Listening to What the Children Say...

I found this article very interesting because I am in a Kindergarten classroom, and I find myself listening to conversations similar to those in the article. I, am also curious to what the children are saying. Their answers and outlook on the world fascinate me. I found the concept of open-ended questions really interesting, because even when you ask questions, sometimes it is hard to accept the answers children give you, and you wait for an answer that matches your own ideal answer. That is something that I feel I need to get better with. Because being able to actually hear a child's answer as it is, is also a way of assessing what a child needs and what a child already has in their own personal database of knowledge. 

It's important when we are teaching to remember that we are always teaching children. We may be teaching math, science, reading, writing and social studies, but what matters the most is that we are teaching children. I really liked when the author said "the children were continually making natural connections, adding a structure of rules and traditions according to their own logic." That's also what education is, allowing children to connect their learning to something in their lives, so their learning is more valuable. This is similar to what John Dewey said about experiences and how all experiences need to be valued in teaching. The author also says "use this compelling material as a vehicle for examining his ideas of how the world works," is also saying to teach to their experiences. 

Another part about this article I found interesting was the issue with Frederick about the birthdays and the fact that he did not believe his mom had birthdays anymore. To me this part related to science, because Frederick had a huge misconception about birthdays. While birthdays may not be science, children still have misconceptions about concepts in science, and teachers need to work to change misconceptions. Although you cannot force a child to change his mind, teachers need to find ways to help with these misconceptions. 

Campfire Effect

After reading the "Campfire Effect", I feel that I am not prepared to teach ELL students. I did student teach in East Hartford, and although I may have had a lot of hispanic students,  not many were ELL students. Some students did have trouble with English, but they could all speak it and for the most part understand. I remember having difficulty explaining words in English because of language barriers, but for the most part we understood each other. However, that doesn't do me any good if when I start teaching next year and i have 5 students who do not speak English. I will not feel prepared to teach them in the best possible way. My only language background is French from taking 6 years of it, but I do not have any Spanish background, if any of my students were Spanish speaking. I really do feel that as preservice students, we should have a class in teaching ELL. There are a lot of areas in teaching that I do not feel prepared for, ELL students is one, as well as teaching students with disabilities, or even students with ADHD. I really feel that it would be beneficial for UConn to have a required class on ELL students or at least teach topics of it throughout other classes.