How did I Develop?

Development Graph

Throughout the semester we have been keeping a blog researching questions about what we have seen throughout the classrooms. Blogging is not new for me, however, the way we went about the process was. Through this media I was able to see a difference between my first blog post to my final research blog post. I also learned a lot through the process and can see how I could use this in my future.

In high school we were required to make a blog but just to get familiar with using this platform. This class has helped me improved with this greatly. There is a big difference between my first blog compared to my third blog. The first blog was very simple. I wrote about what I saw and hyperlinked a few articles that helped me with my research. By the third I added pictures, told personal stories, and connected my work better. The information and thoughts I had shared to my readers seemed to flow better. I became more visually appealing as I added better titles and pictures.

Through this blogging process I was able to improve on some of my skills and learn new things, one of them being able to find relevant articles quicker. In class we learned how to find relevant articles but on the first blog post it still took me a while to find a good one. On the third blog post I was able to use key words of the research questions to find the articles I need within a few minutes. I also learned many new things about students. I work in a child care center at home and I was placed in a child care classroom for my field placement. I saw many differences between the two and it sparked many questions that I had. Using this blog resource to organize my thoughts a research frequently and creatively all while learning about the students and blog.

To connect everything, we have done this semester in this course, I am going to explain how I see this as being relevant in my future classroom. Communicating positively with parents of students has been drilled into us since freshman year. After thinking about how to do this I concluded that keeping a classroom blog is a great way. To address the specific research, I did this can be relevant in my future classroom in many ways. In two of my blogs I researched student’s behavior based on their home life or family structure. This taught me to be understanding towards students because there could be something going on behind closed doors. In my final blog I learned about the importance of speaking to students in a positive manor and I plan to do this in my classroom.

Overall, I really appreciated the learning process of creating a blog and researching questions that I have been thinking about for a while. If I could give advice to next year’s students I would say “stress less plan more”.  The blog is a great way to share thoughts and, on that note, I will end this one. Talk to you on my future classroom blog!

Resources

  1. (n.d.). Premium Stock Photo of Development Graph [Digital image]. Retrieved May 8, 2019, from https://www.freeimages.com/premium/development-graph-743116

Positive Language? It Matters.

This week for research to practice project I decided to focus on something different. Last past I looked at how a family structure affects a child’s behavior based on what I saw within my field placement. This week in class we read an article that was about talking to a student positively. I noticed in my field placement that the teachers within the classroom always talk to the students positively to redirect their behavior. I wanted to know more about why this works and the purpose behind it.

In Want Positive Behavior? Use Positive Language, an article featured on Responsive Classroom, they say the purpose of using positive language is to “enable students to learn in an engaged, active way” (2018). This will then lead to the children learning social skills and positive behavior.

Incorporating positive teacher language into the classroom can be difficult but there are tips to help. According to Alyssa Nucaro, author of Positive Words Go a Long Way, the first tip is to show the students that you have faith in them. Use language such as “I know you can do…”. Another tip is to be intentional about word choice and make sure they are direct. Nucaro writes “students who are spoken to directly and honestly are more likely to feel respected and safe, while also receiving the support they need to be successful both academically and behaviorally” (Nucaro, 2017).

I noticed in my field placement classroom that the teacher spoke to their students intentionally and directly. Today in my placement a student slammed his cubby door and it opened again. He continued to slam the door repeatedly. The teacher noticed and said “[student’s name], it looks like the door keeps opening after you slam it. Why don’t you try something else to make it shut”? Instead of telling the student “don’t slam the door” the teacher changed the tone while redirecting the student’s behavior. As a result, the student stopped slamming the door and closed it properly.

The result of positive behavior due to the use of the positive teacher language shows that speaking this way to students is very beneficial. It encourages students to make the right choice and continue to learn.

Citations

Nucaro, A. (2017, October 02). Positive Words Go a Long Way. Retrieved April 29, 2019, from https://www.edutopia.org/article/positive-words-go-long-way

Sayner, S. (2018, November 7). [Our words matter]. Retrieved April 29, 2019, from https://www.weareteachers.com/positive-language-in-the-classroom/

R. (2018, February 06). Want Positive Behavior? Use Positive Language. Retrieved April 29, 2019, from https://www.responsiveclassroom.org/want-positive-     behavior-use-positive-language/

Behaving Badly? But Why?

A lot has changed since the last time we’ve chatted. The student I found an interest in observing has yet again moved. He was pulled from the head start and moved to another. I would like to know how he is adjusting because that could provide me more research information, however, I am not able to find that information. So, I began looking for a new question to answer. While I was in the class, I noticed a student who was acting out negatively to get attention. I asked this student what her family was like through casual conversation and it sparked and a new question. How does a family’s dynamic affect a child’s behavior?

