Standard 4

	Standard 4. Educational Practices that foster learning, development, and achievement for all of the nation’s children.
4.1	Use teaching strategies and educational practices that develop children’s capacities to think critically, analytically and imaginatively and extend their knowledge and understanding of the world
4.2	Provide multiple ways for children to deepen grasp of concepts, stretch thinking, express understandings, & learn critical skills
4.3	Search for appropriate materials, experiment with new technologies, collaborate with specialist and colleagues and consult with families and community members to meet the instructional needs of students
4.4	Establish caring, inclusive, stimulating, & safe learning communities where children feel they belong and can assume responsibility, take intellectual risks, make mistakes, explore alternatives, participate in decision-making, and work collaboratively & independently
4.5	Understand principles of effective classroom management and human motivation and behavior
4.6	Understand cognitive processes associated with various kinds of learning and how these processes can be stimulated
4.7	Understand first and second language development and role of language in learning
4.8	Understand principles, techniques, advantages and limitations associated with various teaching strategies
4.9	Communicate effectively within many domains (oral, written, mathematical/symbolic, non-verbal, audiovisual, computer-based technologies
4.10	Model effective communication strategies in conveying information, asking and responding to questions

For me, teaching is a lot more than instilling knowledge into the minds of a group of children. Teaching is about creating an environment that is safe for children to grow, explore and even make mistakes. Integrated into that space are the core subjects of Math, Science, English and Social Studies. The effective teacher will not only provide the children with an understanding in each area, but will spark the curiosity to keep learning more. Lessons are carefully developed to facilitate such an environment and to engage the students in an active and accessible learning experience. This vision became even clearer to me in my analysis of Standard Four.

To begin, this standard focuses on teaching strategies and delivery of content knowledge through various activities within an integrated curriculum. In planning for all of my time at the front of the classroom this semester, I was constantly consulting with colleagues and modifying original plans. Internally my goal was to always make the lesson accessible by all learners but to also challenge them to think critically. One of my first group lessons was based off the book, We’re Sailing Down the River Nile: A Journey Through Egypt by Laurie Krebs and Anne Wilson. I began the lesson by reading the story aloud. Afterwards the students completed three worksheets. Each worksheet starred a place in Egypt that was highlighted in the story. The sheet provided a few more words about the location and then asked the students an open ended question. Artifact 4A is an example of a worksheet used. In looking at student work, I found many students weren’t able to answer the questions how I had expected. The second and third graders in my class weren’t able to make the connections or draw the intended conclusions. So while this lesson and activity furthered their knowledge of Egypt, the level of critical thinking required was too high.

In a later lesson on Bees, I asked students to listen, read and use a poem to construct an answer to the question: Why are honey bees so important to daily life? Again, this lesson required students to think critically on a specific topic. Students recorded their answers in their journals. Upon reading student responses, I found students developed thoughtful responses that met my intended learning objectives. I feel that the outcome was different because how I planned and structured the activity. Artifact 4B is the lesson plan used. I began with a five minute discussion focused on activating student’s prior knowledge. I asked two questions: “What do honey bees do/What is their job?” and “How does that help the world around us?” Then I asked the students to keep their responses in mind when reading the poem called “Bees”. This poem was taken from the very beginning of the children’s book, The Beeman. Each student was given a copy of the poem and it was read aloud twice, once by a peer and once by the teacher. By introducing and presenting the written works in this way, I allowed for a variety of learners (auditory and visual) to taken in the information. After reading, I introduced the writing prompt by using it to ask the class and taking a few initial student responses. This, again, was put in the Implementation Procedures section of the lesson plan for a reason. It allowed students to begin processing the question by listening to their peers and orally thinking through their thoughts before putting a pencil to paper. It was evident in their end results that this made the writing process much easier. In looking back, I would not exchange either of these experiences. I learned just how to approach critical thinking activities in a way that engaged students and fit their developmental level. As outlined by Jean Piaget, second and third graders are in the Concrete Operational stage of cognitive development. They are beginning to think abstractly and make observations about materials presented. At this stage it is very important for children to manipulated information to process and create their own understanding. The structure of the Bees lesson strongly promotes this tier of development which encompasses critical thinking skills.  

 About mid way through this semester, I was required to write and teach a unit on a topic of my choice. Since the class had been studying ancient Egypt, I decided to make my unit on life in modern Egypt. Within the unit plan, I arranged learning experiences and activities for five days. During the planning process, I made my own goal of not having similar activities all five days. I wanted each day to be unique and reengage the students. Artifact 4C is the plan I created for modern Egypt. I am particularly proud of this plan because I feel that I was successful in changing the activity every day. In conjunction with various activities, I used different media to deliver my instructional piece to the lesson. I believe that this also had a strong impact on its overall success. The theory of multiple intelligences supports this conclusion. Howard Gardnerconstructed a list of seven intelligences or ways that human beings can learn. Each intelligence has specific strengths and weaknesses. Through varying the activities in my unit and the ways students expressed their understanding, I gave way to students having the opportunity to use multiple intelligences.

The challenge for this unit was in Day One. After a whole group discussion, students were originally going to split into small groups to and complete a worksheet that required them to read and then answer specific questions. In consulting with my cooperating teacher, she pointed out my internal instinct on the written assignment I created. It was too reliant on text, and was not accessible by the array of readers in the class. Together we devised an alternative that alleviated the bulk of the text. Artifact 4D contains the original and revised worksheets. When the activity was carried out, the original worksheet was actually given to the adult leading the small group. The adult then read aloud the key components so students were able to answer the revised sheet with text reduced questions. The consultation with my cooperating teacher alerted me to the fact that I should listen to my inner self when reviewing the accessibility of each lesson.

In addition, I also realized how much teachers can rely on written and oral language in their lessons and instructional strategies. Along with student teaching, this semester, I was enrolled in a class called Meeting Diverse Learning Needs. The class shined light on the students that could be in an inclusive classroom. One of the assignments for the class was dissecting an actual IEP (Individualized Education Plan) and presenting the key components to the class along with some tips on how to engage the child if he or she was actually apart of one’s classroom. The IEP I worked with was of a student who had an expressive and receptive language disability. Artifact 4E is the PowerPoint presentation my group created. This assignment reinforced for me how aware teachers must be of how language is being used in the classroom and the impact it has on a student’s learning.

In the end, the reality is that there is no one prescription for teaching a group of students. Methods, strategies and approaches need to constantly be changed and modified to accommodate the majority of learners in the room. Teachers should have more than just one way to present curriculum. Most importantly throughout my experiences at Wheelock College, I have acquired many tools to put in my Teacher Tool Box. Again, as I move forward, I hope to be continuously adding and reinventing old tricks. It will not be easy, but is definitely a challenge I am willing to take.

References:

Smith, Mark K. (2002, 2008) 'Howard Gardner and multiple intelligences', the encyclopedia of informal education, http://www.infed.org/thinkers/gardner.htm.

(1990) “Piaget’s Cognitive Stages”. Patient Teaching, Loose Leaf Library. Springhouse Cooperation. http://honolulu.hawaii.edu/intranet/committees/FacDevCom/guidebk/teachtip/piaget.htm