Elementary aged children are experiencing new things everyday, and I see the excitement, wonder and curiosity arise in the Kindergarten students I work with each Thursday. Consequently, emotions in the classroom can help or hinder student learning. Students learn and perform better when they feel secure, happy and excited; however, their cognitive performance is inhibited if students feel distracted or negative emotions toward the subject matter. (Bohlin, Durwin, Weber. 68) Schooling needs to go beyond the curriculum and guide students to be prepared to deal with real-life problems, challenges and emotions. As a future educator, I wonder how I will be able to include character education (based off students' emotional impulses impacting their behavior and their emotional intelligence levels) in my daily curriculum. Emotional intelligence involves students' understanding of their own emotions, as well as emphasize with others and acting accordingly. Ed Psych Modules offers insight on how to foster emotional intelligence in students, through various dimensions. In my internship, I witness these practices being applied daily. To promote emotional understanding in the classroom, students have "Share Time" during their calendar studies. The class sits on the carpet in a circle and passes a stuffed animal around clockwise. Whoever is holding the stuffed animal is encouraged to share how they're feeling or what they did throughout the week. Students love the opportunity to share their personal life with their peers. In dealing with behavior, emotional intelligence is fostered by teaching appropriate responses to the emotions of others. Ms. J frequently models ways to be caring and considerate of others' feelings when students report a rule has been broken. For example, Tamara* was upset when Lucas* pushed her while making his way to the water fountain. Tamara instantly reported the incident to Ms. J, who asked Lucas why he would be so inconsiderate of Tamara's personal space. Lucas is guided to realizing that his actions impact others, and he is led to apologize to Tamara. To promote emotional regulation by providing training in conflict resolution skills, Ms. J takes an opportunity to turn the disruption into a lesson. The class is reminded of their procedure for when something like that happens, to ask the person kindly not to do the undesirable action and to apologize for misbehavior. While doing letter study, multiple students frequently feel frustrated with their handwriting. I hear countless "I can't do it!"'s throughout the day, and nothing breaks my heart more. Each time a student doubts their own capability, Ms. J and I are sure to lead them by encouragement to continue to try their best. Lucy often is frustrated by her inability to master the curves of a capital G, or the strange line work in an S. Through individualized instruction and a little positivity, Lucy is quick to be prideful of her accomplishments and I'm happy to celebrate with her. Sharing enthusiasm and encouraging students to persevere increases their self-motivation and builds emotional intelligence. While continuing my internship, I hope to uncover each student’s behavioral cues, and find ways to help them grow their individual emotional intelligences. I wonder how to group students in ways in which they could balance each others behavioral weaknesses with their own strengths. For example, would sitting Tamara, who is more motherly, next to Abel, who has frequent behavioral out lashes, allow for peer comfort and help them achieve? Or would the mismatch of behavioral levels cause further disruption and impede their learning process? (* = New pseudonym) ReferencesBohlin, L., Durwin, C., & Weber, M. (2012). Emotional Development. In Ed Psych Modules (2nd ed., pp. 68-69). New York, New York: McGraw Hill.
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“Miss Cook! Miss Cook!” On my first day of internship, I think I tied upwards of twenty shoes in response to my name being called from the mouths of fifteen excited kindergarteners. 66% of the students in my class are male, leaving only five females. About a quarter of the students are African-American, another quarter are Hispanic. Six students in the class identify as White, and only one student identifies as multiracial.
One boy, Andres*, is an ESOL student where Spanish is the primary language spoken at home. I was able to make a connection with Andres during the Bellwork portion of class. He was struggling to read the color word “Red” that was on his worksheet. I showed him the word slip on the wall, but he still wasn’t quite grasping it. I grabbed a Crayola crayon from his basket and read the label where “rojo” was included under “red”. Though my Spanish is poor, Andres realized the connection between his language and English. Being resourceful and finding creative ways to make language connections, like paying attention to opportunities from materials, is a great way to help English language learners in the classroom. The area of my Elementary school is a more rural community with mostly low-income homes. 10 of the students are eligible for free or reduced lunch. I wonder how students from lower socioeconomic backgrounds will do with their learning, and especially the use of technology. My focus student, an emergent reader female named Lucy* is eligible for free lunch. While in the computer center, she didn’t know how to use a mouse. That was quite a culture shock for me, because I could use a mouse properly since I began developing motor skills. After discussing with Ms. J* we brain stormed that her lack of technological knowledge could be the result of not having access to a computer at home, or because of the abundance of touchscreen technology that dominates computers today. With technology becoming such a prevalent part of society, I’m curious as to if there will be a more intense focus on instruction of technology use in Elementary classrooms. Four students in the class have individualized education plans and five students will be attending speech therapy. When I was in Elementary school I remember feeling ashamed of being plucked from my classroom and leaving for speech class. I hope to encourage the five students in my class to enjoy speech therapy and benefit from the experience, not feel insecure. I wonder how speech therapy will affect their education and self-esteem. The more one-on-one time with an instructor could help, but time out of class could hinder their learning process and potentially embarrass young learners. Throughout my time with the kindergarteners I’m going to keep an eye on speech improvements, the students’ self-confidence and pay attention to any impact speech therapy could have on the students’ work. There is a high population of deaf students integrated in the classrooms of the Elementary school I’m interning at. As a result, there’s school wide policies that incorporate sign language into the student’s classroom interactions. Asking permission to use the bathroom or perform other tasks in American Sign Language allows deaf students to feel included, and gives other learners the opportunity to learn a new language. I’m looking forward to learning some ASL as well! There is also a few blind students integrated into the classrooms. These special needs learners are given aides, braille alternatives all over the classrooms and a peer to help them. All the students are supportive of each other. These unique adaptations to be considerate of students with disabilities contributes to the amazing school culture I’ve noticed so far. In Charlotte Huck’s 2nd edition of Children’s Literature it is acknowledged that reading and responding is an active process involving channeling meaning into words, and using symbols to generate thoughts and feelings in response. There are nonverbal responses to literature that include body posture, facial expression and movements. While the students were sitting on the carpet listening to my corresponding teacher read from the class cooks I paid attention to their verbal and nonverbal responses. As children became restless and fidgety during the day an educational song was put on that encouraged students to dance and sing along to expel some of their excess energy. It’s only the kindergarteners’ second week of school, so their educational stamina is lacking. I look forward to seeing their ability to focus and concentrate grow as the year goes on. Also, while reading the students were asked to make predictions and share their responses with their thumbs up or down. Perhaps the cutest moment of the day was when the students were illustrating their Brown Bear, Brown Bear What Do You See? (Bill Martin Jr., Eric Carle) and were instructed to draw a teacher on the page they read today. The students excitedly exclaimed they were going to draw Miss Cook and Ms. J. I felt very important and realized the impact I could have on all fifteen smiling faces, even just one day a week. Literature was applied across the curriculum and cross content connections were made throughout the day. For math, students read and illustrated a poem about position words (up, above, down below, in between) that involved a stoplight. An informative book was read during science time about the Scientific Method. When students became restless during the lesson, a “stand up song” was played that taught and reviewed position words. Disappointingly, there was no Social Studies curriculum during the day. Ten minutes is allotted during the day for Social Studies, but because of time constraints the class is unable to focus on the subject. I wonder when, and how, social studies will be embedded into the lessons. Perhaps during a unit focused on social skills for the community there will be discussions that bring Social Studies to the learner’s attention. I’m looking forward to continuing my internship with these bright young learners. *= Pseudonym/Name changed to ensure anonymity |
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