Written by Amy Laura Dombro
Sponsored by: BAEYC Old Colony Chapter and Bridgewater State University
Facilitated by: Dr. Greg Nelson and Dr. Sue Eliason
PI's with Groups of Children
How can we use powerful
interaction techniques when working with small or large groups?Can we teach children to engage with
each other in this way?How does
this way of interacting relate to teaching friendship skills?
Powerful interactions can be used individually or collectively. We, as parents and educators can take time out of our day to focus on a child as an individual. Collectively we can focus on a group by working through one child's idea at a time instead of rushing and jumping onto another child. Patience and immediate gratification need to be taught and learned by children and adults alike. Children need to feel valued, listened to, understood, and respected. I think powerful interactions help to build relationships but also build up the child in a positive light and help build a child's self image and self esteem. Of course we can. Vygotsky was big on zone of proximal development and scaffolding. Bandura was huge on modeling. Using these techniques with our children, parents, and other professionals can encourage and allow for powerful interactions to occur on all levels. It helps with friendship skills because through scaffolding and modelling techniques children can see how to problem solve, use their words, and be respectful and respected and they will not know anything differently but powerful interactions such that that is all they have ever experienced thus there is no other way to be a friend and build friendship skills except to use and have powerful interactions.
During our circle time I often ask a "what would you do" type of question or read a book that promotes discussion. We practice sharing ideas, taking turns really listening to what the other person is saying. As with any activity with young children, the success is varied. Sometimes we have a great discussion and sharing of ideas, the children interact with each other and build off of what each is saying. Other times is doesn't work so well. Also when I am sitting back and watching the play develop I see evidence of powerful interactions happening between 2 children. You can see the closeness they feel and this helps teach friendship skills. Sometimes I comment on what happened to reinforce the skill and other times I just am happy with the observation and watching them grow and learn new skills!
I think a lot of my small group powerful interaction come when I work with groups of two or three children on problem solving. As I wrote in earlyer post our problem solving board helps teach those skills and allows children to have those positive interactions with eachother. When I speak with public school friends they often say that they wish their students had more problem solving skills and overall friendship skills. I think that is one skill that as early educators we help the children develop that will follow the through their lives. Modeling through play are also great ways to have powerful interactions with a small groups
Can you make a copies of your board and how you implement it in the classroom for all of us to use in are classroom at the next meeting? Thank you, Katey Grossman
Working with a large group can make powerful interactions tricky but it is defenaitly possible. I like what Jim said about delight I think the key to a powerful group interaction. Sometimes I think I have a great group activity that is very thoughtfully loaned out and it bombs. Other times I pull an idea out of thin air and it soars with interaction and delight. A few weeks ago my co teacher was looking for an idea for a large group time with about 14 children. He took a phone and started taking "calls" from story book characters. He just held the phone to his ear and asked the children for advise on the character's problem. The children sat enthralled and eagerly raised their hands to help. For example when miss muffett called to complain about the spider one child said "maybe she should sit somewhere else". Other child said she should ask the spider what he wants. The children and the teachers are still talking about it.
I think working with a group to make a powerful interaction could be good solution in many ways. It can help the child that may be having a problem by having their peers help them solve it or come up with other ideas for them. But is could also help the quieter child that doesn't always speak up feel helpful if they came up with a solution for that friend. This could also help wrap friendship skills in with the interaction by feeling that they are good friends helping each other out. As the teacher we could be there to help support the communication and solution by guiding them through the process to find the best solution to the situation. I find it sad when Heather mentioned that teachers wish students had more problem solving skills and friendship skills; when did we lose this. Wasn't it a joy when you were younger and could help a friend out with a situation? Didn't it make you feel like a great friend. I feel adults today aren't always good friends and don't always want the best for some one else. Why? I find alot of joy when my friends are happy and achieve something new. I think if we can get the children engaged with each other on being happy for one another these two things would come together easily.
