My Learning Journey: Assignment Portfolio

Reflect on Sally’s communication and collaboration

After Sally’s first conversation with her colleagues about Chris they probably just wanted some reassurance and acknowledgement in their frustrations with the situation. Depending on how long they themselves have been teachers they may have become used to making a space for one kind of child. With sally being new and eager to learn she put herself out there to the other two staff members. While they shut her ideas down they should have helped her by maybe communicating what they see in Chris besides his challenging behaviour. Sometimes being burnt out or constantly dealing with a behaviour can cloud people's perception of one another. Sally being a new set of eyes can look from the outside and help the other teachers feel supported by bringing the new or different ideas into the program. Having a negative interaction or many negative interactions with people can make you think that all people with those characteristics are the same. Each person, no matter ability or disability, is different. Their needs and the way people interact are specific to them alone.

Sally was smart to reach out to Chris' teacher, she observes and interacts with him for multiple hours of the day and may herself feel like she may need new ideas or extra support with any difficult behaviours, she may have new ideas for Sally that her colleagues may have not thought about. On the other hand, There doesn't seem to be any direct communication to Chris about the situation. She observed him probably by looking at his body language and the way he engages with other children. Depending on age it may be a good idea to have a one on one conversation if the child is comfortable with that to try and see what he actually prefers and if he can learn strategies to communicate his frustrations with his peers. Chris' family would have great insight into his specific needs during the time spent in before or after school. Chris' peers could communicate what is bothering them to Sally without getting Chris upset. I think Sally’s communication in this scenario was great. She reached out to who she felt she needed to when trying to figure out Chris. The only thing I feel like she may have missed, although maybe through no fault of her own was a conversation with any therapies Chris may be involved in.

The school teacher and Sally worked collaboratively in this scenario, but how might this situation have differed if this kind of collaboration was not possible?

In this scenario, if the teacher and Sally could not work together I think Chris would not have benefited in his classroom outside of the after-school program. When they worked together they came up with ideas and plans for both the after-school program as well as in his day-to-day classroom. If the shared knowledge and information being passed between the teacher and Sally was not consented to it may have been due to Standard VI: Confidentiality, Release of information and Duty to Report; Obtain consent from families before sharing of information unless disclosure without consent is permitted or required by law. (CECE, 2017. Pg 19)

What might have influenced Sally’s colleagues’ beliefs about the challenges of implementing activities to support children with disabilities?

Sally’s colleagues may have been influenced by past experiences with children who share similar disabilities. Unfortunately, our past can create a bias and lack of understanding when it comes to supporting people. On the other hand, her colleagues may just have a lack of knowledge when it comes to handling these types of situations or how to create an inclusive environment with activities for all. Sometimes working in the same environment day after day creates an expectation of behaviour and when a child or colleague steps outside of that expectation it can affect someone's day or how they deal with situations.

How did Sally demonstrate leadership? How did her colleagues demonstrate leadership?

Sally demonstrated her leadership by standing up for herself and standing up for what she thought to know what was right in the situation with Chris. She felt the need to go beyond what was currently offered to Chris and the other children by going forward with her plan to implement new games and talk to his teacher and parents. By gaining a deeper insight into Chris and knowing what he needs she then can go back to her coworkers and show them what she had learned. She used her knowledge of the CECE and put into practice Standard III: Safety, Health and Wellbeing in the Learning Environment. Specifically, work in partnership with children, families and colleagues to create a safe, healthy and inviting environment that promotes a sense of belonging, well-being and inclusion. (CECE, 2017. Pg 12) and her knowledge of Standard IV: Professionalism and Leadership; Advocate in the interest of children, families, early childhood educators and the early years sector. (CECE, 2017 Pg 15)

Sally’s colleagues showed leadership by not discouraging her from trying to move forward with her plans of advocating and helping Chris and the other students achieve a peaceful and inclusive environment. Even though they probably felt discouraged and unsupported, they were within the scope of their knowledge. Practise within the parameters of their professional knowledge and competence. Before engaging in new or specialized areas of practice, or returning after a substantial time away from an area of practice, RECEs assess their knowledge and competence and seek appropriate training, ongoing professional learning or other support. (CECE, 2017 Pg 15)

Consider the importance of practical and theoretical knowledge. How do the RECEs in this scenario demonstrate an understanding of the value of both?

