Diversity
As we become aware of our surroundings we begin to realize the diversity in our classroom. How can we teach while at the same time appeal to all of our students? This is probably one of the hardest questions that a teacher needs to answer.
The more experience I had teaching, the more I realized that although it was difficult to find something that all the students would enjoy it was possible. I am a preschool teacher so for my students it became extremely important that whatever lesson I was teaching was done fast and easy due to their short attention span. I wanted all my students to leave my classroom knowing a little bit about each of the seven continents so what I did was create passport book.
The Passport Book to the World
I wanted my students to leave my classroom knowing a little bit about each of the seven continents. My students each created a passport book. The Passport Book consists of a picture of the continent which the children colored. A page of animals that are from that continent, the cultural attire, and the native foods from the continent. The children cut and pasted the pictures in to a blank page. The children will learn about all this things as well as the location of the continent in the world. Through out the course I taught the children about 4-6 different countries from each continent and a little bit about each country (language, currency, famous cites etc). The students also got to color the flag of those countries so they would be able to recognize the flags of different places around the world. I want to believe that my students know at least one fact about each continent around the world thanks to me.
Meeting their needs
Meeting the needs of your students comes with the understanding that every child learns differently and knowing that every child has different strengths and weaknesses. I like to use diverse ways of teaching in order to capture every students learning styles. For example, there are times where I do a play exercise. The students don't realize they are actually learning and practicing their phonetic sounds. There are other times where I use art to learn phonetic sounds or mathematics. Being a preschool teacher has also encouraged me to be more aware of social relationships inside the classroom. I have used collaborative activities in order for students to work together and learn how to work well with others. I am a firm believer that children learn from each other. I often give the responsibility of reading during circle time to those students who know how to read. I do this for various reasons. First of, I do this to teach independence to the students. Secondly, I do this to show respect for others. Finally, I do this to help create self esteem and confidence.