Zoo–an incredible learning experience….

 

Every weekend we like to do a lot of things as a family that are fun for all of us, mostly serving as an exciting learning experience for our twins. And this week it was our visit to the Safari Animal Park in Dubai. And what a wonderful educative experience it was.

Rachel and Troy were filled with a sense of wonder and amazement in their eyes as we entered the zoo. And I could see that this trip is going to make a wonderful learning experience and surely it did. They obtained so much of knowledge about animals. From exploring the Arabian animals to the Asian and African animals to the Safari ride, everything filled them with excitement. As we walked around the zoo, we told them what animals they were seeing and the importance of each animal. This helped them to increase their vocabulary and develop their comprehension skills. It was also nice for us to encourage the dialogue with each kid and stimulate their language development with this visit. Today at home they had to draw in their own way an illustration of the zoo and then talk about it.

Rachel was very keen to see the camel as we always talk about Dubai being a desert and that camels live in the desert. She however enjoyed looking at the other desert animals. While exploring the elephant at the Asian village, Troy was thrilled to see a big elephant and its trunk. And I realised that nothing can compare to the instant teaching/learning that takes place by viewing a living, breathing elephant. No video, no Web site, no book can do that as effectively. Children nowadays are confined to a life indoors and there is less exposure to real-world examples.

We look forward to explore the rainforest animals area, the reptile section, the birds section and the adventure and kids section on our next visit when the weather gets a bit pleasant. A visit to the Bondla Wildlife Sanctuary and maybe spending a night on the treehouses at the Cotigaon Wild Life Sanctuary on our upcoming visit to India will serve as an extension to this learning experience.

Troy is particularly fond of animals. He just loves watching animals. Animals just grab his attention. We are using his love for animals for him to learn colours, sizes and other mathematical concepts like identification and classification or sorting according to categories like living in India and living in Dubai or Africa.

Rachel and Troy’s smiles come alive as they point to each animal in excitement. The most interesting thing was that they walked throughout the visit with us in the hot weather and enjoyed understanding the importance of taking care of the environment as it has a significant impact on the lives and welfare of animals. Since they had explored the topic of animals world along with their teacher for the last couple of months, we decided to talk to them about the importance of conservation and animal care. We specifically told them about the impact humans have on animals.

It was interesting to see Rachel show good ability to use the visual pictorial map of the zoo and point our where we are or where we need to go. I enjoyed watching them use all of their senses to look at their surroundings and expand their understanding about animals and their environment. Rachel enjoyed listening to the roar of the lion. An animal park really offers a true multi-sensory approach to learning! Troy wanted to take the little duckling home. You know your kids are learning when they are curious and ask you what is that animal, where did it come from? Or can I take that one home? One interesting question that Troy asked me was ‘This is not a jungle. This is a zoo. Why the animals in the zoo? Questions for which you don’t have any answer.

When we saw the cheetah, Rachel said “Cheetah’s body like Mama’s dress”. A zoo is an incredible brain developing learning experience which increases curiosity and helps a child ask so many questions. Children explored the environment at their own pace of learning and made new discoveries. I can say with this visit they became more self-aware. They also showed their preferences for the kind of animals they liked and disliked. For me the most amazing thing was that they showed no fear of animals.

 

Puzzle play

Puzzles are interesting learning/relaxing tools for adults and kids. Even though I am not very fond of puzzles, my daughter loves to solve puzzles and when I see her moving from the simple knobbed puzzles that are outlines of simple shapes that fit into corresponding board cutouts to more complex silhouettes of real world objects that take more consideration, I feel proud to see her filled with a sense of achievement upon completing the puzzle. Some puzzles really need a lot of patience and by taking her own time and effort to complete the puzzle, I can see the development of her emotional skill of patience. This along with the development of her physical and cognitive skills will go a long way in developing her into a well-rounded person.  I am looking forward to her working with others to solve a puzzle and communicating about what fits where.

