Learning Styles
According to Piaget, third graders are in the process of moving out of the pre-operational stage and into the concrete operational stage. In this stage, students reason logically about actual objects. They cannot handle abstract reasoning very well unless it relates to real experiences for them. Students organize their thoughts logically and often work quickly at the task in hand. I need to make sure that I have extension activities for those who work quickly, and give enough time for those who need it. They are highly motivated to learn and perform well, so as a teacher, I need to make sure that I engage each of my students before beginning a new lesson and throughout each lesson. Third graders are in the process of developing long attention spans so I know, for the most part, they will be able to work on a task for around 25 minutes. This may be difficult for students with a learning disability or for students who are not interested in the topic or motivated to learn. I need to make sure that I am transitioning between tasks (working independently, learning and conversing within small and large groups, hands-on activities, teaching a new concept, etc.) frequently (especially when I see kids off task). My students speaking and listening skills are expanding rapidly in third grade (becoming talkative) and they are interested in rules and rituals. I manage this by creating a classroom list of rules and going over classroom procedures on the first day of school and practice them many times throughout the year, especially during the first couple weeks.