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Yotisse Williams, Preschool Teacher, Early Childhood Laboratory School at Housatonic Community College: I think taking the teachable moment is the most important thing, and I think a lot of teachers miss those opportunities, you know. This is not a tragedy; this is an opportunity.
Yotisse: I love the way my friends are helping me put them in. Here, count them. One, two, three…
Yotisse Williams: And see, I’m modeling, because, now, I could’ve gotten upset, but now the kids see me modeling that self-control, “Oh, instead of getting upset about it, what else could we do?”
Yotisse: Wow, you did eight! Where are you going to play today?
Yotisse Williams: Thing are going to happen. But it’s how you react to it, and what you do about it. And whenever I’m in doubt, you know, I go to the kids and I’ll say, “What do you think we can do?”
Yotisse: Do we have enough to go around?
Class: No!
Yotisse: How about Jordan? What’s your idea?
Child: We can share!
Yotisse: Oh my goodness, what a good strategy, to share.
Yotisse Williams: Some of the answers that come up, you know? And that’s when you really know that you’ve gone beyond teaching them for the moment; you’re teaching them for the lifetime.
© 2016 Connecticut Office of Early Childhood Produced by the Center for Early Childhood Education at Eastern Connecticut State University. May be reprinted for educational purposes.