For the blog assignment this week, I chose to observe my friend with her 3-year old niece. I have known my friend's niece since she was an infant since my friend and I use to live together, and she would watch her a lot at our house. For this observation, I was at my friend's house who happened to be playing with her niece while I was there.
While watching the two interact with each other, I couldn't help to notice how good my friend was with her. She was very patient and pretended along with her niece and her niece continued to dress-up. Her niece was the princess. When my friend asked if she could be the princess, her niece told her no but she could wear some pretty jewelry instead. My friend proceeded to put on the jewelry and asked how she looked. Her niece told her she looked pretty. Her niece then pretended to make some food with the kitchen, and handed it to my friend to eat. She told her to eat it, and my friend did, and told her it was very yummy.
One connection I was able to make between what I observed and the effective communication strategies presented in our resources this week is that she took a step back and listened (Stephenson, 2009). She allowed her niece to express her likes and dislikes and focused discussions about their learning environment (Stephenson, 2009). I felt my friend did a great job of keeping the conversation at her niece's level, and played along with what the niece was imagining. She wasn't quite to judge or argue what her niece was saying.
Looking at the communication interactions I observed, I did notice how when my friend asked if she could be the princess, her niece told her no. I thought by her not asking why not, it told the niece that she was better than her, and in reality that's not necessarily true. By not explaining to her that everyone could be a princess, it taught her niece that she is superior to others. She may then take that knowledge and use it in her play or interactions when she is at the daycare during the week. I just thought that if my friend explained to her that she's not the only princess, and that everyone can be a princess, then she would have had some anti-bias education there.
The adult-child communication I observed this week compares to ways I communicate with children in many ways. The first is that I often too go along with what the child is pretending and not question their thinking. I learned through our resources this week that we need to asked children questions on how they came about their reasoning (Stephenson, 2009). This will allow them to expand on their learning and show us what they know. Once I have an idea of what they know, I can then promote anti-bias education and correct any bias or prejudice behaviors. Another thing I learned about myself this week, is that I need to learn patience when dealing with young children, and encourage their imagination, but also help them learn from it as well.
Reference:
Stephenson, A. (2009). Conversations with a 2-year-old. YC: Young Children, 64(2), 90-95. Retrieved from the Walden Library using the Education Research Complete database. http://ezp.waldenulibrary.org/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ehh&AN=37131016&site=ehost-live&scope=site
Abby,
ReplyDeleteI think that we, as teachers, tend to view communications with children differently than other adults. We are always on the lookout for a teachable moment, whereas most people are just enjoying the interaction (or possibly just trying to keep the peace).
I spent time last weekend at my sister's house with many family members, many of whom were children. I noticed that the way in which my sister talks to her own children has changed since she began working as a teacher's asst. in the local elementary school. She used to go along with whatever the children said so long as it kept them from fighting with each other, and would threaten punishments if they did argue. Now, I noticed that she questions the kids more--encouraging them to consider different possibilities and explain their own line of thinking. This takes longer, and requires her to stop what she is doing and really engage with them, but in the long run provides a more meaningful discussion.
Thanks for some great observations!
Abby,
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing your observation. I too, have to work on having patience with the children in my care. Often times, I am busy with daily duties and the routine that I forget to stop and interact intently with the children. I am working on this every day. You are right that allowing children to use their imagination is important. You observation sounded like a wonderful interaction between a loving adult and a child.