Affirming Communication—Mindful Listening to and Speaking with Children

This week, I decided to spend extra time in the Pre-School Room to do observations not only for this assignment but also as a part of my duties and responsibilities. During the morning circle time, it was very eye opening to see the teacher interacting with the children in the classroom. I noticed that the transition to circle time involved a simple, “It’s time to go to the carpet!” in a very loud, annoyed manner several times as the teacher paced the room back and forth and then eventually went to her chair as if she had given up on trying to gather the children. The children were not given any warning to the transition but rather forced to stop immediately and go to the carpet, needless to say this did not go very well. Once the children made it to the carpet, a lot of the children still had a lot of “wiggles” in the systems but the teacher insisted on yelling and chastising the children about their negative behavior while not acknowledging the few children that were stilling still and alert. She eventually pulled out a book that the children were excited about because it had Velcro pieces that were to be moved from one page to the next, but the teacher did not let the children move the pieces, nor did she ask open-ended questions to engage the children further in the story. At one point she asked one child to stand up and finish reading the story (in my opinion only because she was fed up with the behaviors of the children and did not have interest in finishing the story on her own) and moving the pieces but the child was so overly excited that all she could focus on was moving the Velcro pieces quickly and roughly to the next page, while another child stood up because he could not see, the teacher exclaimed, “Johnny! If you are going to stand up go to the back of the circle!” Little Johnny began to cry, put his head down and went and hid in a cozy cube. She did not explain to Johnny why he needed to stand at the back of the circle.

Thinking about what I observed and the effective communication strategies presented in this week’s learning resources there is obviously much room for improvement on the teachers part. I also believe that when we as adults set the example for children, they are better susceptible to positive things. It is often that I hear the teachers in the classroom telling the children to use their words, but I wonder how can the children understand to use their words when the communication from their educators is greatly lacking. Lisa Kolbeck, opens up with explaining, sensitivity, respect, acceptance, reflective listening, and providing the space for each child to be her unique self in the video this week; this is a factor that will have to be introduced and continuously reinforced in our center.

To make the communication more affirming and effective between the teacher and Johnny, the teacher should have explained in detail in a very calm, and respectful manner why she needed him to move to the back of the circle, she could have also given him a choice to move to the back or sit down on his bottom in a different spot where he would be better able to see. She also could have acknowledged his feelings in the beginning to let him know she was not being mean or harsh but simply being fair to Johnny and all of his friends. There is a lot that can be said to improve the communication but I believe that in order for change to come about in adults, other adults must come in a mimic the appropriate behaviors to help teachers understand and appreciate the professional development opportunities.

With regard to how the communication interactions I observed may have affected Johnny’s feelings, it is clear his self worth and sense of trust and security were compromised during this moment, he could not understand why he was sent to the back of the circle when he was simply trying to see the pictures and hear the story.  

The adult-child communication I observed this week compares to the ways in which I communicate with the children is that I am definitely more patient and thorough with the children. However I also have a lot of experience in the classrooms in addition to my higher education experience, which my teachers are not privy to. Most of my teachers have a high school diploma and GED and not other formal training in regards to early childhood education; they come to us as a blank sheet of paper or having experience with only caring for younger family members. I have learned that I do listen to children but I often do not take the time to really think about the things they are saying in depth, it is almost as if I hurry to make a quick fix if there is a problem or I will listen quickly to hear them share their exciting stories, but I seldom take the time to think about what a child is truly trying to tell me; there may be screaming out more than what I am hearing. I am definitely going to work on this aspect of professional and personal development. 

Reference:

Walden Media Source