Critical Reflection 1: Child Interaction, Teaching, and Learning

This critical reflection analyzes a specific interaction between an educator and a 2-5 year old child named A during a flower shop play session in a sandpit. The educator describes the interaction, detailing how they supported the child's play through verbal and non-verbal communication, including naming flowers, colors, and using role-play. The reflection explores the intentional teaching that occurred, such as fostering language processing and a sense of identity. The educator learned about the child's focus, attentiveness, and intrapersonal nature, as well as their own communication strengths and areas for improvement. The child achieved EYLF outcomes related to identity and effective communication. The reflection also outlines the EYLF principles supported, including belonging, being, becoming, and secure, respectful relationships. The educator plans to extend the play session and incorporate social exercises to develop the child's interpersonal skills and improve their own teaching practices by identifying a child's learning style. The reflection concludes with a suggestion for celebrating cultural events, customs, beliefs, and languages within the service, emphasizing the importance of cultural competency and creating a safe and inclusive learning environment.

Date: 14/8 Critical Reflection 1
A specific interaction that you had with a child , his name is A, (2-5 years old who playing flower
shop in the sandpit ).
What Happened?
 Be descriptive, be
specific
 How did you support
the child/ren’s play?
 What intentional
teaching occurred?
So What?
 What did you learn about
the child?
 What did you learn about
yourself?
 What EYLF Outcomes did
the Child/ren achieve?
HOW?
 What EYLF
Principles/practices did you
support? HOW?
Now What?
 Where is this learning
going to lead you and
the children in the
future?
 How can you
implement the
lesson learned/
insights
gained?
 Plan for future educator
practices /experiences
At first when I started to converse with
the child whose name is A, as an
educator, I focussed on the child’s sense
of identity and esteem, in order to
facilitate the communication. As the
child played with the flowers which
were of different colours and texture,
there was certain flowers which the child
was not being able to reach. At first
when I sat beside the pit, I helped the
child with the flowers and then as the
child smiled, I smiled back and initiated
a non-verbal communication with the
child. I facilitated the process of child’s
learning by playing with the child,
calling out the flower names, the name
of the colours (most of which he knew
already) and by addressing the child’s
name frequently. I maintained a constant
eye contact with the child who
responded to my facial expressions and
verbally spoken words by trying to
imitate and by trying to imitate what I
said. In the middle, I acted as a client
who wants to buy flower from the shop
to which he gave me the exact ones that I
have asked for (by name).
I supported the child’s play related
learning by the intermittent and
simultaneous usage of verbal and non-
verbal communication technique.
Naming the flowers and naming the
colours would help the child identify a
flower either by name or colour and
hearing what I have been saying would
help child A’s language processing. As
children are very respondent to colours
and as bright colours impact a child’s
enthusiasm actively, I used the
opportunity to support the child with
playing and learning at the same time.
Proximity, touch, verbal tone modulation
for cuing and funny facial expressions
were the communication tools I
incorporated in my communication with
the child playing flower shop in sand pit,
in order to facilitate the child’s play.
open questioning, shared thinking
modelling and demonstrating are the
teaching strategies used and a collective
I learned that the child is very focussed and
attentive with the kind of play, he was
engrossed it. The child repeat the name of the
flowers as soon as I said it and some which he
already knew, he could name it independently
without my help. The child is very
intrapersonal as I engaged very less with other
children playing with their sand pits in the
same area and engaged in his flower shop,
deeply. But the child was friendly to me,
which shows that he has sense of social
identity and knows how to respond to elders
and to people, he selects. The child was non-
verbally proactive.
I learned that I do communicate with 2-5 year
old children better than new born or lesser
aged infants. I understood that I need to uses
more kinaesthetic techniques to facilitate a
child’s learning rather than just tactile, verbal
and visual methods.
The child achieved –
1. A strong sense of identity - by
responding to his name and to his
playacting ‘florist’ role.
5. Effective communication – by
responding to my questions verbally and
non-verbally.
The EYLF principles that I followed were :-
1. Belonging, being and becoming –
by partnering with the child.
2. Secure, respectful and reciprocal
relationships – by developing
rapport with the child.
I, as an educator can extend the play
session for child A and increase the
complexity of the sand pit next time in
order to facilitate further child learning
about ecological and social diversity.
As he is very intrapersonal, in the future,
I have planned to organise a social
exercise where he is to take part in a
cooperative socio dynamic play and this
future planned activity will better his
interpersonal skills.
In the future I want to be more proactive
in identifying a child’s learning style so
that I can improvise myself, actively.

imagination, language processing, a
sense of diversity was developed as a
result of this intentional teaching.
Suggest one (1) other opportunity and briefly explain how this would represent and celebrate the
events, customs, beliefs and languages that are relevant to children and families attending the
service.
Being cultural competent as an educator and being able to teach the children in culturally safe way,
is critical to my career. This teaching and interaction experiences with the children in their early life
of education and worldly cognition – is certainly a great opportunity for me to learn about the
children’s backgrounds, choices, social and psychological implications that make each child, special
as an individual. Developing safe and secure play and learning environments for these children from
culturally diverse background requires devising of socio-culturally safe facility and learning
environment where the self-esteem, belonging needs, social dignity needs of the children and their
family are fulfilled in the most appropriate of manners. I would focus on my social and cultural
competency skills further to address the language, dialects, beliefs and customs of each and every
family who has trusted me to teach their child. Language competence is the best way to handle
cultural safety in the right way.