Plaza Terrace | Workshop | Appreciating the Simple and Ordinary Human Interactions
Tracks
| Thursday, June 12, 2025 |
| 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM |
| Plaza Terrace |
Synopsis
Simple, everyday interactions are the building blocks of healthy human relationships. This interactive and practice-focused workshop offers opportunities to notice and understand human interactions between children, caregivers, and helping professionals. In this workshop, we will be using the “Simple Interactions” approach to closely examine adult-child and adult-adult interactions in everyday contexts. We will practice appreciative “noticing” and reflective “wondering” to understand the dynamics within even the simplest human interactions. We will discuss how these interactions weave together four basic building blocks of the human relationship – connection, reciprocity, inclusion, and opportunity to grow. We will also extend these principles to reflect on the “parallel processes” of adult-adult interactions that support professionals and families. The Simple Interactions Tool (Creative Commons license) is a free, adaptable, non-commercial, publicly accessible resource at www.simpleinteractions.org
Speaker
Dr Junlei Li
Co-Chair, Human Development and Education; Saul Zaentz Senior Lecturer in Early Childhood Education
Harvard University
Appreciating the Simple and Ordinary Human Interactions
Biography
Junlei Li, Ph.D. is the Program Chair of the Human Development and Education and the Saul Zaentz Senior Lecturer in Early Childhood Education at Harvard Graduate School of Education. As a developmental psychologist, his research and practice focus on supporting the helpers – those who serve children and families on the frontlines of education and social services. Studying orphanages, child care, schools, youth programs, he co-develops the “Simple Interactions” approach (www.simpleinteractions.org) to help affirm what ordinary people do extraordinarily well with children in everyday moments. His work is significantly inspired by the pioneering work of Fred Rogers when he served as the Co-Director and Rita M. McGinley Chair for Early Learning and Children’s Media at the Fred Rogers Center.