The RECEs in this scenario demonstrate their knowledge and understanding of practical and theoretical knowledge; they understand that Chris needs certain supports to help him manage his behaviour and they also understand that children with disabilities may need different things than the other children in their care, but they are unaware as to how to implement new things and they feel like they have a lack of support and knowledge of how to. If the RECEs had more knowledge of how to properly support Chris and support of their own to take more time they probably would have implemented more things. When Sally came into the program she took it upon herself with the support of her colleagues to implement her knowledge and eagerness to learn more to support Chris.

How could Sally use the Code of Ethics and Standards of Practice to support her practice?

Sally and every RECE has a great resource in the CECE, she has a document that can support her and feel confident in reaching out for support within her community. There are many different pieces of the CECE that Sally could use to support her practice especially when educating and caring for children with disabilities. For example, she can use the knowledge of the first standard; Standard I: Caring and Responsive Relationships (CECE, 2017. Pg 8-9). In this first standard, Sally would know that she can support all children’s coping skills and communicate to the families about what she is seeing and how they can work together. She also knows that during her time at the program, she has support from her colleagues and that they can work together to efficiently care for all children in their care. Sally can also use Standard II: Curriculum and Pedagogy; Work collaboratively with families and colleagues to plan meaningful learning experiences and support problem-solving and decision-making (CECE, 2017. Pg 11), to work together with Chris’ family to ensure Chris’ needs are being met.

What would the overall benefits of this scenario be?

There are many benefits to this scenario, such as Chris feeling more welcomed into the program and his family may feel like Chris has a better support system in place. They would benefit from Chris learning to engage and interact differently with his peers. Chris may not feel so overwhelmed since the activities are in small groups, and he may feel more in control of his surroundings, Chris will benefit from deeper relationships with his peers.

The other children and their families would benefit from knowing their children are in a safe environment with people willing to support their needs to the fullest. They will benefit from a calmer environment, they will feel safe and not afraid. They could also get to know Chris more and maybe learn they have the same likes, dislikes, interests and hobbies.

Just like Sally and Chris, her colleagues would also benefit from this scenario. They could find encouragement to ask for help or support with something when they may have been afraid to before, or they may be more willing to take some time or classes to further their knowledge about children with disabilities to help more children in the future.

Concept One - Rethinking Time

This concept focuses on us as educators rethinking the way we used to manage the way children used to interact with educator-supplied themes. Now we are rethinking the way children interact and investigate their world, focusing on what the child is interested in and hoping for deeper connections. This concept stood out to me because of the way Karyn Callaghan described the way the educators were worried about introducing the upcoming holiday but not wanting to disrupt the child’s interest going on at the time. I love when children latch onto an idea or something and we all can learn together and dig deep into it.

This concept plays well into the social competency wheel. When children are allowed to explore their interests, without direction children will have a positive self-identity and have great planning and decision-making skills. Each social competency skill under the positive self-identity heading can be touched when children are involved in their own education. For example, if a child was interested in a topic and they themselves find books, toys or other things to help further their knowledge in the subject they would find themselves having a sense of competence, sense of purpose and a positive view of their personal future.

This concept could also play into what we learned in chapter 9 of the textbook, we learn about providing developmentally appropriate, structurally safe materials and materials that work. As an educator, I would want to foster an environment of self-learning where the children can feel safe and they would know that each day they have the materials to deep dive into any topic. This means to me providing the same materials daily as well as adding new things for the children to explore, whether it is something related to the topics they choose or something new that I think they may like. Also knowing that sometimes things need to be rotated out when it is no longer working for the majority of the group.

Concept Two - Taking Risks/Risky Play

This concept focuses on the idea that we as educators see children as competent beings and that in order for them themselves to feel competent we as educators need to provide them with the opportunity to show their competence, take risks and learn how to properly use materials in order to handle them with care and learn to be careful. This concept stood out to me because as a mother sometimes it's hard to step back and let children figure things out for themselves. And yet as an educator working with different age groups, they will show their competency with objects sometimes even before you have the opportunity to show them. When they do this they tend to learn better from each other rather than from an educator.

