Would children feel like they are on the path of opportunity by learning a new language at a younger age?

"Many young people wonder why they are in school. To learn, of course, they are told. But why and to what end, they rightfully ask. To become productive members of society; education is your portal and path to opportunity, they are reminded. But that is in the future, they protest. What does school have to do with now, today, this moment in life?" page 312.


This quote stood out to me while reading this weeks readings. It made me wonder if all children really believe that their path to opportunity will start as they get older. I wonder if they feel this way because they don't believe in themselves and think that they can't succeed in school. Have we made school too hard for Americans? I don't think so, I actually feel that were are very behind in our education. I lived in Germany when I was in middle school and my younger brother was able to go to a German kindergarten off-base. We did live off-base, but I was required to go to an American school on-base.  While hanging out with my neighbors, we would converse in English and German. I was taking German and my neighbors were taking English in their school. So we would try to help each other with our homework. It was amazing to hear that all German children were to learn English. Wow! They valued their education and made it a priority to learn new things. My brother was even learning German in his kindergarten. He would speak it fluently with us and his friends in the neighborhood. I wonder how American schools would be if we were required to learn a language and I'm not just talking about taking two classes in high school, but really learning a language and speak it fluently. When we just take those two language courses in high school, does it really stay in our brains? No it diminishes over time. But what if we were to start at a younger age, such as four and five? I wonder if children would feel like that they are on the path of opportunity by learning a new language at younger age. That is the time when learning is at its best, so why not take advantage of that time. By making learning a new language a priority, it could boost social, emotional, language, writing, and cognitive skills up. Children will feel more confident and will be able to succeed in school and in the community. The school I work for has a Japanese teacher who is also an aid. She goes to each class once a week and teaches the children Japanese. It would be amazing to have these children learn Japanese in elementary, middle, and high school so they are able to speak it, write it, and think it. I wonder what The United States would be different if every American knew another language fluently? Would America's education be different?

How can teachers make group learning time more meaningful and memorable for young children?

Why do American's shy away from group time? On page 280 the author states, "While most Americans see the value of children explaining their work to classmates, many American educators are surprised that the report of just three children would occupy the majority of such a sharing time. They see the apparent domination of a meeting by a few children as unfair." So American educators shy away from group time, because it takes a long time to have a quality conversation and discussion with children?

I feel that having a quality discussion on a topic with children is more important than worrying about how long it will take. Large group time should allow time for children to sing songs, do finger plays, and read books. Small group time should allow for discussion, conversation, problem-solving, chart making, analyzing, generalizing, hypothesizing, and discovering. Doing these things with a small group of children from 6-10 children or less can have a better effect than doing it during large group discussion. The reason I say 6-10 children is because my classroom has 22 children with a teacher and an assistant. I am the aid in the classroom, so I help out wherever I am needed. During our afternoon discussion before lunch time, we split the children into two small groups (which consist of around 6-11 children). Each teacher discusses a topic with the children or has the children come up with a topic. They have more meaningful conversations with the children during this time and allow all the children to speak more than once. I feel that just making an effort to split the children up into two groups ensures that children have time to speak and give their opinions and ideas. When children grow older and go into higher grades, they will be working in small groups for projects and classwork, so it is important they get opportunities now as children to learn how to work in small groups.

On page 285-286, the author wrote, "In groups we encounter new perspectives, strategies, and ways of thinking that enable us to learn from others. We also learn with others, modifying, extending, clarifying, and enriching our own ideas and those of others." We understand that group learning is important for children and adults, but how do teachers make group learning time more meaningful and memorable for young children? First teachers must understand what group learning is and how it is important for young children and themselves. On page 286, the author states, "The members of learning groups include adults as well as children, documenting children's learning processes helps to make learning visible and shapes the learning that takes place, members of learning groups are engaged in the emotional and aesthetic as well as the intellectual dimensions of learning, and the focus of learning groups extends beyond the learning of individuals to create a collective body of knowledge." Everyone in their lifetime will have to work in groups, but it needs to be an effective learning time to understand what goes on in group learning. Teachers need to observe their children working in groups and with their friends. When teachers do this, then they will understand how their children are able to work in a group, what kinds of things help them work in a group, and how their personalities are during group learning. If a child is shy during group learning, than you can help them by encouraging them to speak about something that interests them. Getting the other members of the group to include them on the conversation might help as well. This can boost their self-confidence and help them to feel better about group learning in the future. There are probably many ways to make group learning meaningful for children, what do you guys think?

