Six Guiding Principles
1) The social curriculum is as important as the academic curriculum.
When working with young children we must remember that while we are trying to teach them academics, they are still growing into who they will become socially. It is important that we recognize what is going on in our classroom socially and plan accordingly for it. If our students have healthy and positive relationships with others, they will have higher self esteem. Students with high self esteem typically have better success and engagement in school. Teaching our students skills such as how to work in a group and how to resolve conflicts are essential to student academic success.
As teachers there are several ways we can help our students gain strong social skills. By providing a structured social time and quick social lesson during our school day we can teach our students about skills such as manners, respecting others in public, and facial expressions. I had the opportunity to observe how this works in a classroom setting during my six week clinical. The students listened to a short lesson about a social skill and then were free to play with the toys in the classroom. It gave the students time to develop good social skills in a controlled environment. The best part was getting to see the students act on the appropriate social skill they had just learned about, such as sharing or compromise. The more that we can teach them now about how to behave socially, the better off they are going to be moving forward outside of the classroom.
2) How children learn is as important as what they learn: Process and content go hand in hand.
Each child will learn differently in a classroom setting. If the process of how a student is learning is not right for them, they will not retain any of the content. How we teach our lessons should always be molded to what type of learners we are in front of. If as teachers we are able to teach our students in a way that interests them, we are much more likely to be successful with how much content they learn. Our students will be more engaged in an environment in which they are engaged and feel loved. Since classes such as art, physical education, media, and music are often cut in our school systems, teachers may choose to bring some of these elements into their classroom by incorporating them into their daily math and reading routines. Not all of our students are going to learn the same way. Some students may understand information more clearly because of an art spin put on a project, and other students may understand better just by having more time allowed during a lesson. It is important as teachers that we strive to teach our lessons so that multiple types of learners can follow.
3) The greatest cognitive growth occurs through social interaction.
Cognitive growth would not be possible without social interaction. It is from others that we learn the basic ways of living and learning. It is not that students cannot learn independently, but they learn best when engaging with another. It is important that teachers know how their students engage with one another best and incorporate that into their daily classroom routines. Students must talk with one another, discuss ideas, teach one another, and work together on problems on a daily basis. Most importantly, we need our students to learn from one another. Having this social interaction in our classrooms regularly will help students with their problem solving, decision making, and planning skills. I plan on incorporating several classroom community building activities into my year when I have my own classroom. The students need to learn from one another to grow cognitively, and it is up to us as teachers to give them opportunity for this.
4) To be successful academically and socially, children need a set of social skills: cooperation, assertion, responsibility, empathy, and self control.
In order for students to be successful in the classroom either academically or socially, they must first have a basic set of social skills mastered. It is essential that children be able to cooperate with others, be assertive, be responsible, have empathy for others, and have self control in order to have success in the classroom. If a child does not have this set of social skills mastered, they could potentially have difficulty learning. A teacher can not hold a child's hand every second of the day. Children need to know how to navigate socially in the classroom on their own. With the independence of having a strong set of social skills, children are more likely to be successful.
Classroom communities can be very diverse with students from different backgrounds and ethnicities. We need to remember that not all of these social skills are taught at home. There may be a student who refuses to work with another student because of the way they were raised. In these situations the student needs to be taught cooperation and empathy for others. I don't believe these social skills should be a choice to use. If a future student of mine does not have this strong set of social skills for any reason, I will go out of my way to teach them. Teaching content is not the only thing teachers teach, we are teaching these students to be good people in and out of the classroom.
5) Knowing the children we teach-individually, culturally, and developmentally-is as important as knowing the content we teach.
The content we teach is unvaluable if we don’t understand who we are teaching. Year to year, the way a teacher approaches certain subjects should differ. Knowing where students are developmentally in each grade is crucial to success. We must know what our students are capable of and what behaviors are normal to have success. Each classroom will also be culturally different, and as teachers it is our responsibility to know how to best teach to that group of students. For example, in my first six week placement I was in first grade. One day, my cooperating teacher had me grading some of the students daily work. I began correcting the letters that were backwards. My teacher assured me this was okay to do, but was completely normal at this stage. During conferences there were several parents that were concerned that their child may have a disability because of their letters. In this situation, my teacher needed to know that writing letters backward is developmentally normal for a first grader. It was a perfect example for me to learn that it is important we know where our students are developmentally.
6) Knowing the families of the children we teach and working with them as partners is essential to children's education.
The more that families are involved in children's education, the better grades the children will receive. Families need to feel like teachers are pulling for their child. When a family is on board, the child will receive better support at home with outside of school work. As teachers, we need to make it our job to go out of our way to get to know each and every family of the students we teach. For example, I worked individually with a struggling student often at my six week placement. It was clear she needed special education services, she was very low academically. However, I learned that the family had refused any special education services. After learning about this my cooperating teacher made it a priority to have communication with the students' family. My teacher communicated with the family that she truly just wanted the best education for their child, she was pulling for their child. Once the communication was clear, the family felt more comfortable with the school and putting their child in special education. This is just one example of working with a family to better a child's education.
