Interest-Based Emergent Literacy Project
(Name of Student)
Date submitted
NO. of words: 2,459 words
Table of Contents
Cover Page 1
Table of Contents 2
Discussion
1. Description of the Children and Context 3
2. Map of the Overall Project Development 4
3. Identification of Children’s Interests 5
4. Children’s Responses and Child/Adult 5
Interactions through Extended Experiences
5. Introduced Strategies for Interaction and 6
Emergent Literacy Understanding
6. Learning about Oral, Written, and Visual 7
Language in Children
7. Overall Evaluation of the Project 12
1. Description of the Children and Context
This project is based on the analysis that the literacy and language development of children can be understood through knowing their interests. Five children were chosen and asked to participate in a 6-day project that would help determine their interests through different activities.
Two children would be asked to stay in the playroom for the first day, and asked to play for 4 consecutive hours in a playroom with a variety of toys. For the following days, another child would be added to the playroom, until all the five children are completed as a group. After the 4-hour playtime, the researcher would have the chance to interact with the children. The last two days would be devoted to their group activities, such as watching a movie, hearing a story together, painting together, and solving puzzles.
The name of the first child is Ely. He is an impatient child, talkative, hyperactive, and very playful. The second child is Jacky, who is a playful, talkative, curious, and questioning child. The third child is Sam. Sam is a quiet, observant, and curious child. He pretends to be always busy by reading books and playing toys, and just waits to be encouraged by his playmates to talk and play. Anne is the fourth child. She is a charming child, who is always silent, cautious, passive, and smiling. She just waits to be told what to do. The fifth child is Harry, who is the most hyperactive among the children, and is always talkative, playful, stubborn and needy. The differences among the characteristics of the children would be useful in determining their interests.
2. Map of the Overall Project Development
3. Identification of Children’s Interests
Determination of the interests of the five children was done in different ways. Primarily, it was done through direct observation. Direct observation means that the children were only observed through the things that they do while they are inside the playroom. This does not involve direct interaction from the researcher/s. The interests of the children were observed through their speech, their relationship with other children, and their self-expression. Second way of determining the interests of children is through direct conversation and interaction with them. Through direct interaction and conversation with the children, the researcher/s can directly ask them their interests given the different activities they can do and different objects they can find in the playroom. Third way used by the researcher/s is through the observation of their gestures, including the most frequent object/s that they hold and the most frequent companion or playmate, given the duration of their stay in the playroom. Lastly, the researcher/s determined the interests of the children through the children’s participation in the group activities. Participation of the children in group activities enabled direct interaction and observation, and direct observation of their gestures and speech.
4. Children’s Responses and Child/Adult Interactions through Extended Experiences
Based on the project, the extended experiences of the children include the activities available in the playroom, such as reading books, playing with other children, and playing with puzzles and educational toys available. From the six-day project, it can be observed that the children’s responses have been positive in general. Most of the children were interested in playing with other children and in playing with puzzles, rather than in reading books. In this regard, only Sam and Anne were the ones interested in reading books in the room, unlike Ely, Jacky, and Harry, who have been busy talking, running and playing around with each other most of the time. In addition, most of the children, namely, Ely, Jacky, and Harry have participated in group discussions and activities. On the other hand, although Sam and Anne have been also active in group activities and interaction, their interaction with other children and with the researcher/s is not as active and effective. Interaction of the researcher/s with the children has become active during puzzle solving and reading books, which required the complete attention and participation of the children. From this activity, it can be observed that all of them are competent children, despite differences in their interests.
5. Introduced Strategies for Interaction and Emergent Literacy Understanding
Based on the mind map (), it can be seen that the introduced strategies for interaction include watching television and movies, painting, producing artworks, and role-playing. It has been mentioned that one of the extended experiences of the children includes reading books, followed by group discussions. New opportunities for talk and vocabulary have been facilitated through a film showing (Finding Nemo), which was followed by a short discussion and interaction between children, and between the researcher and the children. The significant events in the movie, their favorite scenes, and the moral of the story were discussed in order to provide learning and understanding about the movie. In addition, aside from the group discussion, which was facilitated by the researcher, the children were asked to create a short skit or role-playing based on the group’s favorite scene in the movie. Through the role-playing activity, the children were able to talk amongst themselves, plan, and come up with a short skit, thus, enhancing their communication and coordination with other children. Moreover, the children were asked to draw or paint their favorite scene from the movie in a sheet of paper. After drawing them, the children explained their work in short sentences for their written language evaluation. Through such activities, the creativity, cooperation, and communication among the children and between the researcher/s have been effectively facilitated.
6. Learning about Oral, Written, and Visual Language of Children
Based on both extended experiences and introduced strategies provided in the project, oral, written, and visual learning can be observed in all the five children, although their range of participation varied. In terms of the oral learning development of children, it can be observed that the Ely, Jacky, and Harry, who are talkative and playful children in nature may have seem to be the most advanced in terms of oral development. This learning or observation is evident, as in all of the sessions, these three children are the ones more participative and expressive in terms of their observations and ideas in the playroom. Ely, Jacky and Harry are observed to be the children setting the mood of the playroom and all of the 6 sessions. They are the children having the most developed characteristics in terms of oral communication and development. However, based on these observations, it does not follow that Sam and Anne do not have a developed oral learning or communication. In fact, although both Sam and Anne were not as noisy, talkative, and playful as was other three children, both of them were able to express intelligent and correct answers during group discussions. Sam was actually the one acting as the group’s “leader”, as they are conceptualizing their role-playing activity. Likewise, Anne was also the one assisting Sam, and supporting her new friends. In this regard, it can be observed that oral learning and development of children may be viewed as having different degrees, based on the personality and characteristics of each child, and based on the support of the child’s environment, which is being improved by an adult in this particular project. The communication and interrelationships of the children would not have been developed and facilitated, without the support and guidance of the researcher.
