Reflection 3: 23/08/12
Cameras:
Today at Kindergarten I
brought my camera in, I just put it on a table and waited to see if children
would play with it. One child, T came along and was very curious about the
camera. I observed this child to see what they might do, without me stepping in
right away. Podmore, (2006) suggests that observations are valued as data,
evidence of learning, (pg.14). While observing T, I noticed that he was a
little unsure about how to work the camera, but before intervening I gave him
the chance to try and work this out for himself. Too often we teachers
underestimate what our children are capable of and by giving them the chance to
problem solved themselves it enables the learning to be much richer.
I then saw another child
come to this table and this child was very fixated with the camera and said “I
have one of these at home”. This child co-constructed knowledge to the other
child who was a little unsure. He said “make sure you push the button hard and
then you can take the picture, see!”. This child then got the idea and become
more familiar with the camera. Ministry of Education (1993) states that through
the technological strand, students develop knowledge particular to technological
enterprises and environments and understandings of how and why things work,
(pg.32).
After a lot of observing I
then joined in with the children, and demonstrated the process of turning on
the camera, taking a picture and then looking back at them, talking them through
each button I press and the step by step process. Mac Naughton & Williams
(2009) state that adults are the biggest role models in a child’s life because
they often copy what we do, (pg.118) I made sure I was doing this properly as the
children took this in and the knowledge will stay with the children for a long
time.
I feel that this experience was
a great way for the children to make links to home, when already being familiar
with this piece of ICT equipment, the children also had a lot of fun being able
to take photo’s and have a play with the camera. The children also learn the
process of how the camera works, finding out by using ako and co-constructing knowledge
this also benefited their social skills as they were verbally communicating,
listening and sharing, taking turns of taking pictures with the camera.
It surprised me that one
child new all about the camera, pushing the buttons working different things as
he did have one of these at home. I keep forgetting that this is the world the
young children live in, with all the latest tech savvy things you are able to
access and have, quite often knowing a lot about technology if not more than us
teachers. It was really good to see this child share his knowledge with another
child who was not familiar with this type of digital technology.
Hi Jess,
ReplyDeleteI liked reading your reflection about the children using cameras. I would suggest you read it out loud to yourself before posting it, some parts are a bit hard to understand as the wrong word has been used.
A very nice reflection, and awesome to hear how the children were working together sharing knowledge to solve a problem. This is supported by the contribution strand in Te Whariki which believes children “are encouraged to learn with and alongside each other” (Ministry of Education, 1996, p.64).
Perhaps you could introduce a camera system for the children in your centre. This is what I am looking at doing as I have found the children are very interested in taking photos, they also love seeing them!
Chanelle :-)
hey jess
ReplyDeletecool that you took your own camera in to use with the children. are the children in your centre not allowed to use the cameras? and also was this activity with more than one child at a time or induvidual? I like chanelles idea of a camera system, they could also print them off and make their own picture portfolios.
Hatherly 2008 says that" by using ICT, children can shift from being passive to active contibutor" (pg 47). This certainly happened when the children were using the camera,they were able to take charge of what they were photographing and figure out how to use the camera for themselves. what a geat way to discover photography, sounds like they really enjoyed it!
Chloe xx
Hey Jess,
ReplyDeleteWhat an awesome experience for the children. I think many people would be scared to just let the children use the camera because they are seen as such a valuable resource but it is great to see how you view the children in your centre as capable and competent learners.
Children are natural wonders and are naturally curious so it wasn’t a surprise that the first little boy was attracted to the camera just sitting on the table. I liked how you just observed him as Brownlee (2007) suggests that when we wonder alongside our children we stay tuned into the mystery of the experience. You waited until one of his friends came to help him and show him how the camera worked and then only after that you showed them what they might have missed.
It would be cool to maybe do this experience again, but let them use it for the whole morning or afternoon (depending on which session they go to) and let them take photographs of the environment around them...it is quite interesting seeing photographs of a child’s point of view.
:)
Hey Jess
ReplyDeleteNice blog, and what a nice idea to share your camera with the children, I hope any photos you had on it had been stored safely or deleted first.
Do the children at your centre have access to cameras to use? If not, it may be an idea to discuss this with your head teacher and explain the benefits and what children are learning while using them.
I like how you allowed the children to explore the camera first then modelled the use of it as this gave children the opportunity to figure out for themselves how it worked and also to engage in conversations with each other.
Arthur, Beecher, Death, Dockett and Farmer (2007) suggests that educators are "powerful models" (p.328) for children and we need to think about the messages we portray to them. I think that by allowing the children to discover the camera on their own, you viewed them as capable and competent and you refrained from being the teacher that knows it all and robs children of these learning opportunities, well done!
I’m totally surprised that you trusted your children to play with your camera! We have tried this at my centre and the children ruined the camera in a day even with us teachers stepping in and watching them closely to make sure they used it correctly and didn’t take it in the sandpit and into the water.
ReplyDeleteI agree with your last comment that children these days live in a world of tech savvy items and it’s all around them, all this technology in their lives though allows them to “emphasises creative and productive aspects of solving problems and answers questions” (Smorti, 1999) I think that having a child use the camera gives a different perspective to the day and they seem to enjoy zooming in on things to investigate what it looks like really close up.
Do you still have the camera for the children to use?