Competent children - reflecting our image of the child

Everyone is busy with the preparation of the art exhibition, yet, I let children give the finishing touch to their clay sculptures, rather than doing it myself. As there has not been enough time to fire the clay work, I decided to cover them with a glaze of polymer medium, so the sculptures look better and won't break easily. Though the glazing takes time, but I respect the children as 'artists', so they are involved in every single step of the art show.  Why I take so much troubles? because I see children as competent learners.

it's amazing that the children can still remember what they had made weeks ago. One boy asked the whereabout of his lizard, when I let him glaze his dinosaur. A girl recalled that the hair of her clay dancing girl has fallen off, and she asked me whether I had figured out how to glue it back on. They invested time, thoughts and energy into their work, though it seemed they were just having fun. The children are committed artists who took ownership and responsibility seriously.

Marvin, when talking about working with children in art, advised against demonstration because children tended to think following what the teacher has done is more important than original thinking. He sees children as competent artists and are able to come up with ideas and solutions.

The same applies to behavior management. Here's my recent experience. Out of the blue, a new child cried and screamed. We have tried to comfort him and have done all sorts. But we could not figured out what's the issue, because he did not talk and just screamed. The head teacher decided to shift the balance of responsibility back to the child. She calmly told the child that we were willing to listen whenever he was ready. Then she just walked away. After a short while, the child came to me and explained that he had no friends to play with, because a particular child did not play with him. I explained that we can always have more than one friend, and pointed to the children at the playground and asked him to join in. Happily, he went to make new friends.

The head teacher trusted that the child is a competent communicator, and he is able to express his needs and wants once he has calmed down. She understood that children need time to learn to regulate their emotions, and she respected the child's need to do things at his own pace.

Ask yourself what's your image of the child? One who sees children as dependent on adults' help will intervene and 'teach'; and others who see children as competent and confident learner will observe and seize the magic moment to support and facilitate 'learning'.

Cultural diversity - Working with children from a minority culture

As a Chinese teacher working in New Zealand, I feel so privileged as I have the unconditional trust from the Chinese parents. They have faith in me looking after their children well, simply because I am Chinese and speak their language. They like me well before they get to know me. As such, I feel obliged to take on an extra responsibility to take care of the Chinese children.

Interestingly, parents from other minority cultures seem to like me better and tend to talk with me easily. An Korean mother said that she is happy to see a chinese teacher in the kindergarten and feels comfortable to send her girl here. I can't understand Korean at all! Employing a Chinese teacher is definitely sending a clear message to the community that minority cultures are respected in this kindy.

Also, I am quite aware of the cultural aspects in teaching. Though the indigenious culture in New Zealand is Maori, the European/white people are dominating in terms of education, finance, politics and so on. The mainstream language is English, whereas Maori language/te reo is at risk of dying, unfortunately. I am the only teacher at my kindy using Maori songs and reading Maori legends regularly. One day, a Maori parent complimented me for reading a Maori theme book at end of the day mat-time. When I explained that teachers here are all respecting the culture, she remarked that she had only seen me using Maori resources at mat-time. That seems to be true. Since then, I started observing, other teachers use Maori resources during the day, but never at the end of the kindy session when all parents are here, waiting to pick up their child. (A bit shy when parents are watching?) So, it's about making the teaching visible. It needs to be seen to believe it.

Making learning and teaching visible is a big issue in early childhood education. For school children, reports and examination results reflect the quality of teaching and learning that happen, to a large extent. For young children, teachers need to do something extra to communicate with and seek feedback from parents.

Nurturing the well-being of a child

Yesterday, a child was struggling to put his shoes on, and he called out for help in panic. I had to hold back my laughs to give him some help. He was the biggest and tallest boy at kindy, always forgets his gentle hands, tends to push the limits and boundaries, very articulate, good at asking challenging questions...Yet, putting on his shoes frustrated him. When I helped him with his shoe, I demonstrated and explained to him first he needed to undo the velcro, then adjust the tongue of the shoe, before pushing his foot in, and so on. He listened attentively. But, just an hour ago, he declared, "I don't have to listen to you!"

In the New Zealand Early Childhood Curriculum , nurturing the well-being of a child is an important component, as it empowers the child to determine their own actions and their own choices. As in the situation described before, the boy was in a rush to join the others outside, trying out the new jumping game, and he was the last one got his shoes on. He definitely would feel better about himself if he put his shoes on as quickly as what the others did.

