Observing Communication

This week we were requested to observe an adult and young child communicating in a real world setting. I observed my son's toddler teacher communicating with a small group of children one afternoon when I picked him up from his childcare center. She was attempting to engage the children in a sensory activity using water, tissue paper, and sea animals. During the interaction, she sat on the floor next to the sensory table. She asked the children to describe how the wet tissue paper felt. She was met with much babbling, (these are very young toddlers), and responded by saying, Yes, I noticed that the tissue paper felt wet and squishy too!

I noticed that during this brief interaction the teacher utilized some methods that we learned were effective communication strategies. She attempted to engage children in conversation by acknowledging each child by name (Kovach & Da Ros-Voseles, 2011) and getting down to the child's eye level. I also noticed she attempted to challenge children's cognitive response by asking them to describe what they were feeling (Rainer Dangel & Durden, 2010).

I noticed many similarities between the way my son's toddler teacher and I interact with young children. We both get down to children's eye level, we both attempt to challenge children's cognitive responses, we both acknowledge children by name, and we both try to include our observation of the child's response in our conversation.

Based on our readings this week, I learned the importance of listening, really listening, to children and stepping back from my own expectations and agenda (Stephenson, 2010).

 

References

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

Rainer Dangel, J., & Durden, T. R. (2010). The nature of teacher talk during small group activities. YC: Young Children, 65(1), 74-81

Stephenson, A. (2009). Conversations with a 2-year-old. YC: Young Children, 64(2), 90-95.