Early childhood educators understand that teaching and learning with young children is a complex enterprise, and its details vary depending on children’s ages and characteristics and on the settings in which teaching and learning occur. They (a) understand and demonstrate positive, caring, supportive relationships and interactions as the foundation for their work with young children. They (b) understand and use teaching skills that are responsive to the learning trajectories of young children and to the needs of each child. Early childhood educators (c) use a broad repertoire of developmentally appropriate and culturally and linguistically relevant, anti-bias, and evidence-based teaching approaches that reflect the principles of universal design for learning.
In my Classroom Management course, I had to pick one student to communicate with every day for a couple of minutes. My classmates and I had to choose a student that has a hard time managing their behavior. I noticed that the more I talked to this student, the more they formed a connection. Since doing this assignment, the student has gained more respect for me and his listening skills have increased. Making sure relationships are a foundation of my work has led to a more positive, caring, and supportive relationship with all of my students.