My ECE Assignments : Practicum #3, Vocational Placement

"My ECE Assignment" series is meant to demystify ECE and make it a more pleasurable endeavour for those of us who are willing to commit to it :

Practicum Task : Evaluate Leadership Roles

(1) Record a personal statement (based on literature) about your understanding of leadership. What, to you, is leadership? What, if any, are the differences between leadership and management? What, based on your readings, are the characteristics of modern leaders?

My personal statement on leadership:
Leadership is an attribute of a person who shows the ability to lead others into change. People with leadership skills are therefore essentially change-agents. They are able to directly or indirectly influence others into accepting or following a new direction.

Anyone can thus be in a leadership position, not just people who are appointed and entrusted with specific organizational responsibilities.

The leading management guru, Tom Peters, best describes leadership (Winston Churchill Leadership Website, 2009) when he said,

“Leadership is a confidence game. Act the part”.

He also has this to say of leaders,

“Be a dealer in hope - keep an eye out for Grand Possibilities. Inspire others by throwing down a Great Challenge”.

Modern leaders therefore inspire confidence in people, and engender belief within oneself. One can see this vividly in our local context, where Minister Mentor, Lee Kuan Yew, continues to inspire confidence in his constituents and the general public. He is the embodiment of all the characteristics of what a modern leader should hold : charismatic, influential and a pillar of integrity.

Differences in leadership and management can best be contrasted in the following 5 ways by viewing what managers and leader do (Sciarra & Dorsey 2002):

i) Managers accept responsibility, while leaders seek responsibility.
ii) Managers minimize risks, while leaders take calculated risks.
iii) Managers delegate cautiously, while leaders delegate enthusiastically.
iv) Managers view workers as employees, while leaders view workers as potential followers.
v) Managers administer, while leaders innovate.

Looking at management and leadership from the viewpoints above, the differences between them are therefore quite evident.

(2) Throughout your practicum reflect on the 14 leadership roles and record examples of how you and your senior teacher demonstrate your leadership roles.
i) Role Model
Teacher M, as the centre supervisor, takes punctuality seriously. She always made sure that she is in the centre 10 minutes before her expected starting time. Such role-modelling on her part demonstrates to her staff that this service we provide to parents is very important and punctuality should not be taken for granted.

ii) Influencer
I made it point to converse with the children in my class, during this practicum, in grammatically proper English. This reinforces the importance of proper conversational English to the children, and being highly impressionable themselves, I know this will rub off on them, over time.

iii) Mentor
Teacher M had taken upon herself to be my mentor during this practicum. She ensured that a routine of having a 20-minute meeting before the day begins, and before the day ends, with me was in place. This gave me precious time alone with her to share my views with her, and more importantly, for her to share her experience as a supervisor with me.

iv) Coach
Teacher M provided excellent coaching to me when she showed how she utilized the various IT systems to administer her day-to-day role as a supervisor of a childcare centre. She took particular care in helping me understand the need to update the CCLS system regularly, as required by the Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sports.


v) Manager
The centre director showed her managerial skill and demonstrated leadership when she spoke directly to the parent of one of the students in my class who was showing signs of succumbing to the HFMD disease. I was in her office when she confidently spoke to the mother of the child over the telephone that even though this incident was disruptive to her work schedule but that HFMD was a serious disease and that she should come down to fetch and give relief to her child, by seeking immediate medical advice. The mother came within 30 minutes. The following day, the child was confirmed as having HFMD. It showed the importance of managing the centre with speed and with patience.

vi) Collaborator
I acted in my role as a collaborator when I worked with Teacher M to prepare for a new nature corner involving a new rabbit, for the children. We had to bring the rabbit for proper medical treatment at a local clinic, before purchasing a pet cage for it. After preparing some common information about rabbits for other teachers to use, the children in the centre took turns over the next 2 days to view, hold and play with the rabbit, thus initiating a new experience of nature for the children.

vii) Networker
The centre took the step of engaging with the Town Council, at the suggestion of Teacher M, to utilize the neighbourhood spice and vegetable garden for the benefit of the children. Permission was granted for the children to visit the garden monthly, with the added bonus of having a Town Council member present to personally show the children the various highlights of the garden. Such networking was valuable to the centre.

viii) Challenger
I took the initiative to bring my observation to Teacher M that the front door of the centre seemed to be left unlocked for most of a typical day. I shared my view that this might pose a potential safety issue for the children, especially if due to various reasons, unwanted visitors enter the centre and abducted a child. My view on this matter was acknowledged as a good one by the management.

ix) Team builder / Team player / Team leader
As a team player, I participated with the whole team when we were required to clean and sanitized all the classrooms, learning materials and mattresses, when we learnt that HFMD had infected one of the students in our class. This was done during the nap time of the children, and we stayed over at the centre till 7.30pm that day to ensure that the job was properly executed.

x) Decision maker
When it came to light that the venue of a field trip had to be changed due to unforeseen circumstances, Teacher M exhibited her leadership skill as a decision-maker when she took the decision to divert the field trip to a new venue, even though there was less than 3 days left to the actual field trip day. She could have cancelled the field trip, as recommended by a few teachers, but she decided to continue with it but to another venue, in the interest of the children. I appreciated her leadership skill in this instance.


(3) Conclude with a paragraph as to what you see as being the challenges that exist in the provision of effective leadership in the Singaporean early childhood settings.

The main challenge that exist in the provision of effective leadership in early childhood settings here is tied to the perception held by many parents and the public at large about what childcare centres really mean to them.

Childcare centres still carry the connotation of child-minding to many. As such, early childhood education as a professional field on its own, suffers from a lack of understanding and more importantly, lack of respect by the general public.

As a consequence, leadership in the field of early childhood education here holds little traction and currency within the corridors of power, which in turn leads to this cycle of disinterest, apathy and lack of leadership, in that order.

The other challenge stems from the heavy workload of preschool teachers today, especially in childcare centres. All childcare centre educators are literally swamped with the day-to-day needs of running their classes well that they simply have no extra leeway, in terms of time and resources, to innovate, be creative and to initiate new teaching methodologies in class.

Leadership within their own classroom context thus takes second stage, while daily needs take centre stage.


References:

1. Sciarra, D.J. & Dorsey, A.G. (2002). Leaders and supervisors in childcare programs. Albany, N.Y. : Delmar Thomson Learning.

2. Winston Churchill Leadership Website [Online database]. Retrieved April 22, 2009 from World Wide Web : http://www.winston-churchill-leadership.com/peters-definition.html

Autism and Vaccines : No link, says MOH

No link between vaccines and autism: MOH

ST Forum: 26Oct 2009

MR TAN Soon Kiam ('Dispel concerns about complications after vaccinating kids', Forum Online last Thursday) was concerned about complications from childhood vaccines.

We would like to assure Mr Tan that the vaccines used here have been approved by the Health Sciences Authority and are deemed safe for the intended use by the general population. Side effects are usually mild, like a sore arm or a slight fever. Serious allergic reactions are very rare.

As for Mr Tan's concerns about autism and vaccination, there is strong scientific evidence to show that there is no link between vaccines and autism. This view is shared by the health authorities in the United States, Britain and the World Health Organisation. Independent reviews by the Cochrane Collaboration and the US Institute of Medicine have also come to the same conclusion.

In fact, the unfounded belief that vaccines can cause autism has caused much harm. It had led to declines in immunisation coverage in some countries in Europe, to the point where measles had been declared endemic in Britain, and epidemics had occurred in Switzerland, Austria and Italy last year.

Karen Tan (Ms)Director, Corporate Communications

Ministry of Health

PCF adjusts salary ranges

Sep 13, 2009

PCF aims to recruit talent 10 min-->

Biggest kindergarten operator adjusts salary ranges to match market rates, By Mavis Toh, ST

Teachers with a basic degree start off with at least $2,100, while the monthly pay of diploma holders will range from $1,300 to $2,720. -- ST PHOTO: ASHLEIGH SIM

SINGAPORE'S largest kindergarten operator has come up with a package to align its staff's pay with market rates. This will help recruit and retain talent as the PAP Community Foundation (PCF) expands in the next five years.

