One of our objectives this week is to “Demonstrate observational skills that will serve as a foundation for planning learning opportunities.”  In the readings this week, we examined the process of observing and documenting children’s learning and development, including the role of the teacher in planning learning experiences based on the observations.  In this week’s discussion, we will apply principles from the readings to observations of teachers and children working and playing together.

Please watch both of the videos posted below. After watching the videos, select one of the videos, and address the three questions below.

Video 1: Making the treasure bucket safe (Running time: 3 min. 55 sec.)

Video 2: Setting up the polar ice habitat (Running time: 4 min. 39 sec.)

Instructions:

Part 1: Select one short scene from the video that interested you most.  First, note the time frame of the scene you selected, (i.e. Video 1 from 1:29 to 2:08).  Then, using the information from our lecture and reading this week, write a short anecdotal record or running record describing the activity or interaction. 

Part 2: Referring back to Chapter 2 of our text, in the section The Value of Play in Childhood, how would you categorize the Type of Play that you observed? Why?  Did you find that the teacher effectively guided the play?  What could the teacher do to enhance the learning opportunity and/or engagement of the children in this activity? 

How to participate in the discussion:

• To make your first post, please use the “Reply” button below.  You will be able to see the posts of your classmates after you have made the first post.
• Your original post should be two paragraphs long; (one paragraph for each part of the prompt).
• The initial post is due by 11:59 p.m. on Sunday, and responses to the initial posts of at least two classmates are due by Wednesday at 11:59 p.m.  For full credit, you must post on two separate days within the week.  Because we are such a large class, you have been split into smaller groups for the Discussions. 
• For the responses to classmates:
  • At least one of your responses in the small group must be to a classmate who selected a different video to observe.
  • Use your classmate’s name.
  • Acknowledge something your classmate said.
  • Build on your classmate’s post, such as, share a different analysis of the clip the classmate selected, expand on the types of play that can be identified, or discuss how the teacher could extend the learning, (short, non-specific responses will not receive credit).
• Discussions will be graded according to the rubric found on page 5 of the syllabus.