¿Qué es la enseñanza para la comprensión?

En los quehaceres diarios de una persona se pone a prueba que tanto él o ella comprende sobre lo que hace. Un conductor, por ejemplo, debe decidir si acelera más, cambia de carril o frena en determinado momento. Su desempeño es exitoso cuando logra llegar a su destino sin haber puesto a nadie en peligro.

Ésta persona ha aprendido gracias a la experiencia. Primero, tomó un curso en el que un profesor le indicaba que hacer cuando se acercaba otro carro o llegaba a un pare. Manejaba a una velocidad lenta.

Luego manejó sólo por primera vez. Lo hizo alrededor de su barrio, con pocos carros rondando.

Finalmente salió a la autopista, con un poco de nervios. Se equivocó un par de veces, cerrandole el paso a otro vehículo y olvidando activar las direccionales. Sabía que su objetivo era siempre llegar a su destino sin causar peligro alguno.

Cuando enseñamos para la comprensión, nuestros estudiantes son sumergidos en situaciones que son familiares para ellos, y resuelven tareas, utilizando conocimientos previos. El conductor del ejemplo ya sabía escuchar y ejecutar instrucciones antes de empezar a manejar. Su profesor utilizó ese conocimiento para exponerlo a una situación nueva: manejar un carro.

Luego nuestro conductor manejó sólo, con pocos carros a su lado, lentamente. Ya había manejado escuchando instrucciones.

Poco a poco fue completando DESEMPEÑOS DE COMPRENSIÓN. Aprendió de los errores porque su profesor le brindaba RETROALIMENTACIÓN  CONTINUA sobre lo que debía mejorar, ofreciendo oportunidades nuevas para pulir sus habilidades.

Todo esto ocurría dentro de un CONTEXTO con el cual nuestro conductor se motivaba leyendo y preguntando sobre el TEMA de conducir con precaución, con el OBJETIVO de manejar precavidamente.

He aquí los cuatro elementos claves de la enseñanza para la comprensión: TEMA, OBJETIVO, DESEMPEÑOS DE COMPRENSIÓN Y VALORACIÓN CONTINUA.

Escrito por Iván Pérez - theexaminedclassroom.blogspot.com

How Can I Help my students build vocabulary?

Sometimes when my students are writing about their lives, they ask me questions about vocabulary they know in spanish but not in english. I answer by writing a list of words on the whiteboard. Students who are given this kind of answers may beneift from this approach. However, not all students are able to ask questions about vocabulary. 

That is why a vocabulary poster made by students themselves can be advantageous towards building vocabulary. This poster should be created prior to their reading or writing acitivity. If reading is the target, on the one hand, then key words are extracted from the text, by everyone in class. Next, roles are given after teams are formed. Student A may draw a targeted word while student B labels the drawing with the corresponding word. Student C may paste both the drawings and the words on the poster. 

On the other hand, if writing is the target, all students are asked to make drawings or cut out magazine pictures to build vocabulary according to the topic explored. If the topic is vacation, for example, students will look for pictures related to that past or future experience. Again, students may be given the same roles describe above. 

Finally, the posters are hung. They will be a reference for the planned reading or writing activities. Such visual aid will help students make personal connections, sequence events, recall quotes or ask questions. In the long run, vocabulary is essential to understand reading aand make connections when writing. 

Kids Who Lack Concentration and Attention

I have realized that kids who lack attention must be given easier objectives and classroom roles as leaders. An easier objective can be one that may be achieved in a shorter time. For instance, as regular learners work on a book page that takes them 20 minutes to complete, slower learners work on page items or activities step by step, receiving teacher´s feedback as they complete each item. Sometimes, teachers should sit with the student until he is done with the page item and congratulate them afterwards. Then pages or worksheets, for slow learners, should be portioned, and teacher´s feedback must be given for students to be motivated. They should be given objectives that may be achieved in a shorter time than expected from students who work faster. 

On the other hand, kids who lack concentration benefit from being classroom leaders. They must be given roles they can be successful at. This will make them a more active part of the classroom learning, consequently, motivating them to be part of their own learning. These students may pass out notebooks or materials, be judges when playing games, or even give instructions to other classmates. 

All in all, not everyone learns at the same pace; therefore, when kids feel left behind, they lose motivation. One way to motivate these learners is by giving them ongoing positive feedback after they are successful at completing portioned activities. Another way to keep them motivated is by having them act as leaders in the classroom.

Personal: Second Thought: Intellectual Awards

Personal: Second Thought: Intellectual Awards: I am a teacher. I must decide whether students get awarded. My choice is they should not; instead, they will feel awarded when they contribu...

Learning by Discovering

When kids learn through discovery, they build their own knowledge, on their own. For that to happen, however, learning opportunities must be provided for.

