Video evaluation directions

Kia ora,

Below I have uploaded the short video of you taken as you interact with children within your room. For the purpose of teacher reg, can you please watch the video and comment on several areas of your practice that you liked or were pleased about. And then comment if there you were able to observe any practice that you would change next time or would like to work towards improving.

Self reflection through video is a great way to objectively view your own practice as others see you.
You may also like to get a colleague to watch the video and see if their reflections mirror or are different to your own.

thanks

Joann Radford

Dec Observation Video

Readings for your Perusal

Afternoon Sandy,

Below is a link that takes you to a cluster of readings on a web page called:
Teachers Work: growing through critical reflection and action.

Reading in '2011 - Volume Eight: Issue One that may be of interest to you include:

An-other Look at Assessment: Assessment in Learning KERRY EARL AND DAVID GILES
This article seeks to review understandings of educational assessment as revealed in the phrases teachers use (assessment of learning, assessment for learning and assessment as learning). We propose a reconsideration of what teachers might have taken for granted in these phrases and assessment practice. We suggest that along with assessment knowledge and skills, teachers need a way of ‘being in’ assessment ...
http://www.teacherswork.ac.nz/journal/volume8_issue1/earl.pdf


Professional Dialogue as Professional Learning ANNE GREY
This article discusses professional dialogue as an important aspect of professionalism for early childhood teachers. It draws on the experiences of four qualified early childhood teachers of one teaching team in an early childhood centre who engaged in extensive professional dialogue with each other. Dialogue focused on the values that underpinned and were reflected in their teaching practice. These values were discussed in order to explore the commonalities and differences in teaching philosophies amongst the team ...
http://www.teacherswork.ac.nz/journal/volume8_issue1/grey.pdf


Happy reading-
Joann

Meeting- December 2011

Kia Ora Sandy,
This week we met to once again look and evauate your Teacher Registration Process. As to date
you are well on the way to meeting the Teacher Registration process and having your Advice and Guidance programme completed in 2 years.

Points discussed are as follows:

• Please remember to provide a reflection or linking statement with all posts- this details how YOU as a professional teacher have altered your practice, reflected, or gained new knowldege due to an experience or event.
• You are reguarly posting blog entries- please keep this up- its great to see.
• Areas not yet covered by an entry are Dimensions 10, 18, and 22.
• Please reflect to the notes from the day for suggestions to those posts you have already completed- this is just to ensure that they are clear in meeting the goals and the YOU as a teacher is visable in post (especially as most Learning story entries are written for the child and show the childs learning- not yours.)
• Remeber we want to see authentic posts that show who YOU are- what makes YOU stand out from your colleagues, what makes YOU shine as a teacher.

Keep up the great work- I look forward to reading posts that allow SANDY to be identified.

Ka Kite

Joann

This was a news letter send to the parents explaining to them what the toddlers are learning in the centre and ways they could explore the same concepts at home. This helps the parents to support the learning happening in the centre. It also helps the parents to be aware of what their children are doing.This will also help them support with resources.

Leadership

Morning Sandy,

Leadership... not only tricky to define but also to work towards. Leadership when effective can take on many possbilities, open many doors and empower teams and teachers to work together to achieve amazing outcomes for teams, children and families.
Im sure that you have read lots about Leadership and have also in your teaching career come across a range of leadership styles(some effective and sadly others detrimental).

Below is an excert about the benefits of collaborative leadership- enjoy.

A recent issue of the Harvard Business Review (July 2011) focused on "collaboration." In discussing how life for a collaborative manager is different, the magazine noted...

"In the old world of silos and solo players, leaders had access to everything they needed under one roof, and a command-and-control style served them well. But things have changed: The world has become much more interconnected, and if executives don't know how to tap into the power of those connections, they'll be left behind.

"Leaders today must be able to harness ideas, people and resources from across boundaries of all kinds. That requires reinventing their talent strategies and building strong connections both inside and outside their organizations. To get all the disparate players to work together effectively, they also need to know when to wield influence rather than authority to move things forward, and when to halt unproductive discussions, squash politicking, and make final calls.

"Differences in convictions, cultural values, and operating norms inevitably add complexity to collaborative efforts. But they also make them richer, more innovative, and more valuable. Getting that value is the heart of collaborative leadership."

Supprting Statements

Morena Sandy,
Thank you for continuing to post learning stories that document your practice as a teacher. These Learning stories illustrate that you are able to observe children and assess the learning that is occuring through out the day.
Can i please request that with ever post you have a linking statement- it is these linking statements that document why you have added a post, and how you will adjust or alter you practice. We want to be able to see your progression and growth as a teacher, rather than a collection of learning stories.

kia Ora

Joann

I used play dough to teach and communicate the action song "I'm Selling Lollipops!". The toddlers love songs about '....animals, themselves, or their friends, and some rhymes and jingles..".Such songs are good in supporting children's acquisition of language.Singing simple songs like this, in which the words of the song match the actions helps them to learn the meaning of the words.

This learning story was also answering the question"How can we support early literacy in Toddler room?". It also reminded me of Rahmats learning story in our books "Kei tua ote pae' where the child was using his cultural tools (snakes), familiar part of his home life to connect with his early literacy at the centre to communicate his knowledge and skills. In this learning activity I was supporting social and communicating skills which are important in developing early literacy. I also posted this learning story on the centre's blog to inform parents and other teachers at the centre that cultural based resources such as dolls, phones give children a basis for literacy learning. We now have a lot of these ( cell phones) in our room which have been donated by the parents and most of the children enjoy using them in their pretend play.

