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Most child care centers have some specified time in their daily schedule for all the children to come together. Sometimes it’s called sharing time, meeting time, or group time. It’s during group time that the experienced teacher engages her students personally and often individually to create a classroom sense of community. When attendance is taken and she discovers a child not present, she asks the class if anyone knows why Johnny didn’t come to school today. Then she may tell them, “Johnny’s mother told me yesterday he was taking his grandparents to the airport. We’ll see him at lunch time.” It’s a very comforting thought to absolutely know you are important in the group; to absolutely know that you will be missed; and to absolutely know your classmates are expecting you. You belong. When the teacher talks about Johnny’s delayed arrival she may have an opportunity to expand vocabulary and model language. She may ask if anyone has been to the airport or if any other classmates have grandparents who fly to see them. She’s facilitating the children’s opportunity to share experiences. If she knew Johnny was going to the airport, perhaps she added new items in the block corner or a small suitcase or briefcase to the domestic corner. In the writing corner she may have placed sample tickets and vacation pamphlets and encouraged the children to tell of their own airport adventures. When Johnny arrives at lunch time, she will pick up on the earlier group time cues the children have given her, and Johnny will immediately be drawn into the already formed group. She enables Johnny and the other students to see that everyone has information that’s useful and that sharing this information can be beneficial to their community. During group time the teacher will lay the foundation for the day’s learning and will, through her voice, time management, and body language invite her students to participate. She’s thrown out the notion that “teachers know all,” and opted for a “let’s figure out our world together” style. How group time is scheduled, how it is managed, and a teacher’s intellectual curiosity and love of discovery directly and dramatically effects a child’s response to school. The experienced teacher carefully and thoughtfully weaves her students’ contributions in such a way that she will be able to help them identify a unified goal. It’s group time togetherness that helps forge whatever sense of community a class will develop.
Article Source: http://www.articledestination.com
Elaine Rexdale has been an early childhood educator and administrator for the past 30 years. She is a graduate of Teachers College at Columbia University in New York City and has served in schools in Illinois, Louisiana, and New York in both the public and private sectors. Visit her website at: www.ElaineRexdale.com
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