HELP!..With programming and critical reflections

[vanesssaak]

Last year during accreditation our adviser told us that our programs were 'old school' (Personally we find nothing wrong with our programs).Our 'old school' programs are almost identical to the templates here on the Aussie Childcare Website. She told us that most centres complete their program as a day book however, didn't specify anything else.I just wanted to know if anyone does anything different/unique with theirs. We aren't keen on changing our current format but she had a good pick at it so we'll at least look into other ideas.

Also we had a bit of trouble with our daily reflections as well as personal critical reflections.

#We need to incorporate a daily reflection of overall learning in the room, extension activities, what worked and what didn't-We currently display this for parents along with photos, however need ideas on what more detailed questions to answer.
#We also need to start incoporating a personal daily reflection book for each staff member.I've taken a few of the questions Lorina's posted to the question 'Personal Critical Reflections' and just wanted to know what others do with this, is it similar etc.

Kind Regards,

Vanessa

[linsaa fdc]

Hi Vanessa,
Sometimes I wonder how they expect us to do all that and give the children the time we need to interact, engage and play.
I use the questions attached to the templates on the Reflections of the Day + Curriculum plan, I also have a template, I think I got it from my FDC scheme which is a personal reflection template. It's an A4 page full of questions and boxes to tick or add a comment, it's easy and quick to do.
So far it seems to be enough. All the best it sounds like you have your work cut out for you.
linsaa fdc

[Lorina]

Hi Vanessa,

Interesting comments your received from your advisor about your programming being "old school". I just believe if you are showing the experiences, where the experience came from and linking to the EYLF all within the program it shouldn't matter what type of format is used. The EYLF/MTOP doesn't give a specific program format for us to follow only a framework so as long as we are incorporating the framework what does it matter. I think that advisor's/assessors base their "old school" judgement on their own opinion rather than the links, experiences and information within the program itself. Oh well! You can't please everyone....

I recently released a new curriculum plan "Weekly Plan Of Significant Learning" for LDC/OOSH that you can check out, may help give you an idea on another programming format to use:

EYLF Templates

Like Linsa mentioned you can check out the questions in the Reflection of Our Day template and you can also check out the following article:

Reflective Practices In Childcare. It may give you ideas on what types of questions you can use and how to complete a critical reflection.

Hope this helps,

,
Lorina

[vanesssaak]

Thanks Linsaa and Lorina for your replies. I have to apologise for mine being late. We have started to use a weekly programming and reflection diary which has worked out a bit better (for us at least). We are still struggling to find a convenient and quick way to complete our daily reflections, but we'll probably have to sit down and have a chat about that sometime soon. Our adviser is to be visiting us again sometime soon, so we will wait and see what she says about our changes...

[Lorina]

With daily reflections there is no quick way to go about them. This is because you need to use this to reflect on and evaluate the days experiences. This shouldn't be done in a hurry. Time and effort should be used to get this complete. It's not about how fast it takes to complete it, it should be about how and why it is written and the overall purpose of it...

,
Lorina