Monday, June 10, 2013


Inspiration from the Little Things
 Week Two

 


Have you ever had that moment when you are teaching a lesson and that one student blurts aloud “This is boring!” You are at a standstill, you think of something nice to say but the only words that come to mind is ‘How?’ As teachers, we learn that not all children are the same. They do not learn the same. They have their own way of learning. I had a four year old student, a couple of years ago that the only way that I found effective to teach him colors was through cars. He loved them wore them in some degree every day. Carried his special red convertible in his pocket just to keep him calm throughout the day. He spent his learning center time in the block center to make a car track. But in one on one and small groups he was not able to identify colors for me except red. One day, I brought in a race car pack filled with various colors and sizes of cars. That morning, I worked with him in blocks and we played with each car. I also had the color poster for him to look at and compare. Each time before he got another car to play with he was asked to find the color on the poster and say it aloud. I then pointed to a color on the poster and had him find a car that has the same color. Working with him individually for nearly a week and a half, he was able to identify nearly all primary and secondary colors.


Teachers are not robots. We cannot expect students to learn just based on information from a textbook. We have to individualize learning in order for our students to learn, comprehend, and demonstrate the information given. A worm found in a play yard can inspire a whole lesson of worms and decomposition. Or a hawk in a tree, could inspire a week long lesson of bird watching. Or a student asking why do we use sun tan lotion in the middle of circle, could inspire you to spray a half of a piece of construction paper with suntan spray and have the other piece (control)  beside it outside and see any changes within a few hours. If a teacher is not inspired by their own inquires let alone their students, then why be a teacher? The greatest teachers learn from everyone in their world. (Cauley and Pannozzo, 2011, p. 4).

 

 

Cauley, K and Gina Pannozzo. (2011). Inspired Responses. Annual Editions: Education Psychology, 2-4.

 Eggleton, P. J. Motivation: A Key to Effective Teaching. The Mathematics Volume 3 Number 2


Inspiration for Teachers. Retrieved from: http://www.squidoo.com/inpirationalteacherquotes

 

1 comment:

  1. Kim,

    What a fantastic blog! You really brought this weeks topic to life for me through your post. I love that you were able to reflect on your students likes and issues and turn that into a learning opportunity for him. I have seen way too often teachers become frustrated with their students lack of interest and ignore the student, when in reality it is the students cry for help. You were able to take the time and help this students one on one and this shows that you care for this student and want him to do well.

    I wish our education system allowed for teachers to no be "robots". Although I do not have a full time teaching position, I was able to sub in a school district this year. The frustration and sadness that I saw from other teachers about standardized testing was disheartening. They had ideas, plans and lesson that they were unable to use because they had to make sure the students were prepared for the standardized test. There was no time to get off topic and explore the lessons. This was hard to watch!

    Thank you for sharing your post and specific examples from your own classroom. It is nice to read that teachers are reflecting on their students and taking the time to help them each grow and learn.

    Jess


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