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Learning Steps - A Learning community
Volume
2
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Schooling the Kid
Step-36
How does
effective communication help the child?
Communication is
very vital to holistic growth. Facilitating communication at the formative
level is important. This helps in developing right attitudes towards people and
events.
A child
facilitated with the communication skills would be able to:
Ø Convey personal needs
Ø Speak fearlessly
Ø Speak assertively
Ø Develop vocabulary
Ø Develop language skills
Ø Give an expression to imagination
Ø Express creatively
Ø Handle emotions meaningfully
Further,
effective communication facilitates the following:
- Elimination of fear
- Development of verbal skills
- Development of non-verbal skills
- To enhance the self-confidence
- To develop the self-concept and image
- To empower thinking skills
- To improve Interpersonal skills
- To strengthen Intrapersonal skills
Any conversation
between the teacher and the learner has to be positive, mutually supportive and
constructive. It is claimed that words are nothing but electromagnetic
vibrations that impact one’s mind and subsequently the emotions and the
behaviour. The children at the formative stage quite often reflect the words,
actions, behaviour and style of the teacher. Rather, they ‘mimic’ them.
Commenting on
the conversation between two persons, Daniel Goleman observes in his book
“Social Intelligence”:
“As two people are engrossed in the
conversation, their bodies’ motion seems to track the very pace and structure
of their speech. Frame-by-frame, analysis of pairs talking reveal how each
person’s movements punctuate the conversation’s rhythm, head and hand actions
coinciding with stress points and hesitations in speech.
Remarkably, such body-to-speech synchronies occur
within a fraction of a second. As thee synchronies interlock while we speak
with someone, our own thoughts can’t possibly track the complexity of the
dance. The body is like the brain’s puppet, and the brain’s clock ticks in
milliseconds, or even tinier microseconds- while our conscious information
processing, and our thoughts about it, lope along seconds at a time.”
It is quite
important that the teachers should enter and remain with a positive frame of
mind in the classroom, quite receptive to the words and emotions of the learner
and respond appropriately. It is equally important that the body language of
the teacher should be in synchrony with their structure of words.
Continues,
Daniel:
Any conversation demands that the brain make
extraordinary complex calculations, with oscillators guiding the continuous
cascade of adjustments that keep us in synch. From this micro-synchrony flows
an affinity, as we participate in a slice of our conversational partner’s very
experience. We so readily slide into a brain-to-brain link in part because
we’ve been practicing this silent rhumba all our life, since we first learned
the basic moves.
Our teachers
need to understand that they should move towards establishing brain-to-brain
link to develop the affinity with the learner.
G.Balasubramanian
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Learning Steps - A Learning community
Volume 2
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Schooling the Kid
Step-37
Enable thinking skills
Educational psychologists believe that it is important to facilitate
neuron networking in the brain. It is believed that the greater the networking
of neurons the greater is the ability to think. Therefore the teachers should
facilitate development of thinking skills. Some of the strategies by which
teachers could enable the same are:
- Facilitate play
- Facilitate observation
- Facilitate listening
- Facilitate reading
- Facilitate questioning
- Facilitate divergent thinking
- Facilitate lateral thinking
- Facilitate conversation
- Facilitate creative arts, poetry and theatre skills
Very often the “right answer syndrome” of the teachers inhibits the
thinking process of the students.
The development
of thinking skills among students would help in development of:
Ø Rational thinking
Ø Objective outlook
Ø Analytical approach
Ø Flowcharting of ideas
Ø Development of thought structures and frames
Ø Ability to restructure and reorganize thoughts
Ø Critical review of concepts and statements
The thought patterns of the children in the formative years are
greatly influenced by the physical and the social environment. The family has
an important role to play in shaping the thought patterns in these years.
Mostly thinking patterns of young people are influenced by the
following:
Ø Thought patterns of parents
Ø Thought patterns of teachers/ schools
Ø Thought patterns of the society
Ø Impact of media (induced thought patterns)
All the above might lead to
linearity in thinking, polarization in thinking, subjectivity in thinking and
lead to self-centered thinking. The children in the formative years become
victims of external influences and very often miss the ability to objective
thinking. It is therefore important schools do develop exercises in the
objectives listed above.
