Now I Know My ABCs...Sing with Me?

Despite entering the first grade this year, my sweet boy did not know his alphabet.  He was even unfamiliar with the alphabet song, imagine my surprise!  This lack of letter recognition and awareness has caused great struggle for the child in first grade.  To start today's  session, following a failed attempt at the alphabet song, I pulled out an app on the iPad that is for the Preschool to Kindergarten transition.

On this app, the child to listen to the alphabet song, practice letter flashcards.  He is also able to work with letters matching upper case and lower case.  Throughout the app there are several games that reinforce alphabet recognition through audio, visual, and kinesthetic approaches.

To my pleasant surprise, this app was a great success.  By the end of our one on one session, the child knew the ABC song and was able to identify the letters in order. Though it does not seem like much it was a great stride from our starting place.

1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6...

Continuing my work with my sweet little boy, we brought out the 123 Lite and the 123 Trace Free for some continued work on number recognition of the numbers 1-10.  In order to succeed in the current math unit and future units, it was crucial the student reinforced this basic skill.

The math unit during whole group instruction involves place value particularly recognizing and understanding groups of ten as well as creating them.  To support the student in this skill, we focused on numbers 1-10 for today's session. To begin the session, I asked the student to count from 1-10 to assess for any progress.  The child was able to count 1-6 then skipped to 10.  This demonstrated the student's recognition of proper numeral sequence with a need to continue practice.




We continued our practice of numbers, recognizing and writing with 123 Lite and 123 Trace Free. But also added a new app, First Grade Learning Games.  With this app, the student and I began to use the app together.  Within the sequencing aspect of First Grade Learning Games

1, 2, 3

When we received the assignment utilize the iPads with students to assist in meeting their needs, I immediately knew who I needed to work with!  In my first grade class, I have one very sweet, yet very special little boy lacking necessary Kindergarten skills to succeed in first grade. This sweet little one only has sight recognition with the numbers 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 10.  He can not count 1-10, but can count 14-40 majority of the time.  This lack of numerical knowledge and skill creates a great deficit in the classroom.  The language skills of this child also bear a great deficit.  He does not know any basic sight words, recognizes the alphabet but cannot reproduce his letters, especially in order without visual model.  To aid this sweet student in addressing the deficit, I utilized the Apps for Common Core app.

The first app I used to address the numerical deficits of my student was 123 Lite. Within this app, the student was able to click on a numeral, see that quantity of various objects, and hear the number read.  This app provided the student great aid with his number recognition.






On this particular day, the student also worked on the app entitled, 123 Trace Free. The student's challenge is not only with number recognition but written ability as well.  The student was able to continue with the characteristics of the previous app (a quantity representative, spoken number) but also allows the student to trace the written numeral which proved particularly beneficial. 

Enriching Learning Environments

Schools face countless challenges on a daily basis but the environment is a major component.  With school communities composed of many unique individuals, it is difficult to balance the needs of each of these.  It requires a balance of school-wide and classroom  focused efforts.  At Southwest Elementary school, the population unlike any other presents its own array of needs.

Jensen shares in his text that schools should focus on five main factors, SHARE, support of the whole child, hard data, accountability, relationship building, and enrichment mindset (2011).  SWE though successful in several areas, could benefit from improvement in others.  Southwest excels in high expectations and finds the necessary resources to support the students in achieving those.  However as a successful school with low rates of poverty, it does not have high levels of testing continuously occurring and therefore does not have a strong level of hard data.  The school could benefit from the increase of data records beyond testing and poverty but deeper into attitudes, mindsets, and personal needs of the community members (Jensen, 2011).  SWE has some data but beyond interim assessments and EOGs is not frequently shared or utilized for growth.
The enrichment mind-set and final factor of Jensen's SHARE would also be alternative focus that could enrich the environment of SWE (2011).  A school like Southwest Elementary has a very low turnover rate which in itself has positives and negatives.  However for environment purposes it contributes consistency yet it has also evolved into stale attitudes within the seasoned faculty.  The mind-set of the population must shift from what's wrong to what is right.  If the faculty would focus on all the students can do and then do what is necessary to get them there, students would be enriched rather than remediated (Jensen, 2011).

