Since my last blog post there have been many changes to my situation. I have resigned from my position as Head Teacher at Manaia Kindergaten. It was time! I had been at Manaia for 10years. I continue to love the kindergarten, its community and the teaching team, but it was time to refresh my batteries and experience new adventures.
I am currently working as a relieving teacher for the Northland Kindergarten Association. It has been the best professional development I could have hoped for and I highly recommend that others do the same. If you have a teaching job and just want to explore other ece's - talk to your management about a few days of professional development to visit other kindergartens or centres. Don't pop in for a few hours - take 3 days and visit 3 different centres. At the very least, do that.
As I move from kindergarten to kindergarten I am being asked to provide some ICT support - which of course I am happy to do in the context of the day. I am amazed how much ICT comes up in my practice - particularly trying to capture children's voice. I don't need to encourage children to share their stories, children I am new to are eager to tell me their stories. I video, take photos and type their words onto the photos when appropriate. Wherever possible I try to use the kindergarten's cameras, iPods and iPads. I have been surprised at the technology kindergartens have and how they are using it.
My interest has been spiked. What 'latest' technologies do early childhood centres have in new zealand and around the world? And how are they using their technologies?
How about you and your ece?
What do you have in the way of digital technology and how confident do you feel you are using it?
Are the digital technologies offering you and the children the extended learning opportunities you had hoped for?
Please be honest and if you want to remain anonymous you do have that option when posting a comment.
PS: Another change in the air - its election year. Lets make that count!! More on that later.
I have previously heard about this book. I thought I'd wait for the ipad app Press Here - LOL. However, on further research, I watched a youtube video of children interacting with this book. I realised that an ipad app would clearly contradict the message of the book. And, I believe, it would be a contradiction of Hurve Tullet's philosophy.
Hurve Tullet's books inspire me. I found a great video interview (2min) with Hurve Tullet, about his book Doodle Cook. As an artist and educator, this interview inspires me. I can imagine the possibilities with our children and I look forward to further exploring this artist, author and his books, with the children at Manaia Kindergarten.
What is the most important thing you want your children to learn before going to school? What skills and knowledge do you want them to gain through the school system? What do you hope they will become when they are adults?
I'm sure you have thought of this many times. Watching desperately, making sure they don't fall behind their age group, that they pass their assignments, test and exams.
What do you want for your children?
You may wish for your child to graduate from high school, go to university, gain an impressive qualification and enter a well paying job - to be a doctor, a lawyer, an architect.
What do YOU want for your children? IF they achieve the above -
Do you want them to love what they are doing? Do you want them to be able to communicate well with bosses, colleagues, employees? Do you want them to have friends? Do you want them to be kind hearted? Do you want them to be generous? Do you want them to like themselves? To be fit and healthy? Do you want them to continue to explore new ideas and initiatives? Do you want them to be happy?
Taking care of ourselves. Having friends and good relationships with colleagues. Confidently contributing and communicating our ideas. Researching and learning, exploring new concepts and ways of doing things.
THESE are the building blocks of a great citizen, a confident healthy happy person. THESE are the people we want to work and play with. THESE are the skills that children FIRST need to learn. Without them 'academic achievement is a long hard lonely slog. With these skills children develop a passion for learning, communicating, sharing ideas.
The building blocks begin in our young children - fit and healthy, surrounded by friends, variety of communication skills, ability to contribute, and a desire and passion to explore and continue learning. These are the goals of the New Zealand Early Childhood Curriculum.
I suggest they be YOUR goals for your children.
We remind ourselves of these things for ourselves through romantic, heartwarming youtube videos. Watch this one, and remember to nurture these things for children too.
At Manaia Kindergarten we bought out the ipad for the first time on Thursday to explore the universe and find the Matariki stars in the sun lit sky through the iris of the ipad. (See blogpost about SKYVIEW app). This was a little tricky with a group of 30 eager children. Each child wanted a closer look. The Sun and the planets proving a big hit over the small stars.
