Premium Essay

Effective Communication as an Early Childhood Educator

In:

Submitted By js870508
Words 1684
Pages 7
In many aspects of life including work, study and everyday personal life the skill of effective communication is an asset. As an early childhood educator effective communication is paramount. The essay will examine what effective communication is, and how and why it is important for an early childhood educator to possess this skill.

Grellier & Goerke (2010) describes effective communication as consisting of speaking clear and concise with the correct use of tone, the ability to give and receive feedback productively, active listening, non-verbal communication such as gestures, body language and eye contact.
Speech is a complex process that is an important component in communication, speech is the outcome of sounds made in the voice box and stung together to make intelligible words. Without the appropriate use of tone, pitch, volume and speed of delivery, the impact of what is trying to be said will be greatly affected (Verderber, Verderber, & Sellnow, 2007). A speaker should be engaging, passionate and animated whilst remaining calm and collected. The tome of a speaker should remain conversational, so as to keep listeners attention and avoid the boredom of listeners. Bleile (2004) explained that speech is the foundation of language. Approximately 60% of brain growth occurs during the first few years of life, during this time the brain is shaped by children’s environment. Up to this point in a child’s life, parents have been the primary source of sounds and expressions. Once children are of school age this responsibility becomes shared with an educator who will become the primary source of learning for young children therefore they need to possess the knowledge surrounding speech and sounds to effectively teach children and avoid communicative and cognitive delays that occur through decreased environmental stimulation and appropriate examples of speech

Similar Documents

Premium Essay

Literature Review

...Running head: Assessment STRATEGIES IN EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION Assessment Strategies in Early Childhood Education Pamela Durant-Stewart Strayer University Dr. Elkanah Faux DSP9999 Seminar January 29, 2011 Assessment Strategies in Early Childhood Education Assessment theories and strategies are used to evaluate children so that the teacher can better aid the child in the learning environment. As a teacher, I believe that assessments are an important tool that can give extensive information about children; especially in Early Childhood development. Pellegrino, Chudowsky & Glaser (2001) stated that “although assessments are used for many purposes in the educational system, a premise of this report is that their effectiveness and utility must ultimately be judged by the extent to which they promote student learning” (p. 221). Strand, Cerna & Skucy (2007) support the deductive-psychometric model, which is a framework for legitimizing constructs that arise from theories (p. 209). The authors discuss how the traditional approach to assessment in early childhood education is based on getting as much information about the child as possible. Educators who use this approach believe that more information is better; however Strand, Cerna & Skucy believe that this contradicts 50 years of decision-making research. Instead, the authors propose that teachers focus more on the theories behind deductive constructs more so than psychometric analysis, because, the legitimacy...

Words: 1381 - Pages: 6

Premium Essay

Characteristics of Professional Development Linked to Enhanced Pedagogy and Children’s Learning in Early Childhood Settings

...Characteristics of professional development linked to enhanced pedagogy and children’s learning in early childhood settings: Best Evidence Synthesis July 2003 Characteristics of professional development linked to enhanced pedagogy and children’s learning in early childhood settings: Best Evidence Synthesis October 2003 This report is one of a series of best evidence syntheses commissioned by the Ministry of Education. It is part of a commitment to strengthen the evidence base that informs education policy and practice in New Zealand. It aims to contribute to an ongoing evidence-based discourse amongst policy makers, educators and researchers. The best evidence synthesis approach is being developed in collaboration with researchers. It draws together in a systematic way the available evidence about what works to improve education outcomes, and what can make a bigger difference for the education of all our children and young people. Prepared for the Ministry of Education Authors Linda Mitchell and Pam Cubey Copyright © Ministry of Education PO Box 1666 Wellington ISBN 0-478-18773-4 Web ISBN ISBN 0-478-18774-2 www.minedu.govt.nz Characteristics of professional development linked to enhanced pedagogy and children’s learning in early childhood settings Best Evidence Synthesis Report prepared for the New Zealand Ministry of Education Linda Mitchell and Pam Cubey July 2003 New Zealand Council for Educational Research P O Box 3237 ...

