3.2

...Shows Competence in observing & planning for literacy and numeracy experiences & environs, adapting to specific learner needs, interests & contexts

An Ability

Week 8

 

This week I have been thinking about how children bring their own ideas, perceptions, attitudes and ways of thinking to learning experiences and how it is important to plan for activities that allow for freedom of expression, free exploration, and also extend on interests. Consequently the educators role depends on being flexible and guiding learning rather than directing, while also being able to recognise and respond to the learning and thinking that is being displayed by the children. Throughout professional experience I have observed that children have a strong interest in their learning and like to feel in control and involved. Part of this engagement comes from being able to use their own creativity and individuality and be able to extend their learning in their own way by expressing what they have learnt using different mediums (speech, drawing, writing, remembering), making meaning in social situations and resourcing their own learning by selecting their own materials.

 

The skill I have developed and been able to use throughout my practicum involves supporting learning through the use of teaching and learning techniques such as, scaffolding, modelling and shared intentionality; while also selecting learning materials and arranging spaces for engagement, open ended exploration and making meaning through play. The following pictures are from an example of a learning experience I developed based on the children’s interests where children explored colour mixing using milk, food colour and detergent to produce a reaction that created different shapes and colours:

 

By allowing for creativity in expression, asking the children questions to prompt thought processes and structuring the environment that allowed for free exploration (providing a variety of materials and allowing the children to find their own ways to use the resources), opportunities for the children to use their independence and setting up the activity on a round table to allow for group interaction; I was able to provide a learning experience that catered for optimum engagement, involvement and exploration through play.

 

One of the most important things I learnt from professional experience is that literacy and numeracy are in everything, whether it be existing and communicating within social environments, drawing on prior knowledge and experience, seeing, experiencing and most importantly finding meaning in what we do, especially in the context of early childhood. Young children are often already competent in their literacy and numeracy use, they already come with experience, ideas, perceptions, cultural understandings, formed relationships and identities, the educator’s role is to therefore extend on specific literacy and numeracy skills and help the child become a literate and numerate participant in their world to their greatest ability to be able to be in control of their thinking, interaction and persona.

A useful website I have found that provides excellent practical, open ended, playful learning experiences that use resources that can be sourced from around the home is ‘the Imagination Tree’ - http://theimaginationtree.com, the examples of activities focus on a birth-4 age group and also provide examples of how to make, re-use and extend on learning experiences from both literacy and numeracy perspectives.