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Show KNOW YOUR SCHOOLS By LILL7S LARSON Education Consultant Iron County Schools WHY WE TEACH AS WE DO What we believe about the way children learn directs our method of teaching. We believe that each Individ-1 , ual has a unique growth pat- tern. All children are born with capacity to learn, but no twoj children have the same capacity. For each there is a different combination com-bination of genes which formed early In life. So no two children ccn be expected to do the same things In the same way at the same time In thfelr lives with the same results. Great Range No two lndlvldluals have the same experiences or environment so there would be an expectancy expectan-cy of great range of abilities and Interests. As Dr. Kilpatrick expressed, ex-pressed, "At any moment a human hu-man personality U the result of, ji unique orfjanlzm prowintj In a unique environment." Willard Olsen research shows that in any normal Grouping of first grades there will be 2 per cent on nursery nur-sery level, 23 per cent kindergarten kinder-garten level, 50 per cent ready for first grade, 23 per cent second sec-ond grade and 2 per cent third. Iron County's own research on characteristics of children from! first grade through liecond shows great range. For Instance our( fourth grades show the following. PHYSICAL: Range In years, 9 years to 11 years 1 month. Ranjje In height, 49" to 62'. Chin-ups, 0 to 18 times. Running 50 yards distar.ee, 6 seconds to 12 seconds. INTELLECTUAL: Range In IC2, C2 to 132. Range In reading, 3 years to 8 years 7 months. Range In arithmetic, 2 years 5 months to 5 years 8 months. Social Difference SOCIAL: There Is a great difference In a social climate for two children In the same classrooms as evidenced evi-denced by Cunningham's social difference scale. In a fourth grade of 33 pupils one pupil was chosen by 23 students and rejected reject-ed by four students. Another was chosen by five students and rejected re-jected by 2L We believe there Is a God-given thrust for growth In all living liv-ing organlzms, and that the direction di-rection of growth Is toward self development, self realization and self enhancement; each person has his own pattern of development develop-ment and rate of growth. Only the organizm Itself knows what it needs and when It needs It And under Its own power se- lects from the environment that which it needs and can use ad-vortageously. ad-vortageously. We believe that a child's growth and learning pattern Is not a steady straight line, but an up and down line. From observation obser-vation and record keeping we know that when a child finishes a second grade reader, he may need to read two pre-primers and a first grade reader before he reaches the second grade reader level 2. Each Child Unique We have recognized that each child Is an unique Individual I with a thrust for growth; then our program must be geared to I individual needs. So a rich environment en-vironment is provided with many I choices and alternatives so that , the child can self select that which will satisfy his thrust for growth. In a rich environment I there will be a well organized room with centers of Interest In science, arithemetic, reading, writing, cooking, etc., with the Invitation to discover and explore. ex-plore. Children learn what they love and the child must have ! school where learning Is active, where things are done and not I talked about, where there Is an Incubator, a store, a cooking cor- ner, an Intrlglng reading table with a great variety and range of books and magazines. There are n-going experiences Mr. and Mrs. Cock Locky whose etres are Incubated and put in a cake for a reading party or the setting up of petri dishes in an incubator. These experiences have meaning for pupils out of which they raise questions, formulate for-mulate hypotheses, assemble data, da-ta, draw conclusions, and make generalizations. Self-Selections The child must be free within limits to self-select learnings that have meanings for him. To one child pigeons are the Important Import-ant thing In the environment for him. He reads all the charts about pigeons, goes to many and varied books, magazines, resource re-source people, writes stories and reports, and then shares back his findings on pigeons to the total group. So reading, spelling, speaking have become Important tools to solve his problem in finding Information on how to feed, care, classify, build concepts con-cepts and generalizations on pig-eons. pig-eons. There Is commitment be-ra'ise be-ra'ise there is a real reason to read, spell and verbalize. Let's take another example. For the child who still feels that he needs to work on addition, there is variety and range of materials ma-terials and equipment and on going experiences geared to tils need. There Is daily meaningful drill In addition in adding his bank account, addition In buying buy-ing and selling In the toy and fruit store, inventories, and record rec-ord keeping on cost of feeding guinea pigs and so forth. From these experiences In arithemetic concepts are pulled out and are recorded bv teachers, mlmeo-, graphed and handed back to the children to do the following day. Arithmetic, reading, spelling flow throughout the day 8:30 until 3:45. Freedom Required Not only docs the child need to be free to self-select his learnings' but he should have freedom to move, make mistakes, mis-takes, make decisions, and permit per-mit him to act on decisions. The room is a happy place where children take responsibility, work together, plan and share. This rich environment with Its many choices, with variety of tools and materials and differentiated differ-entiated assignments Is planned so each child can achieve. A child needs recognition. Any child can do something. Every child must have at least one successful suc-cessful experience each day. A child needs to belong. He needs to belong to the group and feel wanted and loved. Only when he Is loved can he reach his potential. He reaches this when there is foundation In happiness, hap-piness, self confidence and understanding. un-derstanding. Teachers as Keys We teachers are the key persons per-sons to provide this rich, permissive, permis-sive, creative environment. The teacher operates more as a group member than as a central authorized author-ized power figure. Her role is the arranger of environment, facilitator facili-tator of experience, censor, resource re-source person. She invites, encourages en-courages and supports. A teacher's teach-er's one role Is to love and accept ac-cept each child, and often walks the second mile. Group and Individual records are kept. Records on reading, spelling, arithmetic, stress and strain, diary records to look a rhythm and balance, all day records on special children to evaluate reading and anecdotal records, and accumulative records rec-ords are recorded, to help us know and understand the child's needs and interests as he develops. de-velops. I |
