The most important thing that my kindergarten friends learn this year, I believe, is learning how we learn. They learn how to investigate, how to question and how to manipulate to find answers. The beginning of the the school year has been almost completely dedicated to routines and norms. We are teaching kids how to navigate in this new environment. Learning how to navigate, for me means that as a teacher I need to give as many details as possible when instructing my students. I can not just tell my students to cut out a picture, I need to tell them in exactly what way and how to cut the picture out. This can be challenging, but so rewarding as you see the children start to learn how to do things independently. We have been in school for sixteen days, it is amazing to see how they have gone from needing to be told how to open their folders and empty papers in the morning, to now watching them come in, take homework to the homework bucket and check in for the day.
As I enter into this coming week feeling hopeful about my edTPA taping, I wonder how graders will take into consideration that most of what we are currently teaching are the important routines that it takes for a five year old to navigate kindergarten. Our students are still learning to sit appropriately on the carper and to transition from one station to another. These things take time to learn, and I hope that our graders will be gracious in knowing that this is still extremely early in the year. I hope that they know that our students are learning so much everyday, and on top of these things those very important social behaviors that are necessary for kindergarten.
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