Observation Journal Week: 1 Date: 17th November 2017 School A is a vertical school that holds a DEIS Band 1 status, incorporating 4 classes for ASD pupils. The urban school employs 35 teachers and 17 SNAs. This journal entry willl focus on observations of 20 students at a fourth class level, that took place across a period of one week. Despite admitting to the difficulty of defining the term active learning concisely, in his article, Prince (2004, pp.223), broadly defines active learning as ‘any instuctional method that engages students in the learning process’. Although Prince’s article focuses on research of active learning within the engineering world, his points and reflections on the efficacy of active learning methadologies on teaching such as collaborative, cooperative and problem based learning seemingly stand true for primary schools, and many of the benefits and challenges involved were observed throughout the week.. In keeping with the constructivist layout of the classroom, the teacher’s teaching style meant the children were always involved in the lessons, fully aware of what, how and why they were learning. This allowed them to become far more active and agentic in their learning. They managed the classroom together, taking time regularly to tidy up and ensure their desks and chairs were where they should be. Many class discussions took place over the course of the week, a key to constructivist teaching and one the observer found most interesting and useful. Talk and discussion in a classroom is, from what was observed, a true cornerstone of active learning within the classroom. The 1999 Curriculum’s Teacher Guidelines for SPHE states that ‘as children participate meaningfully in their own learning they engage in a process in which they can begin from what they already know, explore possibilities, question, draw conclusions and reflect on outcomes’ (Government of Ireland, 1999, pp. 54). Allowing the children to engage in talk and discussion exercises helps them to navigate their way through what Piaget named schemata, or building blocks of knowledge, through the processes of assimilation, accommodation and equilibration. These processes ‘require an active learner, not a passive one
Vygotsky’s theory ‘The zone of proximal development’ is also being demonstrated through Ann’s teaching methods for her year five class. The zone of proximal development refers to a conceivable range of learning evolution in regards to the students’ age and the amount of assisted knowledge they are given. This information can be given through direct information, scaffolding or cooperative learning. Ann (as the more knowledgeable) would be required to offer a certain level of information to the children before expecting them to
Which is why the Individualized Education Program was created in the late 1970’s. IEP’s provide children with ASD proper personalized learning strategies they need in order to achieve academically. With this program enacted, psychologists, behavioral analysts and doctors began researching the topic of autism and studying how children with ASD learn. They slowly began coming up with effective methods of how to teach children with ASD and how to help these children learn at their highest potential. These methods included DDT, PECS and PRT which have been applied, analyzed and refined over the years to create evidence based techniques that result in the most effective ways
Ja'mari is a 3rd grade student attending Lake Forest Elementary Schools of the Art and Sciences. He participates with non-disabled peers in an inclusion classroom for the majority of the day. He is a very sweet and kind student who is willing to work on any task that is given to him. Although Ja'mari is willing to work on any task,he struggles to be confident and social with his peers and adults. He requires prompting, verbal encouragement, one on one support, task adaptations to complete assigned task. According to his recent I-ready results, Ja'mari overall scale scores increased from 404 to 449. He made a 44 point gain. He is making tremendous progress. His strength is in Phonological Awareness. He tested out. Ja'mari has demonstrated the
Room 213 is located in Lillington-Shawtown Elementary School (LSES), a diverse and mid-sized school located in the Harnett county seat of Lillington, North Carolina. A classroom of five students with moderate disabilities, this EC self-contained setting is spacious and well-organized to address the needs of the four boys and one girl who are taught by Ms. Hatcher and assisted by Ms. Parrish and Ms. Roper. Most of the students are either 4th or 5th graders, half of whom are returning for their second year with Ms. Hatcher; there is also one student who is currently homebound who may be joining the class in September pending the results of upcoming conferences. The students’ classifications include autism and intellectual disability- moderate and per the county’s designation the classroom is listed as an Autism Self-Contained classroom. All of the students received additional support from the school’s occupational and speech therapists and half of the class receives additional support services from the school’s physical therapist. All students are provided transportation services as well.
Constructivist teaching. Muijs and Reynolds (2005) interpreted that the principles of constructivist teaching consider all learners construct knowledge for themselves, rather than absorbing knowledge directly from the teacher. This means that every pupil will learn something slightly differently from a particular lesson given. The assumption that pupils are active knowledge constructers has several consequences. For examples, the learners need to be active in order to construct knowledge or to learn effectively, teaching is about helping children construct their own meaning rather than training them to get the right answer without the actual understanding of the concept, and pupils learn best when new lessons are clearly related to what they already know,
Roger Evans is a 5-year-old enrolled in general education kindergarten classes. Roger has been identified as having ASD during a routine check-up at the age of three. Roger’s parents had been unemployed and receiving government aid. Roger’s parents have not been taking advantage of supportive resources. Mr. and Mrs. Evans have not informed the school that Roger has been identified as having ASD. During the first week, Roger’s teacher Ms. Moore observed Roger sporadically sitting by himself during lunch and recess rocking back and forth and hitting himself in the face. Ms. Moore also noticed that Roger was anti-social with his peers. Ms. Moore recorded her observations for two weeks. Roger’s behavior became a daily occurrence. Ms. Moore met with the principal, counselor, special education, and Roger’s parents to discuss her concerns. Roger’s parents admitted that Roger had been identified with ASD and has been fine at home.
