POWERFUL INTERACTIONS BEGIN WITH YOU

Working Theories
Powerful Interactions
Intentional Teaching

WORKING THEORIES

INTERACTION

• What are interactions?
• How do these affect children?
• How do they promote learning?
• Intentional - Few and far in-between.

How do we
Turn everyday interactions
Into Powerful Interactions?

POWERFUL INTERACTIONS

• What are Powerful Interactions?
• How to make them happen?
• Why are they so important?

THREE STEPS

• Step one - BE PRESENT
• Step two - CONNECT
• Step three - EXTEND LEARNING

STEP ONE - BE PRESENT
Mental static - what is you MS?
Take a moment to think and prepare your
"Just right" chemistry.
"How you are with children is just as important as what you do"

MINDFULNESS

Being mindful - Leaving behind adult agenda and bias enables us to be mindful and tuned into the child. (Haugen)

BEGING FULLY PRESENT

EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE

COMPLETE A "ME CHECK"

• Temprement
• Preferences and interests
• Cultures and language
• Past interactions
• Adjust to the child

A child's hand in yours — what tenderness it arouses, what power it conjures. You are instantly the very touchstone of power and wisdom.
-Marjorie Holmes

The relationship is all

STEP TWO

CONNECT

CONNECT

• Relationships and Learning
• Individualise your connections
• Respecting a Rejection

RELATIONSHIPS MATTER

INDIVIDUALISE YOU CONNECTION

CONNECT

• Use what you know about the child
• Do a "me check" and adjust
• Observe the child - open minded
• Adjust your pace
• Approach in a way that is individual to that child

INVITE A CONNECTION

• Be alert to how the child responds
• Shift as they grow and change
• The child will let you know
• Look for clues - these may change
• Aim to maintain connection throughout the interaction

SEVEN STRATEGIES FOR CONNECTING

• Slow down stay in the moment
• Keep learning about the child
• Listen to children
• Personalise your interactions

STRATEGIES CONT.

• Show respect
• Guide children's behaviour
• Keep trust growing

Remember
As trust develops between you and the children your relationships grow stronger
As they work, play, and learn, children will be more likely to deeply engage with you and one another.

STEP THREE

The essence of a Powerful Interaction is a combination of intentionally building a relationship and extending on a child's learning.

Examples
Let's look at how you use relationships with children
as a foundation for
EXTENDING each child's
Learning.

WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO EXTEND LEARNING?
- a teachable moment
- skilful and deliberate teaching
- a window into the child's experience and thinking

"The greatest opportunity for learning lies in moments of teacher-child interaction, when the teacher crafts learning experiences that stretch just beyond their current skill level."
(Munro 2008. P.47)

TEACHABLE MOMENT

In this rich moment, you stay present, intentionally make a sensitive responsive decision about the child's learning needs.

EXTENDING LEARNING

• What the right content te be teaching in this moment?
• Whats the next step in his child's learning?
• How do I make learning meaningful for this child?

What's the right content to teach in this moment?
Step one: Be present - observe what is interesting and significant about what the child is doing in the moment.

Step two: ascertain what the child needs from you in order to learn in this moment.
Is he or she
💠talking? - introduce new vocabulary.
💠examining cause and effect? - ask why do you think that happened?
💠counting or measuring? - focus the interaction on math content.
💠sounding out a word? - sound out letters.

What's the next step in this child's learning?
💠what does the child already know?
💠what can she do already?
💠keep the child engaged
💠keep the child feeling safe and secure
💠don't push the learning to hard or too far
💠keep the child interested and curious
You want the child to be successful and motivated to go further the next time

How do I make learning meaningful for this child?
💠Learning is meaningful when it relates to their prior learning and to their interests.

MAKE LEARNING MEANINGFUL BY:

• considering what you already know about the child
• consider her knowledge, skills, interests, and life experiences
• pay attention to whats engaging her at the moment
• observe patiently.

Look at a few examples of how teachers make decisions about extending learning in a
Powerful Interaction.
Consider how the teachers decision resulted in a powerful interaction.

10 STRATEGIES FOR EXTENDING LEARNING

• Children as learners
• Respond to curiosity
• Use mirror talk
• Have conversations
• Inspire imaginative play

STRATEGIES CONT.

• Solve problems together
• Use rich vocabularly
• Laugh with children
• Asl quesions
• Link the new to familiar

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YOUR JOURNEY INTO POWERFUL INTERACTIONS

• How can I extend children's learning?
• What changes do I see in my teaching?
• What changes do I see in my children?
• What do I want to try next?
• What's changed in my understanding?

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