Reading Blogs

Week 5

What?

The readings I selected for week 5 were, ‘Being numerate’ by Jenni Connor (2011) and ‘The socio-cultural context of literacy learning’ by Caroline Barratt-Pugh (2000). I chose these two articles in particular as I was interested in finding out how integrated literacy and numeracy skills are as tools for everyday, contextualized situations. These articles were interesting to read and helpful to be able to apply and reflect on the ways in which literacy and numeracy skills are taught and explore the practical implications of the way in which we view these concepts and how that affects the way we design learning activities.

So what?

 

Both the articles had similar main arguments, that is the interconnectedness of literacy and numeracy to everyday situations and in particular learning the skills associated with being numerate and literate involves simply, ‘doing’.

 The article by Connor (2011) explored the way in which we use numeracy to guide our behaviour and make sense of our world, how activities that children are exposed to on a regular basis are the foundation of numeracy learning, in doing so this article also questioned the way early educators perceive the meaning of numeracy and what it means to be numerate. Here Connor (2011) examines how we see such activities as ‘play’ involve many skills that are involved with numeracy, for example developing awareness of space and how to make sense of our physical environments, using cognitive processes that aid critical thinking  and consequently being able to process and talk about what we are doing or seeing.

Similarly in Barratt-Pugh’s (2000) article looked at the practical implications of the way we teach literacy and how literacy is context dependent and should be integrated with social and cultural understandings and philosophies. Therefore by simply interacting and existing within a variety of cultural and social contexts children are beginning to build their literacy through communicating, scaffolding diverse situations to create more meaning (Barratt-Pugh, 2000).

Now What?

The way we think of literacy and numeracy is vitally important for successful teaching of these skills. It is interesting to consider the effects of how our perceptions of the meanings of the words ‘literacy’ and ‘numeracy’ can change the way we structure activities to gain the most beneficial learning of these skills. During early childhood, by simply using everyday materials, situations and experiences we can enhance the way in which children develop their ability to be literate and numerate in a range of diverse situations.

 

References

 Barratt-Pugh, C. (2000). The socio-cultural context of literacy learning. In C. Barratt-Pugh & M. Rohl (Eds.), Literacy learning in the early years (pp. 1-27). Crows Nest, NSW: Allen & Unwin

Connor, J. (2011). Being numerate. The Early Years Learning Framework Professional Learning Program No. 22, Canberra: Early Childhood Australia & Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations (DEEWR)

 

 

Week 6

 

What?

 

The two readings I selected for this week were ‘Telling stories in the 21^st Century’ by Neville Dwyer (2008) and ‘Mathematics Save the Day’ by Julie Clark (2007). I selected these readings as following the tutorial last week and my reading blogs on the integrated nature of literacy and numeracy in Early Childhood and how these skills correspond with play and the learning that occurs through everyday situations. Consequently this learning directed my thinking to the use of strategies to best incorporate imaginative and creative thought within literacy and numeracy learning. The question I particularly wanted to look further into was, how can the use of storytelling aid the development of literacy and numeracy within preschool contexts?

So what?

 

The first article, ‘Telling stories in the 21^st century’ by Dwyer (2008) focused on the implications of technology usage and how it can effect young children’s learning by engaging children in becoming the creator of their own narratives, based on everyday situations, helping them to develop critical thought processes by developing deeper interests in the world around them. Dwyer (2008) also evaluated the notion of children feeling in control of their literacy learning, with recording stories and narratives via technology enabling young children to become actively involved in the learning process through the use of digital media, for example using photography and drama to depict and relate to stories and ideas from their own environments.

The second article ‘Mathematics Save the Day’ by Clark (2007) described how stories can be used to enhance interest and engagement within the learning associated with numeracy. Children learn best through doing, existing in their interpersonal worlds, therefore using stories to teach numeracy concepts aids development as it allows children to view ideas represented in exciting, visual ways and relate them back to their everyday experience (Clark, 2007). The use of storytelling to teach numeric concepts is also socially inclusive as stories allow for a range of diverse learning needs by integrating everyday life with imagination (Clark, 2007).

Now what?

 

It is important for early childhood educators to implement a range of teaching strategies to enable young children to use the multiple thought processes associated with being literate and numerate and in a range of contexts. By utilising a mix of everyday, directed, imaginative and play based experiences educators can ensure that young children are able to explore literacy and numeracy in a range of contexts and begin to connect their learning back to experience and self-satisfaction within their explorations.