Research designs will be a mixed measures design such as a combination of a typical experiment and other forms of non-experimental designs. Procedures will be used in this research will be audio and video recording, audio and video editing, researchers and confederate will observe children and their families, in addition to ask open and closed ended questions to children, parents, teachers, and school administrators. Younger children would benefit from play therapy, whereas older children would benefit from written and spoken journals in addition to additional learning time in respite care. What are the necessary steps, procedures, and funding to help these children, teens, and young adults with ASD to become overachievers in academic, vocational, and professional settings?
Theorists such as Dewey, Gardner, Piaget, Bruner, Vygotsky and many others based their work around the constructivist theory that knowledge is constructed from the child being an active participant in the development of their learning. Over time many types of inquiry learning models have been developed, all placing the child as centre of the learning, giving children the opportunities to explore, question and management of their learning. The author’s own personal philosophy of teaching and learning collaborates this when affirming that ‘by creating a collaborative learning environment, children are able to grow and learn through exploring, experimenting and expressing and control their own
In the education world of today, it is understood that one can only be effective in teaching by taking into consideration the different learning styles of students. In a classroom, it is expected that teachers would want their students to acquire a meaningful knowledge base, become proficient problem solvers and learn how to work productively with others (Biehler and Snowman, 2006, p. 370). If this is the case, teachers need to know how to be able to develop this situation in the classroom and make it more conducive to learning. Therefore, it would seem that they need to encourage students to converse with each other with group discussions and assignments, to make sure they are active in
Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act (IDEA 2004) mandates that children with disabilities be educated in general education classrooms with their peers to the maximum extent possible. In addition, the law states that children with disabilities may only be removed from gen ed when the nature or severity of the disability and with the appropriate supports and services, they cannot receive a satisfactory education within the gen ed environment (IDEA 2004). Inclusion is viewed as an appropriate practice for educating children with ASD because of the potential benefits like increased opportunity for social interactions with peers, possibility of developing friendships, gains in communication, social, and adaptive behavior skills, and the participation in
The three main components of interactive pedagogy are learner, teacher and environment. The one embarking in the process of acquiring new knowledge by utilizing his own resources is known as the learner. He wishes to assimilate the new knowledge. The educator is the person who leads the way to the learner. He acts as a facilitator in this process of learning. The various physical locations, contexts and culture in which students acquire knowledge is called the learning environment. It includes both the outside-of-school locations, outdoor environment and the classroom itself. The interactions between the three stakeholders can take place in the various ways. Some of the ways could be students working with various objects individually or in groups to solve problems, and exploring spaces other than the classroom, pupils collaborating in pairs or small groups to make meaning of the lesson with the support of their teacher to obtain information and ask questions to support learning. In this way, interactive pedagogy can be termed as active pedagogy.
This involves a learning process that engages the learners. Attention is moved from the teacher to the learners through practices such as role playing, group work and problem-based approaches, for instance. These activities put the learners in a situation where it is up to them to use available learning resources to solve problems, hence causing active learning.
Active engagement occurs in the classroom when a teacher makes the connection between teaching and learning through pedagogy. The choice of pedagogy must see fit with the content of the lesson which in return will assist the teacher in constructing a more meaningful and supportive learning environment where students’ are more willing to participate and be actively engaged. The most important skill in pedagogies is relating the learning experience to real world situations in which students’ can relate too (Churchill et al., 2011).
Interactions between teachers and students in regards to teacher talk is one of the most important learning tools used in the classroom. Talk moves are tools for building an environment that serves a range of productive interactional, social and intellectual learning functions in the classroom (Edwards-Groves, 2014). They are enabled and constrained by the “sayings, doings and relatings present in classrooms” and prompt responses from students (Edwards-Groves, 2014, p1). Teacher talk is a large part of how students learn, through models such as ‘Initiate, Respond, Evaluate’ (IRE). The IRE model involved the teacher asking questions and giving appropriate feedback to the student’s response to help them understand the reasons behind their response. The Scaffolding Interaction Cycle (SIC) is another important tool, which involved teachers scaffolding a students’ response to engage higher learning functions. It is important to consider Bull and Anstey’s three-style model, consisting of pedagogy of school, pedagogy of literacy lessons and pedagogy of literacy learning (Anstey and Bull, 1996). Pedagogy of school involves the teacher and the student conversing in a Q&A like manner, or a ‘guess-what’s-in-my-head’ approach taken by the teacher. The pedagogy of literacy lessons involves the students carrying out the teacher’s instructions but not making the connection to what they are learning. There is a time where these styles may be useful, but
The first stragtey to discuss is her use of effective groupings arrangements. For instance, students are part of a whole group lesson, small group, cooperative activity, and partner work. First, Ms. Sullivan starts the lesson with the whole group seated on the carpet. This is when she introduces both the content and language objectives, discusses the target vocabulary, and explicitly reviews the lesson targets using visuals and modeling. Next, students work in partner groups using a “think, pair, share” strategy. To illustrate, students work together in partner work to discuss how they solve problems. At the end of the lesson, students also work collaboratively in a small group to complete a graphic organizer to reflect on what they learned. These grouping strategies are supported by Lev Vygotsky’s Constructivism theory. According to Vygotsky, discourse and interaction are channels for learning