Numeracy:
National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) & National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM) 2010, Position Statement: Early Childhood Mathematics: Promoting Good Beginnings, accessed 14 October 2013 from http://www.naeyc.org/files/naeyc/file/positions/psmath.pdf
Literacy:
Christ, T. & Wang, C 2010, Bridging the Vocabulary Gap: What the research tells us about vocabulary instruction in early childhood in Young Children, pp. 84 - 91.
Why:
I found myself at the stage where I needed to start lesson planning for placement and realised that I was underprepared to implement lessons that were literacy and numeracy specific. I found both these articles very useful as they both included effective and research-proven teaching strategies that could be easily implemented in the classroom.
Summary:
The numeracy reading by the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) & National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM) discusses strategies that need to be taken by both educators (within the classroom) as well as institutions, program developers and policy makers (beyond the classroom) in ensuring a high quality mathematical teaching curriculum and environment in the early childhood setting (It is important to note that this article was based in America where a set curriculum is used even in the early childhood setting) (NCTM & NAEYC 2010, pp. 3 - 13). Below is a list of the main strategies stated in the article.
Implications:
Both of the readings provided many teaching strategies that can be effective for teaching numeracy and literacy in the early childhood setting. I think that when lesson planning, I must be able to understand the children more and really observe and look for opportunities to build lessons surrounding that prior knowledge. I also understand that it is important to not only directly instruct the child but instead prompt the child to make connections, be it through verbal guidance or the way the classroom environment is set up. As early childhood children are at the age where they literally absorb knowledge like a sponge, it is important that we strive to constantly pose new challenges and new knowledge and new concepts to the child each day so that they can learn more and absorb more. After this reading, I headed over to placement with the intention of introducing blocks and shapes to the nursery room I'm at. I got some blocks and shape boxes and put them in front of the babies. Every time the baby touched a specific shape, I would directly tell them what shape it was. I also repeated myself a fair bit (which must have annoyed the poor child), but soon after, I realised that the older babies who were about to transition over to the toddler room begin to imitate what I was saying. They would touch a block and say 'square' or say 'triangle' every time they fit the triangle into the right shaped hole. It's amazing how quickly children learn, really.
Why:
I found myself at the stage where I needed to start lesson planning for placement and realised that I was underprepared to implement lessons that were literacy and numeracy specific. I found both these articles very useful as they both included effective and research-proven teaching strategies that could be easily implemented in the classroom.
Summary:
The numeracy reading by the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) & National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM) discusses strategies that need to be taken by both educators (within the classroom) as well as institutions, program developers and policy makers (beyond the classroom) in ensuring a high quality mathematical teaching curriculum and environment in the early childhood setting (It is important to note that this article was based in America where a set curriculum is used even in the early childhood setting) (NCTM & NAEYC 2010, pp. 3 - 13). Below is a list of the main strategies stated in the article.
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Strategies for
Educators
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Strategies for
Institutions, Policy makers and Program Developers
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1. Enhance
children’s natural interest in mathematics and their disposition to use it to
make sense of their physical and social worlds
2. Build on children’s experience and knowledge,
including their family, linguistic, cultural, and community backgrounds;
their individual approaches to learning; and their informal- knowledge
3. Base mathematics curriculum and teaching
practices on knowledge of young children’s cognitive, linguistic, physical,
and social- emotional development
4. Use curriculum and teaching practices that
strengthen children’s problem-solving and reasoning processes as well as
representing, communicating, and connecting mathematical ideas
5. Ensure that the curriculum is coherent and
compatible with known relationships and sequences of important mathematical
ideas
6. Provide for children’s deep and sustained interaction
with key mathematical ideas
7. Integrate mathematics with other activities and
other activities with mathematics
8. Provide ample time, materials, and teacher
support for children to engage in play, a context in which they explore and
manipulate mathematical ideas with keen interest
9. Actively introduce mathematical concepts,
methods, and language through a range of appropriate experiences and teaching
strategies
10. Support children’s learning by thoughtfully and
continually assessing all children’s mathematical knowledge, skills, and
strategies.
