Chapter nine: Teaching to Enhance Learning and Development

This chapter discusses that teaching is both a science and an art. But what does that
mean? Effective teaching is a science, informed, and guided by research. Teaching, however, is
also an art because it requires vision, creativity, and decision making. Yet, the most effective
teachers have an extensive repertoire of research-based teaching strategies, including
acknowledging and encouraging, giving quality feedback, modeling, demonstrating, giving cues
and hints, adding challenge, questioning, co-constructing learning, providing direct instruction,
and scaffolding. Children’s development and learning are complex processes. Therefore, the
more strategies educators know how to use, the more ways they will be able to meet the needs of
diverse learners. In my opinion, even though that future educators read about all the strategies
that exist, it never compares to the experience that we are going to acquire when we start
teaching.
I work in a childcare center, and the teaching strategy that I notice they use more is
scaffolding. In my opinion, this is the most effective teaching strategy because it supports
children’s ability to accomplish learning tasks that they could not otherwise perform
independently; using strategies such as cues, hints, assistance, questions, and so on to help
children work on the edge of their current level of competence. The way I see that this strategy
works in my workplace is that children feel important and valued because they are being looked
at as capable. Educators tend always to protect the children and do things for them; also, I notice
that some teachers ask a question to the child and do not give them time to think and what they
do is answered for them right away. A teacher must have in mind to never help a child with a
task

at which they feel they can succeed unless they ask for help. Children need to learn how to be
independent. However, according to this chapter, which is the best way that children learn? This
book explains that children learn best when teaching strategies build on their prior knowledge,
make learning meaningful, build conceptual understanding, and promote higher order thinking
and problem-solving.
On the other hand, an intellectually engaging learning environment provides various
contexts that offer different opportunities for learning and types of teacher-child interactions. For
example, whole-groups meetings, small groups, center choice time, and opportunities to play. I
think it is crucial to introduce group activities to young children. Having group learning centers
can create problem solver children. For the reason that they start getting to use to interact with
others, respect the ideas of others, learn how to give a clear message to someone else, and more.
There is a lot of benefits to working in a group. When I got to college, most of the classes, I have
taken required me to do group projects. When I hear group projects, it makes me feel stress
because it is so hard to get the group together, that each member of the group collaborates and to
avoid any drama. If we teach children, the skill of working in a group then for them it will be a
pleasure to work in a team and not as I feel about it.
Teachers use play as a teaching strategy by taking on various roles such as onlooker,
stage manager, co-player, and play leader, to help children get involved and stay engaged in a
play situation. So, for future educators, we have to make sure that the curriculum is play-based.
Children can get distracted so quickly, and if we want, the attention we always have to been
doing something that they feel like is a game/play. Nowadays, I see how one successful strategy
has been not considering, which is play. Play provides opportunities for children to expand their
knowledge, explore new things, and improve their creativity. One recommendation I can make is

that never withhold recess as punishment because it may be the only time during which a child
has the opportunity to experience free play.
Furthermore, this chapter talks about technology. Digital media can be useful in
supporting all children’s learning and development. Assistive technology can enable children
with and without disabilities to participate more fully and successfully in inclusive classrooms.
For me, it is a delicate topic to agree or disagree with. How this chapter presents digital media,
there is no way to show the opposite. Still, I always say that when it comes to teaching, it has to
be a balance because technology can never replace activities like playdough or handwriting that
help with the fine and motor skills. The teacher needs to use the resource of digital media as an
extra help not for it to do all the teaching. This profession may be one of the hardest things you
have ever done, but it should also be the most rewarding one.