I agree that it is very sad that children are entering primary school without basic problem solving skills. That is why I try to help the children develop these important life skills by modeling, role playing, and teaching basic problem solving skills. Having these skills is so important and I'm not sure when or why it seems a lot of kids are missing this piece.
In our preschool, the first part of the morning, the children have freeplay. There's lots of time for me to connect one on one with a child or children, but I also love to observe the children connecting with each other. I see friendships forming, children sharing their ideas of how they should build the block tower, even one helping another with a game on the computer. I think these "teaching moments" we have are very similar with an individual or a small group. Connecting with the group, their comfort, and guiding and sharing ideas and solutions is similar with one child, or four children. Their attention could be a factor if the group is large, but keeping the powerful interaction moderately short but everyone's involved helps make it successful.
I ask the group to share and think about what they learned as a group today. I also share what I learned today. I saw Sara playing with Trudy and taking turns building a tower. Sara and Trudy, What are you thinking? Sara stated Trudy built a higher tower than me. Trudy said it was hard to share and wait. ( not their real names). When Trudy built the taller Tower, but now what? Could you build the tower as tall as Trudy's? Purposeful interactions occur in small and large groups by connecting,modeling, and sharing ideas, validating each other whether it is in a small group setting or a large group setting or even for an individual child.
I think I am going to try this approach with our kids right before stories and nap while waiting on kids to finish up in the bathroom. It could be with one or more of the kids but what a great time to recap what we had done so far during the day. To let them know how I think the day is going and if I learned something new that day and to listen to what they learned, observed or just their ideas about everything that we had done. It may even give them something to think about while they are resting. We already do something similar with one child when she gets there from another program, we ask her about her morning, but this would be great for everyone.
At our preschool, the duty of leading circle time shifts weekly. We have a particularly active group two days of the week, and we are constantly shifting and trying different ways to engage them enough to hold their attention. I found that allowing them to have something in their hands, a beanbag, a scarf, anything they can hold, is a real proponent in keeping their attention on me and the lesson. The other important factor is being aware of what is or is not holding their attention, and not feeling bad if a lesson is cut short due to lack of interest.
Most of us have a personality that is best suited to large groups, or small groups. While we hopefully have learned, as adults, to manage and enjoy both, I think many of us would say we have a preference. The majority of my classroom time is spent in large or small groups. While PI’s happen all the time in these groups, I wish I had more individual time with the children. We had one-on-one time this week with the children for assessments this week, and I really enjoyed that quiet, alone time with the children. I was able to have an interaction that was different than the ones I am usually afforded. It was great!
I feel this is possible to use PI techniques with small or large groups. In our groups often times more verbal children will make statements or ask questions which interest the group. The teacher can keep this dialogue going and interject and expand upon the statement by asking open-ended questions to the group and also interject a learning experience. Usually the children are eager to give their opinions. Before any of this happens you need to go over rules of raising hands if you want to speak. We use visual and verbal cues to establish this practice in our classroom. The teaacher needs to be in the moment and prepare herself mentally to respond to these spontaneous moments to teach. I feel it is very helpful to less verbal children or children who do not like to engage in conversation. They usually are listening and it is, also, an exciting way for them to learn. Sometimes they forget their shyness and are eager to share their ideas. We have another rule in our classroom which states we need to use our listening ears. We discuss how we need to use our listening ears for our teachers, parents and friends. We discuss alot about how to be a friend and one way is to use our listening ears. This goes for group PI's. With lots of practice the children are able to understand this concept.
While PI's can happen at any time, group times can be more of a challenge because you are trying to focus on working with the whole group and less able to individualize your attention to and for specific children. I think that as far as large groups go, we probably all vary in the size of our large groups! Mine is a mixed age group of up to 15 children from the ages of 2.9 to 5. We have two morning times that we meet, one is morning meeting (for those who have arrived before 9) and one at 10:45 or at 11:45 (depending if we are able to be outside or not). It can be a challenge to hold a large groups attention and have whatever concept you are trying to teach go across to all. In the past, while we still had a large group time for a quick story before lunch, our main group time was split into a couple of smaller groups and the opportunity for PI's on a more individual basis was much greater. I prefer to use smaller groups for trying to get concepts across because it is less of a challenge to keep everyone focused at once.
