JEANNE MARIE IORIO, Rita Gold Early Childhood Center, Teachers College, Columbia University, New York, USA |
As teachers, researchers, caregivers, and people who take care of young children, we are often in conversation with children. These conversations are complex, filled with child and adult interactions. Further, both the child and the adult hold various levels of power, and work as a group within the interaction. As an artist and early childhood educator, these considerations are central to the author's own rethinking of adult-child conversations as aesthetic experiences. Through the observation and documentation of several adult-child conversations with three preschoolers, the author attempts to understand when an adult-child conversation is an aesthetic experience, as well as to negotiate the power present within the interaction. Further, the author discusses the implications of the experience on her own practice and future research. |
