Blog 5 - Final reflection of course

It is almost alarming to think of a world without the technology that we have now. It is so engrained in our everyday lives that we can not live with out it. We have come from a world where sticks made fire and we hunted for our food to handing over a piece of plastic to buy food and having the entire world news available at the press of a button.

I know that this class has opened my eyes from thinking of technology as phones and computers to seeing it as everything that happens in the world and everything we to with children. I now know that it is important to include children as they are our future and they will be our next prime minister and eventually looking after us when we are too old to look after ourselves. By stopping children from experiencing technology and all it has to offer we are taking away what will or already is a huge part of their life. I feel that we need to try our best to include children in every aspect of technology that is possible and give them more opportunities to explore technology on their own and with us.

I love how open children are to learning and have become really excited about technology and using it with the children. I have seen now how much they are capable of and am excited to see how far I can extend their learning and how much I can give them to help make sense of their world.

I believe in scaffolding and I feel that to scaffold a child’s learning creates relationships, trust and a bond that you both have to learning. I love how the children always ask me to do more and to use the camera then print the photos. They all know how to print and how to use the computer for basic purposes now and I can’t wait to see how much more I can show them.

I was surprised at how surprised I was with their capabilities and I saw first hand how doing nothing except provide an opportunity can extend children’s learning for example the photo blog, the child already knew how to take the pictures and took some amazing ones of full faces and not slanted so he had practiced it already. I now know that he is able to handle the responsibility of the camera and then we can print the photos off for him to have forever. With the other blogs the children all showed an interest in the activity but had never been given the opportunity. The piklet activity is something that can be altered to make different things using different cooking equipment or making edible playdough as another thing to eat and show for their hard work.

Now that I have these experiences to start me off I can keep building on them and giving the children more and more opportunities and different chances to show their skills in technology and how capable they are.

Contributions to class blog

http://tamarwk.blogspot.com/2011/03/martin-robot-man.html

http://tamarwk.blogspot.com/2011/03/fostering-adults-learning-about-and.html

contributions to classmates blogs

http://kristastechblog.blogspot.com/2011/04/air-ambulance-what-do-we-know-how-can.html#comments

http://farmerjules.blogspot.com/2011/04/technology-can-be-creative.html#comments

http://creativechildren-mit.blogspot.com/2011/04/imagination-to-paper.html#comments

http://lucystechnologyblog.blogspot.com/2011/04/looking-at-books.html?showComment=1304507238298#c3561728258406505710

http://cranberry31.blogspot.com/2011/05/our-new-addition.html?showComment=1304507689715#c7652109362201900063

http://amosgallagher.blogspot.com/2011/04/making-pink-playdough.html?showComment=1304508196021#c3225698169059823865

Blog 4 - PoRtFoLiO's AnD TeChNoLoGy

Today I was sitting down at the table gluing into the children’s portfolios and they wanted to look at them so we sat down and they were looking through their books and having flashbacks to all the activities they did. The children were talking about the books and saying

• ·        Jodie that’s my book
• ·        There’s j planting some flowers
• ·        This is my painting
• ·        Look there’s you the donkey

I thought wow these children have such amazing memories. Then it dawned on me these children do not have access to their books and I did not know if their parents had ever showed it to them so they had no input into their own books. I showed them some silly pictures I had taken of them trying to eat the puff paint out of their books and pick off the artwork.

They thought it was funny and I had to upload them to the computer they came and we were watching all the photos of the instances they were showing my in their books and photos of them in general. We were on the computer and looking at more photos and the children were saying how they really liked the photos so I asked them if they would like a copy they said yes and I showed them how to print them. Then we went to the office and they each saw their pictures on the paper.

It was so much fun and really made me excited about the children’s learning. I loved how the children were so excited and that they wanted to do it all themselves and be a part of their own portfolios. It surprised me how I had never thought of having the portfolios be about the children and have them write their own stories. Again the routine of non contact is a rush against time and I see the fact that I have limited time to do all of my learning stories but the centre is open for 11 hours a day and non contact takes up only 2 hours a day so I actually have 9 hours a day where I can have access to the computer and bring it into the room for the children to have many different experiences.

