When I Think of Research..........

I have gained about research during this course is adopted to help me understand the concepts and terminology widely used in educational research and a range of methodological issues.  Research is to provide me with guidance on initiating and implementing research studies.  The book for this course consider the perspectives, concepts and techniques in common usage in the field of research, and the variety of approaches that may be taken in researching different subjects.
My ideas about the nature of doing research has changed so much.  After reading different chapters from the book.  I have realized that research is more than attempts to solve a problem.  However, it involves gathering new data from primary or first-hand sources or using existing data for a new purpose.  Along with based upon observable experience or empirical evidence and search demand accurate observation and description.  Some challenges that I encountered was being able to express myself with my words. As a result of this course, some of my ideas have changed of early childhood are employs carefully designed procedures and rigorous analysis and the development of generalizations, principles or theories that will help in understanding prediction.  I learned that research requires expertise familiairty with the field, competence in methodology and technical skill in collecting and analyzing the data.

Week 5: Research Around the World

What are some of the current international research topics?
Some topics that I observes for international research are childhood development and early childhood education across various social and cultural contexts and highly contributes to the international debate on early education.  The childhood a range of topics such as multicultural issues, children's learning and sustainable development, recent issues in early childhood education and care curriculum questions.  

What surprising facts/insights/new ideas about early childhood did you gain from exploring this international early childhood website?
Early Childhood Australia is being funded by the Australian Government to run a new project looking at flexible practices and patterns across the early childhood sector.  To improve access to early childhood education, ECA has proposed a target that 90 per cent of children three to five years old should be accessing ECEC by 2020. This will require additional investment in the early childhood system to improve the quality of existing services, improvements to the availability of services where they are needed, developing the workforce required and making ECEC more affordable for families.




What other noteworthy information did you find on this website?
Print awareness is an important part of learning to read. Reading aloud to children is an important strategy for developing print awareness and there are specific strategies that can be used do before, during, and after a read aloud activity to help kids develop print awareness.United States

week 3

For the week 3 in my class, I will be sharing a research on a second grade classroom. The second grade literacy block is early in the morning because due to state laws, children are required 90 minutes of literacy instruction in the morning. My host teacher has approximately 17 students in her classroom where there are two students with learning disabilities and one slower learner. As I observed her literacy instruction, I began to think more so of the students I wanted to include into my small group for my implementation during week four. As I continue, I will discuss factors relating to my researching and collaboration examples with my host teacher. I will discuss the small group more in detail, my host teacher’s views on standards and accountability, and a brief reflection from my observations on assessment strategies this week.

            As I observed the classroom environment and collaborated with my host teacher this week, I began thinking about the small group I wanted to work with for week four. My host teacher and I decided that it would be a great idea to work with the three students in the class that are slower readers. The reason we chose this group is because we thought this will allow me the chance to see how these students at their level try formulating words and how they relate sentences with pictures and memory. “Observation can be a powerful assessment tool” (Gunning, 2004, p.18). The other students are faster readers and do not have too many problems reading, therefore, it is harder for these students to keep up the pace with the others and seem to get off task easier. The lower achieving students I will be working with are Jordan, Gabriel, and Tikira. Jordan has developmental delay issues and has trouble following directions, but has been put on new medicine that seems to be working very well. Gabriel had eye cancer so his eye was removed and now he is learning new skills with one eye. Tikira came from a different school system where curriculum is different, however was still struggling in her former school. These three students are ranked at Tier 3 on the computer literacy program they are required to work with which is the lowest level and below grade level.

            Everyone has their own views on standards and accountability. My host teacher is about to retire and has her own way of working with standards and curriculum. My host teacher believes that standards are a good way to guide teacher’s instruction. Striving to help each child  master the objectives has always been her goal but thinks that teachers should use their own unique and personal touch in order to help each child learn and understand in literacy. After all, teachers are the ones that see the child every day and know how they learn and the best way for them to learn. Redirecting lesson plans and instruction is sometimes difficult, but necessary in certain cases in order for all students to succeed in literacy and to pass state exams. She believes that accountability in a literacy program is reached and students succeed when a student’s environment and cultural aspects are accepted and relate to learning. “Teachers and parents must work together to help children strengthen and preserve their home language and culture while acquiring skills needed to participate in the shared culture of the school” (NAEYC/IRA, 1998). I believe that she demonstrated this in her classroom effectively as I observed. She was very clear at teaching the objectives from the standard and created a comfortable learning environment for all students. She had reading and writing centers that students participated in and seemed to enjoy.

