Final Reflection

This assignment has been a real challenge for me as everything else. I wasn’t sure whether I could cope with it. In the beginning I had no idea what I was doing and no idea what blogging was all about, although we talked about it at the beginning in class, I was still a bit naive. As a matter of fact I started to panic when some members of the group asked me if I’ve done my reflections, that  was why I approached you to see if I could get an extension. I was a bit relieved when I got a respond saying it would go up in the following week. I realised that every group member needed to work collaboratively with each other but somehow each of us has different talents. To be honest, this is my weakest link and technology is definitely not my cup of tea.

I have encountered numerous problems along the way in dealing with blogging but thanks to Regina for her support to get me through to the end. I have no idea what technology is all about but after gathering information from different readings and other group members’ reflections, I come to a realisation that the society we live in could not survive without technology and it is authentic. Smorti, (1999 Autumn) stressed that technology is an important area of the early childhood curriculum, therefore I need to change my ways of thinking about technology and try to cope with changes.

I have learnt from this blogging concept that each day brings challenges and opportunities. I am pleased to come across or face challenges at this point in time so that if it occurs in the future I will be able to cope with it and move on. When I reflect on this blogging, I had my own reservation, I examined different perspectives including my experiences in my own life and my  hypothesis signifies  that I have been influenced by society.

One of my reflections about children using hammers is the indication of my own assumption about technology. In my early days the young children were not exposed to digital and non digital technology.  The tourists and business people were the ones seeing with cameras because they had the money.  The people that could access computers were the professional people like doctors, nurses,’ teachers. A couple of my group members also gave their equal share of their own experiences.

This assignment has enlightened me to identify something significant in my role as an early childhood teacher. I need to develop my knowledge, skills, attitudes and performance in this technology world we live in, so these attributes can be transferred to nurture children in my care (O’Connor & Diggins, 2002).

Ministry of Education (1996) states that in order to take part in this world, our children will require the confidence to develop their own views as well as the capacity to carry on acquiring new knowledge and skills.  These devices or tools are the essence of life in early childhood education Smorti, (1999 Autumn).

There are so many learning opportunities that I discovered in this blogging. I’ve learnt to be able to communicate in a responsive reciprocal ways with group members and ask for support when required. I also learnt from this experience the importance of relationships with people, places and things as stated in the principles of  Te Whariki – relationships, empowerment, family and community, and holistic development.

Smorti (1999 Autumn) definition of technology is about helping people and solving problem. This definition fits in well with my own experience of technology and blogging. I feel very enlightened and I have a different perception on technology now and blogging is fun finally. Thank you people, places and things. WOOW

Reference

Ministry of Education. (1996). Te Whāriki: He whāriki matauranga mō ngā

          mokopuna o Aotearoa: Early childhood curriculum. Wellington, New

          Zealand: Learning Media.

O’Connor, A., & Diggins, C. (2002). On reflection: Reflective practice for early

      childhood educators. Lower Hutt, New Zealand: Open Mind Publishing.

Smorti, S. (1999 Autumn) Technology in early childhood. Early Education, 19.