Essay Sample on Classroom Activities Before Christmas

Classroom Activities

Activities for today Monday are greeting, breakfast, morning circle, coloring, tracing letters, music, reading, bathroom, lunch, rest/nap/sleep, wash hands, snack, circle time, free play and goodbye.

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Observations

Today, during morning circle, the head teacher got to ask the students questions, and they asked the head teacher questions also. They talked about plans for the up-coming holidays Christmas and New Year. The head teacher read aloud Pete the Cat Saves Christmas, by Eric Litwin. She went over the moral of the book. The children enjoyed discussing it. During independent reading, the staff sat down with each child to read a short book to see how they read on their own. I went over with the class on the five senses which I plan to have a lesson on this coming Thursday. The children seemed highly inquisitive during the independent reading. They asked many questions different from what they do on usual occasions. Also, some children showed some difficulties that we don't usually see when teaching them altogether. A majority looked very happy when asking the teacher questions. At the end of the lesson, they sang one chorus as the teacher bade them goodbye.

Critical Analysis of the Observations

Monday's activities show how a typical day of a student in early stages appears. It should be a mix of many activities while avoiding using one learning strategy as well. As the students learned, there was a session of asking and answering questions, talking about the plans they have for the holiday, independent reading and discussion among others. When a teacher involves many activities during lesson presentation, the students remain active and don't get bored (Glanz, 2015). According to Tomei (2008) using different learning strategies also enhances concentration. More so, if some students do not grasp the content at some point, a change of teaching methods ensures that they will understand something at a different point.

Theories

Different psychological and educational approaches can fit to describe the activities that happened on Monday. Among many theories, the one that is highly observable is Gagne's theory of conditions of learning. As it applies in different occasions, the theory emphasizes the need to change strategies as situations change (Tomei, 2008). As the students talked about holidays, they learn to observe what others are doing and copy them. Therefore, they put Bandura's social learning theory into practice: it suggests that learning occurs through observation (Engler, 2009).

References

Engler, B. (2009). Personality theories: An introduction. Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin.

Glanz, J. (2015). Teaching 101: Classroom strategies for the beginning teacher. New York: Skyhorse Publishing.

Tomei, L. A. (2008). Encyclopedia of information technology curriculum integration. Hershey, Pa: IGI Global.