Outcome 3.1

Offers a careful interpretation & analysis of children’s early literacy/numeracy skills & interests

Also

Outcome 2.2

Recognises subtle differences & levels in literacy & numerical learning & development according to age, ability, culture & social circumstances

First, I want to analyse two clips of the same boy performing songs seen on the TV show: Glee. This young ‘Warbler’ is obviously familiar with the show and his family have encouraged this interest by buying, or making him his own ‘Warbler’ costume like those worn by Blaine and the other boys at Dalton Academy. By encouraging his interest in the show, his family are helping his literacy and numeracy development in a number of ways. In both clips, ‘Mini Warbler’ shows signs these literacy and numeracy concepts:

Spatial awareness – this is most evident in the second clip (‘Raise Your Glass’) where he avoids running into the chair, and even uses the chair as a prop late in the song. He also shows signs of spatial awareness by not running out of room on his ‘stage’. 

Pattern – especially in the first clip (‘Teenage Dream’) the idea of pattern is important as many of the same words and dance moves are used multiple times. In the clips, Mini Warbler is able to remember the words and moves in patterns, from verse to chorus, another verse and back to the chorus. 

Mirroring and direction ­– Mini Warbler’s use of mirroring is most evident in Teenage Dream, where it is as if he has learned the moves when looking at the screen and not turned them around to fit when he is facing away from the screen. During this clip, there are occasional signs to show that he understands how to flip these dance moves around correctly, but for most of the song, he is mirroring the Warblers actions on the screen. During Raise Your Glass, there is visible improvement in this area, with only a few examples of mirroring. 

Mimicking prior experiences – In both clips Mini Warbler shows signs of having seen this song performed on Glee previously. This is apparent in his memorisation of the lyrics and dance moves. In this, he was mimicking the actions shown on the screen, and in performing them in the clips (facing away from the screen) he was mimicking both the screen and his own prior actions. 

Balance – the signs of balance are obvious in both clips as Mini Warbler does not lose his balance and fall down at any point during the routines. He is able to dance, jump, walk, and skip during both clips, while singing, and keep his balance. 

Practicing verbal language and conventions of speech – By mimicking, memorising, and singing the lyrics Mini Warbler is practicing verbal language. By singing in time with the song as well as mimicking specific singing actions, such as at 1:38 in Teenage Dream, he is practicing conventions of speech. 

Timing – in keeping time with the song he is also practicing timing, both with his singing and dancing. Most impressive is Mini Warbler’s ability to keep performing even when the camera is not focused on the Warblers on the screen and to be where he should be when they next appear. 

Movement and gesture – Mini Warbler’s use of movement and gesture is evident throughout both clips.

Clip One: whatucalldat. (2011). Mini Warbler Performing to Teenage Dream. Video. YouTube, 5 June. Viewed 20 October 2013. <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bxuWSXwR4Mc>.

Clip Two: whatucallthat. (2011). Mini Warbler – Raise Your Glass. Video. YouTube, 22 June. Viewed 20 October 2013. <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v8FCP0ZoZiA>.

Next I would like to analyse a music video by American country music artist, Randy Houser, which features a toddler performing in the back seat of a car with a mini guitar fly swatter.

Spatial awareness - this young toddler’s knowledge of spatial awareness is less obvious than Mini Warbler’s, as he is shown in his car seat the entire clip. However, one aspect of spatial awareness he is showing is his knowledge that he has to stroke or strum the ‘guitar’ he is holding. He does not leave any room between his hand and the guitar when he is ‘playing’ it. 

Pattern – Just like Mini Warbler, the toddler in Boots On is aware of the patterns that occur in his song, memorising when it is time for the chorus and when it is time for the verses, or even the guitar solos.

Mirroring and direction – signs of mirroring and direction are less evident in this clip as there is not background video playing to show us how this toddler has learned this particular song. Some direction is evident, however, in terms of correctly positioning the guitar so it is pointed diagonally upwards not down, and he strokes down on the guitar to play it, not up. 

