Final Group Reflection

After reading all the feedbacks from my group members, I was happy with the ways that they have responded constructively to my personal reflections. One of the most common comments on my blogs was that I am a very good observer in noticing, recognising and responding to children’s learning. I believe that “close observation helps us to see that childhood is filled with curiosity, creativity, and unlimited possibility. Children are born to dive in, take apart, rearrange and invent, using whatever captures their imagination and curiosity for a whim or an intense purpose. As grownups, we have a balancing act to do. We must offer the words and tools children need to make it safely in the world and provide multiple opportunities and materials to expand their curiosity and inventiveness. We must focus on their curiosity and investigation as much as we emphasise their safety and security so as not to squelch children’s natural curiosity and their right to learn in their own effective ways. “(Curtis & Carter, 2000, p 45).

One member questioned my feelings towards technology as well as how technology influences my teaching today. I really believe in technology and that it is a very significant tool for children’s learning. I also believe that children’s development is expanded through “experiences and understanding of people, places, events and things” (Ministry of Education, 1996, p.21). Technology supports children by providing them opportunities to explore different avenues in order to find solutions and answers to their own questions. Technology also promotes children’s creativity because “young children need environments that provide resources, challenges, and support for their widening interests and problem-solving capacities” (Ministry of Education, 1996, p. 26).

I was also surprised at how we did not take much notice of non-digital items that we are using daily at our centre and its technological role in children’s learning like the stethoscope and so on. But this showed how “children marvel at the things adults find ordinary, messy, or even boring. From their point of view, there are so many new things to look at, to hold in their hands, to rub, to taste and to smell. These are the details we need to record and embrace so we can remind ourselves and others of some of the most meaningful and vital experiences in the lives of young children.” (Curtis & Carter, 2000, p 39).

Technology plays an important part in my teaching practices today, because they help me as a teaching tool to enhance children’s learning and development. Cameras supported us in documenting children’s learning experiences and help in building good relations with families after all, “children learn through responsive and reciprocal relationship with people, places, and things” (Ministry of Education, 1996,p.43). Different teaching techniques were used such encouragement and group members believed that it was important like MacNaughton and Williams (2004), suggest “staff use encouragement as a teaching technique to reassure and support children attempting new or difficult activities. The aim of such encouragement is to help children to persevere with the task and to learn new skills and dispositions” (p.61).

Technology fosters good relationships with children. It also promote good social skills so that children could develop appropriate languages to express their feelings and ideas like the use of the banana as a telephone to support the child’s feelings when transitioning from home to the centre. Te Whāriki states that this is how children “discovered different ways to be creative and expressive” (Ministry of Education, 1996, p. 72). 

Overall, this is such a good experience for me, to be able to share with five different beautiful members our ideas and understandings of technology and its significant use in children’s learning and development. All these ideas and recommendations made will help me as a teacher to redefine technology and to contextualised it to accommodate children’s learning and development in order to “grow up as competent and confident learners and communicators, healthy in mind, body, and spirit, secure in their sense of belonging and in the knowledge that they make a valued contribution to society” (Ministry of Education, 1996, pg.9).

References

Curtis, M. & Carter, M. (2000). The art of awareness: How observation can transform your teaching. St. Paul, MN: Redleaf Press.

MacNaughton, G., & Williams, G. (2004). Techniques for teaching young children: Choices in theory and practice (2nd. ed). Melbourne: Addison Wesley Longman.

Ministry of Education. (1996). Te Whāriki: He whārikimātaurangamo ngamokopunao Aotearoa. Wellington, New Zealand: Learning Media.

Stethoscope in the house

Entry 1

I noticed that two toddlers were playing with the baby dolls in the family corner. One of them is a boy and the other one is a little girl and I noticed that they always play together. I saw them wrapping the dolls in small blankets and talking about their babies at the same time. I heard the little girl saying “puke pepe” in her mother-tongue which basically means that the “baby is sick”. The little boy replied “eh, puke pepe?” The girl said “yes” and grabbed the stethoscope from the shelf and put in on before starting to examine the baby doll. The little boy started to say something but the little girl cut him off “ssh, ssh” while looking at the baby doll very seriously.

The little boy stopped and kept quiet until the little girl finished examining the baby and confirmed to him that “pepe puke” or “baby is sick”. The little boy looked sad and took his baby doll from the doctor and he went to explain to the children that were playing on the side that “ta mahaki puke pepe” which means that the “doctor in the hospital said, baby is sick”. The children came up to the baby doll to see how she was and they looked very interested. Some of them approached the doctor and started to talk to her and the doctor put on her stethoscope immediately and examined the children one by one.

