Early Childhood Education in NZ - Essay Example

Early Childhood Education in NZ Describing I had an idea one lunch time when I chanced upon a book entitled “Handa’s Surprise”. It was all about fruits and animals from Africa and I was excited about the idea of making fruit salad with the children after sharing this book and talking about the fruits they eat and why they are good for the body. My AT appreciated my idea but reminded me that no matter what we do, it should always be the children’s interests that should come first. If I would go ahead with my plan of showing this book to the children, then steering the discussion about fruits then culminate the activity with making fruit salad, then it would still be a teacher-directed activity and not child-centred like how Te Whaariki advocates. Informing Children are naturally curious and full of wonder. In order to learn about their interests, they move around and play. It is the interactions with others, their thoughts and the materials in their environment facilitate them getting to learn about the world. Adults must be supportive of helping them understand how they learn and think best to reach their learning goals (Primary National Strategy, 2006). This is in relation to learning outcome 1.3 which is multiplying ways of knowing learners in-depth. Observing them keenly is one way of knowing what they are interested in and knowing how they react to things. However, knowing what children want to learn should not hinder them from discovery by imposing one’s own thinking or supplying the answers without letting the children find out for themselves. This is complying with learning outcome 2.3 which is about informed practice through the use of effective curricula and content knowledge, current assessment and planning processes and reflective practice. Confronting I believe the way I was raised and educated has much influence on how I think children learn. Growing up, I was exposed to adults spoon-feeding information to us, and we were expected to just accept the “wisdom” that our elders passed on to us. I did not realize that it did not matter what we children were interested in. We looked up to authority figures as dispensers of knowledge and we were grateful to them for this. It is only now as an adult that I realize how much our learning was limited because it was just dictated to us. We were not allowed to discover things on our own. Education in my homeland was very teacher-directed that children did not have much choice in directing their own learning paths. Growing up, I was accustomed and very comfortable with that kind of system that now in New Zealand, I find it difficult to let go of such practices with my own students. I am learning from my practice teaching that I need to follow the child’s lead. I need to be more observant of children’s interests and follow those instead of my own ideas even if I think they are great and that the children will enjoy and learn much from it. My role is to extend their knowledge and skills by organizing their learning environment according to their interests and needs. I bring out some interesting choices of activities for them and let them freely select what they want to do. Te Whaariki respects children’s ideas that they should always be participative in the planning of their learning. This empowers them to know that their ideas are worth listening to and even trying out, as reflected from the principle of Empowerment of Te Whaariki. Reconstructing In order to be more efficient in child-centred strategies, I need to not only observe children in action but also pose more open-ended questions. I can ask them what they already know about or what they want to learn more about and solicit their ideas on their activities. It is good if all children can contribute to the discussion regardless of their backgrounds because I believe in inclusive classes and respect all children no matter where they came from or what their abilities are. Each child is valued and his ideas are worthy of being listened to. If children are inspired to share about their remembered experiences that are related to the story or discussion at hand, then I should let them speak out because this is one way that I can find out more about them and their interests. In doing so, children feel that their ideas are respected and they are empowered to share some more and be more participative in the collaborative learning activities. Although teacher-directed methods have been ingrained in me growing up, I am open to being more child-centred, because this is the philosophy and pedagogy that I have developed for my own practice as an early childhood educator. For me, a child-centred approach is best because it allows children to learn naturally, and when they do, more retention of learning is very likely. References: Ministry of Education (1996).  Te Whāriki/He whāriki matauranga mō ngā mokopuna Aotearoa: Early childhood curriculum. Wellington: Learning Media. Primary National Strategy (2006) Primary Network for Literacy and Mathematics. Crown. Reflection 8 Describing In trying to be more interactive with the children, I tried asking open-ended questions to them until I became part of their role play. Our head teacher Dot approached me and commented that my questions were good but it would be better if I just approach the children quietly without an agenda and wait for them to invite me to join them in their play instead of actively making an effort to join them. I was advised that when I ask questions, I may be consciously or unconsciously leading the children into my ideas, but we are actually supposed to follow their lead and cultivate their interests. I thought it would be challenging for me to do that since I am not familiar with the children yet and most probably, I will not get invited in their play and I was worried of feeling left out. Suddenly, a bubbly boy named Bentley called out to me and said, “Annie, come, I’m going to wash your clothes.” Pleased, I answered, “Really.. that would be nice.” So here is how the conversation went in the sandpit with basins of water. Me: Are you going to hand wash them or using washing machine? Bentley: Using the washing machine Me: What do you do with the machine? Bentley: I’m going to press the button, the red one. Me: Then what? Bentley: Let the water in, put in your clothes… Me:What else will you put in? Do you need some washing powder? Bentley: I’ve already put it in’ he said Me: Which clothes will you wash for me? Bentley: Your pants, your jacket, your shorts, and your uniform. Me: Oh, my uniform?’ Why do I have uniform? Bentley: You have them when you go to school Suddenly, he waved the spade in his hand and said ’I’m going to cut your clothes’ I realized that the theme of our game changed. Me: Why will you cut my clothes? Bentley: I changed your clothes into mud, this is your jacket. Me: It’s so sunny now, I’m going to hang my jacket out to dry. This was my attempt to continue on with our “washing clothes” theme but Bentely said, “I’m going to wash your house now?”. Surprised at this sudden shift of ideas, I exclaimed,”Oh, did you finish wash my clothes? Where would you start to wash my house?’ At this moment, another girl came with a bowl of water and she splashed water on Bentley’s leg. With that our game ended. Informing The learning outcome of 2.3 stating that “practice is informed by effective use of curricula and content knowledge, current assessment and planning processes and reflective practice” was observed in this reflection. Te Whaariki empowers children by allowing them to communicate their ideas without any fear that these will be criticized. This makes children more confident, knowing that their ideas have value. In this anecdote, it was evident that Bentley was in the process of creative “flow” and his ideas were pouring forth. Csikszentmihalyi (1997) claims that the experience of children engaged in creative learning as being deeply involved in their task is called “Flow” which is an optimal experience, “an almost effortless yet highly focused state of consciousness” (Csikszentmihalyi, 1997, p.9). It is a way of being lost in the creative process. Once an individual gets out of this flow and is satisfied with the experience, he indulges in feeling happy. Csikszentmihalyi says he more flow one experiences in life, the more likely he is to feel happy overall, as his creative potentials are optimized. Bentley’s flow was encouraged by my interested questioning, challenging him further in the process. However, his flow ended when he was distracted by water wetting his leg by another child. Confronting Learning to be part of children’s activities without making much effort may be difficult for an adult who has forgotten how to play. In my case, I thought the way into children’s games is stimulating them with my own interesting ideas. I realize that it was a way for me to take control of the situation, afraid of how to behave if children took over. However, to be a good early childhood educator, I should learn to follow children’s interests over my own and let them lead and take part in planning their own learning experiences. My own personal pedagogy subscribes to the belief that children can construct their own learning. In early childhood, it seems that all they do is play, however, play is how they learn best. My play with Bentley gave me a peep into his creative mind. It was a privilege to have been invited. I know that I was part of his process of creative flow. Had I rejected his ideas and suggested my own, I would have disrupted his flow, and that would be like stifling his creative thinking. Some educators are so concerned about children learning academic skills such as reading, math, science, etc. and pressure children to learn them even before they are ready. I believe children will eventually get there when they are ready. Letters, numbers, and other academic concepts are all around them and for sure, these are part of children’s interests, so I need not worry that they will eventually learn these essential concepts at their own time and pace. Reconstructing I should be able to relax my own pressures to make children learn from me and be more confident in their own capacity to learn on their own. Being in control of children’s learning actually stifles the development of their own ideas because they just accept the teacher’s. Following children’s lead does not only empower them, but ensures that they are free to communicate what they think and feel without fear of being reprimanded for it. I should be able to design a conducive learning environment that frees children to express themselves and sustain a sense of awe that continuously motivates them to follow up on their interests. References: Csikszentmihalyi, M. (1997) Happiness & creativity going with the flow. The Futurist, Sept.-October, 1997 Ministry of Education (1996).  Te Whāriki/He whāriki matauranga mō ngā mokopuna Aotearoa: Early childhood curriculum. Wellington: Learning Media. Reflection 9 Describing Today was a tough day. It showered on and off, leaving the playground wet. There were three accidents in the playground, one of which was my own, as I slipped on the wet wooden deck. I was kind of embarrassed at being helped by a number of people to get up to walk, but I walked with dignity because I did not want the parents to worry that the same thing can happen to their own children. Later on, two more children were injured in the playground due to its wetness from the drizzly weather. In both cases, the children fell over and bumped their heads, leaving lumps on their foreheads. I went to the playground and checked it for safety, drying the mats and playground obstacle course equipment and even suggested to put a warning sign that says “Wet” or let the children help out by putting orange cones around the playground to alert others that it is not safe to use because it is wet. Informing The third goal of the first strand of Well-being in Te Whaariki is “Children experience an environment where they are kept safe from harm” (MOE, 1996, p.15). In any environment catering to young children, their safety and security should be of utmost priority. Although the environment may be visually stimulating and developmentally-appropriate, adults should still ensure that children who will be using the facility will be kept safe from untoward incidents and be ready in case minor accidents happen. This is in relation to the learning outcome 2.1 which is “a safe, purposeful and inclusive learning environment is effectively established and maintained in an appropriate manner”. Confronting No matter how safe we want our children’s learning environments to be, there will always be risks of accidents and injuries. Still, we do our best to implement precautionary measures so children may still safely enjoy the facilities. However, in inevitable circumstances such as poor weather, it will not be practical to let the children use outdoor areas because of the risks of slips and falls, such as what happened today. We tried to keep the area dry to no avail, hence the next best thing is to issue warning signs around the area so children will not play there. Being a casualty myself, and an adult at that, I should be able to look after myself and be a model to the children of how to be safe. Realizing that the grounds were slippery, I should have walked slowly and carefully and immediately warned the children of the risks involved in playing there. However, upon hindsight, the children should not have been playing there in the first place because even if we value play, we must keep in mind that children’s safety is a priority. Learning from this lesson, the opportunity of letting children participate in the learning process by putting orange cones around the area to warn others of the risks of playing on wet grounds may be a good idea. It is just best that they are ably supervised so no more slips or falls may happen. Reconstructing It is natural for children to move about especially when they are given free reign to play to their hearts’ content. That is why it is important to provide for them a safe, nurturing, clean and orderly environment. As advocated by Te Whaariki, children’s safety should be ensured in safe environments. I have learned much from today. I will be more vigilant in looking out for probable risk factors or unsafe areas around the children’s centre that may be a possible source of harm to anyone and remove it right away or have it repaired immediately. Not only should I look outdoors, but indoors as well. I should always check if the materials we use are non-toxic or if the food children eat are fresh and healthy for them. I should also double check the cleanliness of the area to keep children from getting sick. I should always prioritize health and safety of everyone in the centre. References: Ministry of Education (1996).  Te Whāriki/He whāriki matauranga mō ngā mokopuna Aotearoa: Early childhood curriculum. Wellington: Learning Media. Read More