Planning and characteristics of effective learning

[nickylear]

Hi there,

 

I need to add characteristics of effective learning to my plans.....has anyone already do this or have any advice?

 

Thanks Nicky. X

[Guest]

No not yet, in the pipeline and discussing it. will be interested what others come up with and how they fit it into their planning.

Edited January 30, 2013 by Guest

[apple]

Can you explain why you need to do this within planning? My understanding of the CofL' is more to report as a summing up of the type of learning each child is? I think it would be quite unmanageable to try to put these within the planning? I could well be wrong on this so will look forward to seeing other's thoughts

[Aunt Sally]

Can you explain why you need to do this within planning? My understanding of the CofL' is more to report as a summing up of the type of learning each child is? I think it would be quite unmanageable to try to put these within the planning? I could well be wrong on this so will look forward to seeing other's thoughts

 

I started putting it in my planning then took out because i felt it was much more about observing how they were learning

[Guest jane707]

When you know how a child learns you can use the information to support their future learning.

 

If a child loves sitting and reading books you will plan to extend their concentration with other sitting and doing type activities... if a child is following a particular schema you will plan to support their learning with more schematic play.

 

I just include info in my comments to show that I have linked into any characteristics I have noted. I hope I am doing it right!!

[nickylear]

Thanks for the comments. I have been unable to get back online since I posted. I attended EYFS assessment training and the trainers delivering the session stressed how important the CoEL were, which we all know and instinctively plan for. They said to record this in planning.

Planning at school seems to be an issue at the moment too, so in reception we are currently revising our planning format and thought that I should note CoEL???? I just wondered if others were including it too?

ohhh I'm not sure about this now. Thanks for your comments.

 

:blink:

[Twoo]

Hi,

 

My first post on this fantastic forum. I too have been told that we need to include CoEL in our planning but struggling to work out how?

 

Any help would be much appreciated.

 

Thanks.

[Guest]

Hi, welcome to the forum and congrats on your first post. I think everyone uses the CoEL differently and am not sure there is a right or wrong way but I will explain how I use them. We have 3 boards on the wall, one for each CoEL and if we see any particular aspect of play we note it on a post it and stick on the appro board, the keyworker then takes this and puts into the learning journey, she can then use this as a means of planning a suitable type of experience geared towards that childs way of interacting with resources. this is then noted on our planning thread sheet and is incorporated into the next weeks plans. I have also added the areas to our observation sheet as this again helps us to see what kind of learners our children are. Hope that helps.

 

[finleysmaid]

i think i must still be misunderstanding something here....how can you plan for how a child is going to access your resources? I can see how you can observe and record the way they access but how do you plan for it?? am i missing something ?

[Guest]

By thinking about the CoEL when planning we can tailor experiences to the type of learner the child is. It becomes one more element in our planning process alongside known interests, next steps, spontaneous play, parental input and child requests, not an exact science but just another tool in providing stimulating engaging experiences for each individual child.

[finleysmaid]

but children will access continuous planning in the way they see fit surely....? how do you tailor playing with lego or trains to an individual when they are part of a group?

[Guest]

I don't use them in continuous planning but in specific planning for individual children, the keyworker might use lego or trains in a specific way if she knows the kind of learner the child is.

[finleysmaid]

i can understand taking into account the Coel's when organising the environment to encourage all types of play but i really feel this is much more about observing HOW children play...could you give me an example of how you incorporate it in to your planning? (need to see it in action to understand ...having a DURR moment!)

[Guest]

Hi everyone, I am also struggling to see how we can plan how the children will access the resources and activities we have planned for them. I have included the CoL on my formative observation schedules so that the characteristics of Learning can be used in planning the next steps of learning within my EY unit, however I do not think we can specify the CoL on the plans. Does any one agree?

[Guest]

I'm in the 'observe and understand the child' camp in relation to using CoEL

 

'Planning' in terms of that which we write on daily through the week to reflect and plan our thoughts and 'doings', for me, is about documenting a direction...not the every detail for every child (or most) and it is such a physically small space to write on that it can't cope with too much detail, especially when CoEL is so personal and changeable according to the type of activity, the environment it is presented in, the 'feeling' of the child that day, how often they have experienced it etc etc so for us we use/reference the CoEL via the terminology used in our writings about the child for that particular experience in their LJ and maybe over time we do a quick reflection to join things up if we've noticed a 'trend'

 

I think, as already said, it can also be used to reflect on how the environment supports children's learning and encourages us to think to be flexible and spontaneous in order to meet such diverse needs

 

I feel it's one of those things that if it's thought too much about it gets too complicated so my mantra is 'if it's about skills and knowledge it's the DM's, if it's about the child use phrases and words from (but not exclusive to) the CoEL' Probably not a rigid guide but keeps us in the right place here!! (We think!!!)

