Early childhood education and communication - Essay Example

? Early childhood education and communication Word count: 1570 (Excluding, page and reference page) Early childhood education and communicationCommunication is one of the vital aspects of human development. In fact effective communication helped humans immensely in developing so much compared to other living things in this world. Communication starts at the time of birth and it ends only at the time of death. In education, teacher student communication is extremely important especially in early childhood education. A teacher with who has immense knowledge and academic credentials may not succeed in his profession if he has poor communication skills. Whatever the knowledge a teacher possesses, should be transferred to the students for the effective learning of students and communication is the only channel which is helping the teachers in doing so. “Learning is a process of information transfer and reception”(Information and communication Technologies in teacher education, 2002, p.18). Early childhood (from 0 to 5 years) is a period in which rapid child development happens. People often say that whatever the practices or knowledge learned during this period will remain in the minds of the child till the end of his life. Children during their early childhood spend majority of their time in schools. Since most of the current parents are working professionals, current children are getting less knowledge from their parents and school is the place from where they expect new information and knowledge. In short, elementary school teachers have huge responsibilities in shaping the future generation in the right direction. I do believe that elementary school teachers should have good communication skills in order to transfer their knowledge to the children. Importance of communication in teaching elementary school children Elementary school education requires the combined effort of teachers, parents and the caregivers. Children during their early childhood may not know the importance of education and teachers have the responsibility of informing the parents about the progress of the children in the classroom. “One way a preschool educator can communicate with parents is through a classroom newsletter. While a weekly newsletter is ideal, a biweekly or monthly newsletter is more realistic and easier for to accomplish” (Stewart, 2008) Newsletters can be used effectively by the preschool teachers to communicate properly with the parents of the children. These newsletters should contain enough information about the progress of the child in the classroom. Moreover it should contain details of home works children needs to be done with the help of their parents. The involvement of parents in the study of their children is the most important thins thing in preschool education and for that purpose preschool teachers should communicate properly with the parents. Such preschool teacher parent communication will make the parents aware of the importance of works done in the classroom. Apart from new letters, periodical parent-teacher conferences are necessary to assess the progress of the children. In this conference, the teacher should provide the in depth details about the progress of the children to the parents. Newsletters cannot reflect the exact details about the progress of the children whereas face to face meetings between the teacher and the parents are necessary for the comprehensive discussion about the progress of the children. Teachers with poor communication skills may not arrange such conferences frequently and parents may not get enough information about their child’s progress. On the other hand, teachers with good communication skills will always arrange bimonthly or quarterly parent-teacher conferences to discuss the progress of the children. A parent teacher conference is a great way for parents and early childhood educators to get together to discuss the child in depth. One can listen to the parents as they voice their concerns about certain areas of their child’s development. You can share what your experience has been like having their child in your preschool classroom, as well as any improvements in their child’s behavior or development. A parent teacher conference is also the perfect time for early childhood educators to partner with parents to find methods that will further increase their child’s early education experience (Stewart, 2008). Another communication channel between the parents and preschool teachers is the classroom bulletin boards. Even if the parents may not get opportunity to contact directly with the teacher, they can realize the upcoming events and the events which are going on inside the classroom. Only the preschool teachers with good communication skills can design attractive or eye catching classroom bulletin boards so that it may catch the attention of the parents easily. Bulletin boards are a medium which can reflect the communication abilities of the teacher. Apart from all these channels of communication, teachers can prepare daily, weekly or monthly progress reports also to inform parents about the progress of the children. Talking with children involves the exchange of words, ideas and feelings. Communication is what we say and how we say it. We communicate with looks (scowls and smiles), with actions (slaps and hugs), with silence (warm or cold), as well as with words (kind and unkind)(Bulletin #4077, Winning Ways to Talk with Young Children, 2004). It is not necessary that a preschool teacher with good narrative skills alone may be successful in preschool teaching. The body language if the teacher is so important in communicating with the preschool children. Many people have the belief that communication has only one channel which is verbal. In fact communication has many other channels and verbal methods are only one among them. In fact more than 60% of the information is transferred through nonverbal means while we communicate with others. It is difficult for us to express the entire things in our mind in the verbal form. We usually express our opinions through nonverbal means whenever we face difficulties expressing something in the verbal form. For example, children may not understand the exact meaning of some of the words during their early childhood. Under such circumstances, the teacher can make it clearer with the help of nonverbal means. In other words, nonverbal communication is extremely important in the case of early childhood education. Children during their early childhood would be more interested in watching the mannerisms, body language, gestures, facial expressions, etc rather than listening to what the teacher says. It is difficult for the children in their early ages to give more attention to what the teacher says. They will always look for interesting things and the mannerisms of the teacher will be one such thing which may catch the attraction of the children. In short body languages or nonverbal communication channels can communicate many things to the children and the teachers in elementary schools should use this channel effectively to transfer their knowledge into the minds of the children. The role of a teacher in high schools and in elementary schools is entirely different. During the elementary education period, the children develop their moral skills and socializing skills. Moreover many areas of their future life philosophies are developed during their early childhood and a substantial portion of such things are obtained from the schools. The teacher should be able to communicate physically, emotionally and verbally with the children in order to cultivate good practices in the minds of the children. Children during their early ages, visualize both teachers and their parents in a similar manner. They don’t have many ideas about the duties of their teachers and the duties of their parents. For them school is another place for enjoyment rather than anything else. They communicate with their teachers exactly as they communicate with their parents because of their unawareness about the roles of teachers and the roles of their parents. Preschools teachers should identify these attitudes of the children and they should behave like a parent rather than a teacher. When the teacher behaves like a parent, the trust of the children upon the teacher will increases and effective communication may takes place between the two. On the other hand, if the teacher tries to behave 100% like a teacher, the children may not trust the teacher very much and they may not reveal their problems, concerns or anxieties to the teacher. Children during their early childhood may not possess a well-developed vocabulary or language skills. Elementary schools have a responsibility in increasing the language skills or vocabulary of the children. In fact one of the major objectives of elementary school education is the improvement of language skills. It is impossible or difficult for a child to improve his language skills if the teacher possesses less communication skills. The teacher should use selected or specified words in the class and he should also make sure that the children realize the meaning of the word very well. Only a teacher with good communication skill would be able to raise the language skills of the elementary school children. Conclusions Elementary school teachers should have good communication skills to teach the children during their early childhood period. Early childhood children may not see many differences between their parents and the teacher and they may behave exactly same way in the class as they behave in their home. Teachers should be capable of reading the minds of the children in order to communicate effectively with them. Teachers should use words judiciously in elementary calluses in order to avoid the chances of sending wrong messages. In short, physical, emotional, verbal and nonverbal communication channels should be used judiciously by the teachers in elementary schools in order to cultivate good practices in the minds of the children. References 1. Bulletin #4077, Winning Ways to Talk with Young Children, (2004). Retrieved from http://extension.umaine.edu/publications/4077e/ 2. Information and communication Technologies in teacher education, (2002). UNESCO. Retrieved from http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0012/001295/129533e.pdf 3. Stewart C. (2008). Preschool Teacher Communication. Retrieved from http://www.suite101.com/content/preschool-teacher-communication-a40907 Read More