'COURSE OUTLINE
Education 48-4 Organic Teaching in the Primary Classroom
Fall, 1979
Selma Waeaermann
Maureen Cwning
Sheila Luetzen
Description
This course examines the philosophy
of
Sylvia Aehton-Warner
and
its
applications to teaching
.
,
in the primary classroom Concepts
.underlying the.., "organic ciassroOm" and development of teaching skill in
the use
of
the key vocabulary approach to beginning reading instruction
will
be emphasizerf: Teachers will be asked to use their primary class-
rooms asiaboratorie8 in which they may work towards. the develoRne1t
of
skill in "organic teaching," in the presence
of
videotape feedback.
This course is offered primzri ly for in-service teachers.
Pre-service students may enrol
ti
th "special permission of., instructors.
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Three types
of
ethperiences are included in this course:
(a)
Outs - ,opportunities for students to èerence the
'breczthing out," activities,
of
the organic classroom, through personal
explorations', wyth a. i)ariety
l
of
media ?
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(b)
Intake - opportunities for students to receive instruction,
and participate.'. in practice- sessions in, the teaching methodology
of
•'th '-'brganic;àl.aroOm
- (c):'. Wo±kshops ?
oppótwities for students to share, examine,
and criticaily, analyze, through videotape feedback, their classroom
ápp4icgtioná'of. organic teaching
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Class Meet g T'zmea
Wednesdays 4:30 - 8 30 pm
Room to be announced
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Course Objectives
(1)
To increase understanding of the concepts and principles underlying
the Sylvia Ashton-Warner philosophy of "organic teaching"
(2)
To promote understanding of how organic classrooms work
(3)
To develop teaching skill in the following:
-- taking the key vocabulary
-- conducting teacher-pupil conferences
-- organising an organic classroom
-- analysis
of
teacher-student interaction strategies
(4)
To further acquaintance with the literature and research related
to organic teaching
(5)
To increase self-awareness with respeàt to personally held educational
beliefs and attitudes related to teaching practices
.
, child growth and
development .
, and curriculum
(6)
To promote increased understanding of the young child and his
growth neede: physical, emotional, social and intellectual -- and
their relationship to the form and structure of the primary classroom
Course Requirements
Students are required to attend and participate in all aspects
of the program.
Students are required to complete the assigned readings.
Students are required to make three videotapes of classroom
applications of organic teaching and share these in workshop groups.
Evaluation
The completion of all course requirements presented above form
the basis for evaluation. There are three components in the final evaluation:
(a)
Self evaluation. Students assess their fulfillment
of
course requirements in a self-evaluation instrument.
(b)
Faculty evaluation. Students discuss their self evaluations
with faculty
in
a final interview during which the faculty member also
assesses student performance.
(c)
Grading. Final grades are determined by faculty. They
are based upon two criteria:
(1)
the degree to which students have fulfilled course requirements
(2)
the quality of the student's work
Readings
Ashton-Warner, Sylvia. TEACHER. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1963.
Ashton-Warner, Sylvia. SPEARPOINT. New York: Knopf, 1973.
Ashton-Warner, Sylvia. SPINSTER. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1959.
Elkind, David. A SYMPATHETIC
UNDERSTANDING OF
THE CHILD FROM BIRTH TO
SIXTEEN. Boston: Allyn and Bacon, 1974.
Wassermann, Selma. "Organic Teaching in the Primary Classroom," PHI
DELTA KAPPAN, Volume 58, November, 1976, No. 3.
Wassermann, Set=. "Aspen Mornings with Sylvia Aahton-Warner,"
CHILDHOOD EDUCATION, Volume 48, April, 1972, No. 7.
Wassermann, Se lm, "The Story
of
the Vancouver Project,"
YOUNG
CHILDREN,
Volume 33, May, 1978, No. 4.
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WHAT K.V. WORD
TELLS
HOW
YOU FEEL TODA%
AAUGH!
C
V
4/ S
4IL(4. ____________ ?
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EDUCATION 486-4
?
ORGANIC TEACHING IN THE PRIMARY CLASSROOM?
MINI-HANDBOOK
Prepared by
Selma Wassermann
Faculty
of
Education ?
Simon Fraser University
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Introduction: "I love everyone, even God."
If you
have ever been intimately involved in the lives
of
young children, you will know that they are terribly, wonderfully,
marvelously, impossibly
special.
Healthy young children are
fully
in tune with themselves and with their worlds
.
; and they come to each
human encounter with a spontaneity and a genuineness that is not to
be found again in any later stage
of
development. In fives and
sixes
you will
find that remarkable interface
of
attributes
of
self-sufficiency,
serenity, seriousness, sociality, carefulness, with their extreme
opposites -- with frequent and repeated swings from one position to
the other! The young child has a logic all his own; when he tells
US
"Don't put out the light; I can't see how to sleep" -- he is
following
his own inner order
of
making sense out
of
the world. If we do not
understand him, it is because we haven't broken his code. He,
of
course, understands it completely.
