Week Seven Readings

Week Seven Theme:

How do very young children's semantic practices support their search for and attempts to make-meaning of the world around them through storytelling, exploration and experimentation?

This week’s theme is about young children making meaning and engaging in literacy and numeracy. Thinking back to Week Five’s discussion I defined literacy as being about meaning making, about connections and understanding. The same is true for numeracy. Even in the discussion for Week Six I said that:

“Play-based learning allows this, letting children explore concepts and ideas in their own play scenarios, or teacher-initiated play settings, and creating connections between these ideas and how to use them in the real-world.” 

Creating connections and making meaning are, I believe, two of the most important ideas relating to teaching and learning about literacy and numeracy. 

An idea discussed this week was ‘what does it mean to be a text participant?’ After some thought I decided that being a text participant is much like taking notes during a lecture. Instead of passively sitting in the theatre, listening to the lecturer and walking out when he or she have finished, the decision to take notes is a conscious decision to participate. You have actively decided to listen to the lecturer, and take notes to understand and make your own meaning, connections, and understandings related to what is being taught.  I am not saying that this is the only way to actively participate in a lecture, but that this is an example of what it means to be a text participant.

Reading One

National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) & National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM). (2010). Position Statement: Early Childhood Mathematics: Promoting Good Beginnings. Retrieved 14 September, 2013 from  http://www.naeyc.org/files/naeyc/file/positions/psmath.pdf

During a discussion with a fellow student last week, we decided that during our university experience we feel that there is too much emphasis on the history and theory behind subjects and not enough emphasis placed on how and what we should teach in the classroom (this was in relation to a course about Teaching Indigenous Australians). As such when I came across this statement, I was interested in reading about the recommendations for high quality maths education for preschool children. 

In this joint statement by the National Association for the Education of Young Children & the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics, ten things teachers should do to create high quality mathematics education for 3-6 year olds are highlighted.

 Below are the ten recommendations:

1. Enhance children’s natural interest in mathematics and their disposition to use it to make sense of their physical and social worlds
2. Build on children’s experiences and knowledge, including their family, linguistic, cultural, and community backgrounds; their individual approaches to learning; and their informal knowledge
3. Base mathematics curriculum and teaching practices on knowledge of young children’s cognitive, linguistic, physical, and social-emotional development
4. Use curriculum and teaching practices that strengthen children’s problem-solving and reasoning processes as well as representing, communicating, and connecting mathematical ideas
5. Ensure that the curriculum is coherent and compatible with known relationships and se­quences of important mathematical ideas
6. Provide for children’s deep and sustained interaction with key mathematical ideas
7. Integrate mathematics with other activities and other activities with mathematics
8. Provide ample time, materials, and teacher support for children to engage in play, a context in which they explore and manipulate mathematical ideas with keen interest
9. Actively introduce mathematical concepts, methods, and language through a range of ap­propriate experiences and teaching strategies
10. Support children’s learning by thoughtfully and continually assessing all children’s math­ematical knowledge, skills, and strategies

           

Beyond the classroom the joint statement concludes that policy makers, institutions, and program developers should:

1. Create more effective early childhood teacher preparation and continuing professional development
2. Use collaborative processes to develop well aligned systems of appropriate high-quality standards, curriculum, and assessment
3. Design institutional structures and policies that support teachers’ ongoing learning, teamwork, and planning
4. Provide resources necessary to overcome the barriers to young children’s mathematical proficiency at the classroom, community, institutional, and system-wide levels

One of the key quotes I picked up from the reading:

“The process of making connections deserves special attention. When children connect number to geometry (for example, by count­ing the sides of shapes, using arrays to under­stand number combinations, or measuring the length of their classroom), they strengthen concepts from both areas and build knowledge and beliefs about mathematics as a coherent system. Similarly, helping children con­nect mathematics to other subjects, such as science, develops knowledge of both subjects as well as knowledge of the wide applicability of mathematics. Finally and critically, teaching concepts and skills in a connected, integrated fashion tends to be particularly effective not only in the early childhood years but also in future learning.” (p. 6)

Reading Two

Wilson, L. (2002). Text participant: Making Meaning, Reading to live: How to teach reading for today’s world (pp. 72-99). Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann

In line with this week’s theme, this article was chosen to further understand what a ‘text participant’ is. Wilson argues that text participation happens throughout the reading event, and is not something done when the text is finished. Participating in a text can start before the reading event though.

A significant point I picked up from the reading was the idea of children formulating their own questions, with Wilson arguing that if children are the ones making meaning and bringing understanding to texts, they must create their own questions so their interpretation can grow. This particular quote, taken from Commeyras and Sumer (1996) was used to highlight this point, “We must critically examine the egocentric notion that our teacher-posed questions and text interpretations will further students’ understandings better than letting them discuss the questions they think should be considered” (p. 75). I think allowing children to create and ask their own questions is the best way to further their learning, because that way they are receiving answers to things that interest, excite, or concern them, or are related to their own lives. I think by relating texts to children’s own world and interests allows children a greater understanding and ability to make meaning from texts. This is not to say teacher-posed questions are not important. Teacher-posed questions have the ability to direct conversation and discussion into particular learning areas teachers may wish to focus on, to prompt other questions or discussion by children, or to help children understand certain concepts and ideas. 

The reading then described a number of strategies for text participation including activities

·         in which children’s questions are discussed and answered by other children

• where children are asked what this text makes you feel, encouraging participation through natural emotions
• where children are encouraged to give advice to a character in the story
• or to listen, write, speak as if they were a certain character in the story

I believe you can be a text participant before, during, and after a reading event. For example, showing a book to young children and discussing the title, cover art, and maybe even author is a way of participating before the reading. Reading the story in a way that allows for easy listening, asking questions and making comments, and adequate viewing of pictures, all helps children participate in the story. After the event children could ask more questions, answer questions, discuss the story or related subjects, write their own story, draw a picture, or participate in a related activity, which allows for further text participation. 

An example I saw recently involved the story Wombat Stew by Marcia K. Vaughan and Pamela Lofts. During morning group time throughout the week, the children were read this story with discussion and question time before, during, and after the reading. Later in the week, a table was set up with a pot, all the ingredients involved in making wombat stew, toy versions of all the animals, and the book. Children were able to create their own wombat stew with the book as a guide if they wished. One boy showed me how to make the stew, as I held the book and turned the pages he recited the general story from memory and created the stew along with some help from two other children. This is an example of text participation after the reading event, with children engaging in and making meaning from a story. 

I think that learning to be a text participate is an important part of early childhood learning. By learning to be a text participant early in life, children will be able to actively engage in a range of texts throughout their schooling, social, work, and home lives. Being able to actively participate in texts is one of the steps to becoming a critical thinker and a lifelong learner.