Mimicking prior experiences – After a little research, I found that this toddler, whose name is Drake Dixon, is the song of singer/songwriter/guitarist Dillon Dixon. It is therefore a good chance that a lot of the guitar playing, singing, and dance moves that Drake is showing in this clip have been learned from prior experiences and exposure to his dad, as well as other musicians his dad may have exposed him to (as well as regular exposure such as music channels on TV). Drake is obviously mimicking guitar playing, and he is mimicking very well. He holds the guitar correctly, and plays strokes only when the sound of the guitar is playing in the song. He is mimicking chords and different styles of playing such as more enthusiastic during the chorus, and smaller playing during the verses, as well as at 1:46 during the guitar solo, and most impressively at 2:10. Drake is mimicking his own prior experiences playing this song as he has the song, lyrics, guitar playing and pauses all nearly perfectly memorised. Drake's performance is an example of how social and cultural differences can effect the literacy and numeracy experiences of children.

Balance – Drake shows signs of balance by sitting up in his chair, holding his guitar up, as well as balancing his leg on the seat or compartment in from of him. 

Practicing verbal language and conventions of speech – Just like Mini Warbler Drake is mimicking, memorising, and singing lyrics to a song, and in this he is practicing verbal language, and is exposed to words he might not have otherwise been exposed to (such as Copenhagen). He is practicing conventions of speech by changing his singing to fit the song, such as when singing ‘and do it country style!’ 

Timing – Drake is perfecting his timing by singing and playing his guitar. As you can see, Drake has an excellent grasp of timing in this clip, singing the lyrics in time with the song as well as strumming his guitar (not to mention mimicking chord changes) in time with the guitar sounds in the song. This is shown throughout the song, from beginning to end, when he lifts his hand to a longer guitar note, and stays silent during the guitar solo. 

Movement and gesture – the use of movement and gesture is evident throughout this clip, as Drake taps his leg along to the music, plays his guitar, bobs his head, and just generally rocks out to the song.

Boots On: RandyHouserVEVO. (2009). Randy Houser – Boots On. YouTube, 15 December. Viewed 20 October 2013. <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0go5Q_v0EIk>.

Next I am going to analyse a slightly younger child, one just entering the toddler stage, as shown by the use of a table as balance support for standing and dancing. This child is shown from behind to be dancing to Beyonce’s ‘Single Ladies.’

Spatial awareness – As this child is younger and not as far along the physical development line than both Mini Warbler and Drake the spatial awareness observations is limited. One prominent example of spatial awareness shown by this boy is his ability to kneel down without losing his balance or hitting the table in front of him. He is also able to use the table as balance, standing not too close, but not too far away from it when doing this.

Pattern – This young dancer’s ability to recognise patterns is far less developed than the previous boy’s examples. At no point does this baby recognise pattern and sing or dance along with it.

Mirroring and direction – Examples of mirroring are not evident in the clip, as the young boy has not developed enough literacy and numeracy capabilities to exhibit this yet. Direction is used when he sways from side to side and bobs up and down, both significant features of his dancing during this clip.

Mimicking prior experiences – Two subtle but relevant examples of this boy having danced to and experienced this song before occur at 0:35 and at 1:22. In both cases the boy bobs his head (and body) side to side to mimic the dancing on the screen, with the case at 0:35 not being in time with the dance, hinting at prior experience with the song. 0:35 also involves the boy mimicking hand gestures used by Beyonce and the other dances in the clip.

Balance – The dancing boy’s sense of balance is not as developed as Mini Warbler’s (and probably not as Drake’s either, though this is hard to say since Drake is sitting down during his entire clip), as he is not able to stand without support yet and uses the table to help him. He is able to kneel without support, however, and does not fall over at any point during the clip, suggesting his ability to stand without support is not far off.

Practicing verbal language and conventions of speech – There aren’t any signs of speech or language conventions coming from the boy during this clip. Listening to music and being involved in it would, however, have some positive effects on his speech and language knowledge.

Timing ­– Timing is not evident in this clip, there is no stop start areas, and he has not developed enough (or been exposed to this song enough) to know which steps go with certain parts of the song. His few mimicking examples either happen separately, or as purely mimicking the screen (not remembering from past experiences)

Movement and gesture – Movement and gesture is evident in this clip as the baby continually bobs up and down, shakes his legs, kneels, moves his body from side to side, and uses his hands to move, gesture, and dance to the song. 

Being younger than both Mini Warbler and Drake, this boy shows signs of less development in all the areas I am critiquing. 

Baby Dancing: machack95. (2009). Baby dances to Single Ladies-Beyonce(funny), 27 September. Viewed on 19 November 2013. <http://youtu.be/mD-4cQz0s8E>

Week Ten Readings

Week Ten’s Theme

Given very young children's development of language and abstraction, how do contextual, multimodal symbols and conventions support their encoding or decoding of the world around them?

