Observing Communication

For this assignment, we were asked to observe the communication between adults and  children. The purpose was to see if the interactions supported effective communication strategies that we have learned over the course of the week that works best with young children. So below you will find my observation.

For this observation I chose to summarize the interactions between an adult and child from a movie. The movie that I chose to view was Matilda. Matilda is about a little girl who is the youngest child of a car salesman and a BonBon eating mother. Matilda, as a young child exhibited extraordinary skills and abilities. Seeing that Matilda was different from the rest of the family, her mom and dad did not pay her any attention and she spent a lot time alone. During this time alone Matilda taught herself to read and she developed a love for books, because they allowed her to escape the madness in her world. Matilda longed to go to school and soon her parents allowed her to go and she met a young teacher that she could relate to. At the school Matilda and the rest of the children were treated unfairly by the very mean headmaster named Ms. Punchbowl.

What I noticed in this movie is that Matilda's home life did not support her development. She had a yearning to learn and her parents did nothing to help build and promote her development. At home her social skills were not guided by loving and caring parents and she did not receive positive and loving interactions from her family. Her language was not supported by her parents, because they did not sit and talk to her and she had no interactions with her brother. He treated her just like the parents did. When Matilda inquired about certain things her parents did not support her curiosity and her ideas where not allowed to be brought to life in a way that she could make sense of it.

Based on what I know about communicating with young children, I feel that Matilda's communication skills were not strengthened by her parents. Children need to be talked to by caring adults that will help them to develop language and that will help them to add more words to their vocabulary. Matilda's parents barely spoke to her and when they did speak to her it was very indirect and brief. Luckily, Matilda was a bright and     highly intelligent child for her age and she possessed special skills. If she did not possess these particular set of skills, I fear that she would have lacked the language that would have allowed her to communicate effectively with her peers. Without being given the language to express herself, Matilda probably would have trouble building relationships and expressing herself. If children are never given the proper words to use, then he or she will have a difficult time learning about the world around them. Language is our main form of communication and for young children their first interactions with language begins with the adults in their home environments. I imagine that Matilda probably felt terrible that her parents did not pay much attention to her and that they would rather watch television than sit and talk or read a book to her. Even though Matilda is a fictional character, the chaos that existed in her home life was not. Children everywhere experience the same kind of environment that Matilda grew up in. Her parents could have done better with the way they communicate with her. They could have supported her language by allowing her to fully express her ideas and thoughts and given her the proper language that allowed her to fully expressed herself. In the video from this week, Lisa Kolbeck, supported the children's communication and language by listening attentively as the child shared her ideas and thoughts. She also provided the language that supported her idea and she asked her questions that caused her to think critically and open her mind up to more learning about her idea (Laureate Educaton, 2011). The parents could have easily read to her more and talked to her about what it was that she was looking at in the books and given her language that supported what she learning.

Creating Affirming Environments

For this blog, I will describe the type of family day home I would have and the way that it would be supportive and conducive to teaching and promoting anti-bias education in young children.

To begin, if I were a family day home provider I would have a home that visually signals to children and families that they are welcomed in my family day home. I would do this by considering the demographics of the children and families that live in the community. After, considering this, I would take pictures from magazines of children and families and place them around the home in the areas that will be accessible to the children. As the children and families enroll in my family day home, I will take a photo of the families and place them around the room with along with the other pictures of diversity. The toys used in my family day home will be open-ended and representative of diversity. This means that I will include toys that represent abilities, gender roles, and culture. The items found in the dramatic play area will include toys, clothes, and other materials that can be used by both the male and female. The books incorporated in the dramatic play areas will be respectful of the gender roles and cultural traditions. The books in the library will truthfully depict cultural groups and children have a variety of books to choose from. Tokenism will not be a part of my family day home. According to Derman-Sparks & Edwards (2010) tokenism occurs when staff use one teaching material or image to represent a whole group of people. In my family day home, I will include food menus that not only include American food, but foods that represent other cultures. The materials used in the art area will have paper that represent skin tones and supports the need of the children to creatively explore and create.

As I plan activities for the children, I will be sure to include cultural music and the children will be given opportunities to move their bodies creatively to the music. Learning activities will take into consideration the children's current level of learning and abilities. Monthly family involvement activities will be planned to help the families to interact with each other and to help them to learn about the culture of their peers. When the parents need to know about the community resources that are available to them, they will be able to access this information easily as it will be accessible to them on the parent board that has been set up to keep them abreast of what's going on inside the family day home, what the children are currently working on, the menu for the week, and important emergency numbers will also be listed. I really want to provide an environment that is supportive of all the families that I serve and I want them all to feel welcomed and that they really belong. I will also be very proactive in helping children to resolve conflicts that will arise in their day to day play with the other children in the family day home.