Some good ideas. I think it is important to create in the group a sense of respect for each other as learners and thinkers. For example, I advise my students to do something about the hands frantically waving in the air when they ask a question of a child who hesitates to answer. Communicate to the children: "Put your hands down. I asked a question that requires thinking, and ___ is thinking. Give her time to answer", or before asking a question of the group saying "I want you to think about this, so I don't want to see any hands. Think about the question. I'll let you know when you can raise your hand if you would like to answer." And when a child gives an answer another child thinks is wrong, my response is: "That's their answer. That's what they think. You think something else. Would you like to share it?" The comments about problem-solving disappearing in children is damning commentary on how too many school classrooms are run. I'm reminded of my early days of teaching in rural Texas, where the public schools experimented with making kindergarten all day for half the year, to cut down on their busing costs. As a result we had some children enter our program for half a year after having spent half a year in a public kindergarten. I was horrified at how passive those children were, afraid to make any decision on their own without waiting for directions. We can't do that to children at such an impressionable age and not expect them to lose their problem-solving ability...and their joy.
That is so true of many public schools here as well. Child care centers complain about difficult children and needing to spend time on classroom management, but often when I visit a public school kindergarten and even preschool, I see a very structured program where children are sitting quietly working at tables and the dramatic play area and the block area are covered with dust and papers. Why can't we as a field determine what is best for children and implement it? In our discussion, a huge theme was the disconnect between community programs and the public school. Maybe we need to get more public school teachers involved in our discussions.
An example of Powerful Interactions in groups is the development of respect for each other's voices and each other's ideas. Greg you mentioned the word "think" alot in your comment. That also is an idea from the book that I immediately implemented in my talk with students. "Hmm let me think about that" "You're really thinking" "What do you think" and many more I try to use daily. I loved the ideas on pg 126 of choosing questions intentionally. Having a repertoire of questions handy is something I have helped my staff with. Raising a classroom conciousness level to create a community of thinkers is awesome. For the most part, on most days we have transitioned from meeting time being a competitive event to try to talk about yourself to sharing ideas, solving problems and recognizing each other's thoughts as things of value. That's powerful to me!
We have several large group times throughout the day, one in the morning after outdoor play (10:00) which is when the teachers and children discuss the week's theme and before lunch (11:45) when we ask the children to share what they they have learned that morning. It's always interesting listening to the children share what is important to them. We encourage them to listen to their friends "One person talks, everyone else listens." and to raise their hands if they have something to say. I like Greg's idea about reminding children to wait before raising their hands when asked to think about something and also acknowledging that everyone has a right to his/her opinion and that opinion needs to be respected. This is part of building those friendship skills.
We also read stories that promote thinking and discussions. It's interesting to hear what they have to say on a particular topic. We ,too, teach our children how to problem solve inviting friends to join the discussion, listening, commenting on the problem, and offering solutions. Watching the children offer comfort with a tissue or a hug to a friend who is upset is often followed with questions such as "What do you need?" "Do you need ice?" "How can I help you?"
Heather, I love the idea of the problem solving board and can't wait to share it with my co-teachers. What a wonderful way to build those independent self help skills.
I found another way this week in which to have some interesting PI's with a group of children. During our rest time this week, we were short on help and had many children that wanted a story and yet, I knew there was no way I would be able to read to them so that each one of them could see the pictures to the story I was reading... and so I told oral stories and made them up as I went along. The children not only loved them but have asked me to repeat them each day! "Eileen, can you tell us the story again about the dinosaur frozen in the ice cube?" Most of our children are outgrowing their naps and so I do not feel guilt in keeping their attention this way. I have asked for them to help me to add to my story along the way so they suggest different ideas and scenarios as we go along! Many of the children are more focused on me and our story than they can be at group time! Rest time is becoming more of a group collaborative story time and I love to hear the children contribute! I am really enjoying this week and this way of having very informal and yet very powerful interactions with the group.
