The Educational Assistant within the Renewed Curriculum Prekindergarten to Grade 12

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The Educational Assistant within the Renewed
Curriculum Prekindergarten to Grade 12

• October 11, 2011

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The Shift

• http//www.youtube.com/watch?vEjJg9NfTXos

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What has changed? What is being reinforced?

• Collecting evidence of childrens learning
• Moving children along the continuum of learning
• Extending their learning to an independent level

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Understanding 21st Century World

• New Competencies The world our students will
  enter into is a world we cannot imagine right
  now. The information they will need is
  information we do not even have. Therefore,
  importance shifts to
• Learning how to learn
• Problem solving
• Teamwork

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Where does learning begin?

• The brain is developing at conception and the
  experiences that care givers provide, enriches
  the child to learn and gain meaning in the world
  we live.

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Play and Exploration

• The vision in early childhood programs are
  holistic, responsive, and developmentally
  appropriate.
• Early childhood programs are child-centered.
• Children Their Learning Experience
• Children Their Relationships
• Children Their Environment

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What is play exploration?

• With the people around you, think about what play
  looks like. Write down some characteristics of
  play and exploration.

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Principles of Early Learning

1. Children are Competent Learners
2. Holistic Development and Learning
3. Strong Positive Relationships
4. Stimulating and Dynamic Environments

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• Play is essential to healthy development. Play
  enhances language, social skills, and problem
  solving.

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High Quality Early Learning Environment

• A high quality early learning environment
  supports childrens learning through play.
  Adults contribute to the play by
• Modeling oral language and emergent literacy
• Providing props and resources to enrich the play
• Observing childrens play to assess social and
  cognitive growth
• Negotiating with children where the play will
  progress and what materials or props are needed
  for the next steps.

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Video Clip Going to a Wedding
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How does the K-12 curriculum enhance those early
learning principles?
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Broad Areas of Learning (BAL)
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Cross Curricular Competencies (CCC)
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As our students get older, is it still play and
exploration?
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We call it Inquiry

• Inquiry builds on students inherent sense of
  curiosity and wonder
• Draws on students diverse background and
  experiences
• Provides opportunities for students to become
  active participants in a search for meaning

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How does your characteristics of play and
exploration differ from the characteristics of
inquiry?
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Building a Strong Foundation

• If we can build a strong foundation of play
  exploration we can continue to build life long
  learners, engaged citizens, and a sense of self
  and community in our youth.

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Implications for Teaching and Learning in the
Renewed Curriculum

• Focus on strategies
• Shift from what we are teaching to what students
  are learning
• Continuous assessment and adjustment
• Holding back on telling the right answer
• Willingness to say Im not sure
• Starting with and returning to the big picture
• Open and probing questions
• Inquiry and learning for deep understanding takes
  time.

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What does this mean to me?

• That you will continue to move learners to a
  level of independence in...

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What can you do to enhance learning?

• 1. Observe
• 2. Document
• 3. Facilitate

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1. As an Observer

• Take time to observe what children are doing and
  what they are saying?

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• We define observation as watching to learn.
  Observing provides the information you need to
  build relationships with individual children and
  enable them to be successful learners. We learn
  about children by carefully watching them,
  listening to them, and studying their work.
  Watching and listening to children helps us
  understand what they are feeling, learning, and
  thinking.
• --The Power of Observation

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2. As a Documenter

• Document learning and social and personal
  development.

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• Documentation is the process of gathering
  evidence and artifacts of what happens in the
  classroom. Documentation is not only the process
  of gathering evidence and artifacts, but also a
  physical collection of evidence and artifacts,
  the reflection of that collection, or part of it,
  in a way that makes childrens learning visible
  to the children, to the teachers, to the other
  adults including families and visitors.
• --Carlina Rinaldi (1994)

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Types of Documentation

• Written Observations
• Written Documentation of Childrens Words
• Audio
• Photos
• Art
• Videos
• Samples of Student Work

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Capturing the Moment
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Example Note

• 20/09/10 During work time when, Hannah who
  plays with the magnet board in the toy area
  where. First she lines up all the squares in
  order, from largest to smallest. She then lines
  up all the circles, directly under the squares,
  in the same manner what she did.

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Writing Anecdotal Notes

• Date your entries
• When? Where? With Whom?
• Include specific details
• Stick to the facts.
• Keep the entries short.
• Be realistic.

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Blocks in the Mirror Video

• Five year old Ria is building with blocks on a
• mirror. Her teacher, Mary Beth, asks her a
• question to further her thinking.

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What do I need?

• Sticky notes and pen
• Clip board
• Camera
• Video camera
• Folders

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How do I know what to document?

• Prekindergarten developmental - COR
• K 12 - learning processes KNOW-DO-UNDERSTAND

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Child Observation Record (COR)

• The Child Observation Record is an authentic
  assessment tool designed to measure individual
  and group progress in early childhood programs.
  It assesses children in their natural learning
  environment through observation in six categories.

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Preschool COR Categories

1. Initiative
2. Social Relations
3. Creative Representation
4. Movement Music
5. Language Literacy
6. Mathematics Science

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K- 12 What are these students learning?

• NESD Curriculum Corner
• Unpacked outcomes
• Rubrics
• http//nesd.ca/currcorner/

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3. As a Facilitator or Learning

• Through Powerful Interactions

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What does a Powerful Interaction look like?

• Think of a time when you had genuine conversation
  with a friend or family member. What did this
  look like? Reflect and write down
  characteristics of this powerful interaction.

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Step 1 Being Present

• When you are present you are in the moment and
  self-aware, and therefore you can be more open to
  the interesting and significant things that
  children do.

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Step 2 Connect

• You acknowledge and validate children by letting
  them know you see them, are interested in them,
  and want to spend time with them. Connecting in
  this way awakens the sense of trust and security
  that creates positive interactions and learning.

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Step 3 Extend Learning

• When you extend a childs knowledge and
  understanding hand-in-hand with nurturing a
  positive relationship with that child, you create
  the optimal condition for you to teach and the
  child to learn.
• Have genuine conversations with children. Your
  role as a facilitator changes from a telling
  role to that of exchanger of knowledge and
  ideas.
• Conversations reveal and stimulate childrens
  thinking.

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Recap

• 21st Century Learners need to learn how to learn,
  problem solve, and be a part of a team.
• Play is essential to healthy child development
  and learning.
• Inquiry is a philosophy of allowing children to
  think, ask questions, and investigate ways of
  knowing.
• Observing, documenting, and facilitating learning
  are the key roles that enhances and validates
  learning.

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Reflection

• So, as an education assistant within the NESD and
  the Renewed Saskatchewan Curriculum, how will
  your role transform to serve the needs of the
  21st century learner?