This experience really got me excited about technology and I felt amazed at how much the children really understood and how capable they are if we give them the opportunities. I felt that this experience should be common for all children and they should all be given the chance to create things for themselves using computers. (MacNaughton and Williams, 2004, p76) this chapter talks about helping, encouraging and praising children, I feel that in order to “inspire someone with the courage or confidence to do something”, we need to give children a chance to go out and explore and give them opportunities to to use technology and become familiar with it as it will be a part of their everyday life for a very long time.

It is a shame that we do not have a computer available specifically for the children but we do not, so giving the children opportunities to explore technology on our computer will be just as good as we can add programs for them do; design art and play educational games, explore programs and develop their technology skills. According to Te Whāriki the children should be able to “learn that trying things out, exploration, and curiosity are important and valued ways of learning” (Ministry of Education, 1996,p84). I will definitely do more activities like this, just seeing the sense of accomplishment as they grabbed their own pictures from the printer knowing that they had done it all themselves.

References

MacNaughton, G and Williams, G. (2004). Techneques for teaching young   children: Choices in theory and practice. New South Wales, Australia:          Pearson Prentice Hall.

Ministry of Education. (1996). Te Whāriki: He whāriki mātauranga mo nga             mokopuna o Aotearoa. Wellington, New Zealand: Learning Media.

BlOg 3 - PiKlEtS

When you think about the start of time and how people used to live, till now everything that has changed is because of technology. All it takes is one person to have an idea and find a way of making it possible then the world is limitless and full of endless possibilities.

As most 2 year olds are always putting everything in their mouth we are always thinking oh no germs or how they are going to get sick but in my room we hardly ever give them experiences for them to taste and put things in their mouth that they can eat or that they have made themselves.

We always make playdough and the children always eat it so for a change we made piklets, at least this way the children can eat it all. It was so beautiful watching the children mixing and helping pour all the ingredients into the bowl and we baked them all together using the electric pan.

The children all looked at the pictures and used their counting and mixing skills to mix all the ingredients correctly. Cooking is a great way of including the children and letting them feel a sense of accomplishment and satisfaction when they eventually get to eat what they put their hard work into. I love cooking as it is an amazing activity to get the children involved in and get creative with. There are down sides to cooking as I have found that the children do have to be careful and they are not allowed to touch the electric pan, but the children had so much fun that that tiny part of the activity was not a problem. The children could see the change in colour and the way it felt afterwards all thanks to the portable convenience of the electric pan. This experience again opened my mind to how many opportunities we can involve children in and provide to extend their learning in so many areas, not just technology but science, maths, art, literacy and so many more. according to (Tsantis, Bewick, & Thornton, 2003) "As educators we need to understand how modern technologies can help us better meet the social, physical, and learning needs of young children."

It made me feel excited about their learning and that they had an opportunity to explore using more than pens and bikes and cars which is the norm for the activities in the room, there are so many other ways to use the equipment like ironing crayon pictures, as most of the children will be aware of the iron and its purpose. By taking the home experiences and making the link is where the magic happens and when I feel we can  really reach out to children and create a smaller barrier between home and centre life. I liken how (Clark, 2007) talks about openmindedness and being open to adapting practice, in relation to technology we need to include technology and extend our own learning so we can share it with the children, too facilitate good project work.

I thoroughly enjoyed this activity and would definitely do many more like this as it brings so many important areas of the curriculum together and was simply a very fun activity for the children to experience and be included in the whole process.



References

Clark, A. (2007). Changing classroom practice to include the project approach. ERCP, 8 (2), 1-10.

Tsantis, L., Bewick, C., & Thornton, S. (2003). Examining some common myths about computers in the early years. Young Children on the Web, November 2003, 1-9.

Blog 2- TaKiNg PiCtUrEs

The idea for my second blog came about when one of the children asked me for the camera. I willingly handed it over and they picked it up and said “say cheese” and bam! They took a photo. I was standing with my mouth open shocked at the child’s knowledge of photo taking and that with no prompting 

the child’s abilities had shown through.

 Some of the photos he took of me, practicing his cameraman skills.

I was completely unaware of their abilities and was sad at myself that the children had this ability and was never given the chance to use it because the camera could break, even though the camera has a chip and water proof cover and I felt that the responsibility would be good for the children to prove themselves as they are always drawing on the walls and need the extra stimulation. I let them explore and have full use of the camera while sharing and taking turns. I followed them just to make sure it was not causing a drama but I worried the whole time about the other teachers as they were very anxious about the children using the camera.