Words: 59345 - Pages: 238

Premium Essay

Outcomes and Indicators of Positive Start to School

...they spent searching the literature. The Early Childhood Education Research Team would also like to acknowledge the parents, primary school teachers, school principals, early childhood professionals and other support staff who were willing to provide their views on what they considered to be a successful transition to school. A very special thank you to the kindergarten teachers who, at the time, were very busy writing Transition Learning and Development Statements yet somehow put time aside to answer our questions. Finally, we would like to acknowledge the support and colleagueship provided by the Department of Education and Early Childhood Development, especially Pippa Procter, Gina Suntesic and Karen Weston. This has been an interesting and stimulating project for us all. The Early Childhood Education Research Team Victoria University December, 2009 Table of Contents Acknowledgements Introduction • Background • Purpose Methodology • Literature Review • Participants • Data Collection • Victorian Early Years Learning & Development Framework (Victorian Framework) • Outcomes • Indicators • Measures • Tables Outcomes & Indicators of a Positive Start to School • For Children • For Families • For Educators • Table 1: Outcomes & indicators of a positive start to school for children • Table 2: Outcomes & indicators of a positive start to school for families • Table 3: Outcomes & indicators of a positive start to school for educators Recommendations Further suggestions Appendices...

Words: 22052 - Pages: 89

Free Essay

Family Involvement

...Family Involvement 3 A parents' and/or family members' impact on children's learning and development are lasting and probably carries the most impact. When parents are involved in their child's learning process the child senses the importance of education. Early childhood educators need to reach out to families in order to engage them in their children's education. In order to do this, educators must first understand the challenges modern families face. Family dynamics have had drastic changes over the last several decades. “These changes include: Families are more diverse in structure and style, spend less time together, are poorer, need more schooling than ever in history, are more likely to be single, and have shifted their value base to be more protective of their children (Knopf & Swick 2008 pg 419). Families are also faced with other aspects including multi-generation households, higher economy, greater demands and longer hours at work, technological advances and society's changes. Longer life spans have created the condition of parents caring for their parents and their children, sometimes causing financial and time constraints that didn't exist in society before. The work force is also more demanding of it's workers requiring more education and training than ever before (Knopf & Swick 2008 pg 420 as cited in Coontz 1997). Parents feel a tug between providing for their families in this tough economy by working long demanding hours and spending quality...

Words: 1304 - Pages: 6

Premium Essay

Montessori Early Childhood Landguage

...Montessori Early Childhood Language: Life-Long Literacy by Dr. Ann Epstein The development of language in early-childhood classrooms is an umbrella for the entire Montessori curriculum. Often teachers and parents consider activities on the shelves of the Language area as the heart of actual language learning. Certainly these activities provide powerful opportunities, but language learning occurs most profoundly in the moment-to-moment life of interactions within the classroom. Twenty years ago, working as a speech pathologist, I discovered the wonder of language development in young children. Although I detoured away from speech and language pathology into Montessori early-childhood education, I maintained my awe of how children learn to listen and speak and, later, to write and read. I have had the opportunity to share my language interests as a teacher educator with several Montessori teacher-education programs. During the last four years, I have continued my learning in a slightly different context. As a supervisor for the University of Maryland's undergraduate early-childhood special-education program, I have worked with teachers, students, and children in both inclusive and segregated special education settings, often working with children with language delays. In this article, I will suggest a foundation for the development of language skills, review key Montessori language materials and activities, and present suggestions for expanding language practices in Montessori...

Words: 2501 - Pages: 11

Premium Essay

Curriculum and Methods of Early Childhood Educations

...Introduction Contemporary curriculum approaches in early childhood education stress the magnitude of making available to the young children experiences that foster holistic development and promote positive attitudes. They should also be developmentally appropriate to the life and learning of the young children. Early childhood teachers therefore must acquire the knowledge necessary to implement and develop child centered curriculum practices that inherently stimulate and motivate the young ones desire to become engaged in their own learning. The realistic goals is to help a child achieve intellectual growth, develop a positive self concept, increase competence in skills in writing, reading, thinking, listening and speaking and to increase skills involved in physical coordination. It also helps a child to enlarge his world of experiences, ideas, things and people. These help the child to increase competence in dealing with emotional feelings, social situations, self direction and independence (Little, 1979). Working with Pre-K age group children, calls for good class practices. Pre k/Pre kindergarten, being the first formal academic classroom-based learning environment that a child customarily attends, begins between the ages of 3-5 depending on how long the program is. It combines the focus to harvest a child’s cognitive, social, physical and emotional developments. This means it reflects an understanding of child development principles providing opportunities for the children...

