81 MD4 Wk8 Dis
8081-Module 4
Discussion: Week 8:
Designing Effective Language Learning
Discussion Task Part 2
In 4 (four)- 150 word Responses
Respond to four of your colleagues’ postings in the following ways:
· Share how the learning experience may have enhanced the children’s language development and literacy. (2 Responses)
· Propose additional suggestions about ways in which the early childhood professionals could further support the children during this stage of their language and literacy development. (2 Responses)
Cite appropriate references in APA 7 format to substantiate your thinking.
Colleagues’ postings :
Colleague #1 – Lua Shanks Post
Language Development
Concepts
Some of the concepts relevant to the art of differentiation are direct instruction, explicit instruction, implicit instruction, and developmentally appropriate practice. In this case, implicit instruction represents a teaching strategy where the teacher leaves it to the student to do the work after presenting them with the question or information (Kennedy, 2013). On the other hand, explicit instruction is where the teacher accompanies the information or problem with an outline of the goals and makes such explanations overtly. Direct Instruction (DI) refers to a teaching strategy where the learning process is directed by the teacher who is mostly situated in front of the class.
This instruction method is relevant because it relies on the core principles that all students can learn regardless of background as long as teaching is done well and that all instructors can be effective as long as they have the necessary materials and resources to teach (Laureate Education (Producer), 2015). Developmentally appropriate practice is made up of several methods that enhance optimal development and learning for children. The main components of ADAP are knowledge about individual children, knowledge about the social and cultural backgrounds for children’s growth and learning, and knowledge about development and learning (Kennedy, 2013). DAP is relevant because it recognizes and values the individuality of each member of the learning community.
Scenario
A teacher handling a preschool class begins the lesson by standing in front of the class and teaches about different weather patterns. As he teaches, the instructors ask the students questions every once in a while. In the middle of the lesson, the teacher asks the students to step outside and instructs them to observe the weather and make predictions about the weather for the rest of the day. When the students come back to class, the teacher hands out pictures of clouds in which the students will color according to the type of cloud indicated. Furthermore, the teacher encourages the learners to make weather predictions during play with other children.
References
Kennedy, E. (2013). Creating positive literacy learning environments in early childhood: Engaging classrooms, creating lifelong readers, writers and thinkers. The SAGE handbook of early childhood literacy, 541-560.
Laureate Education (Producer). (2015). Language/literacy instruction approaches [Video file]. Baltimore, MD: Author.
Colleague #2- Laura Herring Post
As an early childhood educator, it is important to use implicit, direct, and explicit instruction. Teachers should also consider developmentally appropriate practice.
My scenario takes place in a first-grade classroom. For our morning read-aloud, we will read, “I Like Myself” by Karen Beaumont. This is a rhyming book about all the wonderful things that make us special. The students will get to share what things make them special. Following the lesson, I will model picking one thing to write about. I will start with the sentence stem, “I like my…” and then draw what I like about myself, my eyes. The students will then draw and write what makes them special. After the writing activity, we will begin a phonics activity. I will write “eye” and “eyes” on the board. I will ask the students what they notice. The students will point out they are the same word, but one has an “s”. I will write a second set, “toe” and “toes”. I will help guide them to verbalize that the difference between the two sets is words that mean one and words that mean more than one, singular and plural nouns. We will note how the spelling changed by adding an “s”. The students will be given a set of singular nouns to turn into plural nouns. Most will follow the pattern of adding an “s” except for foot and tooth. We will call them oddballs. The children will be encouraged to find other words that fit into the oddball section like, child and children.
Reference:
Laureate Education (Producer). (2015). Direct and implicit instruction [Video file]. Baltimore, MD: Author.