We have our classroom set up with 3 tables and 6 children at each table. The same children have small group, lunch and snack together. This format gives us opportunity for children to get to know each other well but more importantly have ongoing conversations. A conversation from morning small group if often continued at lunch and snack. I find this time ideal for PI’s. The children really get to know each other. They ask each other questions and problem solve. One of the girls at our table started the year speaking only Mandarin she was very shy and uncomfortable with the other children. The children at our table were very protective of her. She always wanted to sit next to me and they would always make sure they didn’t take that seat or they would remind each other not to sit there. During play time I would often see them befriend her, help with a puzzle or play a game with her. When we went outside they would want to be her partner. As the year progressed she spoke a little more English. At our table the children would be so excited with any new words or phrases. It is rewarding to me to observe this unit of 6 children interact and support one of their peers.
In group PI's I feel it is a great time to teach children respect for others, waiting your turn and paying attention to what is going on around you. Sometimes during a science experiment for example some children tend to be very forward and push others to get a better look at what's going on, or try to be first everytime. Being a shy child growing up I always felt violated and missed out on a lot. It wasnt worth it to me to be aggressive. I find children that do that are rude. Therefore in my practice I point out to these behaviors to the agressors but in a positive way. Saying things such as " maybe Johnnny would like to have a look too. Lets make some room for him. " or I look past to the child in the back and call them forward. During walks I teach respect for peoples properties and respect for the earth. We don't walk on the neighbors lawns, or pick their flowers, we smile and say hello to people we pass, we even pick up trash. All those little things are PI's.
Powerful interactions can be used individually or collectively. We, as parents and educators can take time out of our day to focus on a child as an individual. Collectively we can focus on a group by working through one child's idea at a time instead of rushing and jumping onto another child. Patience and immediate gratification need to be taught and learned by children and adults alike.
ReplyDeleteChildren need to feel valued, listened to, understood, and respected. I think powerful interactions help to build relationships but also build up the child in a positive light and help build a child's self image and self esteem.
Of course we can. Vygotsky was big on zone of proximal development and scaffolding. Bandura was huge on modeling. Using these techniques with our children, parents, and other professionals can encourage and allow for powerful interactions to occur on all levels.
It helps with friendship skills because through scaffolding and modelling techniques children can see how to problem solve, use their words, and be respectful and respected and they will not know anything differently but powerful interactions such that that is all they have ever experienced thus there is no other way to be a friend and build friendship skills except to use and have powerful interactions.
During our circle time I often ask a "what would you do" type of question or read a book that promotes discussion. We practice sharing ideas, taking turns really listening to what the other person is saying. As with any activity with young children, the success is varied. Sometimes we have a great discussion and sharing of ideas, the children interact with each other and build off of what each is saying. Other times is doesn't work so well. Also when I am sitting back and watching the play develop I see evidence of powerful interactions happening between 2 children. You can see the closeness they feel and this helps teach friendship skills. Sometimes I comment on what happened to reinforce the skill and other times I just am happy with the observation and watching them grow and learn new skills!
ReplyDeleteI think a lot of my small group powerful interaction come when I work with groups of two or three children on problem solving. As I wrote in earlyer post our problem solving board helps teach those skills and allows children to have those positive interactions with eachother. When I speak with public school friends they often say that they wish their students had more problem solving skills and overall friendship skills. I think that is one skill that as early educators we help the children develop that will follow the through their lives. Modeling through play are also great ways to have powerful interactions with a small groups
ReplyDeleteCan you make a copies of your board and how you implement it in the classroom for all of us to use in are classroom at the next meeting?
