Thursday, September 20, 2012

To learn it, do it!

"Anyone who makes a distinction 
between games and learning doesn't 
know the first thing about either." 
- Marshall McLuhan

There is a huge variation in the classroom among the students compared to the past. The article states that the some children do preschool so they have been exposed to the ‘school setting’ and some haven’t, some students speak different languages, some students have disabilities, and while all of these are not bad things, it makes teaching more of a challenge and teachers now have to face more obstacles when it comes to teaching students to read and write. A good way to expose children to the alphabetic principle and the understanding of the relationship between letters and sounds is by comparing letters and nursery rhymes. Different strategies should be implemented in the classroom to ensure that students are learning to read and write to the best of their ability. I think a fun way for little kids to practice letters is with Chicka Chicka Boom Boom. Who doesn’t love this book?

Something I really liked about the second article was one of the activities to relate letters and words in books to letters and words the students already knew. The activity talked about was taking the students pictures and attaching it with the first letter of their name and then another word.  We’ve heard in every class and most of have experienced first hand that relating learning to real life situations will make it more enjoyable and is usually successful. Something else this article discussed that I REALLY enjoyed was about handwriting. I have terrible writing so the activity discussed is something I will probably implement in my classroom so that my students aren’t afraid of writing due to “not knowing how.” What Donna B. and Donna J. did with making children comfortable taking risks is incredible. I hope that’s something I am able to do in my future classroom.

Article 3 discussed involving the students in games in order to support phonemic awareness development. Everyone loves games, so I think that’s a great way to get students actively participating and engaged in academics. They have a lot of fun and learn at the same time. Will you be a teacher that includes games in your teaching?



4 comments:

  1. I hope to be a teacher that includes many games and actives in all of my lessons. I remember becoming bored with learning to read and also feeling added pressure to learn all new vocabulary while doing it. The strategy of promoting the use of familiar words with each student seems like such a wonderful idea. I also have handwriting that reminds me of an elementary school boy and loved the idea of showing the different forms of writing.

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  2. I really agree with your opinion on relating new reading material with student prior knowledge. I think that a teachers ability to do this is one of the most important characteristics of a successful and engaging teacher. Making school applicable is one of the greatest challenges to teachers when working with children!

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  3. That is such a fabulous quote. How have I not heard that before?

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  4. I fully intend on being a teacher that incorporates games in my lessons. My best memories from elementary school all involve some sort of fun game or activity. Including games also takes the pressure and scariness away from learning and replaces it with positivity and fun.

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