Literacy in the Early Years - Teachers' Role

Regarding the role of teachers in supporting early literacy, I pay tribute to Margaret Carr's concept of learning dispositions, which mean that learners are being able, ready and willing to learn. So, in the context of literacy, it is about getting the young learner ready and willing to write, as well as knowing how to write.

Look at this scenario:
We baked at the kindergarten, Nina, who is gluten intolerant, was keen to confirm that she would be allowed to eat the cake we made. Despite the reassurance that we had checked all the ingredients, Nina insisted to call her Mum, just to be sure. As we said only the teachers were allowed to use the phone, she wrote down her question for the teacher to read to her Mum. Nina asked me to spell out the words, and she referred to the alphabet chart when writing. What an amazing writer! Not only does she has literacy skills and knowledge, she was also able to recognize the occasion to apply her skills; and she was willing to do it even the task involved lots of effort.

 To support literacy in the early years, I believe, teachers need to maintain a dual focus on the literacy skills and the learning dispositions. I have introduced McLachlan's work on teaching literacy skills to young children in an earlier post from my children's songs, rhymes and game blog , now I'm going to focus on dispositions in this post.

When a child has learned a literacy skill, for example, how to identify ABCs, he is able to do something he couldn't do before. But he may not be spontaneously make use of that ability when a relevant situation arises, if he doesn't realize its relevance. Try to ask a child who knows the alphabet to read out the letters of words from a book, he may say he doesn't know how.  It is not much about being able, he is not ready to make use of the ability he possesses. Also, he may still need a degree of support and encouragement, which involves his desire to try when there is a certain degree of difficulty. It's about being willing.

To support a disposition to write, the teacher needs to model purposeful literacy.  At kindergarten, teachers who jot down notes about children's voice/ ideas and learning episodes are providing role models for emergent writers. Children observe when teachers write. The teachers are modeling an interest in writing, in particular, when they are keen to talk about and share what they have noted down, they are modeling a passion for expressing and recording ideas, feelings and thoughts in print/ written language.

Guy Claxton writes in 2009, in a forward to the book entitled Learning Power Heroes from the Building Learning Power programme in England, that teachers are learning heroes. He suggests that children learn in the way their parents, carers and teachers learn. So, if they are around people who love to write,  they will pick up the habits and rules of writing, as well as develop a passion for writing. This is especially true with teachers, as they are important people/ heroes to young learners in the kindergarten.

In short, early childhood teachers must support young children to develop not only literacy skills but also positive dispositions to use the skill willingly when the situation is relevant.

Managing unacceptable behaviour in the early years

Managing unacceptable behaviour should begin with thoughtful planning of the environment and routines. Ideally, the environments should engage and nurture young learners, so they will be deeply involved in constructing knowledge and making discovery. Moreover, the environments need to be carefully arranged in order to minimize confrontation and conflict. Bearing in mind that young children are learning to take responsibility for their own actions, so the environments also need to respond to their developmental level. 

During my work with children, I am often struck by behaviour management issues that could simply be solved by implementing a few changes in the environments.

Yesterday, when I worked with a 3- year-olds' group, a teacher was setting up water play outside, with four ice-cream containers of coloured water. The activity was meant to be an extension of a previous interest in colour mixing. As there were only four smocks available, the teacher said only four children were allowed to play. To make her point clear, she counted the smocks and the four children who had successfully reached out for the water containers. After a short while, some children gathered around, demanding their turns, and a few tried to jostle their way in front of the water containers. The teacher told the onlookers, "1,2,3,4. That's it. Don't stand around here, you're wasting your time. Go find something else to do!" From then on, the teacher's role was to police the children, ensuring everyone behaved nicely and had a turn, and she was unable to write down any notes about children's comments or discovery about the properties of colours. 

Although the number of smocks and containers suggest only four children are allowed,  it can limit the possibilities for richer experiences of collaboration and learning. Also, we don't generally expect 3-year-olds are able to wait for a long time for their turn. Manageable expectations and limits should be set, in the first place.In this scenario, crowding and queueing are causes of frustration and conflict for young children. Appropriate changes could be made to achieve a positive impact on the children's level of involvement in the activity and their interactions with each other. 