THE 1st QUESTION raised from my first experience of the ipad with young children is:
"How can I connect the ipad (with apps running such as SKYVIEW) to our digital projector?
A Boy's Experience
Later in the morning I noticed one of our quiet boys looking a little lost and struggling to connect with other children. As I talked to him he asked me if he could see the stars again. When I handed him the PRECIOUS ipad, he confidently took it from my hands and swung it up to the sky. We were sitting at outside tables, on a slab of concrete. I HELD MY BREATH, .... AND .... trusted him.
Immediately others came over to him and they began to talk about the stars, the sun and the planets - swinging the ipad above their heads as they talked.
So we tried out SMULE together. WOW - the music they played - tapping on the screen together, trying to catch the glowing green balls - then swirling the balls to make patterns in the music. I have been considering purchasing a MAC keyboard - but this was much more fun. SMULE combines music and art. It is all about process and experience, and not about an end product. GREAT!!
I really thought they would stick with the music - but we only had the one free song - Twinkle Twinkle Little Star (which btw we had learnt in Te Reo (Maori) that morning). However there was obviously only so much of that song and the art they could handle.
THE 2ND QUESTION:
What budget does a school/early childhood centre set for ipad apps? And how would you prevent children deleting them accidentally?
The children wanted to explore more. By now J had one boy buddy and five girls hanging over his shoulders. But he was beaming with his new found magic and the ipad.
So he began his first role play as a SCULPTOR.
This app provides children with choices of wood or vegetables to sculp. They are probably American woods - it would be nice to apply different names and grains to the wood, to represent New Zealand indigenous woods - but hey - it is a start.
J choose to sculpt a watermelon. As he tapped he talked about the bit flying off the watermelon and it took a few moments for him to realise that by tapping he was changing the shape of the melon. He quickly learnt that by holding his finger down on the screen and moving it, he could rotate his sculpture in 3D. He did this regularly, seemingly assessing his work. Four other children created sculptures that morning. And it made me think.....
Questions no.3
WHY am I encouraging children to sculp in 3D on a virtual cold screen?
WHY am I not rather giving them a piece of REAL wood?
We do of course provide woodwork opportunities for children. WAS I today encouraging them to sculp on a screen rather than risk injury with REAL tools?
And then again....
I had fun sculpting on the screen - so WHY should I deprive children of that similiar experience?
AND more importantly top designers usually design on a screen first (these days) before investing time and money on real resources.
WHAT would this virtual experience do for young children's REAL life experiences?
The Great thing about the ipad
After the children had completed their virtual sculptures - we emailed the images straight from the SCULPTOR app to their parents. No cameras, no downloading, no uploading, no exporting or converting. I look forward to hearing their parents responses.
The Snow Princess
by an ipad SCULPTOR
The OTHER Great thing about the ipad.
It is a tool, integrated into a programme that provides children with a range of experiences.
ANSWER to QUESTIONs No3:
After two of the girls, who didn't really know eachother, had completed their virtual sculptures, chatted about their designs, giggled as they moved the image in 3D, and emailed their final images to their parents..... I saw them 10 minutes later - at the wood work table - earmuffs on, goggles over their eyes, drills rotating, and wood in their hands - SCULPTING!!!
And J made new friends today!!
In just one morning session - I see a whole lot of potential for this little screen.
Once again the teachers of Manaia Kindergarten, along with other Early Childhood teachers who are part of the ICT ECE PL Program, spent a great Saturday presenting and sharing ICT initiatives and resources to 180 ECE teachers from around the North Island. And once again we found it inspiring and motivating with the added element of meeting new people and new theories and ideas.
One resource we like to promote for Early Childhood centres and schools, is blogging. This is a FREE resource and provides children/students with a new medium for self expression, story telling, celebrating achievements (be it final results or showcasing their determination and enjoyment of learning), and to teach others what they themselves have recently learned. Blogging provides a number of positive elements that traditional forms of writing, self expression and teaching are unable to offer.
