Opportunities to Stimulate a Childs Awareness to the Surrounding Environment - Essay Example

EARLY CHILDHOOD Early Childhood Name Institution Date Early Childhood Opportunities to Stimulate a Child’s Awareness to the Surrounding Environment How a child is brought up is very important since it greatly affects growth and determines the kind of person that he or she becomes. It is important to note that for a child to develop normally, he/she needs to interact fully with the environment. If the environment is well stimulating, then the child will thrive safely. There are various opportunities that I have given to children to stimulate their awareness of their environment and each has had different results. To begin with, I have tried giving them toys to aid in movement which include walker wagon or ride-on toys, pull toys; some blocks, simple puzzles drawing papers, crayons and nontoxic play dough. In addition, I have tried giving the children toys for pretend play like old parent’s cloths and plastic utensils. All these toys contribute greatly to stimulating the children’s awareness of their environment since they assist in their interaction with the things around them. For instance, blocks give children a chance to create various shapes of things around them like houses, trains, various animals among others. In addition, drawing and coloring various parts like the sky, the flag, the rainbow stimulates their environmental awareness. They are able to understand the different colour of different features such as trees, human hair and hills among others. For instance, a child cannot colour a tree with red unless he or she is indicating a flower if they are familiar with the environment. Secondly, I have tried stimulating children’s awareness to their environment through engaging them in narratives, plays, songs and dance, most of which are outdoor activities. During such times, I have had to narrate the stories to them. These stories are mainly about various animals which are within the world. Within the narratives are some parts involving various sounds produced by the animals and at such points the children participate through assisting in producing the sounds. There are also songs that the children assist in singing. All these apply to children within a certain age group that cannot act. There are also children within some age group that can act and in such a case; I involved the children directly, as each took a role. All this aids in the children’s awareness of their environment. When children are acting, they imitate people and the things which they see around them. For instance, when imitating their teachers or parents, their attention is drawn more to what a teacher or a father is expected to do or how he is expected to behave. Between the two groups of opportunities that stimulate a child’s awareness to his/her environment, the first one of working with toys and drawing is the one that I found to be most effective. This is because it offers the children a variety of things to use and multiple senses are applied such as seeing, touch and hearing. There is a variety in toys, a variety in drawing materials and when they draw and make with the blocks, their attention is drawn to details and therefore, their understanding is better and their memory sharpened. In addition, the child is mentally engaged in the action as toys perceived to be real are used. Space is not a limitation for children using toys and each can use it even if alone unlike role play where there have to be more than one child. Despite this, there is a very subtle difference in how effective each is. Opportunities to Foster and Enhance Language Development Language development in children develops gradually as the child grows. Initially, the child can only respond to sound but cannot speak or utter any sensible word. At an early age of about six months, the child can respond to someone calling his/her name and generally to human voice. I, in my practice have offered children various opportunities to foster and also enhance children’s language development. To begin with, I have worked with simple songs to assist in children master certain basic words and be able to remember them without much difficulty. These songs have been on basic things like the alphabet, numbers, and names of the members of the nuclear family, which includes the child’s own name, at the initial stage and incorporated more complex words of things like body parts much later. Working with songs has involved, I instructing or lead singing and also using tapes1. Watching tapes on simple stories involving general things and simple words and sentences is one of the most effective ways of helping a child learn their language faster. In addition singing games have played an important role in the development of language as children practice songs and sing them inform of games. They develop accuracy in pronunciation of words as they play. I have also worked with charts. This has involved writing the names of various things and combining them with the appropriate drawings of particular objects. Some examples include drawings of the various body parts, those of basic natural features like the stars, moon and sun and different members of the family. After preparing these charts, I engage the children by instructing them to read out loudly the names on the charts and this goes on until they master well. This has enhanced their language development. I have also combined these charts with instructions to children to draw and color simple things and write their names, and also simple magazines with drawings. Afterwards, the children read out loud what