Core and Coordination of a Childs Brain - Term Paper Example

Core and Coordination of a Child’s Brain Early years of a child are vital due to the rapid development of a child’s brain and drawing of a well-planned early childhood curriculum framework requires skilled individuals. Presently I am an experienced Microcycle teacher and my context of this paper is microcycle teaching framework. Major components of a childhood curriculum include the objectives and goals for the study, the process of teaching by the teachers are equally critical (Rollnick, 2010). Microcycle teaching needs to state the ways in which the children achieve the set objectives. Environment in which learning takes place is important for the child’s comfort means more understanding and ability to achieve the objectives. (http://ecap.crc.illinois.edu/pubs/katzsym/dodge.html) Curriculum is a hospital in which all students receive medical treatments under the supervision of a competent and skilled doctor who is a teacher. Every patient receives different unique treatment depending on their ability to recover, this equals to the children’s ability to understand and grasp the concept in class. The curriculum is inclusive of all students depending on whether they are fast or slow learners. A hospital receives several patients and puts them in different wards just as construction of curriculum intends to suit students at different grades and levels with an objective of making them learn gradually (Mellor, 2004). Medicine serves to treat the particular disease just as in curriculum, assignments and illustrations helps to treat the particular a problem of a student and achieve the purpose of the curriculum. Curriculums allow the competent and skilled teacher to intervene in case of a problem just as a doctor solves patient’s problems in hospitals. Key components of microcycle teaching framework are; the four core concepts, the aims of practice and obligations of the professionals and the essential qualities brought to practice by the professionals. Microcycle teaching framework involves statement collection that creates a foundation for practice and a rationale used by professionals in children service. Children’s’ curriculum framework requires a broader relationship built as parents and the community share the responsibility of developing the child’s mind. Connection, relationship and collaboration between the children parents and community helps build up a proper curriculum. Distinctive schools of thoughts, government bodies - accrediting and regulating bodies define and determine what a particular profession is and what would constitute as professional practices within that profession. Professional practice in early childhood education is the guidelines followed to ensure quality, professional and successful service to the children. These schools of thoughts and government bodies more often than not set up guidelines, frameworks, code of ethics, duties of care, regulations or laws that should be referred to, by any individual upon entry into a profession. Members of a profession hold themselves and their colleagues to these officials written documents; they convey a message that they will conduct themselves to a certain standard of quality within their profession. Microcycle teaching forms the foundation and the guideline for the teachers to use to impart knowledge to the children; it creates opportunities and possibilities for the children to relate their conversations with real life experience. Microcycle teaching framework builds the child’s experience and provides the physical environment, equipment and materials for learning. Curriculum helps the children develop a positive relationship with the teacher, the community and with other children (Gurung, 2009). Different versions of what the term ‘Self-efficacy’ means, it is basically ‘the confidence that one has in one's ability to do the things that one tries to do’. The concept of ‘self-efficacy’ was popularized by Bandura and has its roots in his Social Cognitive Theory whereby ‘behaviour, environment, and cognition are the key factors in development’ (Schargel, 2003). The four main influences of self-efficacy are mastery experiences, vicarious experiences through social modelling, social persuasion and somatic and emotional states. Proper curriculum of microcycle teaching structures the time and ways for providing opportunities to the child through constructing of a timetable to determine the time for every subject. Curriculum framework requires a distinct schedule of how children attain knowledge by understanding a relevant pedagogy since children are active individuals who are fast at learning and sharing information. During early childhood, it is critical to know what the child is learning since it can totally affect their growth and way of thinking. Setting of goals and objectives is critical since it gives the teachers a chance to understand the development of the children (Corrigan, 2013). Physical environment determines the ability of the child to learn, destructions in a learning environment divides the attention of the child and makes them learn less. Availability of learning materials and equipment motivates the child to learn more than environments that lack learning equipment. Learning materials and equipment stimulates critical thinking of the child as they can relate real life situations with what they are learning. Learning equipment help the teacher in illustrating information and this enhance the child’s understanding. The teacher’s role is vital in promoting the understanding of the child, the teacher needs to organize his work, understand the ability of the children and create a good relationship so that the children do not fear them. During the construction of an early childhood curriculum framework, the parent’s role is significant in bringing up the child. Parents promote the child’s development by creating trust and positive thinking (Freire, 2004). Microcycle teaching is the art and science of teaching and the appropriate use of teaching strategies depending on an intended audience. Microcycle teaching involves the whole process of explaining a concept to the learners, drawing guidelines for them to internalize the concept and illustrating the concept to ensure they do not forget and relate to real