Deputy Prime Minister and Defence Minister Teo Chee Hean said this on Saturday at the official opening of PCF Punggol East Sparkletots Infant & Child Care Centre.

PCF, which now runs 250 kindergartens and 33 childcare centres islandwide, recently completed a salary harmonisation exercise to ensure that salary ranges are in line with the market's.

A kindergarten principal with an early childhood education degree will get a monthly salary of between $2,300 and $4,375, depending on experience, ability and performance.

Teachers with a basic degree start off with at least $2,100, while the monthly pay of diploma holders will range from $1,300 to $2,720. Childcare teaching staff too will receive up to $300 more, to reflect the more demanding work.

Mr Teo said: 'There are many childcare centres. We want to make sure we follow the market, so that we can attract good quality teachers and childcare minders to provide good quality education.'

The industry has been plagued by low pay, making it difficult to retain staff.Mr Teo has assured parents that fees for PCF centres will remain affordable. For instance, its childcare centres - which cater to children aged two months to six years old - now charge a median fee of about $450 monthly.

In the next five years, PCF will open another 40 childcare centres. All new centres will be in the heartland to provide services from infant care to childcare and even student care. This is in line with the Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sports' plan to add 200 new childcare centres in the next five years to meet the rising demand.

Besides boosting numbers, PCF will review its curriculum to provide substantial content and innovative teaching methods. Some kindergartens will even implement innovations like integrating the use of Lego toys into the curriculum.

Ms Teng Siew King, 29, quit her accounting job last month to work in a childcare centre. She took a 40 per cent pay cut. 'I really want to work with children. I'm glad that the childcare industry is getting more recognition,' she said.

Read the full story in Sunday's edition of The Straits Times

mavistoh@sph.com.sg

(Thanks to Pragash for bringing this info to us)

Legislate Preschools..Are You Kidding?

Email from George Lee

to Josephine Teo - Centric/YDU/SISEU
cc Vivian Balakrishnan, Ng Eng Hen
date Sat, Oct 17, 2009 at 6:34 AM

subject Legislate preschooling..Are you kidding?

Dear Mrs Teo,

A quick note to thank you for putting some sense into the argument of legislating preschooling, in the recent article in The Straits Times (dtd 10 Oct '09).

If every community issue which shows a 2.5% deviation from the population (in this case, 1 child out of 40 not receiving preschooling) is met with a solution that involves legislation, our Parliament will be rife with issues of all and sundry.

The so-called expert group may have confused the need to sharpen the arrowhead, ie 1 unified body for preschools, with the wood, and thus dragged in the lowering of compulsory school age and putting preschools under the government as the cure-all prescription for some of the preschool ills.

Together with Mrs Ng Gim Choo of EtonHouse espousing the need for children to be children (at 2 to 6 years of age) before the rigours of formal education kicks in, you have shown the need to not get caught up with the symptoms but to get to the "root cause".

I therefore thank you for lending your wisdom in that important article on preschooling, as the Chairman of the Education GPC.

regards,

George Lee (early childhood educator and parent)

Reply from Josephine Teo - Centric/YDU/SISEU

to George Lee
cc Vivian Balakrishnan, Ng Eng Hen
date Sat, Oct 17, 2009 at 7:31 AM

subject Re: Legislate preschooling..Are you kidding?

Thank you, George, for sharing your views.
It is healthy in a debate on important issues to have a diversity of views.
Whichever part of the spectrum we stand, I'm glad to see so many taking a very strong interest in early childhood education and caring to give their views on ways forward.

Happy weekend!

Preschool Education should be MOE's baby : ST Forum

Preschool education should be MOE's baby (ST: 16Oct09)

I REFER to last Saturday's report, "Should preschools be 'nationalised'?".
With the Ministry of Education overseeing the preschool education sector, continuity from early childhood education to primary school level will be guaranteed.

Research has shown that education should start at a preschool level as children are most receptive at a young age. Preschool education will then serve as the foundation to primary education.

In addition, if preschool education were to come under the MOE, it would raise public awareness on the importance of early childhood education. Consequently, more research would be dedicated to it and more focus placed on it.

This would lead to a rise in the quality of preschool education, meaning better teacher qualifications and better curriculum development. It could also lead to a moderation in the cost of preschool education, and this would make it more accessible to more families, especially those from the lower income strata.

Preschool education should be nationalised and made compulsory.
Its curriculum units would have to be structured around the existing kindergarten curriculum framework as developed by the MOE. At the same time, it would give all children coming from diverse economic backgrounds equal opportunities to quality preschool education.

In time, Singapore could be the leading educational pioneer in preschool education in the region. If Singapore's ultimate goal is to cultivate an industry of critical thinkers for the fast changing economy, our nation will need to recognise the development of our young and start their education early.

Samantha See (Ms)

Comments:
NYJC4
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Yesterday, 11:08 AM
Please, give the kids a break. I can imagine tuition for tots, already.Leading educational pioneer in preschool ed? Kids learn best by play! Don't stick them in a school, given them some elbow room, some breathing space! Ms See sounds a bit confused. 'industry of critical thinkers'? For whatever that means.


Stormrider65
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Yesterday, 01:20 PM
Our entire world, in particular developing and developed countries, are in population decline.Think China is 'booming' with children? That is because it has exceeded its 'critical population'; any couple giving birth to one child on any day in any hospital of any province propels the country's populatin by leaps and bounds. India is facing that problem.However, as a whole, humans are fast becoming comfortable to the notion of 'fewer children' and 'lesser burden. Why? Because as technology speeds up, things get heated up faster, with larger amount of elements being squeezed into a smaller time and space unit. Pressure goes up and mental stress keeps humans away from procreating.Singapore is one 'fine' example of such a '21st-century' illness. From day one of our 'ten years education' - Primary 1, we are fed and instilled and imparted with knowledge and informaton, round after round. On top of it, we are told to aim high and imrpove and excel and achieve. Things got worse when we step into our small, limited labour market and working force, where we have to fight with foreign talents from all over the world. And these do not include setting up families and buying a house and securing finances for generating the next generation, as well as maintaining a critical amount in our CPF for our retiring and post-productive lives.Please, spare our children the lifeless and meaningless lives we Singaporean adults are living. Give them some empty space, a couple of toys, several colours around them, abundance of sunshine and breeze, and let them PLAY with all their might, for the moment they step into a concrete building called 'school', and a brightly-lit room called 'classroom;, they may forever NOT have the chance to play and laugh and run anymore, for the rest of their lives.P.S.: if the entire above chunk of words don't enlighten you, my bottomline statement is - don't even *think* that adults know what children should have and need. In all truthful sense, children are in fact here to teach these adults how to *think*.

suakusuaku
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Yesterday, 08:02 PM
Let preschool kids spend as few hours as possible in a formal learning environment. They should associate learning/reading to something pleasurable like in the company of their parents. Once they like learning, the battle is won. The rest depends on nature

My ECE Assignments : Practicum #2, Vocational Placement

"My ECE Assignment" series is meant to demystify ECE and make it a more pleasurable endeavour for those of us who are willing to commit to it :

Lesson Plan #1 – Subject area : Language Development
(A) No. of children : 12
(B) Age Group : K2
(C) Date : 19 March Time: 10.30am Duration: 40 mins
(D) Theme : Stories and rhymes make learning come alive!
(E) Prior Knowledge :
The children have learnt to spell words up to 5 letters long before.
(F) Lesson Objectives:
1. Children will be able to listen and speak the opposite words (antonyms) of “young”, “old” and “asleep”, “awake”.
2. Children will be able to spell these 4 words.

(G) Materials :
1. Large canvass mat and portable whiteboard
2. “Jack and the Beanstalk” tall-book.
3. Walking stick and a baseball cap
4. Journal book, and pencils for each children

(H) Tune-in Activity (Steps):
1. The K2 children will be asked to put on their shoes, and prepare to be taken out of the Centre, in an orderly fashion of 2 rows.

2. The class teacher will be bringing along a large canvass mat for the children to sit on.
He will ask 2 children to volunteer to carry the canvass, the walking stick and baseball cap.

3. All the children will be seated in front of the Centre’s side-wall painting, under the shelter of a walkway, and will be asked by the teacher to imagine why they have been brought to this area to sit, instead of being in the centre. Their responses will be noted by the teacher and acknowledged.