The first is that blogging provides an authentic audience. It is not just the teacher who assesses children's learning. It is not just the Mums, Dads and Grandparents who smile with pride at their children's progress proudly displayed on the kitchen fridge (although both the afore-mentioned are naturally and vitally important). There is however, a world of bloggers, blog readers, children and educators who are addressed, considered, and valued by children who blog. And the idea that there are people out there and are interested, is easily accepted by the C generation. For young children, their own learning and achievements are the central parts of their world and they naturally accept that their learning and achievements are central parts of your world too!! They are all eager to share accomplishments with you.
I have not noticed children blogging for comments. Checking the blog (or checking with teachers) to see if comments have been left on their posts is not the first port of call when they arrive at Kindergarten. The swings and sandpit still rank high as the activities of choice! However they are stoked, chuffed, overjoyed when a comment is left by a loved one, by friends and actually by anyone who shows an interest in their contributions. Both known and unknown commentators are valued as comments invite children into the global conversation and recognise children's contributions on a level playing field.
Those interested in education, of students achieving goals, for those who value displays of determination - you are given a unique opportunity to encourage, to respond, and generally to contribute to individual children's learning, and to communities of children at schools, at home and at kindergartens around the world.
So my challenge for you is - Have you left a child an encouraging comment on their blog this week?
At Manaia Kindergarten technology has become integrated into the emergent curriculum.
Digital Photography Children use technology to record and assess their learning. It has become a natural part of their kindergarten (and for some - home) lives. Children spend time creating sculptures with blocks, building volcanoes in the sandpit, or pushing their bodies to swing so high they can touch the shade sale... Then they grab a digital camera (or ask a friend or teacher to) and record their work. Quickly the analyse the images, return to their work, and perhaps modify their processes.
Movie Making Later these same photos are often put together into a movie using Photostory3. Children again analyse their images - this time assessing which photographs best tell their story. The next step is to talk to their images and tell their story to an unseen audience. This can be tricky concept for children, so with the support of teachers they are sometimes encouraged to preview their movie and asked if they would like to make any modifications.
Blogging Children now expect that their movies will be show cased on the Kindergarten blog. They know that when their movie is on the blog they can share it with their families at home. Families at Manaia Kindergarten are emailed when their children have an item on the blog. The blog has become a focus for parents to support the children's learning and to find out what is happening for their children at Kindergarten. They regularly leave comments for their own children and other children who share their learning.
Learning Stories Images children create with the digital camera can also be used to create stories of learning. Using Comic Life children can easily select their images of choice and drag and drop them into picture boxes on the digital page. With the support of a teacher, they share the words they want typed on the page. Children have a large amount of control of the way the final page will look - choosing the background colour, font and colour of the title, and the shape of the speach bubbles in which to type their words.
Note: the suggestion is that Technology benefit Education - Technology is not the education.
Technology benefiting teachers You might also like to consider how technology benefits education by the way in which it builds professional community. When teachers are engaged in technology, sharing their knowledge, reading about the work of everyday teachers such as themselves, then the profession of teaching becomes richer - and thus in turn - children/students education benefits.
As teachers in a Kindergarten, as part of the MOE ICT ECE PL CORE Education Research Programme, this is one of the questions we have been addressing. If you would like to know more, check out Manaia Kindergarten Blog. If you are concerned about the safety of children blogging and their presence on the World Wide Web, check out our Blogging Safely Webpage - with links to articles, netsafety, and videos on how to begin a blog.
This blog focuses on issues relating to children and teachers using ICT in education. I am a teacher at Manaia Kindergarten. We are part of the New Zealand Ministry of Education's CORE Education ECE ICT Professional Learning Programme. As a result of this programme I am specifically interested in the use of Information and Communication Technology to enhance children's learning and development. Our research question for the project focuses on building links between the Kindergarten and our wider community and how theses links benefit children. This blog is about my personal professional reflections and broader topics will be investigated from time to time as I advocate for the well being and empowerment of all children, and the upskilling of teachers in the implementation of ICT in education.
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