Teaching Strategies and Curriculum Planning Used in Classroom - Essay Example

 Teaching Strategies and Curriculum Planning Used in Classroom The child in the first case study is eleven months and one day old, Charlene, of average height and weight. The firstborn in her family is Melinda aged four followed by Gaby aged three. Melinda goes to preschool five times a week, and Gaby has not yet joined a school. Charlene`s parents, Mr. and Mrs. Spenser are well educated with post-graduate degrees in Law and Education respectively. They live in San Francisco where Charlene spends the whole day in the company of her nanny or the mother. Charlene`s family is actively involved in development activities like trips to the zoo, museum, library, music class, park, and outdoor play. Charlene`s house has a lot of books for adults and children, and she is read stories frequently during the day. Items to play with like slides, swings, toys and art supplies are in Spenser`s house all at Charlene`s disposal. The children are only allowed to watch television at night under supervision. Charlene has a stroller that helps her to walk at least once every day around her home and her neighborhood. Furthermore, she has developed needed skills of her age like noticing most sights and color or bright things including an understanding of some gestures being made to her. She also uses actions to bring her points across. On social development, Charlene enjoys the sense of touch and likes dancing, swinging and lifting of objects around her. She looks at sights that interest her and makes sounds or faces when people play or talk to her. She also enjoys smiling and can also get upset when her family is not around her. Currently, Charlene can walk on her own, eat solid foods and say small words. She explores everything around her and likes communicating with her family through smiles and screams. To further on the approach of this study, I would probably need to know more on how Charlene`s parents discipline her when they want to correct her actions and how she responds to different types of punishments. Punishment could involve injecting physical pain, humiliating the child or withdrawing affection from the child (Atkin, 2005). The data in the study also indicates Charlene`s demonstration of manipulative abilities by reaching for and releasing objects and use of her hands, eyes and mouth to explore the surroundings. She also shows interest in different activities which indicates that she has a positive learning approach as she pays attention to sounds and sights and uses her senses to explore the environment. Her use of body senses in solitary play indicates that she establishes positive relationships and interacts with her other people. Charlene does not like being away from her family meaning she adores relationships and trusts her family members to help her explore the world she knows. In a teaching situation, I would engage Charlene in some educational games that will help broaden her social and intellectual skills. This approach will involve showing her familiar objects and looking at her expressions. I would also challenge her physical abilities by selecting toys that she loves and putting them at a safe distance so that she can fetch. I would urge her to be free and responsive and show me what she wants to play so that I can play with her and in the process learn her reactions. I would intervene by incorporating more of the physical aspect by providing a stimulating physical environment that invites and gives Charlene independent access to a broad platform of impressive available resources. I would set up an inviting play space that offers Charlene choice, challenge and support to develop her upcoming skills and abilities effectively. The second study is about a five-year-old girl named Lucille. She has younger twin brothers named Lester and Murray, one and a half months old each. She is from an upper-class family with lesbian couples by the name O’Malley. Lucille was watched by a nanny most of her early childhood before joining kindergarten and is very close and fond of her grandparents and extended family. She is inquisitive and talkative and spent most of her childhood among adults. Lucille parents have a progressive parenting approach that makes her act older than her age. Lucille struggles to gain back the attention of her parents that has been drifted away by the birth of her siblings but joining kindergarten will help her transition well with the home situation. Lucille is a high functioning, funny, disciplined, independent and smart five-year-old girl. Lucille parents involve her with cognitive and good communication skills at home as she is read to on a daily basis. She gets involved in many extracurricular activities like dance, soccer, and cheerleading. She has a broad imagination that shows her impressive intellectual ability and the hard work invested in her by her parents. She spent two years at a preschool and is currently in an all-day kindergarten school. Teachers are fond of her due to her abilities, and she is social, but occasionally she experiences a meltdown. In most cases, this meltdowns are developed when she does not get her way in school as at home. Lucille demonstrated her intellectual capabilities when she passed Brigance tests presented to her as follows: She knew all her personal information; that is, name, age, birthday, address and phone number, she was aware of most of her body parts names, she could stand on one foot for 10 seconds, she identified colors and most shapes correctly, she could print her names and her brothers names, she counted well, she comprehended numerical figures, and highlighting uppercase and lowercase letters. Her abilities were strong in language and communication skills, but her gross motor skills were a bit weak (Shores, 2005). In Lucille`s case, I would need to know more about how her parents attitude has changed since the birth of her siblings and how well she copes at home with both her siblings and her parents. Other interpretations of Lucille`s study is that she is social and well groomed meaning she regulates her emotions, manages routines and rules effectively. She participates constructively and cooperatively in group situations and considers herself an adult hence she can solve most of her problems. In a teaching perspective, I would encourage Lucille to develop her skills by introducing more reading and interpreting of literature materials to her. I would also foster more group discussions between her and her peers so that she can also learn to relate