Chapter 5 and 6 Learning Together With Young Children

I Learned

Chapter 5:
I learned that it is rewarding as a teacher when the children initiate their own play, work
well together, and keep at it for an extended period of time. Right now with the group of young
3 year olds we have at Faith we are learning something new about that age and if they can be in
play and work together for a period of time is great because these children need more teacher
guidance then the older children we had last year, but I like that it is different than last year.
Children thrive when they have significant amounts of time to pursue their own ideas through
play using open-ended materials. The following principles can help to enable children to go
further as you coach them to learn about learning: help children see learning as a process with
distinct components they can practice, invite children to assess their own learning, coach
children to use tools and strategies for learning, plan coaching sessions separately from
playtime, help children use reference materials to support their learning, teach children to look
closely, teach children to draw in order to see more clearly, offer stories and dramas as tools for
coaching, and support children to learn from their friends. Help children see learning as a
process with distinct components they can practice, teaching requires reflection in order to
understand what is occurring and to see all the possibilities for extending and deepening
learning. As children play, adults can call attention to the many ways they are learning. Children
naturally have multiple approaches to learning as they play, but they arent necessarily aware
of their process. I learned that when you offer children a framework for thinking about their
actions, they can decide how to pursue their learning. When you make the following concepts
explicit, your time with children is focused accordingly: when you want to get smarter about
something look closely at what you have done and think about your ideas, you can tell
someone your ideas though a conversation, through dictation or by creating a story, you can
teach someone what you know, or the steps you followed, writing our ideas on a chart or in a
book reminds us what we have been learning, we can come back to these ideas again without
having to start from scratch, another way to get smart is to create drawings to our ideas and
actions, we can use different materials to explore the same idea, and inviting others to join us
in thinking will make us smarter. Invite children to assess their own learning, another way to
focus children on their own learning is to engage them in assessing what is worth putting into
their portfolios, displaying in the room or sharing with parents. With some guiding questions
children can begin to reflect on their work and how it does or doesnt represent things they are
learning. Coach children to use tools and strategies for learning, as we make the learning
process visible to children, we can further their learning by coaching them to use tools,
materials, and specific strategies. I learned that children are keen observers of the adult world
and they are eager to learn and gain greater control over making their ideas and actions
understood. Plan coaching sessions separately from playtime, demonstrate the many
possibilities for using everyday materials, such as blocks, paint, play dough, and manipulative.
As children work with the materials on their own, take photos and write down their words,
turning these into pages for binder books to be kept in the related area of the room. Continue
to document and add these documentations pages to the binders. Help children use reference
materials to support their learning, pictures, directions, and charts can spark ideas in children
and can show them the steps and practice skills for using materials. Teach children to look
closely, paying attention to what is around them will help children with their collaborative
endeavors, reading body language and social cues and discovering the ideas and perspectives of
others. I learned that coaching children in observation skills tap into their eagerness to sort,
classify and see how thing are alike and different. Coaching children to observe closely will also
aid them in reading facial expressions and body language, distinguishing letters on a page and
looking at objects under a microscope. Teach children to draw in order to see more clearly, in
addition to giving children plenty of open-ended time for drawing and painting, we can use
these activities for learning to look closely. Offer stories and dramas as tools for coaching,
teachers can coach children by telling stories and using props to convey ideas they want
children to grasp. Support children to learn from their friends, children learn not only from their
teachers; demonstrations and coaching but also form their peers.

Chapter 6
I learned that teaching with deep respect for childrens competencies requires you to
engage your mind with theirs. The following principles will help you know what comes after the
and as you accept childrens many promising offers: challenge children to go a step further
in their pursuits, help children represent their ideas with multiple materials, tap into childrens
love of songs and music, draw on childrens deep fascination with drama and magical thinking,
harness childrens instinctive drive to use their bodies, build on childrens attention for the
natural world, explore childrens theories for deeper learning, and reflect childrens ideas back
to them with documentation. Challenge children to go a step further in their pursuits, in order
to uncover childrens theories and challenge them to dig deeper, you must look closely at their
actions and seek the underlying concepts they are exploring. Childrens actions and words also
help you see what they already know and you can use this awareness to support them in new
challenges. Help children represent their ideas with multiple materials, as teachers discover
childrens underlying interests and understandings, you can routinely invite children to explore
their ideas by representing them in other ways. Different mediums such as dramas, drawings,
or sculpting provide children with additional perspectives to reflect on an idea or understanding
and then confront what isnt yet clear. Tap into childrens love of songs and music, children are
naturally drawn to the rhythms and sounds of music, they easily remember lyrics because they
tell a story and are connected to a melody. So why not draw on this enthusiasm for music to
help children take pleasure in learning. Draw on childrens deep fascination with drama and
magical thinking, young childrens use of make-believe play and magical thinking to make sense
of the world is a delightful aspect of spending our days with them. I learned that children
regularly act out dramas and offer profound observations, relating their own experiences and
view of the world to other people, animals, and even objects. Teachers can create dramatic
play opportunities that specifically reflect childrens interests and encourage them to represent
and further their understandings through their pretend play. Harness childrens instinctive drive
to use their bodies, children use their bodies wherever they go and use them for learning and
expression. Build on childrens attention for the natural world, we would remiss if we neglected
to acknowledge the importance of childrens relationship with the natural world as a significant
source of learning and expression. Explore childrens theories for deeper learning, children are
constantly trying to figure out how the world around them works. As you work with children to
help them pursue their theories you will gain new insight from their unique perspectives.
Reflect childrens ideas back to them with documentation, using documentation with children
coaches them in learning skills, steps, and processes. Reflecting on experiences is the source of
the most effective learning for both adults and children. Showing children documentation of
their work not only reinforces the childrens identity as learners, but gives teachers an
opportunity to learn more about the children.