Professional
Development

Professional learning for educators

The Ginnie & Pinney professional development course, written by Doctor of Education, Tessa Weadman, supplements the ‘Learn and Grow’ eight book set, videos, teacher resource, finger puppets and ‘Learning Emotions’ flash cards for supporting young children’s ethical thinking, empathy and emotional intelligence.

The course focuses on capacity building for early childhood teachers promoting their understanding of social and emotional wellbeing, language development, access and inclusion and children’s growth and learning across these areas to support their preschool program using the ‘Learn and Grow’ resource.

This offer is priced at $850 and includes an annual subscription for up to three teachers.

You may be able to seek funding for this PD separate to your School Readiness Funding by applying to your local Department of Education branch.

To access your branch visit this link:

https://www.vic.gov.au/office-locations-department-education#regional-offices

The Ginnie & Pinney professional learning builds educators’ capacity to:

Maximise learning opportunities for children (during reading time)

Promote discussion to develop children’s understanding of the program’s concepts

Encourage children to think deeply in response to the open-ended questions

Implement follow-up activities to encourage further learning

Promote planning that aligns with the Early Years Learning Framework

Reflect on their own practices

Work with existing G & P teacher resource to its fullest capacity

Use the materials in context of shared book reading and dialogic book reading

The Ginnie & Pinney professional development (learning) includes:

Online modules

Resources for goal planning and reflection

Questionnaires for parents/caregivers to support the planning

Each subscription will be valid for 12 months for 3 accounts from the day the accounts are created.

Professional learning format

Target population

Program details

Requirements

Details about the modules

Module 1 Module 2 Module 3 Module 4

Module 1

Module 1 – Introduction

Introduction to Ginnie and Pinney

Background information about Ginnie and Pinney
Discuss available resources – Books, teacher guide, website

Written information (research informed)

What is social-emotional learning? (Include examples)
Why empathy is important – important for future success (mention AI – more important for humans to develop their empathy).
Why is it important to support pre-schoolers’ social-emotional learning prior to starting school?
The role of early childhood teachers

Reflection activity

Three prompt questions to support early childhood teachers to reflect on their current practices:
- For example - How do you currently support the social-emotional learning of the children your class?
- How do you ensure all children are heard and are able to communicate their ideas?

Module 2

Module 2 – Shared book reading with the ‘Learn and Grow’ books

Shared book reading

What is shared book reading?
How is shared book reading different to regular reading?
Why is this important for the children’s learning?

Setting up a shared reading session

Small groups
Whole-group

Teacher preparation before reading the books

Teachers must familiarise themselves with the stories, characters and open-ended questions on the G & P website and in the teacher resource
Pre-reading
Select vocabulary
Set objectives for each book (each book has its own major and minor themes and EYLF objectives).

Reading to the children

Setting up the classroom (i.e. having children sit in a circle, explaining patience and waiting your turn
Why ‘hands up’ is not required etc.
Introduce and talk about the characters, book title and theme
Ask them to pick a book – a lesson in negotiation
Ask what the children think the books are about
Ask the children to look at the expressions on the characters faces throughout the reading- How are the characters feeling at various stages of the stories?

How to target key vocabulary

Emphasise the types of words and emotional themes/emotions you would target explicitly during shared book reading.
Brief written text about the benefits of shared reading for building vocabulary.
Draw everyone’s attention to the words to target in the ‘Learn and Grow’ series.
Word learning (vocabulary strategies) – defining the words, linking them back to the child’s real-life context, repeating the words, using the words in a relevant example.
Emotion words learning – specific to the A-Z of Emotions Flash Cards). Strategies – link the emotions back to the children (e.g., “What makes you sad?”) and their real-life experiences. Encourage recognition of their own feelings and their peers.

How to promote discussion: use the discussion questions to support understanding

Introduce discussion as a key tool to promote children’s learning around the key themes in the books.
The importance of discussion questions (written)
Where to find the discussion questions (written)
Encouraging deep thinking and modelling thinking
When to promote discussion – pre-book talk, throughout the story, post-book talk (video)

Scaffolding questions to support children’s learning

Introduce the concept of scaffolding (video)
Use specific examples from the books (video)
Written examples of different levels of questions

Reflection activity

Prompts for early childhood teachers to reflect on and build how they currently read to children:
For example – Think of a shared reading strategy that was mentioned in the module that you are not currently using (e.g., pausing to ask children questions while reading). Reflect on how you could incorporate more discussion while reading.

Module 3

Module 3 – Teacher activities with the ‘Learn and Grow’ series

Introduction to the activities from the teacher guide (including activities to enhance fine and gross motor skills)

What are they?
Where to find them?
How do they complement the books?
The importance for supporting children’s understanding and learning

How to encourage children’s involvement in the teacher activities

Video examples of different activities included in the Ginnie & Pinney Teacher Guide

Small section on fine and gross motor skills – encouraging fine and gross motor skills through some of the follow-up activities.

Reflection activity

Prompts for early childhood teachers to reflect on and build how their activities may support children’s learning:
- For example – Pick one activity from the Teacher Guide. Think about how you could incorporate this activity into your preschool program.

Module 4

Module 4 – Goal setting and planning

Planning

Introduction to the questionnaire for parents (written)
Importance of including parents
Assessing the needs of the group (video)

Goal setting that aligns with the Early Years Learning Framework

Contains prompts for the educators to think about the needs of their class

Using the goal setting template

Suggestions for structuring the ‘Learn and Grow’ reading sessions and teacher activities. Examples:

Multiple readings per week
Watching the video

Pre-Order

ProfessionalDevelopment

Professional learning for educators

The Ginnie & Pinney professional learning builds educators’ capacity to:

The Ginnie & Pinney professional development (learning) includes:

Details about the modules

Module 1 – Introduction

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Professional
Development