Just under two years ago I told a four year old girl in my kinder room that I was going back to the staffroom to do some paperwork. She started chanting,
"Bye beautiful singing Penny,
Ponytail wearing Penny,
Always smiling Penny,"
It was the 'always smiling' bit that stuck in my mind. While for months I had been staring down at my heart broken in pieces on the floor, these beautiful children had been looking up and seeing me smiling down at them. That's something that I have to be proud of now. When I'm on the job the children and their needs are all that matters. I've learned to be in the moment with them and that's why they love me so much.
Everyone wants to be seen. Everyone wants to feel that they matter. Nobody wants to feel that when they talk to you your attention is elsewhere. I strongly believe that this is the foundation for managing almost any situation while working with children or people of any age. Children will let you know when they're not happy. I had one of my toddlers from last year bite one of my new babies because she felt that she'd been replaced. A toddler scratched my face a couple of days ago because I was talking to another adult rather than paying him attention. Older children will react by being clingy or behaving in oppositional ways.
It's not always easy to have time to spend with every child in a large group or to give them your full attention while you're supervising chaos, but it's something to aim for. It's certainly something I'm going to be more aware of in the future. If you gain children's trust they will respond positively to you. If they respond positively to you their parents will trust you. If the parents trust you your employers are more likely to trust you. If you can get to know and appreciate the special qualities of all the children in your care you are well on your way to helping them to reach their potential. You will also feel happy knowing that what you're doing is making a valuable contribution to children's lives and happiness.
Thursday 28 February 2013
Saturday 23 February 2013
Burn the Framework?
Yesterday Uni of Melbourne had a high profile Early Childhood academic, Bridie Raban flown in especially for our lecture on Literacy in Early Childhood. She was very reluctant to read the definition of literacy in the national framework as she said it was completely wrong. She even suggested that she'd love to burn the framework.
I saw a fellow early childhood teacher in the lift afterwards and said, "well, what did you think about what she said about burning the framework?" She said that that was our bible. I laughed and said that people at work always ask me, "Can I borrow your bible?" We're taught to base all our practices on the two frameworks.
What we need to remember is that we don't need to take everything in the frameworks as gospel. The concepts and terminology in the frameworks have partially been chosen with political and economic motivations in mind. They were not solely written by academics and professionals in the field. Read widely, test your ideas and theories and look at what other countries are doing and why. Our education system is not the top in the world, so there is still room for improvement.
Being an innovator rather than a follower won't always win you brownie points in a competitive or lethargic environment, but it's the only way to go if you want to be a truly great teacher and leader in your field.
I saw a fellow early childhood teacher in the lift afterwards and said, "well, what did you think about what she said about burning the framework?" She said that that was our bible. I laughed and said that people at work always ask me, "Can I borrow your bible?" We're taught to base all our practices on the two frameworks.
What we need to remember is that we don't need to take everything in the frameworks as gospel. The concepts and terminology in the frameworks have partially been chosen with political and economic motivations in mind. They were not solely written by academics and professionals in the field. Read widely, test your ideas and theories and look at what other countries are doing and why. Our education system is not the top in the world, so there is still room for improvement.
Being an innovator rather than a follower won't always win you brownie points in a competitive or lethargic environment, but it's the only way to go if you want to be a truly great teacher and leader in your field.
Saturday 9 February 2013
Concepts of Literacy in Pre-school Education
Are we providing the best quality literacy education for our children in the pre-school years?
It's so easy to feel that we need to bow to pressure from parents who are pushing us to focus on the mechanics of reading and writing, but literacy involves much more. I read something today that caught my eye, which was that we should be focussing on reading to learn, rather than on learning to read.
Children are capable of gathering meaning well before they are capable of de-coding written language. Literacy is learned within the socio-cultural context in which the child lives. The child develops his/her identity through his/her exposure to the literacies which exist in the context in which he/she lives. He/she acquires values and an understanding of what is considered normal or acceptable behaviour, or acceptable views about the world.
I believe that the focus in the years before school should be on developing understanding and meaning, and acquiring a love of learning. We are providing opportunities for children to gather information and meaning and develop as literate individuals through conversations, modelling, story-telling, reading to them, and exposing them to text and images in books, in the environment and within technologies.
Leave reading and writing for school. Instead think about how to make literacy fun. Read, read, read! Choose books from the best children's authors and that are related to the children's interests at the time. Challenge them with discussions about the characters and the plots. Ask them to predict the outcomes or suggest alternative outcomes. Use props, puppets, costumes, dramatization and story-boards. Encourage the children to create dramatic play situations, props or environments related to the stories that they hear. Help them to invent original stories and make their own books.
