Environment and CSEL

Curtis and Carter ( 2003) tell us that a beneficial learning environment begins with a sense of belonging. This means that we have to create a "cozy, homelike environment" to help children feel safe (p.24). Making children feel comfortable optimizes learning. Several components are included in creating this environment. Teachers have to look at architectural features, furnishings, color, texture, lighting, and outdoor spaces. It is also important to provide children with engaging activities that incorporate their interests. Also, bringing in pictures of the children and their families to display in the classroom help children create a connection with the school without feeling too separated from their family units. I definitely plan on having a classroom that parents feel comfortable visiting and makes all of the children feel important. Some ways the book mentions to help me do this include having adult sized-furniture as well as kid-sized furniture, displaying children's work, using children's names as much as possible, and providing a wide variety of open-ended materials.

Guillaume (2012) says that teachers should create a classroom community and provide productive and efficient physical space. This book, written for educators of all grades, gave a wide range of suggestions for how to manage the environment. One thing I took away from this book and plan to use in my future practice is that we as teachers have to help children see school as a pleasant experience. It's such a simple idea, and I think that's why it can sometimes be overlooked.

Ormrod (2011) talks about "creating an effective psychological climate" (p. 464). I'm not sure how I feel about creating a businesslike atmosphere, but some of the ideas presented in this section are very appealing to me. I think that offering children choices is a great way to foster a love of learning. I am also a strong believer in making sure that every child feels like he or she belongs. Having that sense of belongingness allows children to take risks in their learning, and therefore, develop a greater understanding of the world.

Early Childhood Case Study

The first step I would take in helping Willard would be to create a picture schedule and hang it on the wall in the front of the room. I would use it during transitions and ask the children, as a group, to tell me what comes next. Hopefully drawing their attention to this timeline of events would help keep Willard on task.  I would also have a discussion and/or book about bullying and emphasize the importance of showing everyone respect.

After about a week, if Willard needed more intensive intervention, I would provide him with his own picture schedule at his desk. I would encourage him to look at it occasionally and do some self-monitoring.

Third, I would create a mini-lesson on routines and work with Willard. I would emphasize where things fall during the day and what comes before and after them. I would ask Willard questions like, "If we were outside playing, what would we do next?" and see if he can follow along by looking at his personal picture schedule.

If all of my previous interventions failed, I would ask someone to come in and observe Willard. This 3rd party observer might be able to see things about Willard, or my teaching, that I would miss. I would also get in contact with his guardian and ask him/her how Willard behaves at home. Does he behave in the same manner? Why or why not? I would let his guardian know what interventions that I have put into place and ask if they have any suggestions for helping Willard adjust to routines. I would also collaborate with the guardian on how we could implement our ideas at school and at home so that Willard has some consistency.

References

Curtis, D. & Carter, M. (2003). Designs for Living and Learning: Transforming Early

            Childhood Environments. St Paul, MN: Redleaf Press.
Guillaume, A. M. (2012). K-12 Classroom Teaching: A Primer for New Professionals. Boston,
            MA: Pearson.
Ormrod, J.E. (2011). Educational Psychology: Developing Learners. Boston, MA: Pearson.

Motivation

I think that the social cognitive theory is one of the most important theories related to motivation  in the classroom. Everyone enjoys doing things that result in some sort of reward, whether it is intrinsic or extrinsic. Also, children are around one another all day, so they are going to notice what the person next to them is doing. If something they do something or observe their neighbor doing something that results in a reward, they will be more motivated to do the same thing in the future.