For another example. Some parents are a bit worried about having water play in winter. On warmer days, we fill up the water trough and remind children to get changed when wet. Of course, those who need a teacher to change them tend not to get involved. Those who have learnt to change themselves are happily playing with water. Subsequently, most children are motivated to pick up the dressing skills.

Self-help and self-care skills should be part of the learning and teaching in early childhood. Teachers used to think they are not baby-sitters and focused more on traditional learning, like literacy and numeracy. Thinking deeper, it is equally important for young children to pick up and practice self-help skills at kindy. It's late winter, when the weather is getting warmer, and most children were wearing their warm sweater in the afternoon, and they become hot, thirsty and grumpy. The behavior management problem was instantly solved once I reminded them to go and get a drink of water. They have to learn to listen to and respond to the needs of their body, simply by taking or putting on their jacket, getting a drink, taking a break and so on.

An older teacher at the kindy often brings out a board game or group game, when she noticed that the children become tired and play unproductively, such as tipping things out. Young children are still learning to identify their physical and emotional needs, and it's the adult's responsibility to help them to regulate their emotions and behaviors, and to show them some coping strategies.

In such situations, the adult may need to be more directive in giving instruction, such as go and find some quiet things to do; shall we sit down and do a puzzle/read a book? Untrained teachers, sometimes, just wind themselves up instead, when children are not playing nicely. Actually, it's time to intervene, and it could be an excellent opportunity to nurture the well-being of a child.

Fellow teachers of young children, stay calm and keep up with your good work!

Superhero Play - More thoughts about the Transformers play

I've done more thinking about my theory of 'princesses and fairies to girls is like Transformers and robots to boys'.

Girls explore the concept of good vs evil through relationships. The princess   tries to find her prince charming; to get along to her evil stepmother and ugly step sisters. Boys explore the concept of good vs evil through battles and wars. While girls narrate their fantasy stories and draw pictures, they express their vision of beauty, kindness and love . Their languages for communication include drawing, writing stories, dancing, and dramatic play. Boys learn kinesthetically and involve themselves in bold actions, physically and actively. Their values are courage, bravery, taking risks, challenging themselves. Their languages include physical body contact, dramatic play.

Just share some observations at kindergarten.

A boy invited me to play, assigning me to be the baddie, I asked what I need to do. He explained that I needed to shoot him, wielding his finger gun. Could he be exploring the feeling of fear? It is sure that he felt safe in this baddie vs the good guy game, there was no real danger. Perhaps he was trying to overcome his fear, his sense of insecurity through 'beating' with the 'baddie', who was a teacher and is supposed to be kind and caring!  I think children don't always feel safe. They are aware of dangers in this world. The child's world is not totally innocent.

Conversely, another boy claimed that he was a baddie, and I'm supposed to chase him and catch him. I had the impression that he was testing the boundaries and limits of acceptable behaviors. He normally follows routines and rules, probably dare not to break the rules, knowing that there will be consequences. So, acting out the role of baddie in his dramatic play could his way of learning about the world?

Well, I will keep my eyes and ears open and to watch and listen for more .

more insights about boys...

More on Creativity

Children's art expression reflects their artistic skill. The question is how do we, as teachers, strengthen children's artistry?

I believe that we need to know a bit about art theory/the elements of art so that we can contribute to children's artistic development. With some knowledge in relation to art, we are able to talk with a child about the color, shape, line, form, texture in their art work. With some knowledge about the principles of balance, contrast, promotion, pattern, rhythm, we are able to give advice, suggestion, additional ideas to children.

I've been busy working with children for the kindergarten art exhibition in a month's time. I consciously incorporated art elements and principles in my discussion with children when they are engaged in art. I'm pleased to assist children getting to know the elements of art and learning how to use them in their creative process.

pinching with fingers adds texture to the clay dinosaur

Meanwhile, my children are working on clay sculpture. I shared my ideas about texture. The children were aware that they could change the surface quality of their clay work to create a 'feel' or 'look' of smoothness, roughness,softness and so on. Also, we talked about various forms of clay work, such as  cylinder, sphere, and pyramid, also drawing attention to the height, width and depth.

Creativity can flourish when it is motivated. So the important event of art exhibition enables me to work closely with children with a strong focus on art. Nevertheless, there should be a balance between extending children's artistic development and letting children to explore freely. It's up to individual teacher to decided when and where to get involved or stay away.