I have said before that I love to learn. I love all subjects: English, Grammar (though Grammar aggravates me equally as much as it intrigues me), History, Science, Mathematics, Foreign Languages, etc... My ideal day would be to sit in a library with a pile of books in my possession and read until my heart was content.
However, I have more than just a passion for learning. I love to teach. I love the many different ways you can teach a child, creatively, not in a uniform way. My philosophy is, observe how the child behaves on their own, then use their habits as a learning style. I, for example, learn the best with flash cards and homemade quizzes. I learned history by reading historical fictions, and learned science by sheer will and experiments. But, that's me. I'm a tactical person.
In tenth grade, I job shadowed at the local elementary school for a third grade teacher. The only thing I had to complain about was the way they expected the children to learn. The teachers both praised me and reprimanded me for my creative tactics. The problem is, the school systems aren't paying attention to how the children act and behave. (Two totally different things in my opinion.)
My mom, knowing I'm going to school to study elementary education, gave me the task of tutoring my siblings for the summer. My brother was exempted from such (except experiments, which he requested I do), but the girls need the help. Rachel, 10, struggles the most, and I am taking a new approach to her learning styles. We can all agree straight up studying is horribly boring, and sometimes it just doesn't work. Truly, it depends on the students.
I decided to do a little of both hands on and uniform work for Emily, 11, and Rachel.
For Rachel, we chose a workbook that holds all of the subjects: mathematics, science, social studies, and language. I chose this one, because it seemed a little more engaging, rather than completely brain numbing boring. For Emily, we chose two smaller workbooks (Grammar and Mathematics), seeing as she is going into seventh grade. It's very clean cut, which is good to prepare her for higher grades.
To add to Rachel's workbooks, we added flashcards, and the "Times Table Ball" (which, surprisingly, all the three kids enjoy. They ask to play with it consistently.)
To go with the work book activities, we did a "I can feel my heartbeat" experiment. I thought it would be a little boring to the girls, but they enjoyed themselves. I mean, giggling, laughing, and I got an ear full of "Can we do it again, Abby?!". I can not begin to explain the level of joy I felt when they wanted to continue doing the activity. It wasn't just jumping jacks and pacing's, though, they had to multiply their pulse by ten to get their heart rate per minutes.
With that part, I expected to have to help with the one who struggles in multiplication, but she did the double digit multiplying without the help of me or a calculator. It verifies my idea that kids learn more in experience rather than books. Don't get me wrong, books are a necessity, but the idea is to enforce the rules and what they had learned.
Needless to say, it was a good first day of summer school.
***Note: This is a series post!!! There will be more to come!!!***
