An English-Speaking Prekindergarten Teacher for Young Latino Children: Implications of the Teacher–Child Relationship on Second Language Learning

This case study was designed to describe how an effective English-speaking prekindergarten teacher develops strategies for communicating with and teaching young English language learners. The teacher’s classroom practices to enhance her own relationship with the children promoted opportunities for the Latino children to become full participants in the classroom community. At the end of the year, the Latino children showed progress in formal and informal measures of receptive vocabulary in both English and Spanish. Findings from the study suggest the importance of the affective and social nature of second language learning in young children. Implications for practice and research are discussed.     

Child Voice: How Immigrant Children Enlightened Their Teachers with a Camera

Changes in global patterns of residence mean that preschool teachers welcome immigrant children and families into preschools in increasing numbers. Many teachers report both anticipation and apprehension about having immigrant children in the classroom. Apprehension is related to concerns about a lack of enough knowledge about languages and cultures to sensitively work with children and families. To overcome apprehensions and challenges, teachers are encouraged to learn from the work of other adults. This study builds upon research that suggests that teachers can also look to the children as a source of knowledge. The purpose of this study was to explore how preschool immigrant children might use a disposable camera to communicate with their teachers. The participants of this qualitative study were immigrant and native-born students in a local preschool. Each child was given a disposable camera, instruction about taking photographs and the request to take pictures of what was important to them. Data were collected by recording each child telling the teacher about the pictures. Data were analyzed for themes, patterns and categories. Findings indicated that the messages that the children conveyed to their teachers included important information about language development and family cultural identity. Findings also identify teacher strategies that helped and hindered child ability to communicate during the photo-narration process. An implication of the study was a shift of child agency within the teacher child relationship during photo-narration activity.     

Heroes of resiliency and reciprocity: teachers’ supporting role for reconceptualizing superhero play in early childhood settings

Superhero play is a specialised form of fantasy play with considerable appeal to young children. During superhero play, children have opportunities to pretend and often to play different types of roles within a safe and caring environment. When guided appropriately in an early childhood classroom, superhero play gives young children opportunities to gain a sense of mastery and empowerment as well as developmentally appropriate benefits by improving language skills, problem-solving and cooperation with peers. By recognising and modelling the characteristics of resiliency and promoting kindness with peers during superhero play, teachers can encourage children to be kind and resilient heroes to classroom friends. As today’s classrooms increasingly include diverse members, it is important for young children to understand and appreciate the peers they play and learn with at school. The result may be a richer learning experience and may break down barriers that can produce unfairness, bullying and aggressive behaviours. This article explores the essence of superhero fantasy play along with its benefits for young children. In addition, the article examines the challenge of superhero play in classrooms for early childhood educators by exploring teachers’ roles in play. A new pedagogy for supporting superhero play is introduced, addressing spiritual and educational concerns by suggesting ways in which teachers can increase resiliency, encourage new friendships and build classroom community among peers during play and classroom activities.     

Child Engagement in Inclusive Preschools: Contributions of Classroom Quality and Activity Setting

Preschool process quality and activity setting are considered important aspects influencing child engagement. As such, it is important to understand how educational settings can promote engagement, particularly for children with disabilities and/or at risk. This observational study describes process quality and activity setting in inclusive preschools, analyzing its predictive role for child engagement. Participants were 184 children attending 39 preschools. Three groups of children, nested within classrooms, were considered: with disabilities (n = 45), at risk (n = 59), typically developing (n = 80). Child Observation in Preschool assessed engagement and activity setting; Classroom Assessment Scoring System assessed quality of teacher–child interactions. Research Findings: Results from multilevel regressions show that classroom emotional support and organization and more time in free play were positively predicting child engagement, whereas more time in whole group was a negative predictor of engagement. Besides these main effects, an interaction effect between child developmental functioning and activity settings was found. For at-risk children, more time in whole-group activities had greater negative effects on child engagement. For children with disabilities, more time in free-play had greater positive effects on child engagement. Practice or Policy: Results contribute to inform teachers regarding the importance of individualizing interactions and planning activity settings to promote engagement and participation in inclusive preschools.     

