Earlier this week, I shared about the quiet book I made with some friends. (Er, the fourteen quiet books we made together.) It was a fun and very satisfying project! If you have a baby or young child to care for, consider organizing some other crafty mama friends to make your own! It will be a treasured item for the years to come, and a must-bring item when you head for a plane ride, car ride, church service, or visit to grandma’s!
Parents, have you ever heard of a Quiet Book? Also known as a Busy Book? It is a cloth book filled with fun activities that your child can play with… quietly!
My baby girl LOVES her quiet book!
BRILLIANT isn’t it? From making different Mr. Potato Head combinations to counting cupcake sprinkles to buttoning buttons to building sandcastles, quiet books help children hone their fine motor skills, review educational concepts, and encourages creative thinking all while keeping your child busy and quiet.
Um. Yes, please. (Go HERE to make your own!)
My baby girl just turned one! I still can’t believe the first year has passed! I was inspired to make the outfit above when I saw this cute outfit on Etsy. For the party, I didn’t have a clear theme, but just picked out things I liked as I perused Pinterest
I visited a friend with a newborn recently and we talked birth and newbornness. She reminded me of a ton of stuff I had already forgotten about that I really wished I knew back when our baby girl had just arrived, so I’ll share them with you upcoming and expecting mamas! They are just a few wish I knew that and FYI tidbits for ya!
Veteran parents, please add any other things new parents should know in the comments below– I’m sure all of your wisdom and experience will be appreciated!
Today I’m going to share one of those simple but foundational teaching ideas. It’s called The Zone of Proximal Development. It is Vygotsky’s concept that basically says that there are things a learner can do on his own, things he can learn to do with help, and things he cannot do yet!
I still remember that weekend. A bunch of college students were spending the weekend at our home and needed the downstairs space, so Ben and I were holed up in our office. I can’t remember the exact circumstances anymore, but here’s what I do remember: I had done something wrong, and I was mad about it.
Yep, you read that right. I was upset. Not the “Oh shucks, I made a mistake!” kind of mad at yourself, but the defensive kind of mad where you sit there fuming, trying to convince yourself of all the reasons why the other person was somehow more wrong than you. I’m not proud of it– that’s just my natural tendency. I promise I’ve come a long way since.
But eight years ago, that’s how I dealt with the people closest to me, like Husband. I found ways to blame and point fingers and be upset with the person who, in reality, I had probably wronged.
So there I was, sitting and stewing in my misplaced resentment. There he was, at his computer, click click clicking away on his computer game. And right there and then, I decided it was because of the computer games.
I can’t wait to teach my children stuff. Anything. Even teaching my baby to stick out her tongue has been super exciting the last couple of weeks, so you can imagine how much more I look forward to teaching her about reading and writing and math and art and science and Jesus and music and sports and baking and being kind and EVERYTHING! I can’t wait!!!
I know I’m not the only one. Most of you are parents or teachers, and you know there’s nothing that satisfies like seeing a child learn something you taught. They may be proud of their new skill, but you are equally pleased that you were able to teach them effectively! Today, I want to share one of the most effective methods of teaching/learning I know: The Apprenticeship Model of Learning. I think the term hearkens back to the days when a blacksmith would take on an apprentice and train him up through a process of showing, guiding, and eventually working on his own.
There are a lot of ways to teach, and the method you employ at any given time depends both on who you’re teaching and what you’re teaching. Sometimes it is appropriate to let students fumble through something and learn on their own. Sometimes it’s better to let them observe their peers and gradually catch on. Other times, though, it’s best to teach with direct instruction, offering a straightforward and clear model of how it should be done, then coaching them to independence.
The five steps
I find that when I’m teaching a new skill or strategy, I often use the last approach.
One of the best ways to learn from someone else is to get inside their head. One of my favorite blogs is www.younghouselove.com, a blog by a couple that does a lot of DIY with their house and shares about their lives while they’re at it.
There are many reasons I like the blog, but a big one is that I actually learn stuff and gain confidence from them. For example, there was this one post where they shared the new gallery wall above their master bed. First of all, I could never do that, because we live in the land of earthquakes and that’s just asking for trouble. But I read it anyway, because I wanted to learn something from them.
Now, home stuff and DIY and artsy craftsy is not my forte… but that’s why I like this blog. Since I don’t know much about it, and I don’t know what factors to consider when I’m looking at our house, I love getting in their head and seeing what they thought of when they worked on theirs.
Reading is always a hot topic during parent-teacher conferences, and for good reason. In elementary school, students learn to read, so that for the rest of their lives, they can read to learn. If a student falls back here, almost every other subject will lag behind as they approach the upper grades. They will struggle with writing, labor over word problems in math, loathe their Science and Social Studies textbooks, and likely experience lower academic self-confidence.
One of my goals as a teacher is to help kids fall in love with reading… or at least not hate it. Every year, I have a couple of parents who insist that their child hates reading. I can see the defeat in their eyes, even as the school year is just beginning. It doesn’t have to be that way! I will share some basic beliefs I have about teaching reading as well as ways to help make reading time more enjoyable and productive time for your child.
If you dig through your child’s backpack anytime in the next couple weeks, chances are you will unearth a request for a parent teacher conference! Sometimes I wonder how parents feel about these conferences. Do they look forward to meeting the teacher? Do they get nervous? Do they think it’s a waste of time?
Aside from the exhaustion of teaching all morning and then conferencing in the afternoons, I really looked forward to meeting my students’ parents and guardians. I loved learning more about my students by meeting the people who raised them, and it helped me remember that each of my students are somebody’s baby.
In a few years, it will be my turn to attend the parent teacher conference for my own baby. It will be so strange to be on the other side, but there are a few things I hope to keep in mind when that time comes. Here are some tips I have for parents (including myself) when conference time approaches.
Meet JoEllen
Subscribe via Email
Top Posts & Pages
Categories