Children will develop a love of literacy and the imaginative and creative possibilities that it involves. They will be excited to be able to delve into the world of literacy on their own. By the time they are old enough for prep they won't be able to wait to learn to read and write!
It's so easy to feel that we need to bow to pressure from parents who are pushing us to focus on the mechanics of reading and writing, but literacy involves much more. I read something today that caught my eye, which was that we should be focussing on reading to learn, rather than on learning to read.
Children are capable of gathering meaning well before they are capable of de-coding written language. Literacy is learned within the socio-cultural context in which the child lives. The child develops his/her identity through his/her exposure to the literacies which exist in the context in which he/she lives. He/she acquires values and an understanding of what is considered normal or acceptable behaviour, or acceptable views about the world.
I believe that the focus in the years before school should be on developing understanding and meaning, and acquiring a love of learning. We are providing opportunities for children to gather information and meaning and develop as literate individuals through conversations, modelling, story-telling, reading to them, and exposing them to text and images in books, in the environment and within technologies.
Leave reading and writing for school. Instead think about how to make literacy fun. Read, read, read! Choose books from the best children's authors and that are related to the children's interests at the time. Challenge them with discussions about the characters and the plots. Ask them to predict the outcomes or suggest alternative outcomes. Use props, puppets, costumes, dramatization and story-boards. Encourage the children to create dramatic play situations, props or environments related to the stories that they hear. Help them to invent original stories and make their own books.
Children will develop a love of literacy and the imaginative and creative possibilities that it involves. They will be excited to be able to delve into the world of literacy on their own. By the time they are old enough for prep they won't be able to wait to learn to read and write!
Friday 8 February 2013
Music for Babies and Toddlers
Are we aware of the importance of music in young children's learning?
The other day I bought a new keyboard for my babies and toddlers. We had one last year and the children and parents loved it. The children are free to go to the keyboard at any time of the day and press the keys or the buttons. The keyboard produces a huge range of sounds, particularly the sounds of various instruments and also has several tunes that the children can listen to and move to. They are loving it. I've nicknamed one toddler 'Beethoven' because he uses both hands and goes for it! We move to the tunes together. Sometimes the children will press one key and listen to the sound. I will sing the note, matching the pitch so that they can hear it. Sometime I will hum along to the tunes. One of my friends at work said that the keyboard was the most valuable piece of equipment in the room. I told her that that was why I bought it. I think some people underestimate the importance of music in young children's learning.
Children are exposed to, and develop an understanding of sound, pitch, rhythm, tempo and dynamics through musical play and learning experiences. This gives them the ability to later play and enjoy music and singing (which is fantastic for health and wellbeing). Developing musical awareness is only one part of the story though. In order to learn to communicate verbally babies and young toddlers have to learn to differentiate between different sounds. Becoming familiar with the patterning and pitch of musical phrases and sequences supports children in recognising and understanding the natural phrases and patterns of speech. This will assist them later in speaking, reading and writing.
Music is one of the art forms that enables us to connect with, and channel our emotions in a positive way. It can make us feel calm and focussed, or joyful and uninhibited. It encourages us to move our bodies, promoting physical skills such as coordination, balance and strength. The keyboard is one way of facilitating musical learning. Singing, dancing, musical games, playing instruments and listening to music are other ways. This is something we should embrace on a daily basis with our children. Let's just go for it - and have fun!
The other day I bought a new keyboard for my babies and toddlers. We had one last year and the children and parents loved it. The children are free to go to the keyboard at any time of the day and press the keys or the buttons. The keyboard produces a huge range of sounds, particularly the sounds of various instruments and also has several tunes that the children can listen to and move to. They are loving it. I've nicknamed one toddler 'Beethoven' because he uses both hands and goes for it! We move to the tunes together. Sometimes the children will press one key and listen to the sound. I will sing the note, matching the pitch so that they can hear it. Sometime I will hum along to the tunes. One of my friends at work said that the keyboard was the most valuable piece of equipment in the room. I told her that that was why I bought it. I think some people underestimate the importance of music in young children's learning.
Children are exposed to, and develop an understanding of sound, pitch, rhythm, tempo and dynamics through musical play and learning experiences. This gives them the ability to later play and enjoy music and singing (which is fantastic for health and wellbeing). Developing musical awareness is only one part of the story though. In order to learn to communicate verbally babies and young toddlers have to learn to differentiate between different sounds. Becoming familiar with the patterning and pitch of musical phrases and sequences supports children in recognising and understanding the natural phrases and patterns of speech. This will assist them later in speaking, reading and writing.