Words: 1879 - Pages: 8

Free Essay

Early Childhood Development

...Harvard Graduate School of Education HARVARD FAMILY RESEARCH PROJECT  NO. 1 in a series  SPRING 2006 Family Involvement IN EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION  The family seems to be the most effective and economical system for fostering and sustaining the child’s development. Without family involvement, intervention is likely to be unsuccessful, and what few effects are achieved are likely to disappear once the intervention is discontinued.1 —Urie Bronfenbrenner This brief is dedicated to Urie Bronfenbrenner (1917–2005) whose pioneering research influenced the work of Harvard Family Research Project. Introduction Family involvement matters for young children’s cognitive and social development. But what do effective involvement processes look like, and how do they occur? This research brief summarizes the latest evidence base on effective involvement—that is, the research studies that link family involvement in early childhood to outcomes and programs that have been evaluated to show what works. The conceptual framework guiding this research review is complementary learning. Harvard Family Research Project (HFRP) believes that for children and youth to be successful from birth through adolescence, there must be an array of learning supports around them. These learning supports include families, early childhood programs, schools, outof-school time programs and activities, higher education, health and social service agencies, businesses,...

Words: 7085 - Pages: 29

Premium Essay

Degree Plan

...online college environment. Student Success Orientation 
 The orientation is designed to provide students with a complete overview of the Ashford University experience, prepare them for success in their courses, and help them to self evaluate their readiness to succeed in an online classroom setting. Students will be instructed on Ashford University policies and the learner resources that are available to them through interactive videos and assessments. Students enrolled in orientation must successfully complete all assigned activities. EXP 105 Personal Dimensions of Education 
 This course is designed to help adult learners beginning their university studies to achieve academic success. Students will explore learning theories, communication strategies, and personal management skills. Adult learners will develop strategies for achieving success in school and work. Students will also be introduced to the University's institutional outcomes and learning resources. PSY 202 Adult Development & Life Assessment 
 This course presents adult development theory and links theoretical concepts of life and learning through a process of psychometric assessment and reflection. Both classical and contemporary...

Words: 1320 - Pages: 6

Premium Essay

Landing on a Different Ground

...opportunities. This can serve as valuable and credible resources of identifying the attitude and actions that were implemented in classrooms by their former effective teachers. This study recommends the importance of becoming a pre- service teacher. This is due to the fact that, this can offer valuable insight and knowledge that they will apply in their own classrooms. They may learn from their previous teachers but there are guidelines and proper ways of doing things that are far different from the unstructured learning gained by observing and imitating alone. Educational experiences with the blend of principles and practice will create attitudes that make up an effective teacher. Janice Bissell’s Study An in-depth study by practising campus architect Janice Bissell, looked into the deeply rooted images of teaching embedded in most school designs and embodied by cellular classrooms with the teacher’s position (with dais and data ports) securely at the front. She found that for all teachers, the ‘physical classroom’ was the basic component of their daily work activities but those individuals characterised as traditional and non-traditional in their pedagogic orientation used the spaces in different ways. ‘Non-traditional teachers’ were more likely to modify the classroom to produce what they believed was a more effective working environment (e.g. through displays and alternative furniture arrangements). In this study they were also more...

Words: 2790 - Pages: 12

Free Essay

Paper

...complete overview of the Ashford University experience, prepare them for success in their courses, and help them to self evaluate their readiness to succeed in an online classroom setting. Students will be instructed on Ashford University policies and the learner resources that are available to them through interactive videos and assessments. Students enrolled in orientation must successfully complete all assigned activities. EXP 105 Personal Dimensions of Education 
 This course is designed to help adult learners beginning their university studies to achieve academic success. Students will explore learning theories, communication strategies, and personal management skills. Adult learners will develop strategies for achieving success in school and work. Students will also be introduced to the University's institutional outcomes and learning resources. Effective for courses beginning January 1, 2013, and after, a minimum grade of C- is required to meet course requirements. PSY 202 Adult Development & Life Assessment 
 This course presents adult development theory and links theoretical concepts of life...

Words: 1381 - Pages: 6

Free Essay

Digital Story Reading

...reader by the time he enters elementary he must be able to acquire the vocabulary necessary for his age. However, unlike phonics and other literacy skills, building basic vocabulary requires continuing support and there must be ongoing effort to introduce and explain new vocabulary (Hassan, 2012). Although the usual approach of presenting students with list of words to be mastered has been proven effective, research tells us that a great deal of vocabulary acquisition can take place through reading (Cho &n Choi, 2008; Elley, 1989, 1991; Vivas, 1996; Mason & Krashen, 2004; Krashen, 2004; Wang & Lee, 2007). As early as infants, children are being exposed to printed storybooks where they encounter new words to enhance their vocabulary. Research shows that reading to babies and toddlers yields promising results. Children who were exposed to story reading at an early age demonstrate greater language comprehension and larger vocabularies (Jacobson, 2006). Early childhood educators are now looking at other possibilities as to how story reading can become more effective as well as more interesting to young children to support vocabulary acquisition even further. One of these possibilities is the using technology as a tool for story reading and, consequently, for vocabulary acquisition. Technologies such as smart phones, tablets,...

