Field Journal Question #1

When teaching a mixed 7^th and 8^th grade English class it is a really difficult balance to accommodate the students who are still in the Concrete Operational Stage as well as the kids who have moved on to the Formal Operation Stage. English requires a lot of abstract thinking, and that can be hard for many in the class. One trick I have when teaching an abstract idea is to tie it to actual events, people, or familiar contexts. If I’m talking about theme, I start with a really familiar story like Goldilocks and the Three Bears and look at the possible themes found in that text. The material is familiar and the kids have all heard it a million times, and the themes behind it are fairly obvious. The thing I have to remember is that I can’t assume that the students now have all the information they need to find the possible themes in the novel they are reading. The majority of the kids still need guidance exploring ideas. Students that are completely in the Concrete Operational Stage may need a list of possible themes and then a discussion to find the ones that fit the text. This makes it a classifying exercise, which is comfortable for the kids in the Concrete Operational Stage. The students who are in the Formal Operations Stage are able to hypothesize, as well as use analogical reasoning to take the familiar story of Goldilocks, examine the same process they used to find theme, and analyze the more complex plot structure of the novel they are reading.

Another example of teaching with a sensitivity towards Piaget’s stages would be teaching the idea of concrete versus abstract nouns. This is very difficult for kids still in the Concrete Operational Stage, so I have them take out a piece of paper and tell them that they can draw concrete nouns, but they can’t draw abstract ones. We then draw ball, tree, and book and see how the pictures are very similar. Then we draw love, hate, and fear and see how everyone’s pictures are very different and are all just symbols that represent the idea. No one can draw one this that is love. This seems to help the students at every level understand the base concept, no matter what stage they are in.