Some Postings on Observations



A question on facebook was asked on another page about observations with children aged 0-2 ... The question was around whether we were required to do group observations for these children. I of course weighed in. As I do.

My responses were as follows:

"We are all so obsessed over observations. Its not your fault, its just the current climate! ... There is no requirement that you have to do group obs. You just need to show the child in a social context that is appropriate to them. Sitting side by side in parallel play with a peer is appropriate. If you are able to show that you know the child as an individual and that you know where they are in terms of their development and growth in relation to the outcomes and being belonging and becoming, then you're doing a good job. They dont have to be learning stories. You can do jottings, photos, notes, photo stories, just observations any which way you want with a story - but it doesnt have to be done as a "learning story" ... If you can look at their observations and see a true picture of them as a person, albeit a little person, then you're doing the right thing!"

Other comments were made which I wont post here, which inspired this further response:

"A traditional learning story follows a specific format and comes from NZ where they follow Te WhaIcantspellitandnotlookingitupi ... Over here in Oz people are just slapping the title "learning story" on observations ... there is simply a shift in the semantics and the focus - they are simply still observations with a new fancy name. I have always done observations as a story and I have always looked at all the development visible within the story. I just didnt do it as holistically as I do now.

As for what we have to do and what we should do, there is just so much gossip flying about. People are panicking and simply trying to do everything and almost anything they are told which results in panic and fear and being overwhelmed. Yes, I was queen of group obs .. but a group ob can be two children or three or five or 10. BUT the more children you have, the more the individual focus gets diluted and lost. And the point is seeing what the child thinks, knows, can do etc. How you get an accurate picture of this when there are up to 23 other individuals included is beyond me.

I picked up portoflios from a service I was doing relief teaching at ... and they were all group obs of 24 children. There were no individuals and mostly groups of 5-10 and of course the 24 ... I couldnt tell the twins apart. I couldnt even tell the twins apart from the other children in the group.

I suggest everyone really read the NQS QA1 and look at what it says. I also suggest that you look at the Myths and Realities available on the PLP website. The full version not the newsletter one. Its alot more in depth.

If you want to reflect on routines or principles or practices, then I suggest people do that in their reflective books - either personal professional journals or daily reflections or whatever you call it ... If I were a parent, I'd want to read about my child not routines or the educators professional development.

Stepping down from my soap box now!"

I need to gather my thoughts and put together a proper article! with collected thoughts. But you get the idea.

Well. I'm going to toddle off now.

Reflections on Observing & Programming

I have been pondering a great many things ... It’s part of my job you see. BUT in this pondering I have had some conscious ideas about my practice as an educator. 

Many people are in this cycle: 

1. We see the child doing something.
2. We (the all-knowing-educator) then decide that the child will do something else that we choose based upon all our knowledge (which we can’t admit might be limited!) and our perspective (which again, isn’t necessarily a balanced one!)...
3. We then observe and make judgements based upon whether the child has achieved what we have set out for them to do.
4. We then document our findings based upon this one moment where the child may or may not have done what we wanted them to do...

Does anyone else see what might be wrong with this cycle?

This is many people’s planning cycle! This was my planning cycle ... We see, we make choices, then we act, then we evaluate and go again ...

Why don’t we plan for many different possibilities rather than just the one? Why don’t we problem solve and think about how many other ways we can support children in their learning and growing and being and becoming? 

I think the problem is the new is being overlapped with the old ... You know the old school way of doing things where we just essentially programmed in the boxes ... I always hated doing this and I was and am a day book programmer ... But even now I’m thinking of other ways I can do the same thing without the day book ... The day book requires (for me at least) a computer and time to write ... and not everyone will have that. I've started playing around with other ways and am starting to ponder using documentations and mind-maps and webs, even notations!

I’m not providing you with any concrete answers here ... I might even be leaving you with more questions! But what I’m thinking is ... what happens if we provide really excellent learning environments for children that are well thought out (because we write reflections) and have so much content that will support children over time ... 

Time to learn and grow being the key here ... 

What if, when we are writing our observations or reflections on particular children’s learning and growing, we make suggestions about:

1. Different experiences within the learning environment that might already suit the needs of the child or the group as a whole?
2. Different teaching strategies that might support that child achieve that outcome or milestone or satisfy their need?
3. (Here’s some novelty) Act NOW! What can you do NOW to support that child? Is it asking a question or providing a resource to extend their engagement? Could it be role modelling by their side? Or could it possibly be helping them hand over hand? Could it be as simple as a smile of encouragement!? Write THAT down!

So that is what I have been wondering ... how much of what we already do in regards to our teaching practice is left unsaid and undocumented? How much of what we might be able to do, but feel we can’t do because it has to be something that we “follow-up” or do later is left undone, or done so far in the future that it no longer serves a purpose for that child?!?!

