Standard of Practice # 1: Commitment to Students and Student Learning
Members are dedicated in their care and commitment to students. They treat students equitably and with respect and are sensitive to factors that influence individual student learning. Members facilitate the development of students as contributing citizens of Canadian society.
Understanding the Students: Who Are Junior Learners?
Teachers committed to their students and to student learning must understand their clientele. The junior learner is in a unique stage of development, and a recognition of the changes and growth that are happening in these formative years must be considered when planning for teaching and learning. Teachers of junior learners must be mindful of the physical, social, and cognitive growth of their charges:
Category
Commentary
Physical growth
Junior students are likely to start puberty during these years.
puberty is likely to present itself with students in this age category, and it is most likely to be encountered by the girls than by the boys by the age of 12. The implications of puberty, particularly for girls, as it relates to body image and self esteem must not be underestimated, but addressed in the classroom
boys, while less likely to undergo puberty at this point in their lives, find other ways to develop their sense of self as it relates to their bodies – most often measuring athletic ability as a mark of status.
both boys and girls have high levels of energy at this stage - they are at a pivotal point of their careers to establish their foundational sporting skills, their enjoyment of team or individual sports, and/or their commitment to high performance in an area of choice.
Social growth
Junior students are discovering new complexities in their social interactions.
>what strikes me here is the suggestion that it is between the ages of 6-9 that students develop the ability to empathize and that while at first this seems like a playground/relationship skill, I am led to ask to what extent teachers at this level are directing this emerging social skill into areas of the curriculum, notably into the issues they investigate in their Social Studies type classes…
>new complexities: desire to fit in, peer acceptance, relationships become more complicated, competitive and changeable, increasingly influenced by the norms of their friends…
Cognitive growth
Going to borrow from the opening blurb here… but students are moving from concrete to abstract understandings of the world around them.
>at this stage of their life, these students are “excited by and genuinely interested in the world around them” www.chy.com - there’s no better time to instill that love of learning and to develop the skills and attitudes for lifelong learning
>students have the capacity to express relatively complex ideas, and as they grow older begin to take into account the bigger picture and show a developing capacity to reason
>cognitive growth can be regulated by emotions and self esteem, and low self esteem can produce a reluctance to take risks…
Facilitating Student Development: Supporting Their Emerging Ability to Experience and Express Empathy
One particularly interesting facet of the development of the junior learner is the emergence of their ability to experience and express empathy. As teachers who are dedicated to the development of their students as contributing citizens of Canadian society, we must take this opportunity to explore and foster this cognitive development:
The implications of a junior learner’s emerging ability to empathize would count as my greatest insight into the development of the student in this age group. Empathy carries significant weight in the lessons of my classroom, since I have always taught Humanities topics. From units on tourism, globalization, development, to issues relating to equality, rights and freedoms – the ability of the student to empathize with people whom they have never met, in places and times they will never visit, makes all the difference in the citizenship education we are hoping to deliver. It is one of the primary goals of education today to develop student ability to appreciate the significance of the inequalities of past and present, so I am led to ask:
Are we doing enough to support the student’s examination of how they identify with such issues and concepts?
Treating Students Equitably: Meeting Differentiation Goals In order for teachers to treat students equitably and with respect, they must be sensitive to the factors that influence individual student learning, and differentiation is one of the essential elements of a fair and just classroom.
Three differentiated instruction strategies to help students be successful learners in the junior classroom.
