Spring Loss

Now is the grieving time of year

            For teachers

            For children

The community we have built

            And all loved

            And lived in

Since the very first week of school

            Is now over

            Almost  extinct

There will never be another

            Like this

            Unique

Never again will we be part

            Of this group

            Of this class

And we will all feel a big hole

            In our days

            In ourselves

School’s out

There can be Too Much Teaching!

There can be Too Much teaching!             May 29, 2011

I just read an interesting article about how young children learn.  The two possible answers laid out in this research article were that

1. children learn when they are taught by teachers, and

            2. children learn by exploring and constructing their own understandings of their world.

            And the correct answer is:  number 2.

To repeat a mantra I’ve believed in for years:  There is no causal relationship between teaching and learning.  Now, as a result of these clearly presented studies of young children approaching unknown tasks with and without teacher instruction, I add a corollary to my mantra:  Teaching can absolutely get in the way of learning.   

             In the studies reported by Slate, researchers showed two sets of preschool children a new toy.  With one group the researcher explained how it worked, then left them to play with it; with the other group she acted as though she had no idea how it worked, said “maybe I could try this” a couple of times, and left them to play with it.

            The “instructed” children imitated what the teacher said was the way it worked and did not explore further; with the other group the children applied their own ideas and strategies to the task and discovered – or constructed – a way for it to work.

            Waiting for children to explore and learn needs time, for both the teacher and the children.  Time seems to disappear in direct proportion to class size:  when there are fewer children, there is generally more time for each one. One advantage of a class where children are constructing their own knowledge is that the teacher/adult doesn’t have to spend as much time putting out the fires that spontaneously combust when children have little ownership of what is happening in their school day.

            None of this is to say that teaching and teachers are not useful, important, necessary:  nothing is further from the truth.  Children’s minds are delicate and burgeoning all the time, and must not be overridden.  (This is one of the many reasons why technology is not good for children…but that is another topic for discussion.

(http://www.slate.com/id/2288402/)

Head-Moving While Reading, from RED FLAGS for Primary Teachers

HEAD-MOVING - Valerie

It is September; Valerie is appropriately tentative as she reads a simple repeated book.  She is really reading, though, as opposed to reciting a book she has heard before.  She is a tall, self-contained child, a little shy.

I know she is really reading because, she is moving her head from side to side, using her whole head to track the words.  Even in September, this is a flag.

Certainly it is helpful to turn your whole head to see things that are to the right and to the left of your body.  Knowing what is on either side of you is essential when walking, running, driving, and doing other activities.  When you are reading, though, turning your head is an unnecessarily large movement which does not serve you as a reader.  One of the things you must do as you read, obviously, is to track words from left to right across a page, interpreting the black squiggles as letters which make sounds which make words in some indefinable way inside her brain.  But the page is not very wide, and moving your head as you read is, at the very least, inefficient. 

It is actually not a terrible thing to move your head if you are five or six but it is not a good habit to get into.  Every year Valerie will have to read more in school; moving her head will make her tired, and reading will not be fun.  She will also not be fluent enough: moving her head takes more time; she must learn to read ever faster to keep up.

I want Valerie to hold her head steady while she reads, and to move only her eyes.  Her eyes must learn to move independently from the movement of her head. So I will routinely do exercises with her, as she reads with me, to convince her to keep her head still and move only her eyes to track print.

Try  BEANIE BABY to start with.... 

BEANIE BABY

            If a child continues to move his head back and forth as he follows the pencil or other item back and forth, first tell him he can’t move his head. If the head is still turning as the child reads, put a Beanie Baby on his head to stabilize it.  Sometimes (with children older than seven – they are embarrassed), I use a beanbag instead.  Any small stuffed creature will do, but my favorites are Beanie Babies because they are usually just the right size to balance on a primary head.

            Children should be able to track without moving the head by age 6.

For the first few times you ask her to read with a doll on her head, she will laugh and wonder if you are out of your mind.  If she turns her head, though, the creature will fall off.  Having it there, providing proprioceptive input, will build an awareness of keeping her head still while she reads.  To become a competent reader, it is absolutely necessary to acquire this efficiency, the efficiency of not moving.  Sometimes a little pressure on the top of the head helps – I am not sure why – and will help her develop a habit of not moving her head.   (If you have lice issues in your school, put the dog or the beanbag in a plastic bag overnight every night.)

Education - poem

 Education

Is not a science, although

            Investigation can play a part

Education

Is not a craft, although

            Organization can play a part

Education is an art

            Inspiration and constant revision

           

Required 

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