Signing off,

G @ Teacher’s Ink.

© Teacher’s Ink. 2013

Thoughts on Linking: The Diagram Edition

So last weekend I started to ponder linking - the links that everyone seem to be making ... So while I was waiting for a friend ... I drew a diagram:

 

Chaos.

So I thought I might try and make more sense of it ... and drew a more organised diagram:

Still chaos. Just more colourful. Less scribbly. However, still chaotic.

There is no way I am:
a) doing this
b) capable of doing this
c) capable of even maintaining this even if I could do this in the first place
d) able to explain this confidently
e) able to explain this confidently while under the added pressure of having an assessor visiting and asking me to explain and justify it!

So as a result I'm reading and re-reading the EYLF and making lists and such to really inform the choices that I and others make about linking and documenting.

Remember, linking is a left over from the QIAS ... We need to be smarter! We need to think. That's what the EYLF tells us to do! Critically reflect and make informed choices! More on this later! It's another essay!

© Teacher’s Ink. 2013

The Gifts of Autumn

Everyone must take time to sit and watch the leaves turn.

~Elizabeth Lawrence~

I was inspired and reminded by my last block placement at a long day care service of the gifts that autumn has for us. In fact, nature in general gives us gifts each season that we can embrace in our teaching practice.

I've noticed that when I'm not attached to a service or to a group of children (you know, 'shackled' to their portfolios and the daybook: document document DOCUMENT!!!), you are able to just chill out and go along for the ride.

I thought I might play around with some ideas from my past as well as some new ones and put together documentation on leaves and quite possibly with an emphasis on autumn.

Now, this effort will not include any pictures of children, nor pictures I’ve taken at jobs. I am going to have to be creative with images from my collection and my environment. I am also going to have to use my memory from the past 6 years of teaching.

The photo in this blog entry is from the Liquid Ambar that used to live at my grandparents house. Sadly, my parents chose to remove the tree and replace it with a Manchurian Pear tree which is lovely in its own way ... but I do miss that beautiful Liquid Ambar. But unfortunately Liquid Ambars are not very sewer pipe friendly. I personally would have spent heaps of money changing the pipes and kept the tree! But that’s me! I’m a sucker for a gorgeous tree. In fact trees have played such an important part of my childhood:

*  the “oak” tree we used to climb as children and play helicopters (no idea if it was an oak tree, we just thought it looked like it might be one and that was that!)

* the giant sequoia we had growing in our backyard back home that I used to play  under ...

* the Japanese maple we had planted next to our fish pond ...

* the giant copper beech tree our neighbours had which had the most gorgeous plum coloured leaves.

* our fruit trees: apple, plum, apricot, lemon, lime

* the oak grove at the local botanical gardens we’d visit almost every weekend as a family

So as you can see, I'm a nature loving girl who has an affinity for trees.

So, I'm going to play with a mock-up documentation on leaves and see where that goes. I'm not professing that this will be the best documenation out there. I'm not claiming that this is how it should be done ... I'm just going to put together based upon events of my past and ideas that I havent yet followed up on. It's up to you to do your own thing. This documentation just sits within my experience, my personal practice and is part of my own professional development path. When it's complete, I'll turn it into photos and post them on the blog. Afterthat, I can convert it to a PDF and if you'd like a copy I can email it to you. Here goes!

The quote came from: http://www.quotegarden.com/autumn.html

(c) Teachers Ink. 2012 ~ All Rights Reserved

Just Another Day Book Sample

This is just another version of the same sort of thing that I would do from time to time ... I wouldnt write anything at all myself ~ I'd involve the children and interview them ... These are the sorts of things they would say ...

The Day Book ~ My Style Explained V.2

Like last time ... I've added numbers as reference points ... Numbers 1-4 are explained in my previous post as well as number 7 ... I'm hoping its not too confusing but I didnt want to cut and paste it and add numbers in different orders etc. I'm assuming you have read or will read V.1!

1.       See Previous Post http://teachers-ink.blogspot.com.au/2012/04/day-book-my-style-explained-v1.html

2.       See Previous Post http://teachers-ink.blogspot.com.au/2012/04/day-book-my-style-explained-v1.html

3.       See Previous Post http://teachers-ink.blogspot.com.au/2012/04/day-book-my-style-explained-v1.html

4.       See Previous Post http://teachers-ink.blogspot.com.au/2012/04/day-book-my-style-explained-v1.html

5.       This is where I got clever a couple of years ago when it was suggested that I show the children’s voice more – this was even before the EYLF ... So I would call some children over and simply ask them a few different version of essentially the same questions:

a.       What did you play today?

b.      What did you like playing today?

c.       What did you learn today?

d.      What was the best part of your day at school?

It really depended upon who I was talking to – their language and comprehension skills etc. But you get the idea ... ask an open ended question about their play and then write down what they have to say. This is their voice. Their words or voice reflecting upon their day.

