Outcome 4.3

Outcome 4.3

Shows recognition of your own potential prejudices & projections, noting ways you hope to overcome them

Action Plan/Resource

Prior to undertaking this topic I was unaware of the value that every day routines and experiences can have on a babies foundations of literacy and numeracy learning. Part of this initial mistaken perception was viewing the care of babies in childcare as purely ‘care’, with limited learning opportunities, and the toys being provided to stimulate the babies’ interests rather than achieving more specific learning outcomes. To overcome these views I carefully evaluated and reflected on the kinds of resources that I could use within a nursery room to promote literacy and numeracy immersion. First I came up with a list of resources that I could use with a baby or young toddler, trying to use items that were open-ended and could easily be found around the home or child care centre, not specialised equipment. The list I came up with was:

 

• boxes
• mirrors
• buckets and objects to put inside them (e.g. soft, rubber balls – larger to eliminate chocking risk)
• water and glitter in containers
• puppets
• objects that make different sounds (e.g. wind chimes, drums to bang on)
• sensory materials (e.g. soft cloths/herbs to smell)
• books
• colourful mats
• balloons

 

From this list I then decided to analyse the literacy and numeracy learning that would occur through the use of these materials:

From analysing the use of resources with babies and young toddlers I am much more aware of how much a baby is learning every day. As a teacher I feel I will be much more competent in observing babies’ learning due to this awareness and also in providing open-ended, exploratory learning experiences. This though process has demonstrated the importance of considering why we think about things in certain ways and how we can change the way we perceive learning processes.

 

 

Outcome 4.1

 Portfolio Post

4.1 Critiques other plausible perspectives on early literacy & numeracy awareness & immersion

 

Action Plan

To find out how social processes in relation to children’s home lives and significant others can contribute to literacy and numeracy learning, I was first inspired to find broad definitions for literacy and numeracy learning processes. This led me to DECD’s (2013) ‘Numeracy and Literacy Strategy Birth-18’.  I thought this document was a good place to start as I could determine how DECD’s views of literacy and numeracy fit with my own personal perspectives and critique how my views have changed since engaging in this topic.

 

The definitions provided by DECD (2013) are:

 

 (http://www.decd.sa.gov.au/docs/documents/1/NumeracyLiteracyStrategy.pdf)

Numeracy: ‘the ability to access, use, interpret and communicate mathematical information and ideas, in order to engage in and manage the mathematical demands of a range of situations in adult life’. (OECD as cited in DECD, 2013, p.8)

Literacy: ‘Literacy is the ability to understand, use and reflect on written texts in order to achieve one’s goals, to develop one’s knowledge and potential, and to participate effectively in society’ (OECD as cited in DECD, 2013, p.9)

 The strengths of these views of literacy and numeracy include, in relation to how they fit with my perspectives:

 

 

• awareness of literacy and numeracy being socially constructed
• The decoding aspects of literacy and numeracy, in being able to infer, make predictions, communicate and interpret ideas or concepts within everyday life
•  The recognition of everyday situations as being powerful learning tools in literacy and numeracy
• Literacy and numeracy being practical, integrated skills not only explicitly learning concepts

The weaknesses of these views include, in relation to how they contrast with my perspectives:

• literacy and numeracy being catered towards developing to a point in time, whereas I believe that literacy and numeracy is part of a learning continuum, we never stop learning to use literacy and numeracy processes by continuing to develop and improve our abilities as time progresses
• ‘adult life’/ ‘effective participation in society’ being goals of literacy and numeracy learning, rather than focusing on the development of the individual and literacy and numeracy learning being depending on personal identities and contextualised examples

Therefore, my own understanding of literacy and numeracy has been shaped by my social situations, interpersonal relationships and how I believe these concepts (literacy and numeracy) fit within my world.
 

Consequently children’s immersion in literacy and numeracy can be highly influenced in how their significant others/parents/caregivers and peers:

- communicate with them, the way they utilise words and phrases

- How they use literacy related materials and how they value them within their lives (e.g. reading novels, sourcing information)

- How others exhibit problem solving strategies (making use of tools and thought processes to overcome problems within everyday life)

- Modelling literacy and numeracy skills and processes

- How they respond to social situations using literate and numerate perspectives (e.g. using maps to navigate or maintaining conversations within social roles)

 

 

 

Reference:

Government of South Australia. (2013). Great start, strong foundations, powerful learners: A Numeracy and Literacy Strategy from Birth to 18. Adelaide, SA: Department for Education and Child Development (DECD).

Outcome 2.2

Portfolio Post

 

2.2 Recognises subtle differences & levels in literacy & numerical learning & development according to age, ability, culture & social circumstances

An experience:

During my last prac I was in a kindergarten that had a broad range of different cultural and social backgrounds, therefore I was able to observe the interplay between age, ability, culture and social circumstances all coming together. Not only were there a mix of cultures but also beliefs and religious backgrounds and varying range of ability with disabilities and social backgrounds. One little girl in particular was struggling to communicate and open up to people in the social situation, who will be referred to as *Naomi for the purposes of confidentiality. *Naomi was emotionally and physically reserved and resistant, however it was known that she was able to speak English and had come from a bilingual background, although she existed in a different cultural setting, coming from an Indian family who had not been in Australia very long.