"Where does the light go when it goes out?"
"Up the
wires."
The education
of
young children has a special importance.
We need to educate, to challenge, to inspire, to socialize -- with all
the sensitivities of angels -- so that we do not trample the imagination,
the spontaneity, the creativity and the self-sufficiency
in
the process.
For the child ia the father to the man. What we do, in these early
childhood years, will have profound effects upon the shaping
of
the
adult
person--- on who he is and on what he is to become.
The Organic Classroom is one approach to the education
of young children that is both sensitive to the intellectual and
academic development
of
young children, as well as mindful of
cultivating the rich inner world
of
the child. The Organic Classroom
seeks to promote literacy as well as the creative imagination -- placing
equal value on each. The Organic Classroom is the context in which the
young child may grow and learn, in ways which sensitively and
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thoughtfully attend to the child's inner life -- "supplying the
conditions in which both the teacher and child can be themselves." (Ashton-
Warner)
One important purpose
of
the program, Organic Teaching in
the Primary' Classroom, is to increase your knowledge base with respect
to the "what"
of
the organic classroom. To that end, experiences and
activities have been designed to further your understanding with
respect to the following questions:
-- What is an organic classroom?
-- What is the role of output in the organic classroom?
-- What is K. V.? Why is it the preferred mode of
beginning reading instruction?
-- Whqt is intake? How are skills taught? How does this
experience interface with K. V?
-- What are the four movements into reading?
-- What is the developmental nature of the 5-6-7 year old?
How does the opganic classroom meet these developmental
needs?
--
What kinds of teacher-student interactions will best
promote organic clasero'om learning outcomes?
A second important purpose of this program is to provide
experiences which will help you to develOp teaching skills required to
implement successful and effective organic classrooms. Instructional
strategies emphasized are:
-- Organizing output activities
-- Taking the K. V.
-- Organizing intake activities
-- Development
of
instruc tional materials
-- Working at the 2nd and 3rd movements
-- Diagnosing individual learning needs
-- Utilizing appropriate teacher-student interaction strategies
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Experiences and Activities
The instructional format of the program, Organic Teaching
in the Primary Classroom, includes the following experiences and activities
to help you
'
to increase your knowledge base, as well as improve your
classroom teaching skills. While there will be activities that are
teacher-directed, and occasionally didactic presentations of information,
the program chiefly eñzphasizes a "practice task" and "classroom trials"
mode
of
instruction. Based upon the theory that people learn those skills
best which they engage in for sustained and extensive practice sessions,
you will be required to "practice" instructional strategies in both the
university classroom as well as your own classroom, in the presence of
focused videotape feedback.
The experiences and activities included in the program are:
(1)
Readings -- so that you may study the literature and
current research in the areas of the growth and
development
of
young children and organic classroom
teaching
(2)
Workshops -- so that you may receive training in
specific curriculum and instructional skills
(3)
Seminars -- so that you may examine
issues
and
questions related to aspects of the course
(4)
Practice tasks -- so that you may increase your skill
in specific instructional strategies
(5)
Classroom trials -- so that you may have opportunity
to try out organic teaching in your own classroom
in the pr3sence
of
a support system of fellow
students and teaching staff
(6)
Group sharing and critical evaluation
of
classroom trials --
so that you may examine your classroom applications
of
knowledge and skill learned in the course on
videotape playback
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Specific Requirements
(1)
Complete all readings on reading list, plus
mimeographed materials distributed during the course.
(2)
Attend all classes.
(3)
Participate in outputs, workshops and
seminars.
(4)
Complete required practice tasks, demonstrating
increased levels of competence.
(5)
Conduct required number of videotaped classroom trials,
with self-analysis of work.
(6)
Share required videotapes of classroom trials in
seminar group.
(7)
Participate with supportive, but professional critical
feedback to other students who share tapes
of
classroom trials.
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Working Towards Increase Understanding and Teaching Competence
Area 1: Increase of Knowledge Base and Theoretical Understanding
(in the areas specified below)
1.1. 1
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Read TEACHER
1.1.2 ?
Read SPEARPOINT
1.1.3 ?
Read
SPINSTER
1. 1.4 ?
Read, "Organic Teaching in the Primary Classroom"
1.1.5 ?
Read, "Aspen Mornings with Sylvia
Ashton-Warner"
1. 1.6
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Read, "The Story
of
the Vancouver Project"
1. 1. 7
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View videotape A: The Vancouver Project
1. 1.8 ?
View
slides
of
an Organic Classroom
1.1.9 ?
Study the 486 classroom model
1.1
CkLJ cv)
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What is an organic classroom?
Experiences and Activities:
1.2
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What is the role of output in the organic classroom?
Exteriences and Activities:
RI
1.2.1 ?
Read
TEACHER
1.2.2 ?
Read SPEARPOINT
1.2. 3 ?
Read, "Organic Teaching in the Primary Cla
1.2.d
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Read, "The Story
of
the Vancouver Project"
1.2.5 ?
