Hyun’s Reflections
Youri’s Reflections
Lucky’s Reflections
Larissa’s Reflections
Kathryn’s Reflections.
Friday, March 30, 2012
Tuesday, March 13, 2012
Reflection Two. Cameras in my centre
Reflection Two: Digital Cameras in my home centre.
At our centre we have two digital cameras. Each day we let
two children have one camera each and go and take photos of whatever they
choose. We talk to the children about safety with the cameras, they cannot run
with them, and they have to have the lanyard strap around their neck at all
times. We teach them about how to care for fragile items. “Children develop
respect for rules about harming others and the environment and an understanding
of the reasons for such rules” (Ministry of Education, 1996)
When they have taken their photos we print them out and show
them to the other children. They tell the other children what they took a photo
of.
Three weeks ago, it was the turn of G and C to use the
cameras. After mat time I talked to them both and asked them if they would like
to use the cameras. G and C said “Yes!!” I reminded them of the rules, that
they could only take five photos, that they had to have the lanyard around
their necks the whole time, and that they cant run with them. I asked them if that
was ok and they said yes. I said “How do you ask for them?” G first said “Can I
please have the camera miss Hannah” So i said “Thank you for asking so nicely
G, here you go.” Then C said “Please can I have my camera now?” and I said “Yes, here you go”.
I then watched from a distance as they walked around the
playground looking at everyone and everything. G was fairly quick to use her
five photo’s and was back within 10 minutes. She was very eager to see her
photo’s, but I told her she had to wait until C had taken her photo’s.
C was taking her time. She was wandering thoughtfully around
looking for a long while at each group of children before moving on. It looked
like she was being careful not to waste her photos. I let her continue to take
her time and it was almost 40 minutes before she had taken her photos.
I got G’s attention then we went to the computer and looked
at the photos. I asked G to explain her photo’s to C, and watched as they
talked excitedly about each others photo’s.
“Photo albums or videos documenting the process of children’s
activities are especially useful to validate the importance of children’s play
and to give children’s creative projects a sense of ownership and permanency.”
(Isenberg & Jalongo, 1993)
We show the children how to email the photo’s to their
parents so they can show them what they did at the centre. “Capturing the
processes and products of children at work and play can be useful for teachers
and parents alike. Teachers can help children delve further into their
explorations of various subjects.” (Gonzalez-Mena, 1998)
References:
Gonzalez-Mena, J. (1998). Foundations of early childhood education. Teaching Children in a diverse setting. New York, United States of America : McGraw Hill.
Isenberg, J., P., Jalongo, M., R., (1993). Creative Thinking and Arts-Based Learning. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Pearson Education Inc.
Gonzalez-Mena, J. (1998). Foundations of early childhood education. Teaching Children in a diverse setting. New York, United States of America : McGraw Hill.
Isenberg, J., P., Jalongo, M., R., (1993). Creative Thinking and Arts-Based Learning. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Pearson Education Inc.
Ministry
of Education (1996) Te Whariki Early Childhood curriculum. Wellington, New
Zealand: Learning Media Limited
Reflection Three - Learning Stories in my centre
Reflection Three: Learning stories within my home centre.
For every child at the centre at least once every fortnight we do a learning story.
A learning story is a story about something that happened in the child’s day – normally something memorable.
The learning story is bright and colourful and has photos of the experience.
Children often help design them, choosing colours, fonts and words and photo’s that go onto them. We compile the learning stories into a portfolio that we encourage parents to go through with their children, children to go through to relive the fun times, and to show their friends. They are a great way to promote communication between children as they talk and describe the experience to their friends.
On one recent occasion a young child, R, was creating a learning story with me. I asked R what colours she wanted to use on the title, and she also chose what picture she wanted to use on it. R chose the font and was so proud of her finished learning story. I printed her a copy to take home with her to show her parents, and she ran around showing all the other children. When her father showed up to pick her up, she ran up to him to show him as well, and talked very excitedly about it.
