Robert Heinich quotes ” Throughout history, media and learning technologies have influenced education… such tools offer powerful possibilities for improving the learning process.  No longer are the teacher and the textbook the only sources of knowledge.  The teacher is the director of the knowledge-access process. He makes the difference by integrating instructional media into the teaching-learning process.”

Indeed, Heinich’s words ring true for teachers who want to maximize every learning opportunity for the students under their care.  Recent studies have now attested the increasing value of instructional media and materials as partners in the learning process.  As I plan for everyday classroom activities, I find Dale’s Cone of Experience as an important tool in conceptualizing my everyday lessons.  Dale presents various forms of experience as an instructional device in a cone-like format… as the area of the cone widens, the effectivity of the instructional tool increases.  Below are the experiences and some samples for each.

1.  verbal symbol- (this is the most abstract of all experiences) Example, verbally discussing the parts of the plant without bringing an actual plant in class.

2. visual symbol- Example, teaching math and numbers by presenting their visual symbols.

3. recording, radio, still pictures-Example,  singing counting songs to learn numbers.

4. motion pictures- Example, having children watch “Land Before Time” as an enrichment to a lesson about dinosaurs.

5. educational television- Example,using Discovery Channel as a resource material.

6. exhibits- Example, setting up an Animal Exhibit to broaden kids’ understanding of animals.

7. study trips- Example, going to Ocean Park to gain information about marine life.

8. demonstrations- Example, demonstrating the step-by-step procedure in handling and manipulating a pair of scissors to toddlers.

9. dramatized experience- Example, acting out Goldilocks and the Three Bears.

10. contrived experience- Example, setting up a simulated cockpit for student pilots.

11. direct, purposeful experience(the most concrete experience)- Example, Having children taste sweet, salty, bitter, and sour in a discussion of the tongue and what it can taste.

As educators, I believe that we have the responsibility to go the extra mile, when it comes to ensuring that children get the best possible learning.  Hence, let us continue pursuing other avenues to  supplementing instruction, not only for the benefit of our students, but also for the evolvement and continual upgrading of our educational system.

After almost a month and a half with my students, I am now obliged to do an assessment of each one of them.  For me to fairly and accurately evaluate their performance, I sought feedbacks from their previous teacher.  Remarks writing for the pre-nursery level proved to be somehow difficult.  Another thing that complicated this task further is that I only spent little time with them.  Usually, a grading period requires at least three months of exposure.  That is why it is imperative that the grading process be done in consultation with the previous teacher.  Anyway, for those who would be handling and consequently grading pre-nursery students (with ages from 1 year and 6 months to 2 years and 11 months), here are some sample remarks that may be useful to supplement their grades.

Motor/Physical Development

Charlie is an energetic boy who enjoys opportunities for active play.  He can push a foot vehicle and walk while stepping over obstacles.  He is also observed to be fond of climbing on top of chairs and other elevated objects.

Eva is observed to interchangeably use her left and right hand when manipulating writing and coloring tools.  When it comes to table activities, she seems to be fond of tracing broken lines and connecting dots.  These activities contribute to the development of her eye-hand coordination.

Pauline manipulates small items with a well-developed pincer grasp.  She exhibits left hand dominance as she controls pencils and crayons.  She is also able to draw recognizable representations of a human figure and other objects.

Amber is steadily establishing hand preference when controlling fine-motor implements.  She colors and traces broken lines with age-appropriate ability.  She also actively engages in various forms of manipulative play.

Niko displays a normal level of motor activity for his age.  He can move from one play area to the next without prompting.  He walks, runs, and jumps with good ability.

Social and Emotional Development

When with other children, Hansen prefers to engage in solitary play.  He displays some form of interaction by getting his classmate’s toys and, sometimes, by gesturing his preference to the teacher.  He still needs to be guided for him to be able to make smooth transitions between classroom routines.

Though Marva still seeks the presence of her primary caregiver inside the classroom, she is beginning to accomplish different activities on her own.  She eats and packs up with occasional reminders.  However, she has yet to understand and appropriately respond to the word ‘no’ as she often insists on doing what she wants.

Charmaine can comfortably work and play alongside other children.  She responds appropriately to positive verbal encouragements and shows affection to familiar people around her.  However, she still tends to be easily distracted during concept teaching time.

Hannah now works on table assignments in an independent manner.  She is gradually developing self-confidence as she now rarely seeks the presence of her primary caregiver inside the classroom.

Brad is now able to make smooth transitions between classroom routines.  He can sustain his interest over play activities for fairly long periods of time.  However, he still tends to be easily distracted when accomplishing worksheets.

