Module 2

In chapter 4, one of the most influential sections for me was labels and the possible biases that can occur as a result of the label. My husband has ADD and spent most of his life having an IEP and received special help with testing and so forth. We recently have started to think out 7-year-old daughter might have ADHD. One thing my husband has stated the hardest thing for him was looking like a normal person but having to receive special attention because his brain wasn’t working as it should. We feared informing our daughter’s first grade teacher of our suspicions because we didn’t want to give her any preconceived biased that a child with ADHD can trigger. I like how the book mentioned that students guided into these disabled courses in high school can affect them more by just the name more than their actual abilities. Its very important to be conscious of this. The book also explains that labels can then become an explanation for poor behavior. Some labels are important to have because they can protect the child which is the best case scenario. It is important to make sure it stays that way and doesn’t become something negative. 

In chapter 5, I really enjoyed seeing the chart that broke down the learning of language. Sometimes I am just amazed at how the body works. We spend so much time trying to teach our kids how to read and do math and yet language children learn by just hearing us speak. It is incredible. Its also interesting how the phases go. Initially between 2 and 3 they begin to learn about body parts and refer to themselves as me instead of using their name. Then between 3 and 4 they can begin to tell stories, and between 5 and 6, their sentence length begins to grow. As an adult it feels like we have been talking this way our whole life, and we’ve just added bigger words. Its also interesting the things you can do to help stimulate the child’s growth. For example, in the beginning it is helpful to repeat new words over and over again. 

In chapter 6, I found the gender in teaching and learning section to be the most interesting. We live in a time were people can be much more open about their sexual preference and identity. This means that some of these open feelings can come out while in school and the teacher has to be acquainted with these ideas to help the students. The book discusses stages a child might go through in accepting their sexual identity. The first is feeling different, which can begin around age 6 and can include the child enjoy activities that are typically for the opposite sex. This might make the child worried that someone will find out about this. Next is feeling confused which comes around in adolescence. When attractions occurs for a friend who is of the same sex, the child can become confused, lonely, or unsure of what to do in general. Finally, they come to acceptance and this typically happens as young adults. This is when they normally begin to identify as being gay, lesbian, bisexual, etc. and they decide if they want to share this with other people.

In chapter 8, they discuss teaching for long lasting and deep retention. One skill the book discusses is having a child elaborate on ideas that the teacher wants them to learn. When a child elaborates on an idea, they begin to make that idea their own. This aids the child in creating a deeper understand of the subject at hand, which will allow them to remember it better. Some ways we can do this is by asking the child to create examples, draw a diagram of the situation, or act out the relations. These activities all lead to better retention. The second step in this process is organization. This may seem like an obvious statement, but the better organized the material, the easier it is for a child to remember it. One way you can do that is by chunking, which means taking smaller pieces of information and placing them into bigger and more meaningful chunks. These steps will aid children in developing better retention.