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Theory behind creative curriculum
Observation in an early childhood education setting
Observation in an early childhood education setting
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Curriculum is according to Bredekamp (2014, p. 311), “a written plan that describes the goals for children’s learning and development, and the learning experiences, materials, and teaching strategies that are used to help children achieve those goals”. These goals can include the dispositions, knowledge, and skills that the teacher wants the students to achieve (Bredekamp, 2014, p. 311). There are numerous ways for teachers to implement the curriculum. Two of many approaches of implementing the curriculum in an early childhood education classroom include the Project Approach and the Creative Curriculum. One curriculum model approach of implementing the curriculum in an early childhood education classroom is known as the Project Approach. …show more content…
The Creative Curriculum was developed during the 1960s. It was first named the “Diane Trister Dodge” (“Research Foundations,” 2010). Diane Trister Dodge is the visionary founder of Teaching Strategies. Today, the Creative Curriculum is used all over the country. It is used in early childhood education facilities by a wide range of different leveled educators (“Research Foundations,” 2010). The Creative Curriculum approach is meant to educate children who are three- to five-years old. The classroom environment provides structure in the given areas while addressing curriculum content. The curriculum content that is addressed through an unstructured setting consist of arts, literacy, social studies, science, mathematics, and technology. The students explore the materials in their area of interest and develop processing skills that includes problem solving, exploring, and observing (Chambers et al., 2010). During play, the teacher observes the children and reflects upon what they observe in order for them to scaffold and facilitate the children’s learning and development (Bredekamp, 2014, p. …show more content…
First, the Project Approach is conducted through a series of phases. The students use these phases to get to the project’s end results. The Creative Curriculum on the other hand, is not used through phases. Instead, this approach uses the learning environment and teacher appointed learning materials (Bredekamp, 2014, p. 328). The Project Approach also has students conduct a series of investigations to find what they are looking. However, the Creative Curriculum is implemented through a series of centers. These centers consist of art, library, dramatic play, blocks, discovery, movement and music, water and sand, computers, cooking, outdoors, and games and toys (“What Works Clearinghouse,”
Franklin Bobbitt in The Curriculum writes: ‘The central theory [of curriculum] is simple. Human life, however varied, consists in the performance of specific activities. Education that prepares for life is one that prepares definitely and adequately for these specific activities. People need the abilities, attitudes, habits, appreciations and forms of knowledge and these will be the objectives of the curriculum. The curriculum will then be that series of experiences which children and youth must have by way of obtaining those objectives.’ (Bobbit...
The American system of education is considered to be one of the most progressive in the world. One of the surveys on attitudes toward teaching around the world found that the United States is unique in its strong emphasis on "good teaching." My experience at State College has helped me to understand better how this system works, and what methods and techniques American teachers use to motivate their students for creative and active learning. However, I can also see that this system doesn’t work perfectly in every classroom. Reading Ernest Boyer’s article “Creativity in the Classroom” helped me with my understanding of the main problem that nowadays exists with the American college education system. According to the author, the problem is that teachers and students don’t see each other as one team doing the same business; therefore, in most classrooms the process of learning becomes a boring procedure instead of being mind-blowing. Moreover, reading this article, I could analyze the reasons of this problem that the author identifies through my own experiences at State College.
Curriculum is the organized framework that explains the content that children are to learn, the processes through which children achieve the identified curricular goals, what teachers do to help children achieve these goals and the context in which teaching and learning occur. The best curriculum for early childhood teacher is developmentally appropriate curriculum that allows teachers to set-up an effective learning environment for children.
Eliason, C. F., Jenkins, L. (2008). A practical guide to early childhood curriculum (8th edition). New
NACCCE definition of creativity: ‘Imaginative activity fashioned so as to produce outcomes that are both original and of value’(NACCCE, 1999:94).Creativity can motivate children to learn new information through a creative outlook. One of the biggest issues teachers have is between teaching required content and integrating creativity into the daily sessions. The National Curriculum and state standard often create boundaries towards the teacher’s ability to develop the lesson, as the intention of including creativity sometimes resorts in a teacher centred learning environment. The teacher’s role should be to generate lessons and create activities that encourage students to be more open to their creative side. This is vital as it exposes children with varying learning styles to different ways of learning.
Preschool is a highly debated area of a child’s educational journey. One of the primary goals of preschool is to prep the child for traditional elementary school. There are various contemporary models of early education that have been constructed to help children develop their educational career. A few examples of these models are the Bank Street Approach, The Reggio Emilia Approach, The Montessori Approach, and the Head Start Program just to name a few. The Waldorf approach is the program of discussion in this particular paper. The Waldorf Approach was originated in 1919 with the basic analysis that children can learn traditional educational subjects through artistic activities. The assumption is that children should dictate the classroom curriculum, and that the material learned should benefit the child as a whole. There are four conditions that teachers focus on when using the Waldorf Approach. The four conditions are Aesthetic, Social, Symbolic, and Sensitive conditions. In a classroom setting these four conditions are put into practice by ...