Cognitive Development

Danny is showing early signs of math readiness as he can grasp the concept of big/small and tall/short.  During playtime, he can appropriately sort toys and put them in their proper containers- an evidence of his emerging skills in classifying.

Ara communicates her needs and preferences through gestures and simple phrases.  She can also verbally identify a good number of objects with clarity.

Patrice shows adequate concept formation skills.  She can identify colors and associate them with objects.  She is receptive to sound and visual stimuli- explaining her interest for songs and books.

Melody shows an understanding of whole to part relationships as she completes a 6-piece puzzle with minimal assistance.  She can also recognize her classmates’ names in print- an evidence of emerging pre-reading skills.

Jimmy is starting to show signs of math readiness as he can compare and identify objects that are big/small and long/short.  He can also associate numerals 1 to 3 to their corresponding number of objects- indicating an emerging sense of quantity.

This entry was posted on Monday, December 29th, 2008 at 2:37 am and is filed under Teacher Talk, Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

After almost a month and a half with my students, I am now obliged to do an assessment of each one of them.  For me to fairly and accurately evaluate their performance, I sought feedbacks from their previous teacher.  Remarks writing for the pre-nursery level proved to be somehow difficult.  Another thing that complicated this task further is that I only spent little time with them.  Usually, a grading period requires at least three months of exposure.  That is why it is imperative that the grading process be done in consultation with the previous teacher.  Anyway, for those who would be handling and consequently grading pre-nursery students (with ages from 1 year and 6 months to 2 years and 11 months), here are some sample remarks that may be useful to supplement their grades.

Motor/Physical Development

Charlie is an energetic boy who enjoys opportunities for active play.  He can push a foot vehicle and walk while stepping over obstacles.  He is also observed to be fond of climbing on top of chairs and other elevated objects.

Eva is observed to interchangeably use her left and right hand when manipulating writing and coloring tools.  When it comes to table activities, she seems to be fond of tracing broken lines and connecting dots.  These activities contribute to the development of her eye-hand coordination.

Pauline manipulates small items with a well-developed pincer grasp.  She exhibits left hand dominance as she controls pencils and crayons.  She is also able to draw recognizable representations of a human figure and other objects.

Amber is steadily establishing hand preference when controlling fine-motor implements.  She colors and traces broken lines with age-appropriate ability.  She also actively engages in various forms of manipulative play.

Niko displays a normal level of motor activity for his age.  He can move from one play area to the next without prompting.  He walks, runs, and jumps with good ability.

Social and Emotional Development

When with other children, Hansen prefers to engage in solitary play.  He displays some form of interaction by getting his classmate’s toys and, sometimes, by gesturing his preference to the teacher.  He still needs to be guided for him to be able to make smooth transitions between classroom routines.

Though Marva still seeks the presence of her primary caregiver inside the classroom, she is beginning to accomplish different activities on her own.  She eats and packs up with occasional reminders.  However, she has yet to understand and appropriately respond to the word ‘no’ as she often insists on doing what she wants.

Charmaine can comfortably work and play alongside other children.  She responds appropriately to positive verbal encouragements and shows affection to familiar people around her.  However, she still tends to be easily distracted during concept teaching time.

Hannah now works on table assignments in an independent manner.  She is gradually developing self-confidence as she now rarely seeks the presence of her primary caregiver inside the classroom.

Brad is now able to make smooth transitions between classroom routines.  He can sustain his interest over play activities for fairly long periods of time.  However, he still tends to be easily distracted when accomplishing worksheets.

Cognitive Development

Danny is showing early signs of math readiness as he can grasp the concept of big/small and tall/short.  During playtime, he can appropriately sort toys and put them in their proper containers- an evidence of his emerging skills in classifying.

Ara communicates her needs and preferences through gestures and simple phrases.  She can also verbally identify a good number of objects with clarity.

Patrice shows adequate concept formation skills.  She can identify colors and associate them with objects.  She is receptive to sound and visual stimuli- explaining her interest for songs and books.

Melody shows an understanding of whole to part relationships as she completes a 6-piece puzzle with minimal assistance.  She can also recognize her classmates’ names in print- an evidence of emerging pre-reading skills.

Jimmy is starting to show signs of math readiness as he can compare and identify objects that are big/small and long/short.  He can also associate numerals 1 to 3 to their corresponding number of objects- indicating an emerging sense of quantity.

In Educ 280, we were asked to answer this question:

What is your stand about grades? Do you believe in numerical grades? Do you think there are other ways to go about documenting or giving feedback to parents regarding the progress of their children?