(I) Main Lesson (Steps):
1. The class teacher will initiate the beginning of a story-telling session, the story being “Jack and the Beanstalk”. Both the writer and publisher of the story will be mentioned to the children.

2. The children will see the character of Jack ‘coming alive’ when the teacher points to the wall-painting.

3. As the teacher talks through the story, both the pictures in the book and on the wall painting will be used to stimulate and capture the interest of the children.

4. When the first run of the story-telling finishes, the teacher will now ask the children to listen and speak out the words “young”, “old”, “asleep” and “awake” from the second run of the story-telling.

5. This time, as the four words are told as part of the story (and emphasized by the teacher for each word), the teacher will also write these 4 words on the whiteboard by her side.

6. The teacher will then ask 2 boys to stand by his side at the front. The teacher will ask one boy to hold the walking-stick and ask him to walk like the old giant in the story, while the other boy puts on the baseball-cap to show that he is a boy.

7. Another 2 girls will be asked to volunteer to show the class what “asleep” and “awake” mean to them, and act it out.

8. The children will now be asked to take out their own journals and be prepared to spell the 4 words. The teacher will say the 4 words one by one, while the children writes them down on their journal. When they have finished, they will hand the journals to their teacher for marking.

(J) Closure :
1. To round out this learning experience, the children will be asked by the teacher if there are volunteers who wants to act as the four main characters of young Jack, his mother, the old giant and the beanstalk.

2. They will re-enact the scenes, as they see fit, for the next 7 to 8 minutes, before wrapping up and returning to their class.

(K) Follow-up :
1. At the end of the day, before the children finish their formal lessons, the children will be asked by the teacher if they remembered who fell asleep in the castle, and what happened to young Jack when the old giant was awake. This will reinforce the learning of these 4 words by the children.

2. They will be asked what is the opposite of “old”, and the opposite of “awake” to reinforce their learning.

Lesson Plan #1 : Reflection and Evaluation :

Q1 : What new learning has occurred for the children?
It was clear to me that the children were interested in the story of “Jack and the Beanstalk”, even though some of them have heard about it before. This allowed me to achieve my learning objectives of them listening, speaking and writing the 4 focus words.

Q2 : What part of the physical environment would need to be changed, and why?
The children took to the task of moving outside of the class to the side walkway of the centre with much delight. The walkway was a public area, and as such, there were some distractions when several people from the neighbourhood stopped briefly to watch the story-telling.
But by and large, the children were focused on their tasks at hand, including the period when they were required to write the words on their journal. So, space and materials supported the attainment of the lesson objectives well. What can be changed would be allocating more time to this lesson, from 40 minutes to 45 minutes to allow more time for the children to perform their play-acting, which they enjoyed.

Q3 : Which teaching strategies supported the children, and which need to be reconsidered?
The use of a story like “Jack and the Beanstalk” clearly supported the children’s learning. They were remained interested throughout the story itself. The use of props such as the walking stick, the baseball cap and the impromptu play-acting by the children added to their learning experience, as a whole.


Lesson Plan #1 : The Next Step

The children have learnt to spell 4 words as a result of this lesson plan. But I believe they learnt more than that. What stood out for me were 2 things:
1. the use of story-telling as the “vehicle” to reach out to the children was a successful endeavour. In this case, it helped me to bring the children to the point of achieving my lesson objectives with ease simply because they were interested in listening to the story.

2. that play-acting by the children drew out the usually silent children from their shells. I believe that because they were seeing their peers having so much fun with the play-acting, they too were drawn into this activity. They too were laughing side by side with their peers.

The next step for me would be to use this experience of story-telling and games to reach out to the children in what would be typically regarded by teachers as more “serious” subject areas such as science and math.

Student Self Evaluation

(1) Professional Knowledge and Behaviour:
Q : Have you provided a positive role model for children? Provide a brief example.

I have provided a positive role model for the children by constantly using proper English words and sentences when conversing with them. I find that the children are easily swayed by the way English as a language is used by their peers and their parents at home. It is therefore not surprising to find them using localized English frequently, and in my view, excessively by most of them.

I am of the opinion that preschool teachers need to ensure that the children in their classes do not fall into the easy ‘trap’ of using colloquial English when in school, both in conversations or when words and sentences are being constructed by them. When the children get older, this form of colloquial English will become even more difficult to change in their conversations and in writings. It is therefore the role of the preschool teacher to ensure that English is properly used and spoken in school, and at all times to instill its proper usage by the children.

Q : How well am I applying my knowledge of the theories of child development in the classroom?

I believe I have applied my knowledge of the theories of child development well in the classroom during this practicum.

From the beginning, I had wanted to inject play into my lesson plans, realizing the significance of play in teaching our children, as noted by Parten (Dockett, Fleer, 2002). For example, I took the initiative to bring all the children out of their classroom environment in one of my lessons on the subject area of language, and asked them to role-play the story of Jack and the Beanstalk in front of a large painting of one of its scenes in this story. Clearly, the children enjoyed that role-play as one of them took the role of the “Giant” and spouted loudly, “Fee, Fi, Fo, Fum”.

I was also able to scaffold the children’s understanding of the scientific concepts of sinking and floating, thus applying the theory espoused by Vygotsky (Mooney, 2000). The children were perplexed to find that a small grape actually sinks in water, while a larger orange floats. It was through my explanation of density that they were able to see why that was so, thus helping them to extend their own knowledge, through the guidance of an adult like me. The theory of ZPD, as stated by Vygotsky, was well on display then.


(2) Interactions with Children:
Q : How do I demonstrate appreciation of children’s effort?

I demonstrated appreciation of children’s effort by doing the following:
a) I acknowledged all their answers by writing them down on the whiteboard, when I asked them for answers to questions, or opinions on various matters.

b) I praise their role-playing efforts, regardless of how they actually performed their role-plays. Some of the children even extended the stories in their own ways. For example, one of them wanted to turn the axe into a laser gun to shoot down the Giant in the Jack and the Beanstalk story, instead of cutting down the beanstalk. I thought that that was indeed a creative display of the mind of that child.

c) I put up their drawings on the display areas within the class to acknowledge their individual efforts. I ensured that they are put up at their eye-level, and not at that of an adult’s, to allow them to see the fruits of their labour as well as their peers.

d) I openly praise any child that showed their efforts to help another peer of theirs, from the simple task of assisting another with putting away their toys, to bringing an eraser to the reach of another child.

e) I openly acknowledge the children whenever they displayed hygienic behaviours when performing their toileting needs, such as flushing the toilets immediately after use, or washing their hands with detergent and drying them carefully before returning to their classroom.


Q : How well do I interact with young children? Provide an example of your communication with young children in which you feel you interacted positively.

I believed that I interacted with the children very well. An example would be the day when a rabbit was brought into the Centre. Instead of getting them to gather round the rabbit to view it, I took the opportunity to turn it into a ‘teacheable moment’ by first asking them if they have pets at home, what they are and the names of their pets. I then asked them if a rabbit can be a pet, whether a rabbit is a mammal and the food that it eats. It was at this moment that I then brought the rabbit in, to show it to them, right in front of their very eyes, as they sat in a semi-circle. The delight on their faces clearly showed how much they enjoyed the occasion.


(3) Communication:
Q : How well do I interact with colleagues?

I interacted with my colleagues well. I had a healthy respect for all of them, not just the teachers but the cook and the cleaner, because I realized the difficult and challenging jobs that each of them had to discharge, every single day. I specifically interacted well with the class teacher, Teacher S because from the start of my practicum, she showed warmth in receiving me and more importantly, she showed a high level of care and concern for her class children, which I appreciate greatly and will try to replicate the same when I begin my own career in a preschool.

Q : How do I demonstrate positive working attitudes?

I demonstrated positive working attitudes by being 10 minutes early to work every day, which was an easy first step to make. That gave me the opportunity to meet some of the parents of my class children who drop their children off earlier than others. This was, in itself, a bonus for me. Having the chance to meet more of the parents gave me additional confidence in dealing with matters involving parents in the future.