1. Getting to Know the Students: Culture, Religion, ELL… While my first differentiation goal maybe is best described as a preliminary step when working towards differentiation, I would like to include it on my list of three goals. In the chapter “An Inclusive Classroom Experience” of the course text, Shwartz and Pollishuke offer suggestions on how to prepare for the arrival of the students, for differentiation can only happen when you know the students. I have always asked students to complete an introductory questionnaire in the first days of class, but having read this chapter I would make some significant changes to it. I would be sure to include questions related to their culture and religious backgrounds (p.34) and in the case of ELL students, determine their proficiency in their first language (p.35). Presently my questionnaire is rather subject specific, asking what they found to be most interesting last year, what types of assessments they enjoy most (and least) and so forth. Knowing more about the students from the early stages 2. Flexible Learning Groups. Effective group work is tricky work even without making considerations for differentiation. As the booklet “Differentiated Instruction Educator’s Package” (2010) explains, students should be grouped and regrouped frequently and flexibly based on:
readiness to learn a concept, interest in a concept, learning preferences, and environmental and/or social sensitivities. It takes time and effort to support truly productive group activities, and even more to create a plan for groupings for the year, but the usefulness is undeniable: peer learning is often the best learning and group activities help to build social cohesion in the classroom. 3. Differentiation of instruction for ALL students. Accommodations to instruction should be considered early and often and used to inform how the messages are delivered to the class, really to each student. This is challenging – once I come up with a particular way to convey a concept, I have invested so much time and effort into it, I have bought into it, I see it as the best possible way to engage the class. And while it may be almost as good as I think it is, it can become even better… with accommodations like those on page 74 of the text, including: adapting teaching materials to suit the needs of the group, checking for understanding more frequently, slowing down the rate of delivery, providing greater variety in every lesson (mixing visual, audio, body etc.). The usefulness is why differentiation is so important: it acknowledges the value of each student and their differences making their experience more relevant and meaningful.
Sensitivity to Factors that Influence Student Learning: 9 Essential Strategies
Furthermore, in order for teachers to be sensitive to the factors that influence individual student learning, a useful starting point is the consideration of these 9 Essential Strategies:
A. Organize the room to create designated spaces: whole class discussion/sharing, individual work, cooperative work, technology use, and where space is limited create ways for same spaces to be multi-purpose.
B. Storage should be organized for ease of access and to stimulate interest; label materials in such a way that they act as teaching tools: reminders of topics already studied and of the interdisciplinary opportunities. A richly resources classroom is stimulating and can instill a sense of wonder.
C. Set clear parameters for class discussion and sharing accompanied by agreed expectations for other behavior – be consistent in their use. This extends into those transitions times as well.
D. Celebrate student work regularly; display it with pride and in a variety of ways, whether it be set up by the teacher or by the students.
E. Be deliberate in planning for and explicit in teaching students to take responsibility for their own learning, the learning of others, and for the learning environment as whole.
F. Create a safe learning environment where students can be risk takers, caring, open-minded and principled while remaining true to what makes them unique, in fact, through celebrating those differences. Build a relationship of trust, a culture of support and engage students with relevant topics.
G. Share student learning with parents and the school community (my interviewee keeps a class blog and is a regular contributor of photos and articles for the school intranet). Maintain a healthy, informal relationship with parents in the hallways, parking lot, and through email.
H. Make the most of your professional learning community – staff meetings don’t need to be a drag and meetings with your team leaders don’t need to be feared.
I. Keep the Big Ideas alive in the classroom – work them into numeracy and literacy to create an environment of inquiry that is rich and engaging.
Members are dedicated in their care and commitment to students. They treat students equitably and with respect and are sensitive to factors that influence individual student learning. Members facilitate the development of students as contributing citizens of Canadian society.
Understanding the Students: Who Are Junior Learners?
Teachers committed to their students and to student learning must understand their clientele. The junior learner is in a unique stage of development, and a recognition of the changes and growth that are happening in these formative years must be considered when planning for teaching and learning. Teachers of junior learners must be mindful of the physical, social, and cognitive growth of their charges:Category
Commentary
>new complexities: desire to fit in, peer acceptance, relationships become more complicated, competitive and changeable, increasingly influenced by the norms of their friends…
>students have the capacity to express relatively complex ideas, and as they grow older begin to take into account the bigger picture and show a developing capacity to reason
>cognitive growth can be regulated by emotions and self esteem, and low self esteem can produce a reluctance to take risks…
Facilitating Student Development: Supporting Their Emerging Ability to Experience and Express Empathy
One particularly interesting facet of the development of the junior learner is the emergence of their ability to experience and express empathy. As teachers who are dedicated to the development of their students as contributing citizens of Canadian society, we must take this opportunity to explore and foster this cognitive development:The implications of a junior learner’s emerging ability to empathize would count as my greatest insight into the development of the student in this age group. Empathy carries significant weight in the lessons of my classroom, since I have always taught Humanities topics. From units on tourism, globalization, development, to issues relating to equality, rights and freedoms – the ability of the student to empathize with people whom they have never met, in places and times they will never visit, makes all the difference in the citizenship education we are hoping to deliver. It is one of the primary goals of education today to develop student ability to appreciate the significance of the inequalities of past and present, so I am led to ask:
Are we doing enough to support the student’s examination of how they identify with such issues and concepts?
