Introduction
Documenting children’s experiences at an early age can be an effective tool for getting perspective into the workings of the mind of children, this information can help educators and even parents in moulding their children’s learning. Educators and parents will gain a clear perspective on their strengths hence aiding them to know how the children can be best encouraged to explore their abilities and more so areas where they are not doing well. Thus, they can be encouraged accordingly. Educators can use various means to determine what works best for their children since early childhood education is a complex field. Further, children tend to learn the same things in different ways and each child at their own time, therefore such complexities call for a more delicate approach centred around the individual children, this then calls for documentation (Snow et al., 2008). This paper is an analysis of the curriculum of learning in 3 Apples Childcare Centre and proposes a program aimed at extending the children’s learning with a critical reflection of the planning process.
Childhood assessment has proven to be a vital part of early childhood development. This is because educators have the opportunity to observe a child in order to get the best-placed knowledge of what the child knows and especially the child’s abilities and interests. Documentation provides educators with information which aid them to plan appropriate curriculum and how they can best help each child effectively. (“Early Childhood Assessment,” n.d.)
Child Observation
My focus is on a two-year-old boy. He has a good memory. He can sing three times and remember that song. Rain goes away song. He likes to pretend play. He likes reading. He has good language skills. He can say complete sentences. He has a keen interest in drawing. He seldom cries. He has a hard time interacting with other children and adults. As a result, he rarely connected with other children. He was easily distracted and has a hard time completing any task. He takes no keen interest in joining small yet formal groups as he would rather spend his time alone playing with toys.
After observing Alexander for an extended period of time coupled with a fruitful interaction with colleagues, we managed to deduce what Alexander was seeking. It was constancy, some kind of security and needed someone to help him mould his behaviour and help mark the various boundaries. With this information, it was easy to come up with simple strategies to help him overcome the above issues. This was by talking to him and teaching him the importance of listening and the importance of interacting with small groups. With his good communication skills, he was able to forge relationships with other children and engage actively in small formal group activities (Team, n.d.). With more time and observation we came to realize that Alexander was more social with certain individuals. This was because he could identify more with them and certain activities piqued his interest more.
Ensuring continuity of learning is an important cog in the wheel of early childhood learning, as it shows a consistency of the child’s capability in various disciplines and the setting where they are as they grow up (Transforming, 2015). The 3 Apples Childcare Centre and kindergarten gauges continuity of learning through aligning learning expectations for children, that is setting goals for learners and keeping tabs on them on the importance of not only accomplishing the tasks but also achieving the said goals on time. The other way is by developing curricula that meet the threshold of the accepted standards in the profession. The school also encourages horizontal continuity of the child, with matters of health care and follow-ups. In addition, the school involves parents and guardians and community support agencies through policies that make it possible for the need to spread communication with the parents. They are then in a position to know the necessities of the child and what the school has to offer to supplement the needs (Transforming, 2015).
One afternoon I got to see Alexander in the far right corner of the playing room with a peculiar maroon doll. I noticed that he was very fond of the toy and quite had the affection as he could even caution the other classmates against disturbing “his baby” as he called it. With this newfound love and affection for the doll, it posed a challenge for him to engage himself in other social activities as he was too preoccupied. I managed to talk to him about it and got to hear his views on it in order to find a way around it. I even suggested strapping his doll around his back as he engaged in other social activities with his friends. Then I noticed that with “his baby” strapped around his back he was able to interact well in social groups, as he could join them in digging and his social skills and interactions took a turn for the best (Australia et al., 2011). With his baby strapped to his back, he was able to fit in with his peers.
Alexander has been forging dramatic play scenarios with “his baby”, such as having a homecoming party, a birthday party or even taking his baby to take a nap and constantly going to check on it after some intervals. His social interactions can attest to a more caring and considerate Alexander. This is because as much as he wants to control the nature of the play when it comes to formal social interactions with his playmates he has a sense of purpose and he has been keen on forming new friendships (Judy R. Jablon, 2007). He has been displaying a character that is leaning toward nurturing relationships when it comes to playing and even in his relationships with friends. I might then deduce that the doll appears to have reinforced alexander’s sense of well-being, providing him with not only strength but also enough motivation to govern his behaviour and sentiments. It seems to have pushed him to be more concerned about others and more so to be accountable for his actions (Australia et al., 2010)
Learning strategies
Learning is a process, and learning programs must be continually reviewed in order to meet the changing circumstances or even replace them if the need to do so arises. (Allen et al., 2015). There is a need to review it to ensure that not only does it support important aptitudes for children but also it is informed and founded on research. It should provide guidelines for the content and how it is supposed to be taught. The first teaching strategy that I saw the need for was an adaptation which was to introduce a new learning outcomes program every two weeks, where each student was given a task to learn individually and another to work on it as a formal group.
