How do you communicate with children?

Just a quick quote that relates to the importance of conversation- authentic conversations with children on a daily basis- by adults that are genuinely interested in listening to the 'childs voice'.
Have a read... Any thoughts?

Jim Greenman- What kind of place for childcare in the 21st Century.
"Perhaps the quickest and most fundamental evaluation of a child care setting is to observe the quantity and quality of conversation. To note whether adults are listening to children, provoking the ideas of children, and offering a child one of their most precious gifts — undivided attention and their full human presence. How can this occur with real world rat ios and group sizes and all the daily demands of care? It can only happen in environments that support teachers and are well designed and prepared for independent use by children. And how would the environment change if designed for conversation? Perhaps with acoustics and places that lend themselves to conversation: couches, benches under a tree, a seat that puts the child right there for all the murmurs and reassuring words."

This reflection shows that as a teacher I am willing to question the effectiveness of how I do my mat times and constantly evalute myself and the methods I use to teach the children so as to achieve the desired goals. I would demonstrate the actions by using movement, changing the tone of my voice, gesture and facial expression as we read the story together. This helped me to communicate clearly to the children and can be a particularly effective way to build toddlers language competence and to help non- English speaking children with acquistion of English as a second language.

In this learning story I demonstrated that I can support children to create an environment of respect and understanding by encouraging the other child to listen to what her friend was saying so that they could accomplish one thing.

15 February 2011

Morena Sandy,

This morning we sat down and reviewed your Teacher Registration folder, looked at how you are collating data, evidence and how you in turn are articulating your growth and development as a teacher.
Sandy you have very easily been able to complile a large number of observations, reflections and documentation that track your journey as a new teacher. These range from teaching experiences, practice and knowledge to reflections on how you would alter your practice in the future.
Collating and identifying this data is a strenght Sandy- you are able to see that all the work completed in the classroom on a daily basis can easily be transfered and this used as ongoing documentation of your evolving practice.

Sandy in order to make your journey easier to track, we talked about making your linking statements clear and precise. At the current time you tend to use alot of jargon that unfortunatley looses your voice- and the meaning you are trying to put forward.

Sandy our immediate goals for the next 2 months include tidying up your linking statements and labels. You have completed alot of work to date- a tidying up af labels and statements will allow you and your supportive network to identify those dimensions already achieved and those that are still work in progress.

We will have another meeting in April- and which time we will look at those areas that need support.

Keep up the great work.
Joann

Professional Leadership (26)- Displays ethical behaviour and responsibility.

I displayed ethical behaviour and responsibility by being honest.