pieces of advice that are more structural, perhaps, than the actual information being passes along. A specific time I remember noticing this would be during the very first lesson I walked in on. The teacher, along with a small group of students from her classroom, were all sitting around a table playing a game to help memorize words and letters. While this was occurring one of the children shouted, “I won! I won!” making sure the others heard him, but the teacher quickly calmed the boy and told all of her students at the table that throughout life you will win and you will lose but in the end what should matter is the fun you had playing.
Kindergarten is definitely full of small examples such as these life lessons, but one cannot forget to acknowledge the curriculum as well. Throughout the days I observed she switched lessons from handwriting to mathematics. In each subject that was taught she had a different way of giving examples as to how they were learned. With math, she used counting cubes and visual aids to make the problems apply to something. With handwriting she would always have a game in hand to associate the learning with fun and encouraging the memorization of what is displayed. With everything that needed to be taught, she always had some way of making the learning process more fun, which would in turn make learning less stressful for the young minds.
Observing this classroom in particular caused me to realize that teaching is so much more than reciting what is allotted for one’s class time. Life lessons and other helpful attitudes are also required to truly connect with the students and be an effective teacher. Only with this connection did I learn that one could get the points across without having to interrupt class every other minute because a student was misbehaving. So as to what exactly was being taught, I cannot exactly say other than alluding to the foundational skills that the children were receiving. Going much farther than words on a paper, each student that this teacher came into contact with departed with new-found outlooks on life and how to interact with others.
Education 114
April 28, 2014
The grade of study that I was assigned to observe was a kindergarten class in an elementary school. Therefore, the material that was covered was nothing groundbreaking to those of college education, but at the same time it was extremely foundational for what would come in, not only their academic careers, but their lives in general as well. So in writing this overall refection, I chose to keep the question of what exactly was being taught, and how was it being taught in mind. This was also prevalent as I was taking notes and observing and the results that I found were very interesting indeed.
The first lesson I saw was one in which the children were being taught to improve their handwriting and learn new letters and numbers at the same time. While this was ongoing she, being the teacher of the class, instilled confidence in the students with every opportunity she saw. For example, when writing these new letters she would ask each of them to circle the one that they thought was their personal best. This not only caused the students to realize which example was closest to the actual letter, but it also gave them a feeling of accomplishment. This confidence will go a very long way in their lives, as well as their academic lives where such confidence in one’s work is needed.
Not only is confidence taught by this teacher, but other life lessons are also infused with the regular curriculum. Since the teacher is with the children all day, she takes the time to slip in pieces of advice that are more structural, perhaps, than the actual information being passes along. A specific time I remember noticing this would be during the very first lesson I walked in on. The teacher, along with a small group of students from her classroom, were all sitting around a table playing a game to help memorize words and letters. While this was occurring one of the children shouted, “I won! I won!” making sure the others heard him, but the teacher quickly calmed the boy and told all of her students at the table that throughout life you will win and you will lose but in the end what should matter is the fun you had playing.
Kindergarten is definitely full of small examples such as these life lessons, but one cannot forget to acknowledge the curriculum as well. Throughout the days I observed she switched lessons from handwriting to mathematics. In each subject that was taught she had a different way of giving examples as to how they were learned. With math, she used counting cubes and visual aids to make the problems apply to something. With handwriting she would always have a game in hand to associate the learning with fun and encouraging the memorization of what is displayed. With everything that needed to be taught, she always had some way of making the learning process more fun, which would in turn make learning less stressful for the young minds.
Observing this classroom in particular caused me to realize that teaching is so much more than reciting what is allotted for one’s class time. Life lessons and other helpful attitudes are also required to truly connect with the students and be an effective teacher. Only with this connection did I learn that one could get the points across without having to interrupt class every other minute because a student was misbehaving. So as to what exactly was being taught, I cannot exactly say other than alluding to the foundational skills that the children were receiving. Going much farther than words on a paper, each student that this teacher came into contact with departed with new-found outlooks on life and how to interact with others.