tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-71890877105524677702024-03-14T04:39:37.013+11:00Teacher's Ink. Reflection JournalJoin me as I design and create my preschool classroom for 2023. Hi! I'm GiGi and I'll be teaching in a preschool classroom in 2023. I get to design the space and the curriculum, and I cannot wait to see what amazing things we can learn this year. Teachers Ink.http://www.blogger.com/profile/17985697180478405868noreply@blogger.comBlogger101125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7189087710552467770.post-73249419633091704042022-12-22T15:55:00.000+11:002022-12-22T15:55:05.676+11:00Preschool Room Reflections 2023 <h1 style="text-align: left;"> Room Reflections January 2023</h1><p>21st December 2022</p><p>So I'm writing these reflections before I even start teaching. This way you can see my to-do list and my ideas for the classroom. When I'm able to fine tune the floor plan and the shelving and resourcing, I'll add in photos. I am so freaking excited about this up and coming year I can't even. </p><p><b>To Do List:</b></p><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>Set up Planning Diary 2023 + Bound</li><li>Set up Planning Calendar 2023 + Bound </li><li>Created Preschool Plan Template in StoryPark for 2023 </li><li>Completed Room Set Up Reflections Book for 2023</li></ul><p></p><h3 style="text-align: left;">Room Arrangement:</h3><p>Assistant and I worked to create our initial room space. I’d already identified that it made sense to keep the painting next to the bathroom door so we don’t have paint covered children walking through the room to wash their hands. </p><p>I’d also like to have sensory play as part of the classroom and that could be at the playdough table or possibly the jellybean table. There are opportunities across the space. </p><p>I am also considering putting my nature and science table and discoveries where two shelves meet and can create a nice wide surface. Or it could also be a small world play space. </p><p>We have pot plants, and we will continue to have them moving forwards. We are planning on adding more to the classroom. </p><h3 style="text-align: left;"><b>Our Indoor Preschool Play Spaces:</b></h3><p>We’ve created our learning spaces using the resourcing and shelving, tables and chairs we have. We’ve also considered pathways and traffic flow across the room. </p><p>We have things in the way that I would very much like to move out of the way such as a large 2nd hand photocopier (that is being retired at some point) and the fridges. If we move the fridge down a little we can back to back them and gain back some wall space once the photocopier is gone We can then use the sides of the fridges as notice boards or information boards AND place a shelf in the middle and use that for displays or for books or compliance folders. </p><h3 style="text-align: left;">Our Preschool Indoor Play Spaces for January/February:</h3><p></p><h4><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>Painting with mini easels (2) </li></ul></h4><ul style="text-align: left;"><ul><li>Water colour trays </li><li>Acrylic paints in small pots that can mixed to create new colours </li></ul></ul><h4><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>Playdough table with collage trolley in the middle for dough tools (4) </li></ul></h4><ul style="text-align: left;"><ul><li>Rollers, cutters, small containers and cups </li><li>Wooden stampers, clay hammers, dough tools</li><li>Thick sticks, twigs, pebbles, river stones. </li><li>Playdough in muted tones. </li><li>Playdough in two colours for children to mix </li><li>Playdough inspo pictures/Playdough mats?</li></ul></ul><p></p><h4><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>Drawing table at door with turn table in middle (4) </li></ul></h4><ul style="text-align: left;"><ul><li>Paper in various sizes - A4, A5 and A6. </li><li>Frames of patterns </li><li>Frames with Aboriginal patterns/language </li></ul></ul><p></p><h4><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>Writing Table against wall near painting table (2) </li></ul></h4><ul style="text-align: left;"><ul><li>A5 size paper with mini clip boards</li><li>Tin with pencils in graphite</li><li>Tin with coloured pencils </li><li>Alphabets in frames</li><li>Word/Vocab cards on rings </li></ul></ul><p></p><h4><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>Small world play table (2)</li></ul></h4><ul style="text-align: left;"><ul><li>Dinosaur small world play set: mini felt volcano, volcanic stones, river stones, pebbles, vinyl river and pond, Wooden and felt trees + cardboard tube and paper tree tops </li></ul></ul><p></p><h4><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>Puzzles + small manipulatives (4) </li></ul></h4><ul style="text-align: left;"><ul><li>Magnetic blocks (small set)</li><li>Wooden geometric blocks </li><li>Peg puzzles </li><li>Life cycle puzzles </li><li>ABC + 123 + shape puzzles</li><li>Magnetic tiles (large set)</li></ul></ul><p></p><h4><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>Block area in the group area next to computer (4) </li></ul></h4><ul style="text-align: left;"><ul><li>Wooden unit blocks </li><li>Baskets of people figurines, large animals, loose parts, small wooden blocks, natural blocks, branches, sticks, planks etc.</li><li>Recycled boxes turned inside out with buildings drawn on them. </li><li>Wooden and felt trees + Homemade trees</li><li>Tree stumps with planks?</li><li>Low bench/shelf with baskets of loose parts</li></ul></ul><p></p><h3></h3><h4></h4><h4></h4><h4><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>Home corner with lounge at middle of room (4) </li></ul></h4><ul style="text-align: left;"><ul><li>Recycled and repurposed boxes and containers stuffed with shredded paper. </li><li>Jars with lids for dried goods: lentils, beans, chickpeas, pastas, rice etc. with words written on jars. </li></ul></ul><p></p><h4><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>Book area TBD (2) interim next to lounge </li></ul></h4><ul style="text-align: left;"><ul><li>Books in baskets, books on shelf</li></ul></ul><p></p><h4><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>Science + Discovery Shelf/Display/Table</li></ul></h4><ul style="text-align: left;"><ul><li>Cycline bottle </li><li>Discovery bottles - make with the children so they feel ownership and connection </li><li>Magnets </li><li>Eye -spy bottles with small mini things in rice </li><li>Life cycle sets </li><li>Scientific posters, displays of life cycles, dissections of plants, cross sections of insects, aquarium with water plants and water snails or a fish?</li></ul></ul><p>We have a total of 28 positions in the classroom for a class of 20 children. This gives children plenty of play spaces and opportunity to play and learn in smaller groups or a larger group. </p><h3 style="text-align: left;">Preschool Curriculum Plan 2023:</h3><p>Once our rooms are organized we will sit down on our first joint planning session and tackle the plan for 2023. We have our initial plan from 2021 that I helped create way back when. </p><p>Our previous plan is our starting point and we can then add in any new additions to our spaces such as the new climbing equipment. We can then also share this with our extended team. Everyone needs to know </p><p>We will source an A3 sized display folder so we can place the plans in there and also include some printed images of our vision board for 2023. </p><p>Goals for Term 1 2023</p><p>I chatted with my co-teacher about next year’s goals for the children and we thought that it would be best to make our first term all about belonging and forming relationships with educators and peers. We will write these starting in 2023 and then have them set up online for the families and other educators. </p><p>We will update our preschool goals for our classes next year and feed that information into Storypark so it is easier to tag them on the children’s observations. We will also create our own written versions of the learning outcomes so that we don’t have to spend time matching the learning outcomes. Streamlining! </p><h3 style="text-align: left;">Preschool Veranda Play Space:</h3><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>Table 1: Drawing table - paper on clip boards plus pencils in tins in basket. </li><li>Space 2: Duplo on mat or low table (wooden coffee tables via op-shop or marketplace). </li><li>Space 3: Small world play set up on low table </li><li>Space 4: Lounge chairs with baskets of books</li><li>Easel with acrylic paints + drying string (also possibly placed in garden?</li></ul><p></p><h3>Preschool Outdoor Play Space</h3><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>Climbing equipment 1 </li><li>Climbing equipment 2 </li><li>Hoops + Balls </li><li>Bikes with bike path + chairs for queuing children</li><li>Mud Kitchen (move to sandpit) </li><li>Sandpit with recycled containers and kitchen items</li><li>Construction zone play + natural elements, dirt, stones, concrete clumps?, </li></ul><p></p><h3 style="text-align: left;">Gardening with Preschoolers</h3><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>Set up potting station to use with children for setting up growing station </li><li>Plank of wood + crates for growing tables for seeds to germinate </li><li>2 vegetable beds </li><li>Grow vines + low vegetables along fence line. Grow the 3 Sisters along the fence line?: Corn/Squash/Beans? </li><li>Grow nasturniums </li><li>Add more grasses to the sensory garden.</li><li>Replant plants that are too high + add mulch </li><li>Reposition stepping stones </li><li>Create flower patch along pathway at entrance to preschool next to grevillea. Plant more grevilleas + add in flowering for bees and butterflies </li><li>Add in small trays of water for insects and lizards with stones + sticks.</li></ul><p></p><h3 style="text-align: left;">Preschool Routines </h3><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>Start summer routine and include an indoor outdoor program to assist children in settling into the classroom </li><li>Crunch and sip at 10am</li><li>Meals at tables in small groups </li><li>Including elements of belonging + name recognition in routines.</li><li>Move hats outside for easy access. </li><li>Create circles of childrens names + photo to place above their number hook for bags. </li><li>Arrive at service, greetings, parent sign in, child to hang bag, place name card on hook, fruit and water bottle on trolley, lunch into tubs, confirm/apply sunscreen, wash hands, play</li><li>More later … </li></ul><p></p><div><br /></div>Teachers Ink.http://www.blogger.com/profile/17985697180478405868noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7189087710552467770.post-57026091167001954212022-12-04T13:13:00.002+11:002022-12-04T13:13:37.365+11:00Science Centres + Nature Tables for Preschool<h2 style="text-align: left;">The Value of a Science Centre for Preschool </h2><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEic575Bw4PAqmLFEmxQ0V-WPMXuB4r0UzDD7_5jLaApOSeaEy-sjNvuTS1EKuQtgg6na5PIBAyoOZbt-n64UcUzPOXMwMWZ4d583BejnnC1KKpMhhknnRbP_auQ3y0VFJbMRgckpZlEMNoA990ZfsgrAd51iwvJhP0oK2UbaBxiB_7AlDER6xANjXQ_" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="750" data-original-width="1000" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEic575Bw4PAqmLFEmxQ0V-WPMXuB4r0UzDD7_5jLaApOSeaEy-sjNvuTS1EKuQtgg6na5PIBAyoOZbt-n64UcUzPOXMwMWZ4d583BejnnC1KKpMhhknnRbP_auQ3y0VFJbMRgckpZlEMNoA990ZfsgrAd51iwvJhP0oK2UbaBxiB_7AlDER6xANjXQ_" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i><b>This Blog is a Work in Progress! But I'm so excited I've just had to publish it now as it is ... There will be images and inspo and ideas and links to resources coming soon! </b></i></div><br /><br /></div><div>Children are natural scientists, and they are keen to explore the world around them. </div><div><br /></div><div>The humble science center in an early childhood service is so much more than just a spot you plonk some science stuff. A true science center will intrigue and inspire children's curiosity and learning. It's a space that will be inherently interesting and be an invitation to learn offering children many opportunities to investigate, explore, discover, and use all of their senses to learn about the world around them. </div><div><br /></div><div>" Curriculum should include activities that encourage children to use their five senses to observe, explore, and experiment with scientific phenomena. Include simple tools in your science learning center so that preschoolers and kindergartners can observe objects and scientific phenomena. Provide experiences and materials that allow children to collect data and to represent and document their findings (e.g., through drawing or graphing). Teachers should plan activities and provide experiences that encourage children to think, question, and reason about observed and inferred phenomena. (2018, p. 27)"</div><div>- <span class="groupName" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1c1d1e; font-family: "Open Sans", icomoon, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">National Association for the Education of Young Children</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #1c1d1e; font-family: "Open Sans", icomoon, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">. (</span><span class="pubYear" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1c1d1e; font-family: "Open Sans", icomoon, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">2018</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #1c1d1e; font-family: "Open Sans", icomoon, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">). </span><span class="otherTitle" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1c1d1e; font-family: "Open Sans", icomoon, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">NAEYC early learning program accreditation standards and assessment items</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #1c1d1e; font-family: "Open Sans", icomoon, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">.</span></div><h3 style="text-align: left;">Links to the Early Years Learning Framework (EYLF)</h3><p>Early Years Learning Framework - Learning Outcome 4: Children Are Confident and Involved Learners: 4.1 Children develop dispositions for learning such as curiosity, cooperation, confidence, creativity, commitment, enthusiasm, persistence, imagination and reflexivity.</p><h3 style="text-align: left;">The Vision of a Preschool Science Centre + Nature Table for my Classroom</h3><p>I have always incorporated nature and nature exploration as part of my curriculum in early childhood settings, however in 2015 I started setting up designated tables and spaces in my classrooms. This aligns with both the philosophies of Waldorf-inspired approach and the Montessori-inspired approach. </p><h3>Setting the Scene of our Science Centre</h3><p>If you lack the space for a designated learning corner or table you can have collections of gathered seasonal treasures in a box or basket or even a tray. I had one student many moons ago who loved collecting rocks and "coconuts". The "coconuts" were seed pods and he'd carry them home at the end of each day with dedication. His family popped his treasures into a box which would have its contents siphoned43 off from time to time - the never-ending collection! </p><p>As I prepare myself for a year in preschool, I am thinking about my science centre and nature table that I cannot wait to create for and with the students! As I sit here and visualise I'm seeing some sweet retro shelves that I've salvaged from the side of the road or from op-shops. I can't wait to have an excuse to hit the opshops. </p><p>So anyway, back to the wooden shelves ... I'll have tubs or baskets with discovery bottles, magnifying glasses, natural treasures and loose parts. I can bring in a few of my own baskets and my collection of science and information books. I can't decide if I'll have a big noticeboard with the table, or if I'll have it looking out a window. The bonus to using the notice board, is we can add diagrams and images and explore documentation </p><p>When I started wriging this blog, I was brushing my tangled way-too-long hair and researching. I found some fabulous blogs and pages and I thought they're too good not to share! So rather than just bookmark them or jot down some ideas for my own space, I thought why not add them to this article in a "further reading" section! So I hope you enjoy! </p><h3 style="text-align: left;">Resourcing the Space </h3><div><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>Discovery bottles </li><li>magnifying glasses </li><li>natural and botanical loose parts </li><li>terrariums </li><li>photo cards </li><li>crystals, rocks, gems </li><li>growing plants in water such as spider plant, onions, Swedish ivy </li><li>life cycle figurines </li><li>life cycle posters and signs </li><li>vocabulary cards </li><li>science and reference books </li><li>colour lenses </li><li>metal and magnets</li><li>sensory materials ot touch + smell </li><li>tweezers, sorting trays, tongs </li><li>scales, rules, measuring tapes</li><li>bug catchers, aquariums</li></ul></div><p>- GiGi </p><p><b>References + Further Reading </b></p><p><a href="https://easttnfamilyfun.com/nature-table/">Nature Table Printables & Set Up - East TN Family Fun</a> </p><p><a href="https://theimaginationtree.com/nature-exploration-table/">Nature Exploration Table - The Imagination Tree</a> </p><p><a href="https://livingmontessorinow.com/nature-trays-and-nature-tables/">Nature Trays and Nature Tables (livingmontessorinow.com)</a> </p><p><a href="https://www.wonderfulmontessori.com/nature-table">Nature table in Montessori classes — The Wonderful World of Montessori (wonderfulmontessori.com)</a> </p><p><a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/tea.21807">Science at the center: Meaningful science learning in a preschool classroom - Raven - Journal of Research in Science Teaching - Wiley Online Library</a> </p><p><a href="https://pocketofpreschool.com/the-science-center-in-my-classroom-is/">How to set up the Science Center in your Early Childhood Classroom - Pocket of Preschool</a> </p><p><br /></p><p><b>Seasonal Nature Tables</b></p><p><a href="https://www.thehomeschoolmom.com/the-seasonal-table/">Nature Table: The Seasonal Table (thehomeschoolmom.com)</a></p><p><a href="https://nurturestore.co.uk/how-to-make-a-spring-nature-table">How to make a spring nature table - NurtureStore</a> </p><p><a href="https://nurturestore.co.uk/how-to-make-an-autumn-nature-table-with-free-printables">How to make an autumn nature table with free printables - NurtureStore</a> </p><p><a href="https://www.thingstoshareandremember.com/fall-nature-table-for-preschoolers/">Fall Nature Table for Preschoolers » Share & Remember | Celebrating Child & Home (thingstoshareandremember.com)</a> </p><p><a href="https://easttnfamilyfun.com/nature-table/">Nature Table Printables & Set Up - East TN Family Fun</a></p><p><br /></p><p><b>Australian Sources </b></p><p><a href="https://www.yarraranges.vic.gov.au/Community/Family/Family-activities-and-resources/How-to-Create-a-Seasonal-Nature-Table">How to Create a Seasonal Nature Table Yarra Ranges Council</a> </p><p><a href="https://aunaturetable.blogspot.com/">Australian Nature Table (aunaturetable.blogspot.com)</a> </p><p><br /></p><p><b>Science Centre</b></p><p><a href="https://www.pre-kpages.com/science-center/">Science Center Set Up and Ideas for Preschool (pre-kpages.com)</a></p><p><a href="https://littlebinsforlittlehands.com/how-to-set-up-preschool-science-centers-tables/">Preschool Science Center Ideas - Little Bins for Little Hands</a> </p>Teachers Ink.http://www.blogger.com/profile/17985697180478405868noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7189087710552467770.post-73001456998689723652022-11-26T12:46:00.007+11:002022-11-27T12:39:56.532+11:00My Dream Preschool Outdoor Play Space <p>I'm Back! I know I know ... I've done this before. I really should upload my teaching reflections from 2021 because I started out strong, but then a 15 week lock down happened and I was 'teaching' preschool from home! Longest. Term. Of. My. Teaching. Career! Not to mention the toll it took on my personal sanity. But that's not why I'm back. I'm back because I have a new job in 2023! I am so exicted to be a preschool teacher full time. </p><p>Yo. New job. Familiar team. And an outdoor space with tons of potential. I have finally landed my dream job. It only took me 4 years. And slowly the excitement is building. I am still pinching myself and worrying that it might disappear. </p><p>So since I have a couple of months to dream and fantasize, I thought I might use this space to do that! I have already created some Pinterest boards, some ideas webbing and interviewing the current preschool class. I am so lucky I have the luxury to ask the current students what they like, either in words or through observation. Play is of course one of the hundred languages of children. </p><p>I was having a lovely time on Friday when I was backfilling the current preschool teacher. I was watching my students engage in the entire outdoor area and I was pondering what next years students might like. There are of course the common interests of children that we can leverage to help children settle and develop their sense of belonging to a new community and space. </p><p>Construction items had been put in the sandpit and they children were so amazingly engaged. Dolls indoors have been crazy loved as well, so of course we'll need to bring those outside. I'll bring my home made dolls, and I'll make a few more. Those can live inside my new classroom. And the existing dolls collection can move outside to the veranda and the other spaces. </p><h2 style="text-align: center;">Small World Play in an Outdoor Play Space</h2><h3 style="text-align: center;"><b>Urban Road Small World Inspo </b></h3><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcWIZlWCMphHknNL2hWxniMhv7SOEUVgv_o7gMXyGnwfSgUDqPwiXvd2FAHocKX_-eh9x9n5ZInN7YSxvLMxWGNQlUl91Sqat9CkkG9JYeAiaMvaJp6_3jGpojwepBZwpiEbdzZCpW25kS1cwPkG7pnUFIl8TwnzmO2hqhfvRgjSAQzJhC0CbVlexK/s640/outdoor-urban-small-world-play-using-bricks-and-pavers.webp" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="640" data-original-width="640" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcWIZlWCMphHknNL2hWxniMhv7SOEUVgv_o7gMXyGnwfSgUDqPwiXvd2FAHocKX_-eh9x9n5ZInN7YSxvLMxWGNQlUl91Sqat9CkkG9JYeAiaMvaJp6_3jGpojwepBZwpiEbdzZCpW25kS1cwPkG7pnUFIl8TwnzmO2hqhfvRgjSAQzJhC0CbVlexK/s320/outdoor-urban-small-world-play-using-bricks-and-pavers.webp" width="320" /></a></div><p style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span face="Raleway, Georgia, sans-serif" style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #383838; font-size: 14px;"><i>This idea came from <a href="https://www.digsdigs.com/32-creative-and-fun-outdoor-kids-play-areas/pictures/87640/" target="_blank">DigsDigs</a>. </i></span></p><p style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span face="Raleway, Georgia, sans-serif" style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #383838; font-size: 14px;">It features a small urban setting with pebbles, rectangular and square pavers in a dark gray, lava rocks, bark and leaf mulch, a strategic small shrub, toy cars and vehicles intimate nook to engage in some pretend play.