Te Whariki notes an important learning outcome is “Children develop the ability to represent their discoveries, using creative and expressive media and the technology associated with them” (Ministry of Education, 1996)
It is a great way to include parents in their children’s learning and encourage crossover between their home and ECE environments. By facilitation conversations between parents and the teachers describing the situation and elaborating on what had happened we help to build relationships with the parents and gain insight into their feelings and thoughts. “Communication should be a major concern from day one. Its important to use communication to start building a relationship with the [child’s] family.” (Gonzalez-Mena and Eyer, 2009)
The learning story is an example of technology in the centre. Only 10 years ago, the cost of the computer, the cost of the publishing software and the cost of high quality colour printer would have made this sort of learning aid beyond the reach of most centres.
With the rapid advances in technology this is within the reach of any centre.
An interesting example of the use of technology comes from India, where Mitra and Rana describe the use of computers in a ECE setting. “In Minimally Invasive Education the teacher sets up the environment and then is absent. The researchers have established computer kiosks in public areas where children may be and tracked what children learn with no adult assistance. They have found that diverse groups of children can acquire computer literacy without any formal instruction from adults.” (MacNaughton and Williams, 2009)
Going forwards I think that within the next 5 years that we will have video logs, interviews and child generated content on children’s own private files that they can take with them when they leave.
References:
Gonzalez-Mena, J, Eyer, D, W. (2009). Infants, Toddlers
and Caregivers. New York, NY, United States of America : McGraw Hill.
MacNaughton, G., Williams, G., (2009). Techniques for Teaching Young Children. Frenchs Forest, NSW: Pearson Education Australia
Ministry
of Education (1996) Te Whariki Early Childhood curriculum. Wellington, New
Zealand: Learning Media Limited
Monday, March 12, 2012
Reflection one – computers in my home centre
Hi Guys, Please comment on my first reflection, enjoy.
www.nationmaster.com retrieved on 10/3/2012
At our centre we try to incorporate technology into our activities
every day. This is because computer literacy is an essential skill in today’s
world. A person who cannot use technology will struggle today, let alone the
future as technology becomes more pervasive.
To introduce children to technology we have a morning routine
for children when they arrive at the centre. When they arrive they go to the
board and find their name among others, which we have in different orders each
day. This is so that they can practice looking for their name and recognising
different words and names. It is good reading practice for them.
Once they have found their name they take it to the computer
and sit down. We have a word document open and they then type their name in.
They know to use capitals and space between their names. It can take them a
while to find their letters but the more they do it the faster they get.
After they have typed it in they then write their names on
the clip board to practice their hand writing. After they have done that they
are free to go and play.
I think it is as important for a child to learn to type as it
is to write. Today most people type more often then they write, so being able
to use a computer well is vital.
TeWhariki’s first goal of communication is “children
experience an environment where they develop non-verbal communication skills
for a range of purposes”. (Ministry of Education, 1996)
Two generations ago a very heavy emphasis was placed on
writing in schools – telephones were not yet common, and mobile phones had not
been invented. Writing was the primary form of distance communication. With the
rise in the use of telephones, even a generation ago the focus on handwriting
had reduced with the proliferation of telephones. Moving forward to today,
computers are universal and most houses have at least one computer and most
homes have one per person. “In 2004, there were 1,920,000 computers in 800,000
households.” (www.nationmaster.com)
Mail volumes have fallen dramatically to where NZ post is
considering the viability of mail services in the future. “The volume of
mail handled by the postal service dropped about 7 percent, or by 29.4 million
letters in the first half from a year earlier, NZ Post said.” (www.business.scoop.co.nz)
Computers also enable children to communicate further outside
their immediate circle of friends and family. It enables them to communicate
with people and gain perspectives that they could not without technology to
communicate.
“A view is that children are competent users of technology,
active agents in their own learning and very aware of the world beyond their
family” (Arthur, Beecher, Death, Dockett, Farmer, 1993)
Most communication is now via email, text message or phone
calls. To enable the children we teach to communicate in today’s world we need
to help them become comfortable, confident and competent in the use of technology,
perhaps it is even more important than learning to write.
References:
Arthur,
L., Beecher, B., Death, E., Dockett, S., Farmer, S. (1993). Programming & Planning in early childhood settings (4th
Ed). Melbourne, Australia: Cengage Learning.
www.business.scoop.co.nz retrieved on 10/3/2012.www.nationmaster.com retrieved on 10/3/2012
Ministry
of Education (1996) Te Whariki Early
Childhood Curriculum. Wellington, New Zealand: Learning Media Limited
Saturday, March 10, 2012
Tuesday, March 6, 2012
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