儿童底层叙事的教育社会学意义

在诗化的语言背后,"儿童底层叙事"所承载的内容意蕴深远。面对当下课堂教学中盛行的"虚假生成"的现象,对《山彦学校》的深度解读具有非常深远的意义。在此等解读的背后,嵌入中国教育境遇中的"儿童叙事思维模式"的形成和固化值得教育者们认真地反思——为什么我们会树立这样一种儿童教育观,它的存在意味着什么?不同于教育理想主义者们的本质主义追问,教育社会学的眼光为我们打开了另一扇理解儿童教育的视窗,这或许有助于我们更好地去发掘"儿童底层叙事"的教育意蕴。     

超常儿童内部动机与创造力的关系:课堂同伴互动的中介作用

探究课堂环境中的同伴因素在超常儿童内部动机与创造力关系中的影响对培养超常儿童创造力的教育实践有重要意义.本研究选取277名3-6年级普通班中的超常儿童,采用《学习自我调节量表》、《创造性课堂环境问卷》以及改编的创造力测评工具对其内部动机、课堂同伴互动水平及创造力水平进行评估,分析三者的相关关系,并建立结构方程模型,验证...     

What Effect does Listening to Individual Children have on their Learning?

In this article, the author reports the outcomes of studying a programme that provided 35 primary school children with weekly, individual, half-hour listening and talking sessions with an adult over 10 weeks. The skilled adult 'Listening Partners' offered an open agenda and a private space away from the classroom. The children could use the session as they chose. The consequences of this intervention were measured against the experience of a control group of children. Evidence of change was collected by comparing results from a standard listening test, teacher assessments, National Curriculum assessments and behavioural records. The author explores two central questions: how does increasing the amount of time that a child has the individual, listening attention of an adult affect that child's capacity to listen, understand and respond constructively to what is said to them in a teaching and learning situation? Are there any other effects on children in school who receive this one-to-one attention? The study showed that the focused attention of a trusted adult provided children with opportunities to communicate, notably disclosing child protection issues that may otherwise have remained uninvestigated. Increasing the opportunities for children to experience being listened to by a skilled adult positively affected their educational progress. She argues that skilled listeners have a significant effect on children's learning and on some children's behaviour.     

Links Between Preschoolers' Behavioral Regulation and School Readiness Skills: The Role of Child Gender

Research Findings: We examined relations among preschoolers' behavioral regulation, gender, and school readiness outcomes in preacademic and classroom skills using a sample of South Korean preschoolers aged 3–5 (N = 229). Behavioral regulation was assessed using a direct measure, the Head–Toes–Knees–Shoulders task, which requires children to switch rules by responding in the opposite way to 4 different oral commands. Results demonstrated nonsignificant gender differences in behavioral regulation and academic skills but significant gender differences in classroom work-related skills and social skills, with higher scores for girls. Multilevel path modeling revealed that behavioral regulation predicted none of the preacademic skills and classroom behaviors after child age, gender, verbal intelligence, maternal education, and classroom nesting were controlled. However, there was an interaction effect of behavioral regulation and gender for early reading; the contribution of behavioral regulation to early reading was positive and stronger for boys. Practice or Policy: These results suggest that behavioral regulation is not an overall strong predictor of school readiness in South Korean children. Early educators need to support the development of behavioral regulation skills, especially for boys, as these skills may work as an important path to school readiness when children lack other classroom social strategies and resources.     

儿童观的后现代视角

后现代理论认可世界的多样性,提倡对儿童与儿童期作多样化的理解。后现代理论分析了传统儿童观的缺陷,主张用新的视角了解儿童,颠覆了传统的教育质量标准。后现代理论认为,儿童不是以自我为中心的,他们关注当前的现实问题,努力探寻世界的意义。儿童通过填空的方式创造理论,依赖情境赋予事物意义。在认识世界的过程中,儿童将事物组合成一个个“故事”,强调整体的优先性,用自己的奇思妙想认识和改造世界。     

论儿童词汇习得中的整体假设原则

整体假设是儿童习得词汇的早期所依赖的一项重要原则,它的存在使儿童将新出现的词汇作为物体的名称而不是物体的部分、属性、动作和空间关系.进一步分析此原则产生的原因,发现无论持何种语言的儿童在词汇习得的早期都倾向于使用整体假设将新习得的词汇作为物体的名称,可见,它具有跨文化的稳定性.但由于研究中各方面的局限,欲透析整体假设的性质尚需大量的研究.     

