Standard 1: Teaching for Learning
1.1.1. Knowledge of Learners and Learning: Candidates are knowledgeable of learning styles, stages of human growth and development, and cultural influences on learning.
Artifacts:
Instructional Activity - Third Grade Science
Children's Literature Final Activity
Just recently, I bought Pigeon Finds a Hotdog for a friend’s baby shower. Typically, I give children’s books as gifts for expectant mothers. Had I not taken McDaniel’s Children’s Literature course, however, I would never have known how perfect a gift Pigeon truly is.
I took Children’s Literature during my first semester of the School Library Media program. The class intimidated me because my only teaching experience has been with middle and high school students. However, the activities and materials we created and shared with our classmates have been some of the most meaningful items that have come out of my graduate work. In particular, two assignments I produced are examples of my growing knowledge of how a school librarian must be cognizant of students’ abilities and backgrounds. Both my literature activity and my grade-specific selection activity support learning styles that any teacher encounters in a heterogeneous grouping of students. I created both products understanding that every student must have the opportunity to learn through his or her own intellectual and social needs.
The Literature Activity I created uses two children’s books, including one on CD, to address science indicators for third grade. The activity meets the needs of students with many different learning styles: visual learning, reading, oral reading, active listening, and tangible object interaction. The lesson also involves teacher modeling to help students understand the expectations. The lesson begins with students determining definitions based on visuals. Along with the librarian and teacher, they then read Have You Seen Bugs? to define the words further. Both ways of determining word definitions are contextually-based, thus reinforcing meaning. Following the vocabulary acquisition, using the book of poetry duets Joyful Noise: Poems for Two Voices by Paul Fleischman, the students first observe their teacher and school librarian model how to read the “bug” poems and subsequently work in partners to read the poems aloud.
When I presented this lesson to my graduate class, I felt anxious. The majority of the students in my Children’s Literature class were elementary-school teachers; they knew the necessary pedagogy and curriculum for an elementary school class. A large focus of my lesson was on oral reading, using basic poetry. And yet, looking back over my lesson after all of the other presentations, I asked myself: What were my expectation for the students’ oral readings? Although I feel that my two book choices and the progression of the lesson met the diverse needs of the third-grade learners, looking back at the lesson, I recognized that I missed an assessment element. It was because of this realization that I have since, with any project I have created for my graduate classes and internship, always incorporated a rubric or a grading scale so that I know the ultimate purpose of the lesson, activity, or unit I create. As a teacher, I back map from my assessments in my own classroom; I realized that any library-based activity needed to also be planned and implemented around a summative assessment; the library classroom is no different than a content-teacher’s classroom.
In addition to the Literature Activity, the culminating project of the Children’s Literature course also addresses varying learning styles, in addition to stages of human growth and cultural influences. The project required me to identify appropriate books for every grade, kindergarten through fifth grade. These book choices needed to take into account students’ emotional needs and abilities to learn. The fourth and fifth grade choices, for example, cater to various learning styles. The fourth grade selection, Diary of a Wimpy Kid, is the quintessential book for reluctant boy readers. The book I chose for fifth grade, Locomotion, is a short novel, fairly easy to read. However, it is written in verse and thus appeals to students who may not be willing to read a page full of words. Also, in fifth grade, students are capable of understanding that even if the novel is written in verse, it does not necessarily have to be whimsical like Jack Prelutsky’s or Shel Silverstein’s books.
Locomotion would not be an appropriate book for first graders; the poetic verse is too difficult to grasp. Also, the subject matter is too somber. However, Pigeon Finds a Hotdog is perfect for a first-grader; it is silly, simple, and applicable. Seven-year-olds learn the benefit of sharing from a pigeon and duckling. I selected Once Upon a Cool Motorcycle Dude for second grade because it too contains entertaining images and attracts a younger audience through its goofy topic. In addition to age-appropriateness, I also took cultural influences into account. The first grade book, Chato and the Party Animals, written by Gary Soto, celebrates Chato’s Latino heritage. A character in the book is also an orphan, as is Lonnie, an African-American character, in Locomotion. There is no denying that there are elementary school students living impoverished lifestyles and come from cultures where money is scarce.
