Learner Record 10

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/

www.Siolta.ie/standards

www.ncca.ie

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