Bahiyh, that is a wonderful question you asked and an important one to ask whenever you teach a lesson. We assume that kids have certain core knowledge and sometimes we are wrong. My first year of teaching, I was introducing a unit on fairy tales. I told the Cinderella story to students as a foundation because we were going to be comparing Cinderella stories from around the world. I was surprised when two students came up to me afterwards and, in all seriousness, told me I was a great storyteller and asked me how I was able to come up with such a great story. They had never heard the story and thought I created it myself. Even students who are not new to this country, or low income, have gaps in their knowledge. There are a lot of kids who have little interaction with their parents and who are watching TV or playing video games. I had one student last year from a upper middle class two-parent family whose parents told me that they didn't have time to spend with their child because they were too busy She had many gaps in her background knowledge, but she was ALWAYS dressed stylishly and her hair was perfect. She was one of my highest need kids in all academic areas. Her mother's response when I talked to her was, "But, isn't she cute! She was just made for having her picture taken, wasn't she?"
When I am introducing something, I always start with the question, "What do you know?" Usually, I have then tell a partner first, and then I list their ideas on chart paper. I ask the students to code the responses, New idea , I know something about it, I know a lot about it. It really helps me in planning. Another important thing is to set a purpose for learning. What are you going to teach and why? ----- Original Message ----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Thursday, July 26, 2007 9:49 AM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: [MOSAIC] Question from student teacher Two of my students that are on the digest are having a hard time posting. Since the list seems a little slower today, I was wondering if you could respond to one of their questions. Nancy Hi, my name is Bahiyh Shariff. I am a student at Wayne State University My major is in Language Arts, and Elementary education. I am currently taking a class with Mrs. Creech who is an active member on this litserv. My question is, how can you tap in prior knowledge to students that have not had much experience in their life, especially those that are new to the country or are low income? What are some of the things you have done in your classroom? Bahiyh ************************************** Get a sneak peek of the all-new AOL at http://discover.aol.com/memed/aolcom30tour _______________________________________________ Mosaic mailing list [email protected] To unsubscribe or modify your membership please go to http://literacyworkshop.org/mailman/options/mosaic_literacyworkshop.org. Search the MOSAIC archives at http://snipurl.com/MosaicArchive. _______________________________________________ Mosaic mailing list [email protected] To unsubscribe or modify your membership please go to http://literacyworkshop.org/mailman/options/mosaic_literacyworkshop.org. Search the MOSAIC archives at http://snipurl.com/MosaicArchive.
