Classroom Applications
Galinsky shares many techniques from the research labs for tapping into children’s hidden potential, as well as making many suggestions to parents of things they can do at home to encourage children’s emerging skills. Discuss here what you are thinking about adding to the curriculum in your own program (or have done so already) to better support Galinsky’s seven essential skills
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In Galinsky's chapter on Self-Directed, Engaged Learning, she talked about how helping children to set and work towards goals is critical to becoming a self-directed and engaged learner. She also mentioned how the HighScope Perry Preschool Project helped to promote these skills in young learners. A few years back, my classroom was using the "Plan, Do, Review" approach used by HighScope. I found this approach enabled the children to set their own goals and see them through to completion, and gave them a chance to reflect on what they learned from their experience. Research shows that practicing these skills will help them to become more confident goal setters and decision makers later on in life. Although we use more of a Reggio approach now in the classroom, I still have the children tell me their plan of what they're going to do during their free play period. When transitioning them from a group lesson to free play, I ask each of them to tell me where they plan to go and what they plan to do when they leave the group area. I find that it makes them pause for a minute and really think about what they're going to do next and why. This is a practice I will always try to incorporate into my daily routine no matter what new philosophy/approach we are using in our center.
The ages in my daycare are 2.5 and under.I find them to be curious about everything .To encourage curiosity learning all I have to is change the scene a little bit and they are so observant! A new letter up on my cabinets, A color splash, an empty box with random scattered items on their lunch table. I wear something out of the ordinary ,ex. Headband that has animal ears , a cape, glasses, wig or simply a t shirt with a silly picture starts question and dress up time.We all love board games, when the game bag comes out , all the attention and focus is hard fast.Outdoors we have started a raised bed garden .They loved the team work it took to put it all together from building of the boxes, digging in the dirt, planting bulbs, etc. This spring they will plant vegetables, I can't wait to see their faces when they actually pick their own plantings
I enjoy Galinsky’s suggestions immensely! I have always used white boards and posters to debrief parents on what has happened in our classroom during the day. I include notations about academic topics (letters, numbers) MA standards for curriculum, what we read, what play focused on etc. I also use a printable calendar each month with activities in each day’s box that are extensions of what we are learning. They can be anything from singing the abc’s with different voices (highlighting music and listening skills), to things like taking a nature hike and trying to find three round things. Parent’s do read and do some of the activities. I try to use activities that highlight the skills we are learning. Galinsky’s ideas have given me a new dimension for these acitivities. I plan to utlize some of these suggestions as jumping off points for my monthly newsletter. I also want to highlight a skill each month and use a bulletin board in our foyer where we can educate parents about helping to develop executive functions. We can also use our Digital Photo frame in our foyer to present pictures of the children demonstrating some of these skills by adding captions to the pictures.
Amy-
You gave me a great idea! I do a newsletter for my preschool parents everymonth. In the newsletter I usually put an activity for parents to do with their chidren and some type of parent tip. like warn for transitions...Perhaps I will use Galinsky's book as my platform in the future and pull one of her 7 skills and activities from her book. So simple-and yet so worth it!
Over the past couple of weeks, I have been going over the math unit in the textbook with high school sophomores and juniors and watching them come up with lessons plans. When Nora pointed out the quote from Susan Levine about the preconceived notion about people that are good in math, I think of these future teachers. Many of them say that math is their least favorite subject and they are “not math people.” When it’s their turn to set up the area for a math activity, you can feel their energy drop. I think that the preschool children pick up on their lack of enthusiasm and avoid that area. Since math can be found in any area of the room, I’m also trying to encourage them to use words and ask open-ended questions that encourage children to think about math concepts all over the classroom. I don’t want the preschool children to pick up the “I’m not a math person attitude.”
In general, this book has made me aware of how hard it is for these high school students to think about open-ended conversations and to see the value of the problem solving steps outlined in the book. With such a large amount of helpers in the room, I feel like they don’t understand the value of these steps. Since reading this book, we have posted open- ended questions around the room as reminders. Problem solving is my next goal.