The child that made me interested in this topic did not want to talk with me much, but I did find out that her parents were divorced. Because this Alyssa (pseudonym) did not want to share more information I asked another student what her family was like. Cami (pseudonym) lives in a home with both her mom and dad. She also lives with her two older brothers. I was interested to see if her family was close knit and through conversation, I could tell that they were. Cami was well behaved, I’m assuming not just because I was visiting, and followed directions when asked. She was very familiar with the classroom routines and knew what was expected.

Cami has a very different family dynamic than what I had when I was a young child. At her age my parents got divorced and I had to adjust to a new family dynamic. My family consisted of my dad, my older sister, and myself with the help of my grandparents that lived nearby. The difference between our three families made me wonder more specifically how does a change in family dynamic affect a child?

A journal article titled  Changes in Young Children’s Family Structures and Child Care Arrangements written by Robert Crosnoe, Kate Chambers Prickett, Chelsea Smith and Shannon Cavanagh states, “in general, research suggests that children experience better outcomes when they live with two married biological parents rather than in other household arrangements…” (Crosnoe, Prickett, Smith, & Cavanagh, 2013).This seems to be the case for Cami because through observation she seems to be achieving the academic goals. The authors also state in the article “relationship transitions can affect parenting efficiency, with emotional distress interfering with the translation of parenting values into sustained behavior” (Crosnoe, Prickett, Smith, & Cavanagh, 2013). When parents are divorced the pressure to become individually financial stability puts a lot of pressure of the parent causing stress. This stress may interfere with the care the parent is giving the child. With the lack of attention, a child could begin to act out to receive attention they need whether it be negative attention or not. This could be the reason for Alyssa’s behavior, though I don’t want to assume. From personal experience, I believe this is true. A few years after my parents got divorced my sister wanted to try to live with our mother. My mom struggled financially and due to this she could not give the attention to my sister that she needed. She began to act out negatively to get her attention and this affected her education. She was no longer receiving high marks and attending class.

In another article titled, Troubled Child Troubled Family, Joseph W. Baldwin states “the misbehaving, maladapting child in school is trying to tell us something. He has a message – a message conceived and delivered in pain and nurtured in his family” (Baldwin, 1968). This is exactly what was happening with my sister and possibly Alyssa. They were hurting at home so their behavior at school has changed.

I see the difference between the Cami and Alyssa’s family and their behaviors. Alyssa seems to be acting much like my sister did when she had to adjust to a new family dynamic. I would like to get more information about Alyssa and her family to get more information for research without assuming. I will update everyone on the next post how this goes.

Citations

Baldwin, J. (1968). Troubled Child Troubled Family. The Elementary School      Journal, 68(4), 172-179. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/1000257

Crosnoe, R., Prickett, K., Smith, C., & Cavanagh, S. (2014). Changes in Young            Children’s Family Structures and Child Care Arrangements. Demography, 51(2),       459-483. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/42920009

Frequent Moves: How Does That Affect a Child?

For today’s blog post I wanted to give a little introduction of my field placement. I am placed in a Head Start program classroom working with diverse Pre-K students. I did not have much time to spend with the students in my field placement, however, I found one student in particular that caught my eye. He is four years old and his name is Simon (pseudonym). Simon is quite different from what I was when I was his age and that peaked my interest. Because Simon is placed in this head start, I can assume that he comes from an underprivileged family financially. I first noticed Simon when he was supposed to be playing on the black top, but he was sitting in the center crying. I asked the teacher if he does this often and she said yes, that sometimes he has a hard time playing with friends. I became more interested. During a transition I asked for more information on him and she informed me that he has moved from Head Start program to Head Start program due to multiple family moves. This teacher has had the chance to experience him on other schools because she is a substitute teacher for this district that migrates to the different programs.  This inspired the question I would like to focus on. How does multiple school moves affect a child’s education and social skills?

I decided to break this question down focus on the social skills part of the question for this week. How does frequent moves affect a child socially/emotionally? After doing some research on the topic I came across the article titled Is Moving During Childhood Harmful? by Rebekah Levine Coley and Melissa Kull. In this article, authors Coley and Kull say that when moving between the ages of birth to around five, it can affect children socially and emotionally. Each move creates a decline in their social ability. After spending some time with Simon, I could tell he had a hard time using his words to express himself. Often times if he was upset, he would cry or get angry. He didn’t talk much if at all. He mainly showed you how he wanted to play with you. For example, instead of him asking me to use a cookie cutter with the playdough he tapped me and put the cookie cutter in my hand. When I asked him what he wanted me to do with it he demonstrated on his own playdough. I wonder if this is his way of sociallizing as a result of his frequent moves.

I am looking forward to learning more about him. Some questions I hope to explore and possibly answer next blog post is how many times Simon has moved, is there another underlying cause to why he doesn’t use his words. I look forward to doing more research to make connections to answer and explore these questions.

References

Coley, R. L., & Kull, M. (n.d.). Is Moving During Childhood Harmful?[Pdf]. MacArthur Foundation.