Ongoing Reflection and Evaluation

Prior to block prac
Before my block practicum began I was interested in learning about what the children knew and what they were capable of understanding. I had already planned my Action Research Project and my unit of work with my Field Based Teacher throughout my field visits. I showed my teacher a program which I had developed prior to the commencement of the Action Research Project including the different learning experiences which could be integrated into developmental play. Because my time was limited due to a decrease in developmental play sessions, my teacher and I went through this program and highlighted the most beneficial learning experiences where children could scaffold each other’s learning, work in small groups, and have a variety of new and useful hands-on resources. We also had to look at the relevance to the Action Research and whether it would work to provide children with more information and knowledge regarding the HSIE unit of work. I also had to correspond with the casual teacher who was taking the HSIE unit with the children and ensure that children were provided with variety instead of just repeating the same experiences. We decided that it was more appropriate for me to extend on her lessons so that the children were able to gain a deep understanding and knowledge of the topic and learning focus. Therefore, in my introduction to the topic, I nread a book called “Big People, Little People” which discussed the similarities and differentces that people have including relating to aspects such as big/little, larger body/thinner body, young/old, facial features (eyes, ears, mouth, nose, arms, legs), needs, abilities and interests. I then incorporating “My Portrait” into developmental play which consisted of the students working in small groups and using the mirrors to discuss the features of themselves and compare and contrast amongst themselves. Here the children also discussed their sex, age, colour of hair and eyes, and recorded how tall they were. I found this to be slightly challenging for the children in my class because of their non English speaking backgrounds, therefore I had to extend this lesson over two lessons of developmental play to ensure that children were given more opportunities.

Block Prac – Week 1
Before developmental play began, I engaged the children by showing the children poster size picture cards which held a variety of messages in regards to likeness and differences which were:
- We are all the same... but not quite
- We may live in the same street... but we eat different foods
- We all go to the same school... but we have different skills and talents
- We all like stories... but we have different heroes and heroines
- We all like music...
I found this resource extremely useful as it was relevant to the content and learning focus of my lessons in developmental play, but the children were all very engaged in the pictures and discussed the different in all of the pictures. In developmental play this week, the children then created a large collage in small groups by adding magazine cut outs of all different people and discussing the similarities and differences in their features (big/little, larger body/thinner body, young/old, facial features (eyes, ears, mouth, nose, arms, legs). The children were then able to engage in a very hands-on experience where they made playdough faces. Through this experience the children were able to create different faces (using different coloured playdough for different skin colours), and adding features such as wool for hair, googly eyes and different shapes for mouths and noses. Once again, this was a very different resource to what the children had in their developmental play lessons previously and the children were able to play and create a face whilst still learning and continuing to scaffold each other’s learning by comparing and contrasting experiences.

Block Prac – Week 2
This week, I was able to build up another step in regards to implementing more experiences with a more hands-on approach to learning as children had began to display some knowledge of what they were learning throughout class discussions. I wanted to make a family tree with the children; however the HSIE teacher was already obtaining family photos from the families and was not very successful in the collation of photographs. Therefore, I decided that I would get children to paint their families. However, although I was already limited to time, there were many interruptions throughout the day such as the Teddy Bears’ Picnic therefore developmental play was cancelled at the last minute. I then had to move this to the next developmental play sessions.
However, the following developmental play session, I used this experience. I introduced the experience by showing the children a slideshow that I made about diverse families and discussed all the different types of families (e.g. single parent families, grandparents, aunties and uncles). Through the experience, the children were able to paint their families using a “fun” resource and whilst doing this, they were able to discuss who was in their family and who they live with.

Block Prac – Week 3
This week, once again the children were able to continue to further build on their knowledge of being different to others, although we may be similar in other ways. Before developmental play, I read the children a book “It’s ok to be different” by Todd Parr. This book described differences in physical features and emotions and differences in families and friends, as well as having a positive image of differences such as being proud of yourself and helping others. I then implemented a paper plate face activity where the children made paper plate faces of themselves. This meant using different coloured googly eyes, different coloured wool for hair, as well as noses, ears and mouths. Through discussion, the children were also able to reinforce ideas of differences by relating to the book “Big People, Little People” which was kept in the classroom available to children at all times. Although time was not on my side, I found that I needed to continue this learning experience through to another session of developmental play as children thoroughly enjoyed it and not all children got a turn the first time round.

Block Prac – Week 4
During my final week of the block practicum, I had two lessons planned for developmental play, however due to the complications and limit of time due to Education Week activities; I was only able to fit one lesson in according to the HSIE unit of work. However, I found this beneficial as it allowed more time for the students to understand the learning focus and each get a turn at creating a felt story using faces. In this experience, I introduced the experience by reading the book “I’m like you, you’re like me”. The children, as a class were able to discuss an overview of what they had learned through the unit of work I had presented. Children went on to describe how each of them are different according to physical appearances, emotions, families, cultures and interests/abilities. The children also went on to discuss some of their similarities including these topics.
The create-a-face felt story consisted of felt faces which had different coloured skin tones; eyes which had different shapes, tones and colours; hair colour, length and styles; different shapes and sizes of ears, noses and mouths; and also contained differences in facial features including moustaches and hearing aids. The children were encouraged to make different types of faces and describe the similarities and differences. The most important statement that I got all of the children to understand was that all people are differences, but that’s ok!

