Play and Pedagogical Strategies Cluster Training Nov ‘13

1. Play and Pedagogical Strategies Cluster Training Nov ‘13 Claire McMonagle , Catherine Cullen NEYAI Professional Pedagogy Project

2. Agenda • Welcome • Presentation and discussion of Pedagogical strategies • Group work • Feedback • Reflecting on educators role

3. What is Pedagogy • Pedagogy is the interactive process that takes place between the educator and the child to enable learning to take place. • Pedagogy is distinct from and complementary to the curriculum • Curriculum - describes the ‘what’ • Pedagogy - describes the ‘how’

4. Considering Pedagogy Children need active support from adults who: • Are well informed about child development • Are respectful of and interested in children • Are knowledgeable about and value the importance of play and the powerful contribution it makes to children’s development and learning • Understand the importance of relationships with other children and with adults • Recognise learning contexts that are real and meaningful to the child

5. Considering Pedagogy • Children are often more knowledgeable across a range of interests and experiences than the adults with whom they are interacting. • This knowledge is crucial in our image of the child as a rich and resourceful individual, in whose abilities we need to trust

6. Considering Pedagogy Educators who develop the ability to self-reflect learn in different ways and are constantly adding to what they know. Educators learn from: • Practical research • General evidence from practice • Individual and group reflection • Exploration and enquiry • Being comfortable accepting that they are still learning

7. Pedagogical Techniques and Strategies • Scaffolding • Co-constructing • Modelling • Positioning • Questioning • Encouraging and Praising • Problem-solving • Documenting • Empowering

8. Scaffolding • Scaffolding is a process by which adults support and guide children’s learning, enabling children to reach to the next level of ability, beyond their own personal capability at that time. The term was coined by Bruner building on Vygotsky’s work (NCCA-Aistear Research papers)

9. Scaffolding.........How do I scaffold? 3 Steps to Successful Scaffolding • Closely observe the child’s competencies, abilities and skills. Ask yourself, What can she do alone or with a little assistance? Has she tried to do this before? What activity would challenge her and take her to the next level of competency? • Spend time with the child. Support and guide the child to move from one level of competency to the other. Provide the necessary resources, equipment or verbal guidance. • Continue to observe the child’s progress, extending understanding, competency and skill through other techniques such as questioning, praising, modelling, confirming

10. Co-constructing • Co-construction describes how the educator and the child form meaning and build knowledge about the world with each other. • Promotes the collaborative nature of children’s learning • Children learn as a direct result of meaningful interaction with their environment (Social Constructivist theory-Vygotsky, Bruner) • Co-construction happens when you explore multiple ways of explaining something or working out a problem • The mutual involvement between the educator and the child makes the process exciting, stimulating and enriching. • Co-construction techniques emphasise meaning and understanding rather than the acquisition of facts. • Through a gradual, shared building of knowledge, through symbolic languages such as music, drama, art, story or movement.

11. Co-constructing in Practice Key functions in enabling co-construction • Uncover, read and acknowledge the child’s understandings • Enable the child Co-constructors: partners, guides, nurtures, solves problems, learns, hypothesizes to express and share their understandings with others • Collaborate children’s understandings with others • Build on the child’s understandings

12. Co-constructing- • Co-construction refers to adults and children making meaning and knowledge together (MacNaughton and Williams, 2004). Co-construction recognises the child’s expertise and in order to understand this, the practitioner needs to interact with the child and become aware of the child’s thoughts and thereby to establish intersubjectivity. (NCCA-Aistear Research papers) • Jordan (2004) concludes that the two concepts, scaffolding and co-construction have different applicability depending on whether the goal of the practitioner is the exploration of thinking or the achievement of pre-specified learning goals.

13. Co-constructing Co-constructors: partners, guides, nurtures, solves problems, learns, hypothesizes

14. Modelling • Modelling is a process by which children learn how to behave by copying the behaviour of others. • The educator leads by example over a period of time. • Children will be more motivated to imitate adult behaviours when they have developed a secure positive relationship with the educator.