This concept plays well into the social competency wheel. When looking at the wheel and thinking about risky play we can see that children will develop self-regulation skills. When learning about how to use new tools or materials properly children will have to work on their impulse control, delay gratification skills and monitor themselves. For example, there may be a log that a child wants to jump off of, but they may have to wait their turn, wait until others are clear of the area or wait until it is better weather out.

In chapter 9 of the textbook, we learn about using outdoor areas to promote social development. When thinking about risky play we tend to think about being outside. When we are planning an outdoor learning experience it may be easier to plan ahead for big gross motor movements that go along with risky play. This will promote independence and cooperative play.

Outdoor Learning Environment - https://www.willowgrove.ca/nature-school

The learning environment I chose to look at is WIllowgrove Nature School. This is an inquiry play-based learning environment for grades one to six. This program runs through spring, fall and winter, the class size accommodates 15 children with one Ontario Certified teacher and an Outdoor Education Assistant. When looking into this program I believe that it does well to help support children’s social competency. The first thing I notice is the small class size of different age groups, this would support children’s social competency by having a strong positive relationship with their educators, and other children. Since there may be a wide variety of age within the small group some children may take on a leadership role with helping to support the younger children. Since the ratio of the class is two educators to 15 students, I feel that they would have the time to get to know and build caring relationships with each child. This would translate into having good communication with their peers.

As well I notice that the program is set on a property with a variety of different elements that the children can explore, such as ponds, apple orchards or farm animals. With such a rich environment available to them the children can learn things such as empathy when learning about farm animals and how to care for them. This supports children’s social competency and helps create a supportive environment within the social support pyramid. When looking at the social competency wheel I feel like willow grove can support a few different areas each day. For example, They will learn social values such as caring, equity and responsibility when taking care of their school environment each day. They will also learn positive self-identity skills such as a sense of worth and purpose. When choosing where to spend the day they will learn planning and decision making skills; such as making choices and planning ahead as well as self regulation skills such as impulse control when the group may want to be somewhere different.

Reflecting on the Environment

The first pitfall I would like to avoid in my practice is expecting children to adapt to change instantly. As an educator, I can see that communication is a very important way to help children to adapt, whether it be verbal or nonverbal communication. By talking children through change we can have an open line of communication this way as an educator I can notice or predict any behaviours that may be associated with the child’s dislike to change. Another way to help children through change would be to do it slowly and walk the child through the transition. For example when moving a child up to a different room it is a good idea for the child to visit the room, meet the other children and spend time with their new educators. To help them through this transition as long as the ratio in the room I am in is covered I like to join the child moving into the new room so they have a sense of security by having a positive and trusting relationship.

The second pitfall that I would like to avoid in my practice is assuming that the observations of support staff are not important. As an educator, I like to feel that support staff are team members rather than just there to support how I would like to have the room run. It is always important to have another set of eyes to give different perspectives on how situations could be handled. Sometimes as people we have blinders on when it comes to certain children and situations and we can always use perspective. I want to have a collaborative room and environment where the lines of communication are always open without the fear of being told something is silly or irrelevant.

Video: Playground Physics

Link: https://streaming.videatives.com/assets/92

Narration Observation of Playground Physics

This play experience is happening in the outside play environment.

Brayden was outside in the yard, the yard is set up with pieces of wood, tires, a wooden plank and a cylinder tube. Brayden looks at the educator and smiles, while he his smiling he asks the educator “can you do it?” While walking towards the educator. The educator responds to him saying “let’s see you do it again”. Brayden turns back to where he was and walks back to the wooden plank which has been set up onto the cylinder tube. During this play experience Brayden moves his body along the wooden plank, he crawls, walks and uses his body to move the wooden plank. When he finds the pivot point of the wooden plank he laughs, He is cautious with his movements and when the board hits the pivot point and hits the ground he said “Its kind of scary”. As Brayden is on the plank he jumps off and goes up to his educator, he says something and she responds with “is it my turn?” He said “no, its mine” and goes back to playing on the wooden plank. While he is on the plank, he moves his body, leaning left and right to find the pivot point of the plank. He is smiling and laughing while continuing his movements. He tests his skills by leaning more and even jumping off the plank. When the plank falls off the cylinder he is quick to move the plank back to continue his experience.