I am not an elementary school teacher. And yet, taking Children’s Literature was definitely a class appropriate for all levels of librarianship. The class was an eye-opening experience into the world of authors and illustrators who recognize the intellectual and emotional needs of their audience.
I took Children’s Literature during my first semester of the School Library Media program. The class intimidated me because my only teaching experience has been with middle and high school students. However, the activities and materials we created and shared with our classmates have been some of the most meaningful items that have come out of my graduate work. In particular, two assignments I produced are examples of my growing knowledge of how a school librarian must be cognizant of students’ abilities and backgrounds. Both my literature activity and my grade-specific selection activity support learning styles that any teacher encounters in a heterogeneous grouping of students. I created both products understanding that every student must have the opportunity to learn through his or her own intellectual and social needs.
The Literature Activity I created uses two children’s books, including one on CD, to address science indicators for third grade. The activity meets the needs of students with many different learning styles: visual learning, reading, oral reading, active listening, and tangible object interaction. The lesson also involves teacher modeling to help students understand the expectations. The lesson begins with students determining definitions based on visuals. Along with the librarian and teacher, they then read Have You Seen Bugs? to define the words further. Both ways of determining word definitions are contextually-based, thus reinforcing meaning. Following the vocabulary acquisition, using the book of poetry duets Joyful Noise: Poems for Two Voices by Paul Fleischman, the students first observe their teacher and school librarian model how to read the “bug” poems and subsequently work in partners to read the poems aloud.
When I presented this lesson to my graduate class, I felt anxious. The majority of the students in my Children’s Literature class were elementary-school teachers; they knew the necessary pedagogy and curriculum for an elementary school class. A large focus of my lesson was on oral reading, using basic poetry. And yet, looking back over my lesson after all of the other presentations, I asked myself: What were my expectation for the students’ oral readings? Although I feel that my two book choices and the progression of the lesson met the diverse needs of the third-grade learners, looking back at the lesson, I recognized that I missed an assessment element. It was because of this realization that I have since, with any project I have created for my graduate classes and internship, always incorporated a rubric or a grading scale so that I know the ultimate purpose of the lesson, activity, or unit I create. As a teacher, I back map from my assessments in my own classroom; I realized that any library-based activity needed to also be planned and implemented around a summative assessment; the library classroom is no different than a content-teacher’s classroom.
In addition to the Literature Activity, the culminating project of the Children’s Literature course also addresses varying learning styles, in addition to stages of human growth and cultural influences. The project required me to identify appropriate books for every grade, kindergarten through fifth grade. These book choices needed to take into account students’ emotional needs and abilities to learn. The fourth and fifth grade choices, for example, cater to various learning styles. The fourth grade selection, Diary of a Wimpy Kid, is the quintessential book for reluctant boy readers. The book I chose for fifth grade, Locomotion, is a short novel, fairly easy to read. However, it is written in verse and thus appeals to students who may not be willing to read a page full of words. Also, in fifth grade, students are capable of understanding that even if the novel is written in verse, it does not necessarily have to be whimsical like Jack Prelutsky’s or Shel Silverstein’s books.
Locomotion would not be an appropriate book for first graders; the poetic verse is too difficult to grasp. Also, the subject matter is too somber. However, Pigeon Finds a Hotdog is perfect for a first-grader; it is silly, simple, and applicable. Seven-year-olds learn the benefit of sharing from a pigeon and duckling. I selected Once Upon a Cool Motorcycle Dude for second grade because it too contains entertaining images and attracts a younger audience through its goofy topic. In addition to age-appropriateness, I also took cultural influences into account. The first grade book, Chato and the Party Animals, written by Gary Soto, celebrates Chato’s Latino heritage. A character in the book is also an orphan, as is Lonnie, an African-American character, in Locomotion. There is no denying that there are elementary school students living impoverished lifestyles and come from cultures where money is scarce.
I am not an elementary school teacher. And yet, taking Children’s Literature was definitely a class appropriate for all levels of librarianship. The class was an eye-opening experience into the world of authors and illustrators who recognize the intellectual and emotional needs of their audience.