The responsibility to enrich the learning environment does not end at the school, each teacher must then continue the efforts within his/her individual classroom (Jensen, 2011).  With expanding budget cuts and wider ranged student needs, the responsibility to meet the exceptional child while challenging the academically gifted all during the execution of the curriculum is greater than ever (Mulrine, 2007).  

Technology's modern expansion has opened countless doors within education.  Teachers can create materials and tutorials for students to watch and complete independently.  These materials can be used ahead of time or during instructional time (Mulrine, 2007).  Due to the increasing challenge to meet all students needs, it is nearly impossible to teach a whole group lesson that meets and challenges each individual.  Through small group instruction combined with teacher-made materials, the teacher can work hands-on with different student groups throughout the day while other groups are still being taught and challenged.  This new environment is the virtual environment.  The combination of podcasts, videos, photos within thematic units can strengthen the classroom environment by providing the teacher with the opportunity to meet with each student at his/her level.

Southwest Elementary does not utilize technology as often as could be.  Students have computer lab once a week in which all students complete the same activity.  Through the increase of technology use within their individual classrooms, teachers would discover the endless possibilities that await in teacher made artifacts such as podcasts and virtual field trips.  Very few classrooms incorporate these materials for individual use but would find great success in these (Mulrine, 2007).

In the words of Jensen, it is foolish to continue to complete the same actions yet expect different results (2011).  Even a school of great success in several areas such as Southwest Elementary has areas in which to improve.  Through the incorporation of school-wide data reflection, action and a shift in mindset taking form in the classroom, students would experience a greatly enriched learning environment. 




Resources:

Jensen, E. (2011). Teaching with poverty in mind, what being poor does to kids' brains and what schools can do about it. Alexandria, VA: Assn for Supervision & Curriculum

Mulrine, C. F. (2007). Creating a virtual learning environment for gifted and talented learners. Gifted Child Today, 30(2), 37-40. Retrieved from http://www.davidsongifted.org/db/Articles_id_10436.aspx

Strategies to Strengthen Students' Processes

Students come from a myriad of backgrounds and therefore start each day in the classroom with individual needs and levels of readiness to learn.  Through observation, study, and research, it has been determined that these cognitive levels and positions are not permanent but rather ever changing throughout the life of every individual (Jensen, 2011).  Student IQs were observed and compared among home life situations.  It was found that orphan students with lower IQs whom were placed in foster homes in which they were loved on, encouraged, and supported increased their IQs sufficiently.

Through these observations, several conclusions began to be made, including the importance of brain based learning.  No two minds are alike and it is crucial to a successful classroom that all minds are supported and taught in an enhancing environment.  The brain learns best when faced with a balance of comfort and challenge (Lackney, 2002).  In order to achieve that fine balance, Lackney and Jensen agree that brain based learning designed classrooms are the way to go.

A brain-based learning design differs in every classroom.  It is critical to ensure the success of the design that all factors be taken into consideration: school, community, and population.  Each grade level also determines the needs of the design (Lackney, 2002). In the fourth grade at Southwest Elementary, my cooperating teacher and I have begun to find strategies that work.

It is critical that the classroom is a safe, positive place for students.  The behavior management plan should maintain a positive focus, highlighting those who are doing what they should be rather than appealing to those attention seekers with negative reprimands. My internship classroom has successfully utilized this safe place to learn with a positive focus as well as multiple platforms for recognition and authentic educational experiences, however there is always room for growth. Students participate regularly in realistic experiences interacting with the objectives in a life-like manner to gain valuable, authentic comprehension.

Looking forward to areas in which to improve, the options are endless.  Many strategies have been tested and deemed successful for brain-based learning by teachers nationwide.  Such strategies that apply to the fourth grade, particularly at Southwest in my student teaching, include a greater array of platforms for recognition, providing motivation for the students as well as highlighting each student's talents and abilities.  

