Abstract
This paper clarifies how a teacher can become one of the important factors of early childhood education. Using the method of qualitative analysis, we investigated a kindergarten teacher. The teacher responded to each child selectively by using three different names (“Boku”, “Watashi,” and “Ore”) to refer to himself, according to situations of the child and his relationship with the child. The observations revealed that he behaved in certain particular ways towards the children, continuously reflecting on the educational effects of his behavior during teaching. After the day was finished, he also reviewed the results of his practice and conferred about these results with other teachers. The results of this study demonstrate how the teacher examines and reflects on his educational practice of interacting with each individual child.
