Observing And Documenting Responsive Inclusive Relationships In Education

Criteria

(Comment on 4 of the 5 listed.)

Strategy

(Highlight or underline 1 per criterion.)

Observed Example

(What did you see/hear? Be detailed and specific.)

The [educator] develops a warm, nurturing relationship with each child in the classroom through…

¨ treating every child with respect and responding quickly to his/her needs.

¨ observing and responding to the children’s verbal and nonverbal cues.

¨ spending quality time alone with each child.

¨ advocating for ongoing sustained relationships between children and caregivers.

The child A starts crying loudly seeing her parents leave her at school. The educator B quickly responds to her crying and hugs her. She tries to talk to child A and consoles her saying “We will see daddy later” and “he will come back again”. Then the educator shows a bat to play with bubbles and asks her if she wants to play with it. The child soon nods her head and agrees to play with it. The educator then helps the child A to play with bubbles and she starts smiling after a while.

The [educator] creates a welcoming, caring community by…

¨ developing an inclusive physical and social environment.

¨ expecting friendliness between children.

¨ assuring that all staff, children and families represent classroom materials.

¨ providing [experiences] to help children get to know each other and to bond together as a cohesive group.

¨ allowing time for children to systematically share with each other.

¨ providing time for children to work in informal and formal small groups.

¨ setting up the classroom environment to encourage children to work together.

¨ being realistic about sharing, providing duplicates of popular materials and toys and enough interesting materials that they are engaged in.

¨ developing [experiences] where children work together to complete a goal.

¨ developing a unique sense of place in the program.

Two children A and B are having lunch at school together and their educator is accompanying them and serving them lunch. Child A wants some more sandwiches on his plate and says, “More?” The educator gives another sandwich on his plate. Soon after child B also indicates to the sandwiches and asks for more saying ‘More please’ and she also indicates towards child A and asks to give another sandwich to him. The educator calms her saying “He already has some on his plate”, however, then child B also offers a piece of sandwich to their caregiver as well. The educator thanks her saying that she thinks it is such a sweet gesture and says she will have the sandwich later.

The [educator] provides materials that reflect the diversity within the program and exposes children to diversity they may not regularly experience. Materials…

¨ expose children to many forms of diversity (such as race, ethnicity, family structure, age, abilities, gender, occupations).

¨ portray the child’s culture and all cultures in a positive, authentic and realistic light.

¨ are integrated into the environment and curriculum, rather than being used only occasionally or in an isolated way.

¨ challenge all forms of stereotypes, such as only men or women can have certain careers, or because you are from a particular race, you have a specific talent.

¨ Emphasize individual differences and the diversity within larger groups.

Child A is a boy and child B is a girl. Both are playing with some toys in the classroom. The educator brings some more coloured balls, blue and pink, and gives to the children. The boy child took three pink balls while the girl child took two pink and a blue ball. Both the children seem to love the colour pink. The educator asks, ‘Do you both love pink? You just took one blue ball.’ A answers ‘Yes pink’ and B also nods with her. The educator smiles and joins them in playing.

The [educator] assists children to learn about and manage feelings through…

¨ setting up an environment that reduces frustration (especially for physical activity and quiet relaxation; spaces for being in groups but also spaces for being alone; a range of challenging, interesting [experiences] and enough materials so that all children are engaged.

¨ developing a schedule that reduces frustration (such as allowing time for restful relaxation but not requiring children to stay on mats when they are unable to sleep).

¨ labeling children feelings.

¨ using feeling words to describe their own emotions.

¨ interpreting the feelings of others for the child.

¨ providing [experiences] that help children to identify feelings.

¨ providing [experiences] such as woodworking and puppetry to help children handle strong emotions.

Three children A, B and C are given woodworking toys and they seem to be involved in the game. After some time child B seems to have understood the game and puts the right block at the right place. He shouts saying ‘I did it’. The educator appreciates him saying ‘Very good’. Child A seems to be a little energetic in finishing the game seeing the educator appreciating the other child and moves the blocks fast to finish the game. Child C is also playing with her cubes and putting them at the right place. After a while child A figures out how to put the right block and she finishes the game and claps her hands. She looks at the educator shyly and seems to very happy after being said ‘Very good’.

The [educator] assists children to develop pro-social skills through…

¨ establishing pro-social goals.

¨ modeling.

¨ coaching children on pro-social skills (providing words, helping with group entry and play skills).

¨ teaching children conflict resolution skills.

¨ noticing and encouraging pro-social skills.

¨ intentionally designing [experiences] to help children learn pro-social skills.

¨ assisting children to become culturally competent.

¨ immediately addressing hurtful and biased statements.

Criteria

(Comment on 4 of the 5 listed.)

Strategy

(Highlight or underline 1 per criterion.)

Observed Example

(What did you see/hear? Be detailed and specific.)

Recommendation for Improvement

(Include theory to support your claims.)

The [educator does not] develop a warm, nurturing relationship with each child in the classroom through…

¨ treating every child with respect and responding quickly to his/her needs.

¨ observing and responding to the children’s verbal and nonverbal cues.

¨ spending quality time alone with each child.

¨ advocating for ongoing sustained relationships between children and caregivers.

