Workshop Details
This workshop is designed for preschool teachers and instructional leaders. It is ideal for participants who are teaching or working in centers/schools (i.e., this is best suited for classroom-based early childhood environments). The content of this workshop is less applicable to the needs of young children from special populations.
Participants will be guided through a series of teaching practices that have been linked with more engaging and emotionally supportive teacher-child interactions. Participants will learn more about high quality classroom environments that are marked with positive climates, sensitivity and flexibility. The workshop will focus on specific teacher behaviors related to emotionally supportive classrooms, and participants will have opportunities to view and analyze a variety of video examples and engage in activities applicable to these concepts.
Background
Through more than a decade of scientific research in educational settings, the University of Virginia’s Center for Advanced Study of Teaching and Learning (CASTL) has developed a framework for describing the emotionally supportive interactions that take place on a daily basis between preschool teachers and children. Research has identified the kinds of interactions that are critical for children’s social-emotional development and academic achievement. These emotionally supportive interactions may include:
- Positive Climate
- Teacher Sensitivity
- Regard for Student Perspectives
Research has shown that when children experience preschool classrooms that are positive, sensitive and allow for choice, they are more likely to explore their environment and take risks. In turn, children show more social and cooperative behaviors when in emotionally supportive classrooms.
Presenters
Leslie M. Booren is a researcher and the Outreach Manager for the Center for Advanced Study of Teaching and Learning at UVA. She is an author of the Individualized Classroom Assessment Scoring System (inCLASS), an observational tool that assesses children's school readiness behaviors, and is also a Pre-K CLASS and inCLASS trainer and consultant.
Bridget E. Hatfield is an Institute for Education Science Postdoctoral Fellow at the Center of Advanced Study of Teaching and Learning at the University of Virginia. She has expertise in classroom quality, teacher-child relationship, and the emotional development of young children, and was a toddler teacher for two years. She is a Pre-K and Toddler CLASS trainer and consultant.
