Standard 1: Know Students and How They Learn
Reflective Commentary
Differentiating teaching and learning requires knowledge of each student’s background and experiences, interests, readiness and learning needs. Teachers use this knowledge to plan and implement curriculum, teaching strategies, learning experiences and assessments that provide multiple pathways for learning for every student. This ensures all students have equitable access to curriculum and are able to demonstrate success.
Knowing your students is the key to differentiating teaching and learning – what they know and can do, what they need to learn next and how best to teach them and monitor their progress. This is a standard that is very important to me because each child has unique strengths, varied prior language learning experiences, and preferred learning styles. I believe children learn in many different ways and the way I will teach, plan and assess reflects the range of learning styles within my classroom.
Differentiating teaching and learning requires knowledge of each student’s background and experiences, interests, readiness and learning needs. Teachers use this knowledge to plan and implement curriculum, teaching strategies, learning experiences and assessments that provide multiple pathways for learning for every student. This ensures all students have equitable access to curriculum and are able to demonstrate success.
Knowing your students is the key to differentiating teaching and learning – what they know and can do, what they need to learn next and how best to teach them and monitor their progress. This is a standard that is very important to me because each child has unique strengths, varied prior language learning experiences, and preferred learning styles. I believe children learn in many different ways and the way I will teach, plan and assess reflects the range of learning styles within my classroom.
1.2 Demonstrate knowledge and understanding of research into how students learn and the implications for teaching.
Motivation and Personalised Learning:
Through my degree I have come to the understanding that teaching is about engaging students in their learning by making them active participants in the classroom. Understanding that students need to be engaged on different levels has molded my teaching practice. Perhaps the most significant factor in teaching is establishing motivation in students to want to engage with the content, therein lies the challenge for teachers, as stated by McInerney and McInerney (2010)
Motivation is really important because children need to be motivated and engaged for any learning to occur, learning off a whiteboard or from a book will not sustain engagement or stimulate in the same way as hands on learning or play. Many skills cannot be attained from rote type learning alone, particularly for the children in my placement classroom, who could not read or write yet. To ensure that I motivate my students, I base my learning programs on their interests as much as possible. I also ensure that I incorporate a wide range of interactive learning experiences, based on constructivist and active learning strategies to maximize the depth of learning, and provide students with meaningful learning experiences.
Situation:
I tried to make all the learning experiences hands on or play based to engage and motivate the students. I observed my mentor teacher and how she taught. Most of the experiences were worksheet based and you could see that many students were disengaged and not having fun. My mentor teacher and I discussed about what my philosophy was and I told her that one of my important beliefs were having a play based program and a hands on approach. Jean Piaget, a developmental psychologist and philosopher, argued that children construct their own tools for learning and understandings through their interactions with their environment. (McInerney and McInerney, 2010, pg.36 and 37) .He believed that knowledge is constructed from personal actions; this includes concrete actions as well as developed mental operations. He put emphasis on self- initiated learning and discovery through play and interacting with peers rather than teacher central learning. This allows children to construct their own reality, or in a sense get to know their reality personally; this helps the process of internalizing actions as they are forced to think for themselves.
Children need to be motivated and engaged for any learning to occur; learning off a whiteboard or from a book will not sustain engagement or stimulate in the same way as hands on learning or play. Many skills cannot be attained from rote type learning alone, particularly for the children in my placement classroom, who could not read or write yet; fine motor skills cannot be gained from books or from listening to a teacher. Young children often do not understand why they are to learn certain things, meaning they are not intrinsically motivated. Motivation needs to come from another source; play comes in many forms, and a child is bound to find a type of play which is stimulating for them, keeps them focused and will help develop skills without the need for justification. Play is an activity where children are constantly learning and expanding their world through their interactions, as well as adopting and working through the rules and values of cultural groups. (Arthur, L. Beecher, B. Death, E. Dockett & Farmer, S. 2008).
During my professional internship, I asked my mentor teacher if I could have a class pet in the classroom. She thought it was a great idea and that the children would love and be so excited about having a class pet. The reason why I wanted a class pet was because I wanted to make sure that I motivate my students and base my learning programs on their interests and something that will be interesting and motivate them to enhance their learning. The class pet was going to be an example of understanding how students can learn through meaningful experiences is the implementation of my pen pal program during my PI practicum. I decided to to get the students to write a letter to the class pet when writing and learning about language and literacy each week.
