Formal Education Age

Education at an early age is crucial. Students are like sponges and eager to learn. 
In an article that I read, the British government is stating how they are planning to change the age of starting formal education. Formal education usually starts at age four. There has been research that shows that formal education starting at the age of seven is more beneficial for students. Research shows that the extension of informal, play-based pre-school provision helps the students develop as learners. It gives them time to develop their own way of thinking based on what they are exposed to in their environment. A research study was done that compares students who started formal education at an early age versus students who started later and it showed that there were no differences between the groups. The students who started formal education at an earlier age tended to have negative feelings towards reading. Attitude towards reading is based on the student’s first experience with a book. Exposing a child to a book has to be meaningful.

Is it better to let students explore and play before starting to learn and develop their understanding? At an early age, children are learning from what they are seeing. They are engaged and excited to learn about things. If a student begins to learn at a young age, they will be better off in their class next year. They will struggle less and be more successful with the content. The value of play is very important as Piaget and Vygotsky believe that play and activity is essential for cognitive development. There needs to be a good amount of informal and formal education between the ages of four and seven.  Students have the capability of having formal education while still being able to play. The teacher is the key factor that has to make the class enjoyable for the students making it seem like they are playing. 

Here's the article that talks about this debate: 
http://www.cam.ac.uk/research/discussion/school-starting-age-the-evidence

- Anna de la Garza 

Whitebread, D. (2013, Sept 24). School starting age: the evidence. Retrieved from

     http://www.cam.ac.uk/research/discussion/school-starting-age-the-evidence

Classroom Management

We are coming to an end of another semester at Texas A&M. One experience that I value the most out of this semester is getting the opportunity to work in the classroom and watch teachers in action. One important lesson I have learned is the importance of classroom management. I have learned that it is worth it to spend time teaching classroom rules and procedures. Without it you have to no structure or organization. Without it you have chaos in the classroom. One tip of advice I received from my mentor teacher this semester is that you have to enforce the rules in your classroom on the very first day of school. It is also important to be consistent with your rules and consequences. As future teachers you have to think about what level of control you want to have in your classroom. You have to think if your going to be a high control (very strict) or low control (very lenient) or maybe somewhere in the middle. Once you have your level of control chosen, you use this to make your classroom rules. Classroom management is one of the most important things to have in your classroom. Tonight before you go to bed think about what type of teacher you want to be. High or low control? One thing to remember is always be firm!

Indirect Vs. Direct Instruction

Everybody learns content differently. Whether its an audio or visual learner, the teacher needs to meet everyone one of her students' needs. The teacher needs to make sure that they are providing enough ways for students to understand the content being presented. There are two main types of methods for instruction: direct and indirect. 

Direct instruction is very effective as is produces rapid and automatic responses. It is used for teaching facts, rules and action sequences. It is very limited to learning units of the content that is being taught so it can be remembered. It is also composed of parts of the content that have to be learned as a whole. This instruction is the one most people have been exposed to; memorizing the information to pass the test. This is the memorization method instead of understanding the information. 

Indirect instruction has multiple right answers. In this type of instruction, "not all responses are desired outcomes have to be identical to the content being taught" (292). It is used for teaching concepts, inquiry, and problem solving. Learners acquire a behavior indirectly by transforming it into a meaningful response from the content that is being presented and previous student responses. This is where the students are able to express themselves and think their minds. It is where discussions come into place in order for further understanding of a concept. It definitely gives the students more freedom into expanding their way of thinking and sharing their opinions. 

Both of these instructions help students learn and understand the information that they need to know. While some teachers are biased towards a specific type of instruction, there needs to be a good balance between these methods in order to get the maximum result. Do you have a preference to a type of instruction? 

- Anna de la Garza 

Borich, G.D.(2014). "Ch 10 Teaching Strategies for Indirect
    Instruction." Effective Teaching Methods:Research-based         
    Practice. 8th ed. Boston: Pearson Education, 2014. 292-93.Print.

What is a manifesto?

According to the online merriam-webster dictionary the definition of a manifesto is: a written statement that describes the policies, goals, and opinions of a person or group. As teachers we need to have a statement that we believe in, statements or opinions that we believe makes an effective teacher. A manifesto is not a list of goals to PLAN to accomplish, but a list of things you WILL accomplish. In class this week my fellow classmates and I all had to write our own education manifesto. I am happy to share mine with you. I would love to hear opinions/feedback. Feel free to leave comments below :)
-I WILL be an effective and engaging teacher.
-I WILL push each one of my students to reach for success.
-I WILL address culturally awareness in my classroom.
-I WILL make any modifications to my lessons to fit the learning style of each of my students.
-I WILL encourage uniqueness and individuality.
-I WILL teach beyond standardized tests.
-I WILL use technology in the classroom and have educational objectives for the use of technology in the classroom.
-I WILL encourage cooperative learning in the classroom. People learn through conversation with others.
-I WILL be open to criticism and seek professional development opportunities. I will be open to anything to better myself as an educator.
-I WILL enforce critical thinking in the classroom setting.

By: Laura Sanchez

Technology In The Classroom

This week we covered the topic "technology in the classroom." We even got to play around with some great technology resources on the internet. While creating my "goanimate" video I realized how important the principles of technology are. Technology should be used for educational purposes only. Always have objectives when using technology in the classroom. Something extremely important is making sure that all of your students have access to any technology resources used in the classroom. If they don't have access at home make sure that you provide them with the resources they need. As teachers you should also keep in mind that technology should be used as a supplement for your teaching only. The technology should not be doing all the teaching for you. There should still be teaching going on in the classroom. I enjoyed watching the goanimate videos my classmates made as well. They were all resourceful. I learned a lot about the use of technology in the classroom from my peers. If you have not used goanimate I would recommend it to any teacher. It is a fun and easy resource to use. You can access it at: goanimate4schools.com