Emerging consumerist tendencies have a serious impact on the mind
and psyche of the learners at the formative stage. They become easy victims to
temptations and yield themselves to unwarranted social and peer pressures
thereby landing themselves in avoidable problems and situations.
The inability to control thoughts, the inability to monitor and
regulate them slowly leads to the destruction of the personal profile of the
learner. He becomes dependant on others, the society and external conditions.
Exercises like yoga and meditations seem quite important at the formative years
of life.
G.Balasubramanian
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Learning Steps - A Learning community
Volume 2
|
Schooling the Kid
Step-38
Why Teach
Rhymes?
One of the most
established modes of content delivery at the formative stage is rhymes. The
rhymes normally consist of a caricature of words articulated in a manner that
they convey one or more simple meanings which fulfill one of the following
objectives:
·
Adds value to a learner’s physical, mental or
emotional stature
·
Enables building a belief system
·
Brings
about an awareness related to a thing, an event, a place or a process
·
Encourages fantasy and imagination,
·
Familiarizes the learner to certain courses of
actions or events in the life process.
·
Explains the structure of relationships
between people, events, systems or structures
The objectives
are realized through a delivery system which contains a combination of the
following:
- Design
- Meter
- Rhythm
- Action
- Expression
Each of the
above tools has a very significant impact on the learning process. Teachers
need to apply their mind in understanding the role of each of the above tools
in teaching of the nursery rhymes.
Design
The design of
each of the nursery rhymes is intended to convey a specific meaning to the
learner. They help in shaping, nurturing and facilitating a structure, a
thought or a mental frame. Sometimes they aim at providing a motivation, a
curiosity and propose an action. Sometimes they are aimed at integrating the
cognitive, the affective and the psycho-motor domains of the learning process.
Let us analyze a
few situations:
If one would
examine the design of the rhyme “Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star; how I wonder
what you are…..” one would realize the two major implications of the above line
– one the child is exposed to a process of curiosity, a process of wondering.
The sense of
wonder is very significant to human thought process. It kindles a sense of
curiosity, motivation to understand the unknown, a sense of appreciation, and a
spirit of inquiry.
When the child
looks at the star later in the night, he or she spreads the wings of curiosity
by looking at the star, counting, one two… and finally the mind wanders here
and there counting the innumerable number of stars. The process of wandering of the mind starts.
Remember “wondering and wandering of mind is
fundamental to creativity”
Similarly, if
one would analyze the rhyme “Mary had a little lamb” one would see the
following objectives being conveyed:
- Caring of the animals
- The process of growth
- The relevance of wool
- The need and capacity to share
- The significance of animals in the biosphere
Teachers who
understand the above and similar designs of the words in the rhymes would be able
to contextualize the rhymes and convey the objectives in an impressionable
manner. Teacher need to understand the life and spirit of the words and should
be able to convey them in a suitable manner. For achieving this, they take help
of several other tools like music, dance, role-play, dramatization etc.
Can our nursery
teachers examine some of the nursery rhymes and come out with a plan indicating
their objective and strategies for achieving them?
G. Balasubramanian
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Learning Steps - A Learning community
Volume 2
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Schooling the Kid
Step-39
More about
Rhymes
Meter
Meter in nursery rhymes has a significant role in developing the
mental skills of the children. Meters in rhymes do not simply indicate an
organization of a poem, but they facilitate the child in the following:
- Logic
- Order
- Sequence
- Measurement
- Voice modulation
The children would be in a position to apply these skills in other
situations, link the skills in other contexts and can use these for extended
imagination. Quite often these are also linked to certain psycho-motor
behaviour of the learners. They help in strengthening Stimulus-Response bonds.
Understanding and appreciation of meters at the foundation level
will help them to write poetry, to play music and emerge as good composers.
Teachers should use the concept of meters effectively in the
classroom to facilitate the children to be creative and innovative. The
students can be asked to write their own rhymes using meters and sing or play.
Rhythm
Rhythm in the rhymes provides an excellent bridge between cognitive,
affective and psycho-motor skills. For example, rhythm in words can be linked
to rhythm in feelings or emotions and rhythm in actions and body language.
