Tapping Talents in Young Kids

     

Each child is born with innate talent that needs honing with time. Parents and pre-primary school teachers can help in tapping into the dormant talents of children at an early age. As children grow and realize their inner potential, it boosts their confidence and helps them in their proper cognitive growth and development.

Indeed, it’s a delight for parents and teachers to see their little ones flourishing and sharpening their skills and interests. But it’s not always easy for children to know where their true talents lie, especially when the options are many and varied these days. Below are 5 ways how as a teacher you can identify and help them grow their natural talents.

Adopt the Child-led Policy:

To nurture the inner possibilities of your child, you must follow his or her lead. Wear the hat of a guide and quietly observe the specific attributes that your child inclines towards.

1.       What kind of activities interests your children?

2.       What do they like to do in their free hours?

3.       What excites them?

Based on your observations, you can suggest the activity options to your children. But bear in mind, it will be your child who will ultimately decide whether he wishes to continue long term or not. However, when you follow the child-led ways, it’s easier for teachers and children alike to maintain continuity in skill development.

Give it time!

Albeit, it’s important to follow child’s cues for identifying and developing a child’s talent but know that children may be fickle minded too. In spite of their talent, they may change their minds and refuse to get their training after a point. Some already talented children may get influenced by their best friends and want to enroll themselves for activities which may not be their cup of tea. Such cases need meticulous handling by the parents. If you think your child has the necessary skills to advance in a particular activity yet refuses to continue it, you will have to devise ways to ensure that your child retains interest in the same. Give a temporary break, if need be, only to make a come-back sooner than later.

Praise your Children

Observe the natural aptitudes of your child and give them due recognition. Also, accordingly guide him or her towards sharpening those special skills. This will boost your child’s self-esteem and motivate him to realize his full potential. Once you notice the hard work put in by the little one, praise him or her for those sincere efforts.

Inform and Enrich

When nurturing a child’s hobby or talent, it’s important that he or she understands the subject, or the topic concerned in depth. For example, if your child is pursuing music, speak to him about the various types of music; introduce the greatest musicians and their achievements and so on. There are many indirect ways to provide background information about the particular activity to sustain their interest and curiosity.

Help them understand what they Love

One child may have multiple talents; another may take time to discover his or her natural talents. There’s no need to fret over this, for each child is unique. How adults can help children to identify and hone their talent is by opening the doors for them to explore various opportunities. Parents should try to ensure that their inherently gifted and talented children enjoy different experiences, be it arts or sports or may be cooking and so on. This will help children to pursue what they enjoy doing the most.

Once your children settle down in the class environment, you may closely start observing their behavior and understand the interests and knacks that he/she is gradually developing. Early childhood is definitely a good phase to realize and guide a child towards his/her natural talents, so that he or she can get trained in their choice of activity and enjoy doing it too, before academic pressure kicks in.

Pointers to Develop Effective Curriculum in Education

 

The frame work of curriculum should leverage on inclusive and equitable, characterized by quality learning, promoting lifelong learning, and relevant to holistic development. Curriculum, in other words, provides the bridge between education and development -and it is the competencies associated with lifelong learning and aligned with development needs, in the broadest, holistic sense of the term, that span that bridge.

The curriculum represents a conscious and systematic selection of knowledge, skills and values: a selection that shapes the way teaching, learning and assessment processes are organized by addressing questions such as what, why, when and how students should learn. More broadly, the curriculum is also understood as a political and social agreement that reflects a society's common vision while taking into account local, national and global needs and expectations.  The curriculum, in other words, embodies a society's educational aims and purposes. Contemporary curriculum reform and development processes therefore increasingly involve public discussion and consultation with a wide range of stakeholders. The complexity of curriculum development processes and the range of issues informing the 'what' and the 'how' of teaching, learning and assessment present major challenges for policy-makers and curriculum developers.

In confronting these challenges, curriculum developers need to answer many fundamental questions, including, which knowledge, skills and values ​​should be included in our curriculum? Would the acquisition and development of such knowledge, skills and values, and of the associated capabilities and competencies, enable our young people to lead meaningful and productive lives? Does our current paradigm of a set of ‘subjects’ constitute a curriculum adequate? How can we make learning relevant and interesting to students?

 But what does ‘quality’ mean in a curriculum context? What is the quality framework within which curriculum developers can set goals, develop and implement change processes, and eventually gauge their success? Some useful indicators of a quality curriculum have to do with its relevance, consistency,   practicality, effectiveness and sustainability.

 The curriculum is not, of course, an end in itself. Rather, it seeks both to achieve worthwhile and useful learning outcome for students, and to realize a range of societal demands and government policies. It is in and through the curriculum that key economic, political, social and cultural questions about the aims, purposes and processes of education are resolved. The policy statement and technical document that represent the curriculum reflect also a broader political and social agreement about what a society deems of most worth -that which is of sufficient importance to pass on to its children

Key indicators of curriculum success include the quality of the learning achieved by students, and how effectively students use that learning for their personal, social, physical, cognitive, moral, psychological and emotional development. A quality curriculum maximizes the potential for the effective enhancement of learning. Underlying this paper is the premise that educational quality should be understood primarily in terms of the quality of student learning, which in turn depends to a great extent on the quality of teaching. Of prime importance in this is the fact that good teaching and learning are greatly enhanced by the quality, relevance and effectiveness of the curriculum.

