Leadership

Morning Rebecca,

Leadership... not only tricky to define but also to work towards. Leadership when effective can take on many possbilities, open many doors and empower teams and teachers to work together to achieve amazing outcomes for teams, children and families.
Im sure that you have read lots about Leadership and have also in your teaching career come across a range of leadership styles(some effective and sadly others detrimental).

Below is an excert about the benefits of collaborative leadership- enjoy.

A recent issue of the Harvard Business Review (July 2011) focused on "collaboration." In discussing how life for a collaborative manager is different, the magazine noted...

"In the old world of silos and solo players, leaders had access to everything they needed under one roof, and a command-and-control style served them well. But things have changed: The world has become much more interconnected, and if executives don't know how to tap into the power of those connections, they'll be left behind.

"Leaders today must be able to harness ideas, people and resources from across boundaries of all kinds. That requires reinventing their talent strategies and building strong connections both inside and outside their organizations. To get all the disparate players to work together effectively, they also need to know when to wield influence rather than authority to move things forward, and when to halt unproductive discussions, squash politicking, and make final calls.

"Differences in convictions, cultural values, and operating norms inevitably add complexity to collaborative efforts. But they also make them richer, more innovative, and more valuable. Getting that value is the heart of collaborative leadership."

Transitions

Morning,

Below is a snippet from an article on transitions, and the effect they can have on the classroom and childrens ability to follow through and develop interests. happy reading.....
Joann

In their Exchange article, "Eliminating Transitions," which forms the basis for the newest Out of the Box Training Kit, Barb Gallick and Lisa Lee make a case for keeping to a minimum the number of transitions children confront in early childhood classrooms:

"Picture a group of children in the block area who have spent 15 or 20 minutes building an elaborate car wash. They have just gotten to the point where they will be using cars to develop a story and act it out when the teacher says it’s time to clean up for snack. Of course, after snack there’s group time and then the class will be heading outside. Are these children also wishing that they could have had an extended time to relax and focus on enjoying their car wash and the dramatic play possibilities? Do they also feel like they have no control over their schedule?

"Having a daily schedule that creates routines for young children is an essential part of an early childhood classroom. Evaluating the daily schedule on a regular basis is an integral part of creating a quality program that meets the needs of both the children and adults who ‘live’ in the classroom each day. We would suggest that you look (with a critical eye) at your daily schedule once a year to determine whether it works for the group of children currently enrolled in your classroom. One of the most important things to consider when reviewing your schedule is the number of transitions that occur throughout the day.

"Transitions tend to be some of the most difficult and stressful moments in an early childhood classroom. At these times teachers often find themselves dealing with more challenging behavior s and feeling more like police officers than nurturing caregivers. If you are feeling uncomfortable or frustrated during transition times, that is a sign that your current schedule may need to be revised to better meet the needs and developmental levels of the children in your care."

How do we communicate with children

Just a quick quote that relates to the importance of conversation- authentic conversations with children on a daily basis- by adults that are genuinely interested in listening to the 'childs voice'.
Have a read... Any thoughts?

Jim Greenman- What kind of place for childcare in the 21st Century.
"Perhaps the quickest and most fundamental evaluation of a child care setting is to observe the quantity and quality of conversation. To note whether adults are listening to children, provoking the ideas of children, and offering a child one of their most precious gifts — undivided attention and their full human presence. How can this occur with real world rat ios and group sizes and all the daily demands of care? It can only happen in environments that support teachers and are well designed and prepared for independent use by children. And how would the environment change if designed for conversation? Perhaps with acoustics and places that lend themselves to conversation: couches, benches under a tree, a seat that puts the infant right there for all the murmurs and reassuring words."

Teacher Registration Meeting 29th March 2011

Kia Ora Rebecca,

It was rather exciting for me as your support person to get together today- you are amazing!
I am serious, in that you are constantly looking at yourself, your practice and knowledge and reflecting on how you are evolving or how new knowledge impacts on your practice.
You reguarly add reflections to your blog, being learning stories, photos, videos and reflections- the variety of entries show that you are able to reflect on and provide a range of documentaiton that captures your practice.

Rebecca, you have set a goal to include more links/ theorists/quotes in both your teacher regisration posts and the socumentation for parents/whanau (wall displays) within your room. This also shows that you are continuing to evolve and develop your practice in light of research or new theories.

Ka Pai Rebecca, You are well on track, self directed and require little support, you are taking this process seriously- reflecting that this is for your benefit, any knowledge gained will only enrich your practice.
You obviously love your job and value the profession.

Kia Ora

Joann

Exploring the paint with our hands - a blog for the parents

This was a blog that I had posted for the parents, incorporating using paint,and connecting it to Communication which had been our focus - explaining how the card would become our new story props.

Continuing early literacy

Nursery 2 had been using the ‘Little Old Lady’ puppet for their gathering/mat times. I decided to also introduce this puppet to nursery one, seeing how much they have enjoyed and focused on the puppets we had previously borrowed from the Toddler room. I put photos of using the puppet both on the blog for parents to look at, but also on the wall for the children to look at and recall what they had previously done. I also took a photo of each of the props that the old lady eats, and in order put them on the wall with short phrases from the song. I know from this photo it looks like I have placed the pictures high on the wall, but I have placed them so they are just out of reach of our tallest child. This has been a great way for us to revisit the song and the characters, and also use the same characters for different songs – Old Mac Donald, Walking through the jungle, etc, increasing their repertoire of songs. I have since made an addition to these pictures. I placed the Maori names of the characters below each picture to encourage the adults to use them. I believe that by continuing to provide resources that reflect and extend the interest in literacy meets teaching dimension 12 – communicates clearly and accurately in either or both of the official languages of NZ; dimension 13 – uses a range of teaching approaches; and dimension 14 – engages students in learning.

I picked up a copy of the New Zealand Education Gazzette/ 6th December 2010 and began to read the article 'Maori potential starts early' (pg. 9) This article caught my attention because even though I do use te reo, I don't feel that my work is as bicultural as it could/should be. It was interesting reading the comments other professionals had - we treat all children the same,

This led me to look up the ERO report- success for Maori children in early childhood services.
"Although many services implemented what they considered to be a bicultural curriculum, the quality and relevance of this was variable." Success for Māori Children in Early Childhood Services - http://www.ero.govt.nz/National-Reports/Success-for-Maori-Children-in-Early-Childhood-Services-May-2010