REFLECTION ON MY PERSONAL BLOG

I will start my reflection with blogging. Blogging is one area of the Information and Communication Technology that is new to myself. When I started making this blog, I did not have any idea how to start. I did not know my way around it. I asked one of the student to help me go around the blog. My deepest appreciation to her because I learned and moved on.

Upon getting to know blogging, reading the post and comments is very interesting. Student teachers posted nice and interesting topics to ponder upon. I can see different designs of blog according to individual's choice. Photos and images are nicely presented to represent ideas and stories that are happening in the centres. Different perspectives and ideas to adopt or not to adopt.I can read some few jokes as well as interesting comments. Reading the blogs can relate to PEOPLE, PLACES, THINGS, and EVENTS because of the children and teachers involved, the different settings or centre environment, different things and equipment used to facilitate learning, and the happenings occured.

I believe that I learned working together with other students through blogging and it is a tool to build a relationship among other student teachers. Shared work and activities with a common purpose are the foundation that forms the cornerstone of community (MacNaughton and Williams, 2004). By reading the blogs posts , it helps encourage, facilitate, and scaffold me and other teachers by collecting resources or ideas to support flexible and open ended learning for children. It provides an environment in which all participants have equal access to knowledge, space , and time.

The significance of people, places, things and events in children's learning and development is about relationship around the wider community. Children are shaped by their experiences within their family and their cultural and social networks. These influences are also influenced by events and ideas that are maneuvered by national and international society. Children's learning and development occur through network from the child to the family and to the wider world around him/her. This learning and development draws on the belief of Bronfenbrenner  which describe that the child learns within the context called "ecology" (Santrock, 2008). Bronfenbrenner's ecological model extends beyond the child within a family. The child's learning occur within the family's community within the wider world.

As teachers, we are great influences to children. We have the responsibility to provide a safe learning environment for them. Effective practice of teaching is when we demonstrate or show children the importance of relationship, social engagement, and social interactions. Children's learning takes place through complex sets of relationship (Arthur, Beecher, Death, Dockett, and Farmer, 2008).

In the centre, we will allow children to participate in a range of social setting for them to develop sense of responsibility, respect, and trust for other people. An example is to let them work together to develop relationship. We respect children's cultures  and let them know that they belong. By letting children play and work together, they develop sense of responsibility for the welfare of others and confidence to explore the environment and make sense of social and physical world (Ministry of Education, 1996).

References:

Arthur, L., Beecher, B., Death, E., Dockett. S., and Farmer, S. (2008).Programming and planning in early childhood settings (4th ed.). Victoria, Australia: CENGAGE Learning.

MacNaughton, G., and Williams, G. (2004). Techniques for teaching young children: Choices in theory and practice (3rd ed.). French Forrest, NSW, Australia: Pearson Prentice Hall.

Ministry of Education. (1996). Te Whariki: He whariki matauranga mo nga mokopuna o Aotearoa. Wellington: Learning Media.

Santrock, J. (2008). Life-span development (9th ed.). New York: McGraw Hill.