Bookmarks by Dimpy aatli

Question

dimpyaatli — 2022-04-12 10:01:52 UTC

How can we teach children basic morals and conversational skills to help them become effective communicators ?

Context

dimpyaatli — 2022-04-12 10:02:53 UTC

The age group of the learners were 3–4-year-old. The emerging interest of this learner group is to explore new things. They got very excited whenever they go to sandpit and try out new things which can be made with sand. The Centre got a very beautiful and calming environment so that children can play ands relax as well. They have got sandpit on one side and a big area for the children to play around. Moreover, they have got some tables in between where have kept different kinds of puzzles, magnetic pieces etc to engage the children in different activities.

Rationale

dimpyaatli — 2022-04-12 10:06:27 UTC

OBSERVATION 1
Jack and Riley were playing and filling the containers with colorful liquids and sand which were made by mixing colors in the water. Jack asks Riley to get more of the red colored water and when Riley ignored him twice as she was busy in playing, he puts a lot of emphasis on wanting the red colored water by mentioning it twice and thrice. And even after he gets the water,(which was not red) he says that it is not red water that’s not what I want, “I want red water’. By stressing on the specific thing.

OBSERVATION 2
I saw when Jack’s purple colored sand fell on the floor and then he shouts aloud, so that he can communicates well with the educator and when the educator asked if he needs more, he nodded his head and asked for purple one again and after some time he asked for pink one. And then, he asked the educator for another colored sand. Here Jack clearly shows that how children can use both vocal and verbal communication specially, when they want to ask and say something. This is a very ordinary observation which clearly shows communication plays an important role in play learning.

OBSERVATION 3
I saw Riley asked Poppy asking for pink colored sand as she mentioned that “Pink is my favorite color”. And when the educator told her to use the magic word and then she said’ “Can I get pink sand please”, Poppy. This was much apricated by the educator. And when she gets sand, she said thank you. This shows how important it is to teach children the basic moral values and manners at an early age.
CONCLUSION
To sumarise the observations as they are linked with each other. For example- In this, children are so excited to see the sand. They are asking each other for help. Somehow, they raise their voices when they want to tell something. Specifically, communication is the key concept which can be observed in the observations.

ANALYSIS

dimpyaatli — 2022-04-12 10:08:42 UTC

All of the preceding observations taught me the value of communication. The major themes revealed and linked in all of them are that children can use language to represent their world in a symbolic way. When children are playing alone or with others, they use the representations to try and demonstrate how they want to convey their ideas through verbal communication. This represents its link to the EYLF outcome 5 'Children are effective communicators' (Victorian early years learning and development framework 2016).

According to Piaget, symbolic communication play is a method of practising and consolidating newly acquired symbolic representation skills, as evidenced by the group of four children engaged in and communicating with the plunger and test tubes (Nolan and Raban 2015). According to Abraham Maslow's hierarchy of human needs, communication is on the third level on the love and belonging level, where one requires intimacy, a sense of connection, family, and friendship to achieve self-actualisation, or becoming the best version of oneself (McLeod 2020). According to several early childhood education researchers, communication, which is followed by the group of children in the observations, helps in engaging the children as well as different areas of their brain, it enables to involve emotions, language, promotes sense of belonging, and cognition of young children converse with each other and develop the habit of being communicative in their futures when they grow.

In the observations that are mentioned above clearly states that the children can verbally communicate with each other and take the help from educators to complete their tasks and carefully filled all of their containers one by one and also demonstrating their involvement and engagement as advocates John Dewey (Mooney et al 2013). Lack of ability to speak up and speak out can lead to problems in the future if not taught to children at the appropriate time.

PROVOCATIONS

dimpyaatli — 2022-04-12 10:09:43 UTC

As children develop, they use verbal and nonverbal communication for a range of purposes including showing, sharing, commenting, questioning, requesting (and more). Most importantly, the non-verbal communication includes sign language, hand expressions, face expressions etc. Through opportunities to observe and participate in social situations, children learn how conversation (and social interaction) works. These important social rules and skills enable children to communicate with others in more sophisticated ways (Conversation and social skills, 2022). Thus, the development of conversation and social skills can depend on the opportunities for children in order to interact with their peers and teachers or educators, as part of more supportive and memorable experiences. By planning experiences with a focus on conversation and social skills, educators can promote positive interaction and communication. This can help children to successfully communicate their wants and needs, and nurture meaningful relationships with peers. Children’s learning of social skills can be powerful additions in their communicative toolkit. When children can communicate their wants and needs, it facilitates their ability to get along with others. Thus, social skills are closely linked to children’s language development. They also have links to children’s wellbeing, identity, and emotional development (see VEYLDF, 2016). Most importantly, Every conversation has a point of discussion. Topics for children are usually inspired by their observations of the world around them (e.g., people, food, drink, toys, pets, games, sand, transport, animals, paint etc.). It is critical to expose children of all ages to more abstract subjects (e.g. emotions, sustainability, culture). However, we begin to expect children to contribute ideas and actively participate in conversations about more abstract topics when they are older (3 or 4 years old). Educators can choose specific conversational topics based on their observations of children's interests and communication. These discussions can also be related to learning themes (e.g. relationships, the environment, animals, family etc).

IMPLEMENTATIONS

dimpyaatli — 2022-04-12 10:10:44 UTC

To implement those strategies, I set up a play in which I have included some chits on which I have written some words which were related to some basic morals for example- Sorry, please, thank you, more etc. and I encouraged each child to pick up one chit and told them to make a sentence which they use in everyday life. To make this activity more interesting I told the children if they will make the sentence, they can get the sticker which they usually stick in their cupboard. Slavin,1997 stated that that the use of rewards systems is practised from decades and rewards are an effective, important and fundamental part of education (Akin-Little, Eckert, Lovett, & Little, 2004; Reiss, 2005). These researchers believe that rewards can be used as stepping stones or the foundation in building the intrinsic motivation of students (Cameroon & Pierce, 1994; Horner & Spauling, 2009). For example- one of the children got a chit and he got please then he said, ‘whenever I go for my lunch and when I need more food, I say can I get more please’. For me- this activity worked very well. At first, it was bit challenging to gather the children on mat, as they all were playing around. It was bit harder to get their attention. Although, the environment plays an important role. Before, It was so noisy. But when I told them about the stickers, they got very excited and listened to me very carefully. Suddenly, the room environment got very calmed and soothing.

REFERENCES

dimpyaatli — 2022-04-12 10:14:16 UTC

Early Years Learning Framework 2016, Victorian Early Years Learning And Development Framework, https://www.acecqa.gov.au/sites/default/files/2018-02/belonging_being_and_becoming_the_early_years_learning_framework_for_australia.pdf

Education.vic.gov.au. 2022. Conversation and social skills. [online] Available at: [Accessed 12 April 2022].

McLeod, S.A. (2020, March 20) Maslow’s hierarchy of needs simply psychology, viewed on 12 September 2021, https://www.simplypsychology.org/maslow.html .

Akin-Little, K., Eckert, T., Lovett, B., & Little, S. (2004). Extrinsic reinforcement in the classroom: bribery or best practice. School Psychology Review(33), 344-362.

Slavin, R. E. (1997). Educational psychology (5th ed.). Needham Heights: Allyn & Bacon