A Matter of Trust

Increasingly, teachers report that the young children who enter their classrooms are difficult to manage. This perception is supported by alarming statistics on the number of children growing up in difficult life circumstances. In this volume, the authors draw on their experiences as a developmental psychologist and as a teacher educator to provide ways for teachers to create positive child-teacher relationships and classroom climates.

This forward-looking volume:

• Applies attachment theory to child-teacher relationships, maintaining that a child’s ability to learn depends on negotiating a trusting relationship with the teacher.
• Explores strategies that teachers can use to foster positive student behavior and build successful classroom communities.
• Provides narrative examples from early childhood classrooms serving primarily low-income children of color.
• Uses stories from exemplary classrooms as well as those in which teachers are struggling with relationships.

Carollee Howes is a nationally and internationally recognized Developmental Psychologist. She currently teaches in the Applied Developmental Ph.D. Program in the UCLA Department of Education. Sharon Ritchie has been in the field of education for 25 years. She is engaged in ongoing studies of quality and practice in early childhood classrooms throughout the nation.

“Carollee Howes and Sharon Ritchie show how teachers can develop positive relationships with children whose previous child-adult relationships have been very troubled….They have done the early childhood field an immense service.”
—From the Foreword by Barbara T. Bowman

“A thought-provoking and potentially life-altering book.”
— Sally Lubeck, School of Education, The University of Michigan