This week’s theme is about being a literacy and numeracy technician as a progression from user and participant. During tutorials this week, we created our own codes and messages for our peers to decode. This was an activity designed to get us thinking about how children decode everyday literacy and numeracy. Previously this blog has focused heavily (not by design) on the idea that children encounter literacy and numeracy ideas, concepts, activities, themes, and learning in normal, everyday play and activities. This can include being talked or read to, watching TV, shopping with mum or dad, and playing with blocks. As technicians, children decode these literacy and numeracy related experiences, creating their own rules, understandings, and meanings. 

Because I was unclear about what exactly a literacy or numeracy technician was, or how children act as technicians, this week’s readings are again taken from the textbook as an easier way to understand these concepts.

Reading One

Seefeldt, C., Galper, A. & Stevenson, J. (2012). Connecting Everyday Experiences with Mathematical Content. In Active Experiences for Active Children: Mathematics (3^rd Ed., pp. 42-53). Frenchs Forest, NSW: Pearson Australia.

One of the first points this reading made was to emphasise that children’s firsthand experiences and investigations with maths happen before formal school begins, and that these experiences help children make sense of their world and construct a solid foundation for success in school (p. 43). I thought this was an interesting point to make as it called attention to children’s success in school and not life. While Seefeldt et al. may have a firm belief that success in school leads to success in life, I believe we should emphasise success in life as our main goal. Children, parents, and educators should be promoting this goal, instead of promoting the idea of success in school. Success in school may be out of the range of some children’s capabilities, or the promotion of success in school may put too much pressure on children. Maybe I’m being picky, but I think language like this is something serious that needs to be worked on in order to educate children to be lifelong learners, and global citizens who are able to participate successfully in society.  

Next point was that in order to educate children in mathematics educators first need a firm grasp of how children learn as well as of the subject they are teaching, whether numeracy for one year olds of 17 year olds. Only with this knowledge can educators begin to create meaningful, appropriate learning experiences. 

Seefeldt et al. outlined what they believe to be important principles for teaching mathematics to young children:

• Equity
• Curriculum
• Teaching
• Technology
• Learning
• Problem Solving
• Assessment

The NCTM Standards are outlined in this reading as well as interwoven strands designed to support the learning of meaningful mathematics. These standards are:

• Number Operations
• Algebra
• Geometry/Spatial Awareness
• Measurement
• Data Description, Organisation, Representation, and Analysis
• Problem Solving

In both of these standards or principles problem solving is listed as being an important focus. This ties in with previous week’s discussion (week nine) which also had a focus on problem solving being an important skill to teach young children. By teaching children to solve problems, educators are participating in an education that will help create critical thinkers, which will help children as they progress through life. 

The last point of this reading was to expand on and extend children’s firsthand experiences of mathematics by providing books with mathematical concepts, create open ended questions, use mathematical language around children, allow children to learn from each other, and show children how to use number operations to solve problems. By extending and expanding on children’s firsthand mathematical experiences in this way, educators are also creating meaningful literacy experiences for children to engage in. In this way, we can see that literacy and numeracy do not have to be experienced in separate learning environments, and that children can immerse themselves in literacy and numeracy rich environments at the same time.

Reading Two

Fields, M.V., Groth, L.A., & Spangler, K.L. (2008). Understanding How Literacy Emerges. In Let’s Begin Reading Right: A Developmental Approach to Emergent Literacy (6^th Ed., pp. 20-47). Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Pearson Education, Inc.

The most significant point in this reading was the emphasis on teaching children to read as they are taught to speak. The reading first outlined how children are able to grasp such a large knowledge of the spoken language between birth and preschool age, as when they arrive at preschool they are already able to speak well enough to make their meaning clear. Fields et al. argued that this is because children are immersed in the spoken language from their very first day, and that it is used frequently in their everyday lives (either by them or around them). 

Fields et al. contend that this immersion does not just result in children imitating language; it sees them creating their own understanding of language and its rules. This is why we hear children say words like ‘runned’, ‘goed’, and ‘foots’, because they are creating their own understanding of the rules of the English language, not merely imitating adult speak. Important in this section is the ideas of not stopping children to correct them, or slowing them down when it seems like they are stuttering, but rather to elaborate on children’s own sentences when replying to them. 