My answer:

Benjamin Bloom defines evaluation as the systematic collection of evidence to determine whether in fact certain changes are taking place in the learner as well as to determine the amount or degree of change in individual students.  This definition points to two aspects of evaluation: quantitative, which basically refers to gathering data about student’s learning via test scores, and qualitative, the judgment as to the acceptability or non-acceptability of the learning level based on present standards.  Quantitative then implies measurement, where as qualitative implies valuation.  For evaluation then to be highly effective, it should be both a tool for measurement and valuation.

Hence, we cannot discount the importance of grades as evidences of learning. In our educational system, grades play a vital role in determining how a student performed in school.  Filipino families, in particular, seem to regard numerical grades highly, as if, they are the sole indicators of their children’s academic potentialities. According to Dr. Jesus Palma, one of the marks of a good school and good teaching is a well thought out examination and grading system.  In a credentials-oriented society like ours, students’ futures and careers seem to rely largely on grades. However, evaluation should not be solely quantitative.  For one, many factors can affect student performance during test-taking.  For example, a learner’s present state of mind, mood, or emotional state.  Also, some teachers may fall into the trap of standard shifts- like a grade of 99 may mean different for a teacher who gives this grade to just about everybody than a grade of 99 given by a teacher who will make your nose bleed for it.  I remembered how passionate I was with my Statistics class in MA.  I was actively engaging in discussions and reports.  I was even helping out some of my classmates understand the concepts that the teacher failed to expound.  According to him, since we were in MA, it is assumed that we know the basics already and thus, should not be reiterated anymore.   So basically, I was the one who patiently tutored my classmates.  Then, the class cards arrived.  To my horror, all of us got a grade of 1.25! I am not a grade-conscious individual but in my heart, I knew that this was screaming foul! I sought for an explanation… I mean, we were having statistics so our grades should at least been normally distributed.  My performance in his class was way beyond 1.25.  I got really upset but according to him, it was my choice to help out my classmates not his, and it was the grade we all deserved.  What kind of an answer is that! That is why, as a teacher, I vowed to be as objective and fair as I can be.  There are plenty of means to assess student performance.  It is imperative that numerical grades be complemented by quantitative means such as:performance assessments, portfolio assessments, student participation in class, narratives or anecdotal reports, worksheet or task completion, interviews from other teachers, and so on and so forth.  However, since paper-and-pencil tests are tangible measurements of performance, teachers should be very keen and careful when it comes to assessment of performance.  It is not a wild guessing game.

According to Chastain (1988), the purpose of pre-reading activities is to motivate the students to want to read the assignment and to prepare them to be able to read it. With this in mind, we can see that the concept of reading is elevated beyond being a skill to be mastered. Instead, our end goal is for children to appreciate and consequently love and embrace the habit of Reading .

Chastain added that a long time ago, the major emphasis has been on the product rather than the process of reading itself. Because of this thinking, pre-reading preparation has consisted little more than the following:

“Tomorrow’s reading is really interesting! Read the whole text, pages 32 to 38, and write in complete sentences the answer to the questions on page 39.”

Being a preschool teacher, I cannot just right away demand the students to read this book and share their insights the following day. In my school, we believe that it is never too early to read. Because we are trying to develop early readers, it is but proper that we prepare them thoroughly with the process of reading… and this preparation includes building motivation- which can be embedded in pre-reading activities that are imperative before immersing the students with the reading task.

Conceptualizing pre-reading activities in preschool can be exciting, and definitely intellectually stimulating. Thus, before I come up with activities, I have these assumptions in mind:

1. Children are more receptive to activities that are within the context of play.
2. Children are multi-sensorial.
3. Some children have limited English vocabulary.
4. Some children are high performers, some are low performers.
5. Children have to be presented with ideas that they can somehow connect to their existing schemas- hence, they have to be able to relate these ideas to their lives.

Below are some pre-reading activities/games that I have presented to my students, and have somehow produced favorable results.

