Reflection for Week 2

Being a multiple-subject elementary teacher, obviously my own elementary years in school are in the distant past.  The knowledge I attained and have retained from grades K-5 has been the foundation of my continuous education since then.  Whether or not I remember specific lessons, I have benefitted from the content learned, constantly adding to it and continuously developing academically.  The specific moments that I do remember in elementary school, were those in which I was active, imaginative and collaborative.  I remember the dynamic lessons that urged and required me to use prior knowledge to solve a problem.  I specifically felt all of these wonderful classroom components throughout the 4^th grade Gold Rush unit.  The content we learned through literature was implemented into vibrant lessons that helped me specifically, as I am sure many of my 4th grade classmates would agree, to retain the knowledge to this very day. 

        

In response to Ball’s article and the class discussion that occurred last session, I feel as though the article points out very important issues that are seen in classrooms throughout our country today.  Yes, there are many teachers who lack in their content knowledge and yes, they would be much better teachers if they had a refined content knowledge base, there is no arguing that.  But with that depth and breadth of content knowledge, what important skills or characteristics would they be compromising? In my opinion, this article was centered on single-subject teachers.  Elementary teachers (multiple-subject) have 5-7 subject areas that they must be proficient in.  Ball implies that they need to be experts in math, science, language arts, art, history and P.E.  I agree that yes, it is extremely important for teachers to be experts in their field.  Multiple-subject teachers have 5-7 fields to be experts in.  And you must factor in the importance of classroom management and dynamic lesson plans.  Without management, there is no opportunity to share our expert content knowledge.  And a boring lesson plan is a dead end for any student knowledge retention.  We also need to have lesson plans that are effective for all learners.  There is another subject to be an expert in; differentiated instruction.  So in addition to the academic curriculum, we can add management, constructive lessons plans, differentiated instruction.  Does that mean we must be experts in 10 subject areas?  There are so many factors that must be considered when evaluating how flawless a teacher truly is.  What is more important in the measure of a “successful teacher?”  We are new teachers and we need to keep the enthusiasm and conduct our classes in a way that works for us.  When I say do what works for us, I mean do what enables us to be the best teachers we can be for our students.  Every teacher is different and their individual strengths and weaknesses differ.  We need to keep the energy level at a high, implement all that we have learned through our own schooling, and continue to be hungry for our own education, ensuring that we can educate our students and help them meet their highest potential.

My line of research is centered around physical movement in the classroom.  Movement is incredibly important at all grade levels, but being an elementary teacher, I am specifically interested in the implementation of movement in K-5 classrooms.  This includes implementing movement into all subjects.  In my initial phases of research, I am finding that there has been an abundance of research on this aspect of schooling.  Beyond the PE time allotment, children need more physical activity during the school day. There has been scientific research which shows that movement can help children to better retain knowledge, stay focused and remain on task.  I am excited to continue my research and be better educated on cross-curricular implementation of physical movement.  In fact, during this blog entry, I had to get up and move – I practiced some of the physical movements that I learned from Brain Gym.  Getting my blood flowing helped to get better ideas flowing to my brain and to this blog entry J.  

Below is a picture of some of the Brain Gym movement ideas!

“In addition to the health benefits of physical activity, movement is an integral part of the young child’s life and education, for it is through movement that children develop social, emotional and cognitive skills. For young children, movement is a critical means of communication, expression and learning. It is imperative that classroom teachers give children as many opportunities as possible to be physically active and to learn through movement.” (E. Elliot & S. Sanders. (2005). Children and Physical Activity. PBS Teachers.)

Increasing Movement in the Classroom

Increasing the amount of movement in the classroom can not only help intervene in obesity -- it has been proven to enhance knowledge retention and help student's stay focused for prolonged period of time.  Let's get the kids moving!