*Naomi had been at the centre for almost a year and was four years old and about to begin her last term at kindy. Occasionally we would notice *Naomi coming out of her shell and showing a smile or saying an utterance of enjoyment when engaged in particular activities, often these activities would be playing with baby dolls in the home corner or playing hide and seek games around the block corner, the things she enjoyed and felt comfortable doing, possibly activities she had been already exposed to at home. One day, me and another staff member were given the opportunity to attend the multicultural resource centre where we wanted to find culturally specific toys and props to use with *Naomi, and the other children, to incorporate a more culturally diverse atmosphere within the centre.

We came back with many great multicultural resources that related to *Naomi’s Indian heritage, these included books that included her first language with English captions, as well as Indian costumes and dolls. *Naomi loved reading the stories and would frequently point to the pictures, smile and say things about the story in a much more coherent and socially engaged way. The costumes were hung up around the room and also prompted many children to have conversations about them, as well as playing Indian music, therefore many of the children began to build relationships with *Naomi as she began to communicate more, whereas before they had been hesitant and tended to interact with her less.

This experience has taught me how individual learning must be to really get children to engage with their situations, as learning is such a social process as well. For *Naomi’s situation it was about making her more comfortable within the environment, giving her things to relate to so she could open up to the social situation and feel a sense of belonging. Consequently l now understand the importance of literacy and numeracy from a social perspective as being vital for not only communication but also understanding, being able to decode and make connections within the environments that surround you. For *Naomi to achieve successful literacy and numeracy learning she first needed the support that recognised her individual learning needs in ways of ability, culture and social circumstances. This thought process highlighted to me how differences and levels of literacy and numeracy learning cannot be assessed without taking in to consideration a child’s cultural and social identity.

Outcome 3.3

Portfolio Post

 

3.3 States the strengths & possible limits of your own ability to observe & offer literacy & numeracy experiences with children less than 4 years of age

 

An Ability
This portfolio post is in relation to a previous reading blog post on how teachers can best support literacy and numeracy learning across multiple contexts and encourage parental involvement. As one of the limits in ability that teachers face is offering and observing activities between contexts with very young children under 4 years of age.  It is during these ages that parental involvement and communication is vital, as educators cannot see what experiences the child has previously been exposed to at home, therefore relying on parents to extend learning and continue the connection between childcare and home environments.

In the previous blog on this topic I stated that ‘For me, this reading helped me recognise that learning is very context dependent, and that for successful learning and ‘decoding’ to occur a strong emphasis needs to be placed on connecting learning environments and our role as educators in providing parents with information, especially when they do not have the initial knowledge on how to best assist their child’s literacy and numeracy development.’ These ideas where further evident with some peer feedback I received in relation to educators being aware of the ways they can help parents understand and provide experiences that best suit their child’s learning needs.

Recently I overheard a parent say about his toddler, who was getting upset, ‘she gets frustrated because she has no words to tell us how she feels’. This made me consider how parents understand their child’s individual needs so well and that educators need to complement this process by providing parents with resources in information on how they can best support their child’s development. As young children (under four years) are also having their first experiences of the outside world, away from their families, they are also still developing their own persona and social identity. Therefore it becomes more important for teachers to utilise parents’ and caregivers’ knowledge of their child’s individual needs and personal learning experiences.

The integrated nature of literacy and numeracy during these age groups (under 4), highlights the need to offer a range of learning experiences, not only catered towards literacy and numeracy but both learning areas. One of my own limits in offering literacy and numeracy experiences for children under four is that during these age groups I don’t believe literacy and numeracy learning can be separated, yet it occurs in everything that the child experiences. For me, an ability that has been improved (in relation to integrating literacy and numeracy with individual learning needs) by providing accurate and useful feedback and assessment in observing very young children’s literacy and numeracy learning, has been using anecdotal records as it has allowed me to be mindful of the child’s personality and provide un-biased accounts of learning, from both the child’s perspective and my own perspective.

Evidence of a lesson plan that was based on an anecdotal record that I created to plan for learning and create an experience based on a child's specific interests can be viewed in my professional portfolio (in Figure 1) by clicking on the link below:

http://annarobertsprofessionalportfolio.weebly.com/32-plan-structure-and-sequence-learning-programs.html

The following is a newsletter I found in relation to summative assessment and is useful for showing educators how they can integrate observation and planning with individual learning needs and identities.

http://www.earlychildhoodaustralia.org.au/nqsplp/e-newsletters/newsletters-36-40/newsletter-40/
 

Week 12

Week 12 Reading Blog

What?

This week I was interested in how I could develop a child’s sense of awareness of their thought processes by helping them to becoming active participants in their social and emotional learning. The two readings I chose were ‘The Classroom That Math Built: Encouraging Young Mathematicians to Pose Problems’ (Wallace, Abbott & Blary, 2007) and ‘Moses’s Story: Critical Literacy and Social Justice in an Urban Kindergarten’ (Wood, 2005). Both readings demonstrated sociocultural perspectives on involving children in their literacy and numeracy learning by utilising group work to enhance social interaction and developing cognitive reasoning abilities in children, such as reflection, symbolic awareness, independent thought and critical thinking through problem solving.

