Case Study: The Lion Of Judah Christian Academy
The purpose of this school study is to show the philosophical, historical, and sociological theory/perspective I observed in The Lion of Judah Christian Academy. I start my day by walking into a school full of school spirit and pride. The environment is rich and full of life; the students are encouraged to engage their abilities to the greatest extent possible, by taking risk and building knowledge and skill in a safe, flexible environment. The students engage in the school pledge in response to the Director of the school Ms. Weston in this manner …
Ms. Weston: “What school do you go to?
Students: “The Lion of Judah Christian Academy”.
Ms. Weston: “What are you destined to do”?
Student: “To make an impact wherever we go.”
Ms. Weston: “How …show more content…
do you make an impact?”
Students: “With God as our guide, knowledge as our stride and confidence as our pride, we are destined to be achievers, we said it, and we believe it and it is so!
The Lion of Judah Christian Academy is open from 7:30am – 6:00pm and it is located in the Bronx, NY. LOJCA was birth out of the educational experiences of its founder Monique Weston. She desires to establish a school in which quality education is the forefront of teaching and learning. LOJCA is a place where, educational experience is the driving force in which all students are motivated. LOJCA exists to bring out the achiever in every child with faith, tenacity and determination. I am observing a class of two and three year olds called the Discoverers, which contain fourteen students, one head teacher and two assistant teachers. The classroom is filled with life and energy, there is a burst of color on the door and inside the classroom almost every inch is covered and decorated with bright paper and boarder. Each student has a cubby labeled with their name. There is also a basket on the cubby filled with weekly homework packets. Across from the locker is a bookshelf that holds materials such as tissue, hand soap, hand sanitizer, construction paper, loose-leaf, pencils, etc. There is a computer table with a computer and printer labeled “computer” and two blue chairs.
The class is split into two sections, the two year old section and the three year old section. There are four different shape tables in the classroom with the students name labeled on the table where each individual student sits. The three years olds sit on the side of the classroom that has a rectangle table with four yellow chairs, a square table with two blue chairs and two red chairs, and a circle table with two smaller red chairs. The two year olds sit at a “U” shaped table with six smaller yellow chairs. The room functions with different centers; the space is used to its full capacity. Circle Time takes place on a rug and the wall is cover from top to bottom with information that students learn daily. Large uppercase letters of the alphabet boarder the wall, at the top on the wall the number 2010 stands out with bright colors, under the number 2011 is a sign that reads “Classroom Rules”. Near the bottom of the wall is the calendar where students can take turns putting up the date, the months, the days of the week and the season accordingly.
The library is decorated with bright signs that read “Reading Center”, “Books”, and “Writing Center”. The library has two short bookshelves where books are organized and colored coded. There is also a table in the library with paper, crayons, and other writing material. Next to the library is a small center labeled “Hygienic Care” with tissues and hand sanitizers where the students can blow their nose or clean their hands whenever needed.
In the Science Center there is a fish bowl with two fish; the students named one fish blue and the other fish black. Next to the fish bowl are plants that were planted in the beginning of the year and a flower pot the students named Miranda. The students are allowed to take turns caring for the fish and watering the plants with guidance daily.
The Math Center is bordered with numbers, shapes, and colors. The shelf contains manipulative, number puzzles, and different math games. There is also an easel with a number chart with number 0 to 100. In the math center the students can count, read book about numbers, and listen and sing songs about numbers.
The Play Center includes dolls, trucks, blocks, dress up clothes, toys, etc. Students can choose which center they want to explore during free time. The students are allotted free time for an hour in the mornings from 7:30am-8:30am and for an hour in the afternoon from 4:30pm-5:30pm.
The curriculum framework includes Bible –K, Circle Time, Story and Activity, Concepts of Print, Listening and Oral Expression, Mathematics, Science, Social Studies, Fine Arts and Physical Education.