</span></p><p style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span face="Raleway, Georgia, sans-serif" style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #383838; font-size: 14px;">I have been wanting to make a space like this for years. And when I say years, I mean years. I had plans to do this in the last centre I was manager, but the staff were so apathetic and it wore off on me in the end. After 4 years I had the early childhood life sucked out of me. So it has taken years to recover from this burnout and I am now in a position with a supportive team, in a healthy work environment, AND I don't have to hold back as I'm not waiting for the permanent teacher to return, because I know she won't be. So I can let my imagination run wild! </span></p><p style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbFDg79iWKiurwcSmAhiGJfl8zcN2k2K1qxZ9NOq7cXEMSuO9TE1h5JsmFiOhjPIO1Q0NVNfd6KHZfJQwS7cJVbG7p7J3YdSBQPSyjcqbdS0FpUkbLCnjPDjJYQ2rNiib_GlfcUcpqGIeDgkrOm5D8hE2TdQb6_2zVVFOeNQ9O0pz1NwqqgJaJpuoc/s768/diy-wood-block-backyard-racetrack-for-play.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="768" data-original-width="768" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbFDg79iWKiurwcSmAhiGJfl8zcN2k2K1qxZ9NOq7cXEMSuO9TE1h5JsmFiOhjPIO1Q0NVNfd6KHZfJQwS7cJVbG7p7J3YdSBQPSyjcqbdS0FpUkbLCnjPDjJYQ2rNiib_GlfcUcpqGIeDgkrOm5D8hE2TdQb6_2zVVFOeNQ9O0pz1NwqqgJaJpuoc/s320/diy-wood-block-backyard-racetrack-for-play.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><a href="https://www.thekeeperofthecheerios.com/2018/04/diy-wood-block-backyard-racetrack.html" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Image from The Keeper of Cheerios</a><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1tHWuT70mWIIz8CHMqecty-tvpI45ANriSO9pp2RYAFdh-AEQ0s6Rr8dfnjY4joCnDd6rKfj7x2LR2kuZNA6apDQTSRBA7wtvNNb8emqAe2yPW0hgRu8a5QG3IXcqfOJVt6MxNrnZwVnaEVmlaHl4fGTgM40pIEcH9iGqR8eTdeFMaAT6Q7V6KH9F/s752/wooden-roads-made-using-planks-of-wood-painted-in-a-magazine-rack.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="752" data-original-width="564" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1tHWuT70mWIIz8CHMqecty-tvpI45ANriSO9pp2RYAFdh-AEQ0s6Rr8dfnjY4joCnDd6rKfj7x2LR2kuZNA6apDQTSRBA7wtvNNb8emqAe2yPW0hgRu8a5QG3IXcqfOJVt6MxNrnZwVnaEVmlaHl4fGTgM40pIEcH9iGqR8eTdeFMaAT6Q7V6KH9F/s320/wooden-roads-made-using-planks-of-wood-painted-in-a-magazine-rack.jpg" width="240" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://pin.it/5ZvOFFc" target="_blank">Image from Pinterest</a></div><p style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></p><div style="text-align: justify;">I really love the above idea using a magazine rack for the wooden roads. I really love these so much! I can't tell you! And I love that they are made portable. So I will DEFINITELY be making these, and I cannot wait to put them into action. </div><span face="Raleway, Georgia, sans-serif" style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #383838; font-size: 14px;"><br /></span><p></p><h3 style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b style="text-align: left;">Construction Zone Small World Inspo </b></h3><p style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbRva_vt9EOAPUVeWK_cfbI_ffNpan41XcFK46ATTZG11PbsWpvUOXbShSlAB00dzHNgwYtgnzHkmHQe7BDsfYFq4nEXyY1TSsBcqn8vMAmEsGwFNBlmpQvNk7M13_rwM6udY_jRVt5dxJ33PlocQXiLzLfYuwjFx4H-GKGCZASHUTczhrrpgG2Dkp/s668/a-simple-outdoor-oasis-with-a-sand-box-pebbles-and-a-toy-space-is-built-of-usual-materials-that-most-of-have-at-hand.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="668" data-original-width="564" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbRva_vt9EOAPUVeWK_cfbI_ffNpan41XcFK46ATTZG11PbsWpvUOXbShSlAB00dzHNgwYtgnzHkmHQe7BDsfYFq4nEXyY1TSsBcqn8vMAmEsGwFNBlmpQvNk7M13_rwM6udY_jRVt5dxJ33PlocQXiLzLfYuwjFx4H-GKGCZASHUTczhrrpgG2Dkp/s320/a-simple-outdoor-oasis-with-a-sand-box-pebbles-and-a-toy-space-is-built-of-usual-materials-that-most-of-have-at-hand.jpg" width="270" /></a></div><i><span face="Raleway, Georgia, sans-serif" style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #383838; font-size: 14px;">This idea came from </span><a href="a-simple-outdoor-oasis-with-a-sand-box-pebbles-and-a-toy-space-is-built-of-usual-materials-that-most-of-have-at-hand.jpg (564×668) (digsdigs.com)" target="_blank">DigsDigs</a><span face="Raleway, Georgia, sans-serif" style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #383838; font-size: 14px;">. </span></i><p></p><p style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span face="Raleway, Georgia, sans-serif" style="color: #383838; font-size: 14px;">They have some awesome ideas! </span><span face="Raleway, Georgia, sans-serif" style="color: #383838; font-size: 14px;">This deceptively simple outdoor small world play space features pebbles, mulch, sand and has section dividers using pavers. There are also pipes, rocks, tree trunks or thick branches and soil. It really is a sensory wonderland. This space could be built using repurposed materials that you may have laying around or would be easily purchased from a large hardware chain that rhymes with Runnings *nudge-nudge-wink-wink*</span><b style="text-align: left;"><br /></b></span></p><p style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisCiGVT8Ogd3Cv7OY6W7vOLg8O1c8gpzCcaEhO7YoNFu5ENntfjwpGriHlHLaQTiFQmTrfhc44MESMpBICjKKTLgHRbyo5sngufGf1iTb64A5jE-KeK1QwMvq7mhh0mnIk4NE-4HjJZXy0lMo7ydzn3fjdx22b-_uTyoNsrjuvwokJWWH-DuFk3zPO/s2448/outdoor-construction-zone-small-world-play-using-pipes-pavers.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2448" data-original-width="2448" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisCiGVT8Ogd3Cv7OY6W7vOLg8O1c8gpzCcaEhO7YoNFu5ENntfjwpGriHlHLaQTiFQmTrfhc44MESMpBICjKKTLgHRbyo5sngufGf1iTb64A5jE-KeK1QwMvq7mhh0mnIk4NE-4HjJZXy0lMo7ydzn3fjdx22b-_uTyoNsrjuvwokJWWH-DuFk3zPO/s320/outdoor-construction-zone-small-world-play-using-pipes-pavers.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><span style="background-color: white;"><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://pin.it/6WQl8dd" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"></a><a href="https://pin.it/6WQl8dd" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"><span face="Raleway, Georgia, sans-serif" style="color: #383838; font-size: 14px;">Image from Pinterest</span></a></div></span><p></p><p style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span face="Raleway, Georgia, sans-serif" style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #383838; font-size: 14px;"><br /></span></p><p style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIv5lCxZFMt6YyM37fMZjfQLjQ9FMpkLeQ_0grsKoaozGQv36OOcp0rxXpjUY_dZlDY99uQS3I1kZCLFEPDIjhYNTKY9vUQsEduAzVV7fXAKCP2tKSDnZg7KiiXjh0ro5ut3b-wqjrioREDi2uCKXkZC25QOADw2Ja6poaf2k9AX1mPBDAbeCI-A03/s747/outdoor-construction-zone-small-world-play-in-a-garden-bed.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="747" data-original-width="564" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIv5lCxZFMt6YyM37fMZjfQLjQ9FMpkLeQ_0grsKoaozGQv36OOcp0rxXpjUY_dZlDY99uQS3I1kZCLFEPDIjhYNTKY9vUQsEduAzVV7fXAKCP2tKSDnZg7KiiXjh0ro5ut3b-wqjrioREDi2uCKXkZC25QOADw2Ja6poaf2k9AX1mPBDAbeCI-A03/s320/outdoor-construction-zone-small-world-play-in-a-garden-bed.jpg" width="242" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://pin.it/fwII1gq" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"><i>Image from Pinterest.</i></a></div><span face="Raleway, Georgia, sans-serif" style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #383838; font-size: 14px;"><br /></span><p></p><p style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiswpXWkIQKHnFgk9bE3DUoo-Udd5NjzL26BTc9ML-VBAuqBHOybObS49v6xnmRUHKH9qlUCBZcn8bnG4yZc2V6PRimSeR2WuH-69TPTrf6Cj-jz0Y9hB1Ciy6T5SCoIWcgVWIPctRAhkvCqQUq02PSUbMw1phaVvl6jOiDLpuY3lKsJdrSwEwkGpf8/s550/construction-zone-outdoor-play-space-rocks-pipes-soil-trucks.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="550" data-original-width="550" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiswpXWkIQKHnFgk9bE3DUoo-Udd5NjzL26BTc9ML-VBAuqBHOybObS49v6xnmRUHKH9qlUCBZcn8bnG4yZc2V6PRimSeR2WuH-69TPTrf6Cj-jz0Y9hB1Ciy6T5SCoIWcgVWIPctRAhkvCqQUq02PSUbMw1phaVvl6jOiDLpuY3lKsJdrSwEwkGpf8/s320/construction-zone-outdoor-play-space-rocks-pipes-soil-trucks.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #383838; font-size: 14px;"><i>Photo from </i></span><a href="https://kinzieriehm.com/">Kinzie + Riehm</a> via <a href="https://intheplayroom.co.uk/20-fun-and-frugal-ideas-for-your-backyard-this-summer/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Pinterest</a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"> </div><p></p><h3 style="text-align: center;"><b>Dinosaur Small World Inspo</b></h3><div><b><br /></b></div><div>I of course MUST include a dinosaur small world. </div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFtjuqBFFD_moXvV-2kHL4N1fdColPhiT_1F5ndDjhY43DUoSNeNQlLcZJNX9OyD14mazofGKYLd60ghEE4pgNiu8a27qSqRszumUESlfhN_b4I4Irr_eAKzkhn--6uqSMazN3U03PT0ABM-kaCq_oaLAQNA-xHYWsZwLBaXL9yJXxVjkSj0-REdMd/s564/bf989538fc58a39a857d3dfc23f31c6d.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="564" data-original-width="564" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFtjuqBFFD_moXvV-2kHL4N1fdColPhiT_1F5ndDjhY43DUoSNeNQlLcZJNX9OyD14mazofGKYLd60ghEE4pgNiu8a27qSqRszumUESlfhN_b4I4Irr_eAKzkhn--6uqSMazN3U03PT0ABM-kaCq_oaLAQNA-xHYWsZwLBaXL9yJXxVjkSj0-REdMd/s320/bf989538fc58a39a857d3dfc23f31c6d.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.pinterest.com.au/playful_porter" target="_blank">Found on Pinterest.</a> <span style="color: #767676; font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Oxygen-Sans, Ubuntu, Cantarell, "Fira Sans", "Droid Sans", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, "ヒラギノ角ゴ Pro W3", "Hiragino Kaku Gothic Pro", メイリオ, Meiryo, "MS Pゴシック", Arial, sans-serif, "Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", "Segoe UI Symbol"; font-size: 14px; text-align: left;">@playful_porter</span></div><div><b><br /></b></div><h2 style="text-align: center;"><b>Magical Nooks and Sacred Spaces</b></h2><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3wEgokEBv8RfV-Fu1dT6Gs14aBBGxet0L8r4l5U90G8fckewBLzXC1lT6nE7yESqiGndh4sVUd9bN6jvXxOxlbgtqADtF4xieJpKLKzUSdmTCdC13eJYxZNTCLlZduit6iRmn4Hzl8Q83VMGI6KflNE4myZ6kDdRi2KS4jAvb0fJcIeib7rIq-ICD/s750/a-colorful-teepee-covered-with-yarn-pompoms-buntings-flags-and-other-bright-stuff-plus-potted-greenery.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="750" data-original-width="500" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3wEgokEBv8RfV-Fu1dT6Gs14aBBGxet0L8r4l5U90G8fckewBLzXC1lT6nE7yESqiGndh4sVUd9bN6jvXxOxlbgtqADtF4xieJpKLKzUSdmTCdC13eJYxZNTCLlZduit6iRmn4Hzl8Q83VMGI6KflNE4myZ6kDdRi2KS4jAvb0fJcIeib7rIq-ICD/s320/a-colorful-teepee-covered-with-yarn-pompoms-buntings-flags-and-other-bright-stuff-plus-potted-greenery.jpg" width="213" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i><span face="Raleway, Georgia, sans-serif" style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #383838; font-size: 14px;">This idea came from </span><a href="https://www.digsdigs.com/32-creative-and-fun-outdoor-kids-play-areas/pictures/158513/" target="_blank">DigsDigs</a><span face="Raleway, Georgia, sans-serif" style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #383838; font-size: 14px;">. </span></i></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span face="Raleway, Georgia, sans-serif" style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #383838; font-size: 14px; text-align: center;"> </span></div><div><span face="Raleway, Georgia, sans-serif" style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #383838; font-size: 14px; text-align: center;"><br /></span></div><div><span face="Raleway, Georgia, sans-serif" style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #383838; font-size: 14px; text-align: center;">This is a colorful teepee covered with yarn, pompoms, buntings, flags and other bright embellishments plus potted greenery.</span><div><div style="text-align: center;"><span face="Raleway, Georgia, sans-serif" style="color: #383838;"><span style="font-size: 14px;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span face="Raleway, Georgia, sans-serif" style="color: #383838;"><span style="font-size: 14px;">We actually already have an existing wooden teepee structure. While I would love to create a new one using branches, it would be a silly double up. BUT while looking at this image I was inspired to embellish the teepee we already have. And I'll have to take some before and afters of course and then share them here. </span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span face="Raleway, Georgia, sans-serif" style="color: #383838;"><span style="font-size: 14px;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span face="Raleway, Georgia, sans-serif" style="color: #383838;"><span style="font-size: 14px;">I can use the existing structure and then weave in some branches and create more of an organic frame. We can then add in some bling and make it gorgeous. I'm doing it. I can see it in my mind. I can't wait to start. I will have to wait since I'm not in the space yet. But making my vision board is totally how I get there. </span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span face="Raleway, Georgia, sans-serif" style="color: #383838;"><span style="font-size: 14px;">So now I can add in a wish list. I can make bunting myself, create some pompoms and add in some strips of fabric scraps since I have some rainbow fabric I found the other day! I've been carrying this fabric around since a job in 2009. Time to use it elsewhere and turn it into something else: bunting.</span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The teepee we have is already part of our sensory garden that I am working on establishing further, so adding in some potted plants would be a fabulous addition! </div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div><b>Insert New Space Idea Here </b></div></div></div><div><b><br /></b></div><div><b><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEipVyXHyn7Cv5hoEjiZeK8Bbl6f2J4NIMHxlWw8sUwifnlphnfCtOrxpUDuno8UQ8wLnIX7OwO4TyBBCVKmADSJpMFiWy5fTK2XvDgR0SXJgz6xXKMd1g1y_H2Z4jma9CMbI4M1dBcv60Bqj-CNNgdfY8BtGJdstAOZktXiy7qnajPV4QvTlz5sRSun" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="750" data-original-width="1128" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEipVyXHyn7Cv5hoEjiZeK8Bbl6f2J4NIMHxlWw8sUwifnlphnfCtOrxpUDuno8UQ8wLnIX7OwO4TyBBCVKmADSJpMFiWy5fTK2XvDgR0SXJgz6xXKMd1g1y_H2Z4jma9CMbI4M1dBcv60Bqj-CNNgdfY8BtGJdstAOZktXiy7qnajPV4QvTlz5sRSun" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">THIS BLOG IS CURRENTLY UNDER CONSTRCTION ... I AM WORKING ON IT IN THE BACKGROUND OVER THE NEXT COUPLE OF MONTHS. SO STAY TUNED.</div><br /><br /></b></div>Teachers Ink.http://www.blogger.com/profile/17985697180478405868noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7189087710552467770.post-15489104291443290542021-05-22T23:43:00.005+10:002021-05-26T10:38:04.361+10:00Starting Over in a New Preschool <span id="docs-internal-guid-15693244-7fff-d227-9332-ae195a1f6962"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><h1 style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: 11.5pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Reflections of a Preschool Teacher: </span></h1><h1 style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: 11.5pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Term 2 Weeks 1 to 4 April 20th to May 10th </span></h1></span><span style="font-family: verdana;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="text-align: left;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="text-align: left;"><i>Background: I'm contracted to a preschool for 2 terms. I knew going in they were in the middle of Assessment and Rating. </i></span></p></span></span><p style="height: 0px; text-align: left;"></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; white-space: pre-wrap;">Where do I begin!? I’m happy to be back in a familiar space with a welcoming team. It’s been a really nice change to my contract last year. I loved some of my colleagues, but honestly the assholes really made going to work with a smile upon my face difficult. </span></span></span></p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I’m keen to dip my toes back in the preschool pond and create some beautiful learning spaces for the children. I look forward to following their interests as the vehicles of their learning. And I look forward to being creative and making resources on a tight budget. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></p></span><span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">A short term maternity leave position requires some finesse. I don’t want to be “that teacher” who takes over an entire room but I also have to work with the children and the team to create innovative curriculum and a workable space for this group of children. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">So, I’m being cognisant of any changes I'm making and I'm having conversations with my colleagues so they understand the why of what I'm doing. I’m currently making little resourcing adjustments to the play spaces without any big changes for now as I want to respect the previous children/educator experience, but also support the learning and interests of the children. I am also making sure I speak with my co-teacher along the way, especially in regards to the verandas and outdoor spaces that we share. Again I don't want to be "that" teacher. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">It's really been so refreshing NOT working with passive aggressive and territorial assholes. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></p></span><span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">My biggest focus is relationships relationships relationships! I need to get to know the children and they need to know, like, and trust me in order to feel safe to learn alongside me. The same goes for the parents and my colleagues. I want to have honest relationships with everyone, and this will take some time. As I get to know the children and understand them, I’ll be able to better assist them to grow within our space. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></p></span><span><h4 style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Nature Science & Discovery Table</span></h4><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">We are going to revamp the science and discovery table. I had a couple of my students join me and we did some google research on the computer to see what types of resources we could add to our space and came up with some discovery bottles, magnets. I have found some timers in the storeroom as well as a broken globe. The globe has now been repaired and I’ve added it in. We had been looking at the map of the world, and the globe is an extension of this. Later on we'll play with Google Maps and Google Earth. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></p></span><span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The table will also be a home for our Spiny Leaf Stick Insect. This will also be a way for us to show their life-cycle as well as include some of the insect discoveries we’ve been making outside in our garden. The table is a bit too dark for us to be growing seeds, but we can maybe set up a space outside on the veranda or near the veggie gardens to continue this. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></p></span><span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I’ve gathered some spider plants from my garden which we have popped into a bowl of water. I was thinking that we could grow one in some water, and we could plant another in some soil and over time see how the two go and perhaps compare their growth in the two mediums? </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; white-space: pre-wrap;">Spider plants are perfect safe indoor plants for children. They are very resilient and forgiving as well. I am also looking at bringing some Swedish Ivy from home and growing this with the children. Both plants are safe for children to use and handle. </span></p></span><span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">We ended up adding a small shelf to the top of the table in our discovery area so we can go up a bit and include more resources. The notice board above is where we will include some small educational posters, document some of our work for the children, our webs, our discoveries and research, so that educators and families will be able to see some of the ideas we’re exploring. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></p></span><span><h4 style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Play Dough Table</span><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></h4><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I have moved the play dough table to the front wall of the preschool room where the covered trolley and small manipulatives had been. The reason I’ve done this is because I want the children to be able to exercise agency and make choices around the tools they need for their dough work. Previously they had rollers, coloured dough and a handfull of cutters. This kind of resourcing tells children they should roll the dough and cut out some shapes. Play dough can be so much more than that. I will be using the existing materials, but also adding in the natural elements that the children have been showing so much interest in. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></p></span><span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Our mentor visited from Management and I was sharing our space with her and some of the changes we’d made and our decisions behind these changes. She’d suggested that we use the trolley for art supplies to support the painting space as well as the play dough space. We have another shelf that I had been wondering how to resource, so we’ll transition the play dough tools to that shelf, and then resource the trolley to support both dough play and painting. I’d also explained that we were going to be working towards exploring multi-media artwork in a few weeks once the children are confident painters.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></p></span><span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Painting Table </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I wanted the children to have independent daily access to painting. I found that this was such a successful space in my old preschool classroom and I want to make this part of our classroom here. So we have moved the play dough space to make way for a larger table for two to paint. We will use small fine brushes and we’ll start out with the water colour palettes. I am going to work on finding some small table easels or looking at how we can make our own. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></p></span><span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Children benefit from painting on a flat surface, but they also benefit from painting at different angles. I'll have to see what I can come up with on a budget! Or what I can make myself using cardboard. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></p></span><span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Writing + Drawing Table</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I usually like to have my drawing and writing spaces separated but they are also so very much related so using the space we have, I am going to have them together in the same space. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></p></span><span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">To support the children’s literacy development, I have written two signs that say “What can I write?” and “What can I draw?” I’ve used the previous teacher’s signs she had written with the children and placed that above the space. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></p></span><span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I’ve found an Auslan alphabet that I thought would be a fabulous addition to our space. I’ve also included an Arabic alphabet. I will also be adding in English signage and resources to the pace to support the children’s interest in writing and to continue their journey with written language. The resources are available if the children would like to engage with them, otherwise they can draw and drive their own ideas. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></p></span><span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Block Area</span><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Block area is working well as it is. The imagery and quotes are similar to what I have done in the past and what I probably would have done in this space. The inspiration cards are a nice touch too! I’ll see how this space goes over the next few weeks and we may add some elements to it … I’m thinking some loose parts in baskets. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></p></span><span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Veranda </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; white-space: pre-wrap;">I’ve moved the tables to the far end so they line up. This gave us space to move our chairs and create a lounge area with a coffee table. The children can access a basket of books or simply sit and chill. It's near the garden so it’s a lovely outlook. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></p></span><span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The tables have had duplo in two large containers either side on the ground which frees up the table space for building and playing. While I love having baskets of resources, I</span></p></span><span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I’ve actually moved a shelf from my room to the veranda as we simply had too many shelves in our space. This means we can resource our outdoor small world play space and the writing area outside a bit better. But this is still a work in progress. </span></p></span><span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><br /></p></span><span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Crunch n’ Sip </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">In term 1 the children were introduced to Crunch n Sip and I was so glad to hear that this was part of the program. In my last preschool service children didn’t eat until 11 and I felt that was such a long wait, especially for those children who either don’t have breakfast or have it early in the morning. I had tried to introduce crunch n sip at the old preschool but I was told I couldn't do anything differently and I was shot down. That pretty much summed up a lot of my suggestions at the "old place". So when I saw we had crunch and sip in this space I was stoked. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></p></span><span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The children are transitioning well to having a progressive crunch and sip, and the play is not interrupted. They come and go as they need. They are washing their hands independently without any if much reminding to do so, finding their own containers and eating their fruit and veggies. It’s been a wonderful opportunity to have discussions about different types of fruits, personal likes and dislikes. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></p></span><span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Music </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I love music from around the world and to be honest I’m not a huge fan of children’s music. It annoys the crap out of me. Ridiculous I know. So if I’m playing music for dancing or possibly during our transitions to and from preschool, I like to choose music from around the world such as something from Putumayo. They also have children’s albums that are fantastic as well. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></p></span><span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I’ll be interested to see how the children respond to different types of music and we can then explore movement and dance and see where this takes us! We have a portable bluetooth speaker and we've been playing some music outside for the children and its been a great use of our stage and grassy area. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></p></span><span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Indoor/Outdoor </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">We thought we’d re-introduce an indoor/outdoor program. The reasoning behind this is that children will be able to make choices and seek learning spaces that suit their style of learning. It also means we aren’t excluding children from connecting with their peers across both groups. Two of our students prefer to be outside are able to make this decision around their play. We talked about how to best implement this between both rooms in the best interests of the children and the educators. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></p></span><span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">We are going to alternate daily - so one day our room will be open and on another day, the other Room will be open. This way the children have an opportunity to play in both spaces, make choices around where they play and who they play with. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></p></span><span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">It also gives us a chance to work within our own rooms with our students. It’s also an opportunity for us to work across teams. When I’m inside/outside, if the numbers permit, the other assistant will join me, and vise versa. This gives the children familiar educators from both rooms and it means we can work on the children’s individual plans collectively and holistically. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></p></span><span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">As we've implemented the indoor/outdoor plan, and it actually flowed quite well. </span></p></span><span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><br /></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 14px; white-space: pre-wrap;">Miss GiGi </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Preschool Teacher</span></p></span></span>Teachers Ink.http://www.blogger.com/profile/17985697180478405868noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7189087710552467770.post-50468837998274036602019-03-15T17:33:00.000+11:002019-03-15T17:40:46.199+11:00 What do you do instead of a “follow-up” or “extension of learning”?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">What do we do instead of a “follow-up” or “extension of
learning”? Well in one simple single word using four letters, we: PLAN. We plan for teaching and learning. We plan for possibilities. Writing about
planning is not something that can occur in a blog article. That’s a whole
freaking book…<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Follow-ups have been big
discussions on Facebook groups as well as the bigger Australian early childhood education community. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">On Facebook groups there are so many requests for extension ideas for activities …
Brian was interested in painting today. What extension activities can I do for
this interest?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><i>Well Brian was painting with brushes at the
easel. He was busy exploring the paint: how the colours mixed upon the paper. How they blended in to each other and how they created, like magic new
colours. It wasn’t an instant colour change - there were streaks of this colour
and streaks of that colour and then somewhere in the middle a mixing and a
muddling into a new colour. A colour that Brian had never before seen before
much less made himself. </i></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><i>Brian was learning how to turn and swirl the brush to move the
bristles. He was learning that the changes of pressure from his hand changed
the way the paint worked upon the paper. He learned that he could control his
hand this way and that. He was learning that there was cause and effect in the
world of painting. He learned that he had to share the paints with Tammy who
was on the other side of the easel sharing the same pots of paint. Brian was
learning. </i></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: 16pt;">Brian was painting, but Brian was doing so much more than this. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: 16pt;">On the very surface Brian was painting. Really though, Brian was learning so very much about colour, texture, pressure, transformation, creativity, social skills, fine motor skills and the power of his hands to create and explore his world.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">There seems to be a great deal of confusion about what learning is; what interests are and what the role they play in children's learning. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Interests are a vehicle educators can use to support children's learning.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">An observation is merely a moment in time. It is a small
snapshot of a child engaged in playing, growing, </span><span style="font-size: 21.3333px;">learning, </span><span style="font-size: 16pt;">being, becoming. It
is not the ultimate definition of a child. It is not the be-all and end-all of that
child. It is a moment in time. A child engaged in play, in a moment is not necessarily a child engaged in a true interest. It may be a child engaged in a passing interest, a superficial interest but not a deep genuine interest.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Educators are being told they need to
extend the interest, to plan for the interest. So they extend the interest. It doesn't matter that the interest was a once off moment in time. It doesn't matter that the surface interest really has nothing to do with the learning or possibly the true interest. The powers that be say extend the interests, plan for the interest, so that's what we do.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 16pt;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: 16pt;">I wonder if educator's go for the interest because it's easier to research and support. I wonder though, do educator's go down the path of interest because its more tangible to share with their leaders and supervisors.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">We have to plan something right? We have to do
something to show that we are being responsible and maintaining the cycle.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Let’s return to Brian.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Brian is learning. If we go and implement all these extension
activities based upon what we think Brian was interested in .. We go from easel painting to sponge painting to car painting. We completely rob Brian of the time and opportunity and resources to
continue on his self-directed learning path of painting with brushes at the easel. The
assumptions that are made around the National Quality Standard and the planning cycle are robbing Brian, robbing all the
Brians of their real self-driven learning.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">How do we support Brian? </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">How do we plan for Brian? </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: 16pt;">Well, I
would hope that easel painting would be a core element of our learning
environments. I would hope that there were a wide selection of paints out each
and every single day. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: 16pt;">I would love to see thin brushes and thick brushes in
pots or in re-purposed glass jars. I’d love to see painting at a table as well
as the easel. On big paper and small paper with collage bits and pieces
available - all freely. We could change the tone of the paints by adding white
or adding black. We could make paints up with the children - long after
Brian’s had his unhindered time to explore. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: 16pt;">We could mix the paints in jars
and give them made up names that have meaning for Brian and his peers. We could write those names onto masking tape and stick them to the jars. We could create
a colour wheel using the paints in the store room. You could buy artists
acrylics and water colours and mix authentic colours and compare the quality of the
paints we use in children’s services to the quality of paint that artists use. We could explore the notion that children deserve artists paints to use in their art making.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">We could explore the great artists - both historic and contemporary. We could
do all of this - AFTER - we give Brian the time to learn to be a painter in
his own right. Brian is three years old - THREE. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Give Brian time. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Give Brian
resources. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Give Brian our time. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="font-size: 21.3333px;">Give Brian us. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="font-size: 21.3333px;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Use our teaching skills to
support Brian, all the Brians… Draw Brian's attention to what he has done … Give Brian the creative language
that he may otherwise not have. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">In fact if we don't have the language of art
on the tip of our tongues - that should be our “follow-up” or our “extension of
learning” … </span><br />
<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">We should go and teach ourselves the language of art … tones, shades, colours
beyond red, blue, yellow, green … learn about magenta and chartreuse and teal.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Please don’t rob Brian of his learning. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Let Brian be. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Let him
learn. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Support him with our teaching skills. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Don’t distract him or redirect
him away from his learning with novelty painting sourced from the internet.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Support Brian to be the artist Brian was meant to be. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Support Brian with art, through art. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">© Teacher's Ink. 2019 All Rights Reserved<o:p></o:p></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Original: 25/03/2016Updated: 15/03/2019</span></div>
Teachers Ink.http://www.blogger.com/profile/17985697180478405868noreply@blogger.com0Australia-25.274398 133.77513599999997-75.0662695 51.157948499999975 24.517473499999998 -143.60767650000003tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7189087710552467770.post-70129115470155547962019-02-21T12:49:00.000+11:002022-11-26T12:50:45.228+11:00Quitting to Succeed<p> Yo. Here we are. It's Friday evening and I'm sitting out on the back patio with the dogs and contemplating life and the last couple of weeks. </p><p>I'm a teacher again. Ya know, like actually working with children. I did the managerial thing for a number of years, and to be honestly I just got over it. I didn't have the support I needed and it was just sucking the life out of me. I worked with amazing educators but the apathy was taking over my life and it simply wasn't fair to those educators who were really deserving of leadership that really was invested in them. </p><p>I said goodbye to apathy, and hello to finding myself again. </p><p>Here's to my future, whatever that may look like. </p>Teachers Ink.http://www.blogger.com/profile/17985697180478405868noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7189087710552467770.post-87879093510112733262016-02-01T14:45:00.001+11:002016-02-01T14:46:53.857+11:00Spiny Leaf Stick Insects This wasn't a planned post ... but it turns out it's necessary! I'm not spending a huge amount of brain time on this which is new to me! I usually take a couple of weeks to write, edit and publish a post to a point where I'm happy with it ... I'm churning this out in a couple of hours in between house work and other business.<br />
