Active inquiry, not passive absorption, is what engages students. It should pervade the curriculum (Johnson et al., 1989, p. 68).
Learning is not a spectator sport. Students do not learn much just by sitting in class listening to teachers, memorizing prepackaged assignments, and spitting out answers. They must talk about what they are learning, write about it, relate it to past experiences, apply it to their daily lives. They must make what they learn part of themselves (Chickering & Gamson, 1987, p. 3).
References:
Chickering, A. W., & Gamson, Z. F. (1987). Seven principles for good practice. AAHE Bulletin, 39(1), 3-7.
Johnson, J., Spalding, J., Paden, R., & Ziffren, A. (1989). Those who can: Undergraduate programs to prepare arts and sciences majors for teaching. Washington DC: Association of American Colleges.
Finding the alphabet
Two books for teaching about the alphabet: Discovering Nature's Alphabet by Boyl and Castella and Archabet by Balthazar Korab. Both books focus on finding letters of the alphabet in a variety of places within our environment.
A child...
I am a ship
That voyages the sea
I am the wind
That blows through the trees
I am the sun
That shines brightly for all
I am the strength
Proudly standing tall
I am a lost kitten
To be taken in
I am lonely
And in need of a friend
I am the rain
That nourishes the grass
I am a clown
So that you can laugh
I am a garden
For tiny seeds to grow
I am a kite
Who knows where I'll go?
I am a tear
In a puddle of sadness
I am a sparkle
In a smile of gladness
I am a candle
With an eternal flame
I am a stranger
With everyone's name
I am the hope
Of the world for tomorrow
I am the light
And the dark and the sorrow
I am all of these things
And it all lies within you
For I am a child
Teach me what to do.
-Brooke Elliott
(in Teaching as Inquiry: Rethinking Curriculum in Early Childhood Education, p. 77-78)
That voyages the sea
I am the wind
That blows through the trees
I am the sun
That shines brightly for all
I am the strength
Proudly standing tall
I am a lost kitten
To be taken in
I am lonely
And in need of a friend
I am the rain
That nourishes the grass
I am a clown
So that you can laugh
I am a garden
For tiny seeds to grow
I am a kite
Who knows where I'll go?
I am a tear
In a puddle of sadness
I am a sparkle
In a smile of gladness
I am a candle
With an eternal flame
I am a stranger
With everyone's name
I am the hope
Of the world for tomorrow
I am the light
And the dark and the sorrow
I am all of these things
And it all lies within you
For I am a child
Teach me what to do.
-Brooke Elliott
(in Teaching as Inquiry: Rethinking Curriculum in Early Childhood Education, p. 77-78)
Individuality
William Ayers challenges us to see children for who they are in all their fullness. He asks, “When we look out over our classrooms what do we see? Do we see children with hopes and dreams, passions and interests? What are their concerns, their fears, their cares? Who is this person before me? What are her interests and areas of wonder? What effort and potential does she bring? In what ways does our teaching create a range of possibilities for children to make themselves known to us and become more whole and fully alive in the classroom?" (Fu, Stremmel & Hill, 2002, p. 47).
Reference:
Fu, V. R., Stremmel, A. J., & Hill, L. T. (2002). Teaching and learning: Collaborative exploration of the Reggio Emilia approach. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Merrill Prentice Hall.
Reference:
Fu, V. R., Stremmel, A. J., & Hill, L. T. (2002). Teaching and learning: Collaborative exploration of the Reggio Emilia approach. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Merrill Prentice Hall.
Cultural diversity and sense of self
Children who have to negotiate their sense of self within two cultural groups are particularly vulnerable to low self esteem because they assume they cannot be successful in either society (MacNaughton, 2003, p. 179).
Reference:
MacNaughton, G. (2003). Shaping early childhood: Learners, curriculum and contexts. England: Open University Press.
Reference:
MacNaughton, G. (2003). Shaping early childhood: Learners, curriculum and contexts. England: Open University Press.
Our children...
We want more for our children than healthy bodies. We want our children to have lives filled with friendship and love and high deeds. We want them to be eager to learn and willing to confront challenges. We want them to grow up with confidence in the future, a love of adventure, a sense of justice, and courage enough to act on that sense of justice. We want them to be resilient in the face of setbacks and failures that growing up always brings (p.6).
Seligman, MEP, Reivich, K., Jaycox, L., & Gillham, J. (1995). The optimistic child. Sydney: Random House.
Seligman, MEP, Reivich, K., Jaycox, L., & Gillham, J. (1995). The optimistic child. Sydney: Random House.