life experiences (Hodgson, 2012). Microcycle teaching in education stimulates the students thinking and gives them time to learn, teachers put into concern that children learn at different rates and require directions and clear instructions. Children require pedagogical skills that offer instructions and remind them of the activities they are set to accomplish. Setting of time schedules to ensure division of work within the available time help to create a guideline for the children to follow. Children require illustrations during learning by using experiments so that they understand and internalize the concept, experimentation stirs critical thinking in early childhood education. Irregular school in-attendance is due to personal issues that can be the ability of the student to attend. Students in early childhood miss school due to the parent’s decisions or in an unfortunate situation due to health problems. School attendance requires instructions for children making them stay at home if their parents prohibit them from attending. Family programs determine the attendance of children and it is vital for parents organize holidays and other functions with the concern that their children deserve to attend school to develop their educational skills. Motivational skills by the parents and teachers encourage t he students to attend classes. Motivation may be in for of rewards, which can be extrinsic or intrinsic (Monchinski, 2008). Absence in school can cause slow development of understanding of concepts since the students miss various concepts and topics while they are away. According to a good curriculum, the syllabus is progressive and one concept develops gradually to another making learning a process therefore missing lessons can lead to a student’s failure. Students with frequent in-attendance require close attention by the tutor to ensure they catch up with the learning. Absenteeism cause students to get involved in criminal activities due to idleness and this can discourage the mood and ability to learn. Learners with visual impairments are sensitive students especially if it occurs in early childhood since it can completely affect a Child’s attitude and driving power to learn. Such children need understanding by the teacher due to their unique needs, the attitude of the teacher towards the student can affect both their success and failure in school (Chick, 2012). The student requires commitment by the teacher to ensure understanding of every concept. Teachers need to educate the visually impaired student to overcome issues of prejudice by others. A proper curriculum involves teachers in planning since they understand their student’s needs. Following up of the students to ensure they write and understand the content is the key role of the teacher. Teachers and administration need to understand the level of the child’s impairment in order to meet their needs; the blindness can be partial or total blindness. The teacher needs to facilitate consultation by assisting, collaborating and evaluation of the student to ensure they improve their performance with time. Students with total visual impairments require special education where they use hands to recognize items and learn. Absence of vision can limit the understanding of a child if they do not get proper care and attention. Education goals and objectives for students with visual impairments is no different with those with normal vision. Relationship between the self-efficacy of primary school teachers completing a degree a few years after gaining their initial teaching qualifications was explored. Although the teachers in the study had doubts about their own abilities to succeed in completing the degree, they experienced success through perseverance, which then lead to a strong sense of personal self-efficacy. It is possible that the same phenomena may apply to ECPs as well (Monchinski, 2008). Another major factor that affects the development of ECP’s self-efficacy is their content knowledge of any particular subject. Teachers taught more frequently the subjects for which they possessed more content knowledge on (Kridel, 2010). In ensuring that children develop holistically; it is crucial that ECPs teach all subjects. Pre-service ECPs need to develop the necessary skills and content knowledge beforehand to ensure a higher level of personal self-efficacy beliefs which will in turn affect their success in providing holistic education and care. Students with inability to sit still and listen to the teacher find difficult to prioritize between time for play and class activities. Such students take longer time to develop their learning abilities since they miss various concepts taught by the teacher. Such students in early childhood education need an understanding teacher to guide and motivate them to accept and love their class work. Breaks between learning periods are vital to give them time to run out and play so that they can learn (Schargel, 2003). References Rollnick, M. (2010). Identifying potential for equitable access to tertiary level science: Digging for gold. Dordrecht: Springer. Mellor, S., Corrigan, M., & Australian Council for Educational Research. (2004). The case for change: A review of contemporary research on indigenous education outcomes. Camberwell, Vic: Australian Council for Educational Research. Schargel, F. P., & Schargel, F. P. (2003). Dropout prevention tools. Larchmont, NY: Eye On Education. Chick, N. L., Haynie, A., & Gurung, R. A. R. (2012). Exploring more signature pedagogies: Approaches to teaching disciplinary habits of mind. Sterling, Va: Stylus Pub. Dirckinck-Holmfeld, L., Hodgson, V. E., & McConnell, D. (2012). Exploring the theory, pedagogy and practice of networked learning. New York, NY: Springer Monchinski, T. (2008). Critical pedagogy and the everyday classroom. Dordrecht: Springer. Corrigan, D., Gunstone, R. F., & Jones, A. (2013). Valuing assessment in science education: Pedagogy, curriculum, policy. Dordrecht: Springer. Freire, P. (2004). Pedagogy of the oppressed. New York: Continuum. Gurung, R. A. R., Chick, N. L., & Haynie, A. (2009). Exploring signature pedagogies: Approaches to teaching disciplinary habits of mind. Sterling, Va: Stylus Pub. Kridel, C. A. (2010). Encyclopedia of curriculum studies. Thousand Oaks, Calif: SAGE Publications. Read More