https://www.youtube.com/@empressofeverythingmessages

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What do you notice?

….about Dee’s pace of speech 

…..about music for transitions

….about manipulatives (materials to handle)

…..about games 

…..about how much teaching and learning can happen in a morning circle

….about a single classroom with mixed ages 

….about the impact of well-understood classroom routines

…..about individual attention

….about how children can talk about hard things and listen well to each other

….about how people treat each other

What do you wonder?

How can a teacher with a larger class size than 12 offer high quality individual attention?

What can a parent or grandparent do at home that draws from the lessons of this school day?

What can a family do to build ownership of a culture of care as demonstrated in this classroom?

What inspired you? 

What will you do differently tomorrow with the children in your life?

I am excited to find a book, published by the American Psychological Association in 1999, as part of the School Psychology Book Series, called Enhancing Relationships Between Children and Teachers, by Robert C. Pianta. I wish I had seen it when I started out my school psychology career that very same year, hoping to have a impact on enhancing relationships between children and teachers!

Dr. Pianta’s interest in the subject began when he was a 6th grade special education teacher before going on to graduate study. He taught the same group of boys for his 3 years of teaching, and noticed important effects on children, and himself of the relationship building available due to the greater than usual amount of time with the children afforded by that school design including:

-reduced problems in classroom management

-increased motivation for difficult academic tasks, and academic performance, among children with labels of learning disability and emotional disturbance

-the value to him of support and consultation on relationships that were not working well.

In this practical book, Dr. Pianta reviews theories of social development and interpersonal relationships, general systems theory and ecological perspectives.

I found my way into the book by reading the clinical vignettes.