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1. Create more effective early childhood teacher
preparation and continuing professional development
2. Use collaborative processes to develop well
aligned systems of appropriate high-quality standards, curriculum, and
assessment
3. Design institutional structures and policies that
support teachers’ ongoing learning, team- work, and planning
4. Provide resources necessary to overcome the
barriers to young children’s mathematical proficiency at the classroom,
community, institutional, and system-wide levels.
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Adapted from 'Position Statement: Early Childhood Mathematics: Promoting Good Beginnings' (NAEYC & NCTM 2010, p. 3) via http://www.naeyc.org/files/naeyc/file/positions/psmath.pdf
Most of the strategies for educators involve building on the child's interest and prior knowledge to make mathematical concepts meaningful and for the child to be able to connect new knowledge with prior knowledge. It was also noted that it was important to understand the child's background before planning the best methods to convey new mathematical knowledge. During the lesson, the article stresses the need for mathematics to be taught across the curriculum and not just in mathematics class alone. Mathematical vocabulary can be built in any subject at all. In terms of strategies beyond the classroom, both inservice teachers and preservice teachers need to be equipped and prepared to have well knowledge of the mathematical concept as well as the best ways to implement them in classrooms. NAEYC & NCTM (2010, p. 10) note that mathematics in classrooms can only be successful if the teacher is equally positive about mathematics personally. Policy makers also need to invest in professional development of educators as well as resources and public awareness education on the important of numeracy in the early childhood setting.
The literacy reading by Christ & Wang (2010) discuss the vocabulary development in children and the importance of having effective teaching methods to constantly expand a child's vocabulary. The article begins by explaining how children develop their vocabularies. It is stated that children learn new words by being exposed to new words and through two processes, mainly 'fast mapping' and 'word consciousness' (Christ & Wang 2010, pp. 85-86). Fast mapping basically refers to the construction of a word meaning through association with prior knowledge, whereas word consciousness refers to the child's awareness of a word and his curiosity in knowing about the word (Christ & Wang 2010, p.85). The article then proceeded to include four vocabulary-teaching strategies that are:
1. Provide purposeful exposure to new words
This referred to intentionally setting an environment that is rich of new words so that children are constantly exposed to it and are able to pick up new words. This could be done through reading out stories, using appropriate terminologies and language in instructions and by use of technology and multimedia (Christ & Wang 2010, pp. 87 - 88)
2. Intentionally teach word meanings
Christ & Wang (2010, p. 88) suggest direct teaching of definitions through three methods: Asking questions, explaining definitions and extending instructions. Ask questions that encourage children to detect clues from their prior knowledge to make sense of new words. Extended instructions may refer to asking more questions about a specific word or helping the children understand the word by giving more examples of how those words fit into their surrounding worlds.
3. Teach word-learning strategies
Christ & Wang (2010, pp. 88 - 89) encourages teaching the children to use their fast-mapping skills by thinking aloud. The teacher could guide the child into associating words by pointing out clues and connecting words with different ideas.
4. Offer opportunities to use newly learned words
This refers to providing a classroom environment that has sufficient opportunities and activities that revolve around vocabulary sharpening such as categorising or word-based games.
Both of the readings provided many teaching strategies that can be effective for teaching numeracy and literacy in the early childhood setting. I think that when lesson planning, I must be able to understand the children more and really observe and look for opportunities to build lessons surrounding that prior knowledge. I also understand that it is important to not only directly instruct the child but instead prompt the child to make connections, be it through verbal guidance or the way the classroom environment is set up. As early childhood children are at the age where they literally absorb knowledge like a sponge, it is important that we strive to constantly pose new challenges and new knowledge and new concepts to the child each day so that they can learn more and absorb more. After this reading, I headed over to placement with the intention of introducing blocks and shapes to the nursery room I'm at. I got some blocks and shape boxes and put them in front of the babies. Every time the baby touched a specific shape, I would directly tell them what shape it was. I also repeated myself a fair bit (which must have annoyed the poor child), but soon after, I realised that the older babies who were about to transition over to the toddler room begin to imitate what I was saying. They would touch a block and say 'square' or say 'triangle' every time they fit the triangle into the right shaped hole. It's amazing how quickly children learn, really.
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