So what?

The main points as described in 'The Classroom That Math Built: Encouraging Young Mathematicians to Pose Problems’ by Wallace et al (2007) in relation to using concrete realistic experiences to encourage numeracy development by:

• providing for differing ability levels: by keeping the children at the centre of the learning, involving them and using their interests teachers can promote independent, critical learners. Wallace et al (2007) did so by taking a real life problem that was relevant to the children’s lives, (their classroom arrangement) and positioning them at the centre of the learning, making it their project more than it was hers.
• Using children’s interests: allowing time for children to develop an interest in the topic using their experiences and observed interests and therefore prompting self-regulation in learning as it is more about completing a challenge than doing a required or imposed task. Wallace et al (2007) did so by opening the activity with narrative and using open-ended questions to gain children’s attention.
•  Allowing for Joint Construction/Shared Understanding: allowing for children to work together to complete tasks and develop processes that support each other and enhance learning opportunities. Wallace et al (2007) did so by using group work as the basis for the mathematics project, this allowed paring to occur where children could guide each other utilising the differing strengths they had. As Wallace et al (2007) explains, during group time ‘children have the opportunities to recognise, verbalise, explore and evaluate...’ (p.43).
•  One of the particularly important quotes from Wallace at al (2007) was “Effective early childhood educators teach children how to think” (p.48). This idea further illustrates the need for children to become aware of their own thought processes to be able to become an active participant in their own learning and development.

Similarly in Wood’s (2005) article centres around the idea of ‘critical literacy’ which represents the importance of children evaluating and exploring ideas whilst developing critical or problem solving processes and being aware of how they can direct their thinking to solving concrete problems within their personal lives. An important point of this article in relation to early literacy development is young children being able to use their communication to understand the world by understanding their own cognitive processes and as a result apply literacy to their understandings by interacting in a range of situations, and using a range of modes of communicating (Wood, 2005).

Now what?

These articles demonstrate the need for teachers to be aware of their theoretical understanding behind the techniques they use in their teaching of literacy and numeracy with young children. In future I will continue the process of being a reflective learner by researching and being critical of my teaching practices and how they can help to develop broader thinking styles and multiple learning applications.

References:

 

 Wood, J. (2005). Moses’s story: Critical literacy and social justice in an urban kindergarten. Beyond the Journal: Young Children on the Web, July, Retrieved 22^nd July, 2011 from http://www.naeyc.org/files/naeyc/file/vop/VoicesWood.pdf

Wallace, A., Abbott, D. & McAlhaney Blary, R. (2007). The classroom that math built: Encouraging young mathematicians to pose problems. Young Children, September, 42-46.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Outcome 2.1

 

(http://vickistirling.files.wordpress.com/2012/08/critical-literacy-wordle1.gif)

 

Week 12 Portfolio Post

2.1 Provides a thorough account of these developmental influences, supported by key theorists, frameworks, literature &/or research

An action plan

This week I have been particularly interested in increasing my knowledge of theoretical applications of learning and teaching in relation to encouraging social awareness and emotional intelligence in young children. I feel this kind of development can be enhanced by using literacy and numeracy concepts by helping children to develop important reasoning techniques to be able to reflect, analyse and compare the concepts they face within their daily lives. I think the concept of self-regulation relates to critical literacy and numeracy as emotional awareness relates to being critical of the feelings we experience and how we could use them to help us learn. Below is my action plan detailing the resource I would use to guide my practice in relation to developing learners who are aware of their thinking.
One of the most important theories of social development comes from Lev Vygotsky and the relationship between constructing meaning in social situations and developing thought processes (Smagorinsky, 2007). An important theoretical application of Vygotsky’s work that I would use in my future centre or classroom would be the ‘Tools of the Mind’ program for developing self-regulation and emotional intelligence in young children:

 

http://www.toolsofthemind.org/

 

 

The applications I would use from this program in my preschool room would be:

• Helping children to become involved in their daily experiences by making ‘plans of the day’ as a group and individually using drawing and writing (at any age regardless of drawing/writing ability, simply promoting the act of drawing or writing)
• Encouraging drawing and thinking about emotions, using stories that depict different emotions and discussing them in the context of children’s lives
• Use scaffolding questions that help children to think and reflect about their play, for example ‘why did you choose this toy? How did it make you feel?’ 
• Actively model thinking processes associated with emotional reasoning, during group times we would discuss and read stories about how to manage emotions and how to help and support others around us
• Use sensory based activities that promote expressive language development in describing objects or feelings

 

I believe that being aware of how we think and work through problems (in literacy and numeracy) aids the development of critical literacy skills as children begin to notice how they can be responsible for their thinking, helping them to use their communication with others in the shared construction of knowledge (communicative-linguistic) and prior experiences (memory) to create meaning in more abstract, symbolic (perceptual-sensory) concepts such as emotions.

 

References:

Smargorinsky, P. (2007). Vygotsky and the Social Dynamics of Classrooms. English Journal, 97(2), 61-66.