Rhythm helps in understanding order, logic, modulations in words and actions,
differences in styles of communication, management of change, management of
patterns etc.,
While teaching the rhymes, teachers should focus on the following:
- Whether the children use rhythms in an appropriate manner so that there is effective bridging between the three domains
- Whether they are repeating the rhymes in a mechanical manner without understanding or applying the effects of the rhythm
Teachers should pause wherever necessary and provide adequate body
language expressions so that the learners are able to observe and use the body
language patterns to convert verbal systems to emotional expressions in tune
with the body language.
One may be aware that rhythms are often used in physical exercises.
Teachers of nursery units can use similar techniques in classrooms and play
fields to provide appropriate experiences.
Actions
In almost all cases, a nursery rhyme is taught along with actions.
Actions include:
Ø Movement of hands
Ø Movement of body
Ø Movement of eyes
Ø Movement of legs
Such movements are always done to convey a meaning, cause an
experience and transfer the meaning of words into body language. This helps in
cognition, understanding, knowledge transfer, mind-body synergy,
left-brain/right brain coordination and essentially in an effective brain based
learning.
Actions help children in enhancing their:
- Alertness
- Response level
- Timing sense
- Periodicity
- Coordination
- Team work (when done in a group)
- Transfer of mental models to physical movements
Teachers should ensure the following whenever they use actions for
conveying meanings:
- Actions convey correct meanings
- Actions generate positive responses
- Actions do not convey negative feelings/emotions
- Actions do not condemn/ ridicule any person/matter/event
- Actions are simple and can be easily followed
- Actions are learner friendly.
- Actions are relevant for the appropriate age group
- Actions are place and space sensitive
Can our nursery teachers analyze some of the nursery rhymes they
teach in the context of some of the above inputs and structure their pedagogy
appropriately?
G. Balasubramanian
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Learning Steps - A Learning community
Volume 2
|
Schooling the Kid Step-40
Rhymes and Emotions
The formative years are very significant in building the emotional
intelligence of the child. The learning styles in classrooms should not only
help in building the effective emotional intelligence of the child, but should
support in understanding, appreciating and managing emotions.
Normally the nursery rhymes generate only positive emotions. There
are no major evidences to indicate the contrary. The following emotions are
usually on display through nursery rhymes:
- Sense of wonder
- Sense of humor
- Sense of appreciation
- Sense of fear
- Sense of doubt
- Sense of compassion
Development of goodwill to the fellow-beings, pets and nature are
often indicated through the nursery rhymes.
Teachers should use these emotional inputs to enhance the emotional
intelligence of the learners. This will help not only in building a positive
profile of the learner but would help in shaping and consolidating values among
them.
Opportunities should be found for the following:
- Building confidence and trust among the peers
- Enhancing the level of tolerance
- Show concern for others needs and feelings
- Resist violent expressions
- Respect for traditions and values
The transaction of the rhymes is in the classroom is nothing but
building a communication profile between the teacher and the student through
the medium of words, music and actions. How does it impact a child?
Daniel Goldman observes “All
communication requires that what matters for the sender also matters for the
receiver. By sharing thoughts as well as feelings, two brains deploy a shorthand
that gets both people on the same page immediately, without having to waste
time or words explaining more pointedly what matters are at hand.”
Here is an interesting experiment which Goleman records:
Six Rhesus monkeys have
been trained to pull chains to get food. At one point a seventh monkey, in full
view of others, gets a painful shock whatever one of them pulls for food. On seeing the pain of that shocked monkey,
four of the original rhesus monkeys start pulling a different chain, one that
delivers less food to them but that inflicts no shock on the other monkey. The
fifth monkey stops pulling any chain at all for five days and the sixth for
twelve days – that is, both starve themselves to prevent shocking the seventh
monkey.
Teachers should note that the words and actions have a significant
impact on the learning minds especially at the formative stage. There are many
recorded events about the emotional behaviour of children consequent to the
impact of the words and actions of both the parents and teachers. Use of words
and actions that lead to insult, emotional injury, differentiation,
discrimination, isolation, offence and others could leave a long term or even a
perennial impact on the emotions of the children.
A lot of thought has to go into the selection of rhymes, their
wording, and relevant actions. They should help in building positive emotions
and positive environment for healthy development of mind.
G.Balasubramanian
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