Preschool
What We Saw: Children were having
a free choice time. One child, who was especially fond
of the computer, was given some new rules to follow. He
was told to watch the clock, and when the big hand was
on the six, it was time for him to let someone else have
some computer time. The child kept watching the clock
while playing at the computer. When it was at six, the
teacher said, "Oh, look at the clock," He looked, and
said, "Okay, now it is someone else's turn." The same
rule was applied to all of the children in the classroom.
The first child turned into the "clock watcher" for all
of the children in the room. He reminded all of the others
when their turn was up, and indicated who would have another
turn.
What It Means: Often when computers
are introduced into a classroom, children have difficulty
taking turns using them. This teacher combined three elements
into a successful strategy for turn-taking:
(1) She set clear rules ahead of time and reminded the
children, so they knew what to expect. (2) She used a
clock (an egg timer or hour glass works too), which the
children can see and watch by themselves, so they accept
the system as fair. (3) She also involved the children
in monitoring each other's time. At first, the teacher
must enforce the turn-taking, but fairly quickly the children
begin to self-regulate themselves. Self-regulation
is an important goal of every early childhood classroom.
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Promising Practices
