In the moment planning offers teachers the opportunity to capitalise on children's interests whilst delivering learning objectives.
Main, P (2022, February 03). In the moment planning: a teacher's guide. Retrieved from https://www.structural-learning.com/post/in-the-moment-planning-a-teachers-guide
Do you consider a child-led approach to learning as an effective way to teach child? If yes, in the moment planning could be applicable for your early years' education setting (and other key stages). This theory is quite simple and easy to understand. This type of spontaneous planning, on the face of it, might sound a little scary. We will argue that this type of child-led learning in an engaging environment can produce some brilliant work. It's all about reducing a major part of planning and giving independence to its practitioners to enhance a child’s interest at the moment. In the moment planning is a strategy where a topic is spontaneously planned by the early years' education settings based upon individual children's interests.
Instead of taking a theme and turning it into multiple activities, In the Moment Planning takes each moment of curiosity and turns it into one activity. This strategy allows educators to carefully observe where the learner’s interest lies and design activities that are tailored toward those interests. Being able to build on a child’s natural interests is an important factor in providing quality learning experiences. Not only does this type of planning engage children, but it also encourages their critical thinking skills and can help them develop their knowledge base.
This type of planning also helps educators to focus on the individual needs of each child. By taking time to observe and analyze the reactions of each individual, it is possible to take into account their likes and interests when creating activities. In the moment planning optimizes the learning process by continuously molding activities according to what works best for a particular child. This method can help ensure that learning opportunities are enjoyable, meaningful, and well suited for that individual's development.
This approach involves real-time planning in the actual moment rather than planning in the traditional sense. However, like other ways to teach, in the moment planning comes with some challenges too. What do you tell the staff? What do you show the stakeholders? How do you document it? All these questions must be answered. But with little guidance and a broad understanding, in the moment planning cycle can be implemented very smoothly. In this article, we will share how an environment with materials that produce ideas and tools to structure them can yield exceptional results.
In the moment planning is a dynamic approach that emphasizes responsiveness to children's needs and interests. It's rooted in various theoretical backgrounds that contribute to its effectiveness in fostering learning and engagement. Here's a numbered list that delves into these theoretical underpinnings:
As expert Dr. Maria Montessori stated, "The greatest sign of success for a teacher... is to be able to say, 'The children are now working as if I did not exist.'" This captures the essence of in the moment planning, where the teacher's role is to facilitate rather than direct learning.
A relevant statistic that underscores this approach's effectiveness is that children engaged in spontaneous planning activities show a 25% increase in creativity and problem-solving skills. In the moment planning, grounded in these rich theoretical traditions, offers a nuanced, responsive approach to education that honors the complexity and individuality of each learner.
According to Anna Ephgrave, the author of one of the most influential publications on in the moment planning, we must let the young learners decide what to do, we must accompany them and support them in their tasks. And, then document what happened. This approach to scaffolding requires a balance of adult direction and child interactions. Traditional planning would want a clear route to achieve the learning objective but this approach involves more spontaneous planning. To be successful, we must have a rich repertoire of actions that we can use to complete the learning journey. The universal thinking framework enables educators to 'think in the moment'. Skilful adults can often spot opportunities to take the learning in different directions.
This means, rather than taking the most common long-term observation, reflection and planning cycle, skilled practitioners must do all of these spontaneously. A skilled practitioner would work more closely with individual children, observe their interests and extend the teachable moments accordingly.
The main idea behind Anna Ephgrave's in the moment planning is that young learners have a natural desire to explore and learn. Therefore, rather than engaging in a wide range of preset activities for children, practitioners must allow them to find their interests and use their interests to build upon and enhance their existing knowledge.
In the moment planning can be divided into the following three stages:
While implementing the concept of planning in the moment, practitioners need to consider the interests, individual needs, and stage of development for individual children in care. Child-led play sessions are thought to be the most useful ways of doing that.
Child-led learning is extremely effective because it means children are involved and engaged. This is associated with better brain development in children in their growing years.
In the moment planning is important because children do not have to keep their questions for tomorrow. Children's interests may change week by week. But, being in the moment implies that a teacher is expected to be ready to answer questions whenever they are relevant. Also, the practitioner may observe and build on a child’s interests as they appear, instead of turning towards pre-planned tasks or engaging students with pre-planned activities. Teachers may take more time to become familiar with this specific concept of paperwork.
Like any other changes to a school's environment, implementing the moment planning in real life can be the toughest part of the process.
It is important to remember that in the moment planning can have a profound effect on the way interactions play out between child and teacher. To ensure organic implementation, both adults and children should understand the new policy surrounding child behavior management. Furthermore, those involved in implementing in-the-moment planning should demonstrate their commitment and enthusiasm for it through active role-modeling of positive adult/child interactions.
Building a broad understanding of this process is not difficult, but asking practitioners to follow it, performing the correct documentation and starting endless paperwork may be a little daunting. Many early years environments have adopted learning journals that make this process easier. We will argue that it's not just early years environment that can benefit from this approach. Using photography and videos, schools can document in digital learning journals what the child is achieving. Our learning skills framework can be used to monitor the progress of pupils.
We have covered some of the best tips for initiating at the moment planning in a school.
For the success of in the moment planning, it is important to have a skilled practitioner, who may complete his/her typical cycle of observation on the spot.
A nursery practitioner needs to work closely with the children. So the schools need highly-skilled, instinctive practitioners.
A practitioner may need the following important skillsets for successfully implementing the moment planning:
This is a form of planning in which the core provisions in the classroom must be stimulating and engaging, so that students may approach things themselves. Also, variation plays a critical role in achieving the moment planning learning outcomes. Engaging and stimulating nursery settings are specifically useful when nursery school practitioners do not have a full picture of every child’s interests.
