Learning Together With Young Children

Some children may not like to be “taught” new ideas, games, etc. They might feel stressed to have a key worker sit with them and explain how we will accomplish a new task. The same child however may sit and observe other children doing the task first and then will have the confidence to try it out for themselves.

I observed a classroom of four-year-old students who are enrolled at the Child Development Center on the George Mason University campus. This observation lasted about fifteen minutes with a total of twelve students in the classroom. At the time of my observation the students were engaging in free playtime where they are allowed to play games, make crafts, and interact with their fellow classmates. I was seated in the corner of the classroom where the children could not easily see me or get distracted by me. I stayed seated throughout the whole observation so the students would not be affected by my presence. Many different activities were happening at the same time, but a couple standout situations reminded me of many subject areas we

In the toddler classroom, the children interacted with each other, however many of them were more interested in playing and exploring on their own. The children enjoyed free play at learning centers, story time, and outside play during my observation. The toddlers preferred parallel play in which the children used similar toys in similar ways, but did not interact with each other. For example, when one child began playing with the kitchen toys in the dramatic play center, soon all of the children began playing with the available plastic food items. However, the children were more interested in showing the teachers what they were doing and

I learned the day before my visit, Miss Suzy threw a pizza party for the children. The day of my visit they were going to make their own individual pizzas (I did not get to view that part of the day). I noticed that during circle time, two children seemed uninterested had wandered off. Miss Suzy did not do anything about it, she just let them be. I thought that was wrong of her because the two children were not being involved. The children could of already known what they were speaking about. If that was the case she should of given them some work to do. When circle time was over, Miss Suzy asked each child which part of the room they wanted to play in. Students chose dramatic play, arts and crafts, reading, and playing on the computer. Miss Suzy walked around each group asking them questions, expanding their imaginations. Morrison states "that teachers work with gingival children, small groups" (2003, p.232). Watching Miss Suzy, you can see she really enjoys what she does. She never once ignored a student who went up to her. She seemed genuily interested when the children shared stories with her. She always welcomed them with a hug when walking into the room in the morning to begin their day, and the children would come in running to hug her.

So the coach in charge of all of this will get everyone to look at him, with the help of the volunteer coaches. He will show an example of what he expects and then askes the children if they can do it. Which most can, but there are some that can't do more of the high level things and that’s when the volunteer coaches step in. The best way I've observed in helping a child is to kneel down to their level and make eye contact.

This independent reading report focuses on Tools For Teachers by Fred Jones. This book is excellent at describing the nuts and bolts of teaching. It is a refreshing balance to the theoretical works of Vygotsky and Piaget, and it is a solid start for people who are focused on the tangible, practical aspects of what to do at 8am on their first day of classes, when the “Zone of Proximal Development” just doesn’t seem helpful enough. Dr. Jones, a psychologist from UCLA, based his methods off of countless hours of observing natural teachers. When he’d interview these naturals and asked them why they were successful, he found they weren’t able to articulate the tangible things they were doing. This book is Dr. Jones’ best shot at this articulation. It’s a practitioner’s manual; backed up by evidence, but not overloaded with jargon. It is the best educational book I have ever read. In this report, I will describe how Dr. Jones defines classroom management, detail the primary tenants of his system, discuss the differences and similarities of Dr. Jones’ system to the research and ideas we’ve learned about in class, and present how the ideas from Tools For Teaching have practical application in my own future classroom.

In early learning environments, children acquire knowledge and develop cognitive, social and emotional, physical and language acquisition skills in the content areas such as language arts, math, science, and social studies in a variety of ways. It is up to the teachers to plan and implement in-depth studies of themes and topics that are meaningful and relevant to the children, being sure to address the development of the whole child while integrating all of the content areas. In the physical classroom the environment should provide students with hands-on opportunities to grow and develop skills, gain knowledge, and have fun as they explore carefully designed learning centers. They should be provided with materials that are related to

\item The teachers always want their lessons to be interesting and they introduce the real life problem before they can go deep into the content of the subject.

We love and encourage parents to take total responsibility for their children’s education in whatever way is best for their children. Not all kids are the same, some learn at faster pace and some learn completely different than the other.

1. Developmentally appropriate practice as defined by NAEYC is a “framework of principles and guidelines for best practice in the care and education of young children, birth through age 8. Children cannot perform tasks that they are not yet developmentally capable of doing and teachers have to be aware of this. One would not expect a one year old child to be able to write their name, not only because they are not cognitively able to understand this task, but also because their fine motor skills have not developed enough to hold a writing instrument. Therefore, most adults would realize this task is not developmentally appropriate. A kindergarten teacher, for example, can able to expect his or her students to know why it is necessary as

Tools of mine teacher make sure throughout the day each child’s meets all the part of his or her development learning. Tools of the Mind gives teachers the tools to ensure every child becomes a successful learner, developing the underlying cognitive, social and emotional skills needed to reach his or her development appropriate practices. On the other hand, teachers focus on helping children become intentional and reflective learners, creating a classroom in which instruction in all development domains, and reflect children’s learning capacity, rather than age-level expectations. The teacher I interview he got involved with this approach because it is what used by the organization he works at. As he learned about the curriculum, he grew to really like its approach, especially

Children are naturally cooperative and helpful in many situations. Young children can be as selfless but as they grow, children's their cooperation is shaped more by how they judge their surroundings and what others think of them. Therefore, I believe that Ryan could have been acting altruistically. Hobbes would say that it probably made the Ryan feel good about himself or the praise he knew he would receive motivated his actions. Most children probably would have spent the money on candy or toys. He spent months earning money. Without the instant gratification I would say that Ryan genuinely was just trying to help some strangers. I don’t think he honestly understood everything, but just knew that people somewhere didn’t have water and all

they needed to follow directions. The idea that teachers are authority figures and deserve to be respected is instilled in children at a very young age and is expected to be upheld. As for students raising their hands when wanting to speak or answer a question, this has also been implanted in children’s minds and is a norm in today’s society.

According to the teachers’ standards (DfE, 2012) “teachers make the education of their learners their first concern, keep their knowledge up to date and are self-critical.” Therefore, this reflection practice will guide me towards the improvement on my lesson planning strategies and delivery. In addition, it will also make an enormous difference in my teaching and learning practice which is vital for teacher training.

Understanding cognition and how we learn is essential in the developmental stages of children. Not all students learn in the same way, understanding the cognitive process will assist in the development of the students. By modifying my approach when giving instructions I have noticed growth in current students that I am working with. Using concrete materials and giving the opportunity for students to be involved in hands-on activities on a daily basis, is essential in making new material meaningful to learners.. The knowledge gained from this topic has increased my understanding and is benefiting the children I am currently