Article Link: http://exchangepress.com/article/teacher-as-scribe-and-broadcaster-using-observation-to-communicate/5007735/
It is important for the children to have their play represented back to them. This not only fosters literacy and a memory bank for the individual child, but it helps in creating the classroom culture, sense of history, and collective consciousness.We really must trust that, if we build on a learning interest a teacher expresses, this will start a change process that carries over into other areas.
MC: In our dialogue in the September issue of Exchange, "The Teacher as Observer," we talked about modeling observation of children's play as a way to encourage teachers to become interested observers too. As an ECE trainer, I used to give teachers much more feedback about my observations of their work than I find myself doing these days.
Discussions with you and Deb Curtis have helped me arrive at what seems to be working even better: taking my focus entirely off the teachers and, instead, thinking out loud with them about my observations of the children's play. I've found that when teachers get more intrigued with children's play, they get more intentional and appropriate in their actions in the classroom.
EJ: Much of what I know about working with adults ...