Puzzles are of less interest to my son. But it’s nice to see that my husband too loves solving them and is getting the boy to get interested in the world of puzzles.

When we give a puzzle to a child, we are not just giving a thing to play. There is a set goal for a child to achieve—complete the puzzle. A child will use different strategies to complete the puzzle. The puzzle might be solves sooner or maybe later, might be left incomplete too. In the process of trying to solve the puzzle, a child develops problem solving skills and looks at ways to find the solution by trying to fit the pieces of the puzzle indifferent ways. If the pieces do not fit, they will try again and again. This will help to develop the ability to work through trial and error. The accomplishment of achieving a goal brings so much satisfaction to a child. It provides a boost to their self-confidence and self-esteem as this prepares them for other challenges in life.

What really happens when a child enters the world of puzzles? A child does so many things like flip, turn, remove the pieces of the puzzle, all of which promote physical development in general and greater eye-hand co-ordination specifically. Simultaneously they are learning the connection between their hands and their eyes. The eyes see the puzzle, and the brain visualises how the puzzle needs to look or what piece needs to be found and placed. Then the brain, eyes, and hands work together to find the piece, manipulate it accordingly, and fit it into the puzzle accurately. Al this promotes cognitive development.

Everyone knows that puzzles are good for a child’s mind and cognitive development. That could be one of the reason why children are flooded with puzzles as gifts on their birthdays or on the special days in their lives. But why are puzzles considered helpful to a child’s mental development? Psychologists have determined that a child’s brain development is influenced significantly when a child acts on or manipulates the world around him or her. Puzzles provide that key opportunity. Children learn to work directly with their environment and change its shape and appearance when they work with puzzles.

 

Live a life worth living for……

I always dreamt of making it big in life—not by having the best materialistic things that the world can offer, but a life where I can make a difference both to myself and the people around me. And during this process one quote that always gave me motivation was this: “Every morning you have two choices; continue to sleep with your dreams or wake up and chase”.

 

It’s not easy to chase your dreams. The decision to chase one’s own dreams can be a frightening one. It involves making large changes to your life and how you live it is never easy. I have broken the path to my dreams down to manageable goals—immediate, short-term and long-term. Sometimes I wish that pursuing dreams was a smooth ride. Alas, there have been many twists and curves, some left me full of negative thoughts and with doubts of my ability to succeed. But I never gave up and settled for defeat. Personally, motherhood was a long-cherished dream. With repeated miscarriages and age catching up fast, sometimes motherhood seemed to be a distant dream. Yet I kept my dream of motherhood alive with my positive attitude. And today I am blessed with two amazing kids.

 

All the experiences I went through have made me realise that I am the pilot of my life and knowing that God is with me, only I can take charge of my dream and fly to places I have never been. Always remember that — “The biggest adventure you can take is to live the life of your dreams.” – Oprah Winfrey

 

Never settle for things that are second best in life. Believe that you deserve the best and you will get it. I got married late and just because I was getting older, I never settled for anything that was less. I cultivated the energy in me regularly to really go after what I want in life because my dreams do not need to remain dreams forever. I have been blessed with a life partner who loves and cares for me and our family more than his own life.

 

Professionally I dream of starting an IB school in Goa, the first of its kind, a chain of pre-schools and a dyslexia centre for kids with different learning abilities. My professional life has been a roller-coaster life. I have never let discouragement rob me of the faith I have in myself. There have been times where discouragement has overwhelmed me. But I have learnt that to reach a state of unconditional self-approval, I must not tie my worth, personal and professional, to externalities. I shouldn’t seek for validation or approval from the world. Rather, focus on finding my own path and pace. That’s the only way to become, not flawless in everything, but perfectly happy and fulfilled with the person looking back at me in the mirror.

 

I am learning to use my time effectively. Sometimes I tend to procrastinate and then I run short of time.  Time wasted cannot be recovered. It’s just like a river; once you touch the water flowing past you, it will never flow back toward you again. Do what you’re supposed to do, when it’s supposed to be done.

