Bonding and Learning in the Elementary Classroom

Blog 5, March 3, 2011, Mary Kay Ward, Chapter 4, Roles:  Vocabulary/Concept Vitalizer and Essence Extractor

Vocabulary/Concept Vitalizer

This chapter discusses so many concepts to classroom life that touched me that it was hard to narrow this role down to 5 areas, but the following are the ones that were my top five.

In chapter 4 of "Boys and Girls Learn Differently", M. Gurian on pages 130-133 writes a lot aboutYear-Round Schooling and Changing the School Day. In other countries, such as Japan and France, schools are open year round and have breaks of three to four weeks which occur 3 different times during the school year.  In the U.S., we have a long tradition of having summers off to accommadate the families with farming and ranching duties.  Things have changed today, of  course, and young  people are not needed for such duties, actually, their enforced free time creates great concern for many working parents, especially in the elementary school age group, where kids are not old enoughto be home alone (pg. 131).  Since I have been back in the teaching profession, I would like to have school year-round and have breaks several times during the school year.  I agree with Gurian's research that "use it or lose it" theory gives more concrete validity to school year round because the brain retains what it uses and loses what is not repeatedly used.  I know when my own children were home during the summer months, I was constantly trying to come up with ideas that would keep them plugged in because 10 weeks without school is a long time for children to go without learning.

On page 133, M. Gurian also talks about the Class Size, Number of Teachers and Teacher-to-Student Ration.  Eventhough, I teach in a middle school environment, the majority of  the students I teach are in sixth grade, about 350 a year.  In some schools, sixth grade is still considered an elementary grade.  According to M. Gurian on page 133, in the first paragrah, second sentence, "a learning brain that , in secondd grade, experiences the presence of more than one teacher in a classroom for at least part of the day enjoys more neurological variety in learning culture and experience."  For some reason, as children get into the higher grades, a second teacher, volunteer or intern does not seem as important as it does in the younger grades.  This affects my classroom as I have some periods that have 27, 28 and 30 students in the classroom and I am the only adult in the room.  I cannot give my "special needs" students the one on one attention they require and deserve because the rest of my students would be running wild throughout the classroom.

Another area of concern is The Outdoor Classroom.  So many schools are eliminating recess because it is felt that academic success is far more important and feel that outdoor life and play do not enhance academic skills.  We have a nation of overweight and obese school children and children that are developing cancers and Type I and II Diabetis at an alarming rate.  I know this to be true because this is what I teach in the "Get Up Fuel Up" part of my curriculum along with Thompson Hospital.  For the mind to grow, the body needs to move around with gross motor skills such as running and playing.  Maybe, if there were more physical acitivity inside the classroom and more time spent at recess, we would not have so many behavior issues in the classroom.  "The mind wants movement and will wreak some havoc if it doesn't get it." (M. Gurain, pg. 140)

On page 155 and 156, in the section, The Role of the Mentor, M. Gurian list three areas where mentoring supports innovations in classroom.  The first one Gurian list is a second teacher in the classroom.  While this concept would be really great, with school budgets stressed to their limits and students needing so much one to one attention, many of the special areas in a student's school day do not have or get the prviledge of having extra teachers, let alone one, available to help out in the classroom, where it is needed as much as it is needed in the core classes.  The third innovation M. Gurian list is "Adult mentor volunteers from the community" is also a wonderful idea to bring into the classroom.  However, with so many parents working  today to keep up with the changing economy, volunteers are becoming less and less dependable to help out in the classroom.  I ask parents and  community members to help out with one of my units and sometimes it is really hard to find enough parents or individuals that have the time or can make the committment for just a small amount of time.  Also, we have a policy in our school district that any person(s) coming in to help out or volunteer, need to have our Board of Education approval.  The last innovation, which is listed as #2, "Intergenerational (or vertical) mentoring, between grade levels"  is a great concept.  While I have never had the experience of vertical mentoring, my daughter had the opportunity to have a "study buddy" and to be a "study buddy"  in elementary school and she still talks about that experience. I ask her what she liked about the" study buddy"  concept, she said that she liked looking up to someone older in her school and liked being looked up to and being a good role model for the younger children in her school.

On page 189, Standardized Testing and the No Child Left Behind is a very hot topic in my school district and I am sure in every other school across the nation.  Gurian quotes one teacher "No one denies the need to hold schools and teachers accountable, and no one likes schools to constantly underperform, but is the present hysteria to test students healthy for the learning brain?"  I think that "teaching to the test" is having a negative effect on children, a draining experience on teachers and adminisrators and false sense of security for parents to hold on to. 

Essence Extractor

Relationships, relationships, relationships....between home and school - the ultimate classroom.