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A&ha4078 Journal 4
A&ha4078 Journal 4
A&ha4078 Journal 4
my reflection this week relate to the important role of the teacher in fostering and supporting
childrens shift to representation work, and the importance of how we understand and respond to
children as they make new connections between materials and ideas.
When teachers create valuable experiences for exploration with materials, children will
later learn to make connections between ideas, materials, and what they know about the world.
As Burton (1980) reminds us, we should be aware that the greater the grasp children have on
what they can do and make with materials, the broader the base which to take first steps into
symbol making and we should allow children to proceed at their own pace, creating their own
connections between ideas and materials, creating their own interpretations of what is important
in their world (64). Our important jobs then as teachers are to pose open-ended questions that
support choice and to respond to children in ways that allow for dialogue and childrens own
interpretations of their work.
Curriculum Ideas
Burton (1980) points out that we should strive to create lessons with enough structure in
them to foster exploration, while at the same time helping children keep their learning in focus.
In a lesson related to reading informational text, I might ask students to express what they know
about a topic of expertise (an animal, place, or activity) through a collage, using distinctive
shapes and colors. Students would make purposeful choices related to materials and placement of
shapes, and be encouraged to be attentive to detail, just as we did in our collage exploration, as
they express specific knowledge about a topic, gained from text.
References:
Burton, J. (1980). The first visual symbols. Developing Minds. School Arts.
Smith, N. (1993). Experience and Art. New York: Teachers College Press. pp. 43-53.