Emily's Words: April 2013

Over the past few weeks, I have learnt a lot about technology and how it is a fundamental part of early childhood in today’s society. I have always thought of myself as being up-to-date in regards to the latest technology and I have been brought up with digital technology as a massive part of my life. What I did not realise is how the children we are teaching are even more involved with technology and often understand how to use it more efficiently than the teachers. Having read the blogs of the people in my group I have a better understanding of how technology, both digital and non-digital, is used in their centres and I have been given the opportunity to learn a lot from them in regard to how I could better utilise the technology in my centre.

There were a few comments from my group members asking me how I was going to extend on the activities the children were involved with. I will try moving the microwave to another part of the centre, maybe the sandpit, to give the children the opportunity to experience it in an outdoor environment. Greenfield (2011) writes that “through the provision of a variety of accessible resources and spaces, lots of sensory experiences, places of discovery and mystery, children’s experiences in the outdoors can be enriched” (p. 9). In this case, by moving the microwave outside, it will encourage the children to use the skills they have already learnt, including mathematics, literacy, and role-playing skills, but in a different way.

The skateboards are still very much a daily interest and both the girls and boys are involved with using them. It was suggested in the comments that I spend some time watching some videos about how I could extend the skateboard activity. I think this is a great idea and will see what I can find on the internet as to how the children could use the skateboards in new and interesting ways. Another comment in regard to the skateboards was how the children could be more involved with the set up of the environment. It is very important to ask the children how they think we could position the environment for the day and give them a chance to express their opinions (MacNaughton & Williams, 2009). I could do this next time the skateboards are brought out as part of their play and we can all work together in setting up the environment.

At my centre, unfortunately, the children do not have access to computers, so they cannot use working keyboards at this stage. I could extend the literacy aspect of the keyboard experience, however, by working with the children that were involved with the keyboards. We can focus on the alphabet more by providing more literacy resources and using their name as a tool to learn letter recognition (Hamer & Adams, 2003). The teachers at my centre also set up the keyboards with computer mice sometimes, which extends on the children’s role-playing even more and might provide them with more ideas for their play.

Having done this assignment, I am much more aware of the technology around me and it affects me in an early childhood setting, but also personally. I have actually already had an argument with a member of my family regarding digital technology. He is very anti-technology and stubbornly refuses to keep up-to-date with the changes within society. I have become quite passionate about these changes and strongly believe, especially being a teacher of the future generation of New Zealand, that we need to be aware of the technology available these days and how best to utilise them in a beneficial way. “Technology is never static” (Ministry of Education, 2007, p. 1). For me this means that technology is constantly changing and I will need to continuously reflect on what technology means to me in order to be an informed, competent early childhood teacher.

References

Greenfield, C. (2011). Outside is where we need to be: A guide to providing optimal outdoor environments in early childhood settings (2^nd ed.). Manukau, New Zealand: Manukau Institute of Technology.

Hamer, J., & Adams, P. (2003). The New Zealand early childhood literacy handbook. New Zealand: Dunmore.

MacNaughton, G., & Williams, G. (2009). Techniques for teaching young children: Choices for theory and practice (3^rd ed.). New South Wales, Australia: Pearson Education Australia.

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

Emily's Words

Saturday, 20 April 2013

Comment Hyperlinks (Robyn)

Thursday, 4 April 2013

Final Blog

Comment Hyperlinks (Excluding Robyn)