In February 2022, the Ministry of Education issued the "Guidelines for the Quality Evaluation of Kindergarten Nursery Education", which proposes in the key indicator "teacher-child interaction" that "attention should be paid to children's expression and representation of the games, reading picture books, observation and other activities they have experienced through drawing and telling, and teachers can listen one-on-one and truly record children's thoughts and experiences". This coincides with the concept of "people-oriented education" advocated by the kindergarten of Hunan University.
In the process of educational practice, "listening to children" should be normalized throughout all aspects of daily life and games, and children should be accepted to present their views and experiences in a variety of creative ways, not limited to oral expression. Based on the perspective of children, we practice the concept of "people-oriented education", focusing on observation, listening, responding and supporting, promoting the comprehensive and diversified development of children and improving the professional quality of teachers.
Clarity of ideas
Normalize listening
The word "listening" stands for listening attentively, attentively, attentively, and with respect for others. Today, we are moving from "listening to children" to "listening to children", which is the embodiment of child-centeredness. We believe that "listening" is not only about listening to the other person's words with our ears, but also about feeling the information beyond the words. The fundamental purpose of listening is to listen to and echo life, and it is necessary to slow down and listen to children's voices, understand their ideas, discover their findings, and give adequate support. "One-to-one listening" pays more attention to each child, and is committed to achieving a more comprehensive, accurate and profound understanding of each child's meaningful world.
First, create an atmosphere where every child can speak up. Create an atmosphere of respect, understanding, fraternity, and democracy, and create an environment where you like to speak, dare to speak, and want to speak. In listening, teachers should squat down, look at children at a level level, lower their status, respect children's subjective status, give up dialogue control, follow the laws of children's development, and let children express themselves freely.
Second, we need to make listening a reality. In the early practice of "one-on-one listening", teachers tend to narrow it and think that it can only be done after the game. In fact, it is not the case, every day is a lesson, and every day is a day of listening. Children come to the kindergarten to share interesting family stories, new discoveries about the classroom environment, and expressions of dissatisfaction with their peers. Listening is not limited to games, but exists in every aspect of the day.
Third, build mechanisms to turn listening into participation. Process management is a means of normalization in our kindergarten, which is committed to allowing teachers to clarify their responsibilities in education and teaching, refine daily teaching, achieve efficient and high-quality teaching, and reduce children's passive waiting time. For "one-to-one listening", the class teacher formulates a "one-to-one listening" process of "one class and one policy" according to the age characteristics of the children and their own conditions, so as to ensure that each child is given a hug, a smile, and a "one-to-one listening" every day, and at the same time fully reflects the children's autonomy. In addition, in the daily activities of the kindergarten, teachers actively involve children in the decision-making of the kindergarten, such as the change of the environment, the replacement of materials, the choice of meals, etc., and carry out round table meetings to listen to children's ideas, fully realize children's independent participation rights, and realize the normalization of listening.
Diverse characterization
Make sure the listening is quality
Children have a hundred languages, a hundred hands, a hundred ideas, a hundred ways of thinking, playing, and speaking. The core element of "one-to-one listening" is that children represent what they are experiencing in their own way. Teachers need to "listen" to record and understand children's thoughts. We respect the way children choose their own representations in the way they like, and the same is true for teachers. Faced with the dilemma of "too many children, few teachers, and tight time", how to carry out "one-to-one listening" to ensure the frequency and quality of "listening"?
First, diversify representations to achieve stereotyped listening. Teachers should encourage children to use pictures, symbols, language and other ways to represent their game content, daily life, exploration and discovery. For example, children can draw their own play, express their daily discoveries in words, and film their own play. Teachers can use electronic device functions such as ** and voice to record children's language without interrupting, omitting, or adding, so as to ensure that every listening is not missed.
Second, multi-form sharing and establishing a chain of peer experience. "A couple.
One, one pair of groups, one pair of the whole" model, to achieve the organic integration of collective sharing and listening, group sharing and listening, individual sharing and listening. For example, some classes share after playing a game when weekly.
1. Week. 3. Painting representation and expression will be carried out on Friday, and group experience sharing will be carried out on Tuesday and Thursday, so that the form of "listening" will be more diverse. Through communication and interaction with teachers and peers, children activate existing knowledge and experience, so that information collides and integrates with each other, and constructs new understanding and cognition. Teachers' listening also gives children the opportunity to express themselves, unleash their great potential in a positive atmosphere, and inspire them to think and explore more boldly.
