Physical: 9 to 13 years

Later in phase: Range of individual differences increases Maturation of central nervous system incomplete until years Children will experience changes at varying ages and at varying rates

Cognitive Development Growth Spurts Occur 3 to 10 months 2 to 4 years 6 to 8 years 10 to 12 years 14 to 16+ years Consolidation & refinement of teaching Plateau Periods 10 months to 2 years 4 to 6 years 8 to 10 years 12 to 14 years Develop higher level thinking skills

Child Development Brain growth within 2 year span tends to occur earlier in girls Girls age 11: growth spurt about twice that of boys at age 11-nearly opposite true at age 15 Brighter children tend to experience shorter plateaus

Piaget Sensorimotor: child deals with environment at perceptual level Pre-Operational: Child able to represent objects and relate them to one another through the use of language and other symbols

Piaget Concrete Operational: Child develops logical structures to deal with changing objects in the physical world Formal Operational: child is capable of hypothetic-deductive reasoning and abstract thought

Junior Division Students Most are at the Concrete Operational stage of development and learn best when presented with learning situations that use concrete materials

Styles of learning Kinesthetic learner may: stand very close fidget a lot seem very active respond to music by movement express feelings physically say “I’ve got it”

Learning Styles Auditory learner may: like to talk react verbally when angry give long, repetitive answers move lips during silent reading skip words, lines when reading say “I hear you”

Learning Styles Visual learner may: look around a lot stare when angry, beam when happy have a vivid imagination have good handwriting ignore auditory instructions say “I see”

Social Development As a general statement, children in the junior grades learn best when provided with-and allowed to shape for themselves- situations based on action and physical movement, opportunities for peer interaction, and relevant and consistent frameworks for learning

Media Literacy Average North American 13 year old will have spent 15,000 hours watching TV and 10,800 hours in the classroom Students will see 4X as many movies as books read Information and experience comes from instant insight via TV Wider knowledge of non-print material

Teacher Responsibility Select educationally sound materials Be aware of influence of mass media Use mass media to develop critical viewing skills Motivate students to use print materials Teach students to discriminate between social and commercial value messages

Long Term planning Good education requires careful planning Clear understanding of overall purposes and how activities fulfil these purposes

Long Term Planning Consider student interests and levels of ability Know core curriculum Outline core curriculum topics Outline optional topics Consult previous teacher to see if topic already taught

Long Term Planning Consult librarian about topics with a time frame Check to see if any other teachers interested in cooperative planning Contact consultant if necessary Plot plans on Long Term Topic Organizer Decide on approaches for language program

Long Term Planning Meet with principal to discuss plans Discuss plans with itinerant teachers eg Music Book films, videos, software, resource people, trips, media equipment Provides general sense of direction