Following children’s interests and
igniting their imaginations is the only way to really fuel learning in the
early years. Phoebe Doyle looks at ways to ensure children are engaged by
tuning into what they love.
As all
experienced practitioners know, a ‘one size fits all’ approach just cannot
work. Children are different and it’s as much about nurture as nature for sure.
When a child enters the setting in the morning, they’re bringing with them
their family background and their life history. Some children might have got up
that day, had some porridge and toast, been immaculately dressed and skipped
off to nursery hand in hand with a parent. For others the story may not be so
pleasing; perhaps there was no food in the house, maybe nobody woke up early
enough to make it on time…
All this is
to say that when children reach us at the beginning of the session they aren’t
a small gaggle of little ‘blank slates’ ready to be taught, ready to learn. You
may have heard the term ‘fight or flight’. It basically refers to the fact that
when we are in a state of heightened anxiety we simply want to flee or become
aggressive; we’re in ‘reptilian’ mode and this is when learning is simply not
possible.
As
practitioners it’s up to us to get them tuned in, engaged, and leaving their
anxiety behind. The best way to do this? It’s by choosing methods of teaching, topics,
activities and projects that’ll get them buzzing with excitement. And this is
bound to happen if you can really tune in to what will make them tick.
Parent Power
It’s vital
to use the fact that parents are the child’s experts to your advantage! They
know their little one so well; their likes, dislikes, favourite story,
favourite TV character… everything! Here are some strategies to help make the
most of their knowledge:
Ø Send home a questionnaire – but not
just when they start as a year (or two) is a long, long time in a young child’s
life and they can change their minds about things in a flash! Consider sending
home some questions each term.
Ø Keep communication open – always
insist that they can come and chat to you at any point – usually after the
session is easier time-wise. Remind them by putting it on a newsletter
regularly, so they don’t feel they are disturbing you. This way they can tell you
of anything they are particularly enjoying or struggling with during the
sessions.
Ø Let them join in the fun – having
parents helping in the session is about so much more than an extra pair of
hands. Remember that many parents will not have any experience of a modern
early years setting before. By inviting them in they’ll learn about the
importance placed on play and enjoyment and they’ll be able to talk about what
they do in the setting at home with their little one.
Open-ended / child-led planning and learning
How many of
us like to think we employ child-led sessions, but in reality we know where we
want it to go right from the beginning? What exactly are we afraid of? Handing
over direction to the children can be truly enlightening both for you and them.
Children need to be given ownership of their work in order for it to be truly
meaningful to them. Here’s how you can start to hand over control.
Ø Introduce heuristic play sessions:
Provide a treasure basket of natural or found objects for them to play with,
then stand back and become simply the observer. They’ll find uses you couldn’t
have possibly dreamt of!
Ø Make getting to resources more
child-friendly: Resources need to be clearly labelled with photographs and at
their level – if this idea fills you with fear, you need to explicitly teach
them how to use items properly. It’s worth dedicating entire sessions to
teaching care and responsibility with resources.
Ø Get outside more: This is simply the
best environment for open-ended play. They’ve got freedom, nature – the whole
world to explore.
Ø Make sure everyone’s on board: Ensure
that all adults know the importance of this, and that nobody’s still in, “not
like that, like that” mode!
The thing about boys…
It’s hard to
talk about gender differences without sounding sexist and prone to
generalisation. Yet ignoring it altogether isn’t fair either; it’s crucial we
acknowledge certain differences (that are
sometimes found, not always) in
order to provide a holistic curriculum that’s truly enticing for all. So, you’ve
been warned, here comes a little generalising!
Girls (some girls) often will become engaged,
will begin to listen, will get down to a task simply because they’ve been asked
to. They want to please the practitioner, they want to ‘be good’ and they like
doing ‘big girls work’. Motivation is high and so learning comes easily.
Boys (some boys) aren’t so fussed about being
all ‘grown-up’, they want to go and play on the field and this stuff the
teacher is asking them to do isn’t playing on the field, it’s just boring and
very, very tricky! In fact, it’s hurting their head! They might not care that
much if they’re ‘good’, they would like to be, but not to the cost of having to
do this really well; they’ve got energy, it’s hard to sit still sometimes when
your legs want to jump!
So, if
you’ll let me continue with my verging-on-sexist point for one moment longer,
the trick is to understand the needs of boys. To recognise that there’s no
‘being good’ and certainly no ‘being bad’, there’s just being them. If you’ve got boys (or girls) who
just want to be on the field, what are you waiting for? Learning doesn’t happen when children are
being drilled; they need to be experiencing, they need to be happy and free of
pressure.
Books and Story-telling
As
practitioners we can tend to be guilty of a little mis-placed snobbery when it
comes to choosing stories to read to the children. Yet our job here is simple;
to get them loving literature and inspired by the written word. Much as we
might like this to be via a route of only top quality picture books from our
beloved Michael Rosen or Julia Donaldson, the fact is that we need to cover all
genres and really follow their interests – getting hold of non-fiction books on
snakes, football or spaceships – whatever they can’t stop talking about!
Furthermore,
story-telling without books can be enormously powerful. Here you are
demonstrating that you don’t need to be able to read to be able to tell a story
– which is great news for most pre-schoolers! What’s more, without the limitations
of the physical book to stick to you can follow their interests completely –
even changing as you tell it and see them get excited over one aspect or
another. Letting them have a go too will give an enormous insight into what
makes them tick.
Final Thoughts:
Tuning into
what children like isn’t an added extra, it’s everything. Without knowing
how to engage a child their learning experience isn’t going to be exciting and
motivating and therefore just will not be effective. And, as if you needed
another reason, it’s just so much fun! We can learn so much from children
- they can inspire our teaching and help
us learn surprising amounts too.
Key points
Ø We need to help children get in the
right frame of mind for learning
Ø Parents are our best asset when it
comes to finding out about the children
Ø Children can be trusted with resources
if taught correctly
Ø There are potential gender
differences to consider
Ø Use the outdoors more
BOX
Be inspired by Reggio Emilia
This most
child-led of approaches derives its name from its place of origin, Reggio
Emilia, a city located in Northern Italy. Shortly after the Second World War,
Loris Malaguzzi, a young teacher and the founder of this education approach,
joined forces with the parents of this region to provide child care for young
children. Originally inspired by the need of women to return to the work force,
over the last 50 years, this education system has developed into a unique
program that has caught the attention of early childhood educators worldwide.
The Reggio
teacher allows the children to:
- Ask their own questions, and
generate their own hypotheses and to test them.
- To explore and generate many
possibilities both affirming and contradictory. She welcomes
contradictions as a venue for exploring, discussing and debating.
- Provides opportunity to use
symbolic languages to represent thoughts and hypothesis.
- Provides opportunity for the
children to communicate their ideas to others.
- Offers children, through the
process of revisiting the opportunity to reorganize concepts, ideas,
thoughts and theories to construct new meaning.
- Is a keen observer, documenter,
and partner in the learning process.
(Taken from
www.reggiokids.com)
BOX
Fun Early Years Topics
Ø Roar, roar, dinosaurs
Ø Pirates
Ø Our town
Ø Toys and teddies
Ø Down on the farm
Ø Creepy crawlies
Ø My house, your house
Ø How does your garden grow?
References:
www.practicalpreschool.com
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