The process of learning is the ability to gain knowledge or to acquire the skills to do something. To develop these needed skills educators need to develop activities which will help students with different backgrounds, learning personalities and capabilities. Educators must possess a “detailed knowledge and awareness of ways in which learning can be promoted” (Pritchard, 2009, p. 105). In addition to knowledge and theory, “teachers must be able to interpret and then apply to practice what they know” (ibid., p. 105).
Rhyming and Alliteration
Rhyming and alliteration focus students attention on the sounds that words and letters make bringing them to a phonological awareness (Christie, Enz & Vukelich, 2010). There are several methods to teach rhyming and alliteration. Yet my favorite is to include this activity during snack time. As the children have their snacks, they are encouraged to do rounds of rhyming and alliteration. For instance, as the snacks are passed out, the student may receive milk. The teacher starts the circle by saying “marvelous milk.” Then, the students continue contributing their favorite thought such as moo milk, Monday milk, etc.
Alphabet Match
Alphabet match is conducted in a center. At the beginning of the semester, the alphabet is printed in Times New Roman font, including both upper and lower case letters. As the students become familiar with the Times New Roman font, additional fonts are added until approximately four to five different fonts are used. Students gain awareness of the alphabet, written word and understand the “systematic and predictable relationships between written letters and spoken words” (Department of Education, 2013, para. 1). Additionally, developing this ability helps young children develop sound knowledge as they associate sounds with the written letters.
Environmental Print
“Young children enjoy showing what they have learned in school, and environmental print gives them that opportunity each day even if they do not come from homes with books and magazines” (International Reading Association, 2013, para. 6). Educators can boost the self-esteem of students by demonstrating that they already know how to read some things. In this activity, a variety of familiar environmental print is gathered. Students are then instructed to sort the print into different categories, including traffic signs, restaurants, food, etc. The students are encouraged to paste the pictures into the best category on a poster board. The activity is completed at the beginning of the school year. At the end of the school year, the students repeat the activity and compare it to their prior work.
Literacy Games
Games are essential to the development of literacy in young children as they will continue working at a game much longer than other activities (Christie, Enz & Vukelich, 2010). A favorite site to use is Zoodles.com. This site provides over 800 different games to promote literacy in kindergartners. Not only does it feature games that match letters, but it also enhances rhyming skills, phonics, listening skills, oral language, and many more. Another spectacular aspect to this website is the dashboard made available to parents and educators to track the progress students are making.
Writer’s Workshop
The writer’s workshop is a center within the classroom which is equipped with a variety of writing tools including different types of paper such as printer paper, construction paper and even post-it notes. Students are also encouraged to use a variety of writing utensils from markers, colored pencils to watercolors and traditional pencils. Each student has a folder within the writing workshop center where their in-process activities are gathered. Finished projects are also kept in the writing workshop but in a different folder which serves as a portfolio, collecting snippets of writing through the school year. Through the writer’s workshop students will be introduced to a variety of genres as well as develop essential writing skills.
Assessment
Different methods of assessment is used for each of these methodologies. For instance, the online assessment tool will be used for the computer games available at Zoodles.com while portfolios will be used for both the environmental print and the writer’s workshop. Portfolio assessment has many benefits, including: promoting student involvement, increasing self-responsibility, developing self-assessment, promoting interaction between teachers, students, peers and parents, collaborative classrooms, developing student ownership and their ability to think critically. The inclusion of a reflection essay is vital to the effect of reflection in portfolios to produce a deeper self-understanding of student learning. Yet, most essentially, students report a greater desire to continue learning. The greatest noted benefit was the positive changes noted in the confidence levels of students (Mahdavinia & Ahmadi, 2011).
Each morning the teacher will print an observational checklist (figure 1) on labels. There will be one label with each child’s name. On the label, there will be a checklist as well as observational notes where the instructor can record messages at the time of the observation or after the observation. This method, although a personal creation, was printed on stickers as used by the Head Start program. By having the information on stickers, it is easily transferred to student files.
Summary
Barell (1995) suggests specific strategies to propel students from being passive to engaged learners, participating in student directed instruction, by providing students with opportunities to mold their educational experience to meet their learning style. Through this method, students will develop an insight into themselves as they develop learning strategies, set learning goals, gauge their progress and even assess the results. Such a process expands the self-efficacy of individuals and propels students to operate at higher critical thinking levels as researched by Bloom.
Implementing the appropriate instructional strategy to meet the learning needs of each student helps them to feel well understood and develop skills to develop literacy skills. Learning is more than simply transferring knowledge from one individual to another. Educators must develop knowledge and essential skills for effective instructional strategies including actively engaging students in the learning experience. Only then will learners reap the greatest benefits of being a literate member of society (Moore, 2012).
References
Barell, J. (1995). Critical issue: working toward student self-direction and personal efficacy as educational goals. Retrieved from http://www.ncrel.org/sdrs/areas/issues/students/learning/lr200.htm
Christie, J. F., Enz, B. J., & Vukelich, C. (2010). Teaching language literacy: Preschool through the Elementary Grades. Upper Saddle, NJ: Allyn and Bacon.
Department of Education. (2013). Alphabet matching. Retrieved from http://www.readingrockets.org/strategies/alphabet_matching/
International Reading Association. (2013). From stop signs to golden arches. Retrieved from http://www.readwritethink.org/classroom-resources/lesson-plans/from-stop-signs-golden-27.html
Mahdavinia, M. & Ahmadi, L. (2011). Portfolio assessment: a tool for self-directed learning at post-secondary level. In D. Gardner (Ed.) Fostering autonomy in language learning (pp. 76 -89). Gaziantep: Zirve University.
Moore, K. D. (2012). Effective instructional strategies: From theory to practice (3rd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA:Sage Publications.
Pritchard, A. (2009). Ways of learning: Learning theories and learning styles in the classroom (2nd ed.). New York, NY:Routledge.
By Tracy Atkinson
Tracy Atkinson, mother of six, lives in the Midwest with her husband. She is a teacher, having taught elementary school to higher education, holding degrees in elementary education and a master’s in higher education. Her passion is researching, studying and investigating the attributes related to self-directed learners. She has published several titles, including Calais: The Annals of the Hidden, Lemosa: The Annals of the Hidden, Book Two, Rachel’s 8 and Securing Your Tent. She is currently working on a non-fiction text exploring the attributes of self-directed learners: The Five Characteristics of Self-directed Learners.
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