Through the lessons, activity, and interactions I’ve had throughout the course of the semester with the students in my pre-k classroom, I’ve learned valuable lessons.
Since I am in a pre-k classroom, there is a large range of ability levels among the students. Some students are very proficient in letter and number recognition, while some students cannot identify any of the letters or numbers. As I’ve gotten to know each student and learned more about their home life, it became apparent to me that their home environment and the opportunities provided to them before they attend school is very crucial in affecting their school readiness development.
Tutoring groups of students who need the additional practice with letter recognition demonstrated the value of ability grouping and mixed-ability grouping. Having students work both with advanced students and students who are in their ability grouping as well can have large benefits. Having mixed ability groups where lower achieving students can work with advanced students provides the students who are struggling with great models and exposes them to higher level of thought. However, it is also beneficial to sometimes group students together with the same ability, so as a teacher you can challenge the advanced students and provide the one-on-one support to the lower achieving students and provide them with the opportunity to learn and do on their own without one of the advanced students dominating the lesson.
Throughout this semester, I’ve also had the opportunity to interact with ESL learners, something I had previously had no experience with. Through my observations and interactions with the students, I found they greatly benefit from constant exposure to the English language. One student in particular, will constantly repeat what you say, whether it be in an one-on-one conversation with him or during whole class circle time. Since he does benefit from the exposure and the practice in modeling the speech, as a teacher, you have to be flexible and patient and allow him to repeat/talk even if it’s a “quiet time.”
My interactions with the students through tutoring activites, conducting lessons, and through my observations have shown me the value of motivation and strategies that are effective within a pre-k classroom. Assigning daily jobs such as weather reporter, calendar helper, mailmen, line leader, etc. serves as a motivational tool to engage the students in learning activities associated with their “job” such as math concepts working with the calendar, science concepts working with weather, and social development with line leader and encourages responsible and positive behavior. Also using an exciting introduction for a lesson is crucial for gaining attention and encouraging engagement throughout the lesson. I found the teacher’s own enthusiasm and excitement to be one of the biggest predictors of pre-school students’ own motivation. If the teacher is very enthusiastic to begin a lesson and maintains that level of enthusiasm, it is essentially contagious and in turn, the students will be curious, motivated, and excited as well.
In just a few weeks, I strongly believe I have developed a close relationship with all the students and have learned about their individual differences, strengths, and weaknesses. I have found this to be very important when working with students. Knowledge about a student can help you to differentiate their instruction, meet their needs, and maintain a positive environment, as you can accommodate the lesson to appropriately match their ability to prevent frustration and encourage motivation at all times.
My question to you Deirde is: In a pre-k classroom, I found teacher’s enthusiasm to be a key in student’s motivation, what factors did you observe in your classroom that had an effect on student’s motivation also?