Upon arrival to school students may choose to eat breakfast or students may choose which center they want to explore for an hour. After free time one of the teachers reads Bible stories and sings worship, praise, and inspirational songs with the students. The next step in this journey is Circle Time. Circle time consists of singing, recognizing, and identifying classroom rules, the calendar, days of the week, and the months of the year, weather, the seasons, shapes, colors, numbers, and alphabet. After Circle Time, it’s time for morning snack. During morning snack, the students may choose a snack provided by the school or a snack provided by their parents. Music plays softly in the background as the students are encouraged to communicate with friends. One of the assistant teachers, places the student’s on a line to go to the bathroom; this line is called the “Bathroom Bus”. Another assistant teacher sets tables with marker and worksheets. She also sets out three easels with paint and paintbrushes. The students in Group A trace, with a marker, lines that go across the page. The students in Group B paint lines across the page. As the students come in from their bathroom break, the teacher then invites them to join her on the rug. She uses this time to talk to the students …show more content…
about what lines are, and why it is important to learn to make lines, she show a flashcard of the letter E. She points out the lines that go across and the line that goes down in the letter E. Students use white boards and dry easer markers to practice tracing lines, The teachers assist the students with this task. The students then go to the tables or easels to make lines, after they are done they prepare for nap and lunch time, the students chant “it is lunchtime, it is lunchtime, let’s quiet down,” helpers are assigned to make this transition as smooth as possible. Following lunch the “Bathroom Bus” escorts the students to the bathroom. The students then get nap time for an hour and thirty minutes. The students wake up to their favorite song or story on the radio. Helpers go around the class waking up friends and picking up bedding and cots. After naps time the students have an afternoon snack. Sometimes during snack time, a specialist from the Board of Education comes in to work with several students privately and in the classroom. This specialist helps the students with learning disabilities. They work one to one on goals set in the students’ IEP. As well as social task such as eating snack, communicating, or following instructions while interacting with the other students or completing an assignment. After snack the teachers read stories and depending on the day, students may participate in fine arts or physical education. Free time is given to students that have not been picked up yet; finally the students clean up and wait for their parents to pick them up from school. The day is over but the learning has just begun for knowledge goes beyond the walls of school.
A differentiated lesson plan creates a more positive learning environment for students who have different interests, readiness, and learning styles. The teacher has different levels in her classroom, she uses differentiated instruction to reach and challenge the levels in her classroom. For example, the students are placed into two groups Group A and Group B; some students work better independently while other students benefit from the teachers guidance. She differentiates the pre-writing lesson. Most students’ in Group A respond well to verbal instructions, they complete task independently, and they retain information. They learn how to trace and draw lines on paper independently. While most of the students in Group B did not respond well to verbal instruction, they benefit from the teacher modeling the activity several times. The teachers aid the students step by step in order for them to successfully complete their task. Although this may take a little longer it is well worth it because the students fully understand that they were making lines to write the letter E. Historian Fredrick Frobel used child-centered, experience-based ideas to develop the world's first kindergarten. His methods allow children to grow and move on as they conquer new concepts. This method of learning is used in LOJCA. As stated in the textbook, Froebel’s philosophy was influenced by the teaching methods of Pestalozzi Johann Pestalozzi, a Swiss educator. He “believed in the stages of children’s growth and development and in the educational necessity of adapting instruction to various stages” (Webb, 107). Pestalozzi also supported individual differences and readiness to learn. Froebel balanced group activities with individual play, the studies of nature, mathematics, and art were balanced by exploring.
The purpose and expectation of LOJCA is to foster a child centered program that reaches the many different levels in the classroom. The goal of LOJCA is to equip students with biblical principles and to scaffold concepts in Literacy, Mathematics, Science, Social Studies, Fine Arts and Physical Education.
The teachers of LOJCA use Idealism to bring understanding to the curriculum framework which is undeveloped in the mind of the students.
LOJCA’s school pledge states with “God as a guide, knowledge as stride, and confidence as pride, the students are destine to achiever in society”. According to Leo Nora Cohen of OSU School of Education, Idealism is “to discover and develop each individual's abilities and full moral excellence in order to better serve society”. (Cohen) LOJCA also teaches and involves students in civic responsibility and duty that educates them with superior leadership skills, team building ethics and capabilities enabling them to make an impact wherever they go. In Idealism “the main emphasis is subject matter of mind: literature, history, philosophy, and religion. Teaching methods focused on handling ideas through lecture, discussion, and Socratic dialogue (a method of teaching that uses questioning to help students discover and clarify knowledge). Introspection, intuition, insight, and whole-part logic are used to bring to consciousness the forms or concepts which are latent in the mind”.
(Cohen) LOJCA is populated by twenty students and eight of them are bilingual. Assemblies are held once a week and are used to expose the students to the history of the many different cultures found in the school through songs, poems, skits, and dances. During Assemblies the students also learn about respect, responsibility, sharing, and manners etc. In March of 2011, LOJCA will be hosting a Multi-Cultural Show where the students can display what they learned about the different cultures in the school.
I enjoyed observing a school with a variety of passion and pride. LOJCA is a place where students can feel safe to partake in developmental, appropriate, and challenging activities that bring out the achiever in them.
Work Cited
Cohen, Leo Nora. "Section III-Philosophical Perspective in Education." OSU-School of Education (1999): n. pag. Web. 5 Dec 2010. <http://oregonstate.edu/instruct/ed416/PP2.html>
"Friedrich Froebel (1782–1852) - Biography, Froebel's Kindergarten Philosophy, The Kindergarten Curriculum, Diffusion of the Kindergarten." Web. <http://education.stateuniversity.com/pages/1999/Froebel-Friedrich-1782- 1852.html>
Webb, Dean L., Arlene Metha, and K. Forbis Jordan,“Foundations of American Education.”6th ed. New Jersey. Ohio. Merrill. 2010.
