Observing Communication

This week I observed an interaction between a classroom teacher, a student, and a special education teacher.  I have several students in my classroom who see different teachers all throughout the day.  On this particular day, I noticed one of my students leaving a classroom very upset.  He walked out of the room and threw his notebooks down and slouched against the wall.  Knowing this child, I thought to myself something small was said to him and he took it out of context and got upset.  Before I was able to intervene, the special education teacher was walking up to him to discuss the situation.  This teacher walked up to him and whispered to him to pick up his things and walk quietly into our classroom.  During their walk, I observed the special education teacher asking questions about why this student was upset.  She told the student that she was not getting an attitude with him and he did not need to have one with her.  Once the student was completely inside the classroom, she allowed the student to sit at his desk while she sat across from him.  She gave him close to five minutes to describe the situation and his emotions.  She never once rushed him or made him speed up their talk.  She aided the conversation by asking questions such as “tell me about your experience during this situation” and “how do you think the classroom teacher felt by your actions and the other students’ actions?”  The special education teacher was using the strategy of open-ended questions to aid the students’ thoughts and words as Rainer Dangei and Durden (2010) suggest.

During this conversation, the special education teacher never once told the student to “hurry up; we have somewhere we need to be.”  She allowed the student to explain all of his emotions and talk out his frustration.  She also had this talk where other students were not being disturbed or entertained by the discussion (my students this year are VERY noisy and love to know what is going on at all times).  By the end of their discussion, the student was able to calmly gather his materials and walk quietly out of the room with the teacher.  The child left my room knowing that this teacher cared enough about him to allow him to release his frustration especially when she was not involved and she didn’t witness the situation.

This incident allowed me the opportunity to reflect on my own communication strengths and weaknesses.  After this observation, I ask myself what I would have done if the special education teacher did not step in.  Would I allow this student to express his thoughts and emotions as much as the teacher did or would I have rushed him through telling him we need to move on?  I am very thankful to work with this caring teacher everyday and follow by her wonderful examples.

 

Rainer Dangei, J., & Durden, T. R. (2010). The nature of teacher talk during small group activities. YC: Young Children, 65(1), 74-81. Retrieved from the Walden Library using the Education Research Complete database. http://ezp.waldenulibrary.org/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ehh&AN=47964033&site=ehost-live&scope=site