Thus, whole group participation should be limited. Usually when a student answers a teacher's question, in front of his classmates, he is one of the brightest in the class. Quiet students, on the other hand, need to be exposed to learning situations in small group settings.

Those classroom events help kids come up with their own conclusions, after observing, recognizing, or putting things together. Such process may be driven by a single question. Pre-schoolers in a math class may be asked, for example, "What happens when three red blocks are joined by two blue blocks?" Many activities, to go further, may center on this kind of question. After kids find out that 3 plus 2 is five, they can discover what happens when two elements with the same attributes join four of other traits.

However, teachers should be able to identify those students who are not making discoveries, that is, when kids are told to do something that proves they have made the expected connections. In my example, a kid is given 10 circles and 10 triangles so he can pick a total of 7 shapes according the instruction given: "Show me 7, using both circles and triangles." In the end, he or she must realize that 3 and 4 makes 7, 5 and 2 makes 7, or 6 and 1 makes 7.

That assessment must be ongoing. Kids do not discover or gain knowledge at the same pace. Some of them need extra learning opportunities in different contexts. A struggling kid may not be able to learn about adding by putting objects together, but he may do it by drawing two different types of vehicles inside a boat and stating that when you put them together you get a total. Nevertheless, we must know who are those struggling students, by assessing their findings on a regular basis.

Dewey´s Influence

Community Helpers Project

I am working on a learning project with my transition students. It will be presented in November, in two months. This project will be an excuse for students to deepen their knowledge on a topic they have covered. My kids are taught in English; that is, no instructions are given in their mother tongue. Instead, all dialogue that takes place in the classroom is in English. Obviously, some of my students speak to me in Spanish, but I reply to them in the target language, asking them to translate what they have just said, with my help. To recap their prior knowledge on the topic, I will write briefly about the related activities they were involved in before starting this project.

About two months ago, one of the units I covered was about important places in the community. So the vocabulary focus was bakery, post office, park, hospital, police office, and fire station. First the kids learned a song about a group of students taking a field trip in order to learn about these places. For a week, during the first 10 minutes of each class, they listened to the song. Then the lyrics to the song were displayed on a flip chart, and the kids followed the lyrics. Eventually they learned the song. Second, they explored what services were offered in those places. They matched sentence strips with pictures. They also answered questions about ways to send letters or buy cakes. Finally they acted out a play in which a person was asking for directions about different places in the community.

Our goal is to make stands in which kids give information about community helpers by acting, giving presentations, or answering questions.

Last week, we started working on the project. Kids were shown a video about jobs and occupations. Then they chose the job they wanted to work on. They formed groups by interests. They picked the following jobs and occupations: pet shop owner, veterinarian, waiter, doctor, butcher, construction worker, and auto mechanic.

Today each group was handed a piece of paper with five sentences describing the duties of the workers. The members of each group had to represent one or two sentences with a picture. Consequently, they made a sketch describing the sentence. Some of them did not understand what the sentence said, so they asked me what it meant.

Next week, students will finalize their pictures and sentences and paste them on a big poster that will be part of the stand.

To conclude, I know more learning events must be planned in order to make the most of this learning experience. As kids create through language, teaching ideas will flow. For example, after the big group poster is finished, kids may take turns to orally describe what their duties as workers are. They may look at their drawings and say, “I am a veterinarian. I can diagnose medical problems.” Then they can add, “Last week, a boy came to my room crying. His dog had been whining for the last days. I checked the dog and he had an injured leg.” Of course, the last version of what the students will say must be discovered on their own. They can go around school asking adults who have dogs why they whine. They can also ask their parents. In the end, learning is more meaningful to students when they construct their own knowledge. Teachers can always help students to formulate questions and ways to find the answers, but teachers should not give the answers to the students, preventing the students to be exposed to meaningful learning situations. That is how I perceive constructivism and John Dewey´s teachings.

  

Here I Go, Blog

Today I want to set out on a journey. I am going to reflect on my teaching practices and ideas in order to influence and be influenced, not by persuasion but by anecdotes and research. I am a truth seeker, not only on a personal level but also on a professional one. At this moment, I am a pre-school teacher. I teach both math and language; and even though, I have learned a lot during this year, I am always making decisions on what is best for my students.

Therefore, this blog will be a tool for me to make sense of that wonderful-but-sometimes-chaotic world I am involved in. I will recall past experiences and think about projects. To make an impact using this approach, I will analyze thinking processes (cognition), classroom procedures (strategies, materials and activities), and research articles.

As time goes by, I would like write about morality in the classroom. Besides, since one of the reasons to blog is to make myself a better person, I would also like to reflect on everyday issues that are related to education.

Here I go.