My Responsive Curriculum By Cristiene Carvalho by Cristiene Carvalho

My Responsive Curriculum

cristienecarvalho — 2023-06-18 09:58:42 UTC

For this Unit, Practice in Partnership 1, I invited myself to construct a profound reflection on my practice as an educator from Birth to 2 Years. Despite the fact I did not conduct my placement while I attended my classes in this Unit (due to my maternity leave), I tried to use all discussions, learnings and theories to think about my previous experiences and how I would improve my practice.

Social Interaction and Diversity: The Basis of My Responsive Curriculum.

cristienecarvalho — 2023-06-18 10:01:42 UTC

To build a responsive curriculum, my most critical point is to create an environment with practices that will respect each child and family’s culture. For this, my curriculum created links with Vygotsky’s theory that says, “Higher mental functions are developed through these interactions as children were initiated into the culture of their family and the wider community” (Nolan and Raban, 2015, p.31). My curriculum integrated cultures by including the diversity of celebrations, languages and practices of each family. It will be implemented by creating a welcome mural to create visual references from diverse cultures, enhancing the sense of belonging in the space. The inclusion of families in the process will be essential to know celebrations, aesthetic elements, art, food and language expressions to embrace it in the curriculum. It will give all children and families the experience of being part of a multicultural environment. For this, the Early Years Learning Framework, Outcomes 1 and 2, guides me to include diversity and identity in the learning process.

Communication, Supervision and Language Development: Balancing Group Activities and One-By-One Interactions

cristienecarvalho — 2023-06-18 10:06:54 UTC

Based on my learning, experience and discussion in this Unit, in this age group, communication with limited words requires the educator's constant supervision to ensure all children are comfortable. For this, I will create activities that promote interactions and language development individually and in small groups. It will create connections with children helping them to feel safe. It could be made using props, musical instruments and objects like scarves to catch their attention.

Attachment is a vital element for Babies and Toddlers

cristienecarvalho — 2023-06-18 10:10:09 UTC

Social development is an essential part of my curriculum. Related to this, I will plan activities for children to see and interact with others in group activities like dance, music, and sensory exploration and also will be setting up the space for small group experiences and one-by-one interactions understanding that infants and toddlers need to construct positive attachments with educators to feel confident to explore. For this, the ideas of Holmes (2014) about attachment theory were vital for considering my practices as consistent and positive models for children.

Space is an unlimited way to explore and learn.

cristienecarvalho — 2023-06-18 10:13:56 UTC

In my observations, I saw space exploration as an elementary key for the physical development of infants. Thinking about it, I could set up the room with small challenges like foam climbers and furniture at their eye level to allow them to explore their bodies independently and discover themselves. More than just including pieces of furniture in my practice, I will encourage children to explore and observe how they are mastering new skills to make new challenges in the future. Everything will be set up in the physical space to provoke children to explore and develop their autonomy. The activities/resources will be at their eyes level inviting them to explore without waiting for educators to give to them.

Reflection on my learning process, practices and future implementations

cristienecarvalho — 2023-06-18 10:16:17 UTC

Reflecting on my responsive curriculum was an exercise to look at the learning for educators and toddlers to support them. Greenman et al. (2008) wrote about what infants and toddlers need the most. The elements “Sense of basic trust, opportunities to explore the Worlds of things and people, the opportunity to move and sense of autonomy”’ Greenman et al. (2008, p.54) were the aspects I considered as crucial. It allows children to recognise themselves as competent learners by supporting their feelings, communication needs and exploration. Also, it enhances their imagination by giving them opportunities to develop their knowledge by offering corners and activities based on their interests. It needs observation to understand how they create meaning in the exploration and knowledge.

Concepts Connected

cristienecarvalho — 2023-06-18 10:19:03 UTC

My journey through this Unit gives me an understanding of the interconnection of concepts: Pedagogy of Listening, Planning Cycle, Play and Learning and Disrupting Early Childhood Education in designing a room and conducting practices of creating pedagogical documentation. In Units, I had the opportunity to learn and reflect on how all these ideas are connected with elements like leading a design for my classroom, constructing a curriculum that creates disruptions in the traditional concepts of childhood and also how to observe children in this environment and use this rich material as an element to guide my practices and reflections. After the elaboration of assessments, discussions and thoughts, I see how it is glued to my perspective of Early Childhood Education, and valuable personal learning will come with me in my practice.

Pedagogy of Listening and Planning Cycle

cristienecarvalho — 2023-06-18 10:21:11 UTC

The Pedagogy of Listening, as described by Rinaldi (2001), was one approach to listening to children's voices, movements, and feelings and using all this perception from their universe to conduct our pedagogical practice. This is the first step to lead the planning cycle as proposed in EYLF "Observ- assess- plan-implement- evaluate" (EYLF, 2009 p. 35) and to use the observations as a basis to construct the practice as said by Bradford, H. (2012). "Observation feeds into planning to ensure success for the child." (Bradford 2012, p.61). In that way, the observation is not just looking and registering what we are seeing with a shallow perspective to register but is a way to take a deep dive into the child's experience and reflect on that to create a learning process in children. My observations through assessment 2 showed me the importance of creating environments that could promote children's space explorations and exercise their curiosity. Also, it showed that the planned activities using the play-based learning approach create engagement with worlds, social and space (Gordon, 2013) to help them be active in their learning process. For that, group time, projects and corners must follow children's interests. These findings could be the basis for future implementations that conduct my evaluation and support each child's learning process.

