Portfolio No 5      4.3    Playing with Literacy & Numeracy 0- 4                 27/10/2013      http://cathysportfolio.blogspot.com.au  

This week’s portfolio experience reflects a teaching story that clearly shows where potential prejudices and projections can result in the outcomes in criteria in 4.3.

During my own school years, in a time where families were larger than they are today it was a more than acceptable thing for siblings to be placed in the same class. Generally most classes had 48 students with 2 or 3 sets of siblings. Usually the year 4 and 5’s were together as some children had moved to their high schools earlier (mainly boys) so classes were combined.

A pinnacle point in my schooling was the day a teacher stood two siblings up in the class and compared their work. One sibling was a creative writer whose stories captivated an audience – although this students writing was very untidy (in the teacher’s eyes). The other siblings’ writing was extremely neat, but what she wrote did not express a interesting read. The teacher asked both siblings to stand in front of the class whilst she compared the two pieces of work finally stating ‘If we could put these two children’s work together we would have the perfect child’ It was a terrible moment in time and should never be repeated.

This past moment in time allows me to reflect and feel empathy towards those children: something I can think about in my own teaching. The importance of respecting children as individuals promotes their learning without any comparisons, from the earliest years. 

From the earliest age motivational consequences cannot be overlooked. Wigfield & Eccles, 1992 concise the importance of one’s ability beliefs, expectations for success and subjective task values are relative to a child’s performance. Attached is expectancy – value theory model of achievement valuation.

 
EXPECTANCY-VALUE THEORY

Eccles, Wigfield & colleagues, Expectancy - value model of achievement motivation.

 

Cathy Stanbury   

References   

Wigfield, A., & Eccles, J. Expectancy–Value Theory of Achievement Motivation. Contemporary Educational Psychology 25, 68–81 (2000)

http://aguda.org.il/files/academic_bank/2/322/55859/2_2007_55859_1170980723.97.pdf

 

 

 Blog 5                                    Early Dual Language learning                                              22/10/2013      http://cathysportfolio.blogspot.com.au

 Connecting two readings this week became quite a challenge after first reading ‘Early Dual Language Learning’. Persevering through the reading list, goggling bilingual maths whilst skimming through three reading’s : 1) ‘Running the numbers’ 2) ‘Finding’s of addition and subtraction in infants are robust and consistent’ and 3)Encouraging Young Mathematicians to Pose Problems’ forming a argument or alignment to connect two readings required ideally thinking around the connection literacy and numeracy prevail in children’s everyday experiences. My main focus  relates to the reading on ‘Early Dual Language Learning’.

 

What?                                                                                                                                                                        
   The article proposes three main concerns:                                                                                                                                               
1.     Is it a good idea to raise children bilingually?   

2.     Is it normal for children to learn two languages at the same time?          

 3.     What if infants and toddlers become confused if they exposed to two languages?

So What?                                                                                                                               

Environment plays a huge part in raising children bilingually. When families speak a different language it can be essential for children to learn the language at home whilst social aspects in the community may require another language.  Communication is a key factor as explained in the story below:

 About 5 years ago when eating a meal in a Swiss restaurant overseas my husband and I noticed a young waiter speaking to the customers in many languages. When he finally served us we asked him ‘how many languages did he speak? His answer was five. Astounded by his response he said ‘that language held a huge priority in the education of Swiss children and that he had learnt five languages’.  Continuing he described the way his environment played an important part in his learning the languages as Switzerland is surrounded by Italy, France, Austria and Germany; the country having four official languages,  (Swiss German, French, Rumantsch and Italian) his also included English. In his explanation he said it was a way of life, connecting to the other countries close by and that many children were multilingual from a very young age.

Research suggests that children under two learning two languages can experience a minor delay in their learning of about 2 or three months but does not affect overall learning of the two languages, suggesting it helps with the sounding of words that are similar.

Now What?                                                                                                                               

(Genesee, 2002) refers to code switching or code mixing where both languages are intermixed from the very early years in children. Genesee et al, points out the importance of parents, carers and teachers using one language in each language context which then inevitably, supports the individual languages. Research supports not just the amount of exposure but the quality of this exposure in enhancing the development of bilingual children. Connections to numeracy articles outline the learning of literacy and numeracy being connected in our everyday environment which then suggests bilingual children will develop their literacy and numeracy through both languages.

Cathy Stanbury             http://cathysportfolio.blogspot.com.au  

References

Genesse, F Early dual language learning. Zero to Three, 29 (1), 2008 pp. 17-23

 (N) Stites, J. (19Life with two languages: An introduction to bilingualism pg,6 http://books.google.com.au/books?hl=en&lr=&id=VqGpxZ9pDRgC&oi=fnd&pg=PA1&dq=how+many+languages+in+switzerland&ots=AOvdiDBecj&sig=tvnSCncD6jbqUsJ0AnvpaIINcFs#v=onepage&q=how%20many%20languages%20in%20switzerland&f=false

 ( wynn, k. (2000). findings of ad Running the numbers: The rumination of John Allen Paulos. Omni, 15(6), 34-36+.

