Children should have the right to be able to read (Pennac.D, Rights of the Reader). Teachers and Parents can help by reading to children regularly. My strength is my passion for reading. I feel that I can take my enthusiasm into schools and get children involved with books; I hope to persuade them to read, by bringing my characters to life. I have a huge drama background and find it easy to put on voices. I feel this will benefit me greatly, as it will help children to visualise different characters in stories ‘considering the roles various actants play in the workings of a story can enrich a young reader’s understanding of character’ (Thomas, HUW. 1998). I want to make reading fun, not just an activity that they have to do in school. In order for my children to want to read at home, I need them to become as enthusiastic about books as I was in my school youth. The reading environment needs to be comfortable for children. I would like to have a reading corner in my classroom which will be separate from everything else; there will be cushions and bean bags. By doing this I will be removing connotations that reading is boring. If successful children will associate this comfort with reading and will hopefully read more and more. I will need to make sure that I offer a wide variety of texts, for example, poetry, novels and plays.
Although I am a strong reader I feel that my lack of patience will affect my teaching practice. I’m not the most patient with books, if I have started one and I begin to get bored I skip pages. I believe as I am the owner of this book I have the right to skip pages (Pennac.D). I will use this as a strength in my teaching practice as I believe if are bored with a text, they can ‘skip’ it or choose another book, obviously there are implications here, how far does one go by allowing children to change books all the time? (Pennac, D.)
Writing:
Writing appears everywhere, on a letter, postcard, posters, magazines, on television, it’s unavoidable. Children are being introduced to writing more and more, Facebook, Bebo, MySpace, and MSN. These websites are being used by children on a daily basis, along with mobile phones; texting. It is suggested that children learn through imitation, by copying others (Skinner). My earliest memory of writing was ‘scribbling’ on a piece of paper; mark making. Even though I was not forming ‘real’ letters I was developing my skills in holding small objects, learning how to control a pen or pencil. I have always taken pride in my handwriting; I feel that handwriting is important ‘...handwriting is an expression of one’s own individuality’ (McAllen, A. 2002), although not always necessary when assessing, as long as the child as the correct content/context, does it really matter if there handwriting is a little messy?
I believe that I am a strong speller; I remember learning how to remember spellings in school. We had to look, cover, spell, check. Any spellings I got wrong, I had to go back and learn again. I feel that because I am a strong reader, I notice words; I use my memory to help spell words I recognise from books ‘...the method emphasizes visual recognition and memory...the method is sometimes referred to as “look and say”’ (Tann, S. 1991). A strategy used in schools these days are to look at the phonemes, and children are expected to use phonological awareness to break down a word, for example, book is seen as b-oo-k. Children are then expected to place the phonemes together to create a word. I don’t remember being taught this strategy at school; however, I found it a useful tool to help children in my own practice, if they struggled to spell a word. I feel that I have innate ability to explain things and used this benefit to explain to my students how they should go about spelling a word. I observed, in my school practice, that every child was given the same spelling test, regardless of their ability. When I qualify, I will set spellings that are suited to a child’s ability. I believe that being able to spell correctly is important; however, I will not mark children’s work too critically, as long as the child’s context and quality of the work is correct I will mark fairly, I will stick to spelling being mainly important within a spelling test, hopefully my students will learn how to develop their spelling through this method. ‘Learning to spell accurately is extremely important and that direct teaching from an early stage is necessary in order to help students master spelling principles’ (Westwood.P, 1999, pg 2).
My main weakness in writing is my ability to write fluently and coherently, I have always been told if I could submit a verbal essay, I would pass with the highest mark; however, I struggle to write my ideas on paper. I also feel that I struggle with punctuation; I never got to grips with it at school. We had a different English teacher every year and I feel my learning was affected. Being an English specialist, over the years I hope to overcome this. I firmly believe that I can use this weakness to emphasize with my students, if they are not confident about writing. Although I may not be a strong writer, I love writing; I try to write whenever I can. I aim to prove that although not the strongest writer, I can be an inspiration to children; they can look up to me and see that I have achieved my teaching status, even though I am not the strongest writer.
Speaking and Listening:
Speaking and Listening (S&L) is a skill that is developed, usually, by the age of five. It is a skill that is developed first, before reading and writing, ‘spoken language is normally well developed in children before they learn to read...speech is normally developed well in advance of writing skills...’ (Beard, R. 1984).
