FranDelJA Family Blog: Learning Experiences
This
past Friday, our infant, older infant, and toddler teachers completed
additional hours of development in
the Program for Infant Toddler Care (PITC).
Our
day began reviewing our work as we discussed observation of fruit through
looking at a picture of exotic fruit. Our predictions of what we thought about
the fruit were deepened as they were handed exotic pieces of fruit that most
teachers had not experienced before. They were tasked with cutting open these
Jack Fruits, Starfruit, Lychee, Pitaya/Dragon Fruit, and Papaya and requested
to taste these fruits and describe our thoughts/interactions with the fruit as
we experienced the fruit. Teachers carefully carved open the fruits and
explained the tastes like "if green had a taste...,” "it smells but
tastes good," "It's juicy and sweet," or "sour."
“BLAAK!" as one teacher made faces and rushed for a napkin to spit it out.
Some fruits were squishy, stringy, smelly, sweet, too hard to cut, and odd
shaped with thick hard shells/peels. The discussions flourished and everyone
was a researcher and within the rise of communication and excitement, there was
laughter and language development.
The
opportunity to do this exercise reminded all of us that we have many
perspectives and individual taste buds and to experience something new gives us
more information in our discovery that varies from person to person or child to
child. It helped us to understand that you cannot know a book by the cover. You
must engage and experience with the child, be patient, offer language, be a
facilitator in the learning while being a support in the process of learners.
It isn't enough to think we know! As educators, we need to get in there and
discover, and discuss our operations to help children to be curious while
making the learning visible.
Infants
and Toddlers experience things hundreds of times a day. Their brains are wired
for learning through experience, as they play and interact in a supportive
environment. Play is the “work” they need to learn and be curious for
healthy development!
As we sat together as a team through the exercise, where we
all knew one another, it was safe to take these risks to scaffold our learning
experiences and a good reminder for all those in the lives of young children to
continue to further children’s thirst for knowledge through supportive learning
experiences.
Sincerely, Dianne Alvarado, MA ECE Gilman Campus Site Supervisor
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