Music is one of the art forms that enables us to connect with, and channel our emotions in a positive way. It can make us feel calm and focussed, or joyful and uninhibited. It encourages us to move our bodies, promoting physical skills such as coordination, balance and strength. The keyboard is one way of facilitating musical learning. Singing, dancing, musical games, playing instruments and listening to music are other ways. This is something we should embrace on a daily basis with our children. Let's just go for it - and have fun!
Reggio Emilia
Why Reggio Emilia?
My favourite lecturer at uni nine years ago ignited the first spark of my now passion for early childhood teaching. She showed us her photos of her trip to Reggio and tour of the early childhood centres there. I'm kicking myself that I haven't been to any of the centres as I'm sure I've travelled past the town by train two or three times over the years. One of my friends at work told me the other day that when she came to the centre for her interview she asked about the centre's philosophy. They told her it was based on Reggio Emilia. Interestingly, although the centre does promote many of the practices of the Reggio Emilia philosophy, many members of staff probably aren't aware of this or what it involves. Good idea for training, I might suggest it!
Reggio Emilia philosophy has several main principles:
- That the environment is considered to be the third teacher
- That parent partnerships and involvement should be encouraged
- That the teacher is seen as a co-learner and facilitator
- That plants, natural light and a shared, open learning space is used (called the piazza)
- That community involvement is encouraged
- That there are a hundered languages of children (ways that children express creativity and learning)
- That long-term projects are encouraged
- That children's conversations are recorded as evidence of learning
These principles fit in nicely with the framework, which encourages us to create learning environments, involve parents and the community, engage in shared learning with children, enable children to develop as effective communicators by expressing themselves in myriad ways, support children in extending and building on their learning, and assess children's learning by documenting and analysing it. I believe that we should be open to all philosophies and evaluate them through the lens of our own understanding and experience, but based on the similarities between Reggio Emilia and the EYLF we probably should develop a greater understanding of the philosphy. I'm sure the Italians knew what they were on about!
My favourite lecturer at uni nine years ago ignited the first spark of my now passion for early childhood teaching. She showed us her photos of her trip to Reggio and tour of the early childhood centres there. I'm kicking myself that I haven't been to any of the centres as I'm sure I've travelled past the town by train two or three times over the years. One of my friends at work told me the other day that when she came to the centre for her interview she asked about the centre's philosophy. They told her it was based on Reggio Emilia. Interestingly, although the centre does promote many of the practices of the Reggio Emilia philosophy, many members of staff probably aren't aware of this or what it involves. Good idea for training, I might suggest it!
Reggio Emilia philosophy has several main principles:
- That the environment is considered to be the third teacher
- That parent partnerships and involvement should be encouraged
- That the teacher is seen as a co-learner and facilitator
- That plants, natural light and a shared, open learning space is used (called the piazza)
- That community involvement is encouraged
- That there are a hundered languages of children (ways that children express creativity and learning)
- That long-term projects are encouraged
- That children's conversations are recorded as evidence of learning
These principles fit in nicely with the framework, which encourages us to create learning environments, involve parents and the community, engage in shared learning with children, enable children to develop as effective communicators by expressing themselves in myriad ways, support children in extending and building on their learning, and assess children's learning by documenting and analysing it. I believe that we should be open to all philosophies and evaluate them through the lens of our own understanding and experience, but based on the similarities between Reggio Emilia and the EYLF we probably should develop a greater understanding of the philosphy. I'm sure the Italians knew what they were on about!
Intentional Teaching for 4 - 5s
Are we mistaking the concept of intentional teaching for teacher-directed learning?
In the last few years, particularly since the implementation of the EYLF there seems to have been a swing back to having a curriculum with a greater emphasis on intentional teaching, rather than having a curriculum based mainly on child-directed learning. I feel that some educators are misunderstanding intentional teaching, seeing it as teacher-imparted knowledge or pen and paper learning. The framework states that intentional teaching 'involves educators being deliberate, purposeful and thoughtful in their decisions and action'. Intentional teaching is intended to be used mainly through guided play, where the educator uses interactions, conversations, modelling, open questioning, speculating, explaining and engaging in shared thinking and problem solving to extend children's thinking and learning.
I believe the empasis for 4-5 year olds should not be in preparing them for school by imparting knowledge that we've selected, but on supporting them in taking more ownership of their learning. Up until the age of 4 children have been learning through play. In the year before school children start to become aware that they are learning as well as playing. We can start encouraging them to articulate what they are learning and they can start to choose the direction of their own learning.
