The section I chose to reflect upon is the generalization of early emergent literacy. In the article it speaks upon the child needing some knowledge of literature before they enter kindergarden. I want to reflect on the idea that a child may not have this opportunity to learn due to home situations or that each child has a different learning ability. In what way can we best accommodate these situations?
The idea that literacy starts the moment a baby
is born can be difficult to understand, how can a baby understand what reading
is when they are born? It starts with what the child can connect with at an
early age and how much their parents are trying to connect these skills with
them. It is important as future teachers to set the example for the children in our classroom and help them build the steps that lead into reading. Guiding us to be able to do that are the standards set for us as teachers. The question is, does every child learn the same way? The obvious answer is no, most students have different learning abilities and we need to mold the standards to accommodate them. However research says that children are better able to fully comprehend reading at the age of 6 years and 6 months. Are we teaching our children to read too early and are we expecting too much of them? Pre-school and kindergarden focus on the child growing as an individual through expression and cause and effect, how do we mold these literature standards around them so we can benefit the child in the best way? Emergent literacy acquires that children are to know some literature before they enter school, and the teacher goes from there. But what do we do as a teacher with children not fortunate enough to have the help at home, when parents work nights or are unable? We say we want children to build off of their experiences in the classroom, at home, and throughout the community, how are we to provide that equal opportunity for each child? Are we pressuring our children too much at a young age? How will we learn when a child is ready to start reading or when we need to re learn the basics?
I think about the same thing.The questions you asked throughout the blog post I think about. Are we teaching our children to read too early and are we expecting to much of them. Sometimes I feel that we are expecting too much of them and that we are not allowing them to experiment and find the new or different ways of learning that helps them best, but instead we are giving them guidelines to follow. By allowing children to build off of their own experiences in the classroom, at home, and throughout the community and school they are able to develop new knowledge every day by using the meaningful and functional experiences. I also agree that children do not learn the same way. Because every student has different learning abilities it is important that the teachers are aware and are willing to accommodate the individual. By observing how the child interacts the teacher is able to find a certain literacy skill that the child possesses. Although I think that we are teaching children too early and expecting too much of them, early emergent literacy allows a child-centered social constructivist approach that focuses more on problem solving than direct instruction. Early emergent literacy works at the level the child is at and builds off of that.
ReplyDeleteSometimes I think our standards set our students up for failure. How can we expect every single kindergartener to come to school with a literacy background? My mom taught kindergarten in inner-city Chicago. Most of her students had never even been to pre-school. If a student has no sense of routine or how to act at school, how can we expect them to successfully learn how to read? I think it is unfair for society to expect that parents will take responsibility for literacy learning before kindergarten. In a perfect world, this would happen. In our real world, parents are busy people. Parents with a background in education will probably take time to develop the skills, but some parents might not think twice about it. We just don't know their home life or how much time they are investing in literacy. If we just assume that students have that background, they will already be "behind" by the time they reach kindergarten. In my opinion, if a student is already behind in kindergarten just because their parents didn't provide a literacy-rich environment the system has failed them.
ReplyDeleteYour post has some really good questions in it and I agree that everyone will have their own opinion about. I feel that it is difficult for some parents to give their students a literacy background before starting kindergarten. Although, I feel that it is important for parents to make that family involvement connection with their child's education before they begin their education. I think that it is important for the child's education that the parents have given them some variation of literacy experience before entering the classroom though, even if it is simply a story before bed. Students will do a lot of their learning at school, but you also have to be teaching your child at home as well. The age you should start your literacy experience with your child though is something that only the parents can gage I feel. Parents will know better than anyone else when their child is ready to start comprehending information. I feel that every child is different and develops at different rates so there is not one correct age as to when you should start your child's literacy experience.
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed your post Marah! I agree with your concern about having strict standards being placed on Kindergarten teachers. As you said, each student comes into kindergarten with a different level of emergent literacy. I originally thought that Kindergarten teachers could handle all of the requirements the state placed on them. However, your post got my thinking. I decided to research the Kindergarten standards and realized just how much they have actually changed. I was basing my original assumption of preparing kindergarteners to be “at grade level” with my learning experience as a kindergartener. By no means did I have to know as much as today’s kindergartener has to learn. Which brings me to the most important question you asked. How should teachers approach students who do not have the home support that other students have? Ultimately, teachers cannot do a whole lot to enhance a students literary learning at home. We can send home books and have meetings with their parents but bottom line is learning at home is out of our control. Therefore, we as teachers are stuck in a tough situation. The only suggestion I can think of to help solve this issue if I were a Kindergarten teacher would be to spend extra time with the students who are not “on track” to being at grade during our free exploration time. I would make this small group/individual time (depending on how many students are having difficulties) fun and interactive. By no means should the students who are getting extra assistance feel like they are not as smart as the other students who are freely roaming about. If the students who are “at grade level” feel like they are missing out on something, they would be welcome to join.
ReplyDelete