I was always eager to learn, especially from Teacher S. I took the initiative to assist her in her lessons by asking her at the beginning of the day what were the things that I could do to help with her lessons. She was a willing partner in helping me understand all that I wanted to know to be a professional early childhood educator, like her. Whenever I was taking on her class with my own lesson plans, she took the initiative to provide feedback, both good and bad, on how I performed on that day with the children. I was therefore very appreciative of her personal efforts.

With the children, I was always mindful of the need to be respectful to them, and in return, I expected respect from them as well. I believe that this positive atmosphere would rub off to the children and in so doing, afford them the environment to learn optimally.


References
1. Dockett, S & Fleer, M. (2002), Play and pedagogy in early childhood : Bending the
rules. Harcourt, Australia.
2. Mooney, C. G. (2000), Theories of Childhood, p.93 . Readleaf Press, Division of
Resources of Child Caring, 450 N, Syndicate, Suite 5 St Paul, MN 55104.

Falling English Standard in Schools : Education Minister

Raise standard of English: Ng Eng Hen
A language institute will pool resources at national level, could eventually cater to teachers in other countries
Neo Chai Chin 05:55 AM Sep 18, 2009, Today Online

IT HAS been a long-standing issue punctuated by periodic media reports of bad English usage and the Speak Good English Movement's efforts.

Yesterday, Education Minister Ng Eng Hen issued the challenge to all teachers for the year ahead: Raise the standard of English.

In his keynote address at the Ministry of Education Work Plan Seminar, the most important speech in the annual education calendar, Dr Ng not only stressed the need to speak better English, he said Singapore can aim to be an English teaching hub for Asia.Language ability is "an important skill that we must cultivate in our students for this globalised world", where those able to communicate their ideas and convince others will have a competitive edge, he said.

"While most teachers are proud of our standards in, say, Maths and Science, we are less enamoured of our standard of English. This is a sensitive subject and I'm not raising it to demoralise teachers and students, but to signal that we should begin concerted efforts to raise the standard of English."

One of the building blocks for teachers will be an English Language Institute of Singapore - a recommendation of the English Language Task Force, itself newly set up by MOE in June, with Senior Minister of State (Education) S Iswaran as adviser and director-general of education, Ms Ho Peng, as its head.Dr Ng said the institute will pool resources at the national level and could eventually cater to English language teachers "in the region and beyond".

Progress is starting to show, with programmes such as Strategies for English Language Learning and Reading (Stellar) introduced to all Primary One classes this year and to be phased in at all levels by 2014. It aims to develop better speakers through the use of show-and-tell, role-play and dramatisation, and schools attest that Stellar students speak with more confidence.

Grammar is also taught more explicitly now, said Ms Jeyalaxmy Ayaduray, a teacher of 29 years who guides a cluster of schools in Literature-driven English programmes. Through exposure to books such as Sing To The Dawn, she sees Secondary One Express students' writing "getting more descriptive, with less paucity of ideas when they write".

Another boost will come next year: A new English Language curriculum for Primary One and Two students, as well as at the Secondary One Express and Normal (Academic) levels. It will focus on developing oral confidence, grammar knowledge and a love for reading, said an MOE spokesperson.For more senior students, a new subject called English Language and Linguistics was launched at six junior colleges and schools this year.

But Singapore's bilingual policy has served it well, and curriculum time for mother tongue languages will not be cut, assured Dr Ng.In a landscape where the proportion of Primary One students from English-speaking households has spiked in the last 25 years, however, getting students to use and appreciate their mother tongues should garner as much emphasis as test results, he said.

Today, English is the dominant home language for the majority of Primary One pupils - and in Malay households, the figure has grown from 27.7 per cent in 2005 to 35 per cent.

"We need to face these challenges for mother tongue languages squarely," said Dr Ng, who advocated the use of innovative approaches such as podcasts."If our students are put off by their mother tongue languages when they leave schools, then I think we have failed in our efforts."

Amazing Sand-painting - A Language in itself

When talent comes in the form of sand-painting like this, one gets blown away by the power that it holds as a language in itself.

Watch this beautiful (and touching) display of pure talent..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vOhf3OvRXKg

(thanks to Jennifer C of DPT class of 2008/09 for bringing this to us)

My ECE Assignments : Practicum #1, Vocational Placement

"My ECE Assignment" series is meant to demystify ECE and make it a more pleasurable endeavour for those of us who are willing to commit to it :

Module : Practicum #1, Vocational Placement

Observation #2 : Photographic Documentation
Time and Duration: 9.40am, 15 minutes
Setting: N2 classroom and Shakespeare Corner

Context and Narrative on Photographic Documentation:
L (4.3) was gathered together with his 6 other classmates in their N2 classroom. They were tasked by their teacher to colour a worksheet with a picture of a clown on it.

The children were seated around a table, and L (4.3) was together with 4 boys and 2 girls. His teacher was keeping an eye on all the children but was spending more time at the area closer to L (4.3).

After about 6 minutes into the observation, L (4.3) was asked to move from their current classroom area to a new area by the Shakespeare Corner. They were there for the next 15 minutes until the teacher called for the children to put their colour pencils and containers away, and be prepared to move back to their N2 classroom.

Interpretations:
Physical
L (4.3) appeared to have developed his fine motor skills well. At his age of 4 years and 3 months, his development in this area of fine motor skills was in line with his milestones (Bredekamp & Copple 1997, p. 105). He was able to use the pincer grip well, as he held his colour pencils to colour within the lines of the picture most of the time.

Intellectual and Linguistic
L (4.3) exhibited his development in the intellectual domain when he pointed out to his teacher that his classmate was doing his colouring in the wrong way, according to L (4.3)’s view. In other words, he was able to understand the teacher’s instructions and at the same time, able to perceive his classmate’s work as being incorrect. This fits in well with the theory expounded by Piaget, when he said that children at the age of 4 are in their “Preoperational Stage” and therefore, are expected to form ideas from experiences ( Mooney, 2000).

L (4.3)’s language skills can be better for his age group. When he said to his classmate, “No, I hit you”, it showed the level of linguistic development that he had achieved so far. According to Schickedanz., Schickedanz, Forsyth, Forsyth (2001) , he should be at a more advanced stage than his current development on language skills.

Emotional
L (4.3) had shown that he was prone to being angry. He showed this whenever he did not get his way, or if a classmate was viewed as provoking him. This was typified by his reaction to a classmate who accidentally covered his worksheet, while he was colouring. According to the theory described by Dr Howard Gardner (Campbell, Campbell, Dickinson 1999), L (4.3)’s interpersonal intelligence and intrapersonal intelligence were lacking. Not being able to self-regulate and self-control would be a potential problem for L (4.3) when he grows older.

Social
L (4.2) had shown that his social skills could be improved. When he was asked to move to a new area, he was unhappy with the change and showed his displeasure by snatching at the colour pencil containers that were held by another boy. His forceful nature had caused others to stay away from him, especially the girls. Such an aggressive disposition would become an issue for him, if left unchecked (Schickedanz , Schickedanz, Forsyth , Forsyth, 2001).

Observation #5: Work Sample
Time and Duration: 11.40am, 16minutes
Setting: K1 Classroom

Context: A (5.2) was given the task of completing a worksheet. It consisted of sentences with a word blanked out, for the children to fill in. They were then required to colour the pictures that were aligned to these sentences. All 12 children were seated by their tables, six to each table.

Narrative of Work Sample:
A (5.2) sat together with 2 other girls and 3 boys by a table. Her teacher asked for everyone to be quietly seated, while she passed six worksheets to A (5.2), who took one and handed the rest to the girl, L, seated next to her. A (5.2) was smiling when she first saw the worksheet and said to L, “Look , rabbits”, while pointing to a picture with 2 rabbits on it. L giggled with her.

A (5.2) was then given instructions by her teacher. She was told to read the sentences, complete them by filling in the missing word, and then to colour the pictures. A (5.2) focused on her work at hand by starting with the first sentence. She looked towards L, wanting to see if L had written the first missing word. She didn’t see L writing the word and looked back to her own worksheet. After 5 seconds, she filled in the first missing word. She looked up and realised that L had also written the same word. She flashed a smile and went back to completing the next sentences.

