1. Students working on their quickwrites.
Applying Instructional Teaching Practices and Literacy Strategies in a Jamaican Classroom with a Focus on Character Education
Rachel Pool
Introduction
Throughout my education at Miami University, specifically in my cohort classes with the Early Childhood Education program, I and my fellow pre-service teachers have been taught by our professors many important ideas about how to best teach young children. These ideas, such as, developmentally appropriate practice, hands-on experiences, and child-centered learning have been emphasized greatly as they contribute to how young children learn in meaningful ways. After deciding to attend the Ambassadors for Children: Children’s Literacy and Health service learning study abroad program in Jamaica, I realized that I wanted to focus my senior capstone on whether or not the ideas and teaching strategies that I have been taught are applicable in different environments and cultures.
Methods
30 to 40 minute literacy lesson focusing on the character trait, generosity.
Activating prior knowledge by asking questions and discussing with the students aspects of generosity that are present in their lives.
Reading aloud the poem, “Aunt Mae’s Breadfruit Trees” from Under the Breadfruit Tree: Island Poems by Monica Gunning.
“Quickwrite” – a literacy strategy where students will have two minutes to write a response to a prompt.
“Tea Party” – a literacy strategy where students read their quickwrites to their peers and discuss their knowledge that they have obtained thus far.
Observations
Conclusion
After teaching my literacy lesson in a second grade Jamaican classroom, I have realized that culture, physical classroom set-up, environmental circumstances, and the abilities of each child all contribute to how the learning of best practices can take place. Specifically in my setting, the best practices were not as appropriate because of the reasons stated above. However, learning still occurred, but with a few adjustments. One adjustment was using the “Turn and Talk” literacy strategy instead of the “Tea Party” literacy strategy. This allowed for the students to collaborate in partners instead of in groups. Despite some uncontrollable circumstances, such as outside noises, the students all learned and agreed that generosity was similar to sharing. In many of their quickwrites, students wrote experiences of how they have shared with a sibling or a friend and that was how they were being generous. Overall, I know now that teaching strategies and practices will most likely vary and will reflect the environment and the resources of the area and school.
The classroom setting in Jamaica was completely different from what I expected and some circumstances were difficult to overcome in order to teach my lesson. For example, the noise level in the classroom was extremely loud because the classroom walls were not entirely closed off. Therefore, noises from other classrooms could be heard and this was often distracting. While teaching my lesson, I often had to shout in order to be heard. Also, discussions could hardly take place due to the amount of noise. Another factor was that students were used to a relaxed and untimed learning pace. However, for one of my literacy strategies, the quickwrite, they had to think and write in a fast manner, which they were not used to. Many students did not complete their quickwrites after the two minutes. I did notice that even after I concluded my lesson, the students continued writing their quickwrites and turned them in later.
Purpose
The goal of my research was to increase my awareness of how to reach and impact children from various backgrounds and circumstances and to show them how they can become positive individuals and citizens in their society. Overall, I am striving to become a caring, competent, and transformative educator, just like The Department of Teacher Education within The School of Education, Health, & Society envisions and values.
Teaching my literacy lesson at the Race Course Primary School in Jamaica.
References
Gunning, Monica. Under the Breadfruit Tree: Island Poems. Honesdale: Boyds Mills Press, Print.
Tompkins, Gail E. 50 Literacy Strategies: Step by Step. USA: Allyn & Bacon, Print.
Students working on their quickwrites.