Analyst – critical literacy and numeracy skills.

Week 11

For many educators philosophy and practice go unquestioned all too often.  In order to support the development of children’s critical literacy and numeracy skills – their Theory of Mind I need to have a capacity to critically analyze my own and others theories and perspectives.  By exploring constructs and contexts for teaching and learning literacy and numeracy in early childhood settings I am able to see different perspectives and make informed decisions about my own practice.

The articles this week both examine the social, cultural-historical contexts where the teaching and learning of literacy and numeracy occur and have provided new perspectives of both theory and practice.  Street (2005) describes the hidden and subtle aspects of an educator’s language and the social and relational contexts within which dialogue takes place.  Importantly the child is “ facilitated to explore rather than regurgitate mathematical principles, to take authority rather than reproduce the teacher’s authority.”  And we are drawn to the significance of the educators capacity to “var[y] the communicative repertoire with use of multi-modality –gestures, waves objects, draws, points;” to support the children’s understanding of mathematical concepts.  This language rich approach that is focused on what Street refers to as “ambiguities” rather than “truths” helps children make meaning of often complex mathematical concepts.

The diagram below an example of some of the elements of this repertoire that support the development of Theory of Mind

http://livasperiklis.com/2012/09/30/what-eye-movements-can-tell-about-theory-of-mind-in-a-strategic-game/

The Fleer and Raban article could easily have been written in in 2013.  The demand from society for early literacy and numeracy has intensified since 2005 and the pressure on educators’ to prepare children for future success is significant.  The interest in the article for me is the trail and evaluation of the Literacy and Numeracy Resource highlighted in my Portfolio

“Vygotsky’s (1987) work on everyday concept formation and scientific or academic concept formation draws our attention to the importance of identifying the core concepts in literacy and numeracy knowledge, and combining these with children’s personal everyday knowledge.”  When educators explicitly link everyday concepts and academic contexts together (double move), theoretical knowledge is developed”

Table 2 and Table 3 clearly indicate the important role of “tools” to support educators capacity to understand and make their own meaning of literacy and numeracy concepts and apply this learning to their work with young children. 

 

Marilyn Fleer & Bridie Raban (2007) Constructing cultural‐ historical tools for supporting young children's concept formation in early literacy and numeracy, Early Years: An International Research Journal, 27:2, 103-118,

Brian Street (2005) The Hidden Dimensions of Mathematical Language and Literacy, Language and Education 19:2, 135-140