Reference no: EM133417859
Description: You have just been hired as an Early Childhood Educator, and with your newfound understanding of observation, you are making children's ideas visible by "...[understanding] the learning involved in self-chosen play and the components of a curriculum shaped around children's perspectives" (Curtis & Carter, p. 5). As an ECE fluent in understanding how observation creates a holistic picture of children's learning, you value the importance of documenting to ensure the learning is visible through your support of children's individualized play. You view observation as a guide to see the learning involved in children's play, and recognize how to use the teacher role to, "...help children convert an activity into a learning encounter..." (Curtis & Carter, p. 5), and support this learning through documentation that will help children, "...make their own feelings, patterns of behaviour, theories, and rules more visible and explicit..." (Curtis & Carter, p. 5). You bring these valuable observational skills to your work as an ECE by creating invitations to play and provocations that promote children's innate and natural interests and curiosity.
Assignment Overview: Reflecting on the role of observation in pedagogy, you will have the opportunity to put your learning to practise by analyzing one of the following scenarios.
You have carefully observed the following situations:
Upon a walk around the park you noticed Madison (ch) walk over to a grassy area. Madison (ch) sat on the grass. She then started to dig in the grass with her finger. She tore up the grass and kept digging into the dirt. She then took out a stone from her pocket and placed it in the dirt. Madison (ch) then covered the stone with dirt and grass, and smiled. Madison is 2 years old.
Tom (ch) walked over to the paint centre and dipped his finger in the yellow paint. He took his painted finger and showed it to Michael (ch). "Mustard!" Tom (ch) stated. He then walked over to white paper and smeared his finger over it. Tom walked over to the paint and dipped the same finger in blue paint. He then walked over to the same paper and smeared his finger over the yellow paint. Tom is 4 years old.,
During outdoor activity time, Sam (ch) walked around the playground, stopping periodically. She continued walking around the playground until she found a small yellow dandelion in the ground. She pointed to the dandelion and said, "Look! A flower!". You walked over to the flower, knelt down and said, "It is very big!". Sam (ch) laughed and said, "It is VERY big!". Sam (ch) picked the flower out of the ground and placed it on the sand. She then picked a smaller dandelion and placed it next to the big dandelion. Sam is 4 years old.
Your Challenge: You must choose one of the previous scenarios, and develop a provocation to expand on the interest of the child observed. You will need to utilize your observational skills and reflect on how observation take an active role in the emergent planning process. You may refer to your course book for examples and research to support your ideas. You must include...
Provocation: Write a detailed description of the provocation, including a hand drawn, real or computer picture.
How would you set up the provocation? What materials would you have out? Include a hand drawn or computer animated photo of the provocation display.
Questioning: Include 3 open ended questions you would ask the child to encourage learning and scaffolding. Include questions that would stimulate open ended discussions and opportunities to observe the students learning.