Early Childhood Curriculum - Essay Example

?Reflection 19 Describing Having been raised in environments where adults led children, I still feel the need to adjust to a setting where in I, as an adult should follow the children’s lead. I sometimes feel that without the teacher’s lead, children may miss some opportunities to understand things earlier due to the teacher’s guidance. I know they will eventually understand such things, but would it be so bad if they understood them earlier by following the teacher’s lead? Still, in the last six weeks, I’ve always been reminded that no matter what I do, I should follow the children’s interest. I am now at the point where I want to know how to balance children’s interest with the things I know they need to learn with the teacher’s guidance. Informing Kilderry (2004) discussed critical pedagogy in a sense that early childhood educators critically assess the purpose of everything they do with children. They hold wide perspectives and know when to adjust to the context each child comes from. Critically aware early childhood practitioners believe that knowledge is constructed within a social group and is mediated and cannot be separated from its cultural and historical understandings (Jipson, 2000). Thus, in a multicultural setting, the teacher gets to adjust to and respect each child in accordance to their cultural and family backgrounds. The teacher makes a range of teaching decisions in everything that comprises the learning environment of children, but ultimately follows the child’s lead. Critical pedagogy in the New Zealand educational system applies the principles of the Te Whaariki curriculum of empowerment, holistic development, family and community and relationships (MOE, 1996). Such curriculum supports the learning and development of children and their families through a nurturing safe environment that allows children to explore their world under the watchful eyes of their teachers and parents. Confronting This reflection conforms to the learning outcome 4.3 The ethical, moral and political dimensions of professional dilemmas are critically reflected upon, including reference to both the early childhood Code of Ethics and the New Zealand Teachers Council Code of Ethics. This is very apt to my own questions on the balance between child-centredness and teacher-directedness in the early childhood curriculum. Being exposed to a variety of reading materials on early childhood education, I am aware that there are other settings wherein teachers plan the activities for children and carve their learning path. Although I am not against that, my practice has taught me that it is better for children to discover their own learning paths themselves. This does not mean that teachers are no longer necessary because the children construct their own learning, but teachers should be present to witness how learning unfolds so they can give proper guidance when necessary. Reconstructing I know as a dynamic teacher, I will always question different teaching-learning practices. I may even change my own teaching methods in a few years, but what should remain is my wisdom which I will apply in my critical pedagogy. Keeping Te Whaariki principles at heart, I will always focus on the purpose of my teaching. It is not really to direct children towards something but more of supporting them in pursuing their learning interests. I should be able to fully understand and accept that they are capable of constructing their own learning if only I allow them to do so. References: Ministry of Education (1996).  Te Whariki/He whariki matauranga mo nga mokopuna Aotearoa: Early childhood curriculum. Wellington: Learning Media. Jipson, J. (2000). The stealing of wonderful ideas: The politics of imposition and representation in research on early childhood education. In L. D. Soto (Ed.), The politics of early childhood education (pp. 167-177). New York: Peter Lang. Kilderry, A. (2004) Critical pedagogy: a useful framework for thinking about early childhood curriculum, Australian Journal of Early Childhood, December 2004. Available on http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_hb6418/is_4_29/ai_n31676386/?tag=content; col1 Reflection 20 Describing A new Chinese girl, Amanda, enjoyed the Chinese book that she borrowed from me that she took home for her mother to read to her. Today, at lunch time, she approached me once more and requested me to read the book in Chinese. This time, Matthew joined us and I read to them in Chinese to book on snails. It was a good thing I was Chinese and can read the Chinese translation of the English version printed side by side. A while later, Christoron joined us, so I read the story in English too for his sake. After the story, we discussed it and both Amanda and Matthew shared that they thought snails were yucky and dirty. Amanda even shared that she saw something in her garden but her mom did not let her touch it. It was a productive time with Amanda and Matthew but they are more of passive learners. While other children actively played during free play time, they just decided to stay with me the whole time for the story. Informing This reflection corresponds to learning outcome 3.2 appropriate ways of teaching and learning are selected to suit diverse children’s interests, strengths, abilities and needs within the educational context that are theoretically and evidence-informed and able to be articulated and justified. Since the trend in education now is embracing multiculturalism, teachers should learn culturally relevant teaching. It takes into consideration the cultural background of the students at all times. It also keeps in mind cultural aspects in all interactions with students on both personal and educational levels (Edwards & Kuhlman, 2007). The principles of Te Whaariki consider such cultural backgrounds as it reflects a sociocultural approach to learning (MOE, 1996). Teachers should also be aware of certain behaviours or attitudes of children from different cultures trying to adapt to the majority culture. One example is if the ‘child-centered’ curriculum would be advantageous to them if they come from countries that endorse more teacher-directed methods. Booker (2002) found in her study that certain cultural groups of children (Bangladeshi) were disadvantaged by a child-centered curriculum as they did not know what to do, being accustomed to adults directing them. This may be observed in their involvement in free play and the development of independence skills. Teachers should be able to accommodate them and eventually teach them to join the play of others at the simultaneous process of being mainstreamed into the majority culture. Confronting Responding to Amanda’s request of somehow incorporating her Chinese culture in the story-reading activity made her more participative even if she is just a new student. However, Amanda still needs to be able to join her friends at play eventually and not be dependent on an adult like me to tell her what to do. I understand that she is new and her Chinese culture has trained her to passively receive instruction from adults, but now that she is in New Zealand, she is free to play and explore. As a teacher, I am on the lookout for opportunities myself in helping children learn. The story about snails is one with a hidden curriculum. The children enjoyed the story without realizing that we were talking about snails and relating it to their practical experiences. This reflection corresponds to the learning outcome of 3.2 appropriate ways of teaching and learning are selected to suit diverse children’s interests, strengths, abilities and needs within the educational context that are theoretically and evidence-informed and able to be articulated and justified. Reconstructing I realize some cultures may have different practices or views towards some practices we have in our center. One is uninterrupted free play. As a teacher, I shall be sensitive to things like that. With a new student like Amanda, I will first gauge where she comes from and what she is accustomed to. I will not force her to play with others if she is not ready, but in the meantime, I can stay with her. Eventually, she will understand, appreciate and enjoy free play too with others. References Brooker, L. (2002). Starting school: Young children learning cultures. Buckingham: Open University Press. Edwards, S. & Kuhlman, W. (2007) Culturally Responsive Teaching: Do We Walk Our Talk?, Multicultural Education, Summer 2007 Ministry of Education (1996).  Te Whariki/He whariki matauranga mo nga mokopuna Aotearoa: Early childhood curriculum. Wellington: Learning Media. Reflection 21 Describing I got to play with an adorable, bubbly and talkative little boy at the family corner. I enjoyed playing with him as we shared “bacon and eggs” and he even made me “coffee”. With other children, though, they do not see him the same way because he had the habit of putting his mouth on their shoulders without biting them or drawing on their backs. The children react negatively to Luigi because they think he will hurt them but for me, it was his way of showing affection. Because Luigi keeps on doing the behaviour even if his classmates do not like it, it then became labelled as bad behaviour that should be ignored in order to be extinguished. Informing This reflection corresponds to learning outcome 4.1 Appropriate behaviour guidance strategies to enhance children’s social competence are ethically selected, effectively implemented and critically evaluated. Dealing with inappropriate behaviour is one challenge of teachers. There are many disciplinary techniques available that a teacher can choose from to suit the personality of the child involved. Corporal punishment or inflicting bodily harm has no place in Early Childhood Education. Te Whaariki advocates respect for the child, and corporal punishment represents utter disrespect of another human being. The Principles of Te Whaariki (MOE, 1996) namely empowerment, holistic development, family and community and relationships are enough guides to follow in order to instill positive discipline in children. To understand where Luigi is coming from, one good framework to follow is Brofenbrenner’s (1979) Ecological-Contextual model. This contends that the behavior and development of an individual is an interplay of the individual’s biological and personality factors, his environment and the society and culture he was born into. This model emphasizes the importance of relationships and whanaungatanga. This ecological model implies that the interplay and quality of the various systems and environments of the child will play different roles in influencing his development. Likewise, whatever comes out of that development will affect the various environments the child belongs to. For instance, Luigi’s fondness for putting his mouth on his classmates’ shoulder is viewed negatively by his peers, so next time, they will ignore him and he will be in a lonely environment by himself. Confronting I had the pleasure of playing with Luigi and perceived him to be a good little boy. With his peers, though, he displayed a behaviour that others found inappropriate. The teachers believed that if they kept ignoring him, he will learn his lesson and stop the inappropriate behaviour of putting his mouth on his friend’s shoulder. However, being ignored upset Luigi very much, and every time somebody looked his way, he would cry even louder. I believe before giving negative reinforcement for bad behaviour, adults should first listen to the side of the child to be given negative reinforcement to or at least observe him in action, as it is not fair to judge someone without knowing the full story. Reconstructing Although his peers viewed Luigi’s behaviour as negative, I know that he did not want to hurt anybody. It was just his way of making friends or attracting attention. I am glad that I was able to see him for who he is during our play time together. With some teachers, they would already label Luigi as a behaviour problem without even listening to his side. I would instead talk to Luigi and probe what he meant with his action towards his peers. I would talk sense into him that what he is doing upsets others and whether he means it as bad or not, that he would need to stop it. Bronfenbrenner, U. (1979). The Ecology of Human Development. Cambridge: Harvard University Press. Ministry of Education (1996).  Te Whariki/He whariki matauranga mo nga mokopuna Aotearoa: Early childhood curriculum. Wellington: Learning Media. Read More