How do we create an atmosphere where children are comfortable in discussing ideas in a group?

On page 221 a question is asked, "How can we support them in letting their thoughts emerge?" Then it goes on to say, "One of our tasks as teachers is to be able to relaunch the ideas that emerge from the children's discussions."

I really enjoyed reading the children's discussion about getting their letters to America faster by discovering the fax machine. I can definitely tell times has changed, because if children discussed this topic now, I'm pretty sure they would talk about cell phones, text messaging, and emailing, since most of them have access to technology as such. I was really intrigued by how little the teacher talked. She only talked a few times and it was only when she asked a question or restated what a child said. I believe that one thing a teacher can do to have a quality discussion with children is to step back and let the children do the talking and discovering. When children are allowed to discuss a topic with each other, there can be so many more ideas and new things that can emerge. It also allows children to develop their language and problem solving skills. Even by having them draw a picture of what they were discussing, such as the one they drew on how the fax machine would get the letter to America, allows children to make their own story. I love when teachers write what the children describe their pictures to be, because it opens up their world to you. It helps you to understand what the children are thinking and feeling. The author states on page 225, "In their discussions, the children attempt to develop a provisional new theory that makes use of the contributions of the parts of the individual theories that they see as being significant." This enables children to create what they think is right and converse with other children about what they think. I feel that a good way to document what the children say during discussions is charts (if you can write fast enough). Having a question in the center of the paper and the children's ideas as the branches can help children to understand the concept of a discussion, group work, and what their ideas look like on paper. Group work is important for young children, because it helps them to spark creativity, share ideas and opinions, delegate tasks, learn to comprise, and build relationships with each other. Children are not too young for this, actually I think young children are the best at group work, because they are not afraid to say the wrong thing and they just say what is on their minds at the time, which I think is really interesting. How do we create an atmosphere where children are comfortable in discussing ideas in a group?

How can teachers break the boring ways in making a portfolio and create something that is fun and memorable for the children and that you enjoy doing as well?

Throughout my previous early childhood courses at HCC I have learned how to create activities, plans, running record and anecdotal observations. A lot of the articles and readings I have been doing for the past year or so makes be believe that a simple observation of child can be made into something bigger. On page 156 it states, "The process is ongoing: teachers continue to generate new hypotheses, investigate them in their classrooms, and look for additional examples of group learning." There is so much that can go into an observation of a child. I never really viewed observations as meaningful teaching tools that can be an art form. There are so many new ways of observing a child and making it meaningful. One could create a diary of a child that can have every milestone of the child while in school. I feel that diaries are much more meaningful and memorable than just a regular portfolio. The school I work for is about to get re-accredited in the next couple of weeks or so and I observe teachers just putting whatever inside the children's portfolios. It doesn't seem that the teachers really care about these observations and portfolios, but just as a responsibility and a need to be accredited. Why can't teachers really care about observations of their children and treat them as if they were important (because they are)? Why doesn't teachers just keep up with their portfolios and observations, than maybe it wouldn't be such a hard task later on? I know observations take time to do, but if you do them more and more it becomes a habit and it will be easier to do them. I feel that every teacher has their own way of doing their own observations and portfolios. I think every teacher needs to step back and reflect on what works for them and what doesn't. You can still follow the guidelines and standards of what is expected from the school you work for, but just make it more fun. How can teachers break the boring ways in making a portfolio and create something that is fun and memorable for the children and that you enjoy doing as well?

How can one find a balance between expecting to be told what to do and discovering what works for themselves in their practice with young children?