Some of the most important aspects of motivation, in my opinion, are interests, competence, affect, and intrinsic and extrinsic motivation. In order to motivate students, teachers need to capture the students' attention. That can be done by introducing material that the students are genuinely interested in or by changing the environment to increase interest. For example, some kids really enjoy reading, so if the teacher tells them to read x amount of books a semester, they are probably going to go above and beyond that amount. Other children may not like to read as much. In this instance, the teacher could let the children know that if they read x amount of books a semester they will be allowed to attend an ice cream party. Not every child is going to be personally interested in every topic, so it's the teachers job to increase that interest whenever possible. This goes hand-in-hand with intrinsic and extrinsic motivation. Some children like to read because it makes them happy (intrinsic), but the ice cream party (extrinsic) helps motivate the children who do not like to read as much. Competence is also important when it comes to motivation. I know, personally, that if I  try to do too many things at once I get overwhelmed and lose every ounce of motivation that I started with. It is important for teachers to know what their students are capable of doing so the students feel like they can be successful. If the students think that a task is impossible they are not going to be motivated to try because they will see it as a lost cause. Affect is also important and relates back to interest and competence. If engagement in a certain activity makes the student happy they are more likely to do it. If they think that the activity will make them sad, angry, or confused they will not be as motivated to engage in the activity.

I found a great article from the National Association of School Psychologists. It is written for parents, but the ideas can be very helpful and effective in the classroom. It talks about the characteristics of motivation in young children, how motivation is developed, and it also gives tips for how to enhance motivation in children. My favorite tip is "do not give children excessive rewards." It's so easy to just say, "If you do ________, you will get________," but is that really helping children in the long run, or is it detrimental to their self worth and intrinsic motivation?

The Many Forms of Assessment

Informal vs. Formal Assessment

A form of informal assessment would be observation during an everyday routine in the classroom, like lunch. Cohen, Stern, Balaban, and Gropper (2008) encourage us as teachers to make note of the stimulus of the activity, the setting, the child's reaction, and what the child does immediately after in order to gain a real insight into what the child might be thinking (p. 15-18). This allows teachers to see how the environment might affect children and how they might adapt it to help the children succeed. A test is a type of formal assessment. It is something that the children know about ahead of time and are able to study for, and it lets the teachers see how much of the information the children are understanding.

 

Paper-Pencil vs. Performance Assessment

In my German class, we were assessed based on paper-pencil and performance activities. We were given written tests in which we had to answer questions based on a piece of German text. We also had to engage in a German conversation with a partner while the instructor observed. The paper-pencil test showed the teacher that we were learning the vocabulary while the performance assessment showed that we understood the grammar and were able to speak somewhat fluently.

 

Traditional vs. Authentic Assessment

An example of traditional assessment might be to give children a worksheet of math problems to see if they understand how to solve them. An authentic assessment of the same example might include engaging children in a board game where they have to count the dots on the dice and move their piece accordingly. Both of these activities assess the child's ability to work with numbers, but playing a board game is more likely to happen outside of class than a worksheet.

 

Standardized Tests vs. Teacher Developed Assessments

A standardized test could be a reading test provided to the teacher by the textbook company or a history test that is created from software that accompanies the book. These tests ask questions about what children should be learning from the materials that they are using, but they don't always accurately measure what they do learn. Teacher developed assessments are tests that teachers create that more accurately assess what the children learn from the materials. For example, the children may find something interesting, that the textbook company did not find relevant, and spend most of their time talking about that piece of the story. Using the standardized test in this situation would not accurately measure what the children learned.

 

Criterion-Referenced vs. Norm Referenced Assessments

Over the summer I completed my practicum with the infant classroom at the Early Learning Center on campus. I completed both criterion-referenced ad norm-referenced assessments on the children in my class. The norm-referenced assessment was called the Ages and Stages Questionnaire (ASQ). I had on for each child and the questionnaires are based on what's "normal" for children of a particular age in months. For example, the 12 month ASQ asked if the child was walking or showing signs of being able to walk. This allowed me as a teacher to see where the children were at developmentally in relation to peers of the same age. The criterion-referenced assessment involved a lot of observations. I created lesson plans and wrote out the objectives that I wanted the children to meet during the activity. I recorded when the children met an objective and entered it on the assessment website used at the center. This type of assessment allowed me to see how a child met an objective and if they didn't how to help them be successful the next time. It also helped me to reflect on my teaching strategies and adapt them if they seemed to be failing.

 

Reference

Cohen, D. H., Stern, V., Balaban, N, & Gropper, N (2008). Observing and recording the behavior of young children. New York, NY: Teachers College Press.