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I made a post on a Facebook group I help admin, giving away about 10+ pairs of babies to new homes. We're running an Emporium and I've been wanting to find homes for my extra babies but I've not necessarily wanted to drive across Sydney or have people come to my house! So giving them away at the Emporium seemed like the most convenient option. So I thought I'd throw together a page to support the insects and their new homes. It was easier to do it here than it was on the business website.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGs2ey5NZ7AG7lYklH0bAuAJGrKR7_1O-n6EyLgZPs9ifGjbaldDTvr1KJH9yhV0jAaCM3e7QLyav-6YRFNpK5Sl3zgTn6yr5HL0QVPJEn5eS9Iy30W86XF0WWR8gJJgrPK2uxoe9HLlw/s1600/StickInsectsTxt.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGs2ey5NZ7AG7lYklH0bAuAJGrKR7_1O-n6EyLgZPs9ifGjbaldDTvr1KJH9yhV0jAaCM3e7QLyav-6YRFNpK5Sl3zgTn6yr5HL0QVPJEn5eS9Iy30W86XF0WWR8gJJgrPK2uxoe9HLlw/s320/StickInsectsTxt.jpg" width="224" /></a></div>
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Spiny Leaf Stick Insects are awesome. They make amazing sustainable companion animals for early learning services or for children in the home. They are so easy to care for. They also allow you to view a life cycle over the course of a year and you're not slaughtering orphan baby chickens in the process (yes, I have a strong political view on this).<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6shbn80mIp9fSJnSvE_AgruMgBRerxRO3hT5yNK6dkuvyVkTPCMmRXhfPQolU8mn5882vttW1majr2wgomGP62OksDN8EBuKGe6oS_4jx1y80f2RZFnz37hwJGQMm9Qu9YgNFt-58Y0M/s1600/iphone5+4Jan+Backup+1217.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6shbn80mIp9fSJnSvE_AgruMgBRerxRO3hT5yNK6dkuvyVkTPCMmRXhfPQolU8mn5882vttW1majr2wgomGP62OksDN8EBuKGe6oS_4jx1y80f2RZFnz37hwJGQMm9Qu9YgNFt-58Y0M/s320/iphone5+4Jan+Backup+1217.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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It's hard to tell from this photo, but its female ...</div>
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Large plastic aquarium with my nymphs - note the jar covered in foil. This is our nursery tank. Do you know how hard it is to move 20 odd babies over from old branches to new branches? Yeah, it's not easy!</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVgP6QBzVhYteF7CEzcvNHa6g_P9uz0Rro0wVB0sIR9XpZcO7OShGVGpxN4rRvVnLXmDiQN3FNP_e7UTcsj0Y3Ox7bLkFSgXTFuxOXXsBAjYVvFB32TodaaIXa3pE9AUjtN7j_dG5FkGU/s1600/12645166_10153261675411363_8740796647973953985_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVgP6QBzVhYteF7CEzcvNHa6g_P9uz0Rro0wVB0sIR9XpZcO7OShGVGpxN4rRvVnLXmDiQN3FNP_e7UTcsj0Y3Ox7bLkFSgXTFuxOXXsBAjYVvFB32TodaaIXa3pE9AUjtN7j_dG5FkGU/s320/12645166_10153261675411363_8740796647973953985_n.jpg" width="319" /></a></div>
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It's a boy ... </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqJ94iYpG3WeUTH3qgBBhzoedWUBwm3dA3mKM1ZYzo6r_McCBCCSIEMzlwp8W1FYAT-J67JevooDIqGVDkAgIODKsAlVxIDaXSoBI_ntsFN2UBAh9aT8nSTDLmMxAEbpJYJSC-ZWtErI8/s1600/12647240_10153261675526363_5030215685699737705_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqJ94iYpG3WeUTH3qgBBhzoedWUBwm3dA3mKM1ZYzo6r_McCBCCSIEMzlwp8W1FYAT-J67JevooDIqGVDkAgIODKsAlVxIDaXSoBI_ntsFN2UBAh9aT8nSTDLmMxAEbpJYJSC-ZWtErI8/s320/12647240_10153261675526363_5030215685699737705_n.jpg" width="319" /></a></div>
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The work enclosure which I bring home for the weekends so I can care for the bigger bubs .. They love their water spray ... and my cat is plotting hunting adventures ... No. Just, no.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-JbchO_MiS8HAT1zxWqR5aBPHkEbLlIBLoh45R1a1HiOn4ELXW9j39zMOgXLs7GVJhLdLeXqsoWsocSboYSIsAnofEFj2xjtq_GffWPwsBonJF-XnyGv4bo_1RWGj5yv22FI2bQq6HR4/s1600/12650830_10153261675541363_568981577937756040_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-JbchO_MiS8HAT1zxWqR5aBPHkEbLlIBLoh45R1a1HiOn4ELXW9j39zMOgXLs7GVJhLdLeXqsoWsocSboYSIsAnofEFj2xjtq_GffWPwsBonJF-XnyGv4bo_1RWGj5yv22FI2bQq6HR4/s320/12650830_10153261675541363_568981577937756040_n.jpg" width="319" /></a></div>
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Female having a meal ... I've graduated them from callistemon (bottle brush) to bigger gum leaves.</div>
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<u>What you will need:</u><br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>A suitable enclosure/habitat.</li>
<li>A spray bottle for water only</li>
<li>Fresh supply of gum (eucalyptus) leaves</li>
<li>A jar to support the gum branches to last longer (up to a week). When the nymphs are young, you will need to cover the jar with aluminium foil and poke the branches through to prevent any accidental drowning. </li>
<li>Paper towel, newspaper or something for the substrate of the habitiat</li>
</ul>
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<u>Enclosures/Habitats</u></div>
<div>
<u><br /></u></div>
<div>
There are all sorts you can use. While they are young, I use a plastic aquarium which is about $25. They provide cats with endless entertainment as well - so that's a bonus. </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3_GrFCGK7CXAP-R92SOTpkqbae9DLpXqWBqEYSekAN4822tjMnNatEU_qCJREJWDlx1xKh0_yQoWfZC2zuJoGW4HmkeoAL09SMd2sCzNTpxDPxmNIJdc0IVheQPL_YrlfaWytbpfIxzc/s1600/iphone5+4Jan+Backup+1166.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3_GrFCGK7CXAP-R92SOTpkqbae9DLpXqWBqEYSekAN4822tjMnNatEU_qCJREJWDlx1xKh0_yQoWfZC2zuJoGW4HmkeoAL09SMd2sCzNTpxDPxmNIJdc0IVheQPL_YrlfaWytbpfIxzc/s320/iphone5+4Jan+Backup+1166.JPG" width="240" /></a></div>
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This is like the one we have at work:</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJOR6L3Oc4su7azII_boR2BNtivTbPvaqmzVFwF3cTX-0PqlxOralR-EZGWp5ftECA_dZ6cipPkvbmXmffZa3Pox3k-lG6SupPpAWrog4iKOILHQ4st2x43eWA6UhJhrybLsU7yOODErw/s1600/53203Flexarium100gal.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJOR6L3Oc4su7azII_boR2BNtivTbPvaqmzVFwF3cTX-0PqlxOralR-EZGWp5ftECA_dZ6cipPkvbmXmffZa3Pox3k-lG6SupPpAWrog4iKOILHQ4st2x43eWA6UhJhrybLsU7yOODErw/s320/53203Flexarium100gal.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://www.kellyvillepets.com.au/collections/reptile-enclosures/products/exo-terra-flexarium-100gal" target="_blank">Kellyville Pets </a></div>
<br />
Its fabulous. I am actually thinking about buying one for home! Because yes, I may need my own insects for home ... don't ask. And it will save me transporting a full enclosure to and from. I can just grab the ones we have and then put them with my own. I know I have a problem.<br />
<u><br /></u>
<u>Links with information:</u><br />
Australian Museum:<br />
<a href="http://australianmuseum.net.au/care-of-stick-insects">http://australianmuseum.net.au/care-of-stick-insects</a><br />
<br />
Creature Features<br />
<a href="http://www.abc.net.au/creaturefeatures/facts/spinyleafinsect.htm" target="_blank">http://www.abc.net.au/creaturefeatures/facts/spinyleafinsect.htm </a><br />
<br />
Australian Insect Farm Life Cycle:<br />
<a href="http://www.insectfarm.com.au/newsletters/Life-Cycle-3-Spiny-Leaf-Stick-Insect.pdf">http://www.insectfarm.com.au/newsletters/Life-Cycle-3-Spiny-Leaf-Stick-Insect.pdf</a><br />
<br />
Wikipedia: Extatosoma tiaratum, because life is not complete without Wikipedia:<br />
<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extatosoma_tiaratum">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extatosoma_tiaratum</a><br />
<br />
Bugs ED<br />
<a href="http://www.bugsed.com/fact_sheets/spiny_leaf_insect.html" target="_blank">http://www.bugsed.com/fact_sheets/spiny_leaf_insect.html </a><br />
<br />
<u>Care Sheet:</u><br />
<a href="http://shop.minibeastwildlife.com.au/content/Minibeast%20Wildlife%20Care%20Guide%20-%20Extatosoma%20tiaratum.pdf" target="_blank">http://shop.minibeastwildlife.com.au/content/Minibeast%20Wildlife%20Care%20Guide%20-%20Extatosoma%20tiaratum.pdf </a><br />
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<br />
I've included a few videos ... I've never seen one hatch, despite having a hundred or so eggs ... One of my team did with one of our students and that would have been the most wonderful thing to behold! So here's a video which I showed to my children at work - the babies just kept popping up without most of us (bar one) seeing the process! I've included videos of one of the males on my hand - he has a smoother body and he also has wings. The female has a spikier body and she has the tiniest wings that don't function. They can be tricky to tell apart when they're young and you're not used to them.<br />
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<u>Videos:</u><br />
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A hatching spiny leaf insect nymph:<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" class="YOUTUBE-iframe-video" data-thumbnail-src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/ke0BpqKgJJM/0.jpg" frameborder="0" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/ke0BpqKgJJM?feature=player_embedded" width="320"></iframe></div>
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One of my young male spiny leaf stick insects:<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" class="YOUTUBE-iframe-video" data-thumbnail-src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/N1iMhpCB4Aw/0.jpg" frameborder="0" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/N1iMhpCB4Aw?feature=player_embedded" width="320"></iframe></div>
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One of my young female spiny leaf stick insects:<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" class="YOUTUBE-iframe-video" data-thumbnail-src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/2OBri3qVdxo/0.jpg" frameborder="0" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/2OBri3qVdxo?feature=player_embedded" width="320"></iframe></div>
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And this awesome video of the insects up close ... if the insects gross you out, then this close up video will make you die... so be warned and don't die!!!!</div>
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Ok, I think that will do us...<br />
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I hope this is all useful!<br />
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© Teacher's Ink. 2016</div>
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(your friendly local bug dealer)</div>
Teachers Ink.http://www.blogger.com/profile/17985697180478405868noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7189087710552467770.post-58613490658014429062016-01-24T16:00:00.000+11:002016-01-24T16:00:02.982+11:00 We Teach Relationships, Through Relationships<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6PReraJ6wwPTHwwM1p8GyNWqPbBDtbIBNdnR1u6tX8PHueIC8RVvDEIlYmU5uX1XG_RJclabndLIzQ2v7CZD19FCwSoFF3Cl0tKH0eC_USPQQQqq24NIKOqx0OUUH-KI8u4O2wDnhru0/s1600/Relationships.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6PReraJ6wwPTHwwM1p8GyNWqPbBDtbIBNdnR1u6tX8PHueIC8RVvDEIlYmU5uX1XG_RJclabndLIzQ2v7CZD19FCwSoFF3Cl0tKH0eC_USPQQQqq24NIKOqx0OUUH-KI8u4O2wDnhru0/s320/Relationships.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
I actually wrote this piece last year in October. There was actually a great deal of reflecting upon relationships. In fact I could add to it almost every day!<br />
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I am using it now following on from my piece about Belonging. I think they do fit and flow together a fair bit.<br />
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~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~</div>
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I've been pondering
relationships with children. Its actually something that I have been
thinking about since the start of last year and moments have come up
since then that really highlight the importance of relationships.
Without relationships we cannot be educators. Children need to trust
you – trust you to care for them – trust you to have their best
interests at heart – trust you to tell them and teach them the
truth.
</div>
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<br />
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Relationships are
central to our work as educators. Our relationships with the
children, their families, our peer colleagues, and yes our managers.
These relationships have the power to help us soar, or sink; work in
harmony or misery.
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<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
I was sitting in my office reading a Teacher Tom article which touched on relationships. One of my Korean contingent came to little
school. She arrived with her father who called out 'good morning' and
I called out a 'good morning' back. Miss Y came running around the
hallway to smile, say good morning in English and then greet me in
Korean with a bow. An-Ya-Ah-Sey-Yo I said back as she threw herself into me for
a morning hug. I am not their 'teacher' … I am the manager of a
service with limited time with these children, yet my interactions
have nurtured these relationships.<br />
</div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
How we engage with
children is CRITICAL. It does not matter the time, the quality of
those interactions is what matters. Teacher Tom, in <a href="http://Icelandic Fairies" target="_blank">"<span style="line-height: 100%;">Icelandic Fairies"</span></a><span style="line-height: 100%;"> was yet another
reminder of this – he connected with children in brief moments
without a shared language and he was overwhelmed with emotions.</span></div>
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<br />
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I've always had
fabulous relationships with children. I'm not bragging. I just have.
I was the teacher who would walk into the room and have a cluster of
my students come running to greet me each morning I was on a late
shift. I didn't encourage it or foster it – it just was what it
was. It was not some ego boost. I wasnt grooming teacher worshiping
students. We genuinely enjoyed one another's company. Now this isn't
to say that there were not children who I found challenging to
connect with. There were children who I really struggled with, and
those were the relationships I had to work to nurture. And sometimes
I think we never got there, that child and I.
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I've been working at
my current service as a non-teaching director for about 6 months. I
walk in and out of the rooms. I spend some time in the garden. I'm
not consistently working with children. I have noticed something
critical. A single interaction, no matter how seemingly insignificant
to me – a passer-through – was significant to a child.
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That is our power to
nurture or to do harm.
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<br />
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I spent more time in
the preschool side of our service – purely because the 2IC is the
lead teacher in that space. She was central to supporting me in
learning the bureaucratic nuances to this organization. My first
interaction with a toddler in our nursery was a passing through
moment: I noticed someone wearing one sock. Which led to a
conversation about socks – I decided to take my shoes off and show
them that I was wearing odd socks: one spots and one stripes. That
moment – an unplanned sharing – led to this child saying my name,
looking for me when he arrived at little school, saying goodbye to me
when he left. Simply showing the children my quirky sock choices led
to a connection and a relationship.
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<br />
</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Reflecting further
back, at the start of the year I was running a vacation care program.
We were sitting at the kinetic sand table and a younger boy who was
new to vacation care and transitioning from preschool to
kindergarten, started to flick the sand. I asked him to stop because
he was possibly going to flick sand into someone's eyes which would
really hurt them. He stopped and all was good in the world of the
kinetic sand table. A young friend, about 11 years old, sitting next
to me said “You're really nice.” … I wasn't expecting to hear a
random statement like that so I asked him why. He said I just was and
because I didn't yell at that boy. I didn't yell at the children. He
went on to say that if someone had done 'the wrong thing' then all
the children would be gathered on the stage where they would be
reprimanded as a collective. I was really nice because I let him
charge his gameboy where the other 'teacher' wouldn't – she'd only
let her son charge his and not the other children.
</div>
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<br />
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This hit me. It hit
me hard. I'm still thinking about it ten months later.</div>
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<br />
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I was greatly
saddened to hear that this was this child's experience of vacation
care. I was saddened by a great many things that he had divulged to
me about how other children had bullied him and pushed him against
walls and held him by his neck – threatening him. How nothing was
done about it. How he didn't feel safe. This explained why he spent
time at my side from day one, why he checked the children's sign in
and out, why he'd watch the door nervously when children and families
would arrive. I thought it was simply because he recognized me for
the awesome teacher and fabulous human being that I am. It was
because he was living in silent fear.</div>
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<br />
</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
I saw the fear in
his eyes when 'that kid' turned up. That kid was about a year older
than he but taller and much older in terms of physical development.
This kid was mean. He was manipulative. He would watch and strike
strategically. It's not often that I don't like young people. This
individual was not being a nice person. Look, I still treated him
like I did all the others, but I watched him. I watched him watch me.
Thankfully he only attended two days.
</div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
{Fast forward to three months to this moment where I am editing this article for my blog and I want to add a moment which includes Miss E. She's just turned two and she's pint sized. She has always been a reserved and quite little soul. I'd love to tell you about the little moments I've shared with Miss E at the end of the day when I step onto the floor for 30-60 minutes - where I might share 10-20 minutes with her in family grouping. But I won't. They are brief. And they are mostly about her accompanying me to do the final day lock up ... We would walk through the centre with my colleague, and we would check the rooms and make sure no one was left behind in the other rooms. This was not our every day thing, it was just our sometimes thing when my shift aligned with a late collection of her. </div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
The other day when I was in the nursery room speaking to the two leaders about their spaces and their plans for 2016, Miss E approached me. I looked down and asked her if she'd like a cuddle, her arms were raised which I read as a yes. I picked her up and balanced her on my hip while I continued to discuss the piece of paper in my hand with my team. I'd placed my glasses upon my head, and she grabbed my face in both of her hands and held her nose to mine and squeezed my face. She then put her check to mine and then squeezed again. Then she put her arms around my neck and gave me a big hug. Then she looked at my face again. I died. I just died. I just ended up giving her the biggest squeeze back and a big kiss on the cheek. I had no idea. I just didn't. I'm important to her. I need to make sure that I do not let her down. I need to make sure I don't let any of them down. What a seriously big freaking responsibility we have! Seriously. Now, back to the original piece I wrote ... }</div>
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<br />
</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Anyway. The
significant point I am trying to make here is that the children watch
you and learn from you. I'm not referring to the role modeling you do
when try to demonstrate those typical academic things that many
educators seem to focus upon … I'm referring to deeper things. The
touchy feely, the emotional and feeling things.
</div>
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<br />
</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
We teach children.