Interpretation of Playground Physics

While reflecting on watching Brayden playing with the plank and cylinder tube I noticed that he at first seemed a bit hesitant and cautious about starting to play on the wooden plank. While playing Brayden is starting to learn about cause and effect, how when he moves the plank that is on top of the cylinder will also move. At first Brayden takes his time, testing out what will happen while crawling over the plank, once he is over to the other side, he laughs. He is showing me that the reaction, while surprising makes him happy. As he continues to climb and walk over the plank I think he is developing a theory that when he moves, something else can move to, his body can cause a reaction. He tests his theories as he is becoming more confident in his movements, he does this while looking for reassurance and security from the educator. When the board falls off the cylinder he is confident and he knows how to set it up again, he does this without asking for help. He is showing me that he has trust in his surroundings that he can move and explore within his own boundaries of safety. He sets himself up for a goal of walking across the plank and he achieves it.

Reflection Questions: What learning might be taking place

Areas of New Learning

After reading through Haileigh’s responses to the Playground Physics video and comparing them to my own thinking and interpretation, I can see that we both came to the same conclusions. I am not sure if that is a good or bad thing, was I to invested into being very detailed that I over thought the questions? A few things that haileigh said got me thinking however, when she said that maybe Brayden was used to the set up or has seen it before, I didn’t even think of that. Now thinking through the whole play experience maybe Brayden has seen it before but was to nervous or shy to try while there were more kids around and that is why he ended up there alone. Also, maybe Brayden is a type of child that sometimes needs one on one attention to help him work through problems or fear, he could have different sensory needs etc. Another thing was that Haileigh mentioned that maybe Brayden was trying to make the board balance and stay straight. I however didn’t see this when I was watching through the video, instead I saw him being more cautious and timid with his movements, so thats why I thought his movements were slower at the start. We both commented and saw him test theories of cause and effect and that he went from being more timid to being more excited.

Make Learning Visible

One thing I have noticed when doing these types of assignments is that for me there is a bit of disconnect with the children in the videos, I think that when you are sharing stories and observations with children under your care it is sometimes easier to reflect and tell their stories because you have some understanding and knowledge of the children you are writing about. Since I find it hard,

I find myself over analyzing the way I write and I become nervous to get it wrong. I think that’s what I have to work on, finding the balance between observing objectively while showing care within my writing. I want to make sure to include enough context for the outside observer to understand what happened without being there. I want to include how I can see the learning happen, what I think is going on, while backing that up with quotes, pictures, drawings and other information from the child. Also to include how I could further their thinking, how to keep them interested in the theories they are showing in different areas of the day, for example in the case of this video, how could I share Braydens thinking to the other children or how could i continue his play in the inside learning environment? Could I share what I saw with my coworkers and maybe set up a block invitation for later in the day? Or is it a learning experience that we could extend over a week?

As an educator, including the nine features of responsive play spaces, is very important. Each of the nine features is important to help the learning environment be the third teacher. Having Green Spaces is important for children to have opportunities to play in outdoor environments where they can be with nature and differentiate from the indoor learning environment. Quiet Places can provide children with opportunities to self-regulate, rejuvenate and even observe others while in a safe and cozy place. Active Places are important because they can be both indoors and outdoors and they create a meeting place for children to come together and express themselves in loud and active play. Small-Group Places are important to create an area where a small group of children can come together and focus on a project or planned activity, where children feel safe and it tends to be a quieter place. Large-group places are important because they provide space for everyone to come together, to have a space where they can participate in group activities. Flex Zones are important for space because they provide children with an opportunity to rearrange their environment to suit their play or needs while in the learning environment. Circulation Patterns are important to create a flow within the learning environment so children can move between designated spaces without interrupting others' play, they also provide ways to engage children on the way to different play spaces. Spatial Partitioning is important in a learning environment to provide children with ways to visualize how spaces are intended to be used. (Not that there is rigidity in how spaces need to be used, Children are very imaginative and will use a play space the way they want to.) And Balance, It is important to offer spaces with contrast, to have things that are soft, warm and inviting but also things that will allow for risky play, exploration and movement.

