Reflection 1
Date: 16/08/2011
Teacher: Harpreet Kaur Sodhi
Child: A (not using the due to ethical considerations)
ICT: Child A pretending to use the phone to talk to her Friend.
This morning I observed the child A was playing in the family corner on her own. I went to her and I asked her “what are you doing A?” A said “I am looking for the phone whaea, because I want to talk to my friend B”. I asked her “why where is your friend B?” she said “because she is not here today she is sick”. I gave her phone and she start pressing the buttons. The way she was using phone and pretending to having conversation with her friend caught my attention.
From my observation I notice that A was very confident while she was using phone to ring her friend B. Te Whāriki acknowledged that through exploration children use a variety of technologies as they explore and become familiar with their environment (Ministry of Education ,1996). I believe that by having electronic gadgets like telephones, television in the family corner will help children to become more familiar with technology.
After this observation I realised that children are interacting with technology every day and in almost all aspects of their learning and play. I realised that as an early childhood educator I have to provide opportunities for children to explore ICT skills which will help them to become confident users of ICT (Ministry of Education, 1996).
I was shocked when I heard A talking about the cell phones. She told me that how we can use cell phone to txt our friends I asked her “who told you that” she said “I saw my dad when he texting his friends”. From this conversation I really recognize the fact that children’s minds are capable of picking up things very quickly just from observing. While I was having conversation with A I was thinking how I could further extend her knowledge with the use of telephone, technology. Te Whāriki state that “children experience an environment where they develop verbal communication skills for a range of purposes” (Ministry of Education, 1996, p.78).
I realised that we as educators are the decision makers in whether, how, what, when, and why technology is implemented, applying their expertise and knowledge of child development and learning, individual children. According to Guernsey (2010) the adult’s role is critical in making certain that thoughtful planning, careful implementation, reflection, and evaluation guide decision making about how to introduce and integrate any form of technology into the classroom experience. I have also realised that selecting appropriate technologies for the classroom is similar to choosing any other learning material.
I have come to the conclusion that as a teacher I must take the time to evaluate and select technology tools for the classroom and carefully observe children’s use of the materials to identify opportunities and problems and make appropriate adaptations.
References:
Guernsey, L. 2010. “When Young Children Use Technology.” Early Ed Watch (blog), July 13. http://earlyed.newamerica.net/blogposts/2010/when_young_children_use_technology-34279
Images from Google
Ministry of Education. (1996). Te Whariki: He Whariki Matauranga mo nga Mokopuna o Aotearoa. Welington, New Zealand.: Learning Media LTD.
Smorti, S. (1999) Technology in Early Childhood. Early Education, No.19 Autumn 1999.
Feedback for Reflection One:
ReplyDeleteHi Harpreet,
I enjoyed reading your blog. I noticed that A was using the Technology in her pretend play. I like the family corner too; using technology such as the telephone, when children miss their friends and family. I like the way you are encouraging A to use her words which also help in promoting language, social communication skills and building good relationships. I am very grateful for the privilege of having technology in the form of telephones. I agree completely, telephones are powerful tools in our everyday’s communication life style. As a early childhood educators, we use imagination tools for the children to explore different technologies available to them such as telephone. From your blog, it tells us that children copy or imitate things from others in all aspects using technology such as communicating in telephones, mobile phones and walky-talkies. Technology is taking rapid involvement in today’s living standards from early childhood. Even though there are lots of advantages by using technology but some extent technology is affecting children’ ability in thinking, improving memory and also raising health concerns such as radiation and magnetic field.
Feedback for the Reflection 1
ReplyDeleteHi Harpreet,
Good to see you involved in your centre showing concern to the child who was in the family corner of her own. As TeWhariki states that Children should experience an environment where their emotional well being is nurtured” (Ministry of Education, 1996).I agree with you that making use of technology was making her confident. I realised such type of events develop more social competence among children by giving them opportunity to talk, to show emotions and to understand other’s emotions just like she was showing her emotions about her sick friend. Children use a variety of technologies for different purposes as they explore their world. And we as a teachers need to encourage children to use technology because we have seen technological change accelerate to the point where the world in which people live is very different from the one in which they brought up.
Yes Harpreet, I agree with you that children are interacting with technology every day and in almost all aspects of their learning and play; by having electronic gadgets like telephones, television in the family corner will help children to become more familiar with technology. Children like to imitate people around them and use their home experiences in their dramatic play. I think your reflection confirms that children learn and imitate from the adults and things around them (Santrock, 2008). As an early childhood educators we have to provide opportunities for children to explore ICT skills, It absolutely will help them to build up their confident of using ICT in their real life. It‘s good to see that you interact really well with the children and provide help when they needed. Your scaffolding method on this learning opportunity was really good.
ReplyDeleteSantrock, J.W. (2008). Lifespan development (11th ed.). Boston: McGraw-Hill.
Using the phone in the family corner
ReplyDeleteHi Harpreet
I feel many of us have had similar experiences of children on the phone during dramatic play. I think it just highlights to use how vital and everyday tool mobile phones have become. Child A was clearly aware that B was away sick and that she could contact her using the phone. I feel this is a clear example of how aware children are of technology and it uses. I would actual encourage that if similar things happened again, it would be great if you could actually call the person for real and enable the child to actually speak to the other person. I feel this would be a great way of extending child A’s interest from the imaginary use of the phone. I felt after reading your blog I felt that, you are very aware of technology and its value to children’s learning therefore well done Harpreet.