The students also deserve the right and opportunity to partake in the creation of the class constitution.  Though the teacher retains veto power, students should feel the democratic principles of the classroom more so than dictatorship limitations.  From this student involvement and ownership of the classroom stems the student ownership of their learning, encouraging and challenging to students to partake in the opportunities for critical thinking and the comfort to take educational risks, trying new things.

With the combination of encouragement, consistent positivity, and authentic learning experiences the classroom atmosphere will increase.  A whole brain approach could also aid in the brain based learning designs if implemented.  Integration of the arts and physical interactions with learning also support brain-based learning and is an area in which my cooperating teacher and I work to implement as well (Lackney, 2002).

The research on brain-based learning is quickly increasing and growing abundant.  The substance behind the theory has depth and significance, facing schools and educators with a new way of thinking which may greatly enhance the educational environment and atmosphere for all involved.

Jensen, E. (2011). Teaching with poverty in mind, what being poor does to kids' brains and what schools can do about it. Alexandria, VA: Assn for Supervision & Curriculum

Lackney, J. (2002). Brain-based learning design principles. Retrieved from http://www.designshare.com/Research/BrainBasedLearn98.htm

Building Up Our Low SES Students

Students in low socioeconomic situations exist in conditions of chronic negativity more often than not.  It is in my experience, that these students are often jaded towards life and their futures.  School is no longer about an education and place of learning, but rather a place of safety.  However, educators should not despair for both Eric Jensen and Professor Marcia Devlin and team provide insight and strategies for teachers facing difficult SES situations within their classrooms.

As teachers, we have big hearts for education is no profession for the weary.  We are fully invested, givers, with hearts bigger than our means more often than not.  Personally, when faced with a student of low SES, my heart aches with desire to save that child from the world.  Though my bank account cannot save every child I will meet in my upcoming career, research and resource may aid me in doing all that I can do as that child's educator.

Professor Devlin collaborated with colleagues among several universities to compile the best advice for aiding these low SES students.  Her team shares that as the teacher one should know and respect the students; offer students variety, flexibility, and choice; make expectations clear using accessible language; scaffold students' learning; be available and approachable to guide student learning; and be a reflective practitioner (Devlin, M., Kift, S., Nelson, K., Smith, L., & McKay, J., n.d.)  Though it sounds like a long list of a scaffolded program, it makes sense when broken down into explanation. 



Teachers should take the time to know low SES students personally as they would any others.  These students deserve the same respect as their peers.  The reality of these students' lives however is unpredictability from the time they leave school grounds until the time they return.  Teachers must find an understanding of this foreign reality when addressing low SES students' assignments and provide alternative means of completing the required tasks. Low SES students need more than a teacher of educational instruction, but a mentor, investor, to take the extra time and effort to guide these students through learning and life (Devlin, M. et al., n.d.).


This extra time and energy is not solely on the educator.  There are many different types of low SES situations, students are growing up in.  Not every low SES student lives in a negative environment.  Jensen demonstrates within his text, that his studies revealed students of low SES status as high achievers in the school environment due to the efforts of their parents at home (2011).  The common theme among these students and those of low SES, low performance within the studies of Devlin and peers, is the extra investment of energy and effort by an adult within the lives of these students.

Jensen too focused the role of the educator, providing areas of focus the teacher should take.  With focus and time spent on students' core skills such as attention skills, memory, problem solving skills, self-esteem, progress in these basic areas will be made aiding growth in all areas of learning and education (Jensen, 2011).  The best way to help students with these core skills to build them to stronger students and individuals is to know them as individuals; have students' physical needs assessed by the school health personnel to be sure these needs are met.  Assess also on reading and math process, carefully observing the student to pinpoint exactly where the struggle arises (Jensen, 2011).  Jensen stresses the necessity of attention to detail within these students.  A focused effort can go farther than a larger, broader effort.  

Through positivity and investment in our low SES students, transformation can be made.  Jensen and Devlin and team all demonstrate research supported strategies for educators to make that difference in the lives of our low SES students.  If we understand the diversity and beauty that these students contribute to our classrooms and community, take the time to invest energy where it is needed the low SES students' achievement will rise.


