Shop by Topic
Shop by Product
ExchangeEveryDay Past Issues
<< Previous Issue
| View Past Issues | | Next Issue >> 
Training to Shift Perspectives
January 25, 2007
Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards.
-Soren Kierkegaard
-Soren Kierkegaard
"When teachers try to plan for or respond to children’s activities, what is guiding their thinking? At a conscious level I think they often have a set of learning goals, behavior expectations, or classroom rules in mind. Unconsciously, they may also be influenced by their own childhood experiences or family of origin patterns that are deeply ingrained, often unexamined, and sometimes lead to knee-jerk reactions. Because our jobs are focused on staff development and not psychotherapy, those of us trying to improve the quality of children’s experiences in program settings frequently find ourselves puzzled as to how to help teachers see things differently. We may offer some child development knowledge, a planning form, or behavior management strategies; but too often these don’t transfer to new situations teachers encounter.
"If their learning is to significantly impact their behavior, teachers have to go through their own process of constructing knowledge to get beyond superficial understandings and grasp ideas at a deeper level. For me, this means finding ways for teachers to see the child’s perspective and letting that inform their planning and interactions."
The full text of this article is available to you here.
ExchangeEveryDay
Delivered five days a week containing news, success stories, solutions, trend reports, and much more.
What is ExchangeEveryDay?
ExchangeEveryDay is the official electronic newsletter for Exchange Press. It is delivered five days a week containing news stories, success stories, solutions, trend reports, and much more.
Caring Spaces On Sale!
Exchange's best selling Caring Spaces, Learning Places: Children's Environments that Work by Jim Greenman is on sale this week at a 20% discount. In Caring, Greenman provides practical advice based on sound theory on all aspects of organizing the curriculum and designing indoor and outdoor spaces.
Exchange's best selling Caring Spaces, Learning Places: Children's Environments that Work by Jim Greenman is on sale this week at a 20% discount. In Caring, Greenman provides practical advice based on sound theory on all aspects of organizing the curriculum and designing indoor and outdoor spaces.
Comments (2)
Displaying All 2 CommentsZERO TO THREE
Washington, DC, United States
Margie has once again hit the nail on the head. At ZERO TO THREE we have a trainers discussion group that gets together to share ideas about training professionals in the needs of infants, toddlers, and families. Yesterday's session was about looking at what are some important concepts we feel need to be part of all trainings we do. The need to build in time for reflection was identified as an important concept and as something that takes learning to another level. A discussion insued as to how do we help people to reflect when they come from so many diverse backgrounds and experiences and may not have had any experiences with reflection? The discussion focused on the need to consider where professionals are in their own understanding and use of reflection and not to just assume they know how to do it. Margie and Deb's activity is perfect because it encourages teachers to step back and look at their work and consider alternative ways - which is one of the goals of reflective thinking. At the same time it causes me to think about how I need to put myself in the place of the learner as I plan to share information. As a trainer I enjoy hearing about these ideas and using them in my work with the participants I train. Thanks Margie and Deb
Wheelock College
Lincoln,, MA, United States
Good points. It needs a lot of examples before it can get through to the adult with preconceived ideas about what teaching is. Seeing a child's perspective is indeed eye opening. But what teachers new to early education really need to learn is responsiveness -- the hardest thing to teach or even understand.
It comes out big as a element of teacher associated with long lasting results for children. There's an interesting new research study that
likens the teacher's interchanges with children to "improv" - so similar that "improv" characteristics can be used to measure the teacher's performance. We do more than see the child's point of view, we also bargain with that child, enter into the child's scenario. This is almost the opposite of the way elementary schoolteachers are trained to relate to children. We could teach it as "improv" is taught?
Post a Comment