Powerful Interaction Observation

Use the following format to identify the setting:

Date: 10-17-19
School: Kids First! Daycare
Teacher: Ms. Sunshine
Age of Child: 4
Time: 2:30 pm- 2:50 pm
Setting:
Interaction occurred close to the sensory area and the reading area in the classroom.
The girl being observed is four years old.
3 adults in the classroom, 14 children
The transition from nap to going to the restroom was not organized.
Interaction:
S: Let's play.
T: No, I already told you, we're not playing right now. How did you get the toys?
S: I want to play.
T: Go get a book and go to the carpet. Did you already go pee?
S: (Started to cry)
T: Give me that (Took the toys away) Go to the carpet. Calm down.
S: (Still crying, went to the carpet)
PI Characteristics:
In my observation, the type of behavior was unwelcoming, rude, and frustrated. The negative
interaction was similar to an example from the book. “When 2-year-old Fiona continually hears
from her teachers, ‘Don’t run,’ ‘No touching,’ and ‘Shhh,’ she gets the message that her
excitement, curiosity, and language are not welcome.”(page 3) I noticed that the teacher did this
with the girl, she immediately stopped her from playing. She didn’t give the girl the chance to
tell her anything. She took the toys from her and told her to stop crying, and ordered her to go sit
down.
Improvement:
Teachers could have explained to the children why they prefer them to go to the bathroom right
after waking up.Instead of shutting them down with comments such as “give me that, go over
there, be quiet” calmly tell them what’s the next activity. The teacher looked overwhelmed and
did not handle the classroom well. If she felt stressed, the crying children felt worse. Her
interactions with the children were just brief, it was mostly the teacher walking around making
sure each child had their shoes on, and making sure the classroom was clean. I noticed that a
child was still on the toilet and the teacher kept pressuring him to hurry. The child must have felt
uncertain if he finished using the bathroom, which later may cause an accident.