References

 

Clark, J. (2007). Mathematics Saves the Day. Australian Primary Mathematics Classroom, 12(2), 21-24. Retrieved September 9, 2013, from A+ Education Plus Text Informit

Dwyer, N. (2008). Telling Stories in the 21^st Century. Every Child, 14(2), 32-33. Retrieved September 9, 2013, from A+ Education Plus Text Informit

Week 7

 What?

The two readings I used to support my learning this week were ‘Creating and using a mathematical environment’ by Tucker (2010) and ‘Learning to Read the World: Literacy in the first 3 years’ by Rosenkoetter & Knapp-Philo (2004). This week I was interested in looking into the learning environment and how we as educators can structure it best to allow for the most beneficial exploratory learning and also how our interactions with children can help guide learning and the relationship between the environment and intentional teaching. Therefore I felt these articles provided a comparison between these questions in the form of answering my broader question of, how do children make sense of their environment through literacy and numeracy?

So what?

The article by Tucker (2010) provided a comprehensive overview of the practical ways in which educators could support mathematical learning and the development of numeracy through the structure of the learning space and consequently how it effects a child’s ‘psychological’ and ‘physical’ learning attitudes (p.15).  Tucker (2010) outlined the importance of the environment on learning outcomes where the resources, organisation of physical space, and correspondence of inside and outside environments can enhance or limit learning in the form of encouraging multimodal and diverse ways of thinking, diversity of experience, self-confidence and autonomy, shared intentionality, individualised learning processes and enjoyment.

The second article by Rosenkoetter & Knapp-Philo (2004) explored how children develop early literacy in the form of everyday communication and interaction where:
- words and their corresponding concrete and implied symbols help form literal and applied understandings.
- Through the use of verbal, drawn and written and other multi-modal forms of communication children begin to realise their own autonomy
- Children gradually build a personal profile and repertoire of communication within family, cultural, social and community contexts by interacting, imitating, observing and creating using literacy
- With continuous exposure to words, books, speech, signs and symbols children learn to understand their world
- Successful literacy learning depends on the following relationships and the partnerships they create: (see diagram below)

                                                     

Now what?

Both articles illustrated the highly integrated nature of literacy and numeracy within every day, exploratory experience that centred on interaction within the social context. Children therefore make sense of their environment through literacy and numeracy as these skills give them the tools to be able to communicate, explore and form understandings. While much of the literacy and numeracy development comes from being a social, environmental and psychological participant within their world. From a more practical point of view, educators can structure the learning space for optimal engagement by utilising everyday materials and involving children in the creation and implementation of learning experiences by encouraging imaginative play, creative expression and shared thinking.

References

Rosenkoetter, S. & Knapp-Philo, J. (2004). Learning to read the world: Literacy in the first 3 years. Zero to Three, 25(1), 4-9

N) Tucker, K. (2010). Why play? & Creating and using a mathematical environment. Mathematics through play in the Early Years (pp. 5-14). London: SAGE Publications

Week 8

 What?

 

 

The two readings I selected for week eight were, ‘Maternal literacy practices and toddlers emergent literacy skills’ by Edwards (2012) and ‘Toddlers as mathematicians?’  by Lee (2012). After viewing a video in the tutorial this week on infants learning through interactions as text participants, I was interested in finding out more about how toddlers create meaning from being participants in their social, emotional and physical worlds and consequently how they express their learning through their thought processes and verbal and non verbal communication. Furthermore, this research directed my thinking to the broader question of, how can our interactions with toddlers (as well as infants and preschool children...) enhance literacy and numeracy learning?

So What?

 

 

The first article, by Edwards (2012), ‘Maternal literacy practices and toddlers emergent literacy skills’ outlines how interactions, with very young children under the age of three, can aid literacy development, with a focus on parental interactions rather than those in an educational setting. The points presented in this article, in relation to literacy learning, highlighted the importance of parents modelling literacy behaviours in the form of enjoyment, engaging with texts during everyday routines, exposure to a variety of texts, encouraging verbal and non-verbal expression and the joint construction of meaning through shared intentionality.  

The second article, by Lee (2012), ‘Toddlers as mathematicians?’, explored the development of numeracy from the perspective of an educator, and how very young children create mathematical meaning through the exploration of their immediate environments. The main points this article presents are that, spontaneous, child-led experiences create the most beneficial situations for numeracy development. Furthermore children are therefore able to represent their knowledge and form understandings in concrete ways through the navigation of physical spaces, incorporating mathematical ideas such as spatial awareness, length, height, patterning and shape; the use of numerical awareness through counting, organising and classifying; the manipulation of play objects to reflect aspects of volume, size and weight involved in measuring and quantifying.

