Final reflection

When we first got given this assignment I was unsure how it would pan out and how it would all work. To me technology is things that run with power and that are gadget type things like, iPads, iPods, computers, cell phones, radios, interactive whiteboards, and interactive toys. I would have not considered blocks and construction to be technology but after reading one of the reflecting that one of my group members wrote I can see how blocks could be technology. Through reading everyone’s responses and looking at my own posts I have found that there are some main themes that are coming through. Social interaction, scaffolding, investigation and questioning. 

All of these themes I found linked into each other and is what I do every day. I interact with the children and help them to move up to the next stage in their growth all while questioning them about what is going to happen next and giving them the tools to investigate their interests further.

Technology in centres is all about items that make life better or easier. ‘A pen or a peg is considered technology purely because they make our lives easier’ (Smorti, 1999) By looking at things within my centre from a different angle at what they might do to make our lives better or how and what a child can learn from engaging with that item, I have been able to see that technology is all around us.

Through my readings I have also found that the New Zealand Curriculum and Te Whāriki are similar but very different and as much as a feel that Te Whāriki is easier to read and understand the New Zealand Curriculum has some good points that should be linked into what we as early childhood teachers currently do. 

One of the many things that I learnt through doing this assignment is that I need to be more open to how the other teachers and parents at my centre think and feel about technology being in full access to the children. I know that some of my co-teachers do not want or like the children to have access to computers during the day, as they can have it at home and preschool is about learning to read, write and enjoying the outside world. I need to dig deeper into their thought process and find out more about this reasoning, maybe I as a teacher need to think about non-technology type moments during the day and introduce to the children a life before all these fancy gadgets and show how life has changed and growing just like they are growing and changing each day.

I also feel that we need to have a computer available to parents to use to check there child‘s online portfolio if they do not have access to a computer at work or home, printing the learning stories once a month to have available for parents to take home is not a bad idea either.

I’m happy with the way this assignment has made me think about technology within a centre and within everyday life and reading other peoples thoughts and ideas have spurred me on to try some new things at my centre.