There are many different curriculums that are used in early childhood classrooms. Two curriculums that are used are High Scope and Reggio Emilia. Both of these curriculums have unique aspects that make up their curriculums. In addition, High Scope and Reggio Emilia have similarities and differences.
McDevitt, Teresa M., and Ormrod Jeanne Ellis. Child Development and Curriculum. New York: Pearson, 2009
In this assignment the practitioner is going to plan and prepare two experiences in which they will implement and evaluate after each of the lesson. These two experiences will be based on current theory, it will be in a form of an appendix to illustrate the two experiences as well as to promote children’s and young people’s thinking skills, creativity and problem solving. Many researchers such as Wilson (2000 cited in Macleod-Brudenell and Kay, 2008, p.323) have suggested that thinking skills are ways in which a child or young person is looking at the problem. To which we use thinking as a way of processing what we as individual know as well as remembering and perceiving. As for the skills this is the way in which we act by collecting and sorting information to help make decisions and reflect after wards (Macleod-Brudenell and Kay, 2008, p.323). This will include the practitioner to use effective approaches as well as evaluate tools, resources which can help to stimulate children and young people learning as well as supporting children development. The term for creativity has been define as being the use of imagination or original ideas to create something; inventiveness (Oxford Dictionary 2013). The definition of the term problem solving has been described as the process of finding solutions to difficult or complex issues (Oxford Dictionary 2013).
The purpose of programme planning is to improve the ways that we work with children in the diverse early childhood areas. To plan is to set goals and provide quality programmes to help children to learn and to build up good relationships within the service. Ward (2011) discuss the purpose of planning is to provide safe environment of learning that is based on the Te Whariki curriculum. According to the Ministry of Education (1996), it states “each early childhood education setting should plan its programme to facilitate achievement of the goals of each stand in the curriculum” (p.28). Teachers plan so that they could create quality programmes and refer back to make improvements to those programme. Staffs should share the documentations of the planning so that it informs the parents and keep them on the same page. Planning is to extend on the children’s interest and to find out the area they may need to improve on. Programme planning designs to meet the needs of young children. The purpose of programme planning is to ensure the centre is providing learning programmes in accordance with the ministry of education (MOE) requirements. (Ward, 2011) We need to seek for children’s voice, parents’ suggestions and ideas of the...
Creative Arts in early childhood education refers to children’s participation in a variety of activities that engage their minds, bodies and senses (Sinclair, Jeanneret & O’Toole, 2012; Kearns, 2017); to inspire all children with the opportunity for creative and imaginative expression. Duffy (2006) and Sinclair et al. (2012) state that creativity is the process where children use their imagination to problem solve, develop new ideas, independence and flexibility to accomplish tasks. Furthermore, when educators foster creativity, they are assisting children in making meaning through play and developing their growing capacity to communicate, collaborate and think critically to meet the demands of life in the 21st century (Duffy, 2006; Korn-Bursztyn, 2012; Sinclair et al., 2012).
Since we are born we have imagination and as we grow up this imagination may increase or decrease. Creativity strongly relies in our imagination. Depending on different circumstances people learn to express their creativity openly while other people close themselves and believe they do not have creativity. Creativity is a natural talent that every single human has. Creativity can be used to solve a complex problem in a different manner or just to find innovative ways to have fun. Creativity is thinking out of the box. Even though creativity cannot be taught from scratch there should be a class that is specific for creativity.
Since then, Basic Principles of Curriculum and Instruction has been a standard reference for anyone working with curriculum development. Although not a strict how-to guide, the book shows how educators can critically approach curriculum planning, studying progress and retooling when needed. Its four sections focus on setting objectives, selecting learning experiences, organizing instruction, and evaluating progress. Readers will come away with a firm understanding of how to formulate educational objectives and how to analyze and adjust their plans so that students meet the objectives. Tyler also explains that curriculum planning is a continuous, cyclical process, an instrument of education that needs to be fine-tuned.
Entering my kindergarten teaching experience in the last quarter of school year I had to quickly become familiar with kindergarten content standards and the school’s curriculum. To do this I observed my mentor teachers instructional time with the children and gained as much information as I could about the children’s educational standing by developing a professional relationship with the my mentor teacher and the children. I learned that the majority of my kindergarten children had not previously attended preschool and that this was their first year of school. I found that interacting with the children in social activities provided me with great insight to their literacy, math, science, and social studies development. In reviewing the children’s class projects, school displays, and an array of their work sample along with my mentor teachers year-long assessments I was able to recognize challenging, emerging and advanced content areas of the children’s core curriculum. These emerging and challenging content areas is what I centered my curriculum planning around. “Information about each child’s learning and development is used to evaluate teaching effectiveness. This may lead to changes in schedule, curriculum and teaching strategies, room set up, resources, and so on.” (Bredekamp and Copple, p. 249)
Designing curriculum, instruction, and assessments are steps teachers use to help them make sense of the concepts they teach and helps drive instruction. These steps can take on many different forms and drive a classroom in a plethora of ways. These steps, when developed properly, can help a teacher utilize each moment in the classroom and help students gain more insight to the standards they need to become proficient.