At the beginning of this course I must admit that I was a bit overwhelmed. I have never been good at research so I hope that this course help broaden my horizons. I am eager to get a better understanding of the course material and I look forward to the discussions and blog post from each of you. The topic that I have chosen to focus on during this course is play. I feel that allowing a child to play can have a positive effect on their development. As educators it is important that we allow children to enjoy themselves as they learn. We can gather a lot of information and learn so much from a child just by observing the type of play the engage in. The three subtopics I chose to focus on are:
- · How play can impact a child’s development?
- · What can we learn from a child based on the type of play they engage in?
- · How can educators address the needs of children based on their self expressions discovered through play?
At the current time I am not an educator but I observed classrooms for my previous classes which further helped me conclude my reasoning for researching “play”. As I did my classroom observation many of the children were not reluctant to express themselves as they interacted with other students during classroom discussions. Many of the children were not attentive as the educator taught which clearly reflects that they were not interested or did not understand the lesson being studied. If we incorporate more hands on activities that allows the child to express themselves we as educators can see how much the child know about the lesson that it being studied. At that point we can then focus on the areas that the child need further assistance with and come up with rationales to help the child excel in their learning.
Nequiatuia,
ReplyDeleteYou are well on your way. I must say that both of our blog posts have very similar subtops of interest. I also have topics that will help me further my career and assist my families with furthering thier children education.
I will look foward to reading more on your blog in the next few weeks.
How interesting that you noticed that the children you observed did not pay attention to the teacher-directed activities. Many early childhood educators feel the need to teach using the same "lecture" and "testing" methods used for older children and adults. Rote learning doesn't make sense to young children who have had little practical experience with concepts. How interested are little children in identifying and naming animals that they have never seen, heard, smelled, touched, or observed? You may as well ask the children what language an alien speaks. (Although this might add a humor and creativity to the lesson.) Inner city children who have never visited a farm don't know or care what a goat says, so they tune out of these circle time tests. Free play is the way that young children make sense of and expand what they know about. It is the observant and intuitive teacher that can build upon what children already understand and are interested in.
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