"Being with children offers countless moments and situations that test our understanding of their complex world, of ourselves, and of a broad range of issues related to learning and teaching." page - 330
I found this quote very meaningful when reading the text, because I can relate to it. I feel the same way about children. Each day I learn something new about the children and myself. One thing that I noticed when working with children is that they are very unpredictable. I have noticed this the past couple of years since I have been working in the same classroom. It kind of throws me off a little bit, because when I reflect upon each day I do notice that each day is different and unexpected things happen all the time. How can we be ready for unexpected things that happen in the classroom? Is it part of learning about sustainability in early childhood education? How can we help the children to understand that change and spontaneity can be a good thing? One thing a teacher must be good at is change and dealing with unexpected things that happen in the classroom. I feel that is a good way to observe children and really get to know their personalities. But when change and unexpected things happen, how do we really understand children and what they are feeling? What can I do as a teacher to support my children when change happens? Change can be a good thing and open up moments that can be treasured by children and teachers.
Ashley,
ReplyDeleteI know exactly how you feel because I can also relate to the quote that you referenced. Almost every time I work, I always take many thoughts and questions with me to home about many situations that happened in the classroom. What could I do? What kind of words could I say to them? What was the reason why s/he made that particular action? What were they thinking? Could I support them good enough?
One of my mentors told me to be prepared for unexpected things that might happen in the classroom. At that time, I was not sure what she said at all because UNEXPECTED means we cannot guess what's going happen. In this case, how could I be prepared?? However, what I realized was that being flexible when something happened and rather than reacting to it, try to respond to it.
I think your question is something that could be a big challenge for me too. “How can we support and understand children's feeling?” Like you said, we will always learn each other everyday and even I think that I know about the child pretty good, but unexpected things happen and at that time, we realized something new about the child. It will be a new thing for both the child and me. What could be a best way to deal with it? Well... that will be dependent on the situation but how can we bring that to positive learning for both of us?
Miwa ;)
Hi Ashley,
ReplyDeleteAs teachers, we deal with unexpected events, situations, disruption and interruption. Those situations could include a child having a tantrum, or it could be somebody from the community stopping by unexpectedly. I know children and teachers have some really nice and easy days. Planning ahead of time helps tremendously but there are times when things come up in the classroom that force plans to change. One of the most important thing is how teachers deal with those situations and how teachers influence their children’s learning process. Children need to learn that changes occurs sometimes and most of the time the change is good. It makes children and teachers learn new things. Why does change need to be part of the learning process for both the children and teachers? How can teachers use these opportunities as teaching tools? How can teachers stay in tune to all their children during unexpected events?
Hi Ashley,
ReplyDeleteWhat role does control and power play in how teachers respond to the unexpected? Have traditional notions of the teacher as all powerful and all-knowing limited teachers' abilities to respond to children in unexpected moments? How many moments of deep thought and questioning are lost when a teacher attempts to control the unexpected?
How might teachers rethink their roles so they can respond to children no matter if it the children's actions/ideas/questions are unexpected or expected? In what ways does listening play a part in understanding and developing teacher response? How teachers find ways to let go of expected practices in order to listen more and respond more appropriately? What might this look like?
Jeanne
Hello Ashley,
ReplyDeleteYes I agree with you, working with children can be challenging at times when there isn't consistency in a set routine or in their behavior. This is one thing that makes you feel uneasy because you don't know what to expect. Although over the years you learn how to deal with these changes from experience; and it becomes easier to respond and react appropriately in situations; these challenging times become meaningful learning experiences. Then on the other hand changes can be good in a way when appropriate changes occur. For an example if a child hits other children when he gets upset, but changed this behavior and began using his words to express himself instead if using his body. As for teaching children how to deal with change, I think as long as their is a visual schedule and children have an idea if what to expect, they don't really have a hard time adapting to new tasks/changes (unless they have some type of disorder like Autism for instance. Individuals with Autism have a difficult time responding and accepting changes in their routine, consistency site key.) Thank you for sharing and allowing me to comment on your blog.