Good evening everyone,
Today I thought I would write more of a personal blog entry about my learning journey in FDK so far this year. This year has been a huge learning curve for me and my professional learning. Having 30 students, sharing a classroom, and taking on play-based learning has challenged me in many ways. It is very natural for me both in my personal and professional life to reflect on everything I do. Is what I’m doing working? How can I do it better? I thought I would use a model we’ve been learning about in our staff meetings to reflect on my learning journey so far this year. Here are the things I would like to stop, start, and continue in my professional practice.
STOP
It was a bit difficult for me to think of things I should stop doing. Not because I think I'm doing things perfectly, of course, but because I've only started this program 4 months ago. At this moment, there are only things that I would either change or start doing.
Today I thought I would write more of a personal blog entry about my learning journey in FDK so far this year. This year has been a huge learning curve for me and my professional learning. Having 30 students, sharing a classroom, and taking on play-based learning has challenged me in many ways. It is very natural for me both in my personal and professional life to reflect on everything I do. Is what I’m doing working? How can I do it better? I thought I would use a model we’ve been learning about in our staff meetings to reflect on my learning journey so far this year. Here are the things I would like to stop, start, and continue in my professional practice.
STOP
It was a bit difficult for me to think of things I should stop doing. Not because I think I'm doing things perfectly, of course, but because I've only started this program 4 months ago. At this moment, there are only things that I would either change or start doing.
START
Implement a self-regulation model: An important part of the new FDK program is teaching students to self-regulate. Self-regulation is defined as the ability to control, maintain, and change one's level of stimulation appropriate to a task or situation. This includes regulating one's emotions and the ability to up-regulate or down-regulate based on the situation at hand. An article I found online did a nice job of explaining self-regulation as this:
"Self regulation has two sides: First, it involves the ability to control one's impulses and to stop doing something, if needed... for example, a child can resist his immediate inclinations to blurt out the answer when the teacher poses a question to another child. Second, self-regulation involves the capacity to do something (even if one doesn't want to do it) because it is needed, such as awaiting one's turn or raising one's hand. Self regulated children can delay gratification and suppress their immediate impulses enough to think ahead to the possible consequences of their actions or to consider alternative actions that would be more appropriate. While most children know that they are supposed to "use their words" instead of fighting, only children who have acquired a level of self-regulation are actually able to use them".
The thought of teaching 30 students to self-regulate seems very scary and overwhelming. However, I do see a need for this in our classroom and am working on model to help students learn to self-regulate themselves a bit more.
Amp up guided reading: One of the HWDSB's expectation according to their strategic directions is that all students are able to read by the end of Grade 1. When students leave SK, they should be at a DRA Level 4. When students enter Grade 1, they should enter at a Level 4 and leave at a Level 16. Grade 1 is the most crucial year for a child's reading development. It is where you see the biggest jump in their reading. As you can imagine, that puts an incredible amount of pressure on Kindergarten and Grade 1 teachers. I've been trying my hardest to pull small groups for guided reading every day. Not to make excuses, but it can be very challenging to even pull one small group every day. With continuous assessments taking place, daily hiccups, and other events, it's pretty tough! However, I am going to try my best to pull one group everyday, no ifs, ands, or buts. Ideally, I would like to pull two groups... one during literacy centres and one during learning centres. I will try my best. I have created a duotang for each student that we will use during guided reading that includes materials from LLI. LLI stands for Leveled Literacy Intervention which is a program most commonly used in Grade 1. Last year, I was trained in LLI and administered LLI to students in Kindergarten and Grade 1. They have kits available for both grades, therefore, I have used these materials to supplement our guided reading program.
CONTINUE
Posting on the blog: I love being able to share with you all of our adventures in our classroom. I have received wonderful feedback from all of you and I'm so glad you are enjoying it. This is my first year having my own classroom and being in one classroom full-time, so it was the perfect year for me to start blogging. My goal is to continue to post a couple of times a week with learning updates and reminders.
Putting an emphasis on Character Education: It's no surprise that teaching students good values at this age is imperative. This is something that children have been taught at a very early age, such as saying "please" and "thank you" and not hitting their friends. However, when you're put in a classroom with 29 other children of all different personalities, abilities, and coping mechanisms, it makes it a bit more challenging. One of my goals as an educator is that my students leave my class with a better sense of what being a good person entails. I really want to help build good character amongst my students and teach them positive character traits that will assist them in being well-rounded individuals. I've really enjoyed implementing our Friend Ship theme in an effort to teach positive character traits, and I'm looking forward to teaching more lessons on how to be a good person and a good friend.
On-going communication with parents: My current methods of communicating with parents include in-person conversation, phone calls, e-mails, notes, and direct messaging through twitter. I try my best to make sure you know what's going on with your child is terms of academics, behaviour, and social interactions. I've learned that something I see as minor may seem major to you as a parent, so I've made a conscious effort to let you know if something happens. Please rest assured that if I have any major concerns about your child that I would have already spoken to you about them. Students will receive their first report card in February which will provide you with more in-depth information regarding the previously mentioned topics. In the New Year, however, my goal is to communicate more often with parents of students I have concerns with academically. Please remember that if you ever have concerns about your child to please contact me at any time. Whether it's a scratch on their arm of their current reading level, I'm always available to talk. Sometimes I get so caught up with everything going on, it's better if you ask me to chat :)
Heaven knows that there are a lot of other things I would like to start and/or continue, but these are just certain things that have been on my mind that I know I can achieve within the new year (nothing worse than setting an impossible goal!).
I hope you enjoyed reading this. Writing this and sharing it with you helps me to clear my head and set realistic goals for the New Year. I swear, my mind never stops running!
Thanks for reading,
~ Miss Pliura
Putting an emphasis on Character Education: It's no surprise that teaching students good values at this age is imperative. This is something that children have been taught at a very early age, such as saying "please" and "thank you" and not hitting their friends. However, when you're put in a classroom with 29 other children of all different personalities, abilities, and coping mechanisms, it makes it a bit more challenging. One of my goals as an educator is that my students leave my class with a better sense of what being a good person entails. I really want to help build good character amongst my students and teach them positive character traits that will assist them in being well-rounded individuals. I've really enjoyed implementing our Friend Ship theme in an effort to teach positive character traits, and I'm looking forward to teaching more lessons on how to be a good person and a good friend.
On-going communication with parents: My current methods of communicating with parents include in-person conversation, phone calls, e-mails, notes, and direct messaging through twitter. I try my best to make sure you know what's going on with your child is terms of academics, behaviour, and social interactions. I've learned that something I see as minor may seem major to you as a parent, so I've made a conscious effort to let you know if something happens. Please rest assured that if I have any major concerns about your child that I would have already spoken to you about them. Students will receive their first report card in February which will provide you with more in-depth information regarding the previously mentioned topics. In the New Year, however, my goal is to communicate more often with parents of students I have concerns with academically. Please remember that if you ever have concerns about your child to please contact me at any time. Whether it's a scratch on their arm of their current reading level, I'm always available to talk. Sometimes I get so caught up with everything going on, it's better if you ask me to chat :)
Heaven knows that there are a lot of other things I would like to start and/or continue, but these are just certain things that have been on my mind that I know I can achieve within the new year (nothing worse than setting an impossible goal!).
I hope you enjoyed reading this. Writing this and sharing it with you helps me to clear my head and set realistic goals for the New Year. I swear, my mind never stops running!
Thanks for reading,
~ Miss Pliura
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