My aim in working with this age-group is to provide an environment that stimulates curiosity and creativity. Children are naturally curious and they want to learn. From there I aim to be as present as I can with each individual child, to really listen to what he/she is telling me so that he/she develops the confidence to show me what he/she is interested in and enjoys. Only then can I ensure that every child is an engaged and willing participant in his/her own learning journey and also feels that he/she can be a valued contributor to collective learning projects.
In the last few years, particularly since the implementation of the EYLF there seems to have been a swing back to having a curriculum with a greater emphasis on intentional teaching, rather than having a curriculum based mainly on child-directed learning. I feel that some educators are misunderstanding intentional teaching, seeing it as teacher-imparted knowledge or pen and paper learning. The framework states that intentional teaching 'involves educators being deliberate, purposeful and thoughtful in their decisions and action'. Intentional teaching is intended to be used mainly through guided play, where the educator uses interactions, conversations, modelling, open questioning, speculating, explaining and engaging in shared thinking and problem solving to extend children's thinking and learning.
I believe the empasis for 4-5 year olds should not be in preparing them for school by imparting knowledge that we've selected, but on supporting them in taking more ownership of their learning. Up until the age of 4 children have been learning through play. In the year before school children start to become aware that they are learning as well as playing. We can start encouraging them to articulate what they are learning and they can start to choose the direction of their own learning.
My aim in working with this age-group is to provide an environment that stimulates curiosity and creativity. Children are naturally curious and they want to learn. From there I aim to be as present as I can with each individual child, to really listen to what he/she is telling me so that he/she develops the confidence to show me what he/she is interested in and enjoys. Only then can I ensure that every child is an engaged and willing participant in his/her own learning journey and also feels that he/she can be a valued contributor to collective learning projects.
Friday 1 February 2013
21st Century Skills
Are we thinking more broadly than promoting the use of technology in the learning and teaching of 21st Century Skills?
This question came up because I was thinking about the necessity of providing a computer for the children's use in the kindergarten / preschool classroom. I was reading up on Steiner philosophy recently and discovered that Steiner didn't advocate the use of technology in early years learning. The acquisition and use of creativity and real life skills were prized instead. Some kindergarten children will gather excitedly around the computer and spend all day there if we allow them to. Chances are they are also exposed to technology at home. It made me wonder whether we are hindering them in developing other skills and in experiencing more hands-on learning journeys.
An American national organisation 'The Partnership for 21st Century Skills' has nominated 21st Century Skills as being Critical Thinking and Problem Solving, Communication, Collaboration, and Creativity and Innovation. This covers a much broader spectrum of skills that can be developed through play-based and inquiry-based curriculum, through dramatic and socio-dramatic play, small group or individual creative or investigative projects, and through literacy, numeracy and the creative and performing arts.
The 21st century will require young people to develop skills that are transversal (transferable to multiple contexts), multidimensional, and that are associated with higher order thinking. Work life is less predictable than it was in the past and children will be preparing for professions that don't yet exist. We can no longer prepare them for specific job roles. They will need to apply their skills in multiple contexts during their working lives.
Maybe we should re-think our use of technology in preschool and focus on developing resilient, innovative young people who are experts at working in collaborative environments.
This question came up because I was thinking about the necessity of providing a computer for the children's use in the kindergarten / preschool classroom. I was reading up on Steiner philosophy recently and discovered that Steiner didn't advocate the use of technology in early years learning. The acquisition and use of creativity and real life skills were prized instead. Some kindergarten children will gather excitedly around the computer and spend all day there if we allow them to. Chances are they are also exposed to technology at home. It made me wonder whether we are hindering them in developing other skills and in experiencing more hands-on learning journeys.
An American national organisation 'The Partnership for 21st Century Skills' has nominated 21st Century Skills as being Critical Thinking and Problem Solving, Communication, Collaboration, and Creativity and Innovation. This covers a much broader spectrum of skills that can be developed through play-based and inquiry-based curriculum, through dramatic and socio-dramatic play, small group or individual creative or investigative projects, and through literacy, numeracy and the creative and performing arts.
The 21st century will require young people to develop skills that are transversal (transferable to multiple contexts), multidimensional, and that are associated with higher order thinking. Work life is less predictable than it was in the past and children will be preparing for professions that don't yet exist. We can no longer prepare them for specific job roles. They will need to apply their skills in multiple contexts during their working lives.
Maybe we should re-think our use of technology in preschool and focus on developing resilient, innovative young people who are experts at working in collaborative environments.
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