At one point, A (5.2) said to L, “ Do you know what this word is?”, pointing to the word “pretty”. L said she did not know. A (5.2) then stood up, walked over to her teacher and asked, “What word is this, teacher?”. Her teacher then prompted her by using the “Per” phonetic sound of the letter “p”. She then guided A (5.2) with the letter “r”, and so on, until the word was properly pronounced by A (5.2).

A (5.2) then walked back and told L, “It is [pretty]”, and smiled. A (5.2) completed the rest of the sentences, and began colouring the 5 pictures beside each sentence. She started colouring the rabbits first, and then went back to the first picture. Her colouring was not within the lines of two out of the 5 pictures, while the rabbits were coloured fully within the lines, in green.

Interpretations:
Physical
A (5.2) appeared to have developed her fine motor skills well, as shown by her good pincer grasp, when holding her pencil. This would have to be expected of her at her current age of 5 years and 2 months old, and in fact supported by expected milestones in her physical development, according to Bredekamp & Copple (1997). But when she seemed hurried, she was not colouring her pictures within the lines as well as she could.

Intellectual and Linguistic

A (5.2) was able to follow the instructions of her teacher well. She finished her sentences on her worksheet without much effort, showing that she understood verbs. She however needed assistance from her teacher with a more difficult word. The good thing was that she was spontaneous in asking for help from her teacher.

She was conversing with her friends using relatively good grammar in her sentences, which pointed to her good development linguistically.

Emotional
A (5.2) appeared to have a happy disposition. She smiled frequently and did not show any part of her temperament that was out of the norm. This made her an easy and likeable classmate to be with.

Social
A (5.2) worked well amongst her classmates. She appeared to have no hang-ups working along side either girls or boys. She appeared to particularly enjoy sitting beside and working with her classmate, L.

Observation #8 : Anecdotal Record
Time and Duration: 10.25am, 15 minutes
Setting: Dramatic Corner

Context: A (5.2) was given free play time at the Dramatic Corner with her 11 classmates. While her teacher was sitting on the side making observations on her class children, A (5.2) was playing with her plastic cup and saucer set, together with a boy, D.

Observations:
A (5.2) was seated against the wall. She had a plastic cup and saucer set with her, and pretended to make breakfast for her and her classmate, D. She included another play piece, in the shape of a fried egg and was making the “Shhee, shhee” sound to imitate the cooking of the fried egg.

She told D, “Breakfast is ready, D. You can come me and eat now”. She served the fried egg on a plate and pretended pouring Milo into the cup. When finished pouring, she said “There, drink”. D was happy to see A (5.2) serving breakfast to him and gave his thanks. A (5.2) joined him in eating, while making the “Chomp, chomp” sound.
Another girl came over to pick up A’s (5.2) cup and saucer, but A (5.2) did not react negatively to her. A (5.2) stood up and got hold of another play set of cup and saucer from the main kitchen play area.

While at the kitchen area, A (5.2) watched another girl, S cooking and asked “Is this breakfast?”. S said no but this would be lunch for the teacher. A (5.2) smiled and said to S, “Oh, can I cook with you?”. S agreed to the request and showed A (5.2) a ladle piece, and then asked A (5.2) to stand beside her and cook like her. A (5.2) flashed a big smile and moved beside S, and began cooking together.

A boy came over and tried to grab hold of the frying pan that S was using, and A (5.2) said to the boy, “Hey, that’s not yours!”, and both A (5.2) and S then said loudly for the boy to go away and play somewhere else. The boy noticed he was outnumbered and moved away from the 2 girls. Both girls giggled, as they began to finish their cooking and prepared to serve their food for the teacher.

Interpretations:
Physical
A (5.2) displayed her gross motor skills as she moved from area of the Dramatic Corner to the next with ease. She squatted down and stood up twice during her play, which showed that her large muscles of her legs were well developed. This was in line with her physical development at her age (Bredekamp & Copple, 1997).

Intellectual and Linguistic
A (5.2) was able to make pretend play a part of her daily interactions with her classmates, both when making breakfast and when cooking at the kitchen. This was in line with Jean Piaget’s Theory of the 4 Stages of Cognitive Development of a child (Mooney, 2000). Piaget’s theory expounded the notion that a child at the Pre-operational Stage would exhibit an ability to make mental representations, which were the cornerstones of pretend play.

A (5.2) showed good linguistic skills for a child of 5 years of age. Her sentences were grammatically correct most of the time. This coincided with her developmental milestones, according to Bredekamp & Copple (1997).

Emotional
A (5.2) showed her ability to control her emotions when one of her classmates snatched a toy away from her play area. She did not pursue the matter with him further, except to indicate her displeasure over the incident. Such self-regulation on her part showed her emotional development level her age of 5 (Schickedanz., Schickedanz, Forsyth, Forsyth, 2001).

Social

A (5.2) was socialising with her classmates well. She did not show a preference to play with girls only, as her time with classmate D showed. Her interpersonal intelligence was also on display as she moved from one group of classmates to the next, during her time making breakfast and the time cooking at the kitchen. She talked and socialised well with her classmates. This, according to Dr Howard Gardner, showed she had very good interpersonal intelligence (Campbell, Campbell, Dickinson 1999).

Reflections
6. Reflections on Tuesday, 23 September 2008.

The day started with an incident pertaining to the health of an N1 child. She was screened at the entrance for her temperature and checked for symptoms of HFMD, a daily procedure which this centre had instituted 18 months ago. The N1 child had a higher than normal temperature. Compounding that were blisters on her palms, as well as several ulcers in her mouth. Her father was told that his child needed to be taken to the nearest clinic for a doctor to examine her more thoroughly. He refused to do so, and said that he had to leave for his office matters, despite the centre supervisor’s best efforts to reason with him.

The child was brought to the office instead of her class, and isolated. It was decided by the supervisor that the child needed to be examined by a doctor as soon as possible. A call was made to her father to seek his permission for the centre to bring his child to see a local clinic doctor nearby. He agreed.

I decided to volunteer to bring this N1 child to the doctor, and the supervisor agreed to this task for me. After a 20 minute wait, the doctor confirmed that the child had HFMD. He wrote a note to her parents, requesting that their child be isolated at home for the next 7 days. I brought the child back to the centre, and related the doctor’s prognosis to the supervisor, who immediately called the child’s father to have his daughter brought. After 30 minutes, the child’s mother came to fetch her home.

My first instinct was to feel sympathy for the child, which I did. But when I heard from the supervisor that the child’s father did not mutter a word of appreciation for the centre’s initiative to bring his child to be examined by a doctor, I felt indignant. Why would a parent compromise his child’s health for his job’s requirements, I thought. And would it not be reasonable to expect a word of appreciation from this parent for the out-of-the-norm effort put in by the centre for his child?

As I thought about it more, I rationalised that the father might have felt angry that the centre had inflicted the HFMD virus on his child. In that instant, I realised that what the father did was understandable, but not excusable. His child’s health ought to be the first priority of his day, and not his job.

I also realised too that childcare centres of today carried a huge responsibility, not just for the education of a child but also the potential exposure of deadly illnesses such as HFMD to the children in the centre. It was therefore incumbent upon a teacher in the centre to ensure that the probability of an occurrence of such deadly illnesses to the children be minimized as much as possible, if not totally prevented from happening in the first place.

"Today/Voices" article - MCYS replies

Mon, Sep 14, 2009 at 9:52 AM, Patricia ANG wrote:

Dear Mr Lee

Please refer to your email dated 7 September 2009 sent to DrVivian Balakrishnan, Minister for Community Development Youth and Sports(MCYS), highlighting your article titled "Why leave us out" in TODAY on 3Sep 09.

2 The Ministry recognises the important role of early childhood educators in nurturing and moulding the future of our young children and has sought to provide that recognition through various avenues. Together with the Association for Early Childhood Educators, Singapore (AECES) the Ministry had organised the annual Child Care Seminars for the child care industry. In the past few years, the seminar event was the platform for thegiving out of the Early Childhood Teachers Award. Child care centres operators/ supervisors were invited to nominate their exemplary teachers for the award.