 

Now What?

 

As educators we must be aware of the importance of the initial stages of experience and making meaning that provide the foundation of future learning. Therefore social interaction and environmental exploration that toddlers encounter provide the foundations for learning in the form of behavioural processes such as understanding, observing, imitating, communicating and remembering. Educators can enhance literacy and numeracy learning for toddlers (and older children) by:

- scaffolding play experiences
- guiding learning rather than directing
- modelling thought processes and emotional regulation
- exposing toddlers to a variety of exploratory, play-based experiences
- exposing toddlers to multimodal forms of text and written language
- integrating numeracy concepts into daily routines (for example, patterns, rhymes, shape, organising, classifying and counting)

 

References

 

 

Edwards, C. M. (2012). Maternal literacy practices and toddlers emergent literacy skills. Journal of Early Childhood Literacy, 0(0), 1-27.

Lee, S. (2012). Toddlers as mathematicians? Australasian Journal of Early Childhood, 37(1

 

 

 

Week 9

 

What?

This week I wanted to learn more about language development and more specifically how children use language to represent their understandings and I will be able to support this learning. Since reading about babies and toddlers I have since become interested in their learning and how it differs from older children. I have also been curious to learn more about the way babies communicate non-verbally when they are unable to communicate using spoken language and which signs they display to be able to interact with adults and other children. Therefore the two readings I selected for week nine were:

- ‘Talk To Me, Baby’ by Betty Bardige and M. Kori Bardige (2008)
- ‘Infants and Toddlers Exploring Mathematics’ by Eugene Geist (2009) My reasons for selecting these readings in particular were that they both provided practical examples of contextualised behaviour, therefore allowing me to reflect on what I had experienced. Both articles also broke down the learning into observable categories, which would be handy for future use. As I sometimes have trouble breaking the learning down whilst observing and figuring out what to look for I wish to develop my skills in this area by reading about specific behavioural signals that I can refer to when analysing the learning that is taking place.


 

Now What?

The main points in both articles emphasised the importance of interaction in early language, literacy and numeracy development and how when we interact with children we often modify our language use to scaffold their understanding, introduce them to new concepts and vocabulary and support their interest by engaging them in new experiences that appeal to their curiosity (Bardige & Bardige, 2008; Geist, 2009). The article by Bardige& Bardige (2008) identified that children begin to develop their language from before they are born and begin to develop their initial understandings based on interaction and imitation. When a child is unable to communicate verbally they use gestures and similar verbal sounds (baby ‘babbel’, p.6), before progressing to single word utterances and finally multiple words to form sentences.

Similarly in the article by Geist (2009) children begin to develop numeracy skills right from birth through interaction and everyday experience. Geist (2009) describes the role of the educator as very important in scaffolding learning when they ‘...offer materials and activities that provide appropriate levels of challenge, help children question their own assumptions, and encourage them to think about and recognise relationships between objects’ (p.40). Here are some examples of learning provided by Geist (2009, p.40), which could be overlooked, yet provides valuable mathematical understandings:

 

 

 

(Geist, 2009, p.40)

 

Now What?

It is important for educators to understand the interconnectedness of literacy and numeracy and how simple, everyday learning experiences can provide beneficial understandings and concrete representations. For example, before reading these articles I would have been unaware that simply drinking out of a round cup is part of literacy and numeracy development, or the value of purely reading to a child and just talking in aiding language and communication development. With this knowledge I feel I am more capable at being able to scaffold children’s learning during spontaneous learning situations.

 

References:

Bardige, B. & Bardige, M. (2008). Talk to me, baby! Supporting language development in the first 3 years. Zero to Three, September, 4-10

 

 

Geist, E. (2009). Infants and Toddlers Exploring Mathematics. Young Children, 64(3), 39-41.

 

Week 10

Technician - How do I crack this code?

- Given very young children’s development of language and abstraction, how do contextual, multimodal symbols and conventions support their encoding or decoding of the world around them?

What?

This week I was interested in finding out how teacher’s can best support literacy and numeracy learning across multiple contexts and encourage parental involvement. Before I could answer this question I wanted to find out how parents increase literacy and numeracy outcomes for their child. The two readings selected to help me answer this question were, ‘Parental Involvement in children’s acquisition of Reading’ (Darling & Westberg, 2004) and ‘It’s in the bag: Parental involvement in a numeracy at-home program’ (Muir, 2012).

So What?