Transitions

Morning,

Below is a snippet from an article on transitions, and the effect they can have on the classroom and childrens ability to follow through and develop interests. happy reading.....
Joann

In their Exchange article, "Eliminating Transitions," which forms the basis for the newest Out of the Box Training Kit, Barb Gallick and Lisa Lee make a case for keeping to a minimum the number of transitions children confront in early childhood classrooms:

"Picture a group of children in the block area who have spent 15 or 20 minutes building an elaborate car wash. They have just gotten to the point where they will be using cars to develop a story and act it out when the teacher says it’s time to clean up for snack. Of course, after snack there’s group time and then the class will be heading outside. Are these children also wishing that they could have had an extended time to relax and focus on enjoying their car wash and the dramatic play possibilities? Do they also feel like they have no control over their schedule?

"Having a daily schedule that creates routines for young children is an essential part of an early childhood classroom. Evaluating the daily schedule on a regular basis is an integral part of creating a quality program that meets the needs of both the children and adults who ‘live’ in the classroom each day. We would suggest that you look (with a critical eye) at your daily schedule once a year to determine whether it works for the group of children currently enrolled in your classroom. One of the most important things to consider when reviewing your schedule is the number of transitions that occur throughout the day.

"Transitions tend to be some of the most difficult and stressful moments in an early childhood classroom. At these times teachers often find themselves dealing with more challenging behavior s and feeling more like police officers than nurturing caregivers. If you are feeling uncomfortable or frustrated during transition times, that is a sign that your current schedule may need to be revised to better meet the needs and developmental levels of the children in your care."

Trying food in Toddler room

Trying foods in Toddler Room

How do I communicate with children?

I did this activity after I had attended professional development called Perceptual Motor Programme.Before this programme I would do some activities with the children mostly focussing on using fine motor skills,e.g holding the parachute. I was not aware that by doing such activities, the children are also developing eye or hand or foot co-ordination.This programme helped me to understand more the benefits of such activities and was able to enhance my content knowledge and teaching skills on physical activities.

How do you communicate with children?

Just a quick quote that relates to the importance of conversation- authentic conversations with children on a daily basis- by adults that are genuinely interested in listening to the 'childs voice'.
Have a read... Any thoughts?

Jim Greenman- What kind of place for childcare in the 21st Century.
"Perhaps the quickest and most fundamental evaluation of a child care setting is to observe the quantity and quality of conversation. To note whether adults are listening to children, provoking the ideas of children, and offering a child one of their most precious gifts — undivided attention and their full human presence. How can this occur with real world rat ios and group sizes and all the daily demands of care? It can only happen in environments that support teachers and are well designed and prepared for independent use by children. And how would the environment change if designed for conversation? Perhaps with acoustics and places that lend themselves to conversation: couches, benches under a tree, a seat that puts the child right there for all the murmurs and reassuring words."

This reflection shows that as a teacher I am willing to question the effectiveness of how I do my mat times and constantly evalute myself and the methods I use to teach the children so as to achieve the desired goals. I would demonstrate the actions by using movement, changing the tone of my voice, gesture and facial expression as we read the story together. This helped me to communicate clearly to the children and can be a particularly effective way to build toddlers language competence and to help non- English speaking children with acquistion of English as a second language.

In this learning story I demonstrated that I can support children to create an environment of respect and understanding by encouraging the other child to listen to what her friend was saying so that they could accomplish one thing.

15 February 2011

Morena Sandy,

This morning we sat down and reviewed your Teacher Registration folder, looked at how you are collating data, evidence and how you in turn are articulating your growth and development as a teacher.
Sandy you have very easily been able to complile a large number of observations, reflections and documentation that track your journey as a new teacher. These range from teaching experiences, practice and knowledge to reflections on how you would alter your practice in the future.
Collating and identifying this data is a strenght Sandy- you are able to see that all the work completed in the classroom on a daily basis can easily be transfered and this used as ongoing documentation of your evolving practice.

Sandy in order to make your journey easier to track, we talked about making your linking statements clear and precise. At the current time you tend to use alot of jargon that unfortunatley looses your voice- and the meaning you are trying to put forward.

Sandy our immediate goals for the next 2 months include tidying up your linking statements and labels. You have completed alot of work to date- a tidying up af labels and statements will allow you and your supportive network to identify those dimensions already achieved and those that are still work in progress.

We will have another meeting in April- and which time we will look at those areas that need support.

Keep up the great work.
Joann

Professional Leadership (26)- Displays ethical behaviour and responsibility.

I displayed ethical behaviour and responsibility by being honest.

07 Professional Practice-In this reflection I showed how I used Demyan's language to describe to him things he didn't understand in English so as to make him settle in toddler room. This facilitated a sense of welcome for Demyan. Early childhood education and programmes should be inclusive even for children who come from a non English speaking background. Therefore by involving Demyan in the programmes especially mat times allowed him to be involved and learn English through action songs. By using visual cues and gestures alongside words in action songs assisted Demyan to acquire English as a second language.

27 Professional Leadership- By having an environment that facilitated Demyan's learning and also the mat times supported this diversity. Demyan attended Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. Mondays were my mat time days so I would use more action songs to facilitate his involvement in mat time.

Professional leadership(28)- I participated in "Personality Plus Profile",which was a professional development workshop that touched on four characteristics, mainly the powerful,playful, precise and peaceful.Coming from a different cultural background, having grown up in different environments,this workshop helped me understand and relate well with my colleagues in the context of our working environments. We also had a meeting as a team and we discussed how we can encourage each other on the good aspects of our characters. We came up with the idea of "fazzy jars" where we put good comments for each other and at the end of the week each reads comments from her "fazzy jar". I liked this idea as it serves as some kind of "reinforcement " of good personality.