Aish Individual Reflection

Awareness of Early Childhood Issues

Current / Emerging Trends

The early childhood sector is constantly evolving to become better and provide better quality education for children. With the constant changes, there are issues that arise because of the increased quality of education. Alongside a multitude of issues, technology was one of them. From my experiences in early childhood, I realised teachers only stick to a radio or their phones for music as a form of technology. But whenever I used technology with children, the response I got from children was overwhelming. If children are drawn towards technology, then why the teachers are not maximizing technology to increase children’s learning was the question that was running through my head. When I got a chance to delve in-depth into an issue I was interested in I knew I just had to look into technology. The variety of papers I read, the interviews and surveys done gave me different perspectives about technology in preschools. From this I learnt that each issue had underlying causes behind it and if an issue needs to be solved, each cause needs to be addressed.

Learning Points from Interview & Feedback from Principal

The interview with the principal gave me a chance to see the constant struggles that teachers go through on a daily basis and the ways they try to solve these issues in their own little ways. During the interview the principal mentioned that the teachers are encouraged to use technology but are not given the materials or support necessary to do so. She went on to mention that one teacher makes sure to have an hour’s lesson three times a week which is heavily technology based. Through this I learnt that addressing and solving these issues is beyond the control of a teacher but I believe that sometimes as teachers when we believe in something, we have to go the extra mile to help upgrade our skills, we should not wait for others to tell us what to do or support us.

Personal Development

Organisational Skills

Before the start of the assignment my teammates and I delegated tasks based on our strengths. This was such an effective way to complete a project as a team as delegating tasks improved the efficiency and effectiveness of our project. Delegation of task improved effectiveness and efficiency of assignment. We also set deadlines amongst ourselves so that we would be ready before hand and still have time to modify anything necessary. I realised delegating tasks was helpful as my weakness was my teammates strength and vice versa. So, by making sure each teammate had a role in the team allowed for clear and efficient progress of the project. I leant that organising every detail and deadline allowed for easier communication and ensured that every teammate is on the same page as the other.

Communication Skills.

Accepting and giving feedback is also a vital part of communication. Feedback paves way for one to modify and improve themselves. After completing our delegated tasks, my teammates and I would make it a point to give feedback to each other. From there we would make the necessary amendments. I realised, without feedbacks the website and recommendations would have had flaws in it. When we presented our recommendation to the principal, her comments on it made us think deeper and look out our recommendation from a new perspective. Had I have not been receptive of feedback, there would not be any modifications done to address the flaws of the website or recommendation. Being an educator means there will constantly be feedback thrown my way and I will have to be receptive of the constructive feedback and constantly improve myself to be a better person and educator.

Problem-solving skills

This assignment allowed me to hone my problem-solving skills as coming up with recommendations and thinking through the feasibility of the idea was a long process. Initially, I did not consider the perspectives of the feasibility of the recommendation as it did not occur to me to actually sustain the recommendation. But after speaking with the principal, I realised that the teachers needed to be supported even after the recommendation is implemented. This meant coming up with something new to address the sustainability of the recommendation and critiquing every recommendation from all perspectives. From this, I realised that problem-solving is an essential tool in early childhood as there will always be unexpected problems that come up and it is the educator’s responsibility to find ways to solve these issues. Now that I learnt to consider multiple perspectives when problem-solving, my critical thinking skills have definitely improved.