Freedom to Choose 1

Freedom of choice

Is what you got

Freedom from choice

Is what you want

Devo

I’ve been thinking about freedom and choice today. Devo may not be the best song to quote on this blog post but it was the first thing to jump into my mind. If we leave out the rest of the song about dogs and bones and other things it does give us something to think about. When working with young children how much freedom do we give them? 

I’m thinking about this because I am in the middle of planning for some digital literacy explorations with our younger learners. When working with iPads schools have different approaches. Some schools hide all the apps on the iPads except for the ones they are using. Other schools put all the apps on the iPads but limits children to which page of apps they can access. I think we fall somewhere in the middle. I work with the children in small groups and I have planned explorations using an app or two. I invite the children to explore with me and when we feel that we have accomplished something the children are invited to explore their own favourite app/apps. I feel like I am giving the children some choice but perhaps not enough. Hmmm...