1. Picture Peeker- This activity builds excitement as children slowly, but excitingly unravel the mystery picture. What I do is I prepare a big illustration of an important figure, object, person, or animal from the story I will be presenting. I will cover this big picture with strips of paper that can contain words or drawings of some objects ,etc. that they will also be encountering from the story. Then, I will ask questions and children are to answer by choosing among the smaller pictures (the ones covering the big picture). Once they find the answer, they will remove the picture of that answer. So with this, anticipation builds as we slowly discover the mystery picture. Once it is revealed, we usually do word webbing to expound vocabulary.
2. Giggle with Riddle- This activity never fails to capture children’s attention. With this activity, I prepare pictures from the story then at the back, I write down the riddle that they will be guessing. Once all riddles are solved, we talk about the pictures again to expound vocabulary.
3. The Classic Guessing Game- Sometimes, when I run out of time preparing pictures or instructional materials, I just pick out some real objects, stash them somewhere to hide them, then I present easy and fast questions so they can guess what the items I’m hiding. This is an easy-to-prepare yet effective pre-reading activity.
4. Preschool Henyo- This activity was inspired by Eat Bulaga’s henyo game. What I do is I call one student who would guess a particular word. This student will sit in front of his/her classmates, then I will stick a picture (from the story I will be presenting) on his/her forehead. I will tell the student to ask questions about the mystery picture on his forehead and his/her classmates can answer only with a yes, no, or can be. As exciting as this activity may seem, you cannot help it if some classmates would suddenly blurt out the answer. That’s why you really need to make the instructions clear prior to the game. Also, it can be time consuming that’s why I limit the number of pictures to those that are really significant in the story. What I like about this game is that it also builds the children’s questioning skills.
5. Brainstorming- This is again an easy-to-prepare game. To do this, I gather some pictures or real objects that will appear in the story I will be presenting. I get one item at a time and pass it around. Once the object lands on them, they are to describe or say something about it. Then I write down their inputs. After all items are described, we read and expound their ideas. What I like about this is that the level of participation is high, as all kids are kind of required to say something about the object on hand.
6. Bulging Backpack/Feely Box- This is just one way to make the presentation more enticing before we do vocab building. Objects or things from the story to be presented will be stashed inside a back pack or feely box. One by one, the students will be putting their hands inside and ‘feel’ an object. They will describe the object and then guess it. Once all items are out, we then do vocab building.
7. Tongue Twisters- What I do is I come up with a tongue twister sentence that is about the story that I will be presenting… for example, A golden haired girl gobbled a gooey gum.. for the story Goldilocks. I let them repeat this sentence one by one. We usually end up laughing after this activity.
8. Flip the pic-  This is a variant of picture peeker- instead of ripping off pictures, we just flip them around to reveal the mystery picture at the back. What I do is I prepare a big illustration of a picture from the story, say a goat from the story Billy Goats Gruff.  I cut this picture into squares.  Then at the back of the squares, I put in smaller drawings or illustrations of some items that they will also see in the story, for example, grass, bridge, etc… We do guessing game and to answer, children will pick the picture and flip it. Like picture peeker, we get to see bits and pieces of the mystery picture… something that would really make the children giddy with excitement..
9. Rhyming Game-  Once students understand the concept of rhyming, I can already come up with rhyme time game that can be formulated into a pre-reading activity… It is kind of like a guessing game also.  For example, before presenting the story ‘Gum on the Drum’, I let them guess the mystery word in this rhyme… O what plenty of hair, at the back of the ______(bear)… then we discuss something about the bear, what it can do, what it looks like, etc…
10. The classic I spy- The teacher puts some objects around the classroom that children are to find, or sometimes, the teacher can also alter some features. When we play I spy, I really take time and effort in preparing the classroom environment.  With this, by the time the kids enter the classroom, they get excited right away, and start asking questions about these changes.  For example, before presenting the story ‘Wacky Wednesday’ we really ‘mess up’ the classroom, turn books upside down, stick some shoes on the ceiling, put in some wacky drawings…etc.

So there you have it, some games and pre-reading activities that I do before story telling… And to add to that, these activities in themselves are not as effective without the proper execution of the teacher… The teacher herself should get the feel of the moment so she can share the excitement with the students….

In my Practicum in Teaching class, we were asked to complete this questionnaire to see what Teaching Model are you mostly inclined to apply in the classroom… Teachers, please feel free to assess yourselves and find out if you are more of a behaviorist, cognitivist, or humanist…

Questionnaire: www.employees.csbsju.edu/esass/learningratingscale.htm

The results of my survey….
B= 43
C= 46
H= 44

The results actually show very little difference among the three teaching models. In my opinion, each teaching model has its own set of advantages that is worth applying. Among the three, I scored highest in Cognitivism. Cognitivists emphasize on an individual’s internal learning process and how it is affected as interactions with the environment occur. I believe that each learner has this innate capacity to learn.  Being a teacher, I belong to the learner’s environment. With much help and proper intervention, I can do so much in helping the child enrich his or her everyday learning experiences in school.

