Tuesday, October 26, 2010

Establishing and Maintaining Relationships with Staff

Stop:
In the centre I work at, the staff have always been welcoming and kind towards me. My very first day was a blast! My supervisor introduced me to a woman that I would be working with and all the children introduced themselves to me. After a few times of being at the centre I established a relationship with staff members by learning their names. Later down the track I began to ask questions about the centre and what the purpose of some of their resources were. I started to feel more confident in myself to enquire about things I didn't know or wanted to know about for example explanations or answers that were given were easy for me to understand and made it easier to talk to staff, I tried and was willing to give a helping hand to do anything such as help clean up or read stories to the children. I also had opportunities where I could support my supervisor within an activity for example when she needed a few of the children to do something else I took them to do some scissor activities and taught them how to make patterns. From the beginning I have tried to maintain relationships with staff by greeted everyone with a smile, say hello and I also always ask how they are and how their weekend/week went.


Think:
I think I have been quite successful with establishing and maintaining a good relationship with those I work with, as I am always happy to go to the centre. The staff are easy to get along with and are always willing to help me as a student learn new strategies and grow as a caregiver/teacher. I enjoy working at my centre because the staff are fun, enthusiastic about taking care of children and seem to really enjoy working at the centre. I feel a great amount of belonging when I am at the centre. I can go in and learn so much about what it takes to be a good caregiver/teacher. I have learnt that it takes a lot to maintain and establish a really good relationship, having more children then staff makes it difficult to have enough time to socialise and interact with staff members. Making it harder to understand each staff member as an individual. Remembering names and personalities is very difficult as well, but I deal with this by always talking to each staff member and learning about their Early Childhood experiences as well as jobs they have had or want to pursue. I have tried to get time to talk to staff when children are asleep or when I am working in the same area as them. The teachers know me well now and will ask me to do something and I will do it if there is nothing else to be done. I'd rather be told to do something rather than walk around not knowing what to do. Especially if the children are having naps.


Change:
As I am a very social person I wouldn't change how I approach people. If I do change my centre when I start the degree, I will be able to start by asking questions at the beginning when I start at the centre and not later down the track.