I observed the children playing and I took some pictures so I could do a learning story for their portfolios. The children could revisit them later and share their learning with their friends and families.

Looking back at this learning experience, it is obvious that technology plays an important role in children’s learning and development. Technology or the “use of practical and intellectual resources to develop products and systems (technological outcomes) that expand human possibilities by addressing needs and realising opportunities” (Ministry of Education, 2007, p.32) is a very important teaching tool for me as well as an effective learning tool for children. The use of the stethoscope in the family corner highlighted how technology supports children’s learning and playing, as they try to make sense of their play and their world (Ministry of Education, 1996). When it was established that the baby was sick, they instantly thought of the hospital, doctors and their roles and responsibilities to sick people. Therefore, they reached for the stethoscope to find out and to confirm whether the baby was sick or not.

The children role played really well and it was obvious that they had seen and experienced being sick and going to the doctor before. The stethoscope is used confidently because they had seen it used to tell their physical conditions. This shows that children’s development is further extended through “experiences and understanding of people, places, events and things” (MoE, 1996, p. 21).

Technology helped the children to develop their language and communication skills, as they tried to explain what happened to the baby dolls. Language is so important to children to express their feelings and thoughts and to communicate to others. Therefore, as teachers we need to support them in shaping their language development to become good communicators. We also need to respect the image of the child and develop good communication skills in order to understand what they are going through. If we continue to respect them and the challenges that they are going through in developing their language skills, then children will prosper as they will feel secure and confident in their language abilities (MoE, 1996).

When they found out that the doctor said the baby was sick, they went and shared this information with their friends and families and they were encouraged to see the doctor as well. This shows how important it is to know the context of the children and to understand their diversities. These children are pacific islanders and they live collectively, so anything that is happening to anyone in their community is shared with the rest of the community. The use of technology encouraged children to share information because “through responsive and reciprocal relationship with people, places, and things” (MoE, 1996, p.43) children are empowered to go further in life.

References

Google Image. (2012). Image of child girl doctor. Retrieved from

http://www.fotosearch.com/CSP006/k0061935/

Google Image. (2012). Image of stethoscope. Retrieved from

http://www.google.co.nz/imgres?imgurl=https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjt_73YlMeya3MfwefaGemoZWM5E7GqU6DI8qKE4SwjmMGUrNIFpjLrAaaumbLykmt7Y1ehXqomb_7KzTBk3dLkd_hGpd43r0MXZPWHo_2H_n6aM6HBz-LAPSBV-t_34EgXqyqBQ9On33e/s1600/best+stethoscope.jpg&imgrefurl=http://stethoscopereviews99.blogspot.com/&h=400&w=400&sz=11&tbnid=GHLudvgkye_GzM:&tbnh=90&tbnw=90&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dstethoscope%26tbm%3Disch%26tbo%3Du&zoom=1&q=stethoscope&docid=KbBjAKobzKktAM&hl=en&sa=X&ei=OjZsT-v3DsjumAXr9Li_Bg&ved=0CIMBEPUBMAY&dur=58

Ministry of Education. (1996). Te Whāriki, he whaariki mātauranga mo nga mokopuna o Aotearoa : Early childhood curriculum. Wellington: Learning Media.

Ministry of Education. (2007). The New Zealand curriculum. Wellington, New Zealand: Learning Media.

Banana Telephone

Entry 2

Today, I noticed one little girl playing in the family corner by herself and she was talking to herself as she played. I heard her saying mummy a few times so I asked her “where is your mummy” and she responded quickly by saying “mummy work”. I asked “why is mummy going to work” and she said “work”.

Her older sister noticed us talking and she approached us. I asked her the same question and she said “mummy is a teacher like you”. I asked “how she felt about being away from her mum” and she said “I miss mummy but we can call her to talk when we miss her”. I noticed that when we were talking about the mum the little sister looked sad and it was obvious that she missed her mum. But the suggestion from her sister to phone their mum got her excited and her eyes lighted up as she grabbed the telephone and started to dial different numbers before talking on the phone. She said “hi mummy” and she smiled to herself. I saw the other sister picking up another phone and pretended to be the mother and talked back to her little sister. They talked and they moved closer to the wall where all the pictures of children’s families are posted and the little one pointed at their family picture and then looked at me while pointing at her mother saying “mummy”.