Action:
To make sure I covered this standard I needed to get to know each child, their needs and their interests and then take the Australian Curriculum and organize the content into effective learning and teaching experiences that suit each individual child. During the first 2 weeks of my placement (PIP), I took the time during my non-teaching periods to take detailed notes and observation (click to view ) about each child. I noted what I saw as their strengths and weaknesses academically and well as any other interesting things I noticed about their personality and behavior.
I had a matt session on what type of animals students would like to have as a class pet. Students came up with unicorns, puppies, crazy crabs, fish and lots more. As a class we all decided and voted for a class pet that we would all like to have. We all decided to have a class pet fish. The children were so excited to meet the class fish for when I was back for my Pi in two weeks time. We decided as a class to come up with a female name and a male name for the fish. We all agreed on Sparkle and Bluey. The reason I wanted to to get a class pet was discussed in the situation section and is because i wanted children to write a letter to the class pet which would engage children, be motivating and enhance their learning.
You can see the table that I have used for our class pet fish's. I decided to get Siamese Fighting Fish and decided to get two so children can choose which fish they want to write their letter too. I have done posters n information about the fish and how o take care of our pet fish so students and parents know what is expected. Children all have envelops to put their weekly letter in.
Through my degree I have come to the understanding that teaching is about engaging students in their learning by making them active participants in the classroom. Understanding that students need to be engaged on different levels has molded my teaching practice. Perhaps the most significant factor in teaching is establishing motivation in students to want to engage with the content, therein lies the challenge for teachers, as stated by McInerney and McInerney (2010)
Motivation is really important because children need to be motivated and engaged for any learning to occur, learning off a whiteboard or from a book will not sustain engagement or stimulate in the same way as hands on learning or play. Many skills cannot be attained from rote type learning alone, particularly for the children in my placement classroom, who could not read or write yet. To ensure that I motivate my students, I base my learning programs on their interests as much as possible. I also ensure that I incorporate a wide range of interactive learning experiences, based on constructivist and active learning strategies to maximize the depth of learning, and provide students with meaningful learning experiences.
Situation:
I tried to make all the learning experiences hands on or play based to engage and motivate the students. I observed my mentor teacher and how she taught. Most of the experiences were worksheet based and you could see that many students were disengaged and not having fun. My mentor teacher and I discussed about what my philosophy was and I told her that one of my important beliefs were having a play based program and a hands on approach. Jean Piaget, a developmental psychologist and philosopher, argued that children construct their own tools for learning and understandings through their interactions with their environment. (McInerney and McInerney, 2010, pg.36 and 37) .He believed that knowledge is constructed from personal actions; this includes concrete actions as well as developed mental operations. He put emphasis on self- initiated learning and discovery through play and interacting with peers rather than teacher central learning. This allows children to construct their own reality, or in a sense get to know their reality personally; this helps the process of internalizing actions as they are forced to think for themselves.
Children need to be motivated and engaged for any learning to occur; learning off a whiteboard or from a book will not sustain engagement or stimulate in the same way as hands on learning or play. Many skills cannot be attained from rote type learning alone, particularly for the children in my placement classroom, who could not read or write yet; fine motor skills cannot be gained from books or from listening to a teacher. Young children often do not understand why they are to learn certain things, meaning they are not intrinsically motivated. Motivation needs to come from another source; play comes in many forms, and a child is bound to find a type of play which is stimulating for them, keeps them focused and will help develop skills without the need for justification. Play is an activity where children are constantly learning and expanding their world through their interactions, as well as adopting and working through the rules and values of cultural groups. (Arthur, L. Beecher, B. Death, E. Dockett & Farmer, S. 2008).
During my professional internship, I asked my mentor teacher if I could have a class pet in the classroom. She thought it was a great idea and that the children would love and be so excited about having a class pet. The reason why I wanted a class pet was because I wanted to make sure that I motivate my students and base my learning programs on their interests and something that will be interesting and motivate them to enhance their learning. The class pet was going to be an example of understanding how students can learn through meaningful experiences is the implementation of my pen pal program during my PI practicum. I decided to to get the students to write a letter to the class pet when writing and learning about language and literacy each week.