This was to help the young learners not only to be self-sufficient but also to work as a unit. To achieve this, educators were to monitor the progress of each child and guide them in every possible way they can. The rationale of assigning a task was to identify the particular domain that interested the child more. This approach was to encourage them to learn more and explore it. The formal group task was aimed at fostering relationships among the classmates as they rallied together to accomplish a task. The other aspect of the program was to build the children’s confidence hence each of them was to show the rest of his classmates what he had been working on or still working on and update them on the progress. This was to help them build their confidence and communication (Allen et al., 2015).
The other two teaching strategies that can be undertaken to meet the learning outcomes of the child are differentiated learning for each learner, and individualized programs (Koralek & National Association, 2004). Differentiated instructional learning entails a number of instructions and class strategies used by educators to help every student in achieving the recommended learning outcomes. This strategy particularly acknowledges and responds to the diversity of the different learners within the class. This aids educators in the provision of a curriculum that accommodates all students acknowledging their various abilities, interest, as well as the student’s style of learning. This strategy employs the use of graphic organizers and lesson frames. These are visuals or diagrams which aid the learners in comprehension and thinking by a representation of abstract ideas and thoughts in a concrete way. Lesson frames are presentations in form of overheads, prints, boards, or posters that indicate the lesson outcomes of a program.
Individualized learning is a teaching strategy that entails recognizing the needs of a few learners who might be having cognitive disabilities which might inhibit them from benefitting from participation in the general curriculum. The 3 Apples Childcare Centre will create a child support team which will, in turn, develop a program that has content that is specifically designed for a particular student. The program is designed in a way that is functionally and developmentally apt with the domains of the curricula such as academic, communication, mannerism, socio-cognitive, leisure, and physical. The methods of teaching in this strategy are tailored to the needs of the learners (Team, n.d.). Rolling out a new program requires more than just having the program, it requires a high level of collaboration amongst the educators when it comes to sharing information about students, it requires extra resources to undertake and roll out the new program and also restructuring the timetable to accommodate the new program but with the support of the administration, the educators, the parents we manage to roll it out.
After rolling out the introduction of the learning outcomes program, more children were able to fulfill most of the two week learning objectives as the task they had chosen to undertake. They were able now to articulate themselves better and also they were able to forge new friendships amongst themselves as during presentations they were able to identify those with similar interests. The challenge that came with the rolling out of the new programs was that since the 3 apple kindergarten is a relatively small school with a staff of two qualified teachers, it did not move as fast as I had hoped. The teachers had to do formative planning of tasks, going through student records, documenting student records and also educating the children. The other challenge was that some of the children did not have good communication skills which in turn affected their presentation in front of the class. This is owing to lack of confidence. Thus, rallying Alexander to understand why it was important for him to have learning outcomes was not an easy task (Goffin & Washington, 2007).
Recommendations
The situation can be improved by hiring more staff for the 3 Apples Child Center and kindergarten. This is to aid the educators in preparing and formatting students’ data and creating reports which will be used by the teachers in identifying the strengths of each student. It will also aid in identifying areas that they need to work on and also be in a position to know the student’s progress in regards to set out goals and objectives (Goffin & Washington, 2007). The situation can also be improved by nurturing children to speak more, by asking them questions, by asking them to follow up questions and more so questions that trigger them to think and be creative. In addition, it can also be improved by engaging them more often especially at the home setting. This will go a long way in instilling not only confidence but also improve their communication skills which will, in turn, reflect well in their interactions with their classmates.
3 Apples Childcare Centre needs to integrate their curriculum in a way that prioritizes the learning process, especially in literacy and numeracy. The curricula should place the learners at the center with their character, interest, abilities, and teaching process in planning and consequent undertakings. The educators should utilize planning wall and teaching journals in development of the curricula and align it with the learner’s interest and disposition. The assessment practices should be designed to support the learning outcomes. Parents of the learners should be able to participate in planning (Australia et al., 2010b).