Children’s Cortisol and the Quality of Teacher–Child Relationships in Child Care

Teacher–child relationships were examined as predictors of cortisol change in preschool children. Saliva for assays was collected from one hundred and ninety‐one 4‐year‐olds (101 boys) in the mornings and afternoons on 2 days at child care, and before and after a series of challenging tasks and a teacher–child interaction session outside the classroom. Parents reported on children’s temperament, teachers and children reported on teacher–child relationship quality, and observers rated group‐level teacher insensitivity. Teacher‐reported relationship conflict predicted cortisol increases during teacher–child interaction and teacher‐reported overdependence predicted cortisol increases from morning to afternoon, even after controlling for individual teacher, child, and classroom characteristics. The findings extend earlier work by suggesting that cortisol change across the child‐care day is influenced by teacher–child relationship characteristics.     

First Do No Harm: Emotional Maltreatment in the Classroom

Emotional maltreatment of children is occurring in classrooms daily and professionals sometimes are unaware of it. We are bound by a Code of Ethics, which states that we have a responsibility to intervene when children are harmed. Most professionals are unaware of how emotional maltreatment looks in the classroom and what they can do to prevent it. We have addressed what emotional maltreatment look like in the classroom and what teachers and parents can do to help to change this frequently occurring situation. The editorial presents a scenario of a first grade child who is experiencing emotional maltreatment in the classroom and strategies for parents and professionals to use when they observe emotional maltreatment in the classroom.     

Interactive group activity: a socially mediated tool for opening an interpretive space in classroom research

An ongoing challenge in classroom research is to understand children’s perspectives on their learning. While learning is highly individual, it is also significantly social and this raises methodological challenges. An Interactive Group Activity (IGA) is one of several data collection strategies used during the action research phase of the Connecting Curriculum, Connecting Learning project (2010–2011) focusing on arts-based curriculum integration. This article concentrates on the IGA tool as a means of uncovering children’s meaning making following an extended period of learning. Of particular note is the use of an arts pedagogical device to introduce the IGA to children, a device that frames the purpose of the task. In effect, the IGA acts as a group assessment device underlining the socially mediated nature of children’s learning. This article describes how the IGA tool evolved, gives its form and structure, argues for its affordances and suggests possibilities for its wider use.     

Child Care Subsidy and Program Quality Revisited

Research Findings: Previous research has documented conflicting results on the relationship between program quality and the percentage of children receiving subsidized child care (subsidy density) in early childhood centers. This research examined the relationship between subsidy density and the quality of infant and preschool classrooms in child care centers, taking into consideration teacher education and salary as well as other structural variables associated with quality. A multimethod evaluation was conducted with 110 child care centers utilizing an interview of center directors as well as classroom observations using standardized measures of quality and language/literacy in the classroom. Regression analyses indicate that subsidy density does not predict the quality of infant classrooms. However, subsidy density is a significant predictor of the quality of preschool classrooms. Teacher education is predictive of some quality indicators, but teacher salary is not. Practice or Policy: Practice and policy implications are discussed to promote the quality of child care centers that serve low- income children. Statewide initiatives should target centers with higher subsidy density for quality improvements. Local programs and state policy should provide teachers with opportunities to obtain additional education and then offer incentives to remain in their current early childhood settings.     

Bodies displayed on walls: are children’s bodies represented in an inclusive way in the pictures on the walls in their early childhood educational environments?