they have written thus working on their speech. I have also worked with small group activities, where I divide the children into small groups and give them activities to do while guiding them. These activities involve working with things like dolls and hand made boats among others. During play time, children learn their language better and faster since they are at the same learning level. They learn to imitate, not just the teacher, but also each other. It is important to note that the effectiveness of each learning aid depends on the child’s age and ability to learn. Collaborative Working to Implement Behaviour guidance plan For a child to develop properly, there is great need for the family to be involved. This is due to the face that a big percentage of any child’s behavior is influenced by the family members who he/she interacts with and learns from most of the time and right from an early age. It is therefore, very important for an early childhood personnel to collaborate with family members through the behavior guidance plan to ensure that a child’s behaviors are monitored and shaped right from the start. I have involved parents in implementing behavior guidance plan. To begin with, I have informed the children’s family of the already established plan and sought to know the plan that is already established at home. It is this that has brought my understanding of the family’s expectations and limits, and the child’s behavior. Where there have been differences in between my plan and the home plan, I have been able to discuss with the parents and come to a consensus. This has assisted in ensuring that the parents and I are communicating the same thing to the child without any contradictions that would confuse the child. Families have been able to express their thoughts, feelings and expectations through organized meetings and this has aided in opening a clear line of communication between me and the family. This line of communication in turn has made it possible to monitor the child’s behavior and together, I and the parents have worked to ensure that any bad habits developing are taken care of and any that are good are encouraged. For instance, I have worked with families to cultivate in children simple essential behaviors like washing of hands before handling any food. This has also created an opportunity for the child to be involved since all these consultations do not leave him/her out, thus he/she embraces it. In order to ensure that this plan has succeeded, I have had to get some resources which included some mode of communication like internet and telephone to ensure that I am in constant communication with the parents. I also have had to get some sheet which clearly outlines the behavioral plan that I have so that I can compare it with the one that the parents have. Another important resource is the use of daily report books where I report to the parent any need to enhance a given change of behavior in a child. The parents have to sign these books on a daily basis as a sign of total commitment to the learning process of a child. I have also involved the parent in the prize giving days to encourage children to work harder as well as involving the children in skits in the presence of their parents. Such skits touch on the good and bad behaviours children have. I also involve the parents in counseling and punishing the child if he or she is on the wrong to discourage such behaviours. Experience in Evaluating, Implementing and Designing Programs I have had experience designing, implementing and evaluating different programs. In my experience designing a program for the children, I have had to involve all stakeholders if it is to be successful. The mission statement has had to commit to child development from all aspects of life. A program designed but does not consider the need and characteristics of different stakeholders has always failed. In implementing the program, I have faced various challenges mainly on the agreement of which program to implement. The main challenge has been on involving the parent where money is required for implementing new programs as they view this as an extra cost to them. In addition, I have had t consider cultural groups represented in the class of children being trained so as to ensure that examples given are ones that a child can identify with to ease learning. After designing a program for the children, I have experienced tat training them by starting with the most enjoyable program activity and from the simplest words to be learnt ten advancing to more complex words and environmental features speedup the learning process and ensures effectiveness of the program. In evaluation, I have realized the importance of continuous evaluation as a means to maximization of benefits and ensure that the program is moving towards achieving set goals and objectives. It is important to ensure that new programs do not conflict with the existing ones or involve a repetition of what children have already learnt. This can only be ensured by involvement of all stakeholders in designing, implementing and evaluating programs. Monitoring and Evaluation Monitoring and evaluating programs is as important as implementing this programs. Failure to monitor programs can result to wastage of time and other resources due to implementation of wrong programs, poorly defined goals and objectives, a shift from the set objectives and poor prioritization of activities and projects. Monitoring and evaluation greatly affect the quality of products and services being offered. To monitor the programs effectiveness in meeting the family needs and those of the children, I