Autonomy
[The student] is to learn not thoughts but thinking; he is to be guided, not carried, if he is to be able to walk alone in the future.
Kant, 1765, cited in Buchner, 1904, p263-4
Kant, 1765, cited in Buchner, 1904, p263-4
Seriously Dr. Phil?
This made me angry! Children should be accepted for who they are and given the opportunity to play with a variety of toys regardless of their gender!
Acceptance
"It is up to us to create a world in which our children are not judged by their litany of challenges but by the depth of their humanity."
Click here to read the full article
Cheating
Note: Names have been changed.
Today during activity time Sarah and Halley were playing puzzles – it was the one piece puzzles with knobs, and the girls would empty all the pieces out onto the floor and then race to see who would finish the puzzle first. I watched for several minutes and noticed that Sarah was winning every time, however she was the one to say “ready, set, go” every time, which was only said when she was ready with her pieces.
I did my rounds to check on the other students and when I came back to Sarah and Halley they were just about to start another race. Sarah was saying, “ready, set, go” but Halley had 2 pieces in her puzzle already. Halley was about to take the pieces out but realised Sarah had not noticed, so she left them in. This time Halley won – Sarah was shocked, and a bit upset; Halley was very happy.
I felt guilty for knowingly letting Halley cheat, but at the same time it also felt good to see that smile on her face. I didn’t know if I should have said something. I wasn’t going to mention it in front of the other girls, but perhaps I should have pulled her aside and talked about it with her? I wondered is it always bad for children to cheat? I know that it important that they play fair, and letting children cheat is not helping to build positive social and game-playing skills/habits (Arthur et al., 2007). However, what about the self-esteem of the child who never wins? This is something that I have been thinking about a bit since then, and still haven’t really come to any solid conclusions.
I realise that it is important for children to have a sense of fairness and understand that there are rules in playing (Damon, 2010), but perhaps Halley did not think it was fair for Sarah to winning every time. She is not usually one to break the rules and if I had talked with her about it I would have gotten a better understanding of why she did it this time. Every student comes to school with a set of predetermined rules and ideas about play and fairness, but it is up to us as teachers to set the standard for this and guide children in their interactions (Damon, 2010). I had to stop and think about what my role was in this situation. I wasn't sure if it was better to actively make sure the children were playing fairly, or just let them figure things out on their own (Porter, 2008). This is something that I will continually encounter when I am a teacher, and this experience has highlighted the need for me to think about my roles – not only the commonly-used, every day roles, but also the ones that I may not have to use on a daily basis.
I thought about Halley and the reasons why she might have cheated. Although she often plays with Sarah (and Sarah's group of friends) I wondered where she was on the totem pole. Did she feel that through winning she was sustaining her place in Sarah's group of friends? Did she feel that she needed to achieve in order to be accepted (Porter, 2008)? I know it is essential to teach children to persist with their actions, however Halley had been persisting in the game, so this was most likely about something else.
Porter (2008) states that it is more important to teach children to strive for excellence rather than perfection. This seems like a difficult concept to teach children – even us as adults like to see that we are winning. I guess this goes along with the concept of praise, and intrinsic motivation – something that I have been working on trying to do during this practicum. In my mind Halley was excelling – she tried hard every single time to get all the pieces in the puzzle, she was working as fast as she could and did not give up. In my mind she was winning, even though she didn’t come first. But how do you explain something like that to a 6 year old? I guess this is something that I will have to research and continue to reflect on.
Perhaps I did not even have to pull Halley aside and talk about this with her, but I could have brought up examples and discussed with the whole class. However, I wasn’t even sure what my views were on what happened. Gonzalez-Mena (2001) states that before discussing sensitive or controversial issues with children it is important to know where you, as a teacher, stand on these issues. While I don’t think that children should be allowed to cheat, I found myself sympathising with Halley on this occasion. This has shown me that I need to think about these things and work out what my views are and how I will respond to these kinds of situations. While there is no way that I will be able to think about every possible scenario that could come up, I should be keeping in mind the types of things that could occur and ask myself how I would respond. I should be reading up on issues that often occur with children and think about any particular bias or reactions that I might have. No matter how much I learn and experience, there will always be things that are different from the textbook and situations that I won’t know how to respond to. There is such a huge diversity of children that I will encounter and I need to ensure that I am willing and ready to appreciate and adapt to this diversity.
References:
Arthur, L., Beecher, B., Death, E., Dockett, S., & Farmer, S. (2007). Programming and planning in early childhood settings (4th ed.). Victoria: Thomson.
Damon, W. (2010). The bridge to character. Educational Leadership, 65(5), 36-39.