to and understand her age mates. These discussions will help ease her moods when it comes to getting everything her way. My plans for intervention and teaching would be to talk to her parents to try and ease the situation with Lucille by talking with her about her siblings and her getting attention. Also in consideration is helping her develop her gross motor skills by getting her involved in more sporting activities in school with her peers. The sporting activities will help relax her mind and get to feel like a small child that she is. The final study revolves around twenty-one-month-old Ted Miller, who was referred to a specialist after his parents were concerned about his delay in language and walking ability. The doctor’s results stated he had suffered from ear infections and upper respiratory problems since he was one-month-old. Ted`s ten-year-old brother had an apnea condition, and his five-year-old sibling lacked hearing in one ear and another three-year-old sibling has a speech delay that made him be taken to an intervention program. The mother drives the three-year-old three times a week to therapy. Ted was screened in the Shaker Heights Child Find program a day after following his birthday. During that time, Ted`s Denver Developmental Screening Test had showed language delay. Additionally, during this period Ted had undergone an eye surgery to correct an eye problem and was prescribed bifocal lenses that Mrs. Miller could not acquire at that particular time. An inventory development by the name Battelle determined if Ted was fit for services at fifteen months old. During that time, he had passed well in gross motor skills and cognitive domain despite the fact that he could barely walk more than 2 feet. At eleven months, he scored expressive communication and at nine months in receptive communication. Also at this point he could not produce word-sounds, speech imitations and neither could he respond to directions. This was despite the fact that Mrs. Miller reported Ted to have produced few words. Due to this confusion the doctor recommended further testing by other specialists. Mrs. Miller failed to honor an appointment she reserved due to other family matters and when she contacted the center, and she explained that her husband had abandoned her. During an Arena assessment, Ted had wore his shoes on the wrong foot to correct a foot problem as Mrs. Miller had not bought the prescribed shoes for Ted `s condition. Ted maintained calm during the therapy session. At twenty-one months, Ted begins to vocalize but does not talk. He notices sounds by turning to the voice direction, but he does not comprehend. He sometimes responded to gestures but does not make eye contact as he rarely focuses on objects. The physical therapist concluded that Ted`s problem was on his feet as he could not maintain stability in walking, had difficulty dealing with a chair, could not step on something on the floor and could not shift his feet`s weight (Briggance, 2005) The team members working on Ted concluded that Ted was cooperative, friendly and moderately active. He adapted well to tasks and was tolerant of handling. Ted developed poor social interactions and was not distracted by auditory or visual stimuli. I would need to know more about Ted`s grandparents so as to get to the cause of Ted and his siblings' problems. In connection to that I would also like to assess more on Mr. and Mrs. Millers reaction and actions on Ted`s siblings which includes all undertakings they did to try and rectify their children`s default and make sense of the situation (Hemmeter, 2001). The data could be interpreted that Ted may have developed early problems that needed proper addressing. Ted`s condition should be addressed as well as the Millers family issues since being socially upright is a step ahead of getting solutions for their problems. In a class situation, I will consider Ted as a unique student with special needs and dwell on improving his speech and walking ability. I would do this by reading literature to him and guiding him in reading on his own. Individual constant therapy would address the matter of walking as a daily routine. Intervention and teaching plans would be to seek more help for Ted by approaching more experts and encouraging the mother to be strong and try to work on her family issues as well. I would also introduce more learning facilities and equipment tailored for special needy children like Ted. Conclusion This assignment proved to be simple but rather broad in a sense that it needed much attention into various children, families and way of life. All families are considered different in the way they relate and interact with each other. Different backgrounds and beliefs shape different families approach the daily life situations. Hence, all families are distinctly shaped in their understanding. This makes the research study broad. The lesson learned in the process of this studies is that effective teaching is the heart of childhood`s development. Children are competent learners and the teaching methods used should enable their independence and perseverance. The learning process should encourage children to investigate and solve problems. It should also allow for children to air their ideas and extend their thinking capacity. Teachers should be aware of each child`s individual need and dispositions so as to know how to engage them in constructive learning. This learning process generated the question of how well to raise and teach a child, and this means which strategy best to use in different children. A policy that will acknowledge what is said or done by the children, one that will enhance persistence and continuous effort compared to evaluating and praising a child`s effort. Furthermore, a concept that will model the attitudes and children behaviors towards adults and their peers. Moreover, that will be able to demonstrate the correct procedures for doing things including a better process that will create a challenge in the learning area and therefore expanding the children`s ability and performance. Finally one that will have means to help the children work on their current competence. References Atkin-Bunrnett, S. (2005). Developmental screening in early childhood. Washington,DC: Washington Press Service. Brigance, A. (2005). K& I Brigance Screen 2. Chicago: Curriculum Associates. Hemmeter, M. K. (2001). Assessment of Practices in Early Elementary Classrooms. New York: Teachers College Press. Shores, E. (2005). A step by step to teachers. Upper Saddle River: Merrill Prentice Hall. Read More