have always applied different measures. One of this is giving continuous assessments to the children and challenging tasks to see if they have understood any concept or word that has been taught2. Whereas I have used dialogues and storytelling as a mode of enhancing the learning process for a child, it has proved to be a good mode of evaluation. Children are asked to narrate stories so as to determine the level of their development in relation to the surrounding environment. In addition, the parents are asked to be involved in meetings where they are asked to comment on their children performance. I have sometimes have had to talk to parents one at a time and hear their different views. If a program does not meet the family needs, the parents are free to say so and request for alternatives. Sometimes, the program is an effective one but can fail if wrong activities and time lines are used. As a result, each activity is evaluated independently through the use of tests, group discussions and interviews to evaluate its effectiveness. I also evaluate and monitor programs by looking into the amount of time used to achieve a given results and reviewing how many objectives and goals have been met. Experiences provided to facilitate and enhance child’s development. The experiences provided to enhance a child’s development are dependant on the age of the child. For instance, infants (6-12 months old) are provided with experiences enhance, strengthen and promote a child’s cognitive, social, physical and emotional development. The main activities here is exploring the world and playing on the floor. This also includes discovering how certain things work, taking sounds, sights and textures. I ensure that the environment within which the children are working is warm, responsive and safe for them. The pre-toddles (1 to 2 years old) are given an opportunity to meet and socialize while allowing each child to learn at his/her pace. The child gets a chance to see and touch new objects as they learn new terms. These opportunities provide opportunities for cognitive and emotional development3. Learning here is mainly as a result of the child’s curiosity. All experiences given throughout the day are rich in language. The toddlers on the other hand have experiences exploring outside and inside classrooms thus coming to terms with the surrounding environment. I provide experiences such as story telling time, finger plays and language development through reading books that have drawings. In addition, I challenge the children to sort things such as separating beans and maize, building blocks and painting which enable the development of the motor skills. Repetition of words and activities enables the child to develop various skills. As children grow older, I give them opportunities to become leaders by selecting group and class leaders hence developing a sense of responsibility. This is made possible by combining children of different ages (3-6 years) together. Encouraging children involvement in the provided experiences I have been involved in encouraging children to be involved in the provided experiences. This is in recognition that a child requires motivation to be fully involved in a project or a program. I have achieved this through verbal congratulation of children who perform best and those who correctly follow instructions. As for those who fail severally before making it, I keep on encouraging them to try again. For instance, if a child pronounces a word wrongly, I keep on encouraging him or her that she or he can make it to pronounce the word correctly. I therefore keep on repeating the word until the child is able to pronounce it. To encourage children develop their motor skills, I help the when trying to standup or walk alone. I ensure that the environment is safe in such a way that a child is not hurt incase he or she falls while trying to move. A child can fail to try to walk if he falls and is hurt. For those who are older and to whom I provide leadership opportunities, I train them on their responsibility and recognize them as the head in the presence of other children. I also offer gifts to those who are able to practice leadership skills effectively hence encouraging others to run for the post. Those who attain the best in provided test in language development are also rewarded to encourage others to work hard. I forward the rewards to the best performing students in the presence of all parents to challenge both the parents and the other children4. I also try to understand any barrier that would hinder the involvement of a child and ensure that it is adequately addressed as I value all children regardless of the time each takes to learn a given subject or their talents. Those with skills in drawing and painting are encouraged to do so. All the above discussed points are important for a child’s development. If a child is neglected at any stage, his or her development is eventually affected. This might extend to adulthood. Since childhood is such a crucial stage in the life of a child, parents, teachers and all other stakeholders should work hard to ensure that a good environment and experiences are provided to enhance the child’s development. References Talk™ T Ruben, H., Fein, G., & Vandenberg, B. Play. In E. M. Hetherington (Ed.), Handbook of child psychology: Vol. 4. Socialization, personality, and social development (4th ed., pp.693-744). New York: Wiley, 1983 Bochner, S. and Jones, J. Child Language Development: Learning to Talk. London: Whurr Publishers, 2003. Oates, J., and Andrew G. Cognitive and Language Development in Children. Malden, MA: Blackwell, 2004. Read More