When working with young children we must remember that while we are trying to teach them academics, they are still growing into who they will become socially. It is important that we recognize what is going on in our classroom socially and plan accordingly for it. If our students have healthy and positive relationships with others, they will have higher self esteem. Students with high self esteem typically have better success and engagement in school. Teaching our students skills such as how to work in a group and how to resolve conflicts are essential to student academic success.
As teachers there are several ways we can help our students gain strong social skills. By providing a structured social time and quick social lesson during our school day we can teach our students about skills such as manners, respecting others in public, and facial expressions. I had the opportunity to observe how this works in a classroom setting during my six week clinical. The students listened to a short lesson about a social skill and then were free to play with the toys in the classroom. It gave the students time to develop good social skills in a controlled environment. The best part was getting to see the students act on the appropriate social skill they had just learned about, such as sharing or compromise. The more that we can teach them now about how to behave socially, the better off they are going to be moving forward outside of the classroom.
2) How children learn is as important as what they learn: Process and content go hand in hand.
Each child will learn differently in a classroom setting. If the process of how a student is learning is not right for them, they will not retain any of the content. How we teach our lessons should always be molded to what type of learners we are in front of. If as teachers we are able to teach our students in a way that interests them, we are much more likely to be successful with how much content they learn. Our students will be more engaged in an environment in which they are engaged and feel loved. Since classes such as art, physical education, media, and music are often cut in our school systems, teachers may choose to bring some of these elements into their classroom by incorporating them into their daily math and reading routines. Not all of our students are going to learn the same way. Some students may understand information more clearly because of an art spin put on a project, and other students may understand better just by having more time allowed during a lesson. It is important as teachers that we strive to teach our lessons so that multiple types of learners can follow.
3) The greatest cognitive growth occurs through social interaction.
Cognitive growth would not be possible without social interaction. It is from others that we learn the basic ways of living and learning. It is not that students cannot learn independently, but they learn best when engaging with another. It is important that teachers know how their students engage with one another best and incorporate that into their daily classroom routines. Students must talk with one another, discuss ideas, teach one another, and work together on problems on a daily basis. Most importantly, we need our students to learn from one another. Having this social interaction in our classrooms regularly will help students with their problem solving, decision making, and planning skills. I plan on incorporating several classroom community building activities into my year when I have my own classroom. The students need to learn from one another to grow cognitively, and it is up to us as teachers to give them opportunity for this.
4) To be successful academically and socially, children need a set of social skills: cooperation, assertion, responsibility, empathy, and self control.
In order for students to be successful in the classroom either academically or socially, they must first have a basic set of social skills mastered. It is essential that children be able to cooperate with others, be assertive, be responsible, have empathy for others, and have self control in order to have success in the classroom. If a child does not have this set of social skills mastered, they could potentially have difficulty learning. A teacher can not hold a child's hand every second of the day. Children need to know how to navigate socially in the classroom on their own. With the independence of having a strong set of social skills, children are more likely to be successful.
Classroom communities can be very diverse with students from different backgrounds and ethnicities. We need to remember that not all of these social skills are taught at home. There may be a student who refuses to work with another student because of the way they were raised. In these situations the student needs to be taught cooperation and empathy for others. I don't believe these social skills should be a choice to use. If a future student of mine does not have this strong set of social skills for any reason, I will go out of my way to teach them. Teaching content is not the only thing teachers teach, we are teaching these students to be good people in and out of the classroom.
5) Knowing the children we teach-individually, culturally, and developmentally-is as important as knowing the content we teach.
The content we teach is unvaluable if we don’t understand who we are teaching. Year to year, the way a teacher approaches certain subjects should differ. Knowing where students are developmentally in each grade is crucial to success. We must know what our students are capable of and what behaviors are normal to have success. Each classroom will also be culturally different, and as teachers it is our responsibility to know how to best teach to that group of students. For example, in my first six week placement I was in first grade. One day, my cooperating teacher had me grading some of the students daily work. I began correcting the letters that were backwards. My teacher assured me this was okay to do, but was completely normal at this stage. During conferences there were several parents that were concerned that their child may have a disability because of their letters. In this situation, my teacher needed to know that writing letters backward is developmentally normal for a first grader. It was a perfect example for me to learn that it is important we know where our students are developmentally.
6) Knowing the families of the children we teach and working with them as partners is essential to children's education.
The more that families are involved in children's education, the better grades the children will receive. Families need to feel like teachers are pulling for their child. When a family is on board, the child will receive better support at home with outside of school work. As teachers, we need to make it our job to go out of our way to get to know each and every family of the students we teach. For example, I worked individually with a struggling student often at my six week placement. It was clear she needed special education services, she was very low academically. However, I learned that the family had refused any special education services. After learning about this my cooperating teacher made it a priority to have communication with the students' family. My teacher communicated with the family that she truly just wanted the best education for their child, she was pulling for their child. Once the communication was clear, the family felt more comfortable with the school and putting their child in special education. This is just one example of working with a family to better a child's education.