Treating Students Equitably: Meeting Differentiation Goals
In order for teachers to treat students equitably and with respect, they must be sensitive to the factors that influence individual student learning, and differentiation is one of the essential elements of a fair and just classroom.
Three differentiated instruction strategies to help students be successful learners in the junior classroom.
1. Getting to Know the Students: Culture, Religion, ELL… While my first differentiation goal maybe is best described as a preliminary step when working towards differentiation, I would like to include it on my list of three goals. In the chapter “An Inclusive Classroom Experience” of the course text, Shwartz and Pollishuke offer suggestions on how to prepare for the arrival of the students, for differentiation can only happen when you know the students. I have always asked students to complete an introductory questionnaire in the first days of class, but having read this chapter I would make some significant changes to it. I would be sure to include questions related to their culture and religious backgrounds (p.34) and in the case of ELL students, determine their proficiency in their first language (p.35). Presently my questionnaire is rather subject specific, asking what they found to be most interesting last year, what types of assessments they enjoy most (and least) and so forth. Knowing more about the students from the early stages
2. Flexible Learning Groups. Effective group work is tricky work even without making considerations for differentiation. As the booklet “Differentiated Instruction Educator’s Package” (2010) explains, students should be grouped and regrouped frequently and flexibly based on:
readiness to learn a concept, interest in a concept, learning preferences, and environmental and/or social sensitivities. It takes time and effort to support truly productive group activities, and even more to create a plan for groupings for the year, but the usefulness is undeniable: peer learning is often the best learning and group activities help to build social cohesion in the classroom.
3. Differentiation of instruction for ALL students. Accommodations to instruction should be considered early and often and used to inform how the messages are delivered to the class, really to each student. This is challenging – once I come up with a particular way to convey a concept, I have invested so much time and effort into it, I have bought into it, I see it as the best possible way to engage the class. And while it may be almost as good as I think it is, it can become even better… with accommodations like those on page 74 of the text, including: adapting teaching materials to suit the needs of the group, checking for understanding more frequently, slowing down the rate of delivery, providing greater variety in every lesson (mixing visual, audio, body etc.). The usefulness is why differentiation is so important: it acknowledges the value of each student and their differences making their experience more relevant and meaningful.
Sensitivity to Factors that Influence Student Learning: 9 Essential Strategies
Furthermore, in order for teachers to be sensitive to the factors that influence individual student learning, a useful starting point is the consideration of these 9 Essential Strategies:A. Organize the room to create designated spaces: whole class discussion/sharing, individual work, cooperative work, technology use, and where space is limited create ways for same spaces to be multi-purpose.
B. Storage should be organized for ease of access and to stimulate interest; label materials in such a way that they act as teaching tools: reminders of topics already studied and of the interdisciplinary opportunities. A richly resources classroom is stimulating and can instill a sense of wonder.
C. Set clear parameters for class discussion and sharing accompanied by agreed expectations for other behavior – be consistent in their use. This extends into those transitions times as well.
D. Celebrate student work regularly; display it with pride and in a variety of ways, whether it be set up by the teacher or by the students.
E. Be deliberate in planning for and explicit in teaching students to take responsibility for their own learning, the learning of others, and for the learning environment as whole.
F. Create a safe learning environment where students can be risk takers, caring, open-minded and principled while remaining true to what makes them unique, in fact, through celebrating those differences. Build a relationship of trust, a culture of support and engage students with relevant topics.
G. Share student learning with parents and the school community (my interviewee keeps a class blog and is a regular contributor of photos and articles for the school intranet). Maintain a healthy, informal relationship with parents in the hallways, parking lot, and through email.
H. Make the most of your professional learning community – staff meetings don’t need to be a drag and meetings with your team leaders don’t need to be feared.
I. Keep the Big Ideas alive in the classroom – work them into numeracy and literacy to create an environment of inquiry that is rich and engaging.