My Beliefs About How Children Learn - Mrs. Haller's Second ...



My Beliefs about How Children Learn

Second graders are wonderfully curious and genuinely enjoy learning! I believe that school should be a place where those natural propensities are encouraged and developed. Curiosity, creativity, and pleasure in learning are nurtured right along with the acquisition of specific concepts and skills in the subject areas.

I have high expectations for my students. I want them all to learn as much as they can this year, and to be on their way toward becoming successful, life-long learners. I believe that all children can learn, want to learn, and can be successful in school. However, it is an indisputable fact that children learn at different rates and in different ways. From birth, each child’s development follows its own individual timetable, which cannot always be hurried along by adult input or pressure. Your child’s learning this year will be a part of their total development and growth through a series of definable, but not rigid, physical, cognitive, emotional, and social stages. Each child also has his/her own unique background, interests, experiences, and learning style. I want to respect the unique differences of the children, and I will strive to help each one learn the most that he/she possibly can by building on his/her strengths. Our goal is to challenge my students to do the very best that they can, without imposing inappropriate expectations, pressure, and competition. I want our children to be happy, competent, confident learners!

Most children learn best by doing. In fact research and experience indicates that active, hands-on, concrete experience is the most powerful form of learning for all of us. This knowledge about how people learn, and the fact that second graders are still so young, has important implications for my teaching. Children of this age still need plenty of time to move about, talk, climb, build, sing, perform, paint, plan, construct, design, draw, observe, and explore. In a classroom that allows for this kind of active learning, six-, seven-, eight-, and nine-year olds discover that reading, writing, mathematics, science, and social studies can serve many purposes. Their real-world investigations can lead to rigorous, original, intellectual work of the highest quality.

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