We teach them what we think of them. How we value them as people. How
we think they should be treated. We teach them how to accept
treatment by others – peers and adults alike. We teach them 'their'
worth through our eyes. We teach them what we think of them by how we
engage with their peers – do we place more value upon one child
over another?
</div>
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<br />
</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
One single moment,
seemingly unimportant in our adult eyes, can carry so much weight for
a child.
</div>
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<br />
</div>
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Remember that.
</div>
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<br />
</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
We teach
relationships, through relationships.
</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
We form
relationships through actions and words.</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Make every action,
every moment priceless.
</div>
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<br />
</div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;">©</span><span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;">
Teacher's Ink. 2015</span>
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Teachers Ink.http://www.blogger.com/profile/17985697180478405868noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7189087710552467770.post-75345746472488159212016-01-10T10:26:00.000+11:002016-01-10T10:26:51.782+11:00Belonging Doesnt Grow on Trees<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I was thinking while avoiding the pile of washing (waiting patiently to be folded and put away) behind me on the spare bed: What would be the best topic to write about in 2016? I thought with the start of a new year, belonging was the most logical choice for me.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>Belonging</b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> For many people, big and small, 2016 will be filled with new beginnings...</span></div>
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<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; text-indent: -18pt;">Perhaps as a child starting their first day ever in a setting?</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; text-indent: -18pt;">Perhaps a child starting at a new service, because they needed to leave their old one? A mix of familiarity and starting all over again.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; text-indent: -18pt;">Perhaps as a fresh bright-eyed graduate starting a new role? </span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; text-indent: -18pt;">A student commencing studies?</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; text-indent: -18pt;">Starting a new position at a new service – or even an old one?</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="text-indent: -18pt;"> </span><span style="text-indent: -18pt;">Volunteering or perhaps being on placement?</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; text-indent: -18pt;">Beginning a leadership role? Team leader? Director/Manager? Educational Leader?</span></li>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I am sure many of us are feeling quite lost. I know I did. In fact, although I’ve been at my current service for 9 months, I still don’t feel a sense of belonging. We all want to feel that we belong, and that brings us to this question:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>How do we facilitate a sense of Belonging? For Children? For Colleagues? For Ourselves?</b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I don’t have all the answers. I’m just nutting out and putting down my thoughts on this thing that is often presented in the shape of a tree: A Belonging Tree.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">A belonging tree isn’t going to do it. [I’d love to know who started this belonging tree thing] Putting a child’s name on a birthday chart so high up they can’t even see it isn’t going to facilitate a sense of belonging. It especially won’t facilitate belonging if they can’t read or recognise their name or are so young their eyes cannot focus at that distance. Family photos on a wall? Nope. Names on lockers, names on hats, children’s photos on walls etc – they don’t create belonging. They are merely a collection of strategies that together plus something else MAY help to foster a feeling a belonging. These strategies are not guarantees. You cannot implement them and then walk away and say that your efforts at ‘belonging’ are done. Tick those boxes. No. Just no. It just doesn’t work that way.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I believe the most important thing we can do to facilitate belonging is through relationships. It is so critical that we respectfully connect with people as people:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="text-indent: -18pt;"> </span><span style="text-indent: -18pt;"> </span><span style="text-indent: -18pt;">educator to child</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="text-indent: -18pt;"> </span><span style="text-indent: -18pt;"> </span><span style="text-indent: -18pt;">educator to parent</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="text-indent: -18pt;"> </span><span style="text-indent: -18pt;"> </span><span style="text-indent: -18pt;">educator to family</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="text-indent: -18pt;"> </span><span style="text-indent: -18pt;"> </span><span style="text-indent: -18pt;">educator to educator</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="text-indent: -18pt;"> </span><span style="text-indent: -18pt;"> </span><span style="text-indent: -18pt;">educator to leaders</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="text-indent: -18pt;"> </span><span style="text-indent: -18pt;"> </span><span style="text-indent: -18pt;">leader to educator</span></span></li>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b><u>How did you feel?</u></b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<li class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;">How did you feel when there wasn’t a space for you to put your belongings? Either as a child, a student, relief educator or employee?<o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;">When you weren’t greeted when you arrived?<o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;">When your name wasn’t spoken?<o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;">When your name was pronounced incorrectly, repeatedly?<o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;">When your name was overlooked on a list?<o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;">When your name was spelled incorrectly on your paintings, repeatedly?</span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;">When conversations around you didn’t include you?<o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;">When conversations in the staffroom excluded you and included topics you could never participate in?<o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;">When your position title: “floater” implies you don’t have any belonging to a space – you merely waft in and out with no connection?<o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;">When people had their backs to you?<o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;">When they didn’t bother to greet you and say good morning/afternoon/evening/night?<o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;">When an educator you were working with in a team calls up the staff person you were covering and tells them how much they miss them and can’t wait for them to return so things can get back to normal?<o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;">When colleagues don’t greet you much less even acknowledge that you are in the room?<o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;">When colleagues discuss their plans for spending time together but exclude other educators in the room?<o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;">When you see an educator giving consistent special attention to one particular child and not to you?<o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;">When you were crying because you felt so alone, and someone said “Stop crying, you’re fine.”<o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;">When you didn’t speak the language that everyone else was speaking?<o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;">When you were down low, and everyone towered over you?<o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;">When someone refused to give you a hug because someone else said “Put her down, or she’ll expect you to hold her all the time. She has to learn.”? <o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;">When you’re frustrated and want to do something so badly and someone laughs at you and says “Oh he’s such a little girl!”<o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;">When you’re a girl and you hear someone use your gender as an insult?<o:p></o:p></span></li>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I could really go on ... But you get the gist.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I feel horrible even writing those ... but the sad truth is they are all real. They exist. They existed in my past, I’ve experienced or witnessed them or colleagues have shared these stories with me. These moments may exist in someone else’s present and sadly they may exist for someone else in the near future.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Would you feel you a sense of belonging in those spaces?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Probably not. You might one moment, but not the next. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>So what do we do? How could we foster a feeling of belonging?</b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<li class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Candara","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;">Smile reassuringly. Be genuine – not artificial.</span><span style="font-family: "Candara","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Candara","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;">Be welcoming. Greet people, big and small and say “Hello. Good morning.”</span><span style="font-family: "Candara","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Candara","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;">Make eye contact – see them. Let them know that you see them! They exist! If they don’t want to make or maintain eye-contact don’t force them! That’s creepy. Don’t be creepy.</span><span style="font-family: "Candara","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Candara","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;">Speak their name. Make every effort to pronounce their name correctly. Ask their parents – write it down phonetically. Fo-Net-I-Call-Ee. Learn it. It’s ok to make mistakes. Just don’t make mistakes for a year. Or change their name to suit you. That too is not cool.</span><span style="font-family: "Candara","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Candara","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;">Re-assure and acknowledge feelings: “I know that you are upset; I can see that you are feeling sad/scared/angry/happy/joyful.”</span><span style="font-family: "Candara","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Candara","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;">Be present and connect. “I am here to be with you. You are not alone.”</span><span style="font-family: "Candara","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></li>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I think we give Belonging lip service. I think it’s something that is taken for granted. I think it’s a piece of plywood we have had laser cut in the shape of a tree and tacked on a wall or written on a notice board. I think we just gloss over it because it’s compulsory. It's something we "have" to do in order to pass Assessment & Rating.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I challenge you - in 2016 to really think about your education spaces. Do you feel a sense of belonging? If yes, how and why? What contributes to those feelings? How could you embrace others in your space to support their sense of belonging? It doesn’t have to be ‘new’ colleagues, it could certainly be established team members. If you don’t feel a sense of belonging, how could you support yourself to feel a sense of belonging to your space? What changes would you need to make to manifest this for yourself? Would you need to speak up and voice your feelings or would modelling be enough? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">How does all this translate and have impact upon the children in our care? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">How important is Belonging to you, really, and what are YOU going to do?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Please put the trees down ... </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">And no, don't pick up the bloody rainbow ...</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Belonging is more than a tree ... </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">It is more than a tokenistic display ... </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Belonging is a feeling. </span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 18.4px;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">© Teacher's Ink. 2016</span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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Teachers Ink.http://www.blogger.com/profile/17985697180478405868noreply@blogger.com29tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7189087710552467770.post-36163316492498383802016-01-01T10:15:00.000+11:002016-01-10T10:16:46.918+11:00Welcome to 2016<div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRV0JHazZRcRGC3dHj8aT2Q7JIOTL4Iyf8ik5PS5I5z5X_D_l964Xv5lk7tMQuE42m3gRNAG9POtIQiYybhEiqofxSCgroGz9s0nm6ue5tSx3avvO5Wc27PIMXcJfbcWRtlRXHNGKZbpY/s1600/Welcome+to+2016.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRV0JHazZRcRGC3dHj8aT2Q7JIOTL4Iyf8ik5PS5I5z5X_D_l964Xv5lk7tMQuE42m3gRNAG9POtIQiYybhEiqofxSCgroGz9s0nm6ue5tSx3avvO5Wc27PIMXcJfbcWRtlRXHNGKZbpY/s320/Welcome+to+2016.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I don’t like talking about resolutions as we fallible humans
struggle to keep them. So instead of making resolutions or making lists – I
made a wishing web of possibilities for my 2016. One of these was to write. I
have missed professional writing. For a while it didn’t feel safe ... I was
working in a role I loved, but one that required me to be careful –
professional and disconnected. Then, I left that role and then commenced a
temporary phase of casual teaching. I then ended up taking on a new role as a
director. It was a whirlwind of change and a big learning curve. I probably
could have written about it, but I wasn’t feeling it. So in 2016 I bring my
blog back to life. I will do what I
miss. I will use the EYLF and the NQS as inspiration as well a great many other
sources: Facebook and social media, the media, my life, my friends and their
stories, the groups I administrate or participate in ... Everything will be
presented professionally and de-personalised. I will gather inspiration and I
will reflect and write. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Cheers to 2016. </span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">© Teacher's Ink. 2016</span><span style="font-size: 16pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
Teachers Ink.http://www.blogger.com/profile/17985697180478405868noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7189087710552467770.post-75860282543711029112015-03-19T11:01:00.000+11:002015-03-28T13:32:31.820+11:00The Art of Being a Relief Educator<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRj-qFIp9p-pJ-PkdZrQY3cGKwjzGjgJU05A7rysvFf-x3aXp5EuvWIa9H6Gh7T0YBZDG84K-4RPz7s9kRJiFgG78ak4-MLenCf5YkXo3LGQB4wwQP3rL-UkOE4-p3mBRnxMuVLYOQDH8/s1600/Tink+Relief+Ed.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRj-qFIp9p-pJ-PkdZrQY3cGKwjzGjgJU05A7rysvFf-x3aXp5EuvWIa9H6Gh7T0YBZDG84K-4RPz7s9kRJiFgG78ak4-MLenCf5YkXo3LGQB4wwQP3rL-UkOE4-p3mBRnxMuVLYOQDH8/s1600/Tink+Relief+Ed.jpg" height="320" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">So casual work? Relief work?
Subbing? Temping? Whatever it’s called ... It’s an art form. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">I did a shout out on a few
networking groups and asked what advice there was for people who work as relief
educators or what they appreciate from a relief educator ... Here were their
answers (plus a few of my own offerings!) ... They are in no particular order
...<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><u><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">THE DOS<o:p></o:p></span></u></b></div>
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<ul>
<li><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Remember as many names as you can.
One strategy was to try and link the names of the children to people you
already know or to ask the older children to quiz you on their names – this makes
a fun game out of it. And we all know that children love games!</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Use your initiative throughout the
day. It’s the little things that add up and count in the long run.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Examples of this could be:</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Be available
to work! If you’re not able to work for a while, or if you’re on a holiday, or
doing a block of relief work somewhere else, please communicate this to who you
work for.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Arrive
on time if you were booked in advance.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Plan
your trip online, double check your GPS!</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">If
you were booked at the last minute, when you arrive, be calm! Don’t be in a
frazzle because you’re late. You were expected to be late as you were booked at
the last minute. It’s ok! Relax! Start your day off cool, calm, and collected.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Answer
the phone ... and say yes as often as you can</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Be
approachable to everyone: children, educators, parents.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Greet
people – say hello and smile and introduce yourself when you can. “Hello, my
name is Holly and I’m an educator working with the children today.”</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">A
name badge would be a nice touch – I’m shocking at remembering names. I try by
my brain doesn’t work with me on this!</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Speak
to the staff and ask for guidance. Respect the permanent staff’s expertise in
the routines, the service and the children. Qualifications do not an expert
make ;) .</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Work
closely with the educators in the room and centre to try and support them in
maintaining a flow for the routine.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Be
aware of the service’s philosophy. You don’t need to know it back to front, but
have a general idea of who they are and what they are about.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Ask
about any children with dietary issues or allergy issues – where is the
documentation kept so that you can access it if you are concerned a child is
unwell.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Wipe
noses, and do it with the utmost respect – How would you feel if some random
stranger came up behind you from nowhere and wiped your nose? Seriously think
about it ... Creepy much? </span><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">I suggest you
also ask the child before you do: “Would you like me to help you wipe your
nose?” (I used to be a random creepy from behind nose wiper! I own it! I’ve
moved on!)</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Sweep
the floor – is it messy? Grab a broom and a dustpan and tidy that mess up.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Wipe
tables down after they’ve been used – is their caked on glue? A smear of
weetbix from breakfast? Wipe it up! Even if the mess isn’t from you, it shows
that you care and you’re making an effort.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Don’t
spend all your time cleaning! I know I just suggested you show initiative and
clean – but if you’re spending your whole time face down sweeping around the
sandpit then you’re not engaging with children which should be the priority.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Engaging
with children is the biggest and the bestest part of ‘supervision’.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Be
a team player ... work as part of the team, look listen learn and take on
responsibility.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Be
open and willing to learn ... the services’ way may not be your way, but you’re
there to support them as they enact their philosophy and practice. You are a
support person ... do what you can. Even when you don’t agree.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Be
committed to the children and their well-being.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Role
model sun protection – wear a suitable sun protective hat – with a wide brim
and sunscreen if you’re able to.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Read professional journals and quality early childhood blogs.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Engage in ongoing learning and professional development! Keep current and expand your knowledge and understanding and where possible network with others to consolidate this critical learning and thinking. </span></li>
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<b><u><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">THE TIPS for EDUCATORS:<o:p></o:p></span></u></b></div>
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<ul>
<li><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Have
a bag of your own resources:</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Children’s
story books that you are familiar with,</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">A
bag or box of novelty items that you can use to capture the children’s interest
and engage with them. Shannon suggested Goldilocks & the Three Bears using
real figures which she says works a treat! Simple but effective.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">A
bag of magic play-dough (check for wheat allergies first!)</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">CDs
or an device with music and portable speakers</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Puppets
and songs,</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">a
pencil case with textas, pencils, scissors, and glue sticks,</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">finger
paints and cotton buds (Sarah recommends a Faber Castell set that she swears
by) and you throw the cotton buds away when you’re done.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Unusual
and beautiful art supplies – washi tape and collage materials</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Spare
gloves – you’d be surprised and you don’t want to be caught out at an “interesting”
service without some spares.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Your
own tea, coffee and sugar in something such as a nude foods container as well
as a coffee or travel mug (because let’s face it, sometimes their mugs are
filthy!)</span></li>
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<b><u><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">THE TIPS for SERVICES:<o:p></o:p></span></u></b></div>
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<li><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Perform
a first day induction – buddy the relief educator with someone who can support
them or give them guidance.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Help
the educators feel welcome! Smile and let them know if they need anything they
can ask you or someone else. There’s nothing more daunting than being in a
space where you don’t know anyway, and no one makes eye contact with your!</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Offer
a locker or a safe space to keep their belongings.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Give
respectful direction, make eye contact, use pleases and thank yous and give a
variety of responsibilities ... As opposed to just “go supervise outside”.</span></li>
</ul>
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<b><u><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">THE DON’TS<o:p></o:p></span></u></b></div>
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<li><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Stand
around and chat to adults all day.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Play
music loudly! I find it overwhelms my brain having a colleague playing their
own music all day long and quite loudly because they don’t like “the quiet” ...
I’m a fan of settled play noise ... I also don’t mind music, but not all the
time and not to make adults happy either! Be very careful if you play
contemporary popular music as it can have totally inappropriate content for
young ears. You’re asking for consequences for that one – parent complaints,
staff complaints etc.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Sit
or stand staring off into space with your arms crossed.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Sit
or stand staring off into space with your hands in your pocket.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Wait
to be asked to do things ... show initiative! If you’re not sure, then just
ask.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Don’t
be so good at what you do, that you get booked up too far in advance by other
centres ;)</span></li>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><i>Thank you
to Lana, Trisha, Michelle, Lyn, Jo, Debra, Sarah, Shannon, Kim, Julie, Stella, Chantel, Alexandra, and Sandi for responding to my shout out, and to the other’s who requested
anonymity who provided me with private messages. </i><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">©Teacher’s
Ink. 2015 <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Teachers Ink.http://www.blogger.com/profile/17985697180478405868noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7189087710552467770.post-49802613055534961312015-03-04T16:07:00.000+11:002015-03-04T16:23:37.514+11:00Wwah for Whale<div class="MsoNormal">
* DISCLAIMER - I'm anti adult-craft ... It is so ingrained in my philosophy. It's how I teach, how I work. I use open ended materials and quality resources and I just let the children go ... I throw them ideas here and there - but for the most part, I set up art*full provocations and I let them create. Please do not feel the need to try and convince me that adult directed craft is a valuable approach to teaching children. You're entitled to your opinion, as am I. Here's mine: </div>
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I was doing relief teaching at an old-school pre-school the
other day and I really did not feel connected with that space. Like not one
bit. It was ok to look at. And it was ok to spend some time ... but as the day
progressed and I watched the children being “guided” to do their craft work for
the day I started to feel a bit icky. It was all adult-directed. There was a
sample of what the craft should look like. The painting experience was packed
away. Children’s painting's were whisked away. Children painting whatever they wanted was seen as a pointless
activity. The craft was seen to be where the real learning occurred. The staff
were pressured by the manager of the service to ensure that each child did
their craft for the day, morning and afternoon.</div>
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Their portfolios were full of them. All the same. A is for
apple. B is for ball. C is for cat. All the same. Every craft element in those
books were cut by adults. All the children had to do was stick them down in the
same way the adult did in the sample. They were all the same. I did not see the
child in their portfolios. I could not read their personalities, interests,
likes and dislikes, their challenges and their strengths and achievements. I
could not see them. All I could see was “Wwah is for Whale”.</div>
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I was placed in charge of the craft for the afternoon
session. I hated it. It rubbed me the wrong way. I was upset by this for days.
