Observing Communication

I observed the interaction between an adult and a young child in the office after school while the student was waiting for their parent to come pick them up.  The adult communicated with the child effectively in a few ways.  The adult is the secretary, Ms. Ofelia and the child is a 5 year old TK student named Eugene. 

First, I noticed that the secretary greets the student by name as he enter and the student reciprocates the gesture.  This acknowledgment is a sign of respect and shows the child that he in a safe place with a familiar person who cares.  Ms. Ofelia asks him about his day and after receiving the one word response of, “good” she extends his thinking by asking, “What happened that made it good?”  Using language that extends children’s language that repeats and extends their statements promotes children’s thinking (Rainer Dangei & Durden, 2010).  She is acknowledging and validating his answer but encourages him to tell more.  Eugene explains that his day was good because he got to play blocks and paint in his class today.  She then tells him that she also had a good day and what happened that made it good.  This exchange of information is effective because children see that it is important to share and listen to others.  Ms. Ofelia continues by explaining to Eugene that her sons enjoyed playing blocks when they were younger too and how they liked to build castles.  She asks him what he likes to build and he mentions that he likes to build cities.  Ms. Ofelia listens and when he says the word “cities” her eyes widen, her hands move toward her face and she says “wow what a big thing to build!”  Eugene smiles, her reaction and body language makes him feel proud and have a positive sense of worth.  In the video, Lisa Kolbeck advises adults to be receptive to what children are saying (Laureate Education, Inc., 2011).  Ms. Ofelia does this by changing her tone, facial expression and using hand gestures to let him know that she heard his ambitious preference in play.  Just then Eugenes mother arrives and Ms. Ofelia bids him goodbye with a wave and smile.  “Goodbye Ms. Ofelia” Eugene says as he exits. 

To make the communication more affirming, Ms. Ofelia could have stated his name again when he left.  She also could have engaged in a conversation with his mother by explaining to her that she learned that Eugene likes to build cities today.  By continuing and extending the topic of conversation with his mother Eugene could have seen how communication can be integrated.  Overall, Ms. Ofelia also fosters Eugenes positive communication skills by asking him to extend his thoughts and also offers her own thoughts.  The entire interaction only lasted a few minutes but it showed how effective communication with a child can be when the adult listens and validates the child’s thoughts. 

The communication I observed compares to the ways in which I communicate with children in that I always try to encourage their extended thinking.  I teach a lot of fluency and comprehension in reading.  So when I do guided reading I am supposed to check for comprehension about the text that is very straight forward.  Yet, I always try to include questions that go beyond the text because from those answers you learn more about each child.  I could improve my communication by asking more questions that promote childrens thinking.  Some examples of cognitive challenges to ask the children would be to label, describe, explain, connect to prior knowledge, compare, hypothesize, imagine possibilities and offer an opinion (Rainer Dangei & Durden, 2010). 

Reference

Laureate Education, Inc. (2011). Strategies for working with diverse children: Communicating with young children. Baltimore MD: Author

Rainer Dangei, J., & Durden, T. R. (2010). The nature of teacher talk during small group activities. YC: Young Children, 65(1), 74-81. Retrieved from the Walden Library using the Education Research Complete database. http://ezp.waldenulibrary.org/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ehh&AN=47964033&site=ehost-live&scope=site