Colleague #3 – Anya Kayne Post
It is essential that early childhood professionals have a strong background in implicit instruction, where one takes advantage of teachable moments, of direct instruction, where one is engaging with purpose and intentionality, and of developmentally appropriate practice, where one understands developmental sequences, children as individuals, and the social/cultural contexts that children are developing within (Laureate Education, 2015). Careful and thoughtful instruction is necessary to support effective instruction, along with ongoing assessment that informs planning (NAEYC, 2009). All of these understandings are the foundation for creating learning experiences that deeply support language and literacy development.
One scenario takes place in a kindergarten classroom. The children in this classroom mostly know their letters and are working to connect letters to their sounds; some students know more than 50 site words, others are just beginning to recognize site words (Laureate Education, 2015b). There is a wide range of abilities and expanding vocabulary through meaningful context is one of the teacher’s objectives. The teacher, Ms. Ellis, reads the book “Pancakes, Pancakes” by Eric Carle. While reading it, she points out some of the repetition of words in the story. Some of the children share what they like to eat and she invites their contributions, expanding on their thoughts. For example, Gina says, “I don’t like pancakes. I like cereal” and Ms. Ellis responds with, “Oh! Gina prefers cereal instead of pancakes for breakfast.” The teacher emphasizes the sequential steps in the book, with words like first, next, then, and finally. After reading the book, the teacher invites students to raise their hands and share a favorite food for breakfast. She then provides an example for herself, stating that her favorite breakfast food is eggs. On chart paper, she has already written: “First, Next, Then, and Finally.” She models writing and drawing the four steps of making eggs on the chart paper. She then gives the students paper, with the words, first, next, then, and finally written on the paper. The students can choose if they draw the steps of getting their favorite breakfast food or some students choose to write the words that they know. Other students mix words with pictures. After the students have completed their favorite breakfast stories, they are asked to share the story aloud with a partner, explaining the steps and showing their partner the pictures or words. Finally, the teacher asks a few students to volunteer to share what they have written or drawn with the class.
Reference:
Laureate Education (Producer). (2015). Direct and implicit instruction [Video file]. Baltimore, MD: Author.
Laureate Education (Producer). (2015b). Developmentally appropriate practice [Video file]. Baltimore, MD: Author.
National Association for the Education for Young Children. (2009). On learning to read and write. Retrieved from https://www.naeyc.org/sites/default/files/globally-shared/downloads/PDFs/resources/position-statements/WWSSLearningToReadAndWriteEnglish.pdf
Colleague #4- Kelli Barnes Post
As children grow and mature, they begin their own language and literacy journey through life. While all children are created and designed differently, their learning path and styles are equally diverse. Therefore, it is our responsibility as educators to meet these children on multiple levels to ensure their success. In addition, we want to build a strong foundation for language development. To build this foundation and provide multiple levels of support, there should be numerous strategies or approaches considered. This drive of teacher intent is to counter balance the 20% of students who will find reading and language development challenging (2015).
For this week's discussion, I have chosen to create a scenario of a preschool class. In this class, as the teacher, I will provide multiple levels of support through different strategies or approaches to ensure understanding. One specific activity would be one that is fun and one that I have used in my classroom before. Initially, I would read aloud the book Where The Wild Things Are. I would simple ask that students just listen to the story the first time. Later, I would read it a second time asking students to raise their hand in the air when they hear me say "Wild". This would reinforce letter and sound recognition and help us practice the letter W that we had been working on that week. At the end of the lesson, we would discuss all the different wild things we saw in the book and describe them. Then, allowing the students some independence and creativity, I would send students off to create a "wild thing" of their own. As an extension, I would ask them to name their wild thing. With these simple approaches, I would be able to provide an array of strategies to reach each child and provide different avenues of learning opportunities that is essential for overall cognitive development (n.d). In addition, these approaches would provide guidance for me as the teacher and my instruction.
Reference:
Child Development Institute (n.d.) Language Development in Children. Retrieved from http://childdevelopmentinfo.com/child-development/language_development/
Laureate Education (Producer). (2015). Direct and implicit instruction [Video file]. Baltimore, MD: Author.