Class Time Reflection (Lesson Planning/Oct.20/Week9)

This week a term "teachable moment" mentioned in the class grasped my interest. Although I could easily estimate about it in the class I have not heard about it before. I decided to search on the net and I wanted to put here just in case. Teachable Moment
Moment of educational opportunity: a time at which a person, especially a child, is likely to be particularly disposed to learn something or particularly responsive to being taught or made aware of something.
http://encarta.msn.com/dictionary_561539567/teachable_moment.html

A moment's insight is sometimes worth a life's experience.
- Oliver Wendell Holmes, The Professor at the Breakfast Table, Ch. 10

We can have in life but one great experience at best,
and the secret of life is to reproduce that experience as often as possible.
- Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray, Ch. 17
http://wilderdom.com/experiential/TeachableMomentWhatIs.html

A teachable moment is an unplanned event during the day that adults can use as a learning opportunity for kids. When a child displays an action or behavior that can be used as a learning tool, parents and providers should capitalize on the moment, and provide the opportunity to extend or expand the child's learning.
Teachable moments are important for kids because they provide meaningful contexts to introduce or expand on something you want children to learn about. This way they can be used to open conversations with kids – to find out what they’re thinking about. Conversations with the kids will help in the development of their language, communication and reasoning skills.
Infants’ and toddlers’ level of curiosity is much more basic than for preschoolers. For infants and toddlers, it’s as basic as how to open and close a door or how to get food to your mouth. Preschool kids have a sense of language and have more advance cognitive development. Preschoolers have a natural curiosity about all aspects of life. They have more of an imaginative quality and they can express it. Their language skills are more advanced so they have a greater dimension to their learning.
A provider identifies teachable moments by observing and listening to kids, following their leads and looking for interesting occurrences. Listening and observing the child’s behavior is very important. If they’re spending more time on a particular toy or squishy grass, ask them open-ended questions about what they’re doing. Listening to what they’re saying and if they stay engaged in the conversation and the activity, encourage them to discuss it.
The “unplanned” part is the whole essence of what a teachable moment is all about. It’s about speaking to the moment. It’s spontaneous and addresses what sparked the interest of the child and gives a different flavor to the learning. You’ll notice during teachable moments that the provider becomes more enthusiastic and so do the children.
http://www.aplaceofourown.org/question_detail.php?id=101