These efforts dovetail with our on-going collaboration with public and private agencies to create platforms and channels to profile theearly childhood profession. This year the Ministry collaborated with the Singapore Workforce Development Agency (WDA), the Ministry of Education(MOE) and key child care organisations and agencies to promote and enhance the professional image of early childhood educators, and position the early childhood sector as an industry of choice.

3 Since 2008, together with the MOE, who oversees the kindergarten sector, MCYS had put in place supporting measures and schemes to award grants, bursaries and scholarships to enable early childhood educators to upgrade their professional qualifications in early childhood care and education. These measures would invariably translate to enhanced professionalism, prospects and recognition for our early childhood educators.

4 We will continue to press on with efforts to give early childhood educators the recognition they deserved. The AECES has indicated that from next year it will be recognising all early childhood educatorswith a special dedication on Teachers' Day.

5 Once again, we would like to thank you for your feedback.

Yours sincerely
Lee Kim Hua
Director
Family Services Division for Permanent Secretary
Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sports
Patricia Ang (Ms) / Senior Family Services Officer / (Embedded image Family Services Division (FSD), Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sports



George Lee to Patricia ANG
date Mon, Sep 14, 2009 at 4:00 PM
subject Re: "Today" newspaper on the 'missing' Early Childhood Educators
Sep 14 (2 days ago)

Dear Mr Lee and Ms Ang,

Whilst I can see the efforts made by MCYS to bring forth a positive image for early childhood educators, as described in your reply, I don't think the public at large can see that same positive image on a day as significant as "Teachers' Day", precisely because the TV and print advertisements were totally quiet on ECE.

That was the point I was making. And I don't think it takes that much more effort for MCYS and/or MOE to include us, to be frank.

While AECES should be lauded for taking a step in the right direction next year (and given their vested interest, they should have done so, regardless), I would hope that the government itself, via MCYS, would pay a similar public recognition to us, which would mean a lot more not just to us but to the community at large (read: parents).

But I thank you for your reply, on behalf of Dr Balakrishnan, all the same.

warm regards,
George Lee

AECES replies to Today-Voices..

'We hear you'
Special dedication for them on Teachers' Day next year
Letter from Christine Chen President, Association for Early Childhood Educators Singapore 05:55 AM Sep 07, 2009

I REFER to "Why leave us out" (Sept 3).

We early childhood educators are a special breed who are often forgotten. It is in this belief of building foundations for learning that we carry out our professional responsibilities quietly and tenaciously, reassuring each other that indeed, we make a difference. We give without expecting any return but being affirmed once in a year - like what Mr George Lee has said - would indeed help.

Mr Lee's letter gave the Association for Early Childhood Educators Singapore an opportunity to reflect. As such, in 2010, the association will indeed affirm all early childhood educators with a special dedication on Teachers' Day for the important role that they play, not only in "foundation building", but also nation building.

http://www.todayonline.com/Voices/EDC090907-0000031/We-hear-you

"Why leave us out?" - Voices, Today

Why leave us out?
Pre-school teachers should be included in Teachers' Day
Letter from George Lee
05:55 AM Sep 03, 2009

SEPT 1 was Teachers' Day and it was heartening to see advertisements in print and on television, exhorting the virtues of the teaching profession.

But these inevitably talked about primary, secondary and tertiary educators. What about us, the early childhood educators?

Do we not count as educators in the eyes of the Education Ministry and the other relevant authorities? After all, do we not preside over the critical years of growth, as by the age of five, a child has already developed 92 per cent of an adult brain?

Do we not teach the young ones with the same degree of dedication and inventiveness as a primary or secondary school teacher? Many would argue, and justifiably so, that early childhood educators indeed do more than a typical teacher - on top of teaching, they provide the crucial care these two- to six-year-olds need, while their parents are busy at work, holding up the economy of this country.

Doesn't this fact alone justify a small advertisement on Teachers' Day by the Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sports, the ultimate gatekeepers of the more than 750 childcare centres in Singapore?

There are approximately 6,000 preschool teachers in Singapore. Don't we merit some recognition?

Why make us feel like the "poor cousins" of this noble profession of teaching?

Url in TodayOnline:
http://www.todayonline.com/Voices/EDC090903-0000059/Why-leave-us-out?


For completeness, this was the original letter that was sent to the Today newspaper on 01Sept:

Why treat us like the 'poor cousins' of the teaching profession?

Today, being Teachers' Day, it is heartening to see advertisements in both the print and TV media, exhorting the virtues of the teaching profession. But they inevitably relate these virtues to primary, secondary and tertiary educators.

But what about us, the early childhood educators?

Do we not count in the eyes of the ministries as educators?
Do we not preside over the most critical years of a growing human being, when by the age of 5, a child has already formed 92% of an adult brain?
Do we not teach the young ones to the same degree of dedication and inventiveness as a primary or secondary school teacher?

Many would argue, and justifiably so, that the early childhood educators are indeed doing more than a typical teacher by the mere fact that, on top of teaching, they are providing the crucial care that the 2- to 6-year olds need, while their parents are busy holding up the economy of this country.

Doesn't this fact alone justify a small advertisement in the papers today by MCYS, who are the ultimate gatekeepers of the over 750 childcare centres (or approximately 6000 preschool teachers!) in this country, to recognise us?

Why make us feel like the 'poor cousins' of this noble teaching profession, whenever we open the daily papers every Teachers' Day?

"Taare Zameen Par" - a beautiful movie on dyslexia

Taare Zameen Par

What a beautifully-crafted Hindi movie on the trials and tribulations of an 8-year old boy struggling to live his life with dyslexia. Shown last Saturday on the Vasantham channel, I had learnt more about children with dyslexia in 3 hours than all the 33 hours I spent in class on "Introduction to Special Needs".

Here's the hauntingly, but deeply meaningful song in the movie:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ODC62hinvkg&feature=related

Catch it again if you can.

(Thanks to Geeta, DPT class of 2008/09 for bringing this movie to our attention)

My ECE Assignments : Supervision

"My ECE Assignment" series is meant to demystify ECE and make it a more pleasurable endeavour for those of us who are willing to commit to it :

Module: Supervision
Individual Assignment: Case Study Project – Mechanics of Supervision

1. Profile of Supervisee
a) Name : Teacher J Age : 31

b) Period of Knowing the Teacher : 13 months

c) Adult Development Stage : Stage 6 - Intimacy vs Isolation

d) Teacher Development Stage : Stage 2 – Consolidation

e) Needs of the Teacher:

As an adult, J is looking at establishing a stronger sense of self. She relates strongly to her role as an early childhood educator. As a parent herself, she seemed intent on making a success of both her roles as a parent and as an educator. This seems to be her primary need, at the moment.

As a teacher, J seeks to consolidate her experiences she has gained over the past 3 years working in a childcare centre environment. She believes she has the skills to focus on individual students and help them in furthering or accelerating their individual developments.

2. Plan – The Model

a) Introduction

Teacher J is grappling with the issue of managing a specific focus child in her class. The child, M (5.3) has been exhibiting behaviours that she regards as aggressive. M bites, kicks and punches other children in his class. His behavior has caused frequent disruptions to J’s class lessons. More importantly, it has caused the parent of 1 of the children affected by M’s (5.3) behaviour to lodge a formal complaint to the Centre. The affected child has described to her parent about M’s (5.3) unruly behaviour towards her in class.

b) Objective of Plan

To provide J with the support necessary to better manage M (5.3) in her class environment so that disruptions to her lessons are minimized, and M (5.3) can be put on a path of more acceptable behaviours in class.

c) Short-term goals

i) To give J an objective view of her lesson delivery in class and of M’s (5.3) behaviour through my observations, as her supervisor.

ii) To give her the support necessary to manage M (5.3) better in class.

d) Long-term goal

i) To bring about a positive change in the behaviour of M (5.3) that will be for the long term.

e) Process and Strategies

i) To observe J’s class, when M (5.3) is present, for 30 minutes.
ii) To provide a lesson observation record of a typical class she is teaching..
iii) To provide feedback to J, and draw up an action plan to meet both the short-term and long-term goals.
iv) To involved the parents of M (5.3) if his behaviour has not improved after 4 weeks of closer observations.

3. Self Evaluation

a) Reflecting the Supervisory Process

The supervisory process that I have deployed here gave a methodical way of dealing with a specific issue that a teacher was facing, in this case, managing the challenging behaviours of a focus child, through a lesson observation.