Emotional, social and physical development

cristienecarvalho — 2023-06-18 10:23:42 UTC

Based on my observations through this Unit, children need to be supported in emotional, social and physical development in the age from Birth to 2 years. I liked this observation with the reflections about children's attachment described by Holmes (2014). He reflected on John Bowlby's attachment theory and opened my understanding of creating a secure and positive relationship with infants. It gave me a psychoanalysis approach to think about how to implement and advocate for this in my practice.

For a disrupting vision of Early Childhood Education

cristienecarvalho — 2023-06-18 10:26:55 UTC

The importance of creating a secure relationship with children is, for me, a way to give them a safe space to develop their full potential despite to challenges and inequalities they have been facing in their life, and it is a learning that comes to my mind in this Unit. I consider many children that come to the centre have had previous experiences with violence, poverty and contexts that will impact their learning. It is linked with Sorin's (2005) idea of an image of a child because, as educators, we need to consider the diversity of images of children instead of the romantic and unreal view of childhood. Children come to the school bringing their life experiences, and we must support them in this process. For that, I will create a safe and inclusive space to construct a space of disruption in the classroom. From Parnel and Lorio (2016), teachers must break the traditional wall and assume the critical approach. It inspired me to think about it as an essential listening/practice to build an Early Childhood curriculum that will respect each child in their history and culture.

References

cristienecarvalho — 2023-06-18 10:28:21 UTC

Bradford, H. (2012). Planning and observation of children under three. Routledge. https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&AuthType=shib&db=nlebk&AN=443998&site=ehost-live&custid=s1145751 EISBN: 9780203135907

Council of Australian Governments 2009, Belonging, being and becoming - the early years learning framework for Australia, Department of Education and Training, Canberra.

Gandini, L. (2001). Reggio Emilia: Experiencing life in an infant-toddler center. Bambini (pp. 55–66). Teachers College Press. https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/vu/reader.action?ppg=72&docID=4699807&tm=1519616473446 EISBN: 9780807775264

Gordon, K. A. (2013). Play and the learning environment. Early childhood education: becoming a professional (pp. 256–285). https://www.sagepub.com. https://www.sagepub.com/sites/default/files/upm-binaries/53567_ch_10.pdf

Greenman, J. T., Stonehouse, A., & Schweikert, G. (2008). The first two years of life: What do infants and toddlers need most. Prime times: A handbook for excellence in infant and toddler programs (pp. 52–66). Addison Wesely Longman.
ISBN: 0582876494

Holmes, J. (2014). Attachment, anxiety, internal working models. John Bowlby and attachment theory (2nd ed., pp. 47–69). Routledge. https://go.openathens.net/redirector/vu.edu.au?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.taylorfrancis.com%2Fchapters%2Fmono%2F10.4324%2F9781315879772-14%2Fattachment-anxiety-internal-working-models-jeremy-holmes-jeremy-holmes%3Fcontext%3Dubx%26refId%3D8375fbaf-e348-4413-8b96-36fa5117490d EISBN: 9781315879772

Nolan, A. & Raban, B. (2015). Theories into practice. Albert Park, Victoria: Teaching Solutions.

Parnell, W., & Iorio, J. M. (2016). W Parnell & J. Iorio (Eds.), Disrupting early childhood education research: Imagining new possibilities. Routledge. https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/vu/detail.action?docID=4219220
ISBN: 9781317558521

Rinaldi, C. (2001). Reggio Emilia: The image of the child and the child’s environment as a fundamental principle. Bambini (pp. 49–54). Teachers College Press. https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/vu/reader.action?ppg=66&docID=4699807&tm=1519615978116 EISBN: 9780807775264

Rinaldi, C 2001, ‘The pedagogy of listening: the listening perspective from Reggio Emilia’, Innovations in early childhood: the international Reggio exchange, Merrill-Palmer Institute: Wayne State University, pp. 1–4, accessed from https://static1.squarespace.com/static/526fe9aee4b0c53fa3c845e0/t/540fce31e4b00c94d884e002/1410321969279/Pedagody+of+Listening+-+Rinaldi+-+Fall+2001.pdf.

Sorin, R, 2005, Changing images of childhood: reconceptualising early childhood practice, International Journal of Transitions in Childhood, vol. 1, Springer Netherlands, pp. 12–21, viewed .

Images References

cristienecarvalho — 2023-06-18 10:31:30 UTC

10 ways to be a more reflective educator | CareforKids.com.au

Teaching Kids to Respect Diversity: Here's What to Know - CHC Resource Library | CHC | Services for Mental Health and Learning Differences for Young Children, Teens and Young Adults | Palo Alto, San Jose, Ravenswood (chconline.org)

The Benefits of Scarf Play (markardmusic.com)

Science Bulletins: Attachment Theory—Understanding the Essential Bond - YouTube

Designing playful learning spaces for babies and toddlers. (theempowerededucatoronline.com)

Clovel is All Set to Give Your Kid Amazing Learning Experience (clovelchildcare.com.au)

Connecting Concepts is a real estate developer.

The Pedagogy of Listening: Inspiration from the Reggio Emilia Approach | Technology Rich Inquiry Based Research (tecribresearch.blog)

PlayCore | Whole Child Development Research for Inclusive Play

https://www.childdevelopment.org/docs/default-source/pdfs/role-equity-and-diversityenglish-2-8-20.pdf?sfvrsn=3bf4a9a6_2

Reference Book - Library & Information Science Education Network (lisedunetwork.com)

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