Wawanesa Wee Care Inc. |
visit four- the teacher's role
I have to admit, throughout all of my career as an ECE, the word documentation makes me immediately bored! After all, I didn't get in this career for paperwork! I want to play and create and sing and discover with children, not do a running record! As we have marched along in our pedagogical journey, we have discovered our own way of documenting learning, relationships and schema play! All of it dictates the type of programming we plan and create going forward! From the beginning of our journey we have implemented learning stories. A learning story is our way of documenting the learning we see daily in an individual child. Staff take photos or videos and create a story of how we are delighted in the learning we see happening. Learning stories are then sent to families, as well as printed and kept in a binder at Wee Care for the duration of the child's stay with us! Parents are invited to respond to each story to let the child know what their feelings or response is to the learning we documented! It is a heartwarming experience for all involved!
As we document, we also reflect. Reflect on ourselves and how we react, respond and plan to each situation. There are various roles a teacher fits into in a day, and being aware of those rolls helps us understand where we want to improve, change or tweak our guidance and involvement.
Here are the roles for teachers:
Teacher as Intentional Nurturer
Teacher as Social Justice Educator
Teacher as Observer/Documenter/Researcher
Teacher as Architect
Teacher as Prop Manager
Teacher as Coach
Teacher as Mediator
Teacher as Broadcaster and Storyteller
Teacher as Collaborator
Teacher as Organizer
A Handbook for Planning Child-Centered Curriculum
By Deb Curtis and Margie Carter
As we document, we also reflect. Reflect on ourselves and how we react, respond and plan to each situation. There are various roles a teacher fits into in a day, and being aware of those rolls helps us understand where we want to improve, change or tweak our guidance and involvement.
Here are the roles for teachers:
Teacher as Intentional Nurturer
- Being present in the moment with children
- Delighting in and being curious about children’s ideas and play
- Accepting and protecting children’s emotional lives
- Saying yes and…to children
Teacher as Social Justice Educator
- Engaging in an ongoing, personal journey to understand own role in undoing racism and social justice work.
- Demonstrating self-awareness, confidence, family pride and a positive social identity
- Expressing comfort and joy with human diversity; accurate language for human differences; and deep, caring human connections
- Recognizing unfairness, having language to describe unfairness in work with children and other adults
- Demonstrating empowerment and skills to act, with others and alone, against prejudice and/or discriminatory actions with children and other adults.
Teacher as Observer/Documenter/Researcher
- Noticing the details of the children’s competence during play
- Observing before intervening or reacting
- Capturing notes and photos of children’s play for reflection and study.
- Using technology for collecting documentation and creating documentation products
- Studying documentation to make meaning of what children know and think for own learning as well as collaborating with colleagues and children’s families.
- Planning research questions to pursue own learning and further children’s learning.
- Using documentation to plan additions to the environment, curriculum experiences and interactions based on children’s ideas and interests.
Teacher as Architect
- Planning for and adapting the space for children’s lively minds and active bodies.
- Providing open space and an abundance of time and materials for children to pursue big ideas.
- Provisioning the environment with complex, open-ended materials with many possibilities for exploration and learning.
- Creating opportunities to explore magic and wonder, light and shadows, sound, color and texture
- Integrating outdoor and natural elements into the indoor environment
- Rearranging the environment to encourage new interests and investigations.
Teacher as Prop Manager
- Suggesting play possibilities through collections and arrangements of materials
- Encouraging open-ended use and transformation of materials
- Creating order behind the play with casual picking up and reordering the space.
- Providing additional materials to extend play without interrupting the play flow
Teacher as Coach
- Recognizing children’s skills and strengths and providing opportunities to practice them
- Encouraging risk-taking with a supportive presence
- Teaching skills to support independence and deeper use of materials.
- Referring children to each other for help and sharing new ideas.
Teacher as Mediator
- Creating a climate of safety for children to express their needs and feelings
- Seeing conflicts as opportunities to learn social skills and see other perspectives.
- Providing support and language for children to solve their own problems
- Focusing on the content of the play rather than on a violation of rules
- Offering children information rather than directions to advance their initiative.
Teacher as Broadcaster and Storyteller
- Describing children’s ideas and work to them and others.
- Showing children their ideas through photo and homemade books.
- Making written and pictorial representation of children’s play.
- Creating stories for children about their own play activities.
- Taking dictation or transcribing children’s language.
- Supporting children’s efforts to tell stories or write about their play creations.
- Creating documentation displays and learning stories to share the children’s play with families and the larger community.
Teacher as Collaborator
- Seeking multiple perspectives from coworkers, children and families for making decisions.
- Sharing decision making on directions to take with children and curriculum.
- Joining with others in the work to be done.
Teacher as Organizer
- Designing systems and structures to support an easy flow of children and adults throughout the daily routines.
- Keeping materials and equipment organized for easy access and clean up.
- Offering intentional communication systems to ensure families and staff have ways to grow their connections.
A Handbook for Planning Child-Centered Curriculum
By Deb Curtis and Margie Carter