The process enabled both the teacher and I, as her supervisor, to be clear about our objective of the plan. Both short-term and long-term goals were discussed and clarified. More importantly, they were agreed to. This process gave me the sense that the teacher was committed to meeting the goals, precisely because they were jointly discussed and documented. The teacher had a stake, as it were, in making sure that the goals were met.

However, what made this process a little more challenging for the both of us, was the factor of time. Or the lack of it, to be precise. Within the rigours of a typical day, the time available for following up on the observations and analyses was the most pressing. But with both of us taking a committed stance to wanting to make a positive change for the focus child, M (5.3), this supervisory process lent itself well to managing issues of this nature.

b) Beliefs and Values as a Supervisor

As a supervisor, I carry these 3 beliefs and values:

i) that a teacher will always want to do her best for the children in her class if given the right environment and the right level of support. By environment, I mean both the physical and emotional aspect of the environment within a preschool. By support, I refer to the support from the management. If both of these conditions are made available to the teacher, it is my belief that the teacher will deliver her best work.

ii) it is incumbent upon the teacher to act as the “first-port-of-call” for the children in her class. By this, I mean that the children must view the teacher as the first sanctuary when they feel that they are in trouble, when in school. This puts the teacher’s role as that of a counselor, as well as her primary role in teaching.

iii) as a supervisor, I value honesty and character on the part of the teacher. This means that the teacher has to be truthful in situations where conflicts between them and the parents, or their colleagues have arisen. Only then will the real character of the teacher be brought to the fore. As a supervisor, I understand the daily pressures of delivering the duties of a teacher in an early childhood education setting. But the honesty from a teacher must never be compromised.

c) Strengths and Weakness as a Supervisor

Strengths:
I view my clarity in communicating the goals of a project as my strength. As part of management, clear communications to staff members is a very important job requirement for a supervisor. This will allow for common objectives to be relayed to the staff succinctly and as accurately as possible so that everyone in the team is fully synchronized to achieve those common objectives.

Being a supervisor for only 1 year, my level of experience in the supervisory field is relatively low. This, I regard, as my weakness. There are numerous challenges in supervision that I have yet to experience, or significant challenges to overcome in the course of being a supervisor. These challenges could be a parent-centred or an administrative issue that may impact the entire centre. As such, a lengthier period as a supervisor will stand me in good stead.

e) Changes in the Future

A change that I would like to see happen in the future is in providing more proactive support for the teaching staff in my team. Instead of acting on a specific complaint from a parent, I would like to embark on a quarterly review of each teacher that involves in-class observations by me, as their supervisor.

This will enable a proper assessment to be made of the teacher’s challenges in class on a typical day. This action would enable me to detect the presence of an overly aggressive child in a class and determine if a teacher requires assistance in managing that child, therefore pre-empting another case of a parent lodging a formal complaint.


4. Appendix

(A) Journal of Meetings with Teacher J

(B) Observation Record of Teacher J

Appendix (A) : Journal of Meetings with Teacher J

(1) Monday, 22 February ( 9.10am – 9.40am)

Acting on the formal complaint of a parent that his child (T) was being intimidated by another child, M (5.3) in class, I decided to call Teacher J into the office for a discussion on what had actually happened.

I started by letting her know that the purpose of the meeting was to understand the circumstances that may have caused a parent to lodge a formal complaint.

Teacher J seemed apprehensive at first, but I assured her that I was there to assist her with the issue at hand, that is, addressing the parent’s complaint.

I described the nature of the complaint in full to her. She agreed that M (5.3) had been showing behaviours that were aggressive. She felt she had tried her best to manage M (5.3). She described an incident last week when she caught M (5.3) pushing T away from taking hold of a wooden block, thus causing her to cry. Teacher J intervened and asked M (5.3) to apologized to T, which he did. On a typical day, M (5.3) would display his aggressive behaviour at least twice. Teacher J had used various tactics to manage M (5.3) including getting him to sit next to her so that she could keep a close eye. That seemed to work, but after 2 minutes or so, M (5.3) would play up again by moving away to another area of the class, thus disrupting the class lesson when Teacher J had to respond to M (5.3).

I told Teacher J that I would like to observe her class, and with an independent eye, give her my own observations. The idea was to give her a possibly different perspective on M’s (5.3) behaviour and also J’s own class management techniques. From there, we can then discuss what other methods we could implement to provide positive guidance to M (5.3). We agreed that I would observe her class on Wednesday, 25 February, to be followed by a review meeting on Friday, 27 February.

I also mentioned that we would then follow up with T’s parent within the next month to give him an update on our actions to prevent any recurrence that would impact T negatively.

We ended the meeting after we had summarized the action steps. Teacher J appeared relieved that she was getting additional help from me.

(2) Friday, 27 February (8.40am -9.45am)

In the office, I described what I had observed to Teacher J by showing her the lesson observation record that I had filled out.

Teacher J was mindful of the need to listen to what I had to say. She was surprised by one of my observations which showed that she did not give M (5.3) sufficient time to return his worksheet to her and prepare for his next lesson. This had caused M (5.3) to push his worksheet on the floor, in so doing, caused him to irritable for about 10 minutes.

She was happy that overall, her other methods of manage the class in general, and managing M (5.3) in particular was quite effective, based on my observations.

I mentioned to her that we would draw up some short-term goals that we could achieve to help M (5.3) to better manage his emotions. We would also follow up with T’s parent to give him an update of our actions.

Longer term, we will review M’s (5.3) behaviour over the next 3 months, and if the need arose, we will meet with M’s (5.3) parents with the intention of sharing with them our observations of M (5.3) and to recruit their help in managing M’s (5.3) emotions better and developing his social skills.

Teacher J agreed to this action plan. She appeared happy that a plan to work on M (5.3) had been drawn up. When I asked her what she felt about this whole process which started with our meeting on Monday, 22 February, she stated that it was good that the focus was on ways to help make M (5.3) manage his emotions better, and not about apportioning blame as to why T’s parent had lodged a complaint in the first place. We ended our meeting with a warm handshake

LESSON OBSERVATION (Appendix B )
NAME: Teacher J DATE: Wed, 25 February
CLASS: K1 TIME: 10.05am – 10.35am
ACTIVITY: Language Lesson

PROCESSES
OBSERVATION

1. PLANNING
Clear objectives
Content knowledge
Selecting content/materials/media
· Determination of procedures

- Lesson Plan had clear objectives
- You are knowledgeable on the contents you had taught
- I would encourage you to use better props for your story
- Well thought out procedures


2. DEVELOPING THE LESSON
Arousing interest
Stimulating thinking
Encouraging participation
Maintaining pace of lesson
· Lesson closure

- You held the interest of the children in your class well
- You used good questioning techniques
- All the children participated. Although M was distracted a few times
- Good use of pace of your lesson, except at the end
- You should consider giving the children more time to prepare for their transition

3. COMMUNICATING
Explaining and informing
Questioning and responding
Use of voice
Command of language
· Using media and resources

- You explain to the children what you wanted to teach them
- The children responded well to your questions
- Good use of your voice. This is your strength..keep it up.
- You have a good command of the English language
- Please consider using the computer to reinforce your teaching


4. MANAGING
Establishing rapport
Managing behaviours
Managing group/individual work
· Managing time

- Your reached out to the children well, without showing any favourites
- M’s behaviour was disruptive. Consider giving him a role-model in class
- Well coordinated grouping. But give children more time for transition
- Overall, time management was good, except for transitions

5. EVALUATING
Using and giving pupil feedback
Monitoring pupil understanding
Encouraging pupil evaluation
Using and marking written work

- The children felt engaged with you – good job!
- Do ask a few students to write the words on the whiteboard
- Do ask the children if what they had written was correct
- Use the nap time for this

TEACHER’S CHARACTERISTICS

Task orientation -Very Good
Flexibility -Very Good
Enthusiasm -Excellent
Warmth -Good

PROFESSIONAL ATTITUDE/CONDUCT

Overall, you projected to the children a professional image. You are confident and most importantly, you are enthusiastic. Such an attitude will stand you in good stead as you progress from year to year as an early childhood educator.

