When we talk about "children's internal drive"
What exactly are we talking about?
Editor's Note
Editor's Note
In fact, in the nature of children, curiosity about the outside world is innate. Education is to help children awaken and develop their own internal drive and willpower, rather than to cultivate children's learning qualities from scratch. Starting from children's nature, helping children explore the unknown world is the starting point for the construction of the tree-based education and heart-running curriculum. Full respect for the openness of children's play activity design, the core is not to put children's inquiry activities in opposition to the adult will, but to maintain balance and echo. Therefore, reducing the number of highly designed and controlled teaching activities will provide strong support for children's adaptive development. In unstructured play, children are more likely to shift from one point of excitement to the next and are able to fully mobilize their exploratory instincts, reflecting positive attention and curiosity in the activity.
The use and transformation of waste items in life, maximizing their role, and allowing young children to freely explore the play of materials are the form of curriculum organization that can be seen in almost every kindergarten. However, how to develop their game ideas in a way that young children are interested in, so as to cultivate children's sense of innovation and friendly cooperation ability, we need to respect children's curiosity and subjective initiative more, in short, how to grasp the rhythm of teaching while giving children more autonomy, is the content that teachers should focus on in outdoor teaching activities.
Just like the random "carton battle" that took place in Shujifu Kindergarten, in the early stage of education, it was obviously random and non-process, but in the process of children constantly innovating game rules and transforming game materials, we saw that the needs of learners were constantly being met and expanded, and the flexible teaching rhythm made children get a perfect balance between "I like", "I understand" and "I should".
△ Our discovery: the secret in the cardboard box.
In the morning, when taking the children to play field camp games in the playground, when passing the warehouse in the middle of the playground, Lele and Xinxin found a lot of cardboard boxes in the warehouse next to the playground, so they started a journey of exploration.
Lele: Why are there so many cardboard boxes here today? Don't want to?
Haohao: I know, I bought a lot of things online, used to pack the express box, and my family also has a lot of cartons.
Happy: Yes, my mother bought a lot of things on the Internet, and there are a lot of cartons, and the cartons can also be used to sell for money, and you can also make toys, before my mother and I made a turntable toy together.
Toto: I used to play with gophers in cardboard boxes, but it was fun.
SHH: Really? There are so many cardboard boxes here, we can also bring it back and use them to play games.
Teacher Yao, can we play with this cardboard box? Looking at the expectant eyes of the children, I found the teacher of the storeroom with the children... The children happily picked up the cardboard box.
01
Our discussion – how the cardboard box can be played
△ I want to draw it.
After returning to the classroom, the children spontaneously opened a cardboard conversation big PK. Children scrambled to speak their minds. Tintin tugged at my sleeve and kept asking, "Teacher, these cardboard boxes have been given to us"? Dodo asked, "Can we play with the carton ourselves?" ”
Hearing my affirmative response, a "big war" broke out in the classroom.
Toto: What can we use for so many cartons? How can I play it?
Sugar Sugar: Can be sold for money.
Yang Yang: I can make a car out of a cardboard box.
Cocoa: We can make cartons into darts to play games together.
Lele: We can make the cartons longer and play the game of dragon dance.
As a result, a debate competition on the "Carton Dialogue PK" kicked off in the classroom.
After everyone's heated discussion, the children had a deeper understanding of the carton and had a preliminary idea of "playing more in the carton". Drawing can show the children's ideas very well, so the children use the brush and begin to draw their ideas. The children are worried that they are drawing the same as others, and in the process of painting, they begin to discuss what they want to draw. After discussing it, the children began their own carton painting design.
Yang Yang: I turned boxes into tanks, so I drew tanks.
Coco: I like to play with kites, I want to make a cardboard box into a kite to play with.
Ann: I drew a cardboard box made of frisbee and then played a game of throwing.
Stars: Castles I paint, cardboard boxes can be made into castles.
I saw that many children had drawn well and were already showing their designs, but after I saw Xinxin draw a cardboard box, I never drew, I would look at the pen, I would be in a daze, I instinctively wanted to go over and ask her if she was having difficulties, but I wanted to wait and observe to see what she would do.
After the painting was completed, the children introduced us to their works one by one and told the teacher about their designs. Xinxin said: "I wanted to play a game of peek-a-boo, but I didn't know how to draw, so I started to draw a box, and then I thought about it, and I drew two more boxes, and I drew people, and we hid in the box." Hearing her sharing, I thought of the thinking process that had just been involved in Xinxin's thinking process without haste, and sure enough, Xinxin continued to design and create after drawing the first carton. Finally, I drew the cardboard box hide-and-seek gameplay.
Teacher observation
Observation by Teachers
I was glad that I didn't intervene at the first time, it seemed that Xinxin couldn't write at that time, but she was actually thinking and imagining designing her own game. This once again proves that the intervention of teachers must choose the right time, when children spontaneously carry out activities with themes, plots and interests, teachers may wish to "wait and see the changes", do not arbitrarily interrupt and intervene, this is support. Let young children naturally generate problems in the activity, solve problems independently, explore problems, in order to achieve real development in the activities, teachers should be patient and wait for children to send us a signal to ask for help, and then give help.