6.       This is where the author of the daybook is acknowledged – and the staff for the day written as well. I’ve also previously written what types of music we’ve listed to, or what we had for lunch so it was all there for parents to read – a one stop shop.

7.       See Previous Post http://teachers-ink.blogspot.com.au/2012/04/day-book-my-style-explained-v1.html

So this is just another version of what my day book entries used to look like ...

Enjoy

T.ink.

The Day Book ~ My Style Explained V.1

I am titling this as "Day Book ~ My Style Explained V.1" because it's simply just that ... It's very general and I've written it using generic and nonsensical terms. I'm going to reflect more on this and either provide some different samples or some guiding questions. I have also done a few different things over the years, so I will create some mock-ups of those and post them in the near (or not so distant) future and title them V.2 and V.3 etc. If you notice, I have placed numbers in the sections. The numbers are used as reference points to explain my thinking behind those sections below the image.

1.   The Title ... You can say what you want here ... I used to say “Monday’s Story” or whatever day of the week it was ... You can have it focused on one aspect of your learning environment – you can use the terminology that you are familiar with for example I might have used “The Creative Child” (DOCS, 2005) and written about our experiences in collage or perhaps the buildings that were created in block area using stones, branches and pieces of fabric. The title can be simple, or it can be a headline designed to grab peoples’ attention!

2.   These are the =main= events ... it is not EVERYTHING that was engaged with on the day. This is just what was really important or where the most learning was observed by the educators ... It might not be the most important leaning that occurred – but you don’t have eyes and ears all over your head so you can’t see and hear everything that happens everywhere all day long.

3.    I don’t like being tied to a future idea ... or curriculum decision so I use “POSSIBLE future directions” ... Its just the ideas at the time of writing the day book entry ... overnight my ideas may change, indeed while driving to work the ideas may change – or the children may come up with their own ideas or in fact they may not want to move from the place of learning they were at yesterday. I think we get so carried away with: What are we going to plan next? When it is perfectly valid to just experience NOW! Notice that I used terms like: more, less, repeat, extend and then something new. Again, these are only ideas of where the possibilities might be. They are not set in stone!

4.   This is where I write about the main events in more detail. You can relate them to the EYLF (DEEWR, 2009) and the concepts held within the learning outcomes or any other aspect of the EYLF you’d like to refer to. You can paraphrase or you can quote directly. It’s up to you. There is no particular prescription about how this should look. What you do need to be talking about and reflecting up on is children’s learning – not so much the  specific outcomes, but the processes. I like writing this as a narrative because it means that its a story, its personal, its reflective, you are speaking to your audience and sharing your thoughts, but you are also able to refer to the past, present and future in your expression. And that is "linking" and making connections within your curriculum. Remember curriculum is:

"Curriculum encompasses all the interactions, experiences, routines and events, planned and unplanned, that occur in an environment designed to foster children’s learning and development" DEEWR, 2009 pp. 9).

5.   This is where there is a space for families to write a comment to the children or the service. They can share ideas or what they are thinking about what the children are doing. I would strongly encourage you to ask families to share their voice in the day book. I remember one mother’s comment about rainbows which to this day, touches me. She was one of the main parents to read the day book and be involved. Imagine how her child felt, knowing that her mother took such a strong interest in her school.

If you have any questions or comments, please post them here or email them to me! I'd love to hear from you: teachersink [at] gmail dot com

T.Ink

You're Programming Wrong!

“You’re doing it wrong” is what they were told about their programming ...

So who is telling them that they are doing it wrong? Well, it wasn’t the previous manager who has 15+ years experience working in children’s services. It wasn’t the “validator” who assessed the service last year and found them to be a service delivering high quality care and education (who liked the system and methods).

It’s the new manager. This is her first job as a manager. She is also young and hasn’t had her degree for very long, nor has she got a great deal of experience in a variety of services. I think they were desperate to hire someone consistent. It certainly doesn’t look good when you can’t find staff for your service. Out of everything she could have done to improve the team, the service, support the transition to the NQS, she chooses to attack the programming and planning and declare that its “wrong”? Really? Is that the best way of managing? Um, no, it’s not. The methods that she has suggested were also bulky, cumbersome, time consuming, not presented professionally and is just going to encourage people to return to scribbling decorations on a blank page to fill the empty spaces because they can’t think of anything substantial to write. If educators can’t fill one page of a daybook with reflections, how are they going to fill double or triple the space? I know that she’s simply getting them to work the way that she is used to, but it’s not about her.

The programming that a service does should be created by the team for that particular service – what works for them? What physical resources do they have available to them? (slide shows on photo frames or computer screens? Printers? Computers? Photocopiers? Time to write?) What is their philosophy? How is that reflected in the interactions with children? How does all this relate to the EYLF? That programming that a service does should not come from ONE person whoever that person is!