Action:
To make sure I covered this standard I needed to get to know each child, their needs and their interests and then take the Australian Curriculum and organize the content into effective learning and teaching experiences that suit each individual child. During the first 2 weeks of my placement (PIP), I took the time during my non-teaching periods to take detailed notes and observation (click to view ) about each child. I noted what I saw as their strengths and weaknesses academically and well as any other interesting things I noticed about their personality and behavior.
I had a matt session on what type of animals students would like to have as a class pet. Students came up with unicorns, puppies, crazy crabs, fish and lots more. As a class we all decided and voted for a class pet that we would all like to have. We all decided to have a class pet fish. The children were so excited to meet the class fish for when I was back for my Pi in two weeks time. We decided as a class to come up with a female name and a male name for the fish. We all agreed on Sparkle and Bluey. The reason I wanted to to get a class pet was discussed in the situation section and is because i wanted children to write a letter to the class pet which would engage children, be motivating and enhance their learning.
You can see the table that I have used for our class pet fish's. I decided to get Siamese Fighting Fish and decided to get two so children can choose which fish they want to write their letter too. I have done posters n information about the fish and how o take care of our pet fish so students and parents know what is expected. Children all have envelops to put their weekly letter in.
In order to promote a play based learning in my program I spoke to my mentor teacher and the other ECE teachers in the school, which gave me so many ideas and strategies to implement. I decided to brainstorm on a theme based for the semester that I was teaching. I decided to do hands on or play based programs on under the sea theme because of the class pet being a fish I thought it would go well together. I found that it was essential to implement and combine a playbased learning with students reading and writing skills. For example, this Gingerbread Man activity was implemented to foster a play-based approach to learning, while still developing students writing skills.
In this activity students were to understand the story and come up with describing words about The Gingerbread Man - were we brainstormed on the white board some words that described the character from the story. Students then had to write a sentence choosing 2 describing words " The Gingerbread Man has 3 buttons and can run really fast". On the other activities we had play dough and gingerbread man cutters where students had to make their own gingerbread man and also we baked gingerbread man cookies.
In this activity students were to understand the story and come up with describing words about The Gingerbread Man - were we brainstormed on the white board some words that described the character from the story. Students then had to write a sentence choosing 2 describing words " The Gingerbread Man has 3 buttons and can run really fast". On the other activities we had play dough and gingerbread man cutters where students had to make their own gingerbread man and also we baked gingerbread man cookies.
Outcome:
Implementing a play based approach to teaching and learning in early childhood based on the student’s values and interest was extremely beneficial to student’s engagement and motivation. My mentor teacher said that the students were very engaged and enjoyed the activities. I found that the letter writing to the class pet was very beneficial because children learnt:
o How to write letters in the proper format
o Allows students to take ownership of their writing voice by only editing the spelling/ grammar of their letters, and reminding them that we will not edit content.
o Learnt about senetence structure, capital letters and full stops.
o Learnt to be creative and write about their interests and what they like.
Because the students had demonstrated letter writing capabilities and enthusiasm during previous classes, I decided this would be something they would enjoy and could only add value to their current literacy program. The success of the program ensured that it will continue in the class. Students choose to write a letter to the class pet at home and bring it to school the next day to put it in their envelopes.
Implementing a play based approach to teaching and learning in early childhood based on the student’s values and interest was extremely beneficial to student’s engagement and motivation. My mentor teacher said that the students were very engaged and enjoyed the activities. I found that the letter writing to the class pet was very beneficial because children learnt:
o How to write letters in the proper format
o Allows students to take ownership of their writing voice by only editing the spelling/ grammar of their letters, and reminding them that we will not edit content.
o Learnt about senetence structure, capital letters and full stops.
o Learnt to be creative and write about their interests and what they like.
Because the students had demonstrated letter writing capabilities and enthusiasm during previous classes, I decided this would be something they would enjoy and could only add value to their current literacy program. The success of the program ensured that it will continue in the class. Students choose to write a letter to the class pet at home and bring it to school the next day to put it in their envelopes.
