Are you a Sparkly Thinker?

At a recent conference about children’s thinking the presenter, the acclaimed author Marion Dowling, made a comment about why it is so important that we should understand children’s thinking processes and how we can then use this in our work. As she stated - “we can’t compel children to engage”. I’m sure every practitioner can empathise with this, having sat in front of a group of children with a book and knowing that not every child is listening!

Marion then went on to describe a situation she had observed in a reception class, who had been learning about Goldilocks and the three bears. When it was time to review their learning the teacher didn’t fire questions at the children but chose to dress up as ‘Mrs Locks’ who had lost her daughter ‘Goldie’. By using this subterfuge she was able to ask the children quite naturally what her ‘daughter’ had been doing and what had happened next. Marion described this teacher as a ’sparkly thinker’, a wonderfully descriptive phrase which encapsulates those practitioners who bring that extra magic sparkle to an activity.

In her book Young Children’s Personal, Social and Emotional Development she frequently refers to the importance of the practitioner, as key worker, role model, sympathiser and empathiser. In terms of personal, social and emotional development the practitioner is more important than any other resource. ‘ nurturing young children’s personal growth is primarily dependent on practitioners who are both disposed to do this work and skilled in doing it.’ (page 182). However, I would go further and say that in all areas of development the quality of the practitioner far outweighs the quality of the resources. Children will always learn far more from a good practitioner - the ’sparkly thinker’ - with a cardboard box than a poor practitioner with the most expensive resources.

The example given was in a reception class, but the ’sparkle’ should be evident with every age, from birth onwards. So how can this be achieved in a setting? Can practitioners be taught to be ’sparkly thinkers’? I believe any practitioner who wants to achieve this can do so, if you follow some simple rules:

• Give the practitioner the confidence to be flexible, go with the flow and follow the children’s lead. Tell her/him that’s its OK to use resources in a different way - if the children would like the pirates and the dinosaurs together in the sand that’s fine. Observe what happens. So the planned small group work was disrupted by the window cleaner, no problem. Let the children watch the bubbles.
• Encourage thinking ‘outside the box’. Does the particular activity always have to be presented in the same way? Restrict the colour of the blocks they are allowed to use then gradually allow more colours to be introduced. The children love the idea of having ‘new’ colours added, whereas normally they would just tip them all out without thinking about it.
• Encourage enthusiasm. Ideally this would be genuine, but at the end of a long week this can be a tall order, so even a level of ‘faked’ enthusiasm is better than none. Be warned, though. Children are very perceptive!
• Engage with each child. The level of engagement depends on the child. Some children like the full on sustained shared thinking for a long time, for others it may just need a brief word at the right time.
• Model ’sparkly thinking’. A lot of settings now have camcorders and cameras. Use these to record good sessions and share with other practitioners. This should also boost the confidence of the practitioner recorded.
• Play to strengths. If you have a practitioner who is outstanding at displays then encourage her/him to do displays as well as train others. Some practitioners enjoy story telling rather than reading from a book or prefer to be outdoors.
• Have a magic box ready for when all else fails! This could contain open ended resources such as unusual fabric, peacock feathers, Christmas decorations, pampas grass top and small ornamental animals. The more unusual the items the better. This can then be brought out and an item selected by the children about which to weave a story or spark some ideas.

What is the purpose of an EYP network?

As more and more practitioners achieve Early Years Professional (EYP) Status it will be essential for newly registered EYPs to continue to expand professional expertise. The EYP network can be an excellent way to achieve this.

In Cheshire there is a thriving and growing network, led by Alex Sefton and Kim Kellock, where EYPs have already reaped the benefits of meeting and discussing issues with other professionals. The monthly, full day meetings are held at children’s centres around Cheshire and are normally organised around specific training requirements, suggested by members of the group. These have included schema, learning journeys, Masters degrees and the Early Years Foundation Stage. The day is concludes with a guided tour around the children’s centre.

A number of benefits have been identified by the enthusiastic members of this network:

1. Continued professional development. The EYPs identify their own areas of expertise which need developing so the training is pertinent and it is delivered by a professional in that field.
2. Sharing ideas and experiences with others; particularly recently with the EYFS when there has been much discussion about how observations are recorded and the way the EYP might facilitate this. This has also become very interesting as EYPs have developed their careers, mainly within their own settings although some have changed career paths.
3. Visiting such a range of children’s centres has been incredibly educational with regard to the different services offered and how these are managed in each area. The highlight, so far, has been a full day trip to the internationally renowned research centre at Pen Green in Corby, Northamptonshire.
4. The meetings have been an ideal forum to exchange information about conferences, exhibitions and further qualifications.
5. A feeling of belonging. EYPs have talked about how, as a result of being a part of this network, they feel less isolated and more confident to use their expertise having exchanged their ideas with other EYPs.
6. Being able to give feedback to the senior management team. We arrived at one memorable meeting to find Tim Vaughan, Principal Manager for the Early Years Foundation stage, had given his morning to discuss our experiences as EYPs. This was a unique opportunity to speak frankly about our EYP training experiences and varied experiences thereafter.

Of course, each network will evolve differently in each area, according to the needs and aspirations of the EYPs. Undoubtedly your network will be able to offer you similar benefits to ours and possibly even more. Whatever your network looks like, use it!

This article also appears in Nursery World, 30th October 2008 p23

Letters and Sounds

Are you able to fit ‘Letters and Sounds’ into your daily routine?

The Rose review of early reading was completed in 2006 by Sir Jim Rose and one of the recommendations was for high quality phonics work. ‘Letters and sounds’ is part of the government’s response to this. Essentially it is a series of activities which meet the criteria identified in the review as being essential to reading phonically as opposed to other methods - picture clues, for example.

The myth is that nurseries have to use ‘Letters and Sounds’. The DFES standards website is categorically clear about this - you do not have to use it if you already have a high quality phonics programme operating successfully. The question then becomes - what would Ofsted call a high quality phonics programme in lieu of Letters and Sounds?

I worked with the local speech and language therapist on a programme called ‘Kids Talk’ which I feel meets the criteria, namely phonic awareness, phonic blending, discrete daily sessions, multi sensory, incremental and systematic. As a scheme the activities are age and developmentally appropriate. The resources, in some cases, are also provided. Additional resources are easily obtained from around the nursery. In my experience the children responded very well, learning the listening rules quickly and enjoying the sessions.

Differentiation was indicated and easily applied. This is because it was devised for the Early Years’ age group within a nursery setting.

Does your speech and language therapist have a similar programme you could use?