What’s wrong with this line: “You’re doing it wrong?”  ... That’s not great management. It’s insensitive and passing judgement upon others. Even if they were doing it wrong, you don’t put it to them like that! You work WITH them as a team and brainstorm ideas – that’s reflection. That ‘reflection’ sits within the EYLF and is what we are required to do. But to tell someone that they are doing it wrong? That’s wrong.

One of my previous interview questions related to this ... and my answer was – I tend to be quite reflective and have lots of ideas. I’m however not going to walk into a new space and start changing things just because I have a new idea. I don’t know what happened before in this space – I don’t know the history of the room or program. I need to work with the team and the children and in consultation make changes. Yes, there are changes that MUST be made at times, but there are also changes that can occur over time. So, yes, you get what you want as a professional, but you do it in a way that everyone comes on board with you, and together you create change. In the meantime, I’ll just write my ideas down and wait for a good time!

You certainly don’t tell people they’re doing it wrong. People will be invested in their way of “doing it” and if you tell them it’s wrong – well you are going to put noses out of joint and upset people. Not a smart move.

I'd also like to add, that from what I've seen on  visits to quality services, at previous work places, and on the internet about how different people are programming - there are so many different ways it can be done, and as long as you can show an understanding of what your system is, and it meets the requirements - then you are doing it right. You are doing it right for you!

End of rant.

Stepping off soap box.

T.ink

Play Dough Rainbow Style!

So, two things are happening here ... one is I wanted some colourful playdough to photograph to use in my portfolio formats and I am looking after my neice next week after day care so I thought why not make some dough that won't go to waste! So I've made the dough using essentially the cream of tartar recipe on the back of the container. Instead of cooking it in a saucepan, I just use freshly boiled water and mix it with a woden spoon, then with my hands wearing gloves (helps with the heat!). It turns out pretty much the same. I've been making it this way for 8 years now. If you need to refresh it, just add a little boiling water and it comes good again. 

The materials I used - just inexpensive no-name stuff where I could

The finished product!

So after I was finished with the dough, I cut it into wedges ... 8 to be exact.

Then I added drops of food colouring to each section and mixed them individually.

This is blue + red + yellow to make dark green ...

I wore gloves because ... well, you can see what the gloves look like, I really didnt want my fingers to be the same!

So we have red, orange, yellow, light green, aqua, dark green, blue, purple, and plain ...

So, here is the dough in a dumpling tray that I'm re-using before I recycle it. I love using small containers from the kitchen at the playdough table. The kids always seem to cut up dough, make cookies, form balls or snakes etc. and this gives them a means of storing or displaying their efforts.

Actually, this reminds me of all the awesome things I once bought to use at the dough table ... I found them all at a discount store ... I'll have to hunt around and see if I have the photos ... That can be another post!

I love making. I love creating. I love colour.

T.ink

Where T.ink is At!

butterflies make me think of change and transformation ...

Now, where I’m at ...

I have resigned from my position as a teacher and now that I have some time on my hands I am really pondering where I wanted to go with the EYLF and my documentation practice. I have also been creating some resources in order to make this possible. I have been using my resource collection, borrowing a friends, purchasing inexpensive items and the like in order to make this idea of mine a possibility. This is what is going to take some time.

When I return to work, I will be doing casual teaching in a variety of settings and services.

This choice resulted from a number of different motivations. One of which was unpredictable travel towards the city. I want a better work/life balance and I can’t achieve that if I am sitting in a car for 3 hours a day. This took away precious time which could have been spent enjoying life or even simply taking care of my home and garden and pets.

I have also been at the service for a few years and it just felt it was time to move on. Sure, I could have stayed and explored some curriculum ideas I had in the works, but, really ... my heart wasn’t in it any longer. I want to explore my own ideas and OWN them as my own. They come from my brain, my thinking, my education (which I paid for!), my background and life experience as well as my own time spent at courses I chose or from reading books I purchased.

So I took a leap of faith and assumed that there would be a safety net at the bottom! Thankfully, it was a wise leap of faith and I've flown instead of fallen!

When you aren’t meant to be following a certain path it is difficult. There are just too many challenges and roadblocks along the way. When you stop fighting it, and you give up and decide to go off the path that you were familiar with, well, sometimes things just fall into place ... you find a gentler path. You see some beauty along the way. You find sustenance to nourish your body, your heart and your spirit. You start to realise that the path you thought was the =sensible= one was in fact the wrong one for you ... And now that you have finally made the choice, you have found the right place and the right time.

So gradually, this blog will evolve and my work will evolve and my ideas will come together in my reflective journal.

Thank you for your patience, understanding, and for reading what I just plonked onto the net over a year ago. It is much appreciated.

T.ink