In our Center, I have noticed 4 different approaches to choosing activities. There are children that run around in what seems like a willy nilly way. They tend to bother other children in their play and move from one area to another very quickly without really playing with anything. There are some children that have a difficult time choosing an activity. They will wander around until you suggest a couple of activities for them and then they will set to work completing all of your suggestions. There are children that gravitate to the same area, the writing center for example, to cut paper into tiny pieces and use lots of glue. They are rarely seen anywhere else unless directed to by the teacher. There are a few children that can choose their activity, constructively play and move on to another activity when they are ready. This really makes me think. What can I do to help them to make a plan (their own plan) and follow through with that plan? This will be a topic at our next staff meeting.
One of the sections in this book that caught my attention was the topic of cognitive flexibility. When reading about this subject, I realized the importance of "changing up" the rules to the every day classroom activities. This in turn can help promote skills in focusing. Changing the rules requires that the child be more focused on what he/she is doing. And the research shows, when a child becomes more skilled at focusing, then his/her thinking and reasoning skills improve as well. I am now going to look differently at the games and manipulative we play with in the classroom and start changing the rules of what I want accomplished with the activity so that I can help improve the children's cognitive flexibility.
“Sara” is a very curious and persistent girl in our class. She started approaching teachers saying, “I’m bored.” New material didn’t always help. Taking a page or two out of this book, I started introducing more materials where she couldn’t go on autopilot. We introduced the mystery box, where she would be given clues and had to guess what was inside. Then she was able to put items in the mystery box and make up the clues. The children began thinking in ways that we hadn’t been promoting, and it made them interact with each other. With her newfound interest in clues, we’ve taking to placing an object somewhere in the room and giving her clues to finding it.
Sara is also very interested in writing letters and reading. Thinking of her interests, we folded paper and made blank books for the children to make up stories. During free play, I’ve found children who normally wouldn’t go to the writing area, using these materials to make books. On a few occasions, they held their own story time and read to each other. Sara is now emerging as a positive leader in the class. This has also been a great example for the student teacher to observe. After seeing how the excitement of one child can help the whole classroom, they consider individual interests when they make up their lesson plans.
Recently in our classroom, we were talking about ways to get from one place to another. We had a box for the children to create a vehicle out of. In past years, we would decide what the vehicle was going to be and then have the children decorate it. This time I decided to give the control over to the children but let them design it step by step. First I explained that I was going to take a vote on what they thought we could make the box into. The children came up with the suggestions of “a jet plane, a car, a motor boat, a coach and a train”. Next the vote was taken and the jet plane won the vote! There was an immediate buzz of excitement in the classroom to get busy with making our jet plane. Instead of two children coming to art, I had six! I asked the children what the first step would be to making our box into a jet plane. They told me they needed to change the color so I asked how – markers, glue and paper - and they said paint. Many colors were requested because many children wanted to participate in the art. The plane became multicolored and in the process, many of the children experimented with color mixing. I asked what we should do next, after our plane was painted, and they told me there were other things they needed to make for it. I asked them what steps they would need to take to make their vision come to life. The step-by-step planning by them helped to focus but also made them spring board off of one another’s ideas!
I have greatly enjoyed the book and I think I will be re-reading it and digesting it for a long time. To me, its value is the information it gives on how children learn. It helps me understand children better, how they think. It’s enough to be aware of children’s potential but I don’t necessarily feel the need to tap into it per se. I have faith in children’s abilities, potential and drive to learn if they are in a supportive and stimulating environment. Everything in life is about balance and while children need a certain amount of guidance and limits they also need a certain amount of freedom. I just don’t get the idea of 4 year olds coming up with a plan for play. Sometimes kids need to do the same thing day in and day out for a while. We had a child who spent practically the entire year at the play dough table. By the 2nd or 3rd month of year two his play is a lot more varied but I think he really needed to do playdough for that first year. Why? I have no idea! I think by and large, kids know what they need and we need to be careful observers to help them get what they need.
So, for now at least, my plan for using this book in the classroom is to try and do some teacher research, to improve my conversational skills so that I can better engage in “cognitively engaging talk.” I am also interested to try the Head to Toes task described on pg. 131, where you do a Simon Says like game but the children have to do the opposite of your direction.
Message for Holly:
Hi Holly,
Your post about "Sara" reminded me of a group of children that I have in my daycare who are very interested in writing. We did a Fairy Tale unit and the kids got to make their own Fairy Tales.