 

Life has taught me that there is no harm to seek help when you need it the most. Not everyone you seek help will give it to you. I have knocked on too many doors and so many doors have been shut on me. Don’t wait for friends to find you. Reach out and become a friend to someone and make a difference.

 

I have never got deeply affected by the way people judge me. I have taken it as constructive criticism and tried to change myself wherever required. I know that when people judge me, it has more to do with their own fears and insecurities than mine. I am proud of the journey I am undertaking, and I look forward to your support to make my future dreams come true. Thank you all who have been with me on this journey of life. God bless.

 

Child- initiated Learning.

Why is choosing important? I believe that giving children choices throughout the day is beneficial to their development. Making decisions and having choices are very important and this can be done by providing varied activities and behaviours in the classroom through a child- centred learning/teaching approach.  Child initiated learning must hold a special place in the daily planning of the teacher to facilitate the interests of the different learners in the class. Children are developing a sense of their own identity. By providing them with some control over their experiences, the teacher contributes to this process and reflects their growing sense of who they are, what makes them unique and what connects them with others.

Children feel more committed to an activity they have chosen themselves. I have seen this with my son. When I set up learning centres for him at home, offering choices with activities that are of interest to him rather than telling him—“you like water play, here are your water toys and you can play”. He likes painting, water play, exploring musical instruments, puppets, tools to fix transport toys and sports. I set up tables with all these activities and allow him to choose his favourite activity according to his interest. I have noticed that this way he displays a longer attention span rather than if I choose the activity and assign the task to him. Even if it is his favourite activity, he loses interest in it in no time because I am in control of his learning process and making decisions for him.

 

From my many years of teaching experience I have realised that making their own choices builds the child’s appreciation of their own authority or ability to have an impact or influence. Many a times I have heard senior teachers commenting to a child to stop playing saying—“Stop playing here. School is not a kindergarten. You could play in kindergarten but you have to study hard here.” Maybe the teacher perceives play as secondary and unimportant to learning or she thinks of learning as something as very serious and important with no place for play. Making choices is part of problem solving. When given choices, children stretch their minds and create new and unique combinations of ideas and materials. Before they can make wise choices, however, children need to learn the skills of convergent thinking, knowing the right answer as well as divergent thinking, seeing many possible answers.

All human beings need to feel as if they have control over themselves and their lives. Children are small and cannot be expected to be totally independent. But it is important for children to develop a sense of autonomy at a young age. Children who do not develop autonomy are liable to remain dependent on adults or to be overly influenced by peers. They may feel doubtful of their abilities, and be unable to take the risks that lead to real learning or challenge themselves to achieve at ever higher levels. In addition, they may feel hostility toward adults who allow them little freedom to choose. Learning to be autonomous and self-reliant takes time and practice. When we offer children choices, we are allowing them to practice the skills of independence and responsibility, while we guard their health and safety by controlling and monitoring the options.

Once a child becomes autonomous, a child feels good, has a positive self- image and enhanced self-esteem. This gives them the ability to handle failure in a positive way. Then they are not afraid to make mistakes and learn. They learn to make alternative choices that will give them success and less failure. They also feel confident to seek help from other children or an adult if needed to cope with a difficult situation that they cannot manage by themselves. When their desires are respected, it is easier for children to respect others’ wishes. As children learn to make decisions for themselves and to develop autonomy, they learn to behave morally and to take the needs of others into consideration when making choices.

One of the effects of offering children choices throughout the day is the reduction of conflict among children and between children and adults. When adults direct a child’s behaviour most of the day, the child’s natural desire to be independent is thwarted and feelings of resentment or rebellion may arise. When they rebel, they are labelled as having “behaviour problems.” If we treat children with the same respect we adults expect and understand that each child has individual needs and interests, we will provide them with the opportunities to choose what is best for themselves at any given time. As educators our task is to provide children with appropriate, healthful options and help them to make and accept their choices. In this way, we are developing confident, independent children who feel in control of themselves.