To be honest, I think it's a good idea that they have made standards for Kindergartners finally. They have standards for other grades and ages, and they tend to be helpful, make sense, and be fair (of what I've seen at least). I think there's two ways to look at it; as a restriction to teaching, and as a guide to teaching. Kindergarten seems to be an unsure time for many teachers, about WHAT to teach exactly. what's important? Morals and manners, or letters and science? Whenever I think about teaching kindergarten, I'm scared away by the thought, one reason being because of this exact issue; WHAT am I suppose to teach?
I think having a guide that includes both the curricular and personal/social requirements is a nice way to let teachers know exactly what concepts needs to be taught. However, I am big on creativity, and I wouldn't want this 'guide' to tell me HOW to teach, and it doesn't. It gives examples, and that's fine, but doesn't order me to use a certain lesson plan or strategy. So I feel it lets you just know what you need to teach, and you can still be creative about how you go about teaching your class.
Also, these guides aren't rules... There's no saying you can't add your own ideas if they're not listed, or modify something on it. I see this guideline for kindergartners' as a positive, necessary step in increasing our teaching quality and methods for young learners.
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3 comments:
I agree with you that having guidelines is actually a good idea. I, like you, have often wondered “what am I supposed to teach?” This idea provides a good guideline of what should be taught before they leave kindergarten. I liked how you mentioned that the guide does not tell you HOW it needs to be taught. I think that this allows teachers to continue to have flexibility in their classrooms and still allows them to be in control of how things are being presented to their students. The guide also does not say what cannot be taught, so if a teacher wishes to teach something that isn’t listed, then they can!
You addressed my biggest issue with this whole issue, and that would be that it is just a guide. I like that you mentioned the standards are not rules, because my big concern was that students would get left behind because of the different paces in which students learn. I definitely feel that standards are great for the kindergarten level, because you are right, this has been a fuzzy subject for many teachers. As long as I am able to modify my lessons and I'm not being restricted, I feel that standards are great. I like your ideas. Good job!
When I graduate I want to teach kindergarten, and I agree with your point of what am i supposed to teach? I've also wondered that before because I wouldn't want to miss anything or teach the wrong things. I think standards are a great guide and they provide them for the other grades so why not kindergarten?
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