View Videotape A: The Vancouver Project
1.2. 6 ?
View slides
of
an Organic Classroom
1.2.7 ?
Attend an "output" workshop
1.3 ?
What is K. V.? Why is it a preferred mode of beginning reading
instruction?
Experiences and Activities:
a
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a
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1.3.1 ?
Read
TEACHER
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1.3.2 ?
Read SPEARPOINT
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1. 3.3 ?
Read, "The Story
of
the Vancouver Project!'
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1.3.4 ?
Attend the K.V. workshop
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1.4
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What is intake? How are the skills taught? How does
this experience interface with K. V.?
Experiences and Activities:
VW
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1.4.1 ?
Read TEACHER
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1.4.2
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View Videotape A: The Vancouver Project
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1.4.3
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Attend "intake" workshop
1.5
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What are the four movements? How do they work in moving
a child into reading?
Dt:ILH
Experiences and Activities:
?
1.5.1 ?
Read TEACHER
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1.5.2 ?
Attend "four movements" workshop
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1.5.3 ?
&camine teaching materials
What is the developmental nature of the 5-6-7 year old?
How does the organic classroom meet these developmental needs?
Exveriences and Activities:
1.6.1 ?
Read TEACHER
1.6.2 ?
Read.
SPEARPOINT
1.6.3 ?
Read A SYMPATHETIC UNDERSTANDING OF THE CHILD
or, Fraiberg,
THE MAGIC
YEARS
1.6.4
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Attend "kids" workshop
1.7 ?
What kinds
of
teacher-student interactions will best promote
the learning outcomes emphasized in the organic classroom?
Experiences and Aátivities:
C) ?
1. 7. 1
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Read Interactions mimeographed materials
1. 7.2
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Attend "interactions" workshop
1.6
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Area .2: Increase
of
Skill in Instructional Strategies
(in the areas specified below)
2.1' ?
Organizing output activities
ExpeCe9 and Activit
ies :
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2.1.1 ?
Complete tasks in the 1.1 and l.2. aeries,.
page 5.
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2.1.2
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Acquire sufficient output materials for .
your
classroom
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2. 1.3
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Initiate output activities in your c:laaerOOm
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2.1.4 ?
Dialogue with colleagues and staff about.
problems and successes
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2.1.5 ?
Make a videotape to share with class,
showing how output functions, in your.
classroom. (Videotape should show a"10
minute interval of output ses8iofl)
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Taking the K.V.
L48
Experiences and Activities:
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2.2.1
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Complete tasks in the
1.3
serie9y page 5
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2.2.2 ?
Do
at least
4
practice sessions with
fellow students, in taking the K. V.
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2. 2.3
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Begin work with
1 - 3
children in your
own classroom, taking K.V.
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2.2.4 ?
Dialogue with fellow students and staff
about your problems and successes
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2.2.5 ?
Make a videotape
of
a successful K.
V.
8588Wfl
with one child. (This session should be
no longer than 10 minutes)
2.3
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Organizing intake activities
Experiences and Activities:
2. 3. 1
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Complete tasks in the 1.4 series, page
5
2.3.2 ?
Develop a plan for organizing intake
activities in your classroom. Dialogue with
fellow students and s
ta
ff
about your plan. Get
critical feedback on it.
2. 3.3
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Re-think your plans, and make an
y
modifications
you
require.
2.3.4
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Initiate an intake session for your class. Dialog
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with fellow students and staff about it.
2. 3.S
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Make a videotape
of
a 10 minute interval of your
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p
sion to sharewith group.
QcD
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2.4
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2.5
Development
of
teaching materials
Exveriences and Activities:
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2.4.1 ?
Examine the LV., first and second
movement materials in the centre
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2.4.2 ?
Construct one book at each
of
these
movement stages
Working with children at the second and third movement stages
Experiences and Activities:
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2.5.1
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Complete tasks in the
1.5
series
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2.5.2
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Dialogue with fellow students and
staff
re
development of appropriate second and third
movement activities
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2.5.3 ?
Develop at least five second and third
movement activities, as examples
of
what
you
would do in class.
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2.5.4 ?
Try these out and discuss with fellow students
how they worked, and what modifications need
to be made
2.6
2.?
Diagnosing individual learning needs
Experiences and Activities:
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2.6.1
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Complete tasks in the 1.6 series, page 6
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2.6.2
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Do
a brief case study of a child
in
your
class with learning problems. Make
thoughtful diagnoses
of
his/her difficulties;
develop a working hypothesis; identify
appropriate interventions and curriculum plane
Using appropriate interactions
Experiences and Activities:
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2. 7. 1 ?
Complete tasks
in the
1.7
series,
page 6
2. 7. 2 ?
Do four practice sessions,
of
at least 10
minutes each, using reflective, non-judgmental,
and extending responses, using a tape recorder
for each session.
2. 7.3
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Play
back each tape, and analyze the nature
of your interactions in each practice session.
