A Matter of Trust: Connecting Teachers and Learners in the Early Childhood Classroom (Early Childhood Education Series (Teachers College Press).)

Increasingly, teachers report that the young children who enter their classrooms are difficult to manage. This perception is supported by alarming statistics on the number of children growing up in difficult circumstances. In this volume, the authors draw on their expericences as a developmental psychologist and as a teacher educator to provide ways for teachers to creat postitive child-teacher relationships and classroom climates. The Authors Draw On Their Experiences As A Developmental Psychologist And As A Teacher Educator To Provide Ways For Teachers To Create Positive Child-teacher Relationships And Classroom Climates. This Forward-looking Volume Applies Attachment Theory To Child-teacher Relationships ... Explores Strategies That Teachers Can Use To Foster Positive Student Behavior ... Provides Narrative Examples From Early Childhood Classrooms Serving Primarily Low-income Children Of Color ... And Uses Stories From Exemplary Classrooms As Well As Those In Which Teachers Are Struggling With Relationships. Part I. Understanding Attachment Organizations And Their Role In The Classroom -- Child-teacher Attachment Relationships -- Child-teacher Relationships And Harmonious Interactions -- Using Child-teacher Relationships To Organize Classroom Learning And Climate -- Part Ii. Teacher Behaviors And Classroom Organizations That Foster Trusting Child-teacher Relationships -- Teachers And Children's Prior Relationship History: What Can Change? -- Teacher Behaviors That Foster Positive Child-teacher Relationships -- Classroom Organizations That Foster Positive Child-teacher Relationships -- Part Iii. The Teacher, The Child, And The Whole Classroom Of Children: Creation And Preservation Of The Community -- Teacher Behaviors And Safe Classroom Climates -- The Contribution Of Peer Relations -- Classrooms As Communities. Carollee Howes, Sharon Ritchie ; Foreword By Barbara T. Bowman. Includes Bibliographical References (p. 149-159) And Index. Noting that childrens relationships with caregivers and teachers are emotionally significant and affect how children develop and what they learn, this book provides ways for early childhood teachers to create positive child-teacher relationships and classroom climates. Based on three narrative studies involving extensive observations in urban classrooms where teachers are working with children from difficult life circumstances, the book discusses child-teacher attachment relationships and their role in the classroom, teacher behaviors and classroom organizations that foster trusting child-teacher relationships, and the creation and preservation of the classroom community. The chapters are: (1) Child-Teacher Attachment Relationships; (2) Child-Teacher Relationships and Harmonious Interactions; (3) Using Child-Teacher Relationships To Organize Classroom Learning and Climate; (4) Teachers and Childrens Prior Relationship History: What Can Change? (5) Teacher Behaviors that Foster Positive Child-Teacher Relationships; (6) Classroom Organizations that Foster Positive Child-Teacher Relationships; (7) Teacher Behaviors and Safe Classroom Climates; (8) The Contribution of Peer Relations; and(9) Classrooms as Communities. (Contains 173 references.) (KB) Increasingly, teachers report that the young children who enter their classrooms are difficult to manage. This perception is supported by alarming statistics on the number of children growing up in difficult life circumstances. In this volume, the authors draw on their experiences as a developmental psychologist and as a teacher educator to provide ways for teachers to create positive child-teacher relationships and classroom climates. This forward-looking