Teaching Young Children: Choices in Theory and Practice

Teaching techniques that help both new and experienced teachers to communicate better with their children

Teaching Young Children presents early childhood students and staff with a broad and diverse range of teaching techniques to support children’s learning. It examines 26 techniques ranging from simple ones—such as describing and listening—to more complex techniques such as deconstruction and scaffolding. It defines each technique and discusses how, when, and why staff might use it.

Vignettes and examples clarify how to use these techniques in everyday situations and outline different ways to reach children, support their learning, and help them with learning difficulties. A final chapter presents a strategic approach to selecting the appropriate techniques for specific teaching methods and situations. This chapter also goes one step further, explaining how educational theories link with different technique choices—giving both teaching students and experienced teachers a wide range of options and approaches, which is invaluable when teaching classes of children with varying abilities.