The messages conveyed by visual representations in the early childhood education (ECE) environment are critical to ensuring the success of inclusive practices. Given that anti-bias education permeates and affects everything which takes place in ECE institutions, the challenge for early childhood educators is to think creatively about how classroom walls can be used effectively as part of an educational environment rather than for purely decorative purposes. Our research aimed to examine, through a content analysis of the illustrations, the representation of the body taking into account the different categories as they are portrayed on nine different ECE classroom walls in Spanish public schools. Results show that the ECE walls are teaching gender equality to young children, with no single predominant role for girls or boys, but that they are not contributing to children learning about corporal diversity related to disability and ageing.     

谈小学语文课堂教学设计的关键点——以《清澈的湖水》三次试教为例

以《清澈的湖水》三次试教为例,教师在课堂教学设计中要重视学生的学情,努力使学生成为课堂的主人;要认识教学目标的重要性,制定"一课一得"的教学目标;要教给学生学习语文的方法,提高学生的语文能力。     

Child Care Quality and Children's Engagement

The goal of this study was to understand the relationship between child care quality and children's engagement behavior. Seventy-eight toddlers from 17 child care centers were individually observed to determine the percentage of time they spent in sophisticated, unsophisticated, or differentiated engagement, or focused attention. The percentage of group engagement in classroom activities was recorded as well. Program quality ratings consisted of measures of the classroom environments, including the teachers. All the contextual quality measures but 1 were associated with unsophisticated engagement. Only global classroom quality was related to sophisticated engagement. The percentage of toddlers engaged in activities was associated with other program quality measures but not with observations of individual child engagement conducted at different times.     

Time,things, teacher,pupil: engaging with what matters

This article presents an empirical study of everyday life in school and a methodological attempt to emphasise children’s views and to find ways other than representation to analyse them. The empirical portion took place in a Finnish elementary school in which the author was the class teacher. The ten-year-olds in the class engaged in an unstructured classroom diary activity in which they freely wrote their observations, thoughts and stories. The study takes a relational materialist approach to the children’s writings focusing on various moments and gatherings in the classroom as assemblages and illustrates how time, things, teacher and pupils are co-produced in them. Temporality and materiality are also considered in relation to research methodologies. Research with children is reconceptualised based on the focus on mattering. The analysis is enacted as a non-linear and nomadic process through retelling and responding to the children’s texts. It highlights particular situations, unstabilities, ‘tiny’ things and the complexities of children’s lives in educational environments.     

儿童在中央：小学品德课堂的视角重构

“儿童在中央”即教育的儿童立场,传递出基本的教育态度,从品德学科课程理念的视角重构——课程中心到儿童中心的转变．教师角色的视角重构——“授之以鱼”到“授之以渔”的转变,学生立场的视角重构——“被学”到“让学”的转变三个层面诠释了教育需要从儿童出发,教育是为了儿童,教育必须依靠儿童的内涵,教育者应坚定“儿童在中央”的立场,从儿童出发,一切为了儿童的发展,让儿童绽放鲜活的课堂生命力。     

The Transition from Early Child Care to Preschool: Emerging Toddler Skills and Readiness for Group-Based Learning

Research Findings: National policy today is on the brink of defining preschool experiences as essential for children’s academic success. Indeed, many children’s classroom experience begins as they transition from infant/toddler care to a preschool classroom. This study examined developmentally relevant skill domains among 36-month-olds (effortful control, social engagement, and language abilities) and tested their organization in a latent factor model of skills hypothesized to promote classroom adaptation. Assessments of low-income children interacting with a parent and examiner from the Early Head Start Research and Evaluation Project were utilized (n = 1,814). The data included observations of mother–child interactions during semistructured activities at home and child behavior assessments. Results indicated that the interrelated structure of children’s skills was best defined in a 2-factor, latent variable model: effortful control and social communication. These learning skills were related to but separate from general cognitive ability. Practice or Policy: Home-visiting programs for infants and toddlers are expected to promote children’s school readiness, yet little research has focused on the skills that facilitate children’s transition to the large-group learning environment at age 3. Implications of this model for early prevention efforts and early childhood teacher training to promote children’s readiness for group-based learning are discussed.