Reflecting on my Action Research Project

Currently I feel relieved because my Action Research project is currently underway and progressing more each day. During developmental play I have been able to add a variety of resources to the program by allowing children to have a learning focus whilst playing. Moreover, through social collaboration, children have been able to communicate by talking and listening to one another and share their ideas and perspectives (MacNaughton & Williams, 2009). Through an introduction to the topic with the entire class I was able to gain a deeper insight on what the children’s current understandings were in relation to “This is Me”, the HSIE unit of work. I began by introducing the lesson using a book called “Big People, Little People” which discussed differences relating to aspects such as big/little, larger body/thinner body, young/old, facial features (eyes, ears, mouth, nose, arms, legs), needs, abilities and interests. Through this the children immediately began to scaffold each other’s learning by reflecting on their own differences and similarities. I encouraged children to each look in the mirror and tell the class about themselves. Although a mirror is a basic resource, I found it effective as it was not something which the children were exposed to in the school environment. Once I had a clear understanding of what the children were able to do, I began to plan and implement lessons, having the teach view my lesson plans and make any constructive feedback if necessary. My teacher continued to guide me throughout however only needed to make minor suggestions such as using a variety of teaching strategies to continue to scaffold the children’s learning, if necessary.
As I continued my planned experiences, I integrated resources which provided children with a hands-on approach to learning in order to:
§ Help to gain and maintain interest level of the learning experience
§ Engage mental involvement
§ Making learning more meaningful by linking in with the students’ previous knowledge
§ Catering for students who learn best through aesthetic teaching styles, as well as teaching through audio and visual styles to be able to accommodate to all children
§ Reinforcing, integrating and extending classroom instruction
§ Making explanations of difficult concepts and skills
§ Providing immediate feedback and extending on their understandings
§ Encouraging independent learning (Barry & King, 2002).


References:
Barry, K. & King, L. (2002). Begining Teaching and beyond (3rd Ed.). Riverwood, NSW: Social Science Press.
MacNaughton, G. & Williams, G. (2009). Techniques for Teaching Young Children: Choices for Theory and Practice (3rd Ed.). Malaysia: Pearson Prentice Hall.

Introduction to Action Research

My Action Research Project has been thought out for an extensive amount of time. Upon visiting the school on my field visits I noticed that developmental play occurred on three days out of the five teaching days, so I assumed that it would play a large role in the children’s learning at school. However, as my field visits went on I came to notice that although the developmental play was structured and the activities changed every three weeks, many of the resources were kept very simple other than some craft activities which the children enjoyed doing. I then began to speak to my teacher about integrating some of my lessons into developmental play and creating some more structured learning experiences into developmental play, where the children were providing with a focus and were still able to meet outcomes and indicators of the Key Learning Areas as well as allowing a space for more indirect learning to occur rather than just play. My teacher found this idea for an Action Research Project to be great and also told me “That sounds like a great idea. Micheal (another teacher) and I were discussing developmental play earlier and he was saying that he believes that developmental play should have more learning focuses and concepts which the children will be able to learn through play.”

Since my teacher was all for the idea I had immediately begun to plan for my Action Research. I was able to plan a range of lesson plans which I was able to fit into developmental play. I was also able to integrate a unit of work based on “This Is Me” for Human Society and Its Environment into developmental play. Through these lessons I ensured that I was able to design activities which were able to accommodate to all children as I have a very broad learning knowledge in my classroom which extends from children who come from non English speaking backgrounds or have additional needs, right through to gifted and talented children.

I was also able to relate back to my personal professional teaching philosophy which includes some strong beliefs on children’s development being fostered through play. By incorporating a range of various hands-on learning resources in developmental play children will be providing with an environment which is stimulating, nurturing and encouraging, will foster children’s learning and there is greater chance for a child’s potential to stand out (Falls, 2005). Children consider the play environment to reflect their real-life experiences, and consequently prove to be meaningful to the child. Therefore, children’s play reflects the meaningful environment and context of play, which allows children to explore and experiment, which provides them with the opportunity to build their skills, knowledge and ideas (Degotardi, 2005). Moreover, Cutter-Mackenzie and Edwards (2006) note that Piaget’s cognitive development theory notes that children actively construct their knowledge through hands-on learning experiences, being based on a constructivist approach, and allow for active engagement and exploration of materials, so that children are able to learn through investigation. It is therefore critical that as an educator I provide children with a hands-on approach where they will become active participants in their own learning, and thus construct knowledge and make meaning of this information according to their own levels of understanding.

In creating this Action Research Project I also firmly believe that I am fostering children’s processes of self-discovery by providing them with the opportunity to study things which are relevant to their own sociocultural context so that children can express their own ideas and opinions. Bourdieu’s social learning theory highlights field and capital through the power that children hold through their social practices and within their social contexts (Bourdieu, 1986; as cited in Arthur et al., 2008). It is through these social practices and the children’s everyday learning experiences that children are able to grow, learn and evolve as competent individuals.

References:
Arthur,L., Beecher,B., Death,E., Dockett,S. & Farmer,S. (2008). Programming and planning in Early Childhood Settings (4th Ed.). Thompson:Australia.
Cutter-Mackenzie, A. & Edwards, S. (2006). Everyday Environmental Education Experiences: The Role of Content in Early Childhood Education. Australian Journal of Environmental Education, 22(2), 13-19.
Degotardi, S. (2005). Exploring children’s play: Development and contexts. In A. Talay-Ongan & E. Ap (Eds.), Child Development and Teaching Young Children. Pp.131-148. Australia: Thomson.
Falls, J. (2005). Gifted and talented young children: Exploring the possibilities. In A. Talay-Ongan & E. Ap (Eds.), Child Development and Teaching Young Children. Pp.255-272. Australia: Thomson.