Creating a Child Centered Curriculum and Classroom

         In the readings this week one of the main themes that was focused upon was to enter into teaching with a child centered classroom approach.  This is described as designing instruction in response to the children’s actions, interests and knowledge.  The readings for this week, and last week are keen on having teachers act in a way that is responsive to the individual needs of the children as well as focusing on what each child brings to the classroom.  If the teacher is truly acting in this way, the same lesson plans may not be effective year after year for different students.  Teachers should be listening to children for how to create an ideal learning environment.

            In the Lester article, Establishing A Community of Learners, the teacher allows the students to lead the investigation, she gave them a topic, so that they were meeting the objectives of the lesson.  However, the students led the investigation based on their own curiosities and interests.  This allowed the students to learn at their own pace and level and also focus on their own misconceptions and curiosities while engaging in the lesson.  These students were learning as they were choosing the direction in which the lesson and discussion went and they were therefore more engaged than they would have been in a teacher led lesson, where an outsider was the main operator of the discussion.  In this same way, in the article The Value of Mistakes by Eggleton and Moldavan, the instructor encouraged students to make mistakes and learn from them instead of instantly telling the students the mistakes that they were likely to make and how to avoid them.  In this instance the students themselves were making mistakes and finding ways to problem solve and work their way out of these errors to reach the correct answer.  The students were learning in their own way working through math problems so that they are also developing complex problem solving skills that they can use for the rest of their careers.  This same idea was also reinforced through the article that was assigned last week, Never Say Anything a Child Can Say by Reinhart, the teacher had the students lead the discussion and would constantly be checking herself to ensure that she wasn’t teaching them things that they could say, she would allow them to say it.  The students were leading the conversation and therefore determining what they would learn and how they would engage in the activity.  When the child has a choice in how they complete an activity they are much more likely to be engaged and therefore learn from the activity, and participate at higher levels. 

            Creating a child centered classroom sets the stage for differentiation and complex learning experiences for the child, where they can operate at their optimum level.  In my classroom the teacher has writer’s workshop time for literature where the students can work on their own stories, it is an open prompt and they can write as much as they want.  This is a child centered activity where the children can extend their own learning in ways that are the most beneficial to them.  Math activities generally do not reflect this same concept in my own classroom, despite the benefits that it proves to have in other subject areas.  I believe that creating a child centered classroom for every subject area is greatly beneficial and should be used.  Ways in which teachers may achieve this are outlined in the articles assigned this week. 

Hannah Bush - Post 2

After doing the readings, one of the articles really stood out to me. "Never Say Anything a Kid Can Say" by Reinhart talked about a different method of teaching that gets students more involved. You can be the best teacher in the world and think that you explain things in the best way, but that doesn't necessarily mean that students will understand it. One of the first rules Reinhart mentioned was to "never say anything a kid can say"! It can be tempting for a teacher to give away answers or finish a students sentence, but it's crucial to increase a students participation by asking further questions. Another part of the article that I really took a lot away from is "replace lectures with a set of questions". It's hard for students to learn when they are not actually doing problems or trying to explain the reasoning themselves.

The article "Turning Traditional Textbook Problems into Open-Ended Problems"by Kabiri and Smith talks a lot about the same concepts. It is important for children to be responsible for their own learning and be put to a challenge rather than passively sitting there. However, this article brings attention to the idea of challenging all different types of learners. The article mentions that most teachers aim towards the needs of middle learners (versus lower or higher). By using open-ended questions instead of traditional questions, learners of all levels can work out the answer in their own way. I know that many textbooks create open-ended questions, but even if they don't teachers can find problems to manipulate to be more open-ended. Having students do open-ended questions makes them feel more comfortable at their level while also putting them in the driver's seat of their own learning. It gives students the opportunity to discuss and work out problems both with other students and on their own.

I have noticed that my MT has encouraged a lot of participation when she teaches math lessons. She likes the students to ask questions and work out problems while she teaches. She knows that she will lose the students attention if she lectures for long. Students do not learn well just sitting there listening. I have not noticed if my MT has tried to use many open-ended questions within her classroom, but I know it would be helpful with the amount of different levels throughout the classroom.

So far in my placement I have only seen a little bit of math.  My placement is at Mt. Hope Elementary School in a first grade classroom.  The district currently uses "Harcourt Math" textbooks to teach their students.  However, my head teacher is really not a fan of this program.  Although she follows the guidelines in the book for what she should be teaching, she really changes how she teaches it to her students.  The book is very "textbook" in that it has a lesson (lecture-style) then has a follow up set of problems for students to solve, then has a homework assignment that goes along with it.  While this system may work for some, the children in this class have a very low level of understanding of math concepts.  Many of them have behavioral problems that take away from learning experiences.  Because of this, my mentor teacher will often create experiences or games for the children to take part in that they will stay engaged in.  These experiences are much more meaningful to the students and they are therefore picking up on the content better.

Another thing that my teacher does is she is constantly giving positive reinforcement, encouragement, and working hard to build the confidence of her students.  The Cantlon article talks about how building student's self-confidence in math can be one of the biggest predictors of success.  My mentor teacher works really hard to keep students motivated and feeling confident in math.  She has shown me how her assessments have improved over the course of the school year.  She is a role model for a math teacher and has the results to prove that differentiated instruction works!