I’m still upset. I saw a little boy who was not ‘craft-inclined’ made to sit
and produce a product. I saw another boy look at me apprehensively asking me
what he should do ... </div>
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I was a brat and I told him he could do whatever he
wanted... </div>
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I am sure I rocked the boat and upset the apple cart both at
the same time.</div>
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He was so apprehensive ... He didn’t want to not follow the
status quo of the service ... He didn’t want to get it wrong. Which makes you
wonder ... When I’m not there – what happens? What happens when you don’t
create the required craft item using the adult sample as the guide? What
happens if you say no? What happens if for the little life of you, you can’t
understand what is expected? Does the adult then do it for you? What’s the
point of that? Do you get ‘spoken to’ in front of your peers at the table? What
happens then? How are you made to feel? </div>
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The pre-planned adult structured craft really got to me. It
was all the same. Cookie-cutter. In my own eyes pointless. Products which are
results driven, given to parents to suggest that this is the learning the children
are doing ... It’s learning because we put a letter of the alphabet on it!</div>
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This service is teaching children that their own work –
their own paintings aren’t good enough. That they’re not able to learn
themselves through a play-based curriculum. That they cannot resource themselves
with their own ideas with open ended materials. That they aren’t good enough as
people...</div>
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I feel for those little souls. </div>
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I hated it.</div>
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I really, really really REALLY hated it.</div>
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Teachers Ink.http://www.blogger.com/profile/17985697180478405868noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7189087710552467770.post-18165964306902660382015-01-31T20:16:00.000+11:002015-01-31T20:16:10.256+11:00Being: a Teacher<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 18.0pt;">
So I have returned to teaching
and I’m doing short term contracts. I made this choice for myself because I
really didn’t know what steps to take next. In fact there are many reasons why
I made this choice:</div>
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<ol>
<li>I’ll get paid, ya know? There are
bills and adult responsibilities that have to be taken care of and an income
helps in this regard.</li>
<li>I can take some time off as I
need without having to ask for approval. I can get things in my life sorted –
whether that be project or house work or garden. I will have more time.</li>
<li>I get some variety in my life.</li>
<li>There is limited responsibility.
I am still responsible and professional. But at the end of the day, I walk
away. I am not required to do rosters or work an 11 hour day to cover staff who
are sick because there are no available relief staff and none of my team are
able to, or will work a longer shift.</li>
<li>I get to be. The Being part of
Belonging, Being and Becoming. I get to experience that too. I am there for the
children. I am not feeling the same pressures I once felt as a teacher or
director or teaching director.</li>
<li>I can experiment with documenting
children’s learning - with my writing style, what I choose to include or leave
out and all that jazz.</li>
<li>I can really focus on myself – my
professional self. Who I am. Who I am for the children. Who I am for the team. I
get to observe myself and how children respond to me. I’m finding it quite
interesting.</li>
<li>I can bide my time ... work and
figure out who I want to be when I grow up. Because, at the end of the day, I
have no idea what direction I want to travel in.</li>
<li>I don’t have to get sucked into
centre/service/organizational politics. I go to work. I do my job. I do the
best job I can. I go home. Tada!</li>
<li>I will have plenty to reflect
upon ... which means I can write about it ... which means I can do my Teacher’s
Ink. work as well as a few of my other of my other projects!</li>
<li>I will be able to practice what
my brain now knows after the last two years of mentoring and thinking ... Which
can only be a good thing.</li>
</ol>
<br />
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© Teacher’s Ink. 2015 All Rights
Reserved</div>
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Teachers Ink.http://www.blogger.com/profile/17985697180478405868noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7189087710552467770.post-39277731972337937272015-01-24T14:49:00.000+11:002015-01-24T14:49:11.820+11:00Dear Team ... <div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Leelawadee","sans-serif";">Dear
Team,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Leelawadee","sans-serif";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Leelawadee","sans-serif";">First, I
should tell you where I’m coming from. I think about the children. I’m not
always right, and I’m not always equally fair to absolutely everyone, but the first and foremost
thought running through my mind is the children, both collectively and as a
cluster of individuals. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Leelawadee","sans-serif";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Leelawadee","sans-serif";">I want
the children to have the best experience they can in the space I am in - with the other
individuals they are with, both adult and child. Now, I don’t mean I want them to be happy all the
time. That’s not a realistic possibility, but I want them to be safe, valued and
heard. I want them to feel connected to the learning community as well as the world as a whole. I want them to be
on a journey of discovering who they are as an individual in this life. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Leelawadee","sans-serif";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Leelawadee","sans-serif";">One of
the aspects of my role is to give directions and guidance in regards to
interacting and supervising, setting up of learning spaces, routine tasks, as
well as workplace health and safety. </span><span style="font-family: Leelawadee, sans-serif;">I don’t give
directions because I enjoy doing it. I do it because I need to.</span><span style="font-family: Leelawadee, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Leelawadee, sans-serif;">I am trying to manage and lead a service
community which is made up of children and their families, our local community,
educators and the many other individuals who step inside our door. It’s not
easy. I need your understanding and your assistance.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Leelawadee","sans-serif";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Leelawadee","sans-serif";">I want
the children to be safe, well and engaged – getting the most out of the moments
they are in. This means we have to create dynamic learning environments that
will encourage children to play and learn. We should engage with the children with
respect and not take overpower them. We need to move around and spread ourselves across the space and the children. Parking ourselves at the art table because we like crafting ourselves isn't what we are here for. We need to 'work the party' and be accessible to all, not just the few.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Leelawadee","sans-serif";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Leelawadee","sans-serif";">I want
the educators to be safe. I don’t want you to injure yourself or your colleagues. I don’t want to see you stressed and miserable. I want you to enjoy the great
many hours you are spending at work. I want to mentor you and support you as evolving and growing professionals. You’re not here
to babysit or be babysat yourself. I want you to be the best educators you can
possibly be. This is something we can work on together, but only if you will let me.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Leelawadee","sans-serif";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Leelawadee","sans-serif";">I’m not
the perfect leader, but I can promise you I am trying my best. My best will fluctuate
from one moment to another, one day to another. That doesn’t mean I’m inconsistent,
it means I’m human, like you. It also means that I am growing. I too evolve as
a professional and learn new things each and every day.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Leelawadee","sans-serif";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Leelawadee, sans-serif;">You and
I are legally responsible for the children in our care. That means, each and
every thing you do, don’t do, say or don’t say has consequences. Now these
consequences might be minor, a scratch on a knee because you didn't speak to your colleagues about leaving the room for a moment, but they might also be major and result in a trip to the hospital with a fracture. We hold the children’s
lives in our hands. We are answerable to the child – both the child as they are
now and also as they will be as an adult. </span><span style="font-family: Leelawadee, sans-serif;">This is why records are kept until children
are 25 years old. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Leelawadee, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Leelawadee, sans-serif;">We answer to the child’s parents and families. We answer to our managers at every level. We are also answerable to the licensing
and regulatory bodies as well as the law. Please do not take this responsibility
lightly, I don’t.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Leelawadee, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Leelawadee, sans-serif;">Please work with me. Together we could achieve so very much, but it is something we need to do together, as a team. I cannot do this alone. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Leelawadee","sans-serif";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Leelawadee","sans-serif";">Kind Regards,</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Leelawadee","sans-serif";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Leelawadee","sans-serif";">Your
Leader<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
Teachers Ink.http://www.blogger.com/profile/17985697180478405868noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7189087710552467770.post-10301543733841641542014-12-04T13:59:00.000+11:002014-12-10T12:58:56.086+11:00Extend Extending Extensions <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7cI88FhprGTXCNr8E3eIt4IvzhMpgubtSXBw72kAXXxhdCVD4srwgiJedm83LiM9lDw513nFsmm5OPTOnrtLsv7rfAdnJuPVfxdPtgJpK0X5xK3f6cKq3pg9IFwE9EnZ6_29vtUBOdlU/s1600/Extensions.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7cI88FhprGTXCNr8E3eIt4IvzhMpgubtSXBw72kAXXxhdCVD4srwgiJedm83LiM9lDw513nFsmm5OPTOnrtLsv7rfAdnJuPVfxdPtgJpK0X5xK3f6cKq3pg9IFwE9EnZ6_29vtUBOdlU/s1600/Extensions.jpg" height="320" width="320" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>DISCLAIMER: </i></span><i style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I shall have to preface this post and probably every
post I write from now on with: I do not subscribe to the Assessment and Rating
process. I am down with the NQS and QIPs and the EYLF – for the most part. I am
a reflective practitioner and I love learning and improving. I think A&R is a colossal waste of money
that could be spent ma<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="_GoBack"></a>ny other ways – research,
educational support for current and future educators ... funding for services
etc. I’m a teacher, an educational leader’s educational leader, a mentor, an
educator, a weaver of curriculum. I do my own thing, as I was educated to do
and I do it with pride and knowledge and experience sitting behind my
pedagogical choices. I am a professional and I don’t need to be asked to prove
it to others repeatedly.</i></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Anyway, let’s start the show ... </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The inspiration for this article is from online forums where over and over I see educators asking about extension ideas for experiences
or activities that they have observed children engaged in. I believe that the idea behind this is that these educators will then know what to plan for the child. I struggle with this notion for a few reasons. One of which is - a bunch of strangers on the internet do not know the child, nor do they know the learning that you are trying to foster for that child. They also don't know the learning that you have observed, unless of course you have articulated that - simply asking for an extension activity idea based upon another activity isn't the point of planning. Even when it is interest based.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It seems to me that by planning from one <b>activity observed</b> to another <b>activity provided</b> we are missing a critical element or two - learning being the major part. We are missing the learning observed and identified through thoughtful analysis or reflection. And we are missing the potential learning we wish to foster. Activities or experiences do not equal learning. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I have to acknowledge that I have a few personal professional issues with extensions as they are used in the early childhood education field today (I find "follow-ups" abhorrent).</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I'd like to make a few points in regards to "extensions" and I
know I’m repeating myself a bit, but I so want to make these points. Repeatedly. </span></div>
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<ol>
<li><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">An ‘extension’ or ‘extension of
learning’ is not an obligatory blanket requirement of the NQS and EYLF nor is
it a ‘must do’ for the ‘what’s next.’</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We are the educators, we have the
knowledge, experience, and the position to be able to choose what to extend
upon, as well as how and when we extend it. We should own our professionalism. Like a boss. You earned it. (This is not to detract from the rights of children).</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Where do children's rights fit into all of this? When do they get to choose their own extensions? And for how long they extend their own interest in learming? Why must the educator have all that power?</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We don’t need to extend everything.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">An extension does not need to be a separate
activity or experience.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">An extension can be something that we do in the moment - a sneaky little intentional teaching strategy.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">An extension is not a follow-up. A
follow-up is not an extension. Yet the two are often used interchangeably. </span></li>
</ol>
<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Just so we're all on the same page,a follow-up and an extension can be defined as:</span><br />
<h2>
<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
<ul>
<li><span style="font-weight: normal;"><i><span style="font-size: small;"> A <a href="http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/follow-up" target="_blank">follow-up</a> - is “the act or an instance of
following up” or “something that follows up</span></i></span></li>
<li><span style="font-weight: normal;"><i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="text-indent: -18pt;"> </span><span style="text-indent: -18pt;">An <a href="http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/extension?show=0&t=1414919412" target="_blank">extension </a>- is </span><span style="text-indent: -18pt;">“the action of extending:</span><span style="text-indent: -18pt;"> </span><span style="text-indent: -18pt;">state of being extended” or “a part
constituting an addition”</span></span></i></span></li>
</ul>
</span></h2>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I hate follow-ups (like, heaps) -- it's not a secret -- and I think that using “extensions” as the
new “follow-up” isn't the direction we have to go in. Who decided that this was the cycle of planning for early childhood services anyway? Who decided that this was quality and then started to perpetuate that myth. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">You observe a moment in time, analyse, plan a follow-up activity, implement that activity and then 'tick that box' - all to say that you've completed the cycle of planning for the (each) child? And if you do 40 of these, two times a month, then each child is sufficiently included in the planning cycle?!?!?!?! </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Go away. That's so superficial and not sustainable! How overworked and worn out and tired are you? Seriously? How much planning do you have to do at home because you cannot do the panning at work because you're too busy trying to catch up with the follow-ups/extensions/extensions of so called learning?!?!?!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Some of you are doing (are required to do by your Educational Leaders or your Managers) five of these a month per child - sometimes regardless of the child's attendance pattern!... I feel for you. I really do. It is beyond ridiculous. <i>RIDICULOUS!</i> I'm all about being genuine, human, and authentic. It's about relationships, connections, conversations. Learning and teaching is complex. It <i>CANNOT</i> be simplified into one learning story observation whatever the hell you want to call it and a follow-up-extended-extending-extension-of-learning. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The NQS requires us to have a planning cycle which is informed and guided by our assessment of children's learning and development: "Element 1.2.1 Each child’s learning and development is assessed as part of an ongoing cycle of planning, </span><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">documenting and evaluation."</span><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We can plan using the broad learning outcomes, child developmental theory and our knowledge of each and every child in our care <u>as a guide</u>. There are of course so many other elements we can weave into our plans that I could explore here, but I'd run out of room. And honestly its difficult enough for me to maintain one train of thought, let alone 10. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The NQS indicates that we should use teaching
strategies intentionally to support and extend children’s learning potential. The
NQS doesn’t tell us how. We work that little gem out for ourselves. The NQS
does not demand that we extend everything we observe, everything we plan,
everything we see. The NQS does not demand a follow-up activity attached to
each and every written document. It just doesn’t. If you are convinced it does, please point me to where it says so... If an Assessor told you so (and I know that some have) ask them nicely to support you in understanding this, and could they please show you where - in the Early Years Learning Framework? In the Regulations? In the Law? In the Standards? WHERE!? it says so!?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It is my belief that 'follow-ups' and the current interpretation of 'extensions' as follow-ups is a leftover or residual understanding from the times before. The boxes. The Monday to Monday, Tuesday to Tuesday type of planning. Activity to activity. All those little boxes, little boxes ... Let's have a little sing-a-long shall we?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<br />
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<i><span style="font-size: large;">Little boxes all the same.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<i><span style="font-size: large;">There's a green one and a pink one <o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<i><span style="font-size: large;">And a blue one and a yellow one,<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<i><span style="font-size: large;">And they're all made out of ticky tacky<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><i>And they all look just the same.</i><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">- Malvina Reynolds - </span></div>
</div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I love a good protest song ... </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I'd like to explore point number six further: “extension can be
something that you do, such as a sneaky little intentional teaching strategy.”
I mean we can support the child in the here and now. A word of
encouragement, resources to extend the time the child engages in the play or
resources that add a new level of complexity to that play, some open-ended
questions that prompt the child’s thinking, a sustained conversation between educator and child, or a group of children... All
these are teaching strategies. Teaching strategies, used intentionally to
extend the opportunities for learning in the moment that the child is actively
engaged in - <b>that is an extension</b> – I think that this should be our definition of an
extension – <i>the little thing or the big thing we did to support the child at
the time which facilitated the learning potential further. </i><o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">An extension can be another experience flowing from the original moment - which may seem unrelated but is in fact quite related - Aunt Annie explores that in her blog article <a href="http://auntannieschildcare.blogspot.com.au/2011/06/extending-childrens-play-and-joy-of-red.html" target="_blank">"</a></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><a href="http://auntannieschildcare.blogspot.com.au/2011/06/extending-childrens-play-and-joy-of-red.html" target="_blank">Extending children's play, and the joy of red herrings"</a></span><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> - so if you can do something in the moment, do it. And realise that it might not be 'like to like' or 'same to same' - as Aunt Annie explores in her writing it can be 'like to different to very different'. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">If you can’t see the learning potential in that moment for the
children or that particular child, then move onto another moment and devote
some brain power to that. Be gentle with yourself. Don't belittle yourself or feel inadequate. You don't have to have the 'one answer' or the 'one right activity' - the perfect solution follow-up-future-extension-of-learning-idea.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">If you know the child, know their development, their needs, their strengths, their gifts and their challenges then you should know what to do. Know the child. Plan for the child. Don't plan for an activity. An activity is not learning.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">If you know what learning you’re trying to facilitate then you might have a better idea of what you’re going to do to promote opportunities for further learning. [Did you note that I said 'opportunities'? As in plural? As in not just one?] Keep in mind that not all children will want to learn the same thing at the same time in the same way OR that all children are capable of learning the same thing in the same way at the same time ... Children are individuals who have unique learning interests and needs and speeds. Just like us. Children are people too. Don't forget that.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />I would like us all (well, mainly them, the them that annoy me, the them that are the system) to embrace the fact that not all learning can be planned or forecast. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Sometimes the best learning just
happens.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">- G</span><br />
<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">© Teacher’s Ink. 2014 All Rights Reserved <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Teachers Ink.http://www.blogger.com/profile/17985697180478405868noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7189087710552467770.post-5181630120887224382014-10-26T18:39:00.000+11:002014-10-26T18:39:01.088+11:00How Many Different Ways Do You Need to Document? (Really?) <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXmmgd-u7n9XM-MkKbThefFOHFIo9z1FbjxiHKveuZgBLRj58nKcWxKY8Wf76OlytYOpogyeCCsHWozP70R24pBGEaeOWavpLaEamfHheTh9T5-_CLv87PY_fCwNaCZlakpRLzkUagR10/s1600/How+Many+Ways+Doc+2014.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXmmgd-u7n9XM-MkKbThefFOHFIo9z1FbjxiHKveuZgBLRj58nKcWxKY8Wf76OlytYOpogyeCCsHWozP70R24pBGEaeOWavpLaEamfHheTh9T5-_CLv87PY_fCwNaCZlakpRLzkUagR10/s1600/How+Many+Ways+Doc+2014.jpg" height="320" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 115%;">People are confused and lost
when it comes to programming and planning. Look, I totally get that you’re
lost. I do. As a curriculum mentor I knew what I was doing, and then the more
input people had into my thinking and practice the more confused it became. The
more I read online the more convoluted it seemed. I thought that was bullshit.
