Monday, September 13, 2010

If I were to teach a group of kindergarteners about class mngmt. skills I could use both the SLT and the DLT to inform my strategies for teaching the content. First I would ask the students if they could tell me an aspect of class mngmt. skills like, how to get the teacher's attention. This would allow me to guage their zone of proximal development (SLT). By asking these questions, I may come across the more knowledgable peer who already has some knowledge of class mngmt. skills that other students do not possess (SLT). The peer's explanation may also be beneficial, since explaining the skill in his/her own words allows classmates to gain the understanding from a person with a more equivalent understanding.  This can happen when the peer uses more familiar language (SLT).
     Next, I would use a concrete representation available, to model four aspects of class mngmt. skills I think they should know (DLT).  These aspects include sitting at a table, sitting on the floor, requesting to use the bathroom, and requesting the teacher's attention.  The most concrete representation would be myself, since the children (ideal model) need a seperate source to learn from.  I would then put the kids into pairs to demonstrate these aspects.  Again, the more knowledgable maybe a big help to the children who do not possess these skills yet (SLT). 
     Since the children are 5-6 years old they would not be able to demonstrate in writing their understanding of these class mngmt. skills, which would show they have an abstract understanding.  So to solidify these skills and help them to begin to think a bit more abstractly, I would ask them as a class, to show me bad examples of each of the aspects.  This would show that they understand what the skills look like and what they do not look like, which shows they have somewhat of a distinct understanding of how to spot the skills and demonstrate them as well.

3 comments:

  1. I really think allowing the students to practice different classroom management techniques is a great idea of using SLT. Not only would this give the students the experience of seeing how to correctly behave, it would also allow the students to see the teacher's perspective when students either behave or misbehave. This would ultimately give them first-hand, basic knowledge of what is wanted and expected by the teacher.

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  2. You've thought this through pretty well, and it's good that you can try to teach them good skills early on that will help them throughout their school career. I also think it's good that you try to lead by example, which can be very important in early development. Here's something to consider: what do you do if your class does not have a more knowledgeable peer? What can you do instead to explain what you talk about easier to your students?

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  3. I really liked your ideas on how to use SLT and DLT in class management. One idea I had while reading your blog was, since they are 5-6 and are unable to write, a way to make it abstract you could show them pictures and ask what is a good way of doing? or What is the student in the picture doing? That way they are abstract because they have to look at a picture and try to determine what is going on.

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