Parents can greatly enhance the acquisition of both literacy and numeracy skills by encouraging and modelling good literacy and numeracy habits, recognising and responding to their child’s individual needs and abilities, and engaging in joint construction of knowledge during shared reading and numeracy activities (Darling & Westberg, 2004; Muir, 2012). The development of basic literacy knowledge in relation to reading was defined by Darling & Westberg (2004) as knowledge of ‘letter names and sounds, phoneme awareness, early decoding abilities, word recognition and reading comprehension’ (p.774), to be able to guide the development of these skills parents need to have knowledge of strategies to help children learn how to read and decode text. Strategies can include:

- phonic awareness and cues
- use of memory tools (e.g. flashcards, pictures and words (symbols))
- reading in an appropriate learning environment or space
- sounding out letter and word sounds
- guidance, encouragement and celebrating success
- discussing the book before reading it (e.g. awareness of title and pictures)
- encouraging the child to self-correct and not jumping in on mistakes, giving the child time to recognise and correct themselves
(Darling & Westberg, 2004)

Another factor that can enhance or limit literacy and numeracy learning in the home environment includes parental attitudes to literacy and numeracy learning and pedagogy. This includes parent’s early experiences with learning mathematics or reading, negative or positive and societies views toward numeracy as more negative compared with literacy often because numeracy is attributed to just number skills, and general rote learning, rather than the integrated nature of literacy and numeracy that involves daily experiences and concrete problems (Muir, 2012). Parents were able to assist with numeracy development by valuing numeracy activities as just as beneficial as literacy activities (such as reading) and applying numeracy concepts to games and daily concrete experiences (for example cooking) (Muir, 2012).

Now What?

Educators can help parents become more involved in their child’s literacy and numeracy learning by engaging parents in continuous communication and correspondence, giving parents strategies and information on how to support literacy and numeracy development and designing specific learning tasks to engage both parent and child in literacy and numeracy concepts that are easily understandable and provides parents with outcomes that are easily observable (Darling & Westberg, 2004; Muir, 2012).

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. Muir (2012) provided an example of a worksheet that educators could send home to make numeracy homework more enjoyable and engaging for parents, children and families, this example has helped me conceptualise what kind of activities and information I could be providing and how I can respectfully engage parents in literacy and numeracy learning.

 

 

(In Muir, 2012, p.29)

 

 References:

Muir, T. (2012) It’s in the bag: Parental involvement in a numeracy at-home program. Australasian Journal of Early Childhood, 37(2), 27-33.

Darling, S. & Westberg, L. (2004) Parental Involvement in children’s acquisition of Reading. The Reading Teacher, 57(8), 774-776.  

 

Week 11 Reading Blog

What?

This week I selected two readings that were based more on the primary school age group as I wanted to find out how children progress in their understanding from initial construction of knowledge to using their prior experiences to create meaning. The two readings I read were, for literacy, ‘Readers as Text Code Breakers’ (Harris et al, 2006) and for numeracy, ‘Early Number’ (Zeuenbergen et al, 2004).  

So what?

The main points as identified by Harris et al (2006) in ‘Readers as Text Code Breakers’ are:- reading is integrated into our social and cultural understandings
- Strategies for making meaning, such as ‘decoding, predicting, confirming, self-correcting’ (p.87.)
- The importance of integrating comprehension, understanding and decoding of texts with a variety of examples of texts that can be related to real world, concrete understandings.

The main points as identified by Zeuenbergen et al (2004) in ‘Early Number’ are:  
- children need to develop comfort and familiarity with recognising, using and being aware of numbers from an early age
- children are often exposed to a variety of situations directly using numbers and number awareness during daily life
- Through the use of social understandings and play children begin to develop a deep awareness of number and progress in their skill level, (e.g. ‘sharing and division’ – (p.143).

Now what?

From reading these articles I am now more aware, as an educator, of how important the social aspect of learning is to literacy and numeracy development, for example communicating, cooperating to create shared understanding and forming connections between everyday life and learning concepts. To answer my initial question, children become more aware of their previous experiences as they are exposed to more learning and diverse environments. Therefore literacy and numeracy understandings begin to change as children engage in more diverse social situations, learn to have a wider range of communication strategies and begin to develop an awareness of their learning.

 

 

References:

 

 

 Harris, P., Turbill, J., Fitzsimmons, P. & McKenzie, B. (2006). Readers as text code breakers, Reading in the Primary School years (pp. 114-158). South Melbourne: Social Science Press.

Zeuenbergen, R., Dole, S. & Wright, R. (2004). Early number, Teaching mathematics in primary schools (pp. 121-148). Crows Nest, NSW: Allen & Unwin.

 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.