Hi Bahiyh,
One of the unfortunate things about some populations of children is that
they DO NOT have background knowledge for many things and if
they do not, there is nothing you can do about it. And I mean
specifically, like if they've never seen a farm, unless you take
them to a farm, they will not have that background knowledge. So, my
suggestion is, you do some kind of "Tell me everything you know
about..... for topics you want to focus on. If you want to teach
the kids specifically about "Background Knowledge" and you want
everyone to have the same schema for it, you can fabricate an
experience. For example: When I taught preschool (and preschool
is ALL about schema) we cut up a pumpkin, took the seeds out, cut it
up, put it on a baking sheet with some brown sugar over it, baked it
in an oven and then we ate it. After that, the students now had
background knowledge for pumpkins. We could then talk about it from
experience, all of us
and later when I asked them to tell me, "everything you know
about....." the ones who had the background knowledge knew exactly
what I wanted from them. We did a similar thing many times in my second
grade classroom. We made cooked playdough and then talked about
the changes that the flour went through, we planted flowers and then
wrote about the experience. I think it's helpful to do a little of
this to jump start the concept for the students. It may open up the
ones who do have background knowledge more when they are familiar with
your expectation. Other than that, all kids will not have some important
knowledge, some will have good knowledge and some will have knowledge
that will surprise you. But, at least you'll know they have the
concept that "we all have background knowledge, we don't all have the same,
but when we do have it, it can help us understand new concepts.
I hope I haven't rambled on too long and I hope that helps you.
Debbie
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
>
>
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