This project then progressed to them putting on a play (making scenery for the stage, costumes, etc.) Many kids got involved as I used the big roll paper and put it all over the walls so they could color it. They made cardboard props, etc. We introduced new vocabulary such as plot, villian, hero, etc.)
I also set up a message center to encourage writing. The kids have access to stationary (left overs that parents have, or cards & envelopes from Christmas Tree). The kids love the envelopes and putting a sticker on to close them. They go through lots of them but it has really enhanced their writing and communication skills. Each kids has a little slot so, that they can distribute their notes in the "mail boxes"
Message for Amy:
I love the idea of making posters and having the white board to update your families about the happenings of the kids. I created a Facebook business page, and create a daily post about what we did for the day. The parents then can leave comments or use the like button.
A couple of years ago, I used blog spot since you could add pictures with the posts but it wasn't as successful as Facebook since parents can get e.mail notification when their is a new post.
I love the idea of having the posters in the classroom because the kids can also see it and you can talk about it with them. The kids can also show their parents and tell them about their day. Using Facebook is great for parents but your way would help the parent and child make more of a connection. It is defintely something that I would like to include in our room. Thanks.
we have video-taped ourselves and the children with scripted memos, (short but sweet) with important info and played the messages on a t.v in out foyer. For example, "mom and dad, we love to play in the snow here at school! If you bring me extra clothes, I'll show you what I can do with the snow!" and then we add pictures of the kids in the snow and what we do out there. Or we may put a message about special days "the fun bus comes next tuesday! Don't forget!" Family fun night ( a time for food, fellowship and science fun during which we highlight Early Intervention, K sign up info, and science curriculum frameworks) is a big event we post as well. The tape/dvd runs continuously all day to get most parents during drop-off and pick-up. One suggestion, may be to create a paper memo for the kids to hold and parents can read. They love seeing themselves on TV and MAKE the parents watch the video. The key is to make them short enough to engage parents, and contain enough info to either get them to ask more questions, or know all they need to know.
Over the years of doing daycare I have sent home a newsletter of what the month ahead will be like. Letting people know of new children entering the daycare. Asking them to comment on what I am doing and what I can change. I have sent home a stuffed animal that had been used during an activity of the week, for them to play with it at home along with a booklet for parents to make comments about the interactions of the time spent. We have had pool parties and Christmas get togethers with parents and kids. All have made for a more family environment.
Galinsky talks about encouraging curiosity and children learning from direct experiences. Years ago I bought a new hot tub cover. I dragged the old one outside past the playground and out into the Nature Trail area of our school yard. We left it there in the grass and over time it became our "Bug Mat". Every year we discover new insects and animals. One year we had a mole living underneath. He ate all the insects so we would observe him and all the little tunnels he dug. Another year we had a small garter snake who lived under it. The teachers are as surprised as the children each time we visit it. We can find salamanders, worms, pill bugs, slugs, ants, and centipedes, to name a few. I like to work on desensitizing children who are afraid of insects. Sometimes I will bring a bug box, catch a specimen and bring it to the science center in the classroom. Collecting insects is a big part of our summer program.
Classroom Applications
First thought jumped into my mind after reading book Mind in the Making was that I do not have board games that are designed for players to advance by throwing dies in my classroom! As appeared, I have various Bingo games on alphabet, everyday objects, Go Fish, Memory games etc., but not what was suggested in the book…
I placed an order to get a couple of games for the class with my director hoping that meanwhile I will borrow and use games from the other classrooms, but it wasn’t as easy as it seemed. The games were for the children 5+ age and my 4+ youngsters couldn’t get it even with the maximum support.
So, I created the game by myself with the dies where next to dots I drew the number they represent (there is no such thing in games that we have) and an easy road to navigate through the game. The children are still in need of teacher playing with them and 3+ students are loosing interest very quickly but we are all off to a great start!
There are many things I would add to my curriculum as learned from Galinsky's book. One in particular is perspective taking. On pages 81 and 82 Galinsky talks about Gopnik's cracker and broccoli experiment. Using facial expression with toddlers Gopnik help them understand her perspective. This is something I could do during lunch or snack with my toddlers. I could also do this during a circle time and free play, with toys I like and dislike. I cannot wait to try this experiment!