Gonzalez-Mena, J. (2001). Foundations: Early childhood education in a diverse society (2nd ed.). California: Mayfield Publishing Company.
Porter, L. (2008). Young children’s behaviour: Practical approaches for caregivers and teachers (3rd ed.). Marrickville, NSW: Elsevier.
Today during activity time Sarah and Halley were playing puzzles – it was the one piece puzzles with knobs, and the girls would empty all the pieces out onto the floor and then race to see who would finish the puzzle first. I watched for several minutes and noticed that Sarah was winning every time, however she was the one to say “ready, set, go” every time, which was only said when she was ready with her pieces.
I did my rounds to check on the other students and when I came back to Sarah and Halley they were just about to start another race. Sarah was saying, “ready, set, go” but Halley had 2 pieces in her puzzle already. Halley was about to take the pieces out but realised Sarah had not noticed, so she left them in. This time Halley won – Sarah was shocked, and a bit upset; Halley was very happy.
I felt guilty for knowingly letting Halley cheat, but at the same time it also felt good to see that smile on her face. I didn’t know if I should have said something. I wasn’t going to mention it in front of the other girls, but perhaps I should have pulled her aside and talked about it with her? I wondered is it always bad for children to cheat? I know that it important that they play fair, and letting children cheat is not helping to build positive social and game-playing skills/habits (Arthur et al., 2007). However, what about the self-esteem of the child who never wins? This is something that I have been thinking about a bit since then, and still haven’t really come to any solid conclusions.
I realise that it is important for children to have a sense of fairness and understand that there are rules in playing (Damon, 2010), but perhaps Halley did not think it was fair for Sarah to winning every time. She is not usually one to break the rules and if I had talked with her about it I would have gotten a better understanding of why she did it this time. Every student comes to school with a set of predetermined rules and ideas about play and fairness, but it is up to us as teachers to set the standard for this and guide children in their interactions (Damon, 2010). I had to stop and think about what my role was in this situation. I wasn't sure if it was better to actively make sure the children were playing fairly, or just let them figure things out on their own (Porter, 2008). This is something that I will continually encounter when I am a teacher, and this experience has highlighted the need for me to think about my roles – not only the commonly-used, every day roles, but also the ones that I may not have to use on a daily basis.
I thought about Halley and the reasons why she might have cheated. Although she often plays with Sarah (and Sarah's group of friends) I wondered where she was on the totem pole. Did she feel that through winning she was sustaining her place in Sarah's group of friends? Did she feel that she needed to achieve in order to be accepted (Porter, 2008)? I know it is essential to teach children to persist with their actions, however Halley had been persisting in the game, so this was most likely about something else.
Porter (2008) states that it is more important to teach children to strive for excellence rather than perfection. This seems like a difficult concept to teach children – even us as adults like to see that we are winning. I guess this goes along with the concept of praise, and intrinsic motivation – something that I have been working on trying to do during this practicum. In my mind Halley was excelling – she tried hard every single time to get all the pieces in the puzzle, she was working as fast as she could and did not give up. In my mind she was winning, even though she didn’t come first. But how do you explain something like that to a 6 year old? I guess this is something that I will have to research and continue to reflect on.
Perhaps I did not even have to pull Halley aside and talk about this with her, but I could have brought up examples and discussed with the whole class. However, I wasn’t even sure what my views were on what happened. Gonzalez-Mena (2001) states that before discussing sensitive or controversial issues with children it is important to know where you, as a teacher, stand on these issues. While I don’t think that children should be allowed to cheat, I found myself sympathising with Halley on this occasion. This has shown me that I need to think about these things and work out what my views are and how I will respond to these kinds of situations. While there is no way that I will be able to think about every possible scenario that could come up, I should be keeping in mind the types of things that could occur and ask myself how I would respond. I should be reading up on issues that often occur with children and think about any particular bias or reactions that I might have. No matter how much I learn and experience, there will always be things that are different from the textbook and situations that I won’t know how to respond to. There is such a huge diversity of children that I will encounter and I need to ensure that I am willing and ready to appreciate and adapt to this diversity.
References:
Arthur, L., Beecher, B., Death, E., Dockett, S., & Farmer, S. (2007). Programming and planning in early childhood settings (4th ed.). Victoria: Thomson.
Damon, W. (2010). The bridge to character. Educational Leadership, 65(5), 36-39.
Gonzalez-Mena, J. (2001). Foundations: Early childhood education in a diverse society (2nd ed.). California: Mayfield Publishing Company.
Porter, L. (2008). Young children’s behaviour: Practical approaches for caregivers and teachers (3rd ed.). Marrickville, NSW: Elsevier.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)