Outcome 1.3

(Specifies the teaching approaches you’ll use & the learning environs you’ll create to support the social dimensions of early literacy/numeracy)

Week 6

A resource: select& present a resource you have found or developed, providing justification for its use when working on literacy or numeracy with very young children

I began my learning this week by viewing a professional learning video from the Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership Limited website:

http://www.teacherstandards.aitsl.edu.au/Illustrations/ViewIOP/IOP00210/index.html

The video was called ‘Thinking Mathematically’, which focused on using inquiry based learning with concrete experiences through the strategy of storytelling (AITSL, 2013). This video was in the context of junior primary; however it reinforced the ideas from my reading blog this week about learning through creativity, using stories and the art of storytelling through different mediums as a basis for learning in the form of both literacy and numeracy. I also felt the techniques that were presented could be adapted to a preschool setting, for example using inquiry learning through play and extending the children’s interests and knowledge through strategic questioning, modelling thought processes while reading stories and scaffolding learning with real life experiences (Wang et al, 2009). Storytelling is therefore a good teaching strategy as it emphasises the social function of learning, taking place in a group environment but can also be utilised from an individual point of view. From viewing this video I learnt how stories can be used to teach multiple concepts at the same time. Following this I found a resource that could be used in a preschool setting on an interactive TV or whiteboard which I think promotes both literacy and numeracy learning. The resource is from the ‘ABC Splash’ Website and is an interactive story, featuring multicultural perspectives (ABC, 2013). The link for this resource is:

http://splash.abc.net.au/media/-/m/31932/just-like-me-rose-dawit-and-zeina?source=early-primary-English

Children are able to build personality profiles for each of the characters by selecting activities each character likes to do best, consequently helping children to begin to relate their identities to those of others, while much of the learning present involves literacy, numeracy could be integrated by the teacher using strategic questions, for example “how many activities do we need to choose? Let’s count them...” However, as this game is interactive where each child can have a go using it on the interactive whiteboard, the numeracy involved also relates to using hand eye coordination, spatial awareness, sequencing, organising, problem-solving as well fine motor skills and cognitive planning  that are associated with literacy. While the age level recommended for this activity is year 2, I think this resource could be used in a preschool setting well as all the text and instructions presented are read aloud and it would not be an activity that was child led, instead more teacher directed for the purposes of a group time.

 

References

 

Just like me: Rose, Dawit and Zeina. Retrieved September 9, 2013, from the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) web site:http://splash.abc.net.au/media/-/m/31932/just-like-me-rose-dawit-and-zeina?source=early-primary-english

Thinking Mathematically. Retrieved September 9, 2013, from the Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership Limited web site:
http://www.teacherstandards.aitsl.edu.au/Illustrations/ViewIOP/IOP00210/index.html

Wang, F. Kinzie, M.B., McGuire, P. & Pan, E. (2009) Applying Technology to Inquiry-Based Learning in Early Childhood Education. Early Childhood Education Journal, 37, 381-389.

 

 

 

 

 

Week 5 Reading Blog

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)