Edited February 7, 2013 by gingerbreadman

[Guest]

Can I also add that I feel personally, that spending too much time on adding too much detail to planning ( when it doesn't come with a crystal ball...remembering how fickle children are!) is bordering on taking us back to days gone by and my feet are firmly planted in the 'reflective planning' side of things where we learn far more about what we've 'seen' the children do...than hazarding a guess at what they 'might' do.

 

CoEL gets me thinking about 'how' a child did something...which then belongs in LJ - and I'll consider it in what I do next with that child if I see it again...but don't feel the need to 'write it down plan' for it..not all 'planning', in my perspective of best use of time, has to be recorded.

Edited February 7, 2013 by gingerbreadman

[Guest]

Can I also add that I feel personally, that spending too much time on adding too much detail to planning ( when it doesn't come with a crystal ball...remembering how fickle children are!) is bordering on taking us back to days gone by and my feet are firmly planted in the 'reflective planning' side of things where we learn far more about what we've 'seen' the children do...than hazarding a guess at what they 'might' do.

 

CoEL gets me thinking about 'how' a child did something...which then belongs in LJ - and I'll consider it in what I do next with that child if I see it again...but don't feel the need to 'write it down plan' for it..not all 'planning', in my perspective of best use of time, has to be recorded.

 

Gosh that was a bit of a rant...can you tell I've suffered at the hands of conflicting advice over the years!

[Guest]

I keep getting this message about recording it on planning too. My thoughts had been that I plan a variety of experiences for each session to reflect the different play and learning preferences of the children. If I particularly want a specific child to do something I then plan for that skill to be taught/practised in an activity the child will enjoy doing. I know why it's being done that way as do my TAs (I hope anyway!) so I don't write it down as well.

[Guest]

I am thinking about this and I might just add a new title to my success criteria section of my planning so that I have thought about C of EL in a sense of what I will be looking for. That way you have evidence that you have thought about it during the planning stage but you are not focusing too much on it until the observation bit. What do you think to that?

[Guest]

Hi does anyone have any examples to match each characteristic of learning. So that I know what I am looking for in children's play?

 

Thanks

 

Pat

[finleysmaid]

Well as i seem to be a bit confused pat i will tell you how i think about it and see what others say

 

I tend to think about it in sort of job terms and what i see that child doing in the future!

 

so my creative and critical thinkers are those children who think things out (the scientists/philosophers???) so i have a boy at the moment who is really in to junk modelling.....he chooses his items carefully thinks about how to join them, talks about what he is doing, adapts his work as he goes etc He is never the first to do something ...he waits and watches thinking the process through.

 

My Active learners...those that keep going despite adversity.....the explorers of the future! the ones hwo will get to the top of the ladder through sheer determination.....young chap at the moment who will come in a do the same puzzle each day.at the beginning of the week he couldn't do it...then he got it after much trying. Then he will move on to something more complicated. He is self motivated and will not need me to suggest a more difficult one!

 

My explorers The give it a go gang....the fixers? mechanics maybe? doctors? not afraid to get stuck in the first ones to have a go. The ones who open the cupboards and have a nose around!....those children who will have their hands up first and be the first in line to try that new activity!!

 

Off course everybody has days when they change but most have a pattern of learning and what they do most of the time.

 

 

Just my thoughts....not proven !

[catma]

As this is in the reception bit of the forum I will direct you to the EYFSP handbook and the lines of enquiry for reporting on the CEL when completing the profile in Annex 3 page 55.

 

For me the CEL are about how the child learns not what they learn. They will have dispositions and attitudes which we can influence but not necessarily as a directed outcome.

Cx

[finleysmaid]

aha the light dawns a little...having read the correct info(!!) i can see that you need a paragraph on all the childs patterns of learning ...not just their main one. I'm not sure this is a particularly helpful way of doing things if we are going to use this info for transition purposes etc as i don't feel it is very targeted but who am i to say...i will do as i am told. :blink:

Edited March 14, 2013 by finleysmaid