Assignment 2: Observing Communication

I chose to observe the conversation between a preschooler boy and his teacher on a playground. A preschooler names Kian just got dropped off by his parent. The teacher found out later that he had a scratch mark on his arm, so the teacher sat down and has Kian about that mark.

The teacher sat down and asked: "Hi, Kian. What happened to your arm? There is a starched mark on it."

Kian: "It's from Sparky!"

The teacher listened and asked him more questions: "Who is Sparky?"

Kian: "He is my puppy. We played together, and he scratched me."

The teacher: "Awww, that w Did you cry? Who helped you with this?"

Kian: "No, I did not."

The teacher: "Great job! You are a big boy now! Let me know if your arm hurts, okay?"

Then Kian nodded and ran away to play with his peers on a playground.

I noticed that this conversation was effective communication, involving nonverbal skills, active listening, emotional awareness, and managing stress. The teacher sat down at the same level as Kian and conversed with him and used simple words and short sentences to respond. Communication can be achieved through spoken language and facial expressions, gestures, movements, postures, and touch. No matter the method, effective communication can help support and improve relationships, teamwork, decision-making, and problem-solving in children. Thus, each child has a different style and is likely to talk differently and in other contexts (Stephenson, 2009). The teachers need to find ways they can communicate that are enjoyable for the children.

Preschool-aged children are natural communicators! They soak up the details of the social world around them. As their vocabularies grow, language is no longer just a tool for expressing wants or needs. Now they can use language to learn new things, imagine unknown worlds, explore ideas, tell jokes, create stories, and build friendships (Trawick-Smith, 2014).

Through this week's resources, there are several ways of communication, and teacher talk is a powerful classroom tool. Dangel and Durden (2010) stated that the importance of teacher language in children's development is to consider the actual words we say to children; "It is not only the songs, rhymes, and books that present a particular view of the world but the very language we use." Therefore, early childhood professionals have excellent opportunities to spark language and conversations for children in our classroom. There are countless times throughout the day for us to encourage children to talk, read, and write. The first step in creating natural opportunities for communication is getting to know the children in the classroom and how they communicate or use language to help us understand the diverse communicators in the classroom.

After we have information about how children communicate in your classroom, we should establish the school's daily routines and experiences or activities. With careful planning, we can adapt and embed communication strategies into multiple experiences and routines in the classroom. Being responsive to the children, adults must respond to children's language and build on their ideas and interests (Kovach and Da Ros-Voseles, 2011). It is more important to focus on their ideas than on their grammar. Suppose children use words incorrectly, appropriate model language, and continue the conversation. Moreover, we should use different ways to communicate information with children. For example, visuals like picture schedules or photos showing steps of handwashing provide children with a sense of predictability, and they provide opportunities for interactions with print.

 

References

Dangel, J. R., & Durden, T. R. (2010). The Nature of Teacher Talk during Small Group Activities. YC: Young Children, 65(1), 74–81.

Kovach, B., & Da Ros-Voseles, D. (2011). Communicating with Babies. YC: Young Children, 66(2), 48–50.

Stephenson, A. (2009). Stepping Back to Listen to Jeff: Conversations with a 2-Year-Old. YC: Young Children, 64(2), 90–95.

Trawick-Smith, J. W. (2014). Early Childhood Development: A Multicultural Perspective (6th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education Inc.