Words: 2934 - Pages: 12

Premium Essay

Anti-Bias Language Analysis

...Implementing an Anti-Bias Curriculum in Early Childhood Classrooms and Alike and Different: Exploring Our Humanity With Young Children. It was good to see that many resources but at the same time I felt uncomfortable as children as young as three years old (sometimes earlier) can apparently show bias, prejudice and discriminatory behaviour and attitudes. Now, answering the question let me describe a few effective strategies to challenge discriminatory comments from children. However, before I start I should say that when a child makes those comments towards another child, toward educator or towards a personage...

Words: 489 - Pages: 2

Premium Essay

Early Childhood Brain Development

...much knowledge and personality of a person that one could say your brain is you. Research over the past several years has given us insight into the practices that oversee early brain development and how those procedures relate to behavior. “Brain development begins a few weeks after conception and is thought to be complete by early adulthood” (Twardosz, 2012). In postpartum development the environment plays a vital role in nurturing development, and the connections between genetics and experiences explain most developmental outcomes (Twardosz, 2012). The development of social brain functions in infancy is characterized by the following key principles: (a) self-relevance, (b) joint engagement, (c) predictability, (d) categorization, (e) discrimination, and (f) integration (Grossmann, 2015). The brain’s innate plasticity, or ability to establish and modify patterns of thinking and behavior, is most malleable in the first several years of life, though neuroplasticity extends for years after (Twardosz, 2012). Learning takes place throughout life, yet the brain is most sensitive to experiences early on, both positive and negative (Twardosz, 2012). This means that some of the most crucial parts of brain development is dependent on the experiences that are happening daily in your...

Words: 1184 - Pages: 5

Free Essay

Improving Parental Involvement

...Improving Parental Involvement in Early Childhood Education Through the Use of Technology A thesis submitted by Marilyn McNair to Full Sail University in partial fulfillment of the requirement for the degree of MASTER OF SCIENCE in Education Technology and Media Design December 23, 2008 Abstract This research paper was designed to give insight into the importance of parental involvement in early childhood education, and why there is a need to increase parental involvement. It examines the elements of parental involvement, and its effects on achievement and social development in children. It reviews traditional methods of parental involvement, and considers the need for change. It also highlights how technology can be implemented to increase parental participation, and student achievement and social development. Table of Contents Abstract 2 Improving Parental Involvement in Early Childhood Education 4 Educational Significance 10 Definition of Terms 11 Literature Review 12 Current/Past Solutions to the Problem in Practice 15 Proposed Solutions to the Problem 16 Integration of Proposed Solutions with Current/Past Solutions 17 Conclusion 18 Suggestions for Further Research 19 References 20 Improving Parental Involvement in Early Childhood Education Through the Use of Technology A growing number...

Words: 4359 - Pages: 18

Free Essay

Goal V

...Competency Goal V Sheniene Moore Rasmussen College Author Note This assignment is being submitted on April 14, 2013, for Elizabeth Darkhabani’s EC120/EEC1734 Section 01 Health Safety and Nutrition Spring 2013. Ensuring a well-run, purposeful program responsive to participant’s needs As an early childhood educator I must have knowledge and understanding of children and their process of development and growth, training in the policies and guidelines of the childcare facility, skills to implement developmentally appropriate practices, age appropriate curriculum and effective communication skills to build and maintain relationships with the families in order to ensure a well-run, purposeful high-quality program responsive to participant’s needs. High quality standards in early education for children are met with implementing these six major goals. The first goal is to maximize the health status of the child. I would implement this goal by keeping the environment and the toys that the children use clean and sanitized daily. I would also discuss with parents care routines such as brushing and flossing and suitable times for bed to maintain the well-being of their child at home. The second goal is minimizing risks. Posting emergency procedures and practicing them periodically is what I would do to minimize risks of panics in an actual emergency. The third goal is using education as a tool. I would access community resources such as dentists and doctors to come and speak...

Words: 525 - Pages: 3