Third, information recording to create a listening community. "One-to-one listening", the first "one" is the role of teacher, childcare worker, administrator, parent, etc., and the back "one" is the person being listened to, that is, the child. Teachers skillfully use information technology and digital programs to upload children's voices, pictures, and other content, forming a digital intelligence empowerment, accurate recording, and freezing the children's expression process, so that all listeners or people who want to understand children's games can see and hear. With the increase of information recorded by children, the traces of children's growth can also be revealed, which is conducive to parents intuitively feeling the growth and development of children, and at the same time participating in the team of "listening to children", forming a listening community, and establishing a scientific modern view of children.
Support interpretation
Encourage deeper listening
Listen to the child with the aim of "reading" the child. "Listening" is a way of interpersonal interaction, good communication and interaction is the key to high-quality early childhood education, kindergarten teachers should have the professional ability to listen and support children. As required by the Professional Standards for Kindergarten Teachers (Trial), teachers should be good listeners, amiable and communicate effectively with young children. "One-on-one listening" requires teachers to capture children's wisdom, explore children's philosophy, and be able to respond and give feedback appropriately, so as to do a good job of "seeing the essence through phenomena".
First, the "three styles" are advanced to ensure the effectiveness of listening. There are many problems in the practice of "one-to-one listening": only listening and not thinking, only remembering and not thinking, recording too much and analyzing less......After collecting teachers' real problems, we carry out teaching and research to solve problems, so that teachers' "one-to-one listening" ability can show a stepwise growth. From "self-directed listening", that is, teachers use their pens to listen attentively to children, to "focused listening", that is, teachers think about the value points shared by children, and then to "holographic listening", that is, teachers can hear all aspects of information conveyed by children, discover children's thoughts and thinking, and can also respond in time to support children's learning Xi and development, and slowly stimulate and release their inner potential.
Second, the "Soviet-style" dialogue captures the key to the activity. The key to "listening" lies in the interaction between teachers and children. Teachers should master the skills of dialogue, and let children no longer be limited to a superficial, single, and fixed understanding of problems through questioning, rhetorical questions, and counter-examples. In "one-on-one listening", the teacher listens consciously, identifies problems, and uses gentle "Socratic" dialogue to find the possibility of further related activities from the children's problems. For example, in the process of "shipbuilding", children explore and perceive the phenomenon of "ups and downs", so they boldly associate, guess and reason about life experience: why can a boat float on the water?Teachers and children experience continuous questioning, thinking, summarizing, and verifying, and the children conclude that the ups and downs of an object are not only related to its weight, but also to its material, air and water inside. The toddler gradually promoted the process of play and began a new round of exploration. Through dialogue, teachers capture activity problems and help children take the initiative to promote activities and realize philosophical thinking.
Third, the "four-step" rule provides a path of support. The "four steps" are acceptance, understanding, retrospection, and sharing. Listen to the children's themes in acceptance;Discover children's thoughts and ideas in understanding;Jointly refine the generated experience in the backtrack;Realize children's in-depth learning Xi through sharing. The "four-step" rule is a progressive, spiraling process. Teachers run through the main line of "listening", expand and improve the curriculum around the "four-step" rule, promote children's development, promote their own professional growth, and promote the realization of the main value. For example, the game of "Tank Car Drive" originated from an independent reading, from a human-powered two-person car to a four-wheeled tank, and then to an upgraded version of the tank, children use their bodies as materials, constantly adjust and increase the game materials, and encounter various problems in the process of "doing-thinking-doing". Teachers continue to stimulate their enthusiasm and achieve in-depth learning and Xi and diversified development in free and autonomous games.
In the process of listening and communicating, children give us the wisdom of life and education, and teachers' views on education and children are also quietly changing, which is also the meaning of listening. Mr. Tao Xingzhi once said that we must become children before we can be worthy of being children's husbands. Let's squat down, listen attentively, accompany patiently, and grow together with young children.
The author's affiliation is kindergarten of Hunan University).
China Education Daily, December 3, 2023, page 2
Author: Hu Jinjing, Zhang Jing.