The chapter argued that we should teaching children to read in the same way they learn spoken language, by immersing them in written language. Several articles and chapters in previous weeks’ posts (weeks five, six, seven and eight) back up this argument. Fields et al. argue that children should be immersed in written language from as early in their lives as possible, with immersion including being read to and using books in other play activities. Another point is that reading helps with vocabulary development by exposing children to other words and ways of saying things, rather than just learning how their parents, or family talks to them. 

One point I found interesting was the idea of watching TV. Nowadays leaving children to watch TV for prolonged periods of time is seen as bad or lazy parenting, however, Fields et al. outlined the positives in allowing children TV time. Watching TV (or even listening to the radio) can extend children’s literacy development, as well as other areas in their development such as empathy, problem solving, and critical thinking. One example given was the watching of inappropriate shows (within limits), with Fields et al. arguing that instead of banning these shows, to occasionally watch them with children and explain why they are inappropriate or why they are not usually allowed to watch these shows. This teaches children to think critically about what they are viewing. 

With an emphasis on how children create their own rules and understandings of language, this chapter outlined what it is to be a literacy technician. Being a literacy technician is how children decode spoken and written language, either by creating words such as ‘runned’ or by creating their own stories based on pictures in a book before they can read the words. By doing this they are decoding literacy in their everyday lives in a way that makes sense to them, but that might not make sense to the adults around them yet.

Outcome 1.1

Clearly describes how the concepts are connected to & supported by social relationships & contexts.

A few weeks ago, I wrote a list of all the literacy and numeracy related things I had done over a 24-hour period (or more correctly those I could remember). I will now us one literacy and numeracy example from this list to describe how literacy and numeracy concepts are connected to and supported by social relationships and contexts. 

·         Judging distances

This numeracy related activity is heavily dependent on social contexts and relationships. Judging distances is important is almost all movement related activities including walking, running, jumping, driving, skating, dancing, spinning, writing, reading, typing, and viewing/watching. The amount of distance needed between us and certain objects varies depending on the activity. When reading a book, newspaper, or a technological screen, the object should be close enough to read comfortably without straining our eyes by either too much or too little distance. However, the distance needed to comfortable read a book is different to that needed to comfortably read a road sign. Another example is judging the distance between you and the objects in a house you need to walk around, this distance could be increased by the addition of crutches, a walking frame, or a wheelchair or even just glasses (I found when I first got glasses that I managed to misjudge the distance between my glasses and the doorframe many more times than I would care to admit). Judging distances between friends when having a communication can be determined by a number of things, for instance if the space you are in is loud you may need to decrease the space between you and the person(s) you are communicating with, or if the space is quiet this may happen also.  However if you were playing sport on a pitch or field you might not decrease the distance but instead increase the volume of your voice, or include gestures and hand signals. The ability to judge distances and relate them to the activity we are doing is a highly numerate experience, that is connected to and supported by social relationships and contexts. 

·         Reading and replying to text messages (and other forms of technological communication)

The social connections in this activity should be as obvious as the literacy abilities used to complete it. The use of a mobile phone to communicate with others, whether through texting, calling, emailing, Facebooking, Skyping, or any other form of mobile communication is connected to the society and technological age we live in. Children in early childhood are unlikely to own their own phones, but many of these children will be aware of what a mobile phone is, and how it can be used to communicate, though they may not distinguish the differences in applications. Mobile phones and other forms of social networking technological communication have also been used to create a different form of language, through the use of emoticons and SMS English. This is another example of how literacy concepts are connected to and supported by social contexts. The development of emoticons to express emotions, thoughts, and opinions through pictures in written language, as well as the abbreviating of words in SMS English is an example of how literacy has been changed and supported by social contexts. The different types of language used in technological communication is dependent on social contexts and relationships. This does not just refer to SMS English and emoticons, but also the language used in different forms of communicating. The language you use to text your best friend might not be the language used to formulate a business email, which again would be different to a Facebook post that your friends and family can see, and different again when writing a personal post on something like Tumblr where your identity can remain anonymous. Additionally, those with hearing or vision impairment may not be able to use certain types of technological communication as effectively, as well as those who do not use English as their first language. Social relationships, such as friends, family, associates, peers, students, parents, etc, and contexts, such as work, home, social, etc, are connected to the types of language we use.