After I graduate I plan to teach K-5. Although I will be qualified for K-6, kindergarten is my first choice. While I observed several different kindergarten classes last year, it let me see how each classroom operated. When teaching little ones it is crucial that you keep their attention at all times. This is why in most kindergarten classes you will see where they have a specific time for "centers". To the left is a diagram of how my dream classroom would be laid out. In order to keep my kindergarteners focused and engaged it is vital that they have their own personal learning time. Having centers allows this, and it develops an independent learning experience. Each child will be places with a partner and every 15 minutes or so they will rotate. They will not know, but while they are having fun playing games and putting puzzles together, they are actually teaching their selves and each other. Sometimes engaging little ones can be as simple as letting them do something that makes them feel "grown up". In one kindergarten class I observed, the teacher had a mailbox center. During this center the children were giving cards with pictures of random things. The directions were to place each card that started with the letter S sound in the mailbox, and put the flag up. Then the child's partner would "check the mail" and see if all the cards were placed rite. By playing with the mailbox, we all know every child just wants to open the mailbox and play with the flag. But they were actually teaching their selves phonological awareness. Phonological awareness refers to an individual's awareness of the phonological structure, or sound structure, of spoken words. Phonological awareness is an important and reliable predictor of later reading ability and has, therefore, been the focus of much research.
I found a great technological tool I can also use while teaching Kindergarten. Its called iStoryBooks, you can click this link http://anselemtech.weebly.com/k5-web-tools.html for more information. Basically this is a site that has tons of popular children's books available with audio. The students can each pick a book, and with headphones this can be "reading time" or a fun center. I can also incorporate this with the smart board as well and use it while teaching the entire class. What do you want your students to know?
I want my students to know basically how to self organize there educational experience. I want to provide the basic tools of course reading, writing, and comprehension. But I want my students to know that they can teach themselves, by doing this they learn and have fun while learning.
What do you want your students to be able to do?
I want my students to be able to sit down and figure out how to teach themselves. I want to make them be hungry for learning. If I provide the tools, for example centers and or computers I want my students to be able to take these tools and dive into a world of learning that they will love and enjoy. They will also be able to create there own blogs on blogger and we can communicate with other classes around the world. How awesome would this be especially if we were learning about different cultures or environments. Some of these children will never be able to travel across the world but by allowing the students to Skype they can have a first hand feel of other nationalities.
What will be your primary way of teaching your students what you want them to know and do?
The methods that I will take to my students will not be a passing grade on a test confirms what they have all learned. I do not agree with this method. Mostly because half of the passing grades you see the students are doing nothing but memorizing and then later forgetting the material. I want my students to learn by experience, you never forget great experiences they last lifetimes.
What Tools will you use in your classroom?
Of course this is a tricky question because the tools I would like to use are probably not in any kind of budget for the schools around my area. I would like for every student to have an ipad or Mac Book at there desk at all times. This way no student will need any pens, paper, or school supplies. There are some great learning tools on the internet as well. I went tohttp://www.palmbeachschools.org/learning_tools/4kids/ and they have tons of different learning activities.
What role will students play in your classroom, i.e. how will they participate in the learning process?
The students will play the mane roll in my classroom, they will be the ones that are hands on the entire time. I will basically monitor the classroom but let the children learn with their technological tools. This is a great way to learn because the class will never be bored. They will always be interested because what they are doing is apart of their generation and its not just the teacher standing in the front of the classroom lecturing. I think that by allowing the students to become the teacher role themselves for themselves will be very rewarding in the end.
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