When we look into incorporating these elements within our learning space and we look through the HDLH, we see that features like quiet places, small-group places and flex zones lean into the foundations of Belonging and Well-being, they provide places where children can use their self-regulation skills and showcase their work to see themselves in their learning environment. It is important to have spaces where children can be by themselves, create by themselves or maybe just have intimate play within a small group. Large-group spaces, spatial partitioning, circulation patterns and flex zones also lean into the foundations of engagement and expression, when an environment is laid out in a way that is visually different between spaces and has a good balance between materials it is more likely that children will be naturally curious and stay focused during their play. They will be able to express themselves with materials and even how they play within the spaces. Ultimately the four foundations touch each one of the nine elements and they work together with the educators and learning environment to create a safe and predictable place for children to engage and learn.

I think aesthetics also play an important role within the learning environment, when a space is overly crowded and busy it sometimes distracts children and they will be unsure of themselves and the environment. I know from experience as an educator and a mother, that when children are given too many options within a learning environment they may become overwhelmed. They tend to start dumping things instead of engaging and participating in focused

play. This is also a part of having the environment to be organized and presented in a calming way, when you have clean and simple designated spaces children will know what to do within each space. In my learning spaces, I try to organize the room to have distinct and separate spaces, within each space I try to limit the number of things to provide children with fewer choices but choices that they are actively interested in. I try to create a flow within the environment so that the children can move within the space and bring anything with them throughout the room. I want to try to create a space that is inviting for the children, where they can see themselves within the space and help create what is in their spaces. I want to try to create a balance of aesthetically pleasing without being beige, bland and boring.

Suggestion 2 (must support Justice, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion~ JEDI) (5 marks)

When infants begin to understand and dissect speech and language they pay attention to the linguistic stress of conversations. Infants pay more attention to stressed syllables which helps them start to identify the beginnings of words. (Kail,R & Zolner,T. 2018, Pg 153) When infants are read to, many caregivers will read and speak in infant-directed speech. This can attract the infants' attention and engage them in the book. Each book that is read may introduce new words and variations of words infants are learning which will help with their communication skills. When children hear words frequently they start to make associations to the words meanings, if a new word is in a picture book the caregiver can help assist the infant to understand the meaning of the words by pointing at the pictures. This leads into when an infant/toddler is learning to fast-map words, if a book is read a few times the children are more likely to learn the proper meanings of words. (Kail,R & Zolner,T. 2018, Pg 155)

I have two resources I would like to share with parents about reading to their infants and toddlers. The first is an online list of sixty books about diversity that I feel a lot of parents and children would love to read. I have read many of them with my children and the children I work with. The second is a short article on reading books to babies. This article is found on kidshealth.org which is a great resource for parents. This article talks about the benefits of reading to infants and what types of books to read. This article is also medically reviewed by Kandia N. Lewis, PhD, I find when suggesting resources to parents they prefer ones that are trusted by professionals.

1.https://reedsy.com/discovery/blog/childrens-books-about-diversity

2.https://kidshealth.org/en/parents/reading-babies.html#:~:text=The%20more%20stories%20you%20read,have%20not%20been%20read%20to.

References

Kail,R & Zolner,T. (2018) Children: a chronological approach (5th edition)Toronto, ON: Pearson

Ontario Ministry of Education. (2014a). Excerpts from ELECT: Foundational knowledge from the 2007 publication of "Early learning for every child today: A framework for Ontario early childhood settings". Toronto: Author.

Ontario Ministry of Education. (2014b). How does learning happen? Ontario's pedagogy for the early years: A resource about learning through relationships for those who work with young children and their families. Toronto: Author.