Saturday, September 17, 2011

Print in the Classroom

This past week in class I felt that we were able to have great discussion on the use of print an on commonly recognized signs.  First I would like to point out that after having done theprint excercises in class I would have to strongly agree that children see "print" at any writing stage that they are in.  I think that even when it may look like scribbling to us, they have made sense of the idea of writing and know what they are wanting to convey.  I think it is very important at this critical stage to encourage them to keep practicing but to also praise them for the work that they have already accomplished.  I think that see the stages of print in their informal writing will be key in understanding where they are academically!

I also found the discussion on signing to be very informative and enjoyable! I think it is great that we are going to "test" our theories on signing and see what children in our field placement will recognize.  I think that this is also an important time to see that repetativeness is key in learning for children.  Many times these children recognize a sign because they have seen in multiple times. In order for us to be effective in the classroom we need to make sure that children have seen the material over and over so that they gain some sense of recognition! All in all I found this week's activties to be fun and informative!

4 comments:

  1. Hollie!
    Your entire blog pointed out many key points that I agree with. For instance, your discussion on the importance of repretiveness is not only something we talked about in class, but it is also something I will actively keep in mind while in the field. Sometimes I think it is easy to forget how good of a tool this can be for young learners. As the old saying goes: "Practice makes perfect!"

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  2. Repetitiveness sometimes has a negative connotation, but it doesn't have to be that way! Creative teachers using the same item or subject over and over can embed it into several activities to make it seem new and still get that critical exposure that is needed.

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  3. Very good post. Repetition equal recognition. It does take practice and multiple viewings to retain information not just for students but for adults as well. Using environmental print as a practice took is a good idea because they are all around.

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  4. As you pointed out that you now agree that children see print in every day living, I have also noticed that is something that I had not ever really thought about before we talked about it. Children have so much knowledge already that we as adults may not always notice, but their immense recognition of environmental print tells us that they know so much more.

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