Sometimes as a teacher leads an activity, a student verbalizes all the observations and new questions that were hoped for, making one think, “Was this child coached to say these things, or am I really eliciting all this learning!?” I like to believe that the other children are also thinking what this one child is saying, but they are across the circle, or shyer, or faster to move on to the next thing, so I don’t get to hear their thoughts.
What I heard:
“When you shine it [the flashlight beam] over the light it disappears.” (The larger ceiling light is brighter than the flashlight beam and obscures it.)
“Move it close and it gets smaller, and then up and it gets bigger.” (Noticing the change in size of the circle of light as she moved the flashlight closer and farther away from the floor.)
“My hand got in the way.”
In one classroom the sun was conveniently shining in a window providing a very bright light to reflect around the classroom using mirrors.
“The light comes here [to the mirror’s surface] and then goes [gestures to the wall].”
How can I know what impact my teaching has on the students? I look to see if children are trying the materials one way and then another way, asking questions, speculating on what some new item can be used for, and telling me or the classroom teacher about their discoveries.
Children who are not engaged these ways often respond when a teacher sits near them and asks an open-ended question, such as, “What do you see?” or “Show me what you can do with the flashlight.” See the list of “Question Frames for Teachers” as well as the comments and questions by children in the comprehensive lesson plan on exploring shadows from a South Dakota teacher.
In the days following the activity the children asked to use the flashlight again during the morning circle time. Because it was not a new experience, the flashlight could be passed around the circle without disrupting the proceedings. As classroom teachers extend the exploration of the concept in the days following the activity with the science teacher, they make sure to hear the thoughts of all the children.
What are your students’ discoveries?
Peggy
Related posts:
4 Comments
Teacher researcher Isauro Michael Escamilla is an early childhood head teacher who notes that, “Many times children are not able to express their ideas with fluency, but this does not mean that they do not understand what is going on around them. Some children are very verbal and contribute to a discussion; some can’t speak yet-maybe because they are shy or don’t know the language-but they do understand and do have ideas.” See his article about shadow exploration—A Dialogue with the Shadows—in the Voices of Practitioners: Teacher Research in Early Childhood Education section of the NAEYC journal Young Children, March 2004 (also in the online resource, Beyond the Journal at http://www.journal.naeyc.org/btj/vp/20040301.asp )
In response to the comment above, I agree with you completly. I feel that there are many children that are able to express themselves, but there are other children that are not able to. In my class when I need a repsonse there are often times that I have to allow a child to whisper their answer to me because they do not want to answer in fron of the whole class.
It is so neat that you provided these children with these materials. It sounds like the explored and learned so much! These kind of activities can be overlooked because our world is to caught up on “academic” standards! I love this idea of an activity and I might have to steal it for myself! I think that giving opportunities for children to verbalize is important. Expanding on what they say and their interests would be more beneficial than just plain open-ended questions. Each child is going to take the experience differently. I would allow time to move and observe each child do this activity to ensure some kind of communication.
Sarah, how would you set this activity up to make the best use of the materials and be able to hear all the children’s ideas? Would a center for individual or small group exploration be best, or getting enough flashlights for a whole class???
Yes, please use this idea. Much of what I do in science activities comes from the ones who came before–parents, teachers, and former students.