Early childhood educators spend hours of their lives reviewing assessment data, gathering information about children, and planning curriculum activities to effectively engage the children in their care. This is definitely time well spent and of great value to children and families.
Teacher preparation programs and professional development agencies devote hours of training on curriculum planning to ensure providers give children a solid foundation of high-quality care. There are, however, extremely valuable learning experiences that all of the curriculum planning in the world can’t capture. These learning experiences are known as teachable moments.
Teachable moments are those spontaneous, often fleeting, moments during the day where valuable lessons can be taught. In some cases, children learn lessons from these moments on their own. In other cases, learning is dependent upon adults in the environment recognizing and capitalizing on the learning opportunity.
Consider these examples:
- A child touches a hot stove – Most likely, the lesson is learned without the need for adult intervention.
- A child asks why a man in a store is using a wheelchair – In this case, further conversation with an adult can promote a better understanding of the needs of individuals who have disabilities.
In this month’s newsletter, we will explore how teachers can begin to take advantage of these common and invaluable learning experiences.
For the article Capitalizing on Teachable Moments with Children, CLICK HERE
For the article Examples of Teachable Moments, CLICK HERE
For the article Teachable Moments with Families, CLICK HERE
For the article Teachable Moments with Coworkers, CLICK HERE
