Co-Caring & Co-Teaching
Co-Caring & Co-Teaching
The prefix “co” means to do something together or with someone else. Our work as early childhood professionals involves co-caring for young children as we co-teach with our early childhood education peers. This togetherness is amazing but also has its difficulties.
We have the unique privilege of being part of each child’s village of caregivers. We work together with all the grownups in a child’s life to nurture and guide them and ensure they have the foundation they need to support them throughout their lives.
It is essential to understand our role in this co-caring relationship. While our work is very close to parenting, we are not the child’s parent. We must listen to the child’s parents (guardians) and ask the necessary questions to ensure we are working together and not against one another.
We must be warm and welcoming to each family in our classroom community. We don’t get to choose what type of family we support or believe in. When you care for and are invested in a child, you also care for and are invested in their family. Children always know when you have an issue with their parents. Children build secure attachments with people they trust; this trust does not exist if you take issue with the child’s parents.
We need to have an open line of communication with the parents (guardians). This means asking questions and really listening to the answers without judgment or opinions. Take the time to ask parents (guardians) how things are going at home, what is going well, and what is difficult. When you support a parent with difficulties at home, they know that you are truly invested in their family. Building this connection will make it easier to bring up any challenges that are taking place at school.
Effective communication often takes practice. We need to work on this daily with our co-teachers. Co-teaching is a delicate dance. We are individuals with our own beliefs working together to best support the children in our care and their families. This takes an enormous amount of patience, understanding, and clear, consistent communication.
If your goal this school year is to create a classroom community where families feel valued check out the self-paced session below:
A Safe Space: Creating a Classroom Community (Infants-Preschool) (2hrs, $18)
If your goal is to learn how to communicate clearly and effectively in your co-teaching relationships check out this self-paced session:
The Co-Teaching Playbook: Communication (Adults) (1.5hrs, $13.50)
If you are a program leader whose goal is to better understand the support co-teaching teams need check out this self-paced session:
The Struggle is Real: Guiding Co-Teachers (Leadership) (1hr, $15)