(N) Wynn, K. (2000). Findings of addition and subtraction in infants are robust and consistent: Reply to Wakeley, Rivera, and Langer. Child Development, 71(6), 1535-1336. 

Wallace, Ann H, Abbott, Deborah & McAlhaney Blary, Reneé 2007, 'Classroom that math built: encouraging young mathematicians to pose problems ', Young Children, vol. 62, no. 5, pp. 42-48

 

Blog 4 Mathematics in consumer town / Bridging the vocabulary gap

Playing with Literacy & Numeracy 0- 4       Blog 4              15/10/2013      http://cathysportfolio.blogspot.com.au  

What?

The connections made between the two readings of choice, highlight the use of Instructional learning in the first reading Bridging the Vocabulary Gap progressing to Constructional learning in the second reading ‘Shopping for Mathematics in Consumer Town’. Although their titles individually suggest it’s a literacy read and a numeracy read, they both interconnect the importance of vocabulary and numeracy development.

So What?

Bridging the Vocabulary Gap covers the critical aspects of understanding the text whether it relates to the example story used in the article or whether the story is ‘The Very Hungry Caterpillar’ (counting involvement). The importance of children understanding words impacts on their reading comprehension and academic success (Chali, Jacobs, and Baldwin (1990) highlighting the need for purposeful teaching of meanings, strategies and the opportunities through instruction to engage and self motivate children. ‘Shopping for Mathematics in Consumer Town’ scaffolds the learning through multiple exposures to numeracy and literacy. Bridging the Vocabulary Gap validates the use of multiple exposures for children’s the development of new vocabulary. Both articles suggest the child’s interest as key component.

Now What?

The article ‘Shopping for Mathematics in Consumer Town’ creatively incorporates young children’s understanding of literacy and numeracy in an environment of enjoyment and fun. Building a consumer town from cardboard, pictures and paper, the older children extended the younger children, through their own environment.  Younger children’s participation, making  decisions regarding the stalls, viewing the broad range of items, then spending their money (after taking out of the bank) offer the opportunity to risk take and be responsible whilst engaging in  Literacy and Numeracy extensions.

Cathy Stanbury

References

Wolff, A. & Wimer, N. (2009). Shopping for mathematics in consumer town. Young Children, May, 34-38.

Christ, T. & Wang, C. (2010). Bridging the vocabulary gap: What the research tells us about vocabulary instruction in early childhood. Young Children, July, 84-91.

Portfolio No 4. 26/9/13 'What is a Text Participant?'

Portfolio   Week 4 -   26/9/13          Literacy and Numeracy 0-4 years      2.2          

             What is a text Participant?                                                    Cathy Stanbury                                

 This week’s workshop on ‘What is a text Participant’? challenged my own thinking. That night I continued to make my own comparison’s to our discussion even asking my husband ‘What he thought a text participant was?’ His quick reply was ‘a person who text’s on their phone.’   Could we consider the foundation for being a text participant starts with the foundation in early childhood continuing throughout life?  As an adult passionate about learning whilst facing the challenges of being a team player in a relatively new learning environment myself,  can this be seen as aligning itself with a child’s start in a  early childhood centre also  experiencing their new environment with all the challenges. 

In class we discussed text participant and its meaning with multiply lists on the ideas of what the meaning was. There was to be no right or wrong answers, which gave the group an open minded discussion on words that they thought best, described the meaning in relation to children. The words we came up with were ‘making meaning of the things a child is involved in’ supported by encouragement of parents and teachers.  

Looking at a definition of text participants: ‘someone who is active in the situation’ which brings aspects of:   interpreting, distinguishing, explanations and comparing in the environment. For the continuity of learning as a child the parent and educator need to interpret the child’s personal meaning regarding the experience for continuing scaffolded text participation.  Examples to encourage this could be:    

1.      Age appropriate resources

2.      Positive association with family relevance

3.      Familiarity

4.      Cultural relevance

5.      Child animated behaviours

6.      Childs participation in group activity

                                                                                                                          

As a text participant child or adult a key component for the user would be the use texts in real life situations:

Adults: in the workplace, leisure and social settings 

Children: in social settings, early childhood centres and schools  

 

As an educator it could easily be an option to engage children in our knowledge, skills and processes rather than using both the social practices and resources combined.

Parents and educators have the opportunity to connect and embed the real life reading practices in children regarding early stimulation for Literacy and Numeracy.

Cathy Stanbury   
http://cathysportfolio.blogspot.com.au 
References:  

http://eprints.qut.edu.au/49099/1/DOC090312.pdf
http://www.learningplace.com.au/deliver/content.asp?pid=17768 
http://scholar.google.com.au/scholar?hl=en&q=numeracy+text+participant+in+early+childhood&btnG=&as_sdt=1%2C5&as_sdtp=