Ms. Weston: “What school do you go to?
Students: “The Lion of Judah Christian Academy”.
Ms. Weston: “What are you destined to do”?
Student: “To make an impact wherever we go.”
Ms. Weston: “How …show more content…
do you make an impact?”
Students: “With God as our guide, knowledge as our stride and confidence as our pride, we are destined to be achievers, we said it, and we believe it and it is so!
The Lion of Judah Christian Academy is open from 7:30am – 6:00pm and it is located in the Bronx, NY. LOJCA was birth out of the educational experiences of its founder Monique Weston. She desires to establish a school in which quality education is the forefront of teaching and learning. LOJCA is a place where, educational experience is the driving force in which all students are motivated. LOJCA exists to bring out the achiever in every child with faith, tenacity and determination. I am observing a class of two and three year olds called the Discoverers, which contain fourteen students, one head teacher and two assistant teachers. The classroom is filled with life and energy, there is a burst of color on the door and inside the classroom almost every inch is covered and decorated with bright paper and boarder. Each student has a cubby labeled with their name. There is also a basket on the cubby filled with weekly homework packets. Across from the locker is a bookshelf that holds materials such as tissue, hand soap, hand sanitizer, construction paper, loose-leaf, pencils, etc. There is a computer table with a computer and printer labeled “computer” and two blue chairs.
The class is split into two sections, the two year old section and the three year old section. There are four different shape tables in the classroom with the students name labeled on the table where each individual student sits. The three years olds sit on the side of the classroom that has a rectangle table with four yellow chairs, a square table with two blue chairs and two red chairs, and a circle table with two smaller red chairs. The two year olds sit at a “U” shaped table with six smaller yellow chairs. The room functions with different centers; the space is used to its full capacity. Circle Time takes place on a rug and the wall is cover from top to bottom with information that students learn daily. Large uppercase letters of the alphabet boarder the wall, at the top on the wall the number 2010 stands out with bright colors, under the number 2011 is a sign that reads “Classroom Rules”. Near the bottom of the wall is the calendar where students can take turns putting up the date, the months, the days of the week and the season accordingly.
The library is decorated with bright signs that read “Reading Center”, “Books”, and “Writing Center”. The library has two short bookshelves where books are organized and colored coded. There is also a table in the library with paper, crayons, and other writing material. Next to the library is a small center labeled “Hygienic Care” with tissues and hand sanitizers where the students can blow their nose or clean their hands whenever needed.
In the Science Center there is a fish bowl with two fish; the students named one fish blue and the other fish black. Next to the fish bowl are plants that were planted in the beginning of the year and a flower pot the students named Miranda. The students are allowed to take turns caring for the fish and watering the plants with guidance daily.
The Math Center is bordered with numbers, shapes, and colors. The shelf contains manipulative, number puzzles, and different math games. There is also an easel with a number chart with number 0 to 100. In the math center the students can count, read book about numbers, and listen and sing songs about numbers.
The Play Center includes dolls, trucks, blocks, dress up clothes, toys, etc. Students can choose which center they want to explore during free time. The students are allotted free time for an hour in the mornings from 7:30am-8:30am and for an hour in the afternoon from 4:30pm-5:30pm.
The curriculum framework includes Bible –K, Circle Time, Story and Activity, Concepts of Print, Listening and Oral Expression, Mathematics, Science, Social Studies, Fine Arts and Physical Education.
Upon arrival to school students may choose to eat breakfast or students may choose which center they want to explore for an hour. After free time one of the teachers reads Bible stories and sings worship, praise, and inspirational songs with the students. The next step in this journey is Circle Time. Circle time consists of singing, recognizing, and identifying classroom rules, the calendar, days of the week, and the months of the year, weather, the seasons, shapes, colors, numbers, and alphabet. After Circle Time, it’s time for morning snack. During morning snack, the students may choose a snack provided by the school or a snack provided by their parents. Music plays softly in the background as the students are encouraged to communicate with friends. One of the assistant teachers, places the student’s on a line to go to the bathroom; this line is called the “Bathroom Bus”. Another assistant teacher sets tables with marker and worksheets. She also sets out three easels with paint and paintbrushes. The students in Group A trace, with a marker, lines that go across the page. The students in Group B paint lines across the page. As the students come in from their bathroom break, the teacher then invites them to join her on the rug. She uses this time to talk to the students …show more content…
about what lines are, and why it is important to learn to make lines, she show a flashcard of the letter E. She points out the lines that go across and the line that goes down in the letter E. Students use white boards and dry easer markers to practice tracing lines, The teachers assist the students with this task. The students then go to the tables or easels to make lines, after they are done they prepare for nap and lunch time, the students chant “it is lunchtime, it is lunchtime, let’s quiet down,” helpers are assigned to make this transition as smooth as possible. Following lunch the “Bathroom Bus” escorts the students to the bathroom. The students then get nap time for an hour and thirty minutes. The students wake up to their favorite song or story on the radio. Helpers go around the class waking up friends and picking up bedding and cots. After naps time the students have an afternoon snack. Sometimes during snack time, a specialist from the Board of Education comes in to work with several students privately and in the classroom. This specialist helps the students with learning disabilities. They work one to one on goals set in the students’ IEP. As well as social task such as eating snack, communicating, or following instructions while interacting with the other students or completing an assignment. After snack the teachers read stories and depending on the day, students may participate in fine arts or physical education. Free time is given to students that have not been picked up yet; finally the students clean up and wait for their parents to pick them up from school. The day is over but the learning has just begun for knowledge goes beyond the walls of school.
