Nothing Like A Half Hour "chat" To Make U Question Yourself

[Guest]

well i say " chat", it was more like a half hour grilling/ B******ing.

 

as u may know i work in a room with children aged 3-school age. parent new to the room had made a "complaint" as she doesnt quite understand how the eyfs and child intitiated learning works, she has hardly spent any time in the room baseing her comments on snapshots of time, ie 2 mins when she drops or picks the child up but basically she has been to manager with "how can they learn, theres no structure, they where just running around, staff where stood around doing nothing"

 

im really upset about this as im so passionate about child initiated learning, we have focused adult led activities alongside continuous provision, but children are not forced to come and sit down for the activity, we have free flow to outside and rolling snack, adults facilitate childrens play with interaction and area enhancements, we also have a group singing time and a carpet time, as well as stopping for lunch and tea time.

 

basically manager has said i need more struture but when asked she couldnt gave me example of what she meant by this- Im assuming more sitting at tables as she was concerned the children run around (they dont run but do enjoy transporting things from one area to another, im sorry but i think this should be allowed???)

 

also parent in question was concerend that child, who loves small world and physical play, doesnt take home any art work and wont develop in other areas as he'll always be on the bikes, managers comment to me- can he do more creative work- im sorry but creative activites are part of our contiuous provision if child wants to do creative he has opps to, im not going to take him away from his purposeful play to paint a picture to satisfy mum( this child spends hours building fantastic structures with big blocks and balances animals in and on the structure)

 

i think as its a " pre-school" room parents assume it will be more like school in the old fashioned sens of learning to read and write and sit at tables

 

anyway just needed to moan, in response to this im going to do a parent information evening, but im just a bit disheartened that my manager supports the parents view more then my own.

[purplewednesday1]

I'd offer the mum to spend a morning with you, be nice and explain first what she's looking at (so parents info eve is a good idea).

 

Also, what about doing a series of timed observations and annotating them for mum with what her child was doing and what he was LEARNING!

 

Mum's probably just scared ... I know from my experience as a mum (and as a teacher / Nursery owner) that it's a massively competitive busines being a parent, right from whose baby rolled over first to whose child read their name first.

 

Also, at my nursery we don't send home artwork every day, we collect it in a scrap book which can be annotated (otherwise it's just a yellow blob of paint - and paretns don't know that the child mixed the paint themselvs to match a banana!). the scrap books go home when they're full and parents love them

 

Good luck

 

pw

[Guest]

You say the children like transporting from one place to another. It sounds to me also that some of your children could be displaying a transporting schema and this is as much important learning as any other, may you could see and explin to mum the value of schemas

killowengirl

[Inge]

Sorry I missed the party... bit tired evenings at the moment..sounds like I missed a wild night.. (and I can never keep up in there!)

 

this is a frequent problem ........ I have always encouraged and worked with a play based curriculum, just as yours is now... and actually EYFS meant the only real change was less planning for us and justifying why we do what we do.....

 

Parents often used to ask why they had nothing to take home, and some used to ask child where is your xxx evey day, so children used to just dash off a piece of paper with paint so thy could satisfy parent, before going and doing what they wanted or scribble on paper as we tidied away.

 

I found a bit of education was needed, so I used a poem about Childs play as a base and made a really big display of childrens pictures at play to illustrate it, saying what they were learning .

This really did help, parents liked it because they could see pictures of their children and it helped them understand value of play. Our photos were printed A4 size so they really stood out! took a lot of room but it really had an impact.

 

 

 

There are other ideas along these lines on the forum.. just need time to search for them!

 

If you have a parents information evening perhaps there are some activities you could use to illustrate the boredom of learning by sitting and practical learning....the usual one is an orange...use a picture a plastic one and a real one.... or we had one using bubbles.... which really illustrate how you need to experience them first to actually understand and learn about them.

 

Good luck

 

Inge

 

Good luck

Edited February 28, 2009 by Inge

[louby loo]

Could you show the parent photo's of the child througout the day with the 'creations' he has made... these pictures could be annotated (is that spelt right?!!) and linked to areas of learning? We have a digital photo frame which we put out for parents to see what the children have been up to during the day..............as you say parents often only see a snapshot and when 'questioned' children will usually only comment on one thing from day - ie-"I just played on the bike all day"- which doesn't really help us!!

Do you enhance areas to promote mark-making and creative skills throughtout the room? Sometimes I make(picture) tresure-hunts on clip boards and put out with some hard-hats, or a 'booking in system' to use the bikes. But from reading your previous posts I think you may already do this kind of thing.

 

We have 'Playing and learning together' DVD from the EYFS which parents can borrow which show's examples of how children learn.

xxx

[hali]

umm good advice from all. i would also hold a parents/info evening then invite her in - give her the grande tour and talk though what each child is learning/getting out of each experience/activity they are doing - good luck

[HappyMaz]

Sorry I missed the party... bit tired evenings at the moment..sounds like I missed a wild night.. (and I can never keep up in there!)

Oh Inge! Firstly I'd like to say that this happened in 'real world' chat and not on here! I'd like to think we'd never make anyone feel like northernbird does as a result of something that happened in chat (please feel free to PM me if I'm wrong, people!).

 

I wouldn't feel too disheartened by what the parent is saying - she is being a parent, after all. She's an expert in her child but you're an expert in child development and the EYFS northernbird and your instincts and ethos are (in my humble opinion) spot on.

 

However I would feel very let down by your manager! She really should have done a better job at defending your corner than she has - does she actually understand what the EYFS is all about? If not then perhaps you should welcome her into your room more often so that she can get to grips with what you do and value it.

 

Great advice from Inge - I'd definitely invite her in and 'teach' her about what's really going on when children - and particularly her own child - are 'just' playing. Perhaps also if you showed her your observation and assessment system and how much work and effort you put into it, she would understand that you are planning for children's learning and development effectively. If she's the kind of parent who is interested in research, evidence and 'proof' you might also share information about child development theorists and how their work informs yours.

 

You sound so disheartened northernbird, but you can use this whole episode for reflection and as an opportunity to think about how better to get the message through to those who need to hear it! To go back to where I started though - it seems to me you have the biggest job to do closest to home!

 

Good luck - I hope this hasn't knocked your confidence too much and that your passion for child initiated learning will remain undiminished. As I said in our virtual chat last night - life would be sooooo much better if we ruled the world!

 

Maz

[Guest]

I give a copy of this little poem to every parent as part of our induction pack-perhaps your manager could reflect on it!

Which is more important? What they take home in their hands or what they take home in their heads?

 

Through the eyes of a child!

 

Oh, what a busy morning! I've been playing with the dough

and with a little help upon a card I learnt to sew.

I helped my friend, nurse Sarah, to perform an operation,

then fixed the track together for my train and built the station.

I popped inside the home corner to make a cup of tea,

and stood beside the cooker making lunch for twenty-three.

I completed three whole jigsaws and played a new board game,

and had a turn on all the bikes and the slide and climbing frame.

I counted out the biscuits at milk and snack time.

Then listened to a story and sang some nursery rhymes.

But now the morning's over and the grown-ups are all waiting,

I hope someone doesn't say

"I wish you had done a painting".

[Inge]

that is the one i was looking for.. couldn't remember the title.... we did the pictures and learning to go with it.. really worked

 

Inge

Edited February 28, 2009 by Inge

[HappyMaz]

that is the one i was looking for.. couldn't remember the title.... we did the pictures and learning to go with it.. really worked

It really says it all, doesn't it? However it does rely on a level of self-awareness to be truly effective!