Child A starts running in the garden of the school and fell on the knees. The educator runs towards the crying child and asks ‘Did it hurt’. The child nods her head crying. The educator asks if she can have a look at her knee and the child nods again while stretching her left leg. The educator looks at the wound and says, ‘There are some scraps. You will be fine’. The child keeps on crying saying he is more hurt but the educator makes no effort consoling her. However the wounds are not much and the educator puts a band aid on it soon.  

Here the educator does not put much stress on the child getting hurt rather she tries to console the child saying she will be fine. In a way this can be helpful for the child not to be occupied with the thought of getting hurt; however, it is also important to have full attention at this early stage. The child might also feel neglected with these kinds of behaviours where he/she does not get the entire attention. According to (Rilling & Young, 2014) a warm and nurturing environment is very much necessary for children where he/she feels safe and secured with everyone. If the primary sense of safety is not provided to the child in her early years, it might affect her developmental process. The educator should be more sympathetic with her while treating the children.

The [educator does not] create a welcoming, caring community by…

¨ developing an inclusive physical and social environment.

¨ expecting friendliness between children.

¨ assuring that all staff, children and families represent classroom materials.

¨ providing [experiences] to help children get to know each other and to bond together as a cohesive group.

¨ allowing time for children to systematically share with each other.

¨ providing time for children to work in informal and formal small groups.

¨ setting up the classroom environment to encourage children to work together.

¨ being realistic about sharing, providing duplicates of popular materials and toys and enough interesting materials that they are engaged in.

¨ developing [experiences] where children work together to complete a goal.

¨ developing a unique sense of place in the program.

Four children are playing together. The educator comes and says ‘It’s time for lunch’ and taken two of them A and B with her. A and B denies to go with her without their friends C and D and start crying. C and D are also not ready to let their friend leave starts crying. The educator becomes strict on them saying C and D will go with another educator and A and B will have to go with her. She pulls both the crying babies to the dining hall.

Here the educator is not creating an environment for children where friendliness is encouraged (Isaacs, 2013). She might think of being disciplined and going to have lunch at the right time, but she, at the same time’ should think of indulging friendliness amongst them. In this situation, two of the educators might sit to have lunch together and promote experiences of having friends and sharing. These early experiences enhance the social and emotional skills of children.

The [educator does not] provide materials that reflect the diversity within the program and exposes children to diversity they may not regularly experience. Materials…

¨ expose children to many forms of diversity (such as race, ethnicity, family structure, age, abilities, gender, occupations).

¨ portray the child’s culture and all cultures in a positive, authentic and realistic light.

¨ are integrated into the environment and curriculum, rather than being used only occasionally or in an isolated way.

¨ challenge all forms of stereotypes, such as only men or women can have certain careers, or because you are from a particular race, you have a specific talent.

¨ Emphasize individual differences and the diversity within larger groups.

Child A is a boy and child B is a girl. Both are playing with some toys in the classroom. The educator comes with few more balls and both the children are attracted to those now. The educator gives the boy child the blue ball and gives the girl child the pink one. The children start playing again.

By promoting this basic stereotype of boys having the blue and girls having the pink, the educator is providing materials to them to find these normal. They might stick to this opinion in their later age as well, and develops a sense of rigidity in them. The educator should promote diversity amongst the children exposing them so different forms of it, not encouraging the sense of rigidity (Doise et al., 2013). They should not promote such gender stereotypes among the children at the early ages.

The [educator does not] assist children to learn about and manage feelings through…

¨ setting up an environment that reduces frustration (especially for physical activity and quiet relaxation; spaces for being in groups but also spaces for being alone; a range of challenging, interesting [experiences] and enough materials so that all children are engaged.

¨ developing a schedule that reduces frustration (such as allowing time for restful relaxation but not requiring children to stay on mats when they are unable to sleep).

¨ labeling children feelings.

¨ using feeling words to describe their own emotions.

¨ interpreting the feelings of others for the child.

¨ providing [experiences] that help children to identify feelings.

¨ providing [experiences] such as woodworking and puppetry to help children handle strong emotions.

Two children A and B are playing with wood blocks where they have to put the right block at the right place to fill up a picture. Child A does it soon on his own and claps in joy. The educator encourages him saying ‘Very good’ and asks to do it faster. After a while she again says, ‘Come on B! Why can’t you do that? Look A has finished it.’ Child B looks a little confused and moves the blocks. The educator finishes the game putting the two last blocks at the right place and says, ‘See! This is how you do it.’

Here the educator does not appreciate the effort child B is making to finish the wood block. Rather she herself finishes the game and does not encourage the child to complete it on himself. These small experiences promote a lack of nurturing environment for the child, thus it might affect their social development (Frye & Moore, 2014). If a child is not being able to meet others in the classroom, the educator should appreciate the effort he has made and should not emphasize the fact that he has not succeeded.

The [educator does not] assist children to develop pro-social skills through…

¨ establishing pro-social goals.

¨ modeling.

¨ coaching children on pro-social skills (providing words, helping with group entry and play skills).

¨ teaching children conflict resolution skills.

¨ noticing and encouraging pro-social skills.

¨ intentionally designing [experiences] to help children learn pro-social skills.

¨ assisting children to become culturally competent.

¨ immediately addressing hurtful and biased statements.