Later in the day during afternoon tea, I noticed that the little girl looked sad so I asked her why and she said “mummy”. Her older sister picked up her banana and she raised it to her ears while instructing her sister to do the same. When her sister did, she started to talk pretending that she was the mum. Her little sister looked surprise but soon her expressions changed as she smiled and started to respond to her sister’s conversation.

Looking back, I cannot help but appreciate the role of technology in our everyday lives. Using the telephone allowed this little girl to cope with her emotions when she missed her mother. She felt calm and peaceful knowing that the telephone will connect her to her mother anytime that she wanted. The big sister understood that although they could not see their mother physically, they could still talk to her over the phone. The telephone helped the children to feel secure in their learning environment as their “connecting links with the family and the wider world are affirmed and extended” (Ministry of Education, 1996, p.54).  The use of the family picture is also a good result of using cameras to support children and families.  This technology also fosters good relationships between the two siblings and their mother.

The role playing of the telephone conversation with the mother, support children’s feelings towards their mother and it made them appreciate their mother and how much she meant to them. The telephone also allowed children to be creative and accommodating in their play as they experience “familiarity with the properties and character of the materials and technology used in the creative and expressive arts” (MoE, 1996, p. 80). The children also use bananas from their lunch boxes as telephones and it was very amusing as the two sisters giggled and giggled when they were using it. Cordeau-Young (1997) believes that “experience should stimulate children’s interest, expand their knowledge, be fun and add varieties’ to the school activities” (p. 142) and according to Te Whāriki, during their play, they build up confidence in their language skills as they “discovered different ways to be creative and expressive” (MoE, 1996, p. 72).

I really enjoyed watching these two sisters as they found ways to deal with missing their mother. The telephone and the pictures clearly showed how technology is a significant tool for teaching and learning in my centre as they help me to notice, recognise children’s learning and development.

References

Google Image. (2012). Image of banana. Retrieved from

http://www.google.co.nz/imgres?q=bananas&start=74&hl=en&sa=X&qscrl=1&nord=1&rlz=1T4ADRA_enNZ442NZ443&biw=1327&bih=588&addh=36&tbm=isch&prmd=imvnsue&tbnid=BTnjGgHFDujoDM:&imgrefurl=http://www.glamour.com/health-fitness/blogs/vitamin-g/2010/03/the-vitamin-g-guide-to-bananas.html&docid=FR3QVimJUOu9KM&imgurl=http://www.glamour.com/health-fitness/blogs/vitamin-g/0301-bananas_vg.jpg&w=425&h=282&ei=FDhsT-61D5GwiQfx96nZBQ&zoom=1&iact=rc&dur=309&sig=111246680088335586988&page=4&tbnh=124&tbnw=205&ndsp=26&ved=1t:429,r:3,s:74&tx=66&ty=46

Google Image. (2012). Image of family walking outdoor. Retrieved from

http://www.google.co.nz/imgres?q=modern+telephones&hl=en&sa=X&qscrl=1&nord=1&rlz=1T4ADRA_enNZ442NZ443&biw=1327&bih=588&tbm=isch&tbnid=JRfftL3Y16OR2M:&imgrefurl=http://www.eurocosm.com/Application/Products/Teleph/746-button-reproduction-GB.asp&docid=5OFa5zrTe-z-OM&imgurl=http://www.eurocosm.com/Application/Images/Teleph/black-button-700-lg.jpg&w=1000&h=808&ei=zTdsT8j_J42diAeBldjYBQ&zoom=1&iact=hc&vpx=176&vpy=267&dur=1195&hovh=202&hovw=250&tx=157&ty=98&sig=111246680088335586988&page=1&tbnh=121&tbnw=166&start=0&ndsp=21&ved=1t:429,r:7,s:0

Ministry of Education. (1996). Te Whāriki, he whaariki mātauranga mo nga mokopuna o Aotearoa : Early childhood curriculum. Wellington: Learning Media.

Taylor, S., Morris, V., & Cordeau-Young, C. (1997). Field trips in early childhood settings: Expanding the walls of the classroom. Early Childhood Education Journal, 25 (2), 141-146.

