Final reflection

Final Individual Reflection on Blog feedbacks

Working on a blog was great experience. I learned something I never knew before. I enjoyed writing reflections on ICT and non ICT use at my centre and how I can support children’s learning.

It was nice giving feedback to my group members as well as getting feedback from them. I was pleased to read the feedback I got from my group members. It was detailed and knowledgeable. I liked how Mehreena advised me that I should introduce WIFI modem to children at my centre and explain how the message and information show up on laptop from there. She believes “they will learn about modems and will know that if the modem is OFF or not working then the laptop or other devices such as IPhones and IPads will not work”. I certainly agree with Mehreena’s thoughts and suggestions. It will be a great experience for children and they will learn better by practically engaging in it. I will definitely do this with children at my centre. It was interesting to know that Mehreena thinks hammer and paintbrushes can also be technological tools. Mehreena is right! Hammers were invented to make it easier to put nails in the wood and that’s technology. Thanks for such nice feedback.

Estella mentioned in her feedback that most of the things happening at my centre are also happening at her centre. Estella liked how my centre let children access to the iPads and Estella wish that was allowed in her centre as well. I hope that happens as it is a great way to help children learn about technology. Estella also liked and agreed to most of my ideas and suggestions on ICT use with children and including Google and other websites in their learning (Tsantis, Bewick & Thouvenelle, 2003). I would like to thank Estella for reading my blog entries and giving me constructive feedback.

Tui also gave me good feedback. Tui mentioned that Facebook is a great way to communicate and show parents their children’s work and learning. He also mentioned that in today’s busy life, Facebook is an easy way to keep connected with others. Tui also said that as teachers we have responsibility to extend children’s learning and curiosity. He believes “Te Whariki states that in order to participate in these world, our children needs the confidence to develop their own perspectives as well as their capacity to acquire new knowledge and skills base” and I agree with this too. Tui agrees with me that children require a lot of guidance and monitoring when using internet and ICT tools. I would like to thank Tui for his feedback.

I have got a good feedback from Michelle as well. Although her thoughts were completely different about using ICT tools with young children, she thinks my reflections were very interesting and she was fascinated to read them. Michelle agrees that technology has taken over and sometimes children are ahead of us teachers when it comes to technology and use of it. I agree with that and this is why I believe in continuously learning and developing knowledge about ICT tools so that we can stay up to date and support children’s learning. As a teacher it is our responsibility to teach them and support them (Ministry of Education, 1996). Michelle mentioned “I like the way your centre is promoting the use of non-ICT tools with children by engaging them in the process of cooking, baking and preparing their kai which also incorporate technology as well (Smorti, 1999)”. Thanks Michelle for the feedback and I hope your centre introduce more ICT tools to the children.

Overall, I enjoyed this assignment and learned about different views of my group members on ICT and non-ICT use. I enjoyed reading how other centres are supporting children’s learning in this area and how we teachers can improve and support it. I will continuously support ICT and non ICT learning at my centre and engage children with new experiences constantly.

Reference list

Ministry of Education. (1996). Te Whāriki: He whāriki mātauranga mō ngā mokopuna o Aotearoa: Early childhood curriculum. Wellington, New Zealand: Learning Media. 

Smorti, S. (1999). Technology in early childhood. Early Education, 1, 5-10. 

Tsantis, L. A., Bewick, C. J., & Thouvenelle, S. (2003). Examining some common myths about computer use in the early years. Young Children, 58(1), 1-9.