The Seed Has Been Planted

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Do you remember all the stories in the Bible about planting seeds and getting a good harvest? This morning Karen and I saw some of the seeds that were planted on Saturday begin to sprout. While Ellen spent the morning with the 2 and 3 year olds that she cared for this past month, Karen and I observed three teachers teach the baby class (the preschool hours are 9-11, and the teachers rotate to the three groups for 40 minutes each, teaching reading, writing, and numbers).

In the first class that we observed, the teacher had a pair of students model a strategy called "rally coach," in which one student has a problem to solve and the other coaches him/her to get the answer. This was done on a very basic level by one student holding up a classroom object, e.g. a book or a pencil (they call an eraser a rubber, and I had to smile about that), and asking "What is this?" and then the partner responds with "It is a ......" Last week this was done solely with the teacher asking all the questions and all the students answering together; today the students did some of the teaching. After they finished a writing exercise, I had some of them practice doing the same thing with the objects in pairs, then trading objects with other students, a basic Quiz, quiz, trade, trade strategy. For those of you who are not in education, the names of the strategy are not important; it is simply doing them that matters.

In the next class, the teacher did one of our review strategies by dividing the class into four groups and doing a round robin by having them draw the pictures that were part of Friday's lesson. Karen and I worked on getting the students involved in the group and giving clues about what they might draw. The teacher also had them divide up with partners and do a rally coach with picture/word cards. Last, students took turns being the teacher by holding up a picture card for the class to name. This teacher let the students do so much of the teaching themselves, and they loved it!

Third, in the math class, the teacher had the students do a worksheet on tracing and writing the numbers 1-9. The worksheet had them trace first, then connect the dots to write the number. When the teacher realized that some did not understand how to connect the dots, he demonstrated on the chalkboard, but then some thought they were supposed to draw the dots each time they made the number. Then he wrote numbers (the teacher in me just kicked in and reminded me that I should say numerals,not numbers) on blank cards and had the students take turns being the teacher by holding up the card for the class to name. This was progress--the teacher did not do all the talking. Last, Karen had the students practice "Hand Up, Stand Up, Pair Up, the basic strategy for getting students in pairs. They did not actually share with each other, but they did learn how to get a new partner each time.

So the seeds are beginning to sprout. The baby class here was the most difficult place to start because the students are just beginning to learn. This afternoon we are going out to the primary school to see how those teachers are doing. Like the farmer in the field, I am excited to see seedlings begin to sprout and look forward to the harvest.

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