The children were so excited to bake Gingerbread man cookies, some students never had gingerbread man cookies, some students never made cookies, some students never tasted ginger. So this activity was a new experience for most of the students in the class. From this activity children learnt:
- Describing words and what they are, and gave examples of describing words for the character Gingerbread Man.
- Learnt how to put the describing words in a sentence " The Gingerbread Man had 3 buttons and ran really fast". They learn where to put and after the first describing word.
- Students learnt to use capital letters in then egging of sentences and also names of people and also learnt where to place a full stop.
- Students learnt to remember and recognise what features the gingerbread man had to help them decorate their cookies.
1.5 Differentiate teaching to meet the specific learning needs of students across the full range of abilities: demonstrate knowledge and understanding of strategies differentiating teaching to meet the specific learner needs across the full range of abilities.
Every child is unique in their own way. Each child grows at their own developmental level and each child comes from a family that have their own beliefs and values. I believe it's the teacher's responsibility to understand the child as a whole and base their curriculum according to the child’s needs. I think as educators we should set up a high quality classroom environment where the child can grow, learn and explore at his or her own developmental level. I believe that a teacher’s job is to guide students in building their knowledge on what they already know. By getting to know the students, diagnosing their abilities and learning about their world views, families, beliefs and interests, I will make learning relevant and interesting. By allowing students to make decisions regarding their learning environment, behavior management plans and lesson types, students become accountable to their decisions and therefore more likely succeed.
Situation:
After observing my students and speaking to my mentor teacher at this stage I knew that the students in my classroom had a wide range of learning requirements. In my classroom I had students who were:
o Two students with special needs, one who were a selective mute who did not speak at all, one boy who had ADHD and behavior management.
o One student was Indigenous Australians and hardly attended school (twice a week, was always absent).
o Two students came from non-English speaking backgrounds.
o Three students had vision impairment and were required to glasses.
o Two students who frequently presented challenging behaviour.
Knowing this I was a little bit nervous at first and was concerned on how I was going to cater for all of the students. In the pre primary classroom there were really weak students, students that were meeting standards and students that were exceeding requirements. I had to plan a programme that helped me cater for all students.
Action:
To achieve and implement this standard I had to first observe my mentor teacher and made notes of how she catered for those at risks, and so on. Later on I observed students stated above on their interests, weakness, strengths and personal characteristic so it helped me have ideas on how to plan my program and making sure that I catered for all students. At this stage I was more confident and wasn't as nervous when it came to planning. I planned my lessons, outcomes for all students covering their abilities, interests and unique learning requirements. In my daily work pads and in my lesson plans i made sure that i catered for all the students when teaching and doing my program and have names of those who may need extra help so if a relief teacher was to come in she can read the lesson plan and understand. For example some students are at different levels in literacy so the teacher assistant and i will have the students come in-groups and do activities that are based on their level and enhance their learning.
The pictures below shows you some evidence on how I developed this standard, the first two pictures are for my student that chooses not to talk. I get him to look at the numbers and get him to place the number of cubes or make the number of items with the play dough. I chose cubes and play dough so he doesn't constantly use the same resources. The third and fourth picture is an activity i did with the whole class. The fourth picture shows that the child can write what it is he drew in the picture, the third picture could not so i had to scribe it for her. This allows the students that can write have a go and enhance their writing and spelling skills, where others write the words in their spelling books to practice. Click the picture to have a better look.
Situation:
After observing my students and speaking to my mentor teacher at this stage I knew that the students in my classroom had a wide range of learning requirements. In my classroom I had students who were:
o Two students with special needs, one who were a selective mute who did not speak at all, one boy who had ADHD and behavior management.
o One student was Indigenous Australians and hardly attended school (twice a week, was always absent).
o Two students came from non-English speaking backgrounds.
o Three students had vision impairment and were required to glasses.
o Two students who frequently presented challenging behaviour.
Knowing this I was a little bit nervous at first and was concerned on how I was going to cater for all of the students. In the pre primary classroom there were really weak students, students that were meeting standards and students that were exceeding requirements. I had to plan a programme that helped me cater for all students.