Such observations lead to the conclusion that all the five children who participated in this project are said to be competent thinkers, facilitated under an embedded context. The embedded context is created both physically through the selection of appropriate resources to stimulate curiosity, and verbally through the child having a sense of purpose in participating in the activity (1995). The embedded context is the one responsible for the development of the child’s thinking that he or she must be compelled to participate in particular activity, which can be realized through the effective child-adult interaction and through the use of appropriate language. It is in this sense that learning can be regarded as a social process, thus, allowing socially constructed learning to take place in the process (1995). Because the use of language in order to communicate with other people is a social process, it can be understood that the children were able to effectively develop their oral language through the different activities facilitated in the project.
The second aspect developed through the activities featured in the project is the written language development of the children. Written language development of the children was facilitated after they have been asked to watch a movie (Finding Nemo), which would be helpful in providing them with new vocabulary words and knowledge. The movie was made as the reference for the written activities of the children, including painting or drawing of their favorite scenes from the movie, along with providing a brief explanation as to why such scenes struck them the most. Based on the observations, Sam and Anne were the most expressive children in terms of writing and painting. Both of them were able to express their ideas effectively through words and drawings. On the other hand, although Ely, Jacky, and Harry were also able to construct good sentences and good paintings in relation to the activity, their work would be deemed not as expressive and creative as the works of Sam and Anne. In this regard, it can be well observed that the oral language development of Ely, Jacky and Harry is being reciprocated by the effective written language development of Sam and Anne.
This written language development of the children being observed through the activities facilitated by the researcher is being supported by one of the fundamentals of the Reggio Approach, emphasized in the study of (1997). This fundamental point out the role of a child as a communicator, and states that the intellectual development of a child can be observed through a systematic focus on symbolic representations, such as words, movement, drawing, painting, building, sculpture, shadow play, collage, dramatic play, and music, which leads them to surprising levels of communication, symbolic skills, and creativity. To be able to do so, the children must be given the right to use many materials in order to discover and communicate what they know, understand, wonder about, question, feel, and imagine ( 1997). The written activities of the children, which were done based on the movie were effective, as they have been able to express themselves, their understanding of the movie, and their imagination through creative means. This would not have been successful without the help, support, encouragement, and participation of the researcher, who serves to be the foundation of learning based on the activities in the project.
The third aspect developed in the language development of the children who participated in the project is their visual learning. The visual learning of the children was facilitated through the film showing of Finding Nemo and through puzzle solving using building blocks and floor puzzles. The film showing and puzzle solving were facilitated during the last two days of the project, as in these days, the group is already complete and are more or less properly acquainted with one another. Visual learning development through the film showing of Finding Nemo has been an effective means of observation, as the children are completely engrossed, focused, and interested in seeing the movie. Such can be observed as they react to the different scenes featured in the movie. Another activity that has helped the researcher determine the visual learning development of the children was through puzzle solving. Puzzle solving was facilitated using floor puzzles and building blocks, which have corresponding shapes and sizes. Puzzles are good means of stimulating the visual acuity and intellectual capacity of the children. With the variety of colors and interesting shapes of the puzzles, the children were stimulated to participate in the activity, thus, resulting to generating positive responses from the children. Most of them, namely, Harry, Sam, and Anne even asked to solve another puzzle, thus, extending the session. From such activities, it can be observed that the visual learning development of the children is far more advanced, and that they effectively and appropriately use their visual skills in order to participate better and appropriately in activities. In addition, such visual learning development would not have been observed without the support and participation of the researcher. In this sense, the researcher serves to be the partner, nurturer, and guide to the children’s exploration of themes, work on short- and long-term projects, and guide experiences of joint, open-ended discovery and problem solving ( 1997).
The effective and proper visual learning development of the children is associated with the society’s popular culture, which is considered a major source of pleasure among children. To be able to catch their attention, the movie Finding Nemo was played, which is presumed to stimulate the imagination and catch the interest of the children. This is being supported by the belief that states that much of the children’s popular culture is related to the media, through television programs, video games, comics, or the latest Disney film, which emotionally engage the children (2000). In addition, the potential of popular culture in the early years has focused largely on superhero play and related activities, which can be linked to literacy practices. In this regard, popular culture can engage children in writing activities, which enable them to explore issues of power and identity (2000). This statement provides the realization that using visually stimulating activities is one good way of eliciting response and participation from the children. Through the guidance and support of the teacher, the children had expressed their interests, skills, talents, and capabilities, thus, facilitating an effective and appropriate child-adult interaction. In this way, an organized, integrated, and responsive system for developing language and literacy is created, uniting the children’s interests and the adults’ teaching intentions (1993).
7. Overall Evaluation of the Project
From the discussion, it can be understood that learning development in three different aspects, namely, oral, written and visual learning has been successfully observed in the children who participated in the project. Based on the 6-day project, it has been experienced and observed that the interests of the children can be described and determined based on the different activities presented to them. The interests of the children were different from one another, and were determinant of their personalities. Their interests were also expressed orally, written, and visually, and may seem not so significantly different from one another. In this regard, it can be concluded that this project enabled the researcher to gain insights, learning, and understanding of the interests of children, which serve as determinants of their personality and responses to their environment, and influenced by their culture and the people around them.
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