What Is The Mosaic Approach

As an early childhood educator during observation of the children in the classroom teachers should answered four questions in order to accomplish meaningful observations. The first question, is focus in the process and steps to follow observing the children and making observation meaningful. The second question, gives the opportunity to realize if we know how to interpreter what children do in their daily interaction, in order to understand

Observation, is the first strategy to be examined by this essay, and in early year’s education describes the process of looking at children in settings, listening to them and taking note of what we see and hear. Observation, according the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) - Effective Practice: Observation, Assessment and Planning (DfES, 2007), is a vital element in assessing children's progress and using this to inform planning based on their needs. Observation is the formal term for one of the most important

It is imperative that practitioners are able to observe and assess each child’s development in order to gain a full understanding of their development and how they can build upon this in order to cater to the needs of the child and allow them to fulfill their potential. This is highlighted by Wheeler (2009, p.63) in stating that ‘Observations are fed into family worker and team planning so that future activities can be based on an individual child’s interests and patterns of behavior and thereby enhance their learning’.

It was refreshing to see effective practices that seemed like an enjoyable learning experience to children. My experience from the practicum taught me that children learn better through play. I understood that their communication skills are limited as they are very young so play is needed to help them express their ideas. Children must have opportunities to develop non- verbal ways of expressing and communicating imaginative ideas (Ministry of Education, 1996). Play might help children discover their talents and creative skills, and as early childhood educators, we could help them identify these abilities through play as it is something that interests them. The role of early years practitioners is to support children to learn in ways that

Toddlers and preschoolers are at different developmental stages, and therefore require their teachers to use different approaches and techniques to further learning. I completed my observations at the Bright and Early Children’s Learning Center where I observed a toddler classroom and a preschool classroom. My observations took place from 8:00 a.m. – 11:00 a.m. on the 21st and 28th of September. The first day that I observed I was placed in the toddler classroom which had two teachers, Miss Ashlynn and Miss Miranda, and six students, most of whom were two years old. In the preschool classroom there was one teacher, Miss Stephanie, and eight students, each of whom were 3 years old or 4 years old. While the rooms were physically similar, the teachers used different strategies and activities to appeal to the different age groups.

For a child to understand the world, he/she will understand that people have different beliefs, colour skin and religion, the world and technology. A child will also learn other children’s names, talk about family and friends. This has a huge impact on a child’s social development; they will have awareness of the world and the people around them, and therefore are able to confidently make new friends as they go through transitions such as moving schools. It is important that children and young people are given the opportunity to speak about themselves, their lives at home and also listen to others, and this gives them a perspective on the fact that everybody does different things, others’ lives differ to theirs and this is something that needs to be recognised and respected and not judged.

To enable the children’s voices to be heard, I explored various tools to engage the children from the Mosaic approach (Clark & Moss 2001). I disregarded using questionnaires as the children were unable to read and write so this would have been inappropriate. I disregarded role play as I didn’t feel I would get the responses I needed as directly, and I decided not to use tours as not all the children were confident communicators and they may have found this difficult. I wanted to be as inclusive as possible and ensure the technique was age and development appropriate. Therefore I chose to gather documentation by enabling the children to use cameras to take photos outdoors of what they liked and didn’t like. To ensure confidentiality of the photos taken I kept them in my private locked filing cabinet that only myself and my manager had access to. As my research required the children’s perceptions this technique ensured it was child led as were the later discussion where we came together in a quiet area to talk about why they took their particular images. This discussion enabled me to interpret what they were trying to say to me through the photos. As we looked at the photos it prompted their memory of why they had taken the picture. It was an interactive way to engage the children, and by the children taking their own photos helped lead the

The early childhood are the most vital time for learning, therefore observations, assessments, planning and evaluation are an important part of the curriculum for children’s

Within my ten hours of observation, I witnessed an Early Childhood, Childhood, and Middle Childhood classroom. Through the duration of these hours, I visited School 17 and School 30. My seven hours at School 17 consisted of experiences within an Early Childhood and a Childhood setting. The Early Childhood hours occurred in a Pre-Kindergarten classroom setting with Ms. Mitrakos. The Childhood observations occurred in a first-grade classroom with Ms. Hordan. My three hours at School 30 involved experiences within a Middle Childhood setting. These observation hours occurred in a 6th-grade math class. My observations within both schools inspired me to continue my passion for Early Childhood Education.

After observing a nine month old child for this Child Observation paper, the author of this paper has taken copious notes during the session. The purpose of this paper is recognizing the biological, cognitive and psychosocial development of the child. The author of this paper identified the background history of the child, the observation made and the development process of the child.

I am providing a child observation done during CFS176 child development class, as an example of my understanding of 1a. Knowing and understanding young children’s characteristics and needs.

In reflection, I engaged in an exploratory discussion which I further researched the content and provided relevant examples to support my opinions, (Uzulner, 2007, p. 403). This makes me realise that it is true being educators, they need to reach out to families and build quality connections to explore children’s world. Bayetto (2009, p. 17) states the importance of gathering evidence and data about children to plan programs to meet their

In this assignment I am going to describe a child observation that I have done in a nursery for twenty minutes in a play setting. I will explain the strengths and weaknesses of naturalistic observation through the key developmental milestones based in Mary Sheridan (2005) check-list and provide a theoretical explanation to support the naturalistic observation.

Every builder knows "A house is only as strong as its foundation". They also know that they have to evaluate and become familiar the land before beginning to work. This rationale can be used as a guideline for teachers across the world, especially with the children in the early childhood stage, ages 2-6, because how teachers assist children in this stage will serve as the foundation for the life ahead of them. A child develops physically, cognitively and socially. It is important for the teachers to know how the child is developing in order for them to effectively teach the students because they lack of understanding can lead problems for the child. Additionally, if the teacher is aware of how the

The key to understanding children is observation. As observers, we begin to look for daily patterns in their behavior. Once patterns of behavior are recognized, the observer can then give positive guidance in securing the child’s developmental needs.