Assessing Children’s Learning and Putting it all Together

Part A

Learning Opportunity

Tools of the Mind is the principal objective that will be applied in creating a learning opportunity for a child in kindergarten aged five years. The learning opportunity will require the child to put together a play applying the objectives outlined in the Tools of the Mind (Ceri). Since it is the first play that the child will be putting together, I will utilize the scaffolding approach and guide the child to write all the details regarding the future play as well as clearly illustrate a picture of all the characters that will be engaged in the play. I will further provide the child with plans before the child writes the play, and help them write plans that others can utilize in putting together the play.

I will also listen to the plans that the child will create regarding the plan and first draw lines indicating where the words will occur, and proceed to allow the child in writing his or her words on the lines. This will create a challenge for the child while still offering the necessary assistance to the child to successfully create the play (Ceri). With more practice, the child will be in a position to draw and write plans for plays with less assistance. I will require that the play that the child will choose to create should be based on something that they already know, such as a going to the doctor. I will also provide the costumes and props necessary for the play to help the child to plan the play. The learners participating in the play will take turns with characters as well as in being the audience and actors as well, which is crucial in practicing the concept of self-regulation. 

Objectives

Tools of the mind promote various learning objectives in the classroom for learners. The three objectives that I will utilize for instruction include;

A child will work on his or her literacy and writing skills through playwriting

The learners waiting to act out the play as well as the different characters while taking turns will mainly focus on self-regulation

Memory development, which is achieved when learners create drawn and written play plans and transfer them to real-life situations.

Adaptations 

To reach the above objectives, I will make several adjustments to the environment and the curriculum. First, to enhance the creativity of the play, I will set out the costumes and props and set the play area to match a small office for a doctor. Such a setting is crucial in giving a child the required spark of creativity and be in a position to mentally picture how the play will turn out (www.pbs.org). This adaptation mainly helps the child to create the play while leaving adequate room for the child to apply creativity. Secondly, I will ensure that I provide the child with sufficient time to create and illustrate the play, as well as to ensure that the child gets adequate help from other learners in the class, who will play the role of actors. 

Plan of the Special Learning Opportunities 

The transformation of the acting area, the costumes, and the props to match a doctor’s office will play a critical role in helping the child to abstractly and mentally picture the play, which is an essential aspect in illustrating and writing out the play. Further, by assisting the child, he or she will be capable of creating name tags that show the children that will play the different characters, as well as the audience, the listener, and the speaker. This is crucial in allowing the children to work on how they will take turns, as well as their self-regulation and listening skills. 

Part B

A sequence of Three Lessons focusing on Understanding Change

The first lesson will involve children investigating change using the changing seasons. I will discuss with the class about the season changes and include a brief introduction describing the factors that cause seasons to change and the events that occur during these changes. I will ensure that I record all the questions that the learners ask on the board so that all the learners can see. I will then guide the learners to use computers and investigate the seasonal changes in groups and then answer the questions recorded on the board. Besides, I will guide learners to take pictures of particular areas or trees in the school using a camera and record what they see in the pictures as well as their thoughts on what is likely to happen to the trees or the area as the seasons change in the course of the next few months. I will also require learners to take more pictures of their selected area or trees as the seasons change and record the changes that they observe in their journals ( Mayesky, 2009) . The exercise is crucial since it will help to create an opportunity for a classroom discussion about the changes that occur every day in our immediate environment. Further, the exercise will inform discussions on art projects that depict what the learners can observe from the pictures taken.

The second lesson will involve the changes that occur in life, including the arrival of a new sibling, changing schools, or a new learner joining the school among others. The students will learn the lesson by writing out and directing a short skit that illustrates such a change as a new sibling joining the family. The teacher will record the skit so that the learners could watch it later. At the end of the skit, the teacher will play the recorded video of the skit so that the class can watch. As the video will play, the teacher will be asking such questions as, ‘Do you have a younger brother or sister?’ and ‘How did you feel when you got a younger brother or sister?’ among others. Recording the video provides an opportunity for the learners to watch the skit repeatedly and pause for purposes of discussing fundamental concepts. Recording videos also give a break and time to act out several diverse scenarios, including acting out the same scenario from the perspective of a new learner.

The third lesson on the concept of understanding change will involve the changes that go into each learner’s body. Learners in the early childhood education programs experience changes in their bodies every day since they are quickly growing and developing. One of the significant activities in this lesson will involve taking pictures of the learners at least once every month until the end of the year. The learners will also be required to record all the things they are learning, the changes they are experiencing in their life, as well as the items they wish to work on. The teacher will then create a video of the learners’ pictures and written works using a computer program. The video will enable the learners to observe the changes that have occurred in their bodies through the videos. The learners will then use their observations to write about the changes and how quickly they occur as well as the changes in growth and development that they expect in the future and the rest of their life.

Part C

a) Emotions that Children could be Experiencing

The kinds of emotions that the children could be experiencing include the fear of the teacher, learning, and friendship with other learners, or having issues with other learners among others.

b) Helping Learners to become more aware of their Feelings and those of others

Some of the ways that I can help learners to gain more awareness of their feelings and those of others include an evaluation of the cause-effect relationships, understanding and demanding for one’s privileges, as well as through impartial behavior. 

c) Helping Learners to Cope with the Situation Effectively

I will guide the learners to apply their thoughts and knowledge in acquiring things from others. I will emphasize that learners should only consider acquiring things from others if it is relevant or if they desire to share. 

Manual and Damien

First, I will ensure that I discuss the issue with the boys to determine their feelings and thoughts. I will then guide the boys to work on their emotional literacy by encouraging them to talk about their feelings and the factors that led to the situation. Next, I will guide the boys to come up with a viable solution, such as taking turns with the shovel. I will then leave the boys to try the solution and have them provide me with feedback at the end of the day. 

Latoya

First, I will focus on informing Latoya that feelings of shyness or excitement are normal when trying group activities. I will then concentrate on encouraging the child to participate in the activity by showing the enthusiasm that she can derive from participating in the activity.

Tommy’s Dilemma

I would first discuss with Tommy about his feelings and assure him that the feelings are valid. I would then guide him towards developing strategies for healthy expression of emotions so that he can gain independence in working out issues effectively in future (www.pbs.org). Further. I would consider guiding Tommy to think about the emotions of others or how he sees the situation.

References

Ceri B. Dean, E. R. (n.d.). Chapter 1. Setting Objectives and Providing Feedback . Retrieved from www.ascd.org: http://www.ascd.org/publications/books/111001/chapters/Setting-Objectives-and-Providing-Feedback.aspx

Mayesky, M. (2009).  Creative activities for young children . Clifton Park, NY: Delmar.

Your Seven-Year-Old . (n.d.). Retrieved from www.pbs.org: http://www.pbs.org/parents/childdevelopmenttracker/seven/