What is your teaching style?
Use Google or Yahoo search to learn about popular early education teaching methods. Have a look at these very different approaches to teaching young children. A Yahoo or Google search can give you a pretty good picture of the two styles. See what comes up when you type in the words ‘day care lessons’ , ‘day care activities’ or ‘day care themes’ . Then try the words ‘emergent learning and children ’ or ‘preschool emergent learning’. ‘Reggio Amelia’ is an emergent learning approach that has been very successful.
Do you know how you like to teach? There is more than one way to think about this. One approach is to discover what the children want to learn and then give them materials and opportunities to explore their topics. Another way is to prepare themes ahead for several weeks.You may find that you like some things about one teaching approach - but you don’t like all of that particular method. Create your own teaching approach.
A good teacher matches her personal values with her style. Put together the things in your teaching style that really speak to you. For instance, I prefer to follow the child’s interests and I work to find the questions and materials that will prompt her to explore her topic further. I generally appreciate the Reggio Amelia method of teaching. But I can’t give all the time this method demands for documenting the children’s comments and work. So I choose to listen for the children’s interests but I don’t keep records of them. I trust that my enthusiasm for what I am doing with the children will bring the creative results the children and I want. Part of teaching is trusting that the kids will catch your enthusiasm and get excited about the topic with you.
When a parent is interviewing a caregiver for his child, he is likely to ask her about her teaching approach. Don’t let this question intimidate you. Mostly what he’ll want to know is that you have given thought to how you plan to provide activities for his child. Of course you will need to know about child development and age appropriate activities. This site will suggest lots of websites with resources and information. But it is thinking ahead about your teaching approach that will prepare you for talking about how you will keep the child interested, active and feeling good about himself.
Most parents love to hear that their child is not going to be placed in front of the television. Giving a child television free days is a gift to him and the family. Knowing your teaching approach gives you the confidence to offer a child a comfortable and fun day without TV.
Here are two examples of how I teach children - I combine them.
1. I like to listen for the children’s curiosity and questions. I want to find out what they want to know. For instance, one time, we were playing outside in piles of leaves and a child called to the birds flying high above us, to come down and play with us. I joined her and all of us called to the birds. We were a group of six children, ages 2 to 6. The event provoked several questions, from them. Like, "Do the birds want to play? Do the birds have friends of their own? Are they scared of us? Can we help them not to be scared of us? Can we learn to fly like them? You can imagine how their questions could lead us down many different learning paths - for all the different ages.
From their questions, we might go on to do art, music, drama and stories to enjoy and learn about birds and how they live their lives. As we explore, I like to ask questions to provoke their curiosity. We could investigate a topic for 10 minutes or for several days. It all depends on the children’s interest.
2. A different approach I take sometimes is to plan a topic ahead of time. If a child in our group is celebrating a cultural family holiday, like Eid or Chinese New Year, I will plan ahead and have special food, activities and stories ready for us all to enjoy that day. I might involve the children in preparing the special food or making decorations. In this way our art, music, literature and science activities come out of a planned event.
Children's Art
With both styles, I make sure the children are given opportunities to express themselves in their art. Children's drawings, paintings and creations tell us what they are thinking about. Their art, music, drama and story telling tell us how they see themselves living in the world with the birds and all of nature and with each other. However we teach, it is vital to give the children opportunities to tell us what is on their minds and in their hearts.
I make sure I always have a variety of art materials available for the children to express themselves. Simple art materials are the best. All you need is paper, wood, water, glue, markers and paint and all the natural stuff you can find outside.
I never prepare crafts to be completed by the children. I prefer that they direct their own art projects. The child's process doing the art is what is important, not that she produce something. So if the child hasn't completed an art piece to take home, I share with the parent the story of her child's art process.
Now it's your turn. Write your own statement or two about how you teach children.
Word file download:
One teaching style is to give children healthy open-ended experiences and you respond to their curiosities. Another style is to plan acitvities ahead of time to provoke their questions. Your teaching style may be one way or the other, or it may be a mix of both.