Good quality curriculum development is an ongoing and continuous process, not least because curricula need constantly to respond to change. Good curricula need to keep pace with a world in which knowledge is rapidly expanding, communication technologies are broadening access to information, and, as a result, the skills needed by students are constantly changing or being invented. A well-planned and systematic curriculum development process is therefore best conceived as a continuous dynamic cycle of development, implementation and Evaluation, which leads to and informs a new cycle. There are implications for adopting this cyclical approach to curriculum development, particularly those related to development costs teacher education and professional development   and support materials development and resources.

The fundamental purpose of a subject syllabus is to provide a coherent and consistent program of learning, which takes account of the way young people learn, and which has the flexibility to adapt to local circumstances and students' needs, and to be adapted over time. A syllabus should ensure that planned and progressive program of learning activities is constructed to develop understanding over time, this program is consistent with the way children's cognitive, emotional and physical abilities develop, there is consistency of approach between subject areas, and with the values ​​and principles that have been articulated, inter-disciplinary links are established between the subject textbooks, other learning materials and assessment practices.

Ways to Introduce Global Learning in the Classrooms

 

Global learning can definitely happen during one time events- like an International Week or night- but when we drop pebbles along the way, we dive into deeper learning. Teachers already have their standards that they cover throughout the year and can expand them slightly to include a wider perspective.

Here are some ways to seamlessly integrate global lessons into existing curriculum.

Five Senses learn more about a country by using your five senses.

Water Cycle Follow the route of snow melting in the mountains to the tributaries of major rivers, such as the Amazon, Yangtze, and Nile, and back to the sea.

Families/Communities what differences and similarities do you find in families and communities? Look at schools, homes, children (how many, how they are treated, how long they live at home, what jobs they are expected to do around the house), and sports around the world.

Famous People Include inspiring people from around the world (such as Wangari Maathai, the “Mother of the Trees”from Kenya) when you study biographies.

Healthy Eating Learn about where in the world our foods come from; investigate healthy multicultural cuisine. Look up slide shows of school lunches or breakfast around the world.

Animals/Plants Discover native flora, fauna, and habitats around the world; discuss hibernation (related to weather patterns) and migration routes with maps, such as this lesson on monarch butterflies.

Celebrate a new holiday or tradition!

Celebrations are so fun for kids! Learn about traditions and customs for festivals, celebrations, holidays, and birthdays, and select some favorites to celebrate.

There are countless holidays around the world to choose from like

Día de los Muertos (Mexico and a handful of other Latin American countries)

Diwali (India)

Chinese New Year (China and many, many other countries in Asia)

Start with some research about the background of the holiday, where, why, and of course how it’s celebrated. The best way to learn is from someone who celebrates the specific festival, but you can also watch clips on YouTube, or read books to learn more.

It is really fun to have special visitors to help celebrate: we have invited a mariachi band to our school, West African drummers, and a lion dance troupe for Chinese New Year, and a wonderful Hanukkah storyteller. It is also super fun to make crafts and snacks (who doesn’t love food!?). Be creative and enjoy learning with your students!

Read your way around the world.

As parents and teachers, we read to our kids all the time. By carefully choosing the books, we can:

Incorporate multicultural folktales and fiction while also exploring culture in nonfiction books that feature kids’ real lives. Include characters of a wide variety of cultures and backgrounds so our kids are reflected in the stories and have role models and pride for their heritage.

Join the Global Read Aloud. This worldwide book club uses Twitter, Skype, Edmodo, their wiki, email, regular mail, Kidblog, Tackk, and any other tools you can think of to make connections and discuss the book. There are several books to choose from, and kids in kindergarten through college can participate!

Map the settings of the books you read and make sure you are covering all continents.

Read books that defy stereotypes by showing more than one side of the story. For example, when learning about communities, include books from other countries. Read about kids in urban, suburban, and rural South Africa so that kids realize Africa is not just a vast rural stretch of land with abundant wildlife (which does exist but is not the whole story).

Compare literature and learn about cultural values from Cinderella around the World, Gingerbread Stories around the world, and Little Red Riding Hood around the world, or the “Trickster Tales” around the world.

Collaborate- Connect- Communicate with classes around the world.

The reality today is that our kids are growing up in an interconnected world community. No matter how rural or homogeneous our local neighborhood may be, we can connect with peers around the world using the internet. Classes can Skype, tweet pictures, share what they’re learning via a blog post, or send emails, letters, or artwork to each other. There are many places to look for pen pals for your class, but the safest and most popular site is ePals.

No matter how we decide to make the connection, this global collaboration is an opportunity for kids to communicate, solve problems, discuss issues, and learn about each other via technology.