Article I found interesting

The article is called 'Why Preschool Shouldn't be like School' and below is a link to the full article:

http://www.slate.com/articles/double_x/doublex/2011/03/why_preschool_shouldnt_be_like_school.html

It talks about 'direct teaching' vs 'the playful approach'  and describes a controlled experiment to measure the two.

In one experiement, they gave two groups of 4 year olds a toy with four different tubes coming out of it.  Each tube did something different.  The only variable in each group was the way that the adults taught the children in the group about the toy.  In one group, the experimenter pretended she had just found the toy acted surprised at what the toy could do.  In the other group the experimenter acted more like a teacher and said things like 'Im going to show you how my toy works.'  They then left the children alone with the toy.

The children from the first group discovered more about the toys hidden features than those in the second group.

So, I put this into my own practice and thought about the way I teach young children.  I try and use props of different colours and base my class around a theme to make it fun.  However, I do enjoy structure to my class and a bit of direction.  For example, I was employed to teach in a nursery today and feel that if my class did not involve a bit of directed teaching then the other teachers observing the class may have questioned what I was doing and it may have looked like I was not in control of the class by letting them play on their own for too long.

I have decided to include this is a question in my interviews to other practitioners as I am interested to know what the best way of teaching is to ensure young children are learning as creatively as possible in my classes.

Starcatchers workshop

Throughout Summer I have been trying to find opportunities to learn more about Early Years Education. I took part in a free workshop with Starcatchers, an Early Years organisation based in Scotland that specialise in creativity and performances for children aged 0-5. This was a perfect chance for me to network with other professionals who are interested in enriching the lives of Early Years children. 

Everyone came from different backgrounds and this was great. Some were singing teachers, some studying like me and some were just genuinely interested in the subject. 

It started with a discussion based workshop about why the Arts and Creativity are so important in the Early Years. We were told that 90% of synapses are developed in the brain in the first three years.  This statistic made me feel excited that I have chosen to look at social development in Early Years Dance classes and it is clearly the most crucial age in development. It is also makes me think as teachers we are responsible for nurturing a child's development. 

We also looked at Article 31 of the UN Convention of the Rights of the child that Scotland has signed up to: 

“That every child has the right to rest and leisure, to engage in play and recreational activities appropriate to the age of the child and to participate freely in cultural life and the arts.

That member governments shall respect and promote the right of the child to participate fully in cultural and artistic life and shall encourage the provision of appropriate and equal opportunities for cultural, artistic, recreational and leisure activity.”

It is hugely relevant right now that we make sure all children are having positive arts experiences. 

In the afternoon, we were shown various techniques, games, songs that we could use in our classes to encourage creative development. I find this hugely useful as a teacher and gave me lots of new inspiration for my classes. I have been asked to do two workshops for a nursery this week and will be using a mixture of my ideas with ideas I learnt from the workshop. In the past I have jus taught dance to the the Early Years students however, after taking part in the workshop I am going to add singing to the movement as I think this this will capture their attention and encourage a positive social and creative development. 

This workshop helped me a lot and gave me great resources to research. 

Getting back to work!

Here we go, final module!! Having read over Reader 3 and the Module 3 Handbook I have to say the nerves are kicking in for the final part of this Degree.  All I am trying to think of is the feeling of satisfaction I will feel when I've handed in my professional inquiry completed! 

In the handbook it says to keep in contact with everyone else on the course and to regularly blog. So, tonight myself and two others in the course will have a Skype call as we have similar inquiries. I am hoping this will clear a few things up for me and will give me a sense of motivation to get started! 

On Friday I will join the group Skype session with Paula which I also hope will help to clarify things I have read in the handbook. 

Finally, I am planning to blog ALOT more. This will keep me focused on what I am doing. 

Would be good to hear from anyone else who has just read the handbook as well to know I'm not alone! :)