Standard 2: Student as Learner
In what ways does the student teacher:
  • seek information about the learner’s background and culture?
  • seek information about the learner’s life experiences, achievements and interests?
  • seek information about and observe the learner’s strengths and weaknesses, developmental levels and learning styles?
  • seek information about and observe the learner’s patterns of language use?
  • seek information about and observe learner’s interests and talents?
  • seek information about and observe learner’s organizational skills?
  • use efficient and effective ways to document student characteristics and progress?
  • listen carefully and respectfully to students?
  • check in with students about inferences and assumptions s/he makes about them?
  • develop an understanding and awareness of students as individuals without overgeneralizing or stereotyping?
  • help individual learners develop conceptual understanding?
  • challenge individual learners to develop higher level cognitive skills?
In order to teach children effectively, it is critical to understand the ways they learn, the ways they think, and the ways they live—i.e., who they are as learners and as people. Through my daily interactions with my students, I constantly learned about them, both as learners and as people. This was largely due to my personal encounters with them, but I also learned a great deal about the kids through meetings with other faculty members. During a weekly visit with the head of the lower school, my mentor teacher, the other 4th grade teacher, and myself, would discuss in detail certain struggles and strengths of students, discussing whether a parent should be called about this, or whether she had gone in to be tested for that, or how it was so great that he won this. Within my first week at school, I had dedicated fifteen pages in the middle of my notebook to the fifteen kids in my class, one per kid, for me to keep notes and noticings about each one of them. (I wrote their names in Egyptian hieroglyphic so they would be hard pressed to figure out which notes applied to whom if they ever got ahold my notes.)
 
While I learned much about my students through my daily presence in the classroom and by sharing information with colleagues, another exemplary way in which I was able to collect concrete data about the students' learning styles was by having them complete regular writing prompts. I led a chicken wing dissection unit over the course of four class periods, and had each child begin the day's lesson by completing one or two sentences I had written on the board. The objective of the actual unit was to inform students' understanding of different types of bodily tissue by having them dissect a chicken wing and observe the tissues inside. A secondary objective was to observe the homologous relationship between a dissectable chicken wing and a non-dissectable human arm.
 
The prompts from day 1 were, "As I start the dissection, I feel…," "I think the best part will be…," and "I think the worst part will be…." Pretty basic beginnings, but the student responses gave me more than their feelings. Some revealed a sense of humor, some revealed a sensitivity to living things.
 
 
Examples 1–4 of Students' Science Writing Prompts
Science Prompts - 1Science Prompts - 2Science Prompts - 3Science Prompts - 4
Ex.1: This student organized (independently) all the writing prompts from the unit onto one page. The organization itself is indicative of someone with strong organization skills, and the content of her responses organized in this way clearly shows growth in her thinking. She feels "bad for the chicken," but also a curious about the movement of muscles. She demonstrates a fine scientific attitude, strong organizational skills, and evidence of new thinking.Ex.2: This entry is from the first lesson. The handwriting and pagination suggest developing motor skills. What the child has written is admirable in the sense that he conveys a curious and serious scientific attitude, but his hesititation to touch the chicken combined with his vague statement that the best part will be dissecting, belies a misconception of the actual processes involved in performing a dissection. He is concentrating though; he spelled variations of the word "dissect" correctly, suggesting that he was using the spelling I had written on the board, while misspelling "excited."Ex.3: This was written by the same student as the second example. His expectation that day 2 will be better for him "because [he] know[s] what [he's] dealing with," is revealing. His need to preview was something I had discussed with his full-time science teacher, and in anticipation of a potential struggle making connections, I gave him a thorough study packet to review with his tutor. During our Jeopardy-style review session, he was arguing correctly the function of a certain tissue, sharing a mnemonic he had devised to help him remember ("cartilage makes bones move smoothly, like you don't want to scrape your car on the curb"). But despite the extra materials and his apparent certainty one day, he was unable to recall the same information on the next day's quiz.Ex.4:This child has a different take on the situation. He shares the others' excitement, and misgivings about nausea, but he words his feelings in an energetically unique way. He chooses such words as "exploding" and "attack" to describe his expectations for the dissection unit. This response is very telling about this boy's personality and demeanor, but reveals little about his scientific attitude. And despite a couple spelling errors, this boy's colorful vocabulary betrays a strong talent for spelling.
Examples 5–8 of Students' Science Writing Prompts
Science Prompts - 5Science Prompts - 6Science Prompts - 7Science Prompts - 8
Ex.5: Similar to the child in example 4, this student expresses great excitement at tearing the wing apart! She especially looks forward to "touch[ing] gross stuff."
Ex.6: This is the same girl as example 5, but her spirits have dropped. It turns out I had put her in the only group of three, one of whose members is notoriously reluctant to work well in a group. In hindsight, I should have expected this and not had her in the group of three, but it was a good learning experience. I made a point of letting her play with our next dissection, the cow eyeball, for an extended time!
Ex.7: This student is apprehensive, and struggling to name a best part, but admittedly excited, revealing a good scientific attitude. Science can be gross!
Ex.8: I love this one. He transitions from excitement with no concerns to listing the educational value and simply stating that he is having a lot of fun!
 
Every minute of every day spent teaching students is a minute that can be spent collecting data of one type or another. Looking at student work and talking to colleauges were two extremely valuable tools upon which I relied to learn about and get to know my students. It is also a skill that I struggled with throughout my graduate studies and one with which I feel I made great progress.