A differentiated lesson plan creates a more positive learning environment for students who have different interests, readiness, and learning styles. The teacher has different levels in her classroom, she uses differentiated instruction to reach and challenge the levels in her classroom. For example, the students are placed into two groups Group A and Group B; some students work better independently while other students benefit from the teachers guidance. She differentiates the pre-writing lesson. Most students’ in Group A respond well to verbal instructions, they complete task independently, and they retain information. They learn how to trace and draw lines on paper independently. While most of the students in Group B did not respond well to verbal instruction, they benefit from the teacher modeling the activity several times. The teachers aid the students step by step in order for them to successfully complete their task. Although this may take a little longer it is well worth it because the students fully understand that they were making lines to write the letter E. Historian Fredrick Frobel used child-centered, experience-based ideas to develop the world's first kindergarten. His methods allow children to grow and move on as they conquer new concepts. This method of learning is used in LOJCA. As stated in the textbook, Froebel’s philosophy was influenced by the teaching methods of Pestalozzi Johann Pestalozzi, a Swiss educator. He “believed in the stages of children’s growth and development and in the educational necessity of adapting instruction to various stages” (Webb, 107). Pestalozzi also supported individual differences and readiness to learn. Froebel balanced group activities with individual play, the studies of nature, mathematics, and art were balanced by exploring.
The purpose and expectation of LOJCA is to foster a child centered program that reaches the many different levels in the classroom. The goal of LOJCA is to equip students with biblical principles and to scaffold concepts in Literacy, Mathematics, Science, Social Studies, Fine Arts and Physical Education.
The teachers of LOJCA use Idealism to bring understanding to the curriculum framework which is undeveloped in the mind of the students.
LOJCA’s school pledge states with “God as a guide, knowledge as stride, and confidence as pride, the students are destine to achiever in society”. According to Leo Nora Cohen of OSU School of Education, Idealism is “to discover and develop each individual's abilities and full moral excellence in order to better serve society”. (Cohen) LOJCA also teaches and involves students in civic responsibility and duty that educates them with superior leadership skills, team building ethics and capabilities enabling them to make an impact wherever they go. In Idealism “the main emphasis is subject matter of mind: literature, history, philosophy, and religion. Teaching methods focused on handling ideas through lecture, discussion, and Socratic dialogue (a method of teaching that uses questioning to help students discover and clarify knowledge). Introspection, intuition, insight, and whole-part logic are used to bring to consciousness the forms or concepts which are latent in the mind”.
(Cohen) LOJCA is populated by twenty students and eight of them are bilingual. Assemblies are held once a week and are used to expose the students to the history of the many different cultures found in the school through songs, poems, skits, and dances. During Assemblies the students also learn about respect, responsibility, sharing, and manners etc. In March of 2011, LOJCA will be hosting a Multi-Cultural Show where the students can display what they learned about the different cultures in the school.
I enjoyed observing a school with a variety of passion and pride. LOJCA is a place where students can feel safe to partake in developmental, appropriate, and challenging activities that bring out the achiever in them.
Work Cited
Cohen, Leo Nora. "Section III-Philosophical Perspective in Education." OSU-School of Education (1999): n. pag. Web. 5 Dec 2010. <http://oregonstate.edu/instruct/ed416/PP2.html>
"Friedrich Froebel (1782–1852) - Biography, Froebel's Kindergarten Philosophy, The Kindergarten Curriculum, Diffusion of the Kindergarten." Web. <http://education.stateuniversity.com/pages/1999/Froebel-Friedrich-1782- 1852.html>
Webb, Dean L., Arlene Metha, and K. Forbis Jordan,“Foundations of American Education.”6th ed. New Jersey. Ohio. Merrill. 2010.