reopening

I'm back in my edpsych class. Having to redo it due to life circumstances. So i wanted to post my first journal of this semester. It's an 8 week class instead of 16. But i will also be using this blog for all of my education classes so i can keep my ideas all in one spot. so here is my journal entry for the week.


Name: Rebekah Welch

Reflective Journal Entry

Topic: Piaget’s Theory of Cognitive Development (Chapter 2)
Grade Level: 3rd-6th Grade

Reflections:
As a teacher in the upper elementary an early middle school grades, my students would be in the Operational stage of Piaget’s Theory of Cognitive Development. In this stage, my students would be capable of developing schemes, organized patterns or behavior or thought, which allows for a better understanding of logic-based tasks. This means that my students will begin to understand such things as water can take the form of a liquid, solid, or gas.
However, operational thinking is more limited. My students will need more concrete objects to be present to understand a concept or they will have needed to experience a concept directly. As a teacher, I need to be able to have my lessons more hands on. My math lessons need to be set up so I have manipulatives. My social studies lesson needs to allow for group studies. My science lessons need to have hands on studies, such as cutting a seed open to see the internal parts and then planting seeds to show the different parts of a plant.

Ideas for Instruction:
At the beginning of my school year I plan to assess the type and level of thinking each of my students are capable of. Being aware of what my students are capable of thinking will allow me to plan my lesson better and to what depth I should plan my lessons.
Another idea I plan to use in my classroom is to have not only the “typical” books to read, but a hands-on science are. Having magnets, rocks, minerals, microscopes, and magnifying glasses available, along with books for digging deeper into each area displayed in the science area, would allow my students the opportunity to seek out and experience firsthand areas of science they may not otherwise be able to explore. I would also have an aquarium set up with tadpoles so the students would be able to watch the metamorphosis into frogs.
My final idea is to have small groups activities regularly planned in my lessons. I want to mix my more “advanced” student with my “slower” student (not meaning less intelligent, but maybe quieter or less confident). I want to encourage my students to contribute equally and that there is no such thing as a stupid idea or question and that we all learn from each other.