Assessment 2: On Country Visit and Responses_Hinal Prajapati by Hinalben Prajapati (she/her)

Visit an outdoor space

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Creative response

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Meaning of the poem: When the river flows, it’s reminded us about our old memories /emotional response the heartbeat of the earth. The main people from here, they say, our life, our soul and our heaven flow with this water. When the birds singing and swimming in the water with the flows that time in such peace and silence in my mind and want to hear again and again.

Thanks to the Nature /tree to give us oxygen, paper, fruit, medicine(herbal) and elements of our life, we find joy in that, but did we think about when we cut the trees? When we return back to the Nature.

Connecting to Gujarati poem to Aboriginal culture reveals some deep, meaningful parallels. Both cultures invite us to pause, listen to nature, feels its rhythm and reflect on our relationship with the land.

Analytical response

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Unit Reflection/Personal Reflection

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My time by the river resonated with each of the unit resources. The act of listening to the birds related to Maton's (2008) notions of orienting oneself to "the language of birds" where sound is our again, our teacher of rhythm and relationality. This is related to Dadirri (Ungunmerr, 1988/2020), which requires us to experience deep listening and stillness; to be aware of more than just sound but an active conversation with place. Wilson (2007) also articulated how natural environments invite open-ended experiences, rich in sensory input, promoting creative play; I found the elements of sound, movement, and drama had so naturally entwined themselves with the rustling of the leaves, the playful movement of the ducks and my dramatic imaginings. These contexts were also related to Malaguzzi's "Hundred Languages" (Edwards, Gandini, & Forman, 2012), and how music, sound and embodiment, are registered as powerful forms of meaning beyond spoken text.

In terms of future practice, my reflection confirmed the value of providing spaced time to children in nature, where sound, movement and drama can be fully interwoven languages. Early childhood practice does require some measuring of time with children's learning, however, some of the existing practice positions children in a lot of structured, indoor, educator-directed, programs. This reflects the need to create learning environments in natural spaces, which promote the types of sensory deep engagement, novelty, improvisation and play. From these discussions and theorising I would argue for establishing.

Refrences:

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(n.d.). YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tow2tR_ezL8

(n.d.). YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ipf7ifVSeDU&t=5s

The Hundred Languages of Children : The Reggio Emilia Experience in Transformation, edited by Carolyn Edwards, et al., Bloomsbury Publishing USA, 2011. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/vu/detail.action?docID=820317.

Wilson, R. (2007). Nature and young children: Encouraging creative play and learning in natural environments. Routledge.

Wilson, R. A. (2012). Nature and young children: Encouraging creative play and learning in natural environments. Routledge.

Hinal (Kash's class)

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In this chapter, Ruth Wilson describes the vital importance of natural places to children's creative play, learning, and holistic development. She insists that natural settings naturally provide forms of open-ended, sensory-laden, play that malleable toys or built environments will never replace. To give an example, sticks, leaves, sand and/or water can be whatever a child can envision, through their own imagination, fostering symbolic play, problem solving, and cooperation. She also argues that natural places allow for active and quiet play, allowing children to balance their engagement in active movement, creative expression, and reflective thinking. Wilson links her thinking with child development theories, specifically constructivist theories with an emphasis on children acquiring knowledge and meaning from immediate experience of places. Significantly, Wilson also warns against denial of children's access to specific natural places, because such restriction may deny children realisation of creative, wellbeing, and environmentalist learning experience.

My reflection on this reading has obvious implications for my future practice in early childhood education. Firstly, I need to pay attention to establishing spaces of natural content, not as an afterthought -- either in the form of outdoor bush kinder type programs, or bringing nature inside with natural materials. Secondly, Wilson reminds me that nature invites open-ended, child-initiated play versus a structured setting. It is necessary to remain concentrated in teaching as well as in providing time for children to bring their own discovery and play

Sound/Music

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Natural environments offer children authentic soundscapes that inspire musical creativity, according to Wilson (2007). Hearing the call of a duck on the water might spark children's creativity and have them emulate, overlap or change the sound into a song. Water movement, as ducks swim or paddle around, will act as percussion; buzzing insects and rustling leaves will form the orchestra of nature. If educators use terms like "listening walks," children will start to think of their surroundings as a living score, where they are listening for aural entities, rhythm, pitches, tempo, and so on.

Movement/Dance

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Nature likewise has movement that children will instinctively imitate. A dancing tree blown by the wind is a lovely model of dance, and children can respond by twirling, stretching, and bending bodies in rhythm with the wind. The effortless glide of ducks across the water may invite children to choreograph their own effortless movements, and flowers dropping to the ground invite floating, gentle movements. Embodied experiences such as these enable children to connect with movement as a means of storytelling, in which the emphasis is placed on flow, balance, and expression rather than recalled steps.

Drama

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The comparison of sunlight to how it sparkles off the wet surface of a tree to the way sunlight shines on a performer in a spotlight implies a performing tree. The term "performing" infers some children of action happening to the tree, a movement, an action in relation to time of day (swaying, twinkling, or moving with the light and weather). This hopes to help children to perceive the tree not just as part of the landscape, but as character in a story that never ends. It suggests the ways natural events can be re-envisioned through the language of dramatic inquiry, allowing children to create storylines, put on roles, and encounter possibilities of play that are inspired by the world around them.