I decided to become a pedagogical hermit for a little while and I delved into
the Standards and I wrapped my head around them. I shut out the background
noise and I looked at the Standards themselves. NOT other people’s
interpretation of them. Start at the beginning. The Standards.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 115%;">Now what amazes me is some
of these self-professed consultants. I am not a consultant hater. In fact I can
think of three brilliant consultants that I know who rock. They are smart and
challenging and cluey. One challenges the crap out of my mind but I adore that.
I need that. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 115%;">Be aware that not all
consultants are created equal. KNOW who you are paying. KNOW who you are
trusting with YOUR reputation. The consultants don’t go through Assessment and
Rating. You do. You can’t blame them when you get working towards because your
program lacks depth and continuity. And I have yet to see a money back
guarantee. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 115%;">I wonder about these shonky consultants.
I especially wonder about consultants who promise you more with less
documenting and yet they show you 25 different ways to document and meet the
supposed requirement of the NQF?! How is 25 less? Guess how many styles of
documenting I used to use when I was a practicing teacher? My curriculum cycle
had three elements to it. So that is three documents. On the side I’d do little
documentations or displays but they would slot into the Day Book or the Curriculum
Reflections, plus the Children’s Portfolios. THREE. Then the types of documentations
or observation formats I would create in the children’s portfolios? I made them
all up. So it was essentially say about five different documents. And NOT one
of them was a Learning Story. I am yet to be a fan. I might change my mind in
future, but as of today, I don’t particularly like them. They’re too time
consuming. I don’t have time. You don’t have time. Are you doing them at home?
You shouldn’t have to! Home should be YOUR time. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 115%;">I’ve seen it published that “old
fashioned” ways of documenting such as anecdotes and jottings and checklists
are no longer valid. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 115%;">I’m going to be seriously blunt.
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 115%;">Fuck off. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 115%;">Why are they not valid? Because
everyone is taught to do them when they study? No one has to come to trainings
or workshops or conferences to learn how to fill out a checklist or take a
jotting? </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 115%;">Guess what... Anecdotes and jottings and even checklists are still
valid forms of documenting. And I STRONGLY suggest you do them. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 115%;">Look, programming and
planning under the NQS is not the simplest thing in the world, but it also doesn’t
need to be the most complicated. Slapping 25 different formats that you’ve
briefly been shown photos of is not going to get you far. It’s bullshit. It’s
sales-pitches and marketing designed to get your money. It’s sure as hell NOT
going to get you the promised “Exceeding” ... Why not do two or three or five
and do them brilliantly? Why spread yourself so bloody thin that you’re
completely transparent that no one can see you or what you’re trying so
desperately to achieve?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 115%;">I have so much more to say,
but that will do for now. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 115%;">© Teacher’s Ink. 2014 All
Rights Reserved<span style="font-size: 16pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
Teachers Ink.http://www.blogger.com/profile/17985697180478405868noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7189087710552467770.post-78348714972027888612014-10-12T15:26:00.000+11:002014-10-12T15:27:25.178+11:00The Direction of Teacher's Ink. <div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Greetings & Salutations,</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I've been quiet of late, because I stepped out of a teaching
and directing role into that of a children’s services advisor. A large part of
that job meant I had, I suppose access to people’s secrets, insecurities, strengths
and challenges. I wanted my relationships with the educators that I was working
with in a mentoring capacity to be based upon trust. While, for the most part,
my blog is anonymous, I didn't want to take advantage of others and betray
trust. That’s not cool. At all. So I've been quiet more or less for two years. I've
still been reflecting, but it’s been more on the inside than the out. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I'm going to be entering into a new phase in my life so that
may lead to more documented reflections. I will be pondering the direction of
this blog, but I think that I will write about my teaching practice more than
anything else. I know I've been political and I know I've thrown around
judgements ... but as I may be teaching again, I think I want to really turn
the lens towards myself and my skills, strengths and challenges. I'm certainly
an imperfect teacher. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I mentioned previously that I wanted to work on <i>Reflective Practice </i>and <i>Intentional Teaching</i> and that still
stands. Those two notions will tie in perfectly with the direction I’d like to
take this blog. So there we have it. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">So that’s where things will most likely be heading ... Stay
tuned. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">G @ Teacher's Ink.</span></div>
Teachers Ink.http://www.blogger.com/profile/17985697180478405868noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7189087710552467770.post-49249303635745371502014-08-19T09:26:00.000+10:002014-08-19T09:26:06.044+10:00Where Am I?Greetings... I have been quiet for a while as I've been engaged in a few other projects as well as starting up a small business. The small business alone has pretty much take up a year of my life. Plus I work full-time as an advisor and have home-life-responsibilities.<br />
<br />
I clearly need to work on my time management strategies! But that's not really a new discovery.<br />
<br />
I have two ideas I'd like to explore within the pages of my blog. The first is <i>Intentional Teaching</i> and the second is <i>Reflective Practice. </i>I've been wanting to work on these for quite a while actually - but ya know - TIME. Where does it go, and how does one find more?<br />
<i><br /></i>
I've written my two ideas on a post-it note and I have a page of time management strategy plan thingy-ma-bobs. <br /><br />I shall write again.<br />
<br />
I shall.<br />
<br />
- G @ Teacher's Ink.Teachers Ink.http://www.blogger.com/profile/17985697180478405868noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7189087710552467770.post-47836707038102275642014-03-09T00:03:00.003+11:002014-03-10T14:20:53.253+11:00Why So Many Ways to Document?<div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCsADtpzHC07WV2LlIGUEFqTdlysn1JwLTvw6JJSs-p4Tx-dBslE4DXQ1WFu2W9lXi9IABF1c2FnDA03B7yTJk8tM_GCuF9ywbTmGrk-3bebttLgLI2Zhsbvlfb58Mij3CzD02fwp14gY/s640/blogger-image-1417067915.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCsADtpzHC07WV2LlIGUEFqTdlysn1JwLTvw6JJSs-p4Tx-dBslE4DXQ1WFu2W9lXi9IABF1c2FnDA03B7yTJk8tM_GCuF9ywbTmGrk-3bebttLgLI2Zhsbvlfb58Mij3CzD02fwp14gY/s400/blogger-image-1417067915.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<br /></div>
When I studied the first time around I learned how to observe and document using the following methods:<br />
<br />
Anecdotal Observations<br />
Running Records<br />
Jottings<br />
Time Samples<br />
Event Samples<br />
Sociograms ...<br />
<br />
I'm sure there were more, but those are the ones that come to mind.<br />
<br />
That was 1996. Waaaay back when.<br />
<br />
Now, there are training organizations, the now defunct DEEWR with their 'Educators Guide' and the self-proclaimed consultants who are passing the old formats of observations off as if they are something new, and adding:<br />
<br />
Morning meeting minutes<br />
Afternoon meeting minutes<br />
Reflective practice<br />
Reflective Oblongs<br />
Children's Philosophies<br />
Family Philosophies<br />
Surveys<br />
Projects<br />
Learning Stories<br />
Mind Maps<br />
Analysis of learning<br />
Etcetera<br />
<br />
Do you not wonder why you are being told to spread yourself too thin? And who are these experts? Have they been through Assessment and Rating themselves? Have they even managed a centre consistently under the new National Quality Standards? What are their early childhood qualifications? Are they certified? Or are they just out to make a quick buck out of your insecurity and fear? If they were really out to help you, they wouldn't charge you exorbitantly for their time and supposed expertise.<br />
<br />
I am a consultant. That's my nine to five. But I resent using the word because of those who are laying claim to it. Abusing it. Abusing you.<br />
<br />
No one, NO ONE can get you exceeding. EVER. Apart from the fact that I have little faith in the A&R system as it is, I certainly think that if a centre gets Exceeding then it's their own doing. They did the work, not the books that they read, the websites they joined or the consultants they consulted with. The centre earned it. Not the hired help.<br />
<br />
Are you even comfortable with someone claiming to take credit for your hard work? Is that fair? Is it ethical for someone to take your success, pass it off as their own, and then use your success to advertise themselves to make more money from other educators and service providers?<br />
<br />
Just because someone delivers something in a way that you connect with. Just because they are charismatic and friendly, doesn't mean that they are speaking the truth and giving you sound information or advice.<br />
<br />
My advice to you: Stick with a few styles of documentation and do them well. You only need a few. Don't fall for the "children's magical voices" bullshit. Writing anything down is worthless without some serious reflection behind it. And children are not magical beings. They are people. If you called me magical I'd smack you across the head for demeaning me and tell you it was just fairy dust. Don't. Call. Me. Magical. It's degrading. I'm a person who deserves respect.<br />
<br />
Don't fall for empty promises and spread yourself too thin. That is not the path to a "Meeting" rating much less an "Exceeding" one.<br />
<br />
Reflection is deeper than asking the children what they liked or didn't like about their day. Reflection is not about what you liked or what 'went' well or how lovely it was in the sandpit with all the children playing so nicely or what the children said.<br />
<br />
I've given you plenty of professional reflection on my blog - go read it.<br />
<br />
So what sorts of documentation would I use?<br />
<br />
<b><u>The Teacher's Ink Approved Documentation Methods:</u> < </b><i>tongue in cheek in case ya didn't know.</i><br />
Anecdotal observations<br />
Jottings<br />
Photo montages<br />
Conversations<br />
Narratives<br />
<br />
And then I'd tie it all in together with my reflections of my knowledge of the child and what I would like to see the child working on in the near future.<br />
<br />
I personally am not a fan of (New Zealand) Learning Stories - I think they're great for NZ and I think they're fabulous for centres that are above ratio and provide their educators with a) a computer and b) extensive time to document. Otherwise who has time to do them? I didn't.<br />
<br />
I've never particularly liked them. And most people don't do them properly anyway. I doubt that many people know they come from NZ in the first place. You don't need to do them. They're not required. No matter what anyone says. There is NOTHING in the NQS or EYLF that says you need to use them.<br />
<br />
So in regards to children's portfolios, I would have five main documentation formats. Five. That's it. FIVE. Not 10, not 20 or 30 or 86 different ways to document (yeah you think I'm joking? I've heard this one).<br />
<br />
Pick five, and do them well. Especially the jottings - do lots of them! They're more meaningful that a whole long drawn out story.<br />
<br />
In regards to hiring consultants, Google them, do some research! Just because they're nice and charismatic doesn't mean they're qualified.<br />
<br />
Remember that: Charismatic is NOT the same as Qualified.<br />
<br />
And a pretty portfolio is NOT an assessment of learning nor is it your curriculum documentation.<br />
<br />
Portfolios are not even required, yet many of us do them. But that's another story.<br />
<br />
I think perhaps the moral of this story is that you shouldn't spread yourself too think. You're not Vegemite.<br />
<br />
Work smarter, not harder. I know. That's what they say. They all say it. But they're full of shit. Because they tell you to do it 10 or 20 or 30 or 86 different ways.<br />
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Candara","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">© Teacher’s Ink. 2014 All Rights Reserved</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Candara","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Candara, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span><span style="font-family: "Candara","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br />Teachers Ink.http://www.blogger.com/profile/17985697180478405868noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7189087710552467770.post-869224188234483322014-03-07T22:03:00.001+11:002014-03-07T22:03:59.770+11:00My Identity: A Reflection<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgrZhL983lqHtlY8PoqnrVYTEZweBYsqgXGGJfEULu_6t2zRHy2FPoZbgjVBovqOU8itWS9OVd1gD2g3NB1Dmg3n15Co8tJBKwGErvabgWpdXEeVuihPXMQGTuEdRgS-N75U13BdXcUiY/s1600/TinkBe.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgrZhL983lqHtlY8PoqnrVYTEZweBYsqgXGGJfEULu_6t2zRHy2FPoZbgjVBovqOU8itWS9OVd1gD2g3NB1Dmg3n15Co8tJBKwGErvabgWpdXEeVuihPXMQGTuEdRgS-N75U13BdXcUiY/s1600/TinkBe.jpg" height="280" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><i>“When I let go of what I am, I become what I might be.”</i></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><i>Lao Tzu</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;">I've been thinking about myself. About who I am and what
that means: Reflection and all that jazz. So last night I wrote a bit of a
self-reflection introduction ... and today I find myself thinking more and more
about Identity as I wrote documents for work ... </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;">How do I define myself?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;">I am defined by the words from my lips rather than the
colour of my lipstick, or lack thereof. I am defined by how I choose to treat
others and how I let others treat me. I am defined by my kindness and the
intentions in my heart. I am defined by the good and the not-so-good (and maybe
the outright bad) that I choose to do. I am not defined by the shoes I wear,
but the steps that I take on the many paths that I travel in my lifetime. I am
not defined by the lines of my palms nor the cards pulled from a deck. Nor am I
defined by the wrinkles on my face.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;">I am a complex creature. You cannot define me. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;">You cannot document the goings-on behind my eyes or within
my heart. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;">So why are we trying to define and label and compartmentalise
children as learning outcomes?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;">We will never know them. We should simply support them, in learning to be themselves. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">© Teacher’s Ink. 2014 All Rights Reserved</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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Teachers Ink.http://www.blogger.com/profile/17985697180478405868noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7189087710552467770.post-88573577441423051792014-03-05T23:30:00.000+11:002014-03-27T15:45:00.434+11:00Well, Let Me Tell You A Little Bit About Me<div class="MsoNormal">
Who am I? </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I’m a 4 year educated teacher who proudly holds a Bachelor
of Education. I also have a Diploma in
Child Care and Education and I am studying the Certificate IV in Assessment
and Training. I’m currently employed as
an early childhood advisor or consultant or whatever you want to call it. My
job is about supporting educators in regards to understanding curriculum planning
and reflective practice. I don’t know everything, but I know a fair amount.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
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I believe that the National Quality Standards - Assessment
and Rating process is, as it is, flawed. I have little to no faith in it. I do however
believe that the Standards and the Early Years Learning Framework are
worthwhile and leading us down a path of quality improvement. It’s the inequities
in the process of assessment that I have issues with. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I am going vegan. It’s a decision I made last week after
umming and aaahing about it for months. I figure I would just jump and commit. I’m
already a vegetarian ... might as well go all the way and walk the talk ... practice
what I’m preaching and all that jazz.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I’m a strong believer in protecting our natural environments.
I love trees and forests and deserts and
mountains and valleys and rivers and oceans and beaches and nature. I love my
garden and I am amazed by it. I pick
birds up from road when they are terrified or injured. I find stray dogs like no
one’s business. I am also involved in animal rights and small
self-funded home based domestic animal rescues local to where I live. I HATE
pet stores that sell puppies and kittens sourced from puppy mills and backyard
breeders. I struggle with breeders – even the registered ones – when we have in
our pounds hundreds of thousands of dogs and cats, puppies and kittens, rabbits
and guinea pigs and so on and so forth killed each year. Unnecessarily. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
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I live in a home filled with eclectic furnishings from antiques
to retro to designer to repurposed to opportunity shop finds, even from
footpaths and council cleanups. I am house proud. I love my nest. </div>
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<br /></div>
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I hate racism and prejudice. I hate bullies. I have a not
tolerance policy for physical, verbal or psychological abuse of anyone: adult
or child. It’s not cool. I hate people exercising power over others. I hate bigotry.</div>
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I listen to all sorts of music. I’m a triple J fan and I
have a particular fondness for Heavy Metal, Blues and Roots, Aussie Hip-hop ...
