Well it's finally the last day of term 2... it's been a long term. Today I wanted to reflect on the choices I've given my class in the last week. I like to round off each term with a finishing off period where we work on reflecting on the term and getting things finished that we might not have been able to during the previous weeks in the term. This means that the children get a choice as to what they are doing. We create a Big Scary List together that really isn't all that scary and they need to finish everything on it in order to participate in fun things on Friday or the last day of the term.
Now this works really well for most children in the class they enjoy being able to work at their own pace and to choose what to do next. One thing I have noticed this year especially with having year 4's is that there are more children who can't handle this opportunity, they choose basically not to do anything if left to their own devices. This means I end up having to walk them through one thing at a time in order for them to get the work done. I believe that it is important to develop children's independence and their ability to self manage. I've worked really hard with the children in my class to show them that they have control over their own behaviour and are responsible for their learning - I'm of course there to help them every step of the way. I was impressed today to watch the children that last term needed very small steps become able to just do it on their own this term. There are a few others that I still need to work with and there probably always will be, it's nice to see the progress happening though!
Now this works really well for most children in the class they enjoy being able to work at their own pace and to choose what to do next. One thing I have noticed this year especially with having year 4's is that there are more children who can't handle this opportunity, they choose basically not to do anything if left to their own devices. This means I end up having to walk them through one thing at a time in order for them to get the work done. I believe that it is important to develop children's independence and their ability to self manage. I've worked really hard with the children in my class to show them that they have control over their own behaviour and are responsible for their learning - I'm of course there to help them every step of the way. I was impressed today to watch the children that last term needed very small steps become able to just do it on their own this term. There are a few others that I still need to work with and there probably always will be, it's nice to see the progress happening though!
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