We all have or will be starting to work at an early childhood program. What was your first reaction when starting in a preschool? How did you feel about all the transitions you had to equip the children with? If you haven't started working in a center, how would you feel the first day of work? These questions are some that come to my mind when reading the fist two pages of the staff conversation on page 118. The first day of work of the preschool I work in was actually a little bit terrifying. I did not know what to expect and being a substitute, one has to observe each classroom and change the teaching style for each one that is worked in. Each classroom is different and brings new insights, so the style of teaching would change. There is a different atmosphere in each classroom. Simona stated, "I was expecting to be told what to do and why, I expected some guidelines that would give me specific instructions." I felt the exact same way, did anyone else feel this way? As a substitute/aid I have to adapt to change and become spontaneous. Why? Because the job changes, one day I may be in a three year old class and one day I'll be in a four year old class then the next I might be in a two year old class. There is so much change and one must change the style of teaching in order to teach children at their age level. I believe it is one of the hardest job to do. For the past two years I have been working consistently in a four/five year old classroom. One of our three year old classroom has no main teachers (new teachers are being trained), so my boss has me in that classroom as well. Transitioning the new children into the routine is extremely difficult, as I have always followed my lead teacher in my four year old class, but there really is no lead teacher in the three year old class right now. It's kind of like starting from scratch with these new children. I feel that when I am in my regular four year old class, I know the children's routine, I know the children and their families, I know what is expected out of me, I follow my lead the assistant teacher. But now in the three year old class, I feel that I am expecting to be told what to do, just like Simona stated. I'm waiting for directions from the teachers in the other classroom next door and the other subs in the classroom to show me what to do and describe how to transition the children. Amelia said, "I observe others a great deal because I think I can learn an enormous amount from the things I am able to see". I feel that this is what I am doing all the time. Any time I get to work with other teachers, I am always observing their practice. I feel that it is a good way to find what you like about certain practices and teachings that you can relate to and begin to create your own practice and find a balance between the two. That brings me to the question, how can one find a balance between expecting to be told what to do and discovering what works for themselves in their practice with young children?

How can we make playing with money more understandable and meaningful for young children?

The observations on pages 48-51 interested me very much when reading it. When I looked at the pictures after I had read each observation, I wondered how old these children must be. I thought maybe they were five, six or seven, which in fact when I looked back on the first page of "The Right Price" I noticed that the children were five years old. It kind of shocked me how much interest they had on counting money and playing the shop game. One of the classes I used to work in a couple of years ago, the teacher had a wall full of circle time things (calendar, weather, pictures, coins, numbers, jobs, colors, sign language, etc.). But what interest me was that of the coins she had taped to the wall. I never really asked her about it, but I remember she went over the names of the coins and what they meant with the children. The assistant teacher in this class would create different themes in the dramatic play center (airport, salon, post office, hospital, shoe shop, etc.). She would build these things using creativity with boxes and recycled and donated materials. When she was done creating the center it was absolutely amazing. I would fine myself playing with the kids in it and taking on different roles. If I had fun, then I wonder how much fun the children had...probably 100% more fun. She would put the money inside of the center when she opened up the shoe shop. I don't really remember how the children reacted with the money, but I think they understood the concept of it but not the actual meaning of the coins. The classroom I work in now has a container full of one, five, ten, and twenty dollar bills and pennies, nickles, dimes, and quarters. I observe them playing with the money but not really counting it. Is this normal for their age? Is this how children of four years old learn the concept of money? By just playing with it and not really understanding the value or real meaning behind money? I really like this quote from the text (pg 48), "Playing the shop game allows the children to give shape to these conventional meanings, putting them in relation to one another. The children exchange money and goods, but also competencies, where each player generously offers to the others his or her personal wealth of coins, ideas, and abilities." That is where my question comes into play, "How can we make playing with money more understanding and memorable for young children?"

How can I encourage children to work and play effectively during group learning?

Group learning is something I found really interesting in the first pages of the text. I love the way it sounds, "Group learning". Group learning to me means when a group of children grow and learn together. When one learns something new, the other children in the group observe that child and learn how to do what he/she has learned how to do or if a child has been trying to learn how to do something the others in the group will find another way to do it by experimenting and exploring the task ahead. I feel that group learning is something new and exciting for children to take part in. When reading the observations in the beginning of the text, I noticed they were of toddlers. I work with four and five year olds and I observe them playing in groups all the time. But if I were to take observations as one like in the text, I wonder what I would observe? What kinds of things would the children be learning? Will there be disagreements between the children? How will the children problem-solve? Will the children help each other if one child has a hard time understanding? How will they work as a team? What kinds of tools can I give to the children to work in a group effectively? Would they have a structured group learning time or free group learning time? All of these questions arise when I think of observing the children or helping the children in my class when they are learning within a group. I'm excited to actually observe the children in my class in group learning. How can I encourage children to work and play effectively during group learning?