DeleteThank you, Katey Grossman
Working with a large group can make powerful interactions tricky but it is defenaitly possible. I like what Jim said about delight I think the key to a powerful group interaction. Sometimes I think I have a great group activity that is very thoughtfully loaned out and it bombs. Other times I pull an idea out of thin air and it soars with interaction and delight. A few weeks ago my co teacher was looking for an idea for a large group time with about 14 children. He took a phone and started taking "calls" from story book characters. He just held the phone to his ear and asked the children for advise on the character's problem. The children sat enthralled and eagerly raised their hands to help. For example when miss muffett called to complain about the spider one child said "maybe she should sit somewhere else". Other child said she should ask the spider what he wants. The children and the teachers are still talking about it.
ReplyDeleteI think working with a group to make a powerful interaction could be good solution in many ways. It can help the child that may be having a problem by having their peers help them solve it or come up with other ideas for them. But is could also help the quieter child that doesn't always speak up feel helpful if they came up with a solution for that friend. This could also help wrap friendship skills in with the interaction by feeling that they are good friends helping each other out. As the teacher we could be there to help support the communication and solution by guiding them through the process to find the best solution to the situation.
ReplyDeleteI find it sad when Heather mentioned that teachers wish students had more problem solving skills and friendship skills; when did we lose this. Wasn't it a joy when you were younger and could help a friend out with a situation? Didn't it make you feel like a great friend. I feel adults today aren't always good friends and don't always want the best for some one else. Why? I find alot of joy when my friends are happy and achieve something new. I think if we can get the children engaged with each other on being happy for one another these two things would come together easily.
I agree that it is very sad that children are entering primary school without basic problem solving skills. That is why I try to help the children develop these important life skills by modeling, role playing, and teaching basic problem solving skills. Having these skills is so important and I'm not sure when or why it seems a lot of kids are missing this piece.
DeleteIn our preschool, the first part of the morning, the children have freeplay. There's lots of time for me to connect one on one with a child or children, but I also love to observe the children connecting with each other. I see friendships forming, children sharing their ideas of how they should build the block tower, even one helping another with a game on the computer. I think these "teaching moments" we have are very similar with an individual or a small group. Connecting with the group, their comfort, and guiding and sharing ideas and solutions is similar with one child, or four children. Their attention could be a factor if the group is large, but keeping the powerful interaction moderately short but everyone's involved helps make it successful.
ReplyDeleteI ask the group to share and think about what they learned as a group today. I also share what I learned today. I saw Sara playing with Trudy and taking turns building a tower. Sara and Trudy, What are you thinking? Sara stated Trudy built a higher tower than me. Trudy said it was hard to share and wait. ( not their real names). When Trudy built the taller Tower, but now what? Could you build the tower as tall as Trudy's? Purposeful interactions occur in small and large groups by connecting,modeling, and sharing ideas, validating each other whether it is in a small group setting or a large group setting or even for an individual child.
ReplyDeleteI think I am going to try this approach with our kids right before stories and nap while waiting on kids to finish up in the bathroom. It could be with one or more of the kids but what a great time to recap what we had done so far during the day. To let them know how I think the day is going and if I learned something new that day and to listen to what they learned, observed or just their ideas about everything that we had done. It may even give them something to think about while they are resting. We already do something similar with one child when she gets there from another program, we ask her about her morning, but this would be great for everyone.
DeleteAt our preschool, the duty of leading circle time shifts weekly. We have a particularly active group two days of the week, and we are constantly shifting and trying different ways to engage them enough to hold their attention. I found that allowing them to have something in their hands, a beanbag, a scarf, anything they can hold, is a real proponent in keeping their attention on me and the lesson. The other important factor is being aware of what is or is not holding their attention, and not feeling bad if a lesson is cut short due to lack of interest.
