Harrell Section III, Chapter 14

Chapter 14

Teaching Strategy...Manipulative Strategies: Using Objects to Connect Concepts. Manipulatives are concrete devices that students can move and manipulate to support their thinking and learning. (Harrell 84) They can be very beneficial in supporting language understanding in many subject areas.

Manipulatives can be representations of concepts being taught, such as models, or nonrepresentative manipulatives. Academic vocabulary is often supported by the use of concrete representation manipulatives, while non-representative manipulatives are used to manipulate abstract concepts such as number.

There are five basic step to follow in the use of manipulatives: identify concepts to be taught and ways to represent them, demonstrate and explain, provide guided practice, give students time for additional practice, and celebrate and review.

It is important to identify the concept that is being taught and the parts of the concept that can be represented by a manipulative. Devising a teaching plan that allocates the teacher to demonstrate the concept using the manipulative as an example is essential.

As you explain the concept to the students, demonstrate the use of the manipulatives simulataneously. The demonstration should connect the manipulative, the concept and any new vocabulary being introduced. The teacher should always model the way the students are expected to use the manipulatives.

The teacher should always provide guided practice in the use of manipulatives; walking the students through the procedure to be used and demonstrating how to use the manipulatives. The manipulatives should always be connected to the vocabulary to be learned.

Provide time for the students to use the manipulatives independently for additional practice. As the students practice with the manipulatives, the teacher should circulate around the classroom providing feedback and scaffolding language use.

Celebrate and review the students demonstration of new learning. Take the opportunity to connect the manipulatives to the vocabular and the concepts being learned one last time.

I would use this strategy in a 1st grade classroom setting. I think that one of my favorite stories to read is; There was an Old lady who swallowed a fly, by Simms Taback. This is a great book to read to the class with the use of a manipualative activity. I would have a large cardboard lady with her mouth cut out,(you attach a plastic bag on the back to catch the things she swallows in the story) and cut outs of each of the characters that she swallows in the story(small enough to fit into her mouth). Before you read the story, hand the cut outs to the students in the class (you may have more than one of each to accomodate the number of students in the classroom). Explain or review each animal and model what they will be doing as you are reading the story. As you read the story the student holding the animal that the old lady swallows, will take the "manipulative" and drop into the old lady's mouth. After completing the story, review all of the animals that the old lady swallowed and have the students retell the story in small groups using the manipulatives.

This strategy has many different strengths that are useful for language learners. The use of manipulatives helps them relate spoken and written to concrete objects. This helps them understand language and promotes language developement.

The only potential obstacle that might be found using this strategy is that the students may become too dependent on the manipulatives and rely on them instead of learning to use abstract thinking skills.

I think that the use of manipulatives is a great tool in the classroom. Children are active learners and manipulatives provide the opportunity for hands on learning.