Children imitate sounds that they hear from their parents, older siblings etc. They show a keenness to want to be able to communicate ‘imitative, behaviourist theories propounded by B.S. Skinner, based on the notion that children learn by copying what they hear around them (Tann.S, 1991); they will make ‘cooing’ sounds, ‘mama’, ‘dada’ and ‘gaga’ sounds, and all signs of trying to communicate. Children from an early age may also use the call and response technique. Although children may not be able to form words, if spoken to they may respond with a variety of noises, suggesting that they know the rules of a conversation. Is this instinct?
Children’s communication skills are/should be developed further in pre-school; there they should be surrounded by rich conversation, television, songs, poetry, which will be exposing them to language.
My strengths in S&L are that I am confident person, from an early age I have ‘loved the sound of my own voice’. I used every opportunity to speak. From the age of 10, I was placed into a drama school, Stage Coach. There I learnt how to become more confident, which aided me in my speaking out loud. I was taught how to sing, which enabled me to control my diaphragm, project my voice; a useful technique, if I am to talk to a classroom of children, my voice needs to be heard by all. I feel I can bring my drama background into teaching as I believe drama helps build confidence ‘learning in drama is often understood to develop such qualities as empathy, self-confidence, self-control and respect and tolerance for others’ (Winston, J. Tandy, M. 2009). I’ve always been told I am a good listener, friends would often come to me if they needed to talk, ‘you’re such a good listener, I feel I can really offload to you, you don’t interrupt’, they would say. I believe my listening skills were developed because of my mother being a counsellor. She was trained to listen. Listening is a skill that people feel we are born with; however, not everyone can listen correctly, the counselling training, trains people to listen and respond correctly. This training has been beneficial to me as I feel that I am a great listener. Although I am not a trained counsellor, I firmly believe that I will be able to take the skills my mother has taught me into school. I would like to be a mentor; I want children to be able to talk to me about anything. We have a duty of care to our children, as teachers, and I want to be able to play my part.
The only weakness I can think of in the S&L area is that I feel that sometimes I may talk too much. This will have implications in my teaching career, because maybe I will run over my lesson plans, because I have spoken too much throughout the lesson; however, I will have to plan when to talk and when not to. I am a passionate person and if a conversation is being held about something I am passionate about, sometimes I have the ability to just ‘talk forever’, for example, if a conversation about horses came up, which is likely in a primary school, I would get so involved in that conversation I would forget about everything else. This is an area I am working on. I tend to clock watch when I am in the classroom; I feel this helps me to keep in check with time.
Theorists View:
Piaget developed theories into children’s learning development. Piaget believed that ‘children progress through a series of stages in their thinking’ (Smith.P, Cowie, H, Blades, M, 2003). Piaget believed that these stages could be applied to objects, believes, ideas or anything in the child’s world; however, he conceived the broad characteristics of intelligent activity remain the same at all ages.
Conclusion:
Overall, I have found this module enlightening to me as a language user, I have learnt about how children learn and develop as language users, which still fascinates me. I will continue to do further reading as I feel I am still learning and developing. I can only build on my strengths listed and work on my weaknesses, turning them into strengths, hopefully making me a stronger teacher.
Word Count: 2,187
Bibliography
- Beard, R. (1984) Children’s Writing in the Primary School: Hodder and Stoughton.
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Harrison, C & Coles, M. (2001) 2nd Edition. The Reading for Real Handbook. London: Routledge Farmer.
- McAllen, A. (2002) Teaching Children Handwriting: Rudolf Steiner College Press.
- Pennac, D. (1992) The Right of the Reader: Walker Books
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Smith, P. Cowie, H. Blades, M. (2003) Understanding Children’s Development, 4th Edition: Blackwell publishing.
- Tann, S. (1991) Developing Language in the Primary Classroom: Cassell Publishers ltd.
- Thomas, HUW. (1998) Reading and Responding to Fiction: Scholastic Ltd.
- Westwood, P. (1999) Spelling: Approaches to Teaching and Assessment : David Fulton Publishers
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Winston, J. Tandy, M. (2009) Beginning Drama 4-11, 3rd Edition: Routledge.
