Elizabeth Dunlap

CHD 265 – Written Competency #4

3/20/20

What approaches/strategies do you think are most effective

for connecting with children in the classroom? 

When I work in a classroom I like to connect with each child in my care. Since I work with

children who are between the ages of 2 ½ and 3 years old I want to make sure I’m using age

appropriate strategies. Positive interactions are a strategy I will always use when working with

kids, using developmentally appropriate practices, and having differentiated instruction

amongst the class.

Positive interactions are extremely important to me when I’m working with any child. In my

mind children are these miniature, human beings who are full of life and happiness. I would

never want to bring down that happiness, but being around kids in general changes my whole

demeanor no matter mood I’m in. When interacting with kids, I like to get down on their level

and talk to them. In my opinion that’s the best way to do it, you can see their eyes and they can

see yours. It’s a strategy I think all teachers should use when interacting with their students.

Because I work with preschoolers, they like to talk to me about all kinds of things; their toys,

their families, their drawings, the clothes they’re wearing, etc. One of my favorite activities to

do with my kids is to sit down on the carpet with them sitting around me while I read a book. I

ask them questions about what’s going in the book and they tell me what they think.

Sometimes it’s related to the book, sometimes it’s a silly answer but these answers help me to

connect with them.

Using developmentally appropriate practices is important when creating a curriculum. I want to

have the right mix of support, challenge, and stimulation. All these are recommended by

NAEYC. Making sure your expectations are appropriate is important too, it’s important that I

know and recognize how old my kids are and what they’re capable of doing, because my kids

are preschoolers, I can ask them to count to 10 and most of them can do it. Asking them to

count to 100 is a little too much to ask for a three-year-old. As a teacher, I’m able to stage

activities and observe what the kids will do in certain circumstances. My kids love to with the

colored wooden blocks and use them as a phone. They’ll hold them up to their ear and talk to

into them. As a teacher, I can tell that these kids observe us teachers, and their families use a

phone, so they mimic us in that sense. In a way, we have modeled that behavior for them.

Using differentiated instruction amongst my students is important because not every student

I’m going to have is going to completely understand the instructions given to them right off the

bat. It’s important to be able to give instructions in a few different ways so that all the students

can understand, my favorite strategy is modeling the behavior or activity. I’ll have the materials

in front of me and I’ll be able to visually show the class how to perform the task. And once I’ve

done it once for them, I’ll ask one child to demonstrate it again. This strategy shows the

students how a teacher would do the activity and how one of their friends would do it.

Connecting with children is important to me, when I’m working with them. I love being able to

get to know each of their personalities which helps me be able to teach them different things
each day. Using positive interactions, developmentally appropriate practices, and differentiated

instructions are three strategies that I like to use on a daily basis when I’m working with my

class of three-year-old children.