Taking technology to the outdoor

Entry 3

                                                                                                                                                           

I noticed that a group of children were playing in the block area, so I approached them to see what was happening. I saw them building something and I asked them what they were doing. They told me that they were “building a park” for them to play in. I asked them if they go to their local parks to play and they were so excited in telling me that they always go with their families and friends. The children just kept on talking and talking about their visits to the park and I kept on asking them questions to challenge their thinking and to stimulate them to share more of their experiences and play in the park.

I brought some little people figures, trees, green artificial grass, vehicles and road signs for them to use in their plans and their construction site just grew bigger and bigger. They were so interested that we decided to go on a short excursion outside our centre just so that they could experience the freedom of the outdoor again. I wanted the children to have the chance to experience and explore the real physical world again. Woyke believes that “young children learn best through hands-on learning experiences in environments well matched to their ages and stages of development” (2004, p. 82).

We discussed our excursion plans, our safety plans and got all the necessary paperwork done before setting out in our excursion. I gave them each a turn using our school camera and they just went for gold. The children were so excited and they took so many pictures of people, places and things that they saw on the way. They learnt and “experience with some of the technology and resources for mathematics, reading and writing (Ministry of Education, 1996, p. 78) like traffic lights and numbers on mail boxes as well as many other things such as trees, road names, road signs, and vehicles and so on.

When we returned, we put together the pictures in a book and we shared them with all the children in the centre and we also made it available for parents to access as well. We also recorded the children’s conversations to show how much they enjoyed the learning experience and how much they had learnt. 

Looking back at this learning experience, the use of the camera enhances the learning of the children and supports their development because it allows them to document and record their own learning. This showed their “ability to represent their discoveries, using creative and expressive media and the technology associated with them” (MoE, 1996, p. 88). The book also helped in building good relationships with parents and families as they have the opportunities to share the learning of their children although they were not physically present in the excursion.  Children learnt to also foster positive relationships with their living environment like butterflies, worms, trees and so on. They continued to learn to respect nature, plants, insects and pāpātuanuku. They understood their responsibilities to other nature and not harming them like the dog that they saw on the road.

This technology also allowed us to see things from the children’s level as they see the world in their own ways. The camera allowed children that did not participate to enjoy the same experience because “children develop connecting links between events and experiences within and beyond the early childhood education setting” (p. 56).

The camera helped in developing children’s language skills as they learnt different words to describe what they see and experience like road signs. According to Te Whāriki, children build up their confidences in their language skills as they “discovered different ways to be creative and expressive” (p. 72). The pictures taken helped children to answer some of their unanswered questions and supported them in making sense of their world (MoE, 1996) because “technology is about helping people and solving problems” (Smorti, 1999, p.1).

After the excursion, I am more confident in my teaching and using of technology as a tool to teach children about so many things. According to Te Whāriki, in order to participate in this world, our children will need the confidence to develop their own perspectives as well as the capacity to continue acquiring new knowledge and skills (MoE, 1996).

References

Google Image. (2012). Image of camera. Retrieved from

http://media.photobucket.com/image/camera/fashionandyou/Camera.jpg?o=1

Google Image. (2012). Image of family walking outdoor. Retrieved from

http://www.123rf.com/photo_8893275_illustration-family-walking-on-path-outdoors-smiling.html

Ministry of Education. (1996). Te Whāriki, he whaariki mātauranga mo nga mokopuna o Aotearoa : Early childhood curriculum. Wellington: Learning Media.

Smorti, S. (1999). Technology in Early Childhood. Early Education, No.19 Autumn 1999.

Woyke, P. (2004). Hopping frogs and trail walks: Connecting young children and nature. Young Children, 59 (1), 82-85.

Problems!

Hi Everyone I just experienced a major problem with my blogs!! I could not post at first so I panicked and email my reflections to Sharon Chand instead of our lecturer Sharon Reddy!! Oh my God what a thing to happen!! I emailed her again to please delete my assignments and email then I finally managed to email our lecturer!! After how many tries I managed to post but I tried to add space betw the paragraphs and references the comp could let me!! I spent a longtime on the phone with Mi to get this sorted but still we couldn't all I am left with is a big mobile phone bill hoi!! Anyway, I posted everything but have to wait for Sharon to contact me to see what I can do!! But in the mean time please enjoy my blog as I am enjoying yours! Malo Sulieti

Malo e lelei!

Hi everyone, I am finally blogging and is enjoying every minute of it! Looking forward to a semester of  blogging! Happy blogging people!!!

Malo
Sulieti