Learner
Record Entry 10
I
started to do my assignment in Greenfield Childcare in Roscommon to do
observation for my Child Development module and care and education routine for
my Early Care and Education Practice module.
Even I have only few days visits, I learned a lot while observing staff
and children, how they record everything, and most importantly their
development in a safe environment.
We
believe that Greenfield Childcare provide equal opportunity for every child and
that play activities are age appropriate and suitable for boys and girls and
also for diverse cultures. They have
also Montessori room, but I did not get a chance to visit it, but I know staff
work together and explores range of ideas and activities that help to integrate
multicultural curriculum in all aspect, like books, intercultural dolls and
jigsaws.
In
planning and implementing an education and care routine it is important to
based them on Aistear themes. These
themes aim that children will be strong psychologically and socially, that they
will be as healthy and fit as they can be, that they will have positive
outlooks on learning and on life and that they will be creative and
spiritual.
The
theme Exploring and Thinking is about children making sense of the
things, places and people in their world by interacting with others, playing,
investigating, questioning, and forming, testing and refining idea. One example is Parol (Filipino Lanterns). I think doing this activity with the children
will teach them that each culture has different customs and religions and get
them to understand diversity a little more.
How the Filipino use these lanterns to celebrate Christmas and for the
children no to be racist because of the way other people live and do things
differently. It is a fun activity and
anyone can do and also the children would gain knowledge that it is acceptable
to celebrate occasions in many ways. I
feel it will keep the children amused, get their attention, and will enjoy
doing something creative and stimulate their minds. Additional activity that would like on this
theme are playdough, painting, creativity, nature, patterns and connections.
Emotional well-being and self-esteem: Well-being theme is about children
being confident, happy and health as such focuses on developing as a
person. It has two main elements the
psychological well-being (including feeling and thinking) and physical
well-being. Their relationships and
interactions with their families and communities contribute significantly to
their sense of well-being. The need to
feel valued, respected, empowered, cared for and included. Also, they need to respect themselves, other
and their environment. Physical well-being is important too, for learning and
development as this enables children to explore, to investigate, and to
challenge themselves in environment which in partnership with adult to achieve
its learning goals. My activity will
allow children feel more confident, happy, relax, improve self-esteem and
self-concept, sense of belonging, self-expression and the opportunity to
achieve when they are able to manage task. Through my activity the children can
build self-confidence by facing fears, overcoming obstacles and learning new
physical or intellectual skills.
The
theme Identity and Belonging is about children developing a positive
sense of who they are, and feeling that they are valued and respected as part
of a family and community. Giving
children messages of respect, love, approval and encouragement enables them to
develop a positive sense of who they are and a feeling that they have an
important. Positive messages about their
families, backgrounds, cultures, beliefs, and language help children to develop
pride in who they are. These messages give them confidence to voice their views
and opinions, to make choices and help shape their own learning. I found evidence of this since every room in
the setting that I was in, every child is welcomed, they were allowed to choose
what toys they want to play and that each child has his/her own coat hook. Their picture with date of birth, pictures of
family, drawings and all the work art are displayed on the wall or on top of
the press. This evident when I saw
laminated placemat with their own finished artwork with their name on it during
their snack time.
The
theme Communicating is about children sharing their experiences,
thoughts, idea, and feelings with others with growing confidence and competence
in a variety of ways and for a variety of purposes. It involves giving, receiving and making
sense of information. Children do this
by using non-verbal means of communication, talking, listening, thinking and
understanding. A good communicator is a crucial to children’s development, as
adult we encourage children to communicate by listening to them, interpreting
what they are saying, responding to them and by modelling good communication. I
found evidence of this in one of my observation, when a boy complained that a
girl hit him how the staff handled the situation using her skills to
communicate with two kids. How she makes
them shook hands that the boy will be ok.
Some
of my talents that I can share with children, parents and staff are singing,
playing keyboard, arts and crafts, games, storytelling, making animal sounds,
computer, playing drums, etc. I would be
happy to learn more, for me learning is unending. As of my weakness, there is a word on that in
our language “Ningas kugon”, I don’t really know the English of the two words.
It is like if I get interested on something, I will be very excited about it
for few weeks only and then after that, I tend to forget and being lazy. I need someone to push or encourage me to
keep going.
I
usually learned from observing others where I can pick up techniques and methods
of dealing with children. Staff from my placement are very good and I feel they
all work well together as a team. I am
aware of the importance of a good relationship with parents, as a good
relationship benefits the child, parent and those who work with children. As I mentioned earlier on a theme
Communicating, it is important to have a good communication skill since this is
crucial to children’s development and skills to talk to parents. Staff motivate children by taking a real
interest in what they are doing. It is
important that relationship between the child and childcare worker is built on
trust. Children need to feel safe and
secure with their carer and they will feel this if you have a good
interpersonal skill. These skills are
essential when working with children as a significant part of work is about
relationships and communicate effectively.
Writing
this journal increase my awareness and help me to observe, think and analyse,
since I was stagnant for 10 years. I
find writing the learner record for these assignments help me to look at my own
work in childcare and to keep in touch with my feelings. I use my interpersonal skills, verbal
communications skills and non-verbal communication skills while working with
staff and children by doing my observation, education and care routine planning
and implementation using the Siolta standard and Aistear theme.
I
am aware that practising in a professional manner require that individuals have
skills, knowledge, values and attitudes appropriate to their role and
responsibility within the setting which is inline with Siolta Standard 11 and
also a regular reflection, engagement and support on my ongoing professional
and development helps me a lot.
Since
I starting my placement in Greenfield Childcare, I am aware of the importance
of effective team work within the members of staff I am with. I am more aware of my personal growth through
my observation and during my care and education routine implementation. To be effective Childcare worker, one must
explore what works best. We must look at
ourselves and encourage dynamic interactions with children and other staff
members. This will give us a good
learning more about all important thing to work as a team to incorporate into
our work.
For
my conclusion of my work placement, and having completed this Learner Record, I
feel I have a good skill when it comes to dealing with children. I have the ability to communicate well with
children, parents and with staff and very patient when it comes to
children. I am reliable, honest, trust
worthy and responsible and I believe it’s a trait that would best work to a
team. Lastly, I am very interested in a
child’s development, as it plays an important role in their lives.
References
Child
Development by Eilis Flood 2013
http://greenfieldschildcare.com/
Flood,
E. and Hary, C. 2013, Early Childhood Education and Play Dublin: Gill &
Macmillan.
French
(2007). The Framework for Early Learning
– Children’s Early learning and development. Dublin: NCCA
NCCA
2009, Aistear: The Early Childhood Curriculum Framework – Guidelines for Good
Practice. Dublin
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