Building links between the classroom and home to benefit children's learning

PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT MODULES FOR EARLY CHILDHOOD TEACHERS TO ASSIST WITH A MULITMODAL APPROACH IN THE CLASSROOM



OBJECTIVE: assist in being able to confidently induct multiliteracy texts to their programming and link learning experiences with children's wider communitites.







MODULE 1

HOW TO: TEACHING ICT MECHANICS WITH CLASS MEMBERS

Gather information on student’s home technology background
A simple questionnaire is an efficient and easy way to do this

Use this information to decide on the most popular source for communication
With just a couple of options available for communication all class families will be connected

Remember those that don’t have this form of communication cannot be forgotten

Introduce a literacy quilt
Families are encouraged to write examples of sorts of literacy experiences that they engage in at home on colourful pieces of paper - it can be anything from helping with a shopping list to computer games. The examples are then pinned to the quilt and hung on display for all to read. This will assist in learning the different experiences the children engage in out of the school and help to plan and develop appropriately from these.
(Arthur et al. 1993.)

Discover new ways of learning with different ICT media from a student
Is there any students that use an unusual form of media at home? Perhaps through the parents line of work

Have the child engage other members of the class by explaining this media with them

Homework is an excellent example of linking classroom and home ICT formats.
Have the children send an email from home of their weeks spelling words.

It's important to remember that none of these e-learning skills can form exclusively from classroom activities, but through ha mixture of new technologies and traditional pedagogies.
This is best achieved when:
  • Students see themselves as both producers and consumers of information
  • They are offered opportunities to construct communal knowledge
  • Students are trained in the different technologies they will be using and can communicate and present this to their peers and families
  • Authentic course work built in to the activities
  • Presentation on the web for their peers and wider community to investigate
  • Active collaboration during preparations as well as the final product
  • Offer project based learning pedagogies
  • Include assessment techniques such as individual portfolios that can be later drawn upon for development progress
  • Peer mentoring with more experienced students taking on the role
  • Encourage children to be dynamic, adaptive and responsive to the community of learners
    (Holmes and Gardner, 2006)

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