Where would you like to teach- public or private school?
Right now, I am very comfortable teaching in a private school setting. Somehow, the system is more structured, there are many opportunities for growth and advancement, and the training is rigid. Honestly, my opinion is largely affected by the situation of our public school system in the Philippines. Tales of frustration and despair of public school teachers continue to haunt us everyday. Maybe I choose to stay in my comfort zone… or maybe, I myself feel that I am not emotionally and psychologically equip to face the brutal facts of poverty and oppression. I am convinced that Abraham Maslow’s theory holds true- it would be difficult to enrich the child’s mind with learning experiences if the stomach is yearning for food and nourishment. More so, given limited teaching resources, extra large class sizes, and political and governmental conflicts, who would be enticed to teach, if not maybe for the pure reason of nobility and genuine kindness? Actually, from my above viewpoint, I sincerely admire the courage of our public school teachers.  Indeed, despite the circumstances, we still have in our midst, a number of brave souls who continue to dream and believe that they can make a difference.
Given the opportunity, I would like to try teaching in a public school.  But until I am ready, I think I am to stay where I am right now.  Maybe one day, I will be given the chance to do my own share of public service.

What subject would you like to teach?
I love reading good books `and in the same manner, I love teaching young children the basic rudiments of reading.  Though not all kinder children finish the school year with established reading skills, the fact that they become avid visitors of the library is enough for me.  It is for this matter that I feel a certain inclination for Reading and probably English subjects. I feel that I will be most effective teaching them.
Also for this school year, I might be given some teaching loads in high school.  In high school, I might teach Basic Statistics.  Given the opportunity to teach in the higher levels, I opt to concentrate on subjects that I have had much exposure to- such as Psychology, Human Behavior in Organizations, Psychology, etc.

What grade/year level would you like to teach?
For the longest time, I have been a teacher to children as young as 4 years old.  They say teaching little kids helps you keep that child like spirit in you. With this experience, I can say that the last 7 years of my teaching career have been indeed incredible. But something happened that made me think of opening my options to other career opportunities. I was once told that preschool teachers will not be able to effectively teach high school or college students. I feel disappointed when some people say that teaching preschool is as easy as 1 2 3.  In my opinion, teaching in preschool, gradeschool, highschool, and college can be entirely different from each other.  However, this difference is not because one is easier to handle than the other.  Each designation has its own difficulties and challenges to face. To make the long story short, I have challenged myself and these people that we, too, can be equipped to teach higher levels. So, right now, I am psyching myself up for a possible teaching opportunity in High school.  However, honestly, in terms of preference, preschool will always be my first and true love! It has always been a pleasure thinking of activities that would be engaging and interesting for kids. As we know, preschoolers have limited attention span.  That is why presenting lessons in the context of playing is exciting and very much intellectually stimulating.

Which would you like to teach- heterogenous/homogenous?
In Brightwoods, we consider homogeneity in terms of cognitive ability as an important factor when we do class sectioning. Somehow, grouping children by ability makes teaching easier for the teacher- he or she would know what strategies would be most effective when delivering the lesson, he or she would know how much degree of intervention or follow-up discussion is needed, he or she would know what to expect from the students.  In the case of students, low performers will not be demotivated when grouped with other children of the same capacity.  Similarly, high performers will be challenged when in the presence of other bright students.  But of course, there are disadvantages to this kind of set up.  Some parents may complain if their children are not included in the ‘star section’ and in the same manner, may perceive their child to be a slow learner if grouped in the ‘poor section’.  This dilemma may be resolved upon communicating to the parents the real reason behind this action. However, not all may understand. For me, I do not mind teaching a homogenous or a heterogenous group of students. I enjoy the ease of teaching ‘star students’ and in the same manner, I am open to the challenge of educating diverse learners. The teacher of a heterogenous group should be prepared to meet the individual needs of each learner.  One strategy might not work well for everybody.  Hence, the teacher should have intervention plans ready.  Time should be allotted for ability grouping, where individualized needs could be better addressed.

Are the reasons for your choices connected to any particular belief you hold about teaching-learning process? About students? About yourself? If yes, what is such belief?
I believe that my choices are affected by my inclination to see the teaching-learning process more from a constructivist’s perspective.  Constructivists claim that learning is at its peak when students actively participate in problem-solving and critical thinking through activities that they find relevant in their lives. In preschool, this is very much evident in the way we construct our daily lesson plans.  During discussions, you would see how creative children’s responses can be. They are fond of creating their own interpretations based from their experiences.  In school, they learn to accommodate and assimilate new learning to their existing ‘schemas’.  During this process, the teacher’s role becomes significant.  The teacher should carefully facilitate the learning experiences so it becomes more of a self-discovery and not spoonfeeding.  More so, the teacher also plays a significant role in ensuring that children attain their optimal learning performance. If the educator knows each and every child’s strengths and weaknesses, then he or she can devise tactics to increase the possibility of success for each learner.