ReplyDeleteMost of us have a personality that is best suited to large groups, or small groups. While we hopefully have learned, as adults, to manage and enjoy both, I think many of us would say we have a preference. The majority of my classroom time is spent in large or small groups. While PI’s happen all the time in these groups, I wish I had more individual time with the children. We had one-on-one time this week with the children for assessments this week, and I really enjoyed that quiet, alone time with the children. I was able to have an interaction that was different than the ones I am usually afforded. It was great!
ReplyDeleteI feel this is possible to use PI techniques with small or large groups. In our groups often times more verbal children will make statements or ask questions which interest the group. The teacher can keep this dialogue going and interject and expand upon the statement by asking open-ended questions to the group and also interject a learning experience. Usually the children are eager to give their opinions. Before any of this happens you need to go over rules of raising hands if you want to speak. We use visual and verbal cues to establish this practice in our classroom. The teaacher needs to be in the moment and prepare herself mentally to respond to these spontaneous moments to teach. I feel it is very helpful to less verbal children or children who do not like to engage in conversation. They usually are listening and it is, also, an exciting way for them to learn. Sometimes they forget their shyness and are eager to share their ideas. We have another rule in our classroom which states we need to use our listening ears. We discuss how we need to use our listening ears for our teachers, parents and friends. We discuss alot about how to be a friend and one way is to use our listening ears. This goes for group PI's. With lots of practice the children are able to understand this concept.
ReplyDeleteWhile PI's can happen at any time, group times can be more of a challenge because you are trying to focus on working with the whole group and less able to individualize your attention to and for specific children. I think that as far as large groups go, we probably all vary in the size of our large groups! Mine is a mixed age group of up to 15 children from the ages of 2.9 to 5. We have two morning times that we meet, one is morning meeting (for those who have arrived before 9) and one at 10:45 or at 11:45 (depending if we are able to be outside or not). It can be a challenge to hold a large groups attention and have whatever concept you are trying to teach go across to all. In the past, while we still had a large group time for a quick story before lunch, our main group time was split into a couple of smaller groups and the opportunity for PI's on a more individual basis was much greater. I prefer to use smaller groups for trying to get concepts across because it is less of a challenge to keep everyone focused at once.
ReplyDeleteSome good ideas. I think it is important to create in the group a sense of respect for each other as learners and thinkers. For example, I advise my students to do something about the hands frantically waving in the air when they ask a question of a child who hesitates to answer. Communicate to the children: "Put your hands down. I asked a question that requires thinking, and ___ is thinking. Give her time to answer", or before asking a question of the group saying "I want you to think about this, so I don't want to see any hands. Think about the question. I'll let you know when you can raise your hand if you would like to answer." And when a child gives an answer another child thinks is wrong, my response is: "That's their answer. That's what they think. You think something else. Would you like to share it?"
ReplyDeleteThe comments about problem-solving disappearing in children is damning commentary on how too many school classrooms are run. I'm reminded of my early days of teaching in rural Texas, where the public schools experimented with making kindergarten all day for half the year, to cut down on their busing costs. As a result we had some children enter our program for half a year after having spent half a year in a public kindergarten. I was horrified at how passive those children were, afraid to make any decision on their own without waiting for directions. We can't do that to children at such an impressionable age and not expect them to lose their problem-solving ability...and their joy.
That is so true of many public schools here as well. Child care centers complain about difficult children and needing to spend time on classroom management, but often when I visit a public school kindergarten and even preschool, I see a very structured program where children are sitting quietly working at tables and the dramatic play area and the block area are covered with dust and papers. Why can't we as a field determine what is best for children and implement it? In our discussion, a huge theme was the disconnect between community programs and the public school. Maybe we need to get more public school teachers involved in our discussions.
