Reflection One.

Describe:

I was sitting and observing a couple of boys who were playing together with a container of blocks which they were throwing the blocks out of the container. Once the container was empty one of the boys (child 1) climbed into the container and the other boy (child 2) got upset that child 1 got into the container. Child 2 then started to push child 1 out and started to cry. I continued to observe and waited to see they could sort it out themselves. Child 2 then began to hit child 1 so I stepped in and talked to both children about what I could see was happening. Child 1 then climbed out of the container and child 1 and 2 then began to play with the blocks and the container again together.

Analyse:

As the children are both under three and both aren’t communicating verbally yet they can’t just tell the other child why they are upset or tell them want they would like them to do verbally. So, the children then try and tell them through other ways of communication and other was of communicating might not work, or the other child might not understand which could get the child upset. I think why I stayed back, observed and didn’t step in sooner might be because when I was younger there was 4 children within small spaces and everyone was always interrupting, fighting, taking things of everyone. And when every this was happening an adult would always step in and either stop or fix the situation. And from that and from being in this course I try and give children that opportunities to resolve their situations themselves rather than me stepping in and fixing or stopping the situation straight away.

Theorise:

Because both the children are non- verbal currently being able to recognise and understand their non- verbal cues and requests are important to be able to communicate with the children for both adults and other children. Through children interacting with others they learn to those cues and requests, they also begin to learn empathy and to see another’s point of view (Ministry of Education, 2017).  Also, with the children being toddlers they can find it challenging to resolve a situation with another as they may have had limited interactions which needed resolving. In which a teacher may need to help them resolve it, and that could be done through suggesting ideas or helping to explain feelings in which a child might be having trouble explaining (MacNaughton & William, 2009). With me stepping in and talking to the children about what I saw I was able to set up the situation so that their play could continue and after talking to them I was able to fade out and they continued their play together (Weitzman, 2002).

Act:

Through reflecting on this situation and getting feedback from other class members I see that narrating what I see is happening to the children is a good way to communicate to everyone in the situation what I as observe sees. I do see how me stepping into the situation can prevent the children from getting those opportunities to learn and gain more knowledge about empathy, seeing another’s point of view and resolve the situation for themselves. In further I could try and narrating but not stepping in, rather than just observing and then only stepping in when I need to step in for safety reasons.

Reference List:

MacNaughton, G., & Williams, G. (2009). Techniques for teaching young children: Choices for theory and practice (3rd ed.). New South Wales, Australia: Pearson Education Australia.

Ministry of Education. (2017). Te Whāriki.  He whāriki mātauranga mō ngā mokopuna o Aotearoa: Early childhood curriculum. Wellington, New Zealand: Ministry of Education.

Weitzman, E., & Greenberg, J. (2002). Learning language and loving it (2nd ed.). Toronto, Canada: The Hanen Centre.