Observing Communication

My observation was in a Preschool classroom at a child development center. One of the teachers announced that it was time to go inside. One of the children refused to put away the balls she was playing with. The teacher asked her several times to clean up but the child kept refusing. She walked over the playground and started playing on the slide. After alomst ten minutes of asking the child to clean up the balls, the teacher finally picks up a ball and asks her to try and throw it in the rack where it belonged. The child needs three times but succeeds. She claps her hands and gets another ball. Within five minutes, the child cleaned up all the balls on the playground.

When the communication started out, it was fairly ineffective. Even though the teacher ask clearly to clean up, the child ignored her. Once the clean up became more of a game, the child complied with the expectations. If the teacher had started out with a game to clean up rather than demand it, the communication would have been more effective.

Watching the teacher and the child interact has shown me how important it is to find different ways to communicate more effectively. Just because we are communicating with words does not mean children understand or comply with expectations. I learned this week that it is important for teachers to find other ways to encourage children rather than just demand from them.