DeleteAn example of Powerful Interactions in groups is the development of respect for each other's voices and each other's ideas. Greg you mentioned the word "think" alot in your comment. That also is an idea from the book that I immediately implemented in my talk with students. "Hmm let me think about that" "You're really thinking" "What do you think" and many more I try to use daily. I loved the ideas on pg 126 of choosing questions intentionally. Having a repertoire of questions handy is something I have helped my staff with. Raising a classroom conciousness level to create a community of thinkers is awesome. For the most part, on most days we have transitioned from meeting time being a competitive event to try to talk about yourself to sharing ideas, solving problems and recognizing each other's thoughts as things of value. That's powerful to me!
ReplyDeleteWe have several large group times throughout the day, one in the morning after outdoor play (10:00) which is when the teachers and children discuss the week's theme and before lunch (11:45) when we ask the children to share what they they have learned that morning. It's always interesting listening to the children share what is important to them. We encourage them to listen to their friends "One person talks, everyone else listens." and to raise their hands if they have something to say. I like Greg's idea about reminding children to wait before raising their hands when asked to think about something and also acknowledging that everyone has a right to his/her opinion and that opinion needs to be respected. This is part of building those friendship skills.
ReplyDeleteWe also read stories that promote thinking and discussions. It's interesting to hear what they have to say on a particular topic.
We ,too, teach our children how to problem solve inviting friends to join the discussion, listening, commenting on the problem, and offering solutions. Watching the children offer comfort with a tissue or a hug to a friend who is upset is often followed with questions such as "What do you need?" "Do you need ice?" "How can I help you?"
Heather, I love the idea of the problem solving board and can't wait to share it with my co-teachers. What a wonderful way to build those independent self help skills.
I found another way this week in which to have some interesting PI's with a group of children. During our rest time this week, we were short on help and had many children that wanted a story and yet, I knew there was no way I would be able to read to them so that each one of them could see the pictures to the story I was reading... and so I told oral stories and made them up as I went along. The children not only loved them but have asked me to repeat them each day! "Eileen, can you tell us the story again about the dinosaur frozen in the ice cube?" Most of our children are outgrowing their naps and so I do not feel guilt in keeping their attention this way. I have asked for them to help me to add to my story along the way so they suggest different ideas and scenarios as we go along! Many of the children are more focused on me and our story than they can be at group time! Rest time is becoming more of a group collaborative story time and I love to hear the children contribute! I am really enjoying this week and this way of having very informal and yet very powerful interactions with the group.
ReplyDeleteWe have our classroom set up with 3 tables and 6 children at each table. The same children have small group, lunch and snack together. This format gives us opportunity for children to get to know each other well but more importantly have ongoing conversations. A conversation from morning small group if often continued at lunch and snack. I find this time ideal for PI’s. The children really get to know each other. They ask each other questions and problem solve. One of the girls at our table started the year speaking only Mandarin she was very shy and uncomfortable with the other children.
ReplyDeleteThe children at our table were very protective of her. She always wanted to sit next to me and they would always make sure they didn’t take that seat or they would remind each other not to sit there. During play time I would often see them befriend her, help with a puzzle or play a game with her. When we went outside they would want to be her partner. As the year progressed she spoke a little more English. At our table the children would be so excited with any new words or phrases. It is rewarding to me to observe this unit of 6 children interact and support one of their peers.
In group PI's I feel it is a great time to teach children respect for others, waiting your turn and paying attention to what is going on around you. Sometimes during a science experiment for example some children tend to be very forward and push others to get a better look at what's going on, or try to be first everytime. Being a shy child growing up I always felt violated and missed out on a lot. It wasnt worth it to me to be aggressive. I find children that do that are rude. Therefore in my practice I point out to these behaviors to the agressors but in a positive way. Saying things such as " maybe Johnnny would like to have a look too. Lets make some room for him. " or I look past to the child in the back and call them forward.
ReplyDeleteDuring walks I teach respect for peoples properties and respect for the earth. We don't walk on the neighbors lawns, or pick their flowers, we smile and say hello to people we pass, we even pick up trash. All those little things are PI's.