The toddler children at the centre I work with love and enjoy expressing themselves through music and movement. “Music, movement and dance are rich and natural teaching resources for educators” (Isenberg & Jalongo, 2006, p.134). Technology plays a large role in the children’s expressive development as they enjoy using the radio and the CD player to play music and dance too. It is a daily routine for the children to ask for the Justin Bieber song ‘Baby’. This song is not only across the media worldwide but the children have heard it on the radio at home and ask for it at the centre. Children develop “connecting links between the early childhood education setting and other settings that relate to the child, such as home, school, or parent’s workplaces” (Ministry of Education, 1996, p.56). This song is so popular amongst the toddler children and they enjoy dancing and creating their own dance moves with each other.
Child’s Voice
TT – “Jody can we have baby, baby ooooo?”
GP – “Yeah yeah Justin Bieber”
PM – “I go get PS and we will dance OK"
TT – “Can I take photos?”
Jody – “OK the camera is in the cupboard and make sure the battery is charged”
TT – “I got it, dance PM so I can take a photo of you”
Jody – “What number is the Justin Bieber song?”
GP – “seven, oh nah seventeen”
Jody – “Yes seventeen, who is going to press play?”
WH – “I will, is it this one?”
GP – “Baby, Baby OOOOO”
Technology is very important for young children’s development in today’s society as we are surrounded by growing technologies. It is very significant for the children I work with as they are exposed to technology daily not just at the centre but in their home environment also. “Children use a variety of technologies for different purposes as they explore their world” (Ministry of Education, 1996, p.98). Using technology for example, the radio and CD player supports the children’s interest as they are able to play their favourite songs while expressing themselves through music and movement.
“Children experience an environment where they discover different ways to be creative and expressive” (Ministry of Education, 1996, p.80). The children re-enact the different dance moves that they see on Justin Bieber’s video clips on television and show them to the children when the music is playing. TT has also developed the ability to sing along and remember the words to the song. “Music is not merely a content area; it is also a unique way of communicating and a unique language” (Isenberg & Jalongo, 2006, p.132). Hearing it daily has given TT the opportunity to retain certain parts to the song and share these words with his toddler friends. TT is experiencing an environment where he is developing verbal communication skills for a range of purposes. (Ministry of Education, 1996). His ability to retain words to the song and sing proudly is very much increasing his self-confidence, therefore technology has many benefits for the learning and development of young children.
The interest of Beiber fever has shown in my centre too, the children had shown a vast amount of interest in one song in particular which happened to be the same song as stated above. It is great to see that children are learning things other than the song, like developing on their language and mathes skills. I did not think that with technology and music, children can learn so much and well done jody on a well written reflection.
ReplyDeleteSo cute Jo, my preschool children love Justin to. They also love using the CD player and pushing all the buttons and putting in the Cd's. We have spent lots of time teaching the children how to look after the cd's so they dont get scratched but they find it a bit difficult to remember which buttons do what? eg play, stop, go forward etc. While reading your blog it gave me the idea that maybe I could design some sort of poster or A4 pictorial instructions to help the children know which buttons to push. They would then be able to use the CD player independently giving the children a sense of empowerment also! Does this sound like a good idea? Have you done this in your centre? If you have I would like some ideas on what symbols you have used - talk soon!
ReplyDeleteIt seems that Bieber fever is everywhere my children also listen and sing along to Justin Bieber in the playground. I had an interesting conversation with the children at my centre the other day and apparently Justin Bieber is my boyfriend. But on a serious note I really enjoyed reading you blog I liked how the children were in charge of all the technology happening in your observation and how you recorded the children’s voices. This also extends children’s interests from home into the centre which is great for children’s sense of belonging. Awesome post Jody
ReplyDeleteJUSTIN BIEBER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
ReplyDeletethat is all you ever hear in my centre!!! "Steph, can you please put on Justin bieber??"
then the children all run to the mat and break dance, do the hula, the haka and whatever else they do!! lol.
After reading your blog it has made me think about what we do, and I am going to try having the stereo down at the children's level so they are able to have a fiddle and find out about how the stereo works etc!
I really enjoyed your entry.
:)
Everywhere I can hear children singing Bieber's songs. You can see this hugely influence children's learning and development. It was good to see that your children very engaged with technology. How would you extend children's interests and passion about the technology?
ReplyDelete