What Are They Thinking

By: Abby Pate

What are they thinking is a clinical assignment to help student teachers in their IMB

semester to determine how much background knowledge their students have on the topic of their

lesson plan. The grade level I had the opportunity to work with was Kindergarten and I

interviewed four children, three boys, and one girl. Each student was at different levels of

understanding and development. The African American boy was considered below grade level,

the white girl was considered at grade level, one of the white boys was considered slightly above

grade level, and the other boy was considered far above grade level. The boys that are above

grade level already know the basis of information on the topic we were about to study which was

maps and that they are used to tell us information about the places around us, the boy far above

grade level could describe maps from different time periods. The girl knew that maps are used

today to get people places and that they are helpful. The boy that was below grade level

discussed treasure maps and how maps take you places.

After interviewing the students, I determined that many of the students would become

nervous or start to question their answer when I asked them to elaborate further on their

responses and explain why they believed what they did. The majority of the students would

hesitate before they provided their reasoning for their answer because they seemed nervous that

the answer they gave was incorrect. The girl at grade level would look at me while she was

explaining her answer as though she was checking to make sure what she was telling me was

correct and I would have to encourage her to continue. As their teacher, I would want to build the

students confidence in their answers. Before having a whole class discussion about a social
studies topic, I would remind the students to be confident in their answers and to not worry about

answering the question incorrectly. Establish the idea that we are here to learn and it is

acceptable to make a mistake because we learn from our mistakes. I would also make sure that

the classroom environment provides a level of support and encouragement for the students.

Another conclusion I gathered from my interviews was that the majority of students

associated maps with some form of technology. Every student interviewed referenced their

parent’s GPS that led them to some place such as the grocery store or their grandma’s house. The

boy that is below grade level also mentioned a pirate game that he plays on his iPad where he

uses a map to track down the treasure chest. I would have the students interact with a physical

map to realize that maps can be found outside of technology. I would bring in a globe for the

students to observe and a printed map that shows different streets or roads around the area they

live near. A fun activity to encourage the learning of maps would be for the students to create

their own maps without using any form of technology. It could be a map of anything, the

classroom, neighborhood, or the world, and the students could create their own physical copy of

a map. If you have the materials, the students could make their own mini globes that they would

be able to take home or reference as they learn more about maps.

Lastly, I was able to conclude that many of the students believed that maps only

referenced the present day. The students discussed how their parent’s GPS was a map and had

everything on it that was around them. It did not “forget” any buildings or restaurants that are

near their homes. The boy that is above grade level did mention that there were maps for

different time periods such as during the Jurassic time period since he loves dinosaur books. I

would show the students how maps have developed over the years from using the stars to maps
on paper to a GPS that way they could see the progression of maps and understand that it doesn’t

all show the present time. I would also compare two maps of the same area but from different

time periods so the students could see the change that has developed over time and see that a

map from today is not the same as a map from twenty years ago. An activity to go along with

this would be for the students to find a map of the school from when it first opened and compare

it to a present-day map of the school. The students could discuss the similarities and differences

they see between the two maps and then present their findings in a whole class discussion.

This assignment was very beneficial for me as a teacher to see what the students already

know about maps. It helps me to influence my lesson plan to better fit the needs of the students

and see what areas we need to address in the student's knowledge of the content. I was also able

to identify who would need additional help in learning this information and who may need a

more difficult task to really challenge them in their learning. Through this experience, I was able

to get to know each of my students a little better and was also able to find out more personal

information about them. The students would talk about their families when describing the map

taking them to places, and they would talk more about their interests that they were able to

associate with maps such as the boy far above grade level loved dinosaurs so he knew about

different time periods of maps. This is definitely something I will do in my future class to receive

a strong understanding of how much the students already know about a topic before it is taught.