Reading Hannah's post reminded me that I do something similar with children quite often. Whenever a child is not interested in the lunch that they have brought I kind of "tease" them by saying "oh, I love ____ could I have it?" or maybe, "What did your Mom pack for me today?" Or "You have two muffins, one for you and one for me!" They always know that I would not eat their lunch but it does give them the idea that it must be good because Miss Brenda would eat it. Almost always, that is enough to get them to try whatever it is they were apprehensive about.
I always knew that board games were an essential part of learning. In today's society they sadly are becoming obsolete as technology is taking over. I had forgotten all the skills one learns from playing a boardgame. Galinsky reminded me (p. 178) ...the number on the spinner stands for a rule...each square on the board stands for a number (1:1 correspondence)...Each number is connected to the next (sequencing) ...there is a linear relationship between numbers-each number in a sequence is one larger than a the previous number...While having fun-children are making connections and gaining content information about numbers. I was glad to be reminded about the importance of board games and how I must have the kids play more often!
I always knew that board games were an essential part of learning. In today's society they sadly are becoming obsolete as technology is taking over. I had forgotten all the skills one learns from playing a boardgame. Galinsky reminded me (p. 178) ...the number on the spinner stands for a rule...each square on the board stands for a number (1:1 correspondence)...Each number is connected to the next (sequencing) ...there is a linear relationship between numbers-each number in a sequence is one larger than a the previous number...While having fun-children are making connections and gaining content information about numbers. I was glad to be reminded about the importance of board games and how I must have the kids play more often!
I agree, Becky, about how much learning is embedded in board games. My co-worker often works side by side with a child or two working puzzles or playing a board game. That is because I am usually with or supervising everyone else. Occasionally things are quiet enough that I can play a board game with a few children. Today a stoma ch bug wiped out half our class and a few families had extended travel times past vacation. This meant we had only five students today! A great chance for me to be mindful and really set up some great observation opportunities. I watched three play sound bingo. They were two 5s and a young three. Fascinating to watch as the two classroom vets instructed the 3. They were a little bossy, but things leveled out as the 3 began getting the rules and stopped blurting out of turn. She praised them for being good teachers and this praise seemed to be the catalyst for them being kinder, gentler and more patient with her.
I also played a basic game somewhat like parcheesi with a child who is learning to count on. We had two dice and we had all the time in the world for her to practice keeping the count from one die to the next, especially when the numbers were greater than 3 on the first. She checked and rechecked so vigilantly. She was determined to solidify this skill. Quite amazing to watch her persistence. And, boy, was she wriggling and writhing in her seat. Tongue between her teeth, and all limbs moving. Can you imagine if it were a busy room and I was across the way, unengaged? I can easily see myself asking her to sit properly and focus, my assumption liikely to have been she was goofing around. I remember sitting with my second daughter as she was beginning to read, also being amazed how she was both incredibly focused on the print and simultaneous
Y writhing on the couch. I found it really hard to endure but knew it was what her body needed to do.
Another thought on the benefits of board games is that the rules make it very structured and it makes it a nice way to observe a group of kids and how their understanding of the games complexities are coming along.
I'm responding to Anne as she spoke of pg 131 and what captured her attention was the Head to Toes Task - and Literacy? It got my wheels turning too. Galinsky speaks of researcher Megan McClelland looking at children with poor skills in focused attention and self control. She gave more than 300 Preschool age children a five minute assessment. If the experimenter says to "Touch your toes", the children are to touch their heads; if told to touch their heads, the children are to touch their toes. Sounds perfect for my love to be silly class. We have had so much fun with this. We also adapted a version of Simon Says where I tell them to touch a body part, but try to trick them by touching another part myself. Ex if I say "Touch your tummy, I show them touching my knee. They were very confused at first and there was lots of giggling, but now they really concentrate to listen just to my words. I am not having luck tricking any of them. It has been fun for them and fascinating to me to have these results and improvement in focus and self control.This is one of my take aways these skills can be strenghthened!
The company "Ravensbach" (probably wrong spelling) puts out simple board games using dice and movement around a game board for children as young as 3. I have also adapted games such as Parchisi using 2 pieces per player instead of 4, and 1 dice instead of 2. I like the use of games to teach skills because they often require keeping 2 or 3 rules in your head at the same time, as well as helping with counting, one to one correspondance, patterning, etc., etc.!
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