Persona
Dolls
In
this observation, the adult is Mrs. Emile, the persona doll is Maria, and the
two other students are Joey and his best friend Jill. Maria, Joey and Jill are all 4 year old white
students of Mrs. Emile.
The setting of this observation is a beach. Mrs. Emile introduces Maria a four year old
white student to two other four year old students. The problem in this observation is that Jill
is afraid of going in the water on the beach.
Maria, with the help of Mrs. Emile, is going to help Jill feel more
comfortable about getting into the water.
Joey is her best friend and he has been trying to encourage her to not
be afraid of the water. Mrs. Emile is
the teacher that is facilitating the communication with the persona doll.
Good evening friends, we have Maria joining
us today on our swimming adventure. She
is a 4 year old student little girl that loves spending time with her friends
and eating snowballs. Persona dolls are dolls but not toys.
These dolls are made and dressed as real people with a real-life history. Each
one has a name, gender, race, and personality. (Laureate Inc.) Last year Maria was afraid of
the water. However, this year Maria is
doing much better. She is not afraid of
the water like she was before. Maria has
spent several months with me overcoming her fear of the water. It is a lot like introducing a new
student to the class, because each doll comes with a complete identity,
including abilities and perhaps a problem or challenge (Laureate
Inc.). After Maria was introduced to the
kids and during the conversation, Jill admits that she is afraid of the water
also. She continues to share that she thinks the water will
swallow her up. While Jill is sharing
her fears, Maria tells Jill how she became comfortable in the water a little at
a time. Maria told Jill that she could
do the same thing. Jill’s friend, Joey
tells her that he could hold her hand and help her while she becomes more
comfortable in the water. In the video Strategies for Working with Diverse Children
“Persona Dolls”, Eric Hoffman Instructor, Cabrillo College
Early Childhood Educator; indicates that it helps when the students in the
group see that the persona dolls are brought to life and are a part of the group.
Eric Hoffman further states “That when a persona doll is used, a sense of interest
and inclusion as a whole person addressing a need are important in the scheme
of things”.
As stated in the article ‘Communicating
with Babies’, babies should be included in the communication. The goes on to
say, “maybe it has not occurred
to you to use language to include the babies in communication. When you ignore
babies, you tell them they are not valued. When you do not talk to babies, they
are unlikely to understand what is happening with them.” (Talking about babies instead of to babies discounts them as
individuals. Babies
need to be part of the communication process.
(Laureate
Inc.)The article goes on to
state that “Language provides a model for babies about how to communicate, and
it serves as a vehicle to convey thoughts and feelings.”
In order to make the communication more
effective and affirming, Mrs. Emile
could have included more children with the same fear and explanations how they
overcame those fears. In addition, Mrs.
Emile could have asked all of the kids to get in the water together with Jill
so she would feel she wasn’t alone. While reflecting on the use of persona
dolls, the article states that persona
dolls are creative, interactive tools that allow children to productively express
their emotions and solve the problems that come up in everyday life. Teachers
can use persona dolls to help a timid child speak up or to explore diversity.
Early interventions such as the use of persona dolls may bring about changes
that will benefit young learners for a lifetime. (Laureate
Inc.)
In my opinion, the communication was
relatively successful in that Jill felt like she could try to get in the water
a little at a time with the help of her friend.
As it relates to the adult-child
communication that I am more familiar with, this method is really effective
because it includes the kids in the conversation.
From the information I learned this week,
there are more effective methods that can be used to communicate with children
that will help them participate in the discussion more freely. I learned that the method that I am
accustomed to can be more effective with the use of persona dolls.
References
Laureate Media Presentation, Communicating
with young children. https://class.waldenu.edu/webapps/portal/frameset.jsp?tab_tab_group_id=_2_1&url=%2Fwebapps%2Fblackboard%2Fexecute%2Flauncher%3Ftype%3DCourse%26id%3D_3396868_1%26url%3D
Laureate Media Presentation, Persona dolls.
https://class.waldenu.edu/webapps/portal/frameset.jsp?tab_tab_group_id=_2_1&url=%2Fwebapps%2Fblackboard%2Fexecute%2Flauncher%3Ftype%3DCourse%26id%3D_3396868_1%26url%3D
Kovach, B., & Da Ros-Voseles, D. (2011). Communicating with Babies. YC:
Young Children, 66(2), 48-50.
Pierce, J., & Johnson, C.
(2010). Problem Solving with Young Children Using Persona Dolls.
YC: Young Children,
65(6), 106-108.