15. Modelling in Practice • Modelling techniques can be used with just about any behaviour the educator wants children to learn Think about..... • Social Behaviours • Promote healthy and positive attitudes • Building socially inclusive environments • Spending time with older peers • Disability and Additional Needs • Gender, Ethnicity and Culture

16. Appropriate intervention in children’s play • Observe the children’s play before joining in, unless you have been invited from the beginning. • Don’t be afraid to join in, but be aware of what your involvement does to the quality of play. If play stagnates and conversation stops when you enter an area or game, find a way to politely leave! Then continue to observe from a distance. • Listen carefully to the language the children are using and think about how to introduce new vocabulary as part of the play.

17. Appropriate intervention in children’s play • Model being a learner by talking out loud, asking children for help with problems and trying out their ideas and suggestions. • You could join in play as a character – for example, the safety inspector visiting the garage – in order to model aspects of play or to model writing for a purpose. • Intervention and modelling might be useful if play becomes repetitive or resources are being mishandled. • Play alongside the shy child, slowly including him or her in your game through conversation.

18. Positioning As a teaching technique, positioning involves placing learning materials to safely and ethically support and enhance children’s learning.

20. Positioning

21. Positioning

22. Questioning • From an early age children use questioning as a means of communicating with each other and with adults • Questioning is an effective pedagogical technique for the educator to promote learning and development with all children

23. Questioning in Practice • Share ideas and understandings • What happens in your house? • Voice feelings • How do you think he will feel? • Guess and predict • What is going to happen next? • Recall experiences • Who were the people in the story?

24. Questioning A child’s intense interest in watching some snails when he is playing in the garden can be sustained by an adult sharing his interest and asking questions or making comments as they observe the snails together. Using questions such as: • ‘Where do you think the snails are going?’ • ‘How do the snails move?’ • ‘Look Oliver, can you see a trail where the snail has been?’ will help to keep Oliver interested and extend his understandings about snails.

25. Encouraging and Praising • As a teaching technique praise shows children that they deserve recognition, acceptance and approval. Praise can be verbal or non-verbal • Educators use encouraging as a teaching technique to support children when attempting new or difficult tasks • Encouragement helps children persevere with a task, learn new skills or to develop positive dispositions such as respect or co-operation.

26. How to encourage and praise • Be sincere and specific with your praise • Praise should be seen as encouragement, as part of a continuing process • Use descriptive praise that conveys realistic, attainable goals • Beware of over-praising children for doing things they like anyway • Avoid praise that compares a child to others

27. Problem solving As a teaching technique, problem-solving describes how the educator helps children to find answers to problems, questions, dilemmas and issues that children face everyday. Problems can be either physical or social.

28. Learning how to problem solve To enable this educators: • Facilitate a problem-solving climate • Allow time and space to problem-solve • Provide materials to encourage problem-solving • Prompt appropriate problems to solve

29. Problem solving

30. Problem solving findings • The Study of Pedagogical Effectiveness in Early Learning (SPEEL), conducted by Janet Moyle’s team found that effective early years practitioners created many different opportunities for children to define their own problems, with the practitioner’s role being to clarify and model ways in which problems might be solved. By taking a supportive role, practitioners encouraged individual children to discuss the processes of problem-solving. Listening to children discussing their own understanding and hypothesising and valuing children’s theories, gave practitioners insight into children’s thought processes. These insights are then used to inform future teaching.

31. Documenting Documenting children’s learning describes all the ways in which information is gathered and presented to build a unique and lively picture of the child including their progress in learning and development over a period of time.

32. Documenting Documentation is displayed or easily accessible to teachers, children and families to: • provide a record of the learning process • reveal connections between events • review past experiences • plan future experiences • make learning visible to children and families • honour children's words • honour children's families

33. Documenting • It was really fascinating to watch them make documentation decisions!  They reflected about the experience, and tried their best to choose pieces of work that would tell their classmates and visitors what they did.  Talk about ownership!!"

34. Empowering • Empowering is about helping children gain a sense of inner confidence, courage and strength to successfully surmount whatever life presents. The act of empowering children is a process of guiding them to feel and believe that they are powerful. As a teaching technique empowerment involves giving children the power to develop dispositions such as confidence, self-image, and resilience.

35. Empowering

36. Empowering

37. Taking it outside • Messy play • Books and storytelling • Role play • Creative activities • Mark making • Music and dance • Gardening • Mud patches • Dens/shelters

38. OutdoorPlay ideas

39. Paint

47. Creative ideas for Pallets