Building Relationships and Connections with Juniper room ❤️
First day of Practicum at Cariboo and I was feeling anxious. I’ll be honest, I was a little nervous to be in the Juniper room because my peers told me it was an (extra) outdoor program meaning they spend more time outdoors compared to other programs. That sounded completely out of my comfort zone because where I come from, it’s hot all year round and our fall temperatures here in Canada are our winter temperatures back in Zimbabwe with no snow and no ice but, I realized it’s okay to be uncomfortable. My love for ECE, children and learning have allowed me to be open to new experiences and to be honest, it’s going really well. In fact, I’m learning way more than I could have ever imagined ( because I have the right gear and I’m warm so the weather is not my concern) and also because the children and my mentors are awesome! Now, let’s dive into my experiences.
I was obviously not sure of how to be helpful and how to engage myself with the children. BC ELF highlights the importance of relationships with the children. I knew how important it was for me to make these connections. How? Active listening. Thinking with the pedagogy of listening, “listening as an active verb that involves interpretation, giving meaning to the message and value to those who offer it?” (BC ELF,2019,p48), I decided to take action and the results are as follows.
Feedback from Natasha: she said she was happy to see me playing and engaging myself with the children.