Action:
To achieve and implement this standard I had to first observe my mentor teacher and made notes of how she catered for those at risks, and so on. Later on I observed students stated above on their interests, weakness, strengths and personal characteristic so it helped me have ideas on how to plan my program and making sure that I catered for all students. At this stage I was more confident and wasn't as nervous when it came to planning. I planned my lessons, outcomes for all students covering their abilities, interests and unique learning requirements. In my daily work pads and in my lesson plans i made sure that i catered for all the students when teaching and doing my program and have names of those who may need extra help so if a relief teacher was to come in she can read the lesson plan and understand. For example some students are at different levels in literacy so the teacher assistant and i will have the students come in-groups and do activities that are based on their level and enhance their learning.
The pictures below shows you some evidence on how I developed this standard, the first two pictures are for my student that chooses not to talk. I get him to look at the numbers and get him to place the number of cubes or make the number of items with the play dough. I chose cubes and play dough so he doesn't constantly use the same resources. The third and fourth picture is an activity i did with the whole class. The fourth picture shows that the child can write what it is he drew in the picture, the third picture could not so i had to scribe it for her. This allows the students that can write have a go and enhance their writing and spelling skills, where others write the words in their spelling books to practice. Click the picture to have a better look.
Outcome:
I do not believe in the use of worksheets all the time, but instead believes all activities should be meaningful and fun for each child, this is the approach I followed and while it was challenging, I feel that it aided to motivate the children and in turn they gained more from each activity. By collaborating with other students doing the course and teachers on differentiation strategies I was able to successfully cater for all the needs of all students. In my final report my mentor teacher has written comments in regards to myself catering for all students and different abilities. See my teachers feed back in my final report.
Action Plan:
I plan to research other strategies for getting to know my students. This will involve researching and reading relevant literature, as well as having discussions with other teachers about how they get to know there students given the restricted time they have being full time teachers. Knowing the students and how they learn will be the result of listening and tuning in to the needs and interests of the children. It will involve not being afraid to let the children guide you and changing direction based on their needs or interests. This is a piece of advice given to me by my mentor and it's something I aim to do in my career.
To improve my skills on this standard I would like to continue to improve my familiarity and comfort with teaching indigenous content, and I think the best way to do this would be to relate more to relevant indigenous adults. In a safe and approved way this could mean having a guest speaker or a cultural element brought into my classroom. If i have any indigenous students in my classroom I will ask the parents if they would like to come and talk about their culture or if they have a family member who would like to come in and do activities etc.
In the future I hope to work with colleagues to collaborate with and gain a wider range of teaching strategies and differentiation methods.In particular, I plan to read the text:
I do not believe in the use of worksheets all the time, but instead believes all activities should be meaningful and fun for each child, this is the approach I followed and while it was challenging, I feel that it aided to motivate the children and in turn they gained more from each activity. By collaborating with other students doing the course and teachers on differentiation strategies I was able to successfully cater for all the needs of all students. In my final report my mentor teacher has written comments in regards to myself catering for all students and different abilities. See my teachers feed back in my final report.
Action Plan:
I plan to research other strategies for getting to know my students. This will involve researching and reading relevant literature, as well as having discussions with other teachers about how they get to know there students given the restricted time they have being full time teachers. Knowing the students and how they learn will be the result of listening and tuning in to the needs and interests of the children. It will involve not being afraid to let the children guide you and changing direction based on their needs or interests. This is a piece of advice given to me by my mentor and it's something I aim to do in my career.
To improve my skills on this standard I would like to continue to improve my familiarity and comfort with teaching indigenous content, and I think the best way to do this would be to relate more to relevant indigenous adults. In a safe and approved way this could mean having a guest speaker or a cultural element brought into my classroom. If i have any indigenous students in my classroom I will ask the parents if they would like to come and talk about their culture or if they have a family member who would like to come in and do activities etc.
In the future I hope to work with colleagues to collaborate with and gain a wider range of teaching strategies and differentiation methods.In particular, I plan to read the text:
- C.Tomlinson,1999.The Differentiated Classroom:Responding to the Needs of All Larners. 2nd Edition.
References:
- Arthur, L. Beecher, B. Death, E. Dockett & Farmer, S. (2008). Programming and Planning in Early Childhood Settings, 4th Ed, Melbourne: Nelson.
- Dennis M McInerney, Valentia McInerney (2010)Educational Psychology, Constructing Learning, 5th ed. Pearson