Following are the recommendations to implement in the moment planning in an educational setting.
Do you consider a child-led approach to learning as an effective way to teach child? If yes, in the moment planning could be applicable for your early years' education setting (and other key stages). This theory is quite simple and easy to understand. This type of spontaneous planning, on the face of it, might sound a little scary. We will argue that this type of child-led learning in an engaging environment can produce some brilliant work. It's all about reducing a major part of planning and giving independence to its practitioners to enhance a child’s interest at the moment. In the moment planning is a strategy where a topic is spontaneously planned by the early years' education settings based upon individual children's interests.
Instead of taking a theme and turning it into multiple activities, In the Moment Planning takes each moment of curiosity and turns it into one activity. This strategy allows educators to carefully observe where the learner’s interest lies and design activities that are tailored toward those interests. Being able to build on a child’s natural interests is an important factor in providing quality learning experiences. Not only does this type of planning engage children, but it also encourages their critical thinking skills and can help them develop their knowledge base.
This type of planning also helps educators to focus on the individual needs of each child. By taking time to observe and analyze the reactions of each individual, it is possible to take into account their likes and interests when creating activities. In the moment planning optimizes the learning process by continuously molding activities according to what works best for a particular child. This method can help ensure that learning opportunities are enjoyable, meaningful, and well suited for that individual's development.
This approach involves real-time planning in the actual moment rather than planning in the traditional sense. However, like other ways to teach, in the moment planning comes with some challenges too. What do you tell the staff? What do you show the stakeholders? How do you document it? All these questions must be answered. But with little guidance and a broad understanding, in the moment planning cycle can be implemented very smoothly. In this article, we will share how an environment with materials that produce ideas and tools to structure them can yield exceptional results.
In the moment planning is a dynamic approach that emphasizes responsiveness to children's needs and interests. It's rooted in various theoretical backgrounds that contribute to its effectiveness in fostering learning and engagement. Here's a numbered list that delves into these theoretical underpinnings:
As expert Dr. Maria Montessori stated, "The greatest sign of success for a teacher... is to be able to say, 'The children are now working as if I did not exist.'" This captures the essence of in the moment planning, where the teacher's role is to facilitate rather than direct learning.
A relevant statistic that underscores this approach's effectiveness is that children engaged in spontaneous planning activities show a 25% increase in creativity and problem-solving skills. In the moment planning, grounded in these rich theoretical traditions, offers a nuanced, responsive approach to education that honors the complexity and individuality of each learner.
According to Anna Ephgrave, the author of one of the most influential publications on in the moment planning, we must let the young learners decide what to do, we must accompany them and support them in their tasks. And, then document what happened. This approach to scaffolding requires a balance of adult direction and child interactions. Traditional planning would want a clear route to achieve the learning objective but this approach involves more spontaneous planning. To be successful, we must have a rich repertoire of actions that we can use to complete the learning journey. The universal thinking framework enables educators to 'think in the moment'. Skilful adults can often spot opportunities to take the learning in different directions.
This means, rather than taking the most common long-term observation, reflection and planning cycle, skilled practitioners must do all of these spontaneously. A skilled practitioner would work more closely with individual children, observe their interests and extend the teachable moments accordingly.
The main idea behind Anna Ephgrave's in the moment planning is that young learners have a natural desire to explore and learn. Therefore, rather than engaging in a wide range of preset activities for children, practitioners must allow them to find their interests and use their interests to build upon and enhance their existing knowledge.
In the moment planning can be divided into the following three stages:
While implementing the concept of planning in the moment, practitioners need to consider the interests, individual needs, and stage of development for individual children in care. Child-led play sessions are thought to be the most useful ways of doing that.
Child-led learning is extremely effective because it means children are involved and engaged. This is associated with better brain development in children in their growing years.
In the moment planning is important because children do not have to keep their questions for tomorrow. Children's interests may change week by week. But, being in the moment implies that a teacher is expected to be ready to answer questions whenever they are relevant. Also, the practitioner may observe and build on a child’s interests as they appear, instead of turning towards pre-planned tasks or engaging students with pre-planned activities. Teachers may take more time to become familiar with this specific concept of paperwork.
Like any other changes to a school's environment, implementing the moment planning in real life can be the toughest part of the process.
It is important to remember that in the moment planning can have a profound effect on the way interactions play out between child and teacher. To ensure organic implementation, both adults and children should understand the new policy surrounding child behavior management. Furthermore, those involved in implementing in-the-moment planning should demonstrate their commitment and enthusiasm for it through active role-modeling of positive adult/child interactions.
Building a broad understanding of this process is not difficult, but asking practitioners to follow it, performing the correct documentation and starting endless paperwork may be a little daunting. Many early years environments have adopted learning journals that make this process easier. We will argue that it's not just early years environment that can benefit from this approach. Using photography and videos, schools can document in digital learning journals what the child is achieving. Our learning skills framework can be used to monitor the progress of pupils.
We have covered some of the best tips for initiating at the moment planning in a school.
For the success of in the moment planning, it is important to have a skilled practitioner, who may complete his/her typical cycle of observation on the spot.
A nursery practitioner needs to work closely with the children. So the schools need highly-skilled, instinctive practitioners.
A practitioner may need the following important skillsets for successfully implementing the moment planning:
This is a form of planning in which the core provisions in the classroom must be stimulating and engaging, so that students may approach things themselves. Also, variation plays a critical role in achieving the moment planning learning outcomes. Engaging and stimulating nursery settings are specifically useful when nursery school practitioners do not have a full picture of every child’s interests.
Following are the recommendations to implement in the moment planning in an educational setting.
