Outcome 1.3

Specifies the teaching approaches you’ll use & the learning environs you’ll create to support the social dimensions of early literacy/numeracy

During tutorials this week, we were asked these three questions:

• What have I learned so far in this topic?
• What is my teaching identity?
• What kind of educator am I going to be?

All three of these questions are important in specifying the teaching approaches, and learning environs I will use and create in my teaching career when involving literacy and numeracy. Below is my initial answers to these three questions, and how these answers will relate to my teaching approaches and future learning environs. Over the course of my education and career these answers will no doubt change, adapt, or expand. 

What have I learned so far in this topic?

Many regular, everyday activities involve and include literacy and numeracy.

Direct teaching is less important in early childhood than I thought.

Experiences, surroundings and settings are important for emergent learning.

The idea that literacy and numeracy is ingrained into many aspects of our lives was not a completely new concept to me this semester. However, the idea that literacy and numeracy, as well as their concepts and ideas, are everywhere had never registered as being important for teaching children. School and kindergarten based teaching of reading, writing, counting, and other literacy and mathematical concepts and ideas was something I was familiar with, however, I struggled to understand how educators (as well as parents and caregivers) could help develop younger children’s literacy and numeracy. Thus, the idea that many regular, everyday activities, including those found in play, involve literacy and numeracy has been significant, and will be significant in my approach to teaching. Surrounding children with experiences, settings, and meaningful learning opportunities that involve, include, and focus on literacy and numeracy will be important in my future teaching. Connecting play and children’s interests to learning opportunities will also be important. As my reading responses have shown, all different areas of play can connect with literacy and numeracy, therefore, creating an environment that is rich with stimulating, exciting, and interesting things to explore and play with is important. Focusing on children’s specific interests and learning needs is also important and can be used to expand on literacy and numeracy concepts, ideas, and learning. For example, a child’s interest in animals can be expanded on by including books, stories and songs involving animals into the child’s learning. Play toys and puzzles that feature animals can be enhanced with literacy by adding labels describing body parts or descriptions of living environments and habits. Distinguishing between different types of animals can help with pre-reading development (visual discrimination), and interactive counting with animals (sounds, pictures, eg. ‘Five little ducks went out one day’) could help involve reluctant learners, or increase interest in other children. The fact that literacy and numeracy ideas and concepts can be found and used in nearly all areas of life allows educators to focus on the child’s needs and interests and focus our teaching (whether indirect or direct) on the child, in order to create the best learning environment for children. The idea of not directly teaching reading and counting has appeared in my reading blogs (weeks five, six, and nine). The inclusion of activities and opportunities that stimulate children’s interests as well as their development of pre-reading, writing, and counting, abilities will be The inclusion of activities and opportunities that stimulate children’s interests as well as their development of pre-reading, writing, and counting, abilities will be important in my teaching.

What is my teaching identity? 

Play-based learning

Student-based learning

Real-world connections and preparing children for life not just for further schooling in the development of lifelong learners and critical thinkers

Various/abundance of materials, experiences, time, play, settings, scenarios, etc

Combination of structure (for the development of discipline, sense of time, taking instructions, and breaking up the day), and free time where children can follow their own interests

The importance of play-based learning has been outlined and explained to me many times during my degree already, and as an early childhood education student, I’m sure it will be discussed many more times in the next two years. Play-based and student-based learning is important to me, and was before I started my degree, though I did not know the specifics. As an OSHC educator, and through my own childhood memories, I see and remember children being the most happy and concentrating on their learning more when it is relevant to their interests. During play children are able to socialise, explore, imagine, create, build, draw, fantasise, examine, break, run, jump, hide, and many other activities that they love doing, and best of all during free play it is all up to them. They get to decide what they want to do. These experiences are important to me in a child’s development purely for giving children as much time to be children, have fun, and be happy, as we can. However, when you realise that play is also how children learn play becomes vitally more important. Additionally, student-based learning has always been something that seemed obviously important to me. Time and time again I noticed (whether at the time or after the fact) that students and children learn best when they are interested in what they are learning. Creating lessons and learning opportunities that are relevant to children’s interests is just as important as play-based learning to me. This is why connecting learning to real-world settings is important to my teaching identity. Connecting learning and development to interests and applications in the real world should make learning more interesting to children, allow them to be more involved in their learning, and help start their development as lifelong learners. Student-based learning is not just about teaching to students based on their interests, but also in allowing children to pursue those interests themselves, and to create their own questions and learning opportunities. By surrounding children with literacy and numeracy rich experiences and play materials, or materials that will develop their pre-reading, writing, counting abilities, children should begin to develop their own interests towards literacy and numeracy through play. Using these interests, we can help further develop their abilities and learning opportunities in literacy and numeracy, while still emphasising play-based and student-based learning.

What kind of educator am I going to be?

Lifelong learner

Warm, supportive, encouraging, open-minded, culturally aware, observational, inclusive, understanding

As an educator promoting the importance of lifelong learning, I must also be a lifelong learner. Thus, as an educator I will strive to learn through my teaching. I will learn from children as well as how they learn, communicate, and express themselves and strive to adapt and change my teachings in regards to these things. I will adapt my teaching to different learning needs and interests, and create lessons and learning opportunities that interest and engage children, and allow them to take control of their own learning, ask questions, and choose their own topics. 

Additionally I will learn from current and changing research in regards to early childhood education, adapting to new ideas about how children learn, and using this research to formulate my own new ideas about how best to teach children. I will use the research and practice of other educators as resources to constantly change, adapt, develop, and improve on my own teaching strategies, especially in the case of struggling learners.

I will also learn from my own experiences, as well as those of parents, caregivers, friends and other family members in regards to formulating new ideas and ways of thinking about teaching, and to be able to best create lessons and learning opportunities for every child I teach.