Saturday 8 June 2013

Behaviour Guidance

These are my strategies for managing normal behavour in kindergarten:

-          Take the focus off behaviour and spend time planning engaging experiences for the children. A lot of the behaviour should take care of itself. Follow their interests and create new, exciting interests that they don’t expect.

-          Put some of the toys away. Toys are more exciting if they are rotated so that they become new again.
 
-      Suggest to the children that they separate for a few minutes so that they can calm down and re-focus. They will be less tempted to react to each other’s behaviour.

-          Allow the children to help you with jobs and routines so that they feel grown-up and begin to see themselves as having an important role in the setting. Ask them to help other children.

-          Have zero tolerance for “silly” or disrespectful behaviour that goes too far. Turn your attention to the other children until they choose to self-monitor and stop the behaviour.

-          Spend as much time as possible outside so that they can burn off their excess energy and won’t be tempted to do this inside. Before going outside ask the children what they intend to do there. Help them prepare the materials they will need. This will decrease the likelihood that they will engage in unfocussed or rough play.

-          Make sure experiences are re-set and attractively presented. Insist that the children are involved in this so that they learn to respect the effort that you put in to provide these experiences.

-          Always give children at least one warning before moving onto the next routine during the day. They can then wrap up their play and won’t resent the sudden change. I usually give a 10 minute, 5 minute then 2 minute warning and make sure they have heard me and accepted what I've said.
 
-      Have realistic expectations. Don't expect children to participate in group time for longer than 30 minutes. Telling children off for failing to live up to unrealistic expectations is unfair.

-          Let some of the little things go. It will save frustration for you and the children.

-          Give lots of positive attention and reinforcement when the children are behaving and engaging well. Build trusting relationships and help them develop more empathy so that they begin to respond to you and their peers with more consideration and care.

-          Have a sense of humour. Children love to share a joke with us. If they feel comfortable and happy they are more likely to be calm and engaged.
 

Saturday 1 June 2013

Interpretations

It seems like the EYLF is hindering us in producing quality interpretations.

Before the framework came along we would write an observation of a child or group of children. We would peer into it, looking closely for evidence of learning and current developmental ability and then document it in our own words. Now what we're seeing is this:

Link to framework:

Outcome 1: Children have a strong sense of identity.

Outcome 5: Children are effective communicators.

Is this a quality interpretation? I understand that people are going all out to understand the framework and show that they're linking it to their program, but this is not telling us much about the child's learning. The framework provides us with a common language to articulate our professional practice. It reminds us of the importance of Belonging, Being and Becoming. It gives us principles and practices to use to underpin our practice and it provides lots of outcomes that give us a guide as to what to cover when providing educational programs for young children.

An interpretation should specifically relate to the observation. These are some of my examples:


The children are showing that they have a strong sense of wellbeing, that they’re connected to their world, and that they are confident and involved learners through this play. We are allowing them to experience ‘learning through play’ and to explore their ‘learning environments’ in their own ways. We are giving the chance to just ‘be’ in the outdoor space. The children are learning about the natural world and exploring science concepts through nature play. They are also exploring maths concepts such as weight and volume.
The children all produced books that included drawings and a variety of types of mark-making, including scribbles, dots and small circles. They are showing that they are emerging as writers and developing the awareness that letter symbols create text, which has meaning. They are showing the awareness that books contain both text and illustrations, both of which convey meaning to the reader.

It was wonderful to see the girls’ level of creativity and their ability to play cooperatively together for such a long time during their morning outside. Their imaginative games kept flowing and changing without the need for any props other than the play equipment in the yard. The girls are showing their strong sense of identity and abilities as effective communicators who are confident to express themselves and keen to help and include each other in their play. They are showing their prior knowledge and their ability to transfer knowledge from one context to another.
H is showing that he’s a confident and involved learner, taking the initiative to select paint colours and fill the palette himself. The children are showing their interest in painting and colour-mixing, and demonstrating their ability to work as a team while constructing their own learning. They’re communicating with each other throughout the experience, and with me, showing that they’re effective communicators with the skills to give directions and to describe processes.