Teachers think
Teachers Pondering
In the process of discussing and designing the carton gameplay, I found that children have a lot of ideas of their own, and they will also use the things in their lives to bring into the game. In the children's drawing design, it can also be understood that children need to have enough time to think and imagine. Their idea is not just the cardboard box itself, but also to connect the things they like. Just like Coco loves to play with kites, she will want to make a cardboard box into a kite to play with. Watching the children have so many wonderful ideas, and want to make these ideas. As a result, the carton game has a new way to play...
02
Play it – the cardboard box game I designed
△ Game - carton skateboard, carton lion dance.
We came to the playground with the cardboard boxes, and the children began to choose the cartons for their own game design. Toddlers have successively thrown themselves into outdoor sports games according to their own designs, and they are excitedly immersed in the cardboard box games of their own design.
At first, the children were still holding cardboard boxes and preparing to start making the tanks, kites, and houses they had drawn, but after doing it for a while, I found that individual children had changed their design plans. Coco changed the kite she was going to make into a skateboard, and then began to step on it and play skateboarding.
Coco disassembled the cardboard box into two pieces, placed it on the ground, and slid forward with her feet on the ground. I observed coco slide very slowly, and after sliding for a while, she stood there motionless.
Coco: Teacher, my skateboard can't go, it slides so slowly.
Teacher: Slippery is very slow wow? So what's the way to make her skate faster?
Coco: I don't know. I pushed my foot hard and it was also very slow.
Teacher: So what else can you use to make it faster besides using your feet? Or you can think about why skateboarding is so fast.
Cocoa: Skateboards have wheels that can be rotated. But I don't have wheels?
Teacher: Then think about whether there is any substitute for wheels, or other ways to glide.
Coco thought about it and put her hands on the ground, her hands moved forward, and her body and feet began to move forward.
Coco: Teacher, you see, I have become a turtle, crawling and crawling.
Teacher: Yes, you are such a great idea, you are a turtle that can glide.
A few children began to open the cardboard box and put it together on top of their heads, saying they were dancing lions.
Teacher: Wow, you're dancing a lion, it looks so funny. I see your lion dance is very beautiful, but I feel like there is almost something? What else do you think is missing?
Sheep Boy: I know, I know, there is no lion head, I watch the dance of the lion on TV has a big lion head.
Yeon-yeon: Yeah, I've seen it too.
Yang Yang: Then I will be the head of the lion.
Then watching Yang Yang come over with a cardboard box and pick it up in front of the "lion", he began the game of lion dance.
In these cardboard games, I realized that the problem is the driving force and starting point of exploration, and the main line of activity. Questions can be initiated by young children or by teachers to stimulate children's interest in play and arouse children's existing experiences. In addition to asking appropriate questions, teachers should also encourage young children to express their ideas, listen to children's various answers and explanations, discover educational value from them, and promote the development of games.
In the game we not only observe whether the children actively participate in the game, the thinking ability and problem-solving ability in the game, we also observe the children's ability to play a friendly social game. When young children have disputes or problems and need the help of teachers, we can appropriately intervene in the game to help the children to better continue the game.
Teachers should be sensitive to children's interests and needs, discover their intentions in a timely manner, and adjust their behavior accordingly. For example, some young children will seek the help of teachers when they can't play, some will find a "reasonable" reason to give themselves the opportunity to play, and some will move out rules to fight for opportunities for themselves, all of which reflect the wisdom of children, teachers should fully understand and respect children's behavior, and provide more support for the game environment, so that they can fully experience the joy of play.
After / Remember
The great scientist Albert Einstein, in response to his question of why he had such a great invention, said: "I have no special talent, but I like to find out the root of the problem." It can be seen that the germination of protecting children's innovative spirit is to protect children's curious, inquisitive and inquiring nature.
Games should be child-centered, giving children the freedom to choose play materials and support for building their own play activities. Games are not a relaxation after learning, but should be an important consensus on the presentation of educational values. Therefore, in the outdoor sports activities of Shujifu Kindergarten, we advocate that teachers try the principle of teaching organization with weak structure and strong goals, although children may be chaotic and inefficient in the process of self-adjustment and problem solving in the process of self-planning and advancement around themes and goals, but we should not always be ready to jump out to solve problems, those that seem less "right" direction, children will continue to self-awareness and regulation through trial and error.
Learn to observe and intervene at the right time
Play is a spontaneous and autonomous activity of young children, of course, the teacher himself also plays a guiding role in the activity, the teacher's timely intervention can play a positive role in the child's activities, promote the progress of the game, improve the interest of the child, and promote the improvement of the game skills and quality. In a safe situation, the teacher can observe from the sidelines, giving the children more time to think about solving the problem, just as Xinxin did not continue to draw for a period of time after not knowing what to draw at the beginning, and finally drew her own carton play through her own thinking.
Respect your child's individuality and protect your child's desire to explore
Respecting the child's personality is the understanding and trust of the child, respecting the child can make the child full of confidence in himself, believe that he has the ability to make the right choices and judgments, encourage the child to express his own opinions, and believe that the child has his own opinion. Teachers should put aside family words or fixed answers, let children fully express their personalized feelings and ideas from their own perspective, and give children the right to tell their unique opinions. When children have their own desire to explore, without affecting others under the premise of safety, we can give children enough time to discover and explore, so that children can have a heart that is curious to explore new things.