            After observing the classroom, I gathered brief information on how my host teacher instructed literacy, different ways she challenged the students, and assessment strategies. “Teaching literacy is an art as well as a science” (Gunning, 2004, p.13). She incorporated technology with a software program and clickers that the students used to answer multiple choice answers about stories they had read and spelling games. This was a great assessment tool that motivated and engaged the students. Other assessment tools I observed were writing creative stories, reading spelling words out loud, writing spelling words a certain number of times, reading out loud, and working worksheets with grammatical errors, missing words, and misspelled words. She had a reading center that the students could go to as an option of reading out of their book independently, with a partner, or choosing a book or magazine to read quietly.

            Although my observations were very brief as I focused more on my group this week, I believe that this is going to be an exciting and compelling observation and implementation. “The IRA and NAEYC believe that early childhood teachers need to understand the developmental continuum of reading and writing and be skilled in a variety of strategies to assess and support individual children’s development and learning across the continuum” (NAEYC/IRA, 1998). I believe that my host teacher demonstrated points of this belief and I believe that I will see much more in the following weeks. I discuss the small group I plan to work with in detail, my host teacher’s views on standards and accountability, and a brief reflection from my observations on assessment strategies this week. I look forward to a great field experience and observation where much needed knowledge will be understood in order to further my career as a professional educator in literacy and development.

References

Gunning, T. G. (2004). Creating literacy instruction for all children in grades pre-K to 4.   Boston: Allyn and Bacon.

NAEYC/IRA. (1998). Learning to read and write: Developmentally appropriate practices for       young children [Electronic version]. © National Association for the Education of Young    Children. Used by permission.

Week 2

The topic I hope to focus on for the next couple of weeks for the simulation exercise is differentiated in the classroom. The curriculum and standards-based learning is essential to student learning. This is required by school districts as to exactly what to teach. Students learn at different paces and different levels. Therefore, differentiated instruction allows us, as teachers, to effectively teach all students the same curriculum in different ways for each student to understand. Considering that there are students with special needs, language learners with English as their second language, and developmental differences in one’s classroom, a teacher must effectively reach all students. “Differentiation can show us how to teach the same standard to a range of learners by employing a variety of teaching and learning modes” (Tomlinson, 2000). As far as using differentiation in the classroom, I will describe two differentiated activities and the students targeted, insights I gained about differentiated instruction, and further information I would like to learn about differentiation. One activity I think would be great for differentiation would be an assignment on health and exercise. Children at the age group I plan to teach are more auditory, visual, and kinesthetic learners. I would allow each student to write how they would want to go about demonstrating the effects of a healthy diet and exercise. The choices would be either to write a creative story, come up with a song or rap, or a presentation with images drawn or cut out on poster board. By doing the activity this way, I am incorporating a majority of the learning styles: visual, auditory, kinesthetic, sounds, the effective intake of subject matter, and individual/cooperative participation and learning. These three choices allow students to work in groups and collaborate, but at the same time have individual roles. In the story, each student will have their own character or section to tell of the story. Each student can sing or rap their verse or lyrics. Each student can present information during the presentation. “Learners with different styles bring their natural abilities to be practical and creative to the group” (Gregory & Chapman, 2007). This quote from the course text can be an example for both activities I have discussed and demonstrated.

            Although there are many things to know and learn about differentiation instruction, such as concepts and effectively using the technique in the classroom, I have gained quite a few insights. The process of using differentiation is and will continue to be a challenge. It is going to take a lot of self learning, patients, and thinking. Applying different strategies to one lesson is going to be time consuming, but invigorating. I know that when differentiation instruction is used in the classroom effectively, it is going to be rewarding in the end, because all of my students will have the essential knowledge needed to go further in school and in their studies.

Reference

Gregory, G. H., & Chapman, C. (2007). Differentiated instructional strategies: One size     doesn’t fit all (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.

Welcome to my blog

Hello, I am Kimberly Gaston.