Supervisor’s Signature: _______ Teacher’s Signature: _______

Charlie bit me!

How can you not laugh..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_OBlgSz8sSM&NR=1&feature=fvwp

And here's the funky version..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pOle1AnPOc4&feature=related

Project Approach - Real Examples

Have you Project Approach-ed yet?


Here's a Project Approach site that will be valuable in your own development of a topic and execution of a project for your children:





http://www.projectapproach.org/index.php?option=com_bookmarks&Itemid=91&mode=0&catid=7&navstart=0&search=*

Laugh lah..Children are quick (and smart)

TEACHER: Maria, go to the map and find North America
MARIA: Here it is..
TEACHER: Correct. Now class, who discovered America ?
CLASS: Maria.
____________________________________

TEACHER: John, why are you doing your math multiplication on the floor?
JOHN: You told me to do it without using tables.
__________________________________________

TEACHER: Glenn, how do you spell 'crocodile?'
GLENN: K-R-O-K-O-D-I-A-L'
TEACHER: No, that's wrong
GLENN: Maybe it is wrong, but you asked me how I spell it.
____________________________________________

TEACHER: Donald, what is the chemical formula for water?
DONALD: H I J K L M N O.
TEACHER: What are you talking about?
DONALD: Yesterday you said it's H to O.
__________________________________


TEACHER: Winnie, name one important thing we have today that we didn't have ten years ago.
WINNIE: Me!
__________________________________________

TEACHER: Glen, why do you always get so dirty?
GLEN: Well, I'm a lot closer to the ground than you are.
_______________________________________

TEACHER: Millie, give me a sentence starting with 'I.'
MILLIE: I is . . .
TEACHER: No, Millie . . .. Always say, 'I am.'
MILLIE: All right . . . 'I am the ninth letter of the alphabet.'
_________________________________

TEACHER: George Washington not only chopped down his father's cherry tree, but also admitted it. Now, Louie, do you know why his father didn't punish him?
LOUIS: Because George still had the axe in his hand.
______________________________________

TEACHER: Now, Simon, tell me frankly, do you say prayers before eating?
SIMON: No sir, I don't have to, my Mom is a good cook.
______________________________

TEACHER: Clyde, your composition on 'My Dog' is exactly the same as your brother's. Did you copy his?
CLYDE: No, sir. It's the same dog.
___________________________________

TEACHER: Harold, what do you call a person who keeps on talking when people are no longer interested?
HAROLD: A teacher

(thanks to Jennifer Britannia of DPT class of '08/09 for bringing this to us)

My ECE Assignments : Education Psychology

"My ECE Assignment" series is meant to demystify ECE and make it a more pleasurable endeavour for those of us who are willing to commit to it :

Module: Education Psychology
Individual Assignment – Essay on:

Discuss the contribution of Behaviourist and Social Constructivist traditions in teaching and learning

Introduction

Both behaviourists and social constructivists have long provided significant contributions to the growth and development of young children, and in understanding how learning in young children occurs.

Behaviourists are proponents of theories emphasizing change that originates in the environment through learning (Charlesworth, 2004). On the other hand, constructivists are believers in the idea that children construct their own knowledge through interaction with the environment, and for social constructivists, the importance of peer and adult interactions in facilitating knowledge construction as well.

A closer examination of these two views on early childhood development will bring additional clarity on how they influence learning, and as a result, how they impact teaching.

Body Content

Theoretical Views and Their Influences on Learning and Teaching

Burrhus Frederic (B.F.) Skinner

No discussion on behaviourism is complete without addressing the works of B. F. Skinner. He was a leading behavioural psychologist who stated that learners’ actions are controlled more by the consequences of a behaviour than by the events preceding it. In his most influential paper, “A Brief Survey of Operant Behaviour”, Skinner wrote,

“It has long been known that behaviour is affected by its consequences. We rewardand punish people, for example, so that they will behave in different ways.” (B.F. Skinner Foundation Website, 2009)

Skinner developed the idea of "operant conditioning". Operant conditioning is the rewarding of a behavior or a random act that approaches the desired behavior. Operant conditioning can therefore be used to shape behavior. An example would be that if children hear language, imitate it and are rewarded for making sounds, they will learn to talk.

His theory can thus be applied in teaching young children in numerous ways. One example is that an early childhood educator worried about a very aggressive child in her class can keep a count of each time this aggressive child hurts another child, or when he breaks a toy. She also observes and notes down each incident in which the child does something that is regarded as non-aggressive. The next week, she makes it a point to give attention to the child when he does something positive, while totally ignoring his bad behaviour, unless he is hurting another child in the class, in which case, he will be told to sit separately on a “cool down” chair, to regain his own control. After 3 weeks, she counts the incidents of aggressive behaviour and positive behaviour. She then finds that the positive behaviours have increased, while those of the negative type, have decreased.

This teacher has therefore, used Skinner’s behaviourist theory to mould the behaviour of this aggressive child in her class.


Lev Vygotsky

Russia-born Lev Vygotsky is the leading theorist in social constructivism. According to Vygotsky, cognitive skills and patterns of thinking are not primarily determined by innate factors, but are the consequence of the activities practiced in the social institutions of the culture in which a young child grows up. As a result, the historical background of the society in which a child is brought up and the child's personal history are crucial determinants of the way in which that individual will think.

Vygotsky’s ideas have significantly changed the way educators think about children’s interactions with others. He demonstrated that social and cognitive development work together and build on top of each other.

One essential principle in Vygotsky's theory is the notion of the existence of what he called the "zone of proximal development", or ZPD (Mooney, 2000). Zone of proximal development is the difference between the child's capacity to solve problems on his own, and his capacity to solve them with help, either from peers or from adults. In other words, the actual developmental level refers to all the functions and activities that a child can actually do on his own, independently without the help of anyone else. On the other hand, the zone of proximal development includes all the functions and activities that a child can perform only with the assistance of someone else. The person in this scaffolding process, providing non-intrusive intervention to the child’s construction of knowledge, could be an adult (parent, teacher, language instructor) or another peer who has already mastered that specific activity or function..

Zone of proximal development has many implications for those in the educational field. One of them is the idea that human learning presupposes a specific social nature and is part of a process by which children grow into the intellectual life of those around them. According to Vygotsky, a key feature of learning is that it brings about a variety of internal developmental processes that are able to operate only when the child is in the action of interacting with people in his environment and in cooperation with his peers.

Vygotsky's theory is also an attempt to explain consciousness as the end product of socialization. For example, in the learning of language, the first utterances with peers or adults are for the purpose of communication but once mastered they become internalized and allow "inner speech" (Social Development Theory Website, 2009)

One practical example of how Vygotsky’s theory influenced the field of early childhood education is when a teacher supports the child’s language development by reinforcing the child’s efforts at verbal expression during story-telling. The teacher can extend the experience by asking the child questions and relating the story to the child’s personal experiences. Such a method of teaching will help the child construct his knowledge further than he currently knows or understands.


Conclusion

One can see that the contributions of both the behaviourist and the social constructivist in the field of early childhood education have been substantial. While the behaviourist sets out to mould the learning of young children through shaping their behaviours with rewards and punishment, the social constructivist looks at the construction of knowledge of young children through active social interactions, through the process of scaffolding and in concert with their environment.

In truth, within the context of a typical classroom, the early childhood educator will likely by using both views of childhood development to teach her children. This would stand to reason, given the wide scope of influence these 2 traditions of teaching has on the education of our young children.

References

1. B.F. Skinner Foundation Website [Online Database]. Retrieved 11 March 2009 from
the World Wide Web: http://www.bfskinner.org/brief_survey.html

2. Charlesworth, R. (2004), Understanding Child Development, 6th Edition, p.11. Delmar
Learning, Executive Woods, 5, Maxwell Drive, Clfiton Park, NY 12065-2919

3. Mooney, C. G. (2000), Theories of Childhood, p.82 . Readleaf Press, Division of
Resources of Child Caring, 450 N, Syndicate, Suite 5 St Paul, MN 55104.

4. Social Development Theory Website [Online Database]. Retrieved March 14, 2009
from World Wide Web: http://tip.psychology.org/vygotsky.html