I gave the children no direction and let them take whatever photos they wanted with the camera as they had proved that they could handle the responsibility. Inside I had a little knot knowing that the other teachers were watching and judging me but I figured nothing is getting broken and no one has said that I can not let the children use the camera so I just let the children use it and watched them to make sure they were looking after it.

(Smorti, 1999) “Well-prepared teachers, who recognize the power and limitations of technology, are needed now more than ever” technology is endless and always evolving and it will be a part of the children’s lives forever so the more opportunities the children have to practice the more creative we can be and the further we can stretch the limitations of technology.

This child accomplished so much and spoke to me through the camera showing me where he had been and what he was doing. I felt that the experience even though it was really simple was extremely crucial to the child’s learning. By showing an interest I felt it was my responsibility to foster that child’s learning and allow him to engage in activities to foster that interest. In the future I will definitely provide more activities for the children to use the camera and other forms of technology and go further depending on what they want. I have access to the laminator, printer and computer where I can print the photos off and get the children involved in the whole process. Get them to upload their photos and see how they can print them off and keep them forever.

The only downside was the discouragement from other staff who were too worried that the camera would get broken and that the children were not responsible enough to manage the camera, this sadden me as I agree with (Tsantis, Bewick, & Thornton, 2003) “technology is a very important area of the early childhood curriculum alongside maths and science”, and without giving the children opportunities to grow and increase their technological skills are we preventing them from their future and being too cautious?

Reference List

Smorti, S. (1999) Technology in Early Childhood. Early Education, No.19 Autumn 1999. 

Tsantis, L., Bewick, C., & Thornton, S. (2003). Examining some common myths about computers in the early years. Young Children on the Web, November 2003, 1-9.

Blog 1-PoPcOrN

 This is the crazy popper. unfortunately the photos on the computer got formatted but i took some of these for you guys to see.

My first activity was very spontaneous. Sometimes in the centre we give the children popcorn for late snack and it always cooked in the microwave. The microwave is also in the kitchen so the children’s involvement starts and stops with them getting given the popcorn in cups. This time one of the children put her arms up to show me a pop corn seed and scrunched her face up thinking why this is in here and what is this, it occurred to me then that the children were completely unaware that what they were eating was from a seed and the process that led to them eating it.

I thought it would be a good idea to bring in my popcorn maker from home so they could see the transformation for themselves. I gad a bag of the seeds and showed them what the seeds looked, felt smelled and tasted like, and then we put the seeds in the lid and turned it on. It was amazing the children were so excited and kept jumping when the popcorn shot up. I loved how the children wanted to get involved and were so curious about what was happening.

After all of our classes in technology it was bothering me that the children were being kept away from all the technological parts of the centre because of safety risks. This activity worked really well and all the children got involved and had a part to play. The children were aware that what they have been eating was from the seed and when the seed gets heated up the seeds popped open into the popcorn they eat. According to (Smorti, 1999) “technology is about helping people and solving problems” the problem was that the children had no involvement and through technology I helped the children learn.

I loved how the popcorn maker was child appropriate even for the 2 year olds in my room and they were all asking questions like:

·        “Why is it popping?”

·        “Where do the seeds come from?”

·        “Why is it white?”

·        “What makes them fluffy?”

The activity also gave me many ideas for how to extend the children’s learning. For example instead of them always being given food for morning tea and lunch get them to make something for themselves so they understand the process involved in cooking and using the skills they develop in sand and water play such as pouring and measuring to make something they can eat themselves and be proud of. Te Whāriki also says “each programme should be planned to offer sufficient learning experiences for the children to ensure that the curriculum goals are realised” (Te Whariki, 1996). I feel that too often it is easier to simply exclude children or rush them for what suits us and by creating activities like this where the children are involved and explore science and technology they can be included and not excluded.

Question for thought......

do you feel children are rushed?

what do you think about routines are they for the children or teachers?


References

Ministry of Education. (1996). Te Whāriki: He whāriki mātauranga mo nga mokopuna o Aotearoa .Wellington: Learning Media.

Smorti, S. (1999) Technology in Early Childhood. Early Education, No.19 Autumn 1999.