More containers should be available for the activity. The containers do not need to be the same, and the size does not matter. Better still, just put out a few jugs of coloured water and let children mix the colours up in their individual cup or bowl. True, we don't want children to get wet, so the teacher need to remind the children to be careful, such as pulling up their sleeves and getting changed when wet. Young children need to learn to look after themselves. 

The smocks should not be a barrier to meaningful learning, unless it was freezing cold in winter, then the teacher might need to plan differently. Instead of letting children to construct knowledge from physical involvement, the teacher could demonstrate colour mixing while children observe and develop their working theories, in the cold winter months.

Also, young children should be gently encouraged to accept the reality that they need to wait for a turn. The teacher might need to talk about what other activities are on offer, apart from the amazing water play. Be specific, for example, prompt children to go to the art easel where they can find the colours of the rainbow. Simply say, "go find something else to do" is not clear enough for the  younger ones.

When planning activities  and equipments/ playthings, the teacher needs to take into consideration the children's developmental stage and adjust expectations accordingly. Ask yourself these questions: To what extent is sharing important, or should there be enough playthings to prevent conflict? What are realistic expectations about children's abilities to cooperate, take turns, or wait for assistance?

Managing behaviour in the early years

Effective behaviour management in the early years involves learning. Unacceptable behaviour should be dealt with to ensure that children are not demeaned or their self esteem is damaged. Te Whaariki, the New Zealand Early Childhood Curriculum, outlines the ways in which behaviour management could be empowering: the children will know the limits and boundaries of acceptable behaviour; and will understand the consequences of stepping beyond the limits of acceptable behaviour. Behaviour management strategies are not only meant for preventing unacceptable behaviour but also for developing ideas of fairness and new social skills.

Today, I visited a long day care centre and stayed in the room for three year olds. I realized how easily young children become tired, especially after being stuck inside for a long period of time due to bad weather. At the young age, their self control may still be unreliable. I think it's the teacher's responsibility to observe and respond to signals of tiredness. When there are issues of unacceptable behaviour, the young children need to be handled in a calm and caring way.

After lunch, one teacher brought children out to have a little play, while other teachers set up the sleeping area.  Some children started doing forward roll on the wet ground and more children joined in. The teacher asked them to stop and warned them that they would get wet and sick. And then, she threatened to bring the children inside to sleep if they did not take notice of her instruction. A few children did not listen and kept doing forward roll on the ground with small puddles. In the end, she scooped one child inside, while the child yelled in protest. And then, another child was taken inside the same way. Despite that, two children continued to roll on the ground, regardless of the consequence. To me, it's seem they were unable to stop themselves, rather than blatantly disregarded the teacher. They probably were very tired, so ready to have a lying down.  I just said No to them clearly and distracted them by saying not on a cloudy day without the sun. They naturally checked out the sky, and I reinforced that they would be allowed to do it on a sunny day. On that moment, I invited them to go on the jungle gym. Distraction and provision of alternatives could be more efficient than punishment at this young age.

The same strategy applied later.  After nap, a child who has woken up for a long while pushed a child who just woke up several time, probably trying to get him into playing together. They started to pushed each other roughly. The teacher said, "no fighting, otherwise you will go to the office!" Though children need to learn the consequence of their unacceptable behaviour, but not in this way. Logically, getting hurt is a possible consequence of fighting that children need to be aware of , as the learning outcome is to understand how to look after their own well being and to keep themselves from harm. It's different from avoiding the punishment of being sent to the office.

 I thought those children were unable to decide what to do when they just woke up. They simply need to know there is another option. So, I asked them whether they want to do a painting. One child immediately followed me to the art table. And the other child said, "me too!" I think the teacher could bear this in mind in future planning about respect for rules. For sure, the children need to understand the rule about harming others and an understanding of the reasons for it.

Children develop a sense of self worth when their emotional well being is nurtured. Teachers of young children could give genuine opportunities to make choices and to develop independence. Also, its the teacher's' responsibility to help young children to understand and accept necessary limits, without anxiety or fear.

Click here for positive parenting resources developed by S.K.I.P. of New Zealand. The ideas and concepts are relevant to early childhood teachers as well.