I also love Latino Jazz, Classical and so on and so forth. I love art,
architecture, design. I love writing and photography. I love expressing who I
am. The older I get the less I care.</div>
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And, as a person, </div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
</div>
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I have politics. I swear from time to time. I own and manage and control the content of
this page and you are welcome to be here with me. Or if you feel that my opinions
and offerings don’t sit with you and your philosophy of education and/or life,
you may unsubscribe. The choice is yours. I support your decision whatever it
may be. Teacher’s Ink. is my project. I’m not paid for it. I do not at this
point derive any income from it. I do it because I like supporting educators
beyond the scope of my paid employment and I like having an unrestricted space
in which to voice my opinion. The key here is, my opinion. <br />
<br />
That’s me. </div>
Teachers Ink.http://www.blogger.com/profile/17985697180478405868noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7189087710552467770.post-3377594529101173532014-02-10T22:19:00.000+11:002014-02-10T22:19:44.155+11:00Being: A Reflection<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi752DmonUpJ5HtWilMFAl3qRqnDNdaWSdM9KzhUrTYV7K7Ng7Yk3SIMzHlNQ8lchO-8lEZsd3QojiNvMQ0hPitwQUjORDzA3vnaXZdJCnzLh1C7ly-H7WdpYNYVVeEjAt5D-MngzBF0ok/s1600/TinkBeing.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi752DmonUpJ5HtWilMFAl3qRqnDNdaWSdM9KzhUrTYV7K7Ng7Yk3SIMzHlNQ8lchO-8lEZsd3QojiNvMQ0hPitwQUjORDzA3vnaXZdJCnzLh1C7ly-H7WdpYNYVVeEjAt5D-MngzBF0ok/s1600/TinkBeing.jpg" height="400" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "GillSansMT","sans-serif"; font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: GillSansMT;">“Childhood is a time to be, to seek and make
meaning of the world. </span><i><span style="font-family: "GillSansMT-Italic","sans-serif"; font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: GillSansMT-Italic;">Being </span></i><span style="font-family: "GillSansMT","sans-serif"; font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: GillSansMT;">recognises the significance of the here and now in children’s
lives. It is about the present and them knowing themselves, building and
maintaining relationships with others, engaging with life’s joys and
complexities, and meeting challenges in everyday life. The early childhood
years are not solely preparation for the future but also about the present.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Belonging, Being & Becoming: The Early Years Learning Framework</span></i></div>
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<i><span style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">(DEEWR, 2009 p. 7)</span></i><i><span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">I have noticed a great many
discussions over the past 12 months or so around multiple highly commercialised
programs for teaching children literacy through ‘cute’ characters and catchy
songs. I have also seen a great deal of confusion around what ‘Intentional
Teaching’ means. I can quite easily
reflect on both literacy and intentional teaching. But here I’m not going down
that path today. Today I am reflecting on being and what it means for me as an
early childhood teacher and what I think it means for children. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">I try to think about times when I
have been me, and I’ve been given direction or criticism or even guidance into
a new direction that I knew I wasn’t prepared for. Do you know how I feel about
that? I feel like I’m not good enough. I’m not good enough as I am at this time
in this space. What my I hear is “NOT GOOD ENOUGH”. Now, whether that is the
truth or not, it doesn’t matter. That horrible judging statement chips away at
me. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Here’s a prime example. I was
going to TAFE College in the 1990s part-time at night while working part-time
as a live in nanny. I was doing quite
well. I was getting As and Bs and I was happy. I enjoyed it. My father thought
that since I was doing so well, that I should apply for university. I was happy
with TAFE, but he was adamant that I should apply for Uni. I would leave my job,
I would move back home and I would be supported in conjunction with whatever
part-time work I did. Good deal yeah?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">So I withdrew from TAFE and I
went to Uni. I struggled. It was so technically different to TAFE and I
struggled. My self esteem plummeted. It just spiralled lower and lower. I was
miserable. I put everything I had into the subjects I felt I could do, and I
passed. I went from excelling to passing in a short period. I failed the other
half of my subjects because they were so far beyond what I was ready to deal
with at the time, and I didn’t know enough to withdraw. I felt like I had not
only let myself down, but also my family. I was low. I was defeated. I was
shattered. I went into a very dark place, where I was telling myself that I was
not good enough. This was the beginning
of the dark times. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">I was pushed. I let myself be
pushed. I wasn’t strong enough in my being to say no. I wasn’t ready. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">If I were left to be a TAFE
student at a level where I was doing very well, who would I be today? It sure
would have saved me a great deal of heart ache and turmoil. That decision to
listen to someone pushing me beyond what was good for me, led me down a very dark
path which lasted 3 painful years.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">I want to say: “it doesn’t
matter, because it has made me who I am today” but I look back at 19-year-old
me, and my heart breaks for the hurt and pain and that 19-year-old me went
through. It impacted upon my sense of belonging, I ended up interstate,
essentially homeless and almost completely alone. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">I eventually landed on my feet. I
went back to TAFE and I completed my Diploma in EC. But it could easily have
gone a very different way. I did even end up going to University. On my own
terms, and when I was ready for that commitment. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">I am who I am and I am travelling
my own path. I also know now never to let myself be pushed. I now choose who
pushes me, and how hard. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">So, what does this have to do
with children and their sense of being? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">EVERY THING. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Imagine being a very capable
three year old. And then imagine being re-directed and instructed into a
different place. Imagine the message
that you are giving that young person: You are not good enough at three. You
can’t do what you enjoy freely. You need to be doing these things. You need to
be here at four. The same at four, you are not good enough at four, you need to
be five. And so on and so forth.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Imagine your interests – the
things you love doing and playing, being used against you. The things you loved
doing for the sake of doing, for the pure love of being you, turned into
something else conveniently labelled as “Intentional Teaching” to meet some
sort of predetermined adult decided outcome that you at three or four or five
really aren’t interested in much less ready for. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">I don’t think we are preparing
them for anything but failure and heartbreak and fragile self-esteems that
might seriously put them in harms way in the future.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Why have we lost “being”? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Why can’t we let them be. Let
them be who they are. It’s not our job to push them, to prod them into another
state of being. It’s not our right. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">I think that it is so critical to
be who you are and be supported in being YOU.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">I think we need to embrace
“being” ... I think we need to let children learn who they are and be proud of
themselves. I think we need to support them in driving their own knowing and
learnings. I think we need to support them in connecting with each other and I
think we need to focus on empathy. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: GillSansMT; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Children
are confident and involved learners who “follow and extend their own interests.”
(DEEWR 2009 p. 34). Why do they ‘need’
us pushing them? Especially when the learning framework tells us children have
a right to be, but they also have the right to drive their own learning.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">These are my thoughts on “being”
and what it means to me as a human-being and what I think it means for the
children in my life. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">© Teacher’s Ink. 2014 All Rights Reserved. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
Teachers Ink.http://www.blogger.com/profile/17985697180478405868noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7189087710552467770.post-78661667035780656272014-01-10T14:13:00.004+11:002014-01-10T14:13:29.165+11:00Nature IS Nurture<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Candara, sans-serif; font-size: 19px; line-height: 21.466665267944336px;">I was sitting in the little corner oasis in my garden. I am especially fond of this spot as I made it myself. I didn’t use a landscaper, I had a vision, I had a loose plan, and I made it happen. The plants are shade loving semi-tropical and hardy and I’ve created a tiny micro climate of sorts. It’s my space where I often just go and sit and ‘be’. I think it’s important to have a place where you can ‘be’ and nothing else.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBCXmyL3rXg8PmadooyMN_jW5l8C9VgClZ6fTInQQVNF1LgF1_LfJQ_YaSjtea33PavF10pj_ncSozSowchLcdfjv71vrXpoTi-PvprYYq92ysKLa5GCb9nfeIg0vQzvEs3zS2OnBnzOw/s1600/IMG_0002.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBCXmyL3rXg8PmadooyMN_jW5l8C9VgClZ6fTInQQVNF1LgF1_LfJQ_YaSjtea33PavF10pj_ncSozSowchLcdfjv71vrXpoTi-PvprYYq92ysKLa5GCb9nfeIg0vQzvEs3zS2OnBnzOw/s1600/IMG_0002.JPG" height="320" width="243" /></a></div>
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(view looking up)</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuv0RuFwbXmHzZl1OMl4W0OL0V6sao076IcmWj4FUy-pO0u3fdb4sVPRlmjFeJ9B0nV5bptW3l4AfqO4-7PV-EFrINSrt6moxyFnFeS7gQJyRP0b6zY0jR2Cd7e-nZtx0bs0MiWMMLIWc/s1600/IMG_0013.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuv0RuFwbXmHzZl1OMl4W0OL0V6sao076IcmWj4FUy-pO0u3fdb4sVPRlmjFeJ9B0nV5bptW3l4AfqO4-7PV-EFrINSrt6moxyFnFeS7gQJyRP0b6zY0jR2Cd7e-nZtx0bs0MiWMMLIWc/s1600/IMG_0013.JPG" height="320" width="243" /></a> </div>
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(view looking out - can see you find bubba bird?) </div>
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<span style="font-family: Candara, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 21.466665267944336px;">Birds come to my garden because I provide them with large bushy shrubs and multiple water supplies. I have a large bird bath, a pond in a pot in my corner oasis, and I have a small water tray and a larger pond. Water is so important for life.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7buR33SWPMTv0DhrJmF6tS3mquN4T0QAP-vsQvPa135qiOVbMHtUZgANs142o6rfsg2JItT6yqUcSJxoe3R85mm6ULWJhZkKWEP7KA1B41r5uLKFaFn8r5emGpPjPkJ8h8Bil8X15Weo/s1600/IMG_0016.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7buR33SWPMTv0DhrJmF6tS3mquN4T0QAP-vsQvPa135qiOVbMHtUZgANs142o6rfsg2JItT6yqUcSJxoe3R85mm6ULWJhZkKWEP7KA1B41r5uLKFaFn8r5emGpPjPkJ8h8Bil8X15Weo/s1600/IMG_0016.JPG" height="320" width="243" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Candara, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 21.466665267944336px;">So, as I sat and was busy ‘being’ I was watching a family of butcher birds. Normally they are quite shy retired birds, but the family in my garden are quite confident. Very different to the ones at my parent’s place about 35kms away ... These birds also have to deal with my dog who doesn’t like birds in our garden much ... He tends to bark carry on and chase them away. As a result I don’t get any ground grazing crested pigeons. I get noisy miners, butcher birds, and magpies mainly. They all bring their offspring to my garden where they have to learn to be quick and resourceful.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Candara, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 21.466665267944336px;">I was watching the baby practising life. She was sitting in a hanging basket which had a Hoya and some large leaves from the tree above in it. She was picking up leaves and turning them and moving them around and snuggling in and rearranging and she did this for a good 15-20 minutes. Her father (darker almost black and white) was in the tree above her. He was singing. Her mother (grey and white like she) was on the ground.</span></div>
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(bubba bird having a drink)</div>
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(pappa bird looking for bugs)</div>
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<span style="font-family: Candara, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 21.466665267944336px;">I was just mesmerised by what this little bird was doing ... she was being a child ... she was learning about life doing what it is she was inclined to do ... it was practising and it was learning but it was living life more than anything else. There was no one in her face taking her picture or asking her what she was doing. She was just being a young bird exploring leaves and what she could do with them. She was connected to her world, she was developing important skills which I assume would help her in her nest building endeavours when she grows. She was also learning how to use her beak to manipulate tools. She was chattering away which I took to be self-talk. She could have been talking to her parents. She was engaging in life and learning and all the outcomes that we attribute to children in our work were there, happening in front of me with a little bird.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Candara, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 21.466665267944336px;">The mother also fascinated me. She was pecking at a spent flower head which was on the ground. I imagine insects were inside and she was eating them. She pecked and pecked. It’s a rather large flower head which is in a cone shape and it is a tall plant called a Justicia.</span></div>
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(momma bird after the flower head had finally dropped)</div>
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<span style="font-family: Candara, sans-serif; font-size: 19px; line-height: 21.466665267944336px;">What she did next really amazed me. She picked up the flower head and put it in the fork of the flower stems where it had come from. Once it was wedged she back pulling it apart. It would then fall to the ground again. She did this a few more times. Then she picked it up and flew up to the callistemon tree under which I was sitting. There she wedged it again, higher up, and in thicker branches an she continued to pick it apart, eating what she found there, bits of flower dropping below.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Candara","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Genius. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Candara","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">There is genius to be seen in nature. So there I sat,
connecting with nature and the world around me, watching these little creatures
learn about life, or living life, not merely surviving, but thriving in my
little modest garden. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Candara","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Why can’t we have this same peace and harmony at work?
I think maybe this is a possibility, we just have to create it, and fight for
it. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Candara","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">© Teacher’s Ink. 2014 All Rights Reserved.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Teachers Ink.http://www.blogger.com/profile/17985697180478405868noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7189087710552467770.post-3086723697322341842013-12-13T17:37:00.000+11:002013-12-13T17:37:08.817+11:00The EYLF and NQS Programming Industry Brings Me To TearsThe EYLF and NQS programming industry brings me to tears ... tears of frustration. Firstly there is a product money driven industry that has sprung up around the roll out of the NQF. And not everything for sale is accurate or of a high quality.<div>
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I don't think programming, planning and documenting should be easy. I don't think it should be impossible either. I think it should be the right amount of challenge and reward. I think it should fit within the paid scope of your employment (i.e. you do your written work AT work), and I think that it should improve you as a professional and I think it should serve a purpose for the children and their families. </div>
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In my role as an over-arching educational leader/mentor I work with programming and planning all day long. It sloshes around in my brain at the best of times. Sometimes it feels like its oozing out my ears. It's what I do. It's my main focus. I work with multiple different styles of programs and plans and not just one. I am essentially a critical friend who provides guidance and feedback for a number of services. Adult learning results from sustained shared conversations. I can't emphasize this enough.</div>
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If you don't understand Quality Area 1, don't beat yourself up. Its twisty and convoluted and I don't particularly like it. In fact the whole NQS is so interwoven it is impossible to unravel. Even for me. ANYONE promising you that they have unraveled it is full of the proverbial because it is an impossibility.<br /><div>
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I'm looking online today at stuff. And all I can find is crap. Crap that dumbfounds me and makes me want to cry in frustration. I just don't get it. It's wrong. So WRONG. </div>
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Crap that is for wrong and for sale. Crap that is for free. Crap that is about boosting an ego. Crap. </div>
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Crap that has pretty colours, or visual themes, or circles instead of squares because squares are boxes and boxes are bad. Or trees. What the hell is it with trees? Who started this tree thing? What does a tree have to do with anything other than being a visual metaphor for something or other?</div>
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If someone tells you there is no wrong way to do the NQS or the EYLF I think they're wrong. If there was no wrong way, then centres wouldn't be getting "Significant Improvement Required" or "Working Towards." </div>
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I think that there are many more right ways than wrong ways, but there is clearly a wrong. </div>
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Please. Please. PLEASE think about what you buy. Just because its pretty doesn't mean its good. Just because its expensive and promises the world, doesn't mean it delivers. </div>
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If you get exceeding at your service it is because YOU did the work and YOU earned it. No one else. Not even me :) </div>
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I think I need to write something and self-publish it. It won't be free - but it will be backed up with evidence and it will be reasonable. And its probably going to take me forever to put it together ... But I just can't sit here and look at crap and not throw my hat into the ring. </div>
Teachers Ink.http://www.blogger.com/profile/17985697180478405868noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7189087710552467770.post-83621946514042747602013-10-03T14:16:00.000+10:002013-10-03T22:15:50.591+10:00Scribble: a game of turn taking and laughing<div class="MsoNormal">
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I’ve been visiting and
working with a service for a few weeks. There are twin girls “Olivia” and “Sophia”
in the toddler room. They are about 2.5 years old. Olivia is outgoing and
confident and loves to play and laugh. She has a wicked glint to her eyes and
she loves to be chased. I comply with her wishes of course. Her sister Sophia
is more reserved and shy. She stands back and sometimes becomes upset. I
respect her wish to feel secure by keeping my distance and telling her so. “I don’t
want to upset you, so I will move away and give you some space.”</div>
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Today, something beautiful happened. I of course continued
with giving Sophia space. And it paid off. I was engaging with Olivia at the
white board drawing experience on the table, and Sophia came to sit near me (Yay!).
I helped Olivia with her sleeves which were going to be stained with ink.
Sophia looked at me and smiled (Yay!) and then did her sleeves. I commented on her independence. She smiled.</div>
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The children then were transitioning to lunch (I won’t bore
you with the details) and Olivia stayed with me. She eyed my clipboard which I
had some notes written upon. I asked her if she’d like to do some writing. She
smiled at me and reached out for my mechanical pencil. She made her mark. Then Sophia
spied us, and she joined us. I smiled at her. She smiled back. I asked her if
she would like a turn. She responded with a smile and said “my turn.” So she had
her turn and made her mark. It was then when the lead ran out, and I had to show the two how to click the top to make the pencil work again.<br />
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We were playing a spontaneous game of “my turn, your turn”
using my paper and pencil. It was my turn, then Olivia’s turn, then Sophia’s
turn. Then mine and so on and so forth. Theo then joined us with a big smile on
his face and he said “my turn?” So, we added Theo to our game, my turn, Olivia’s
turn, Sophia’s turn, then Theo’s turn. We did a few more rounds, then Theo
moved on to lunch. Sophia left, and Olivia and I continued our game for a
couple more rounds. Sophia couldn’t stay away and she came back (Yay!).</div>
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I decided to mix things up and do some subtle intentional
teaching stuff, I said to the two “I’m going to do a small one” and I proceeded
to make an itty bitty little scribble on the top right hand corner of the page. This resulted
in fits of hysterical giggling. I’d made a joke. Olivia then decided she would do the opposite
to me and she did a “big one” across the middle of the page. Then Sophia did a
little one (which was really more medium than small as her skills aren’t as
refined as mine). I did a teeny tiny little one, which resulted in even more
hysterical laughter. Olivia then outdid herself and did a much bigger one,
again saying “big one.” Sophia did her mark, but she decided to be loud and
proud and do a big one like her sister. </div>
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I am going to finish this later and do some clever outcome
talking type stuff … but for now on my lunch break, I wanted to get this story
down while it was still fresh in my mind and my heart. </div>
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Today I was blessed with trust. And trust is so precious. </div>
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* Olivia and Sophia and Theo are made up names.<br />
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(c) Teacher's Ink. 2013 All Rights Reserved.</div>
Teachers Ink.http://www.blogger.com/profile/17985697180478405868noreply@blogger.com0