References:

Devlin, M., Kift, S., Nelson, K., Smith, L., & McKay, J. (n.d.). Effective teaching and support of students from low socioeconomic status backgrounds: Practical advice for teaching staff. Informally published manuscript, Retrieved from www.olt.gov.au/../SP10_1838_Devlin_practice_advice_teacher_201.

Jensen, E. (2011). Teaching with poverty in mind, what being poor does to kids' brains and what schools can do about it. Alexandria, VA: Assn for Supervision & Curriculum

Poverty Effects on Students

Interning at Southwest Elementary School provides exposure to a new community within the Guilford County School system.  Southwest is an unique school environment compared to the rest of the county schools due to its unusually high average socioeconomic status of the student population.  Though the SES level compares higher than those of the district, it should not mislead or deceive, for the Southwest community experiences poverty as well.  Where SWES lacks generational or urban poverty, it does contain many homes and families experiencing situational poverty due to a number of circumstances such as divorce, disease, unforeseen job layoffs. 

My knowledge of the populations' circumstances are limited due to my time concentrated in the fourth grade classrooms.  The most frequent causes of poverty observed have been family illness or sudden job loss.  These students are faced with a sudden, polar shift in the home environment, forced to live with less fiscal and material resources as well as less parental involvement.  Students existing in situational poverty, struggle emotionally and socially to balance their shift in home life while maintaining their social and academic life in school.  Entering school with issues at home cause distractions and stresses on students, revealing themselves in altered personalities, changes of work ethic and product.  These changes need prompt and attentive recognition so that the student may be relieved of the stresses of home and poverty to feel safe and able at school.  This type of action requires resources and a plan. The SWES community does not deal with poverty with any great extreme or frequency and therefore lacks the resources and plans in place to appropriately deal with sudden situations that arise.

Immense amounts of research have been completed throughout the country in an effort to discover the best, most appropriate strategies to ameliorate the stresses the student experiences and aide them in still succeeding.  Eric Jensen demonstrates for educators a vast amount of action steps to take when dealing with students in poverty (2011). His main point stressed throughout his presentation of the research is the great importance of understanding on the part of the educator.  Teachers must have an understanding of the situations and circumstances their students are being forced to live in.  Many teachers struggle to comprehend the harsh realities of the lives of these children, but research agrees that the first step is an open mind by the educator (Jensen, 2011).  Jensen stresses within his text that as educators, action steps must be taken on the behalf of the students.  The following steps provide students and teachers alike an amiable environment within which to coexist and excel; recognize the signs, alter the environment, empower the students.  With these steps, teachers will demonstrate a renewed understanding to their students while providing them the support, environment, and resources they need that are not being received elsewhere (Jensen, 2011).

Handling poverty and its stresses is no small feat for any district.  It takes great effort, efficiency, and resources.  Balloch expresses the need for schools and districts to embrace the resources that are available (2001).  Though resources can be limited in some areas or a challenge to receive in others, government resources do exist to be used for the benefit of those that need them.  School communities lacking proper resources available for situations of poverty need to research all the resources that are out there.  Balloch's research revealed the numerous public organizations, both community and government based, with funds and resources available to school districts with proper process (2011).  These organizations include, but are not limited to church and faith organizations, armed forces, universities.  These varied groups and more can step in and assist the families struggling through alert and partnership from the schools (2001).  Many schools are unprepared to face the sudden situational instances that occur, just like those in the SWES community. Southwest Elementary is a strong school academically with an equally strong faculty community which supports it.  However it is not properly prepared for the encounters with poverty and the needs of the students living in it.  Through the action steps for educators shared by Jensen and the resources for schools researched and demonstrated by Balloch, Southwest Elementary could progress leaps and bounds in its handling of poverty.

Resources:
Balloch, S. (2001). Partneship working: Policy and practice. The Policy Press. Retrieved from http://books.google.com/books
Jensen, E. (2011). Teaching with poverty in mind, what being poor does to kids' brains and what schools can do about it. Alexandria, VA: Assn for Supervision & Curriculum.