I just came back from the Georgia Association of Young Children's annual conference, where I presented a workshop on behaviors and discipline techniques. This workshop, entitled "Why do they DO that?", had over 200 participants, each one with questions about the children in their programs. I took all of the index cards on which they wrote their questions, threw the pack up in the air, and started with the one that landed closest to me.
Over the next several weeks, I'll pick up a card and help you answer a question. I hope this is helpful, and look forward to your feedback. You can email me at playforaliving@gmail.com.
Our first question: "I teach 4 year olds and there is a little boy who hits the other children during my circle time and when he is in line. He won't listen to me when I tell him to stop. He even looks at me sometimes when I tell him to stop hitting. Why? " - T.D.
OK, T.D., In order to determine the best plan of action, first ask yourself:
Is this behavior developmentally appropriate?
In this case, the answer is yes. Aggressive behavior can present when the child feels out of control, frustrated, tired, bored, etc. Since the answer is "yes", the next questions look at what could be causing the issues.
1. How is the environment set up? Are the materials interesting and age appropriate? Does the child have access to all the materials? Are the areas labeled for easy clean up? How organized is this space? If there are too many choices, some children get frustrated and can't make a decision.
More often than not, I find that the classrooms I work with have 3 times the materials needed. Shelves are overflowing, with stacks of games and boxes and tubs of toys. A good rule of thumb is to keep one layer of materials on every shelf. Avoid stacking puzzels and games on top of each other. Make selecting materials simple and attractive.
2. How is the day laid out in terms of schedule? Do the children have sufficient time to play in the environment described above? Or is the day so tightly scheduled that there is little time left for independent learning? Does the child playing with blocks have to clean them up before each new activity? (Just a thought for you. We'll talk more about it later.)
The Early Childhood Environmental Rating Scale, also known as ECERS, (Harmes, Clifford, Cryer, 1999), suggests that 1/3 of the time that the child is at school should be devoted to independent activities. In other words, if the children are in your class for 6 hours, there needs to be 2 hours of free time for independent learning. Think about that: 6 hours, minus the time for lunch, outside play, snack, circle time, any specials, and all the time it takes "getting ready" for these activities, including standing in line, hand washing, and putting on coats. Does that leave 2 hours?
3. How much of the child's day is spent in large group activities?
Large group activities can be fun, but only in small doses. Young children feel more in control when they are working in small groups or by themselves. If your program has a tight schedule filled withwhole group activities, you may need to consider where you can free up the time and the activities. My first suggestion is to look at your circle time. If it is longer than 8 minutes for your 4 year olds, you may have a potential problem. And really, when you think about it, many agressive behaviors present during this time. Coincidence? :)
After speaking with T.D. yesterday, I learned that her day is filled with specials, (music, computers, yoga, a visit from the pastor, etc.). Additionally, she admitted to having a 30 minute circle time every morning, which did not leave much free time in the morning. We also discussed her need for a keeping a very quiet line when the children were transitioning from one room to another. T.D. decided to shorten her circle, open a few more sensory activities, ask to only have one special each day in her room, and loosen up a bit when the children were walking in the building.
Any other ideas you could offer?
Sunday, October 11, 2009
Friday, August 14, 2009
We made the news!
Early childhood education has yo-yo'd in it's placement in the media. As a general rule, the only time you hear about a day care program is when a child is missing or something equally horrible happens. No one wants to read about a good child care program, because well, that's boring. (It's not boring to ME. I am a nerd. I can't get enough of this ECE stuff.)
So, when the Jewish Times called me to ask if there was anything new going on in early childhood this year, I was cautious...do I tell them the stuff I find cool but could be considered boring? (Like the fact that more and more of our teachers are using photograpy and documentation as a form of curriculum design.) Or do I tell them about the stuff I find less exciting but that they might find cool? (Like Universal Pre-K and it's impact on our community.) This time I suggested they speak to the schools, and they did. And I think this turned out pretty darn good. Way to go you guys!
http://www.jewishtimes.com/index.php/jewishtimes/youngadult/preschool_trends/Sunday, June 28, 2009
Almond with a touch of toast
I have been working on this Master's degree since my oldest child started his senior year in high school, and he will graduate college next year! I'm not complaining, just stating the facts. This summer, I am taking two intensives, which means 10 days with (2) four hour classes. Again, not complaining.
What I have to complain about is a bit deeper than that. The 20 something year gap between college and grad school left me, well, a lot less enlightened then I thought I would have become. While life experiences are supposed to make us wordly, I think mine made me more (what's the opposite of wordly? living-roomly?)
This semester, my classes are in Learner Diversity and Technology in the classroom. The technology class has been amazing. From analyzing websites to creating movies and web pages, there was so much to learn. I finished my final project, but probably won't learn how to post it up here until next week!
The diversity class brought to my attention how incredibly unaware I was of people who weren't European Americans (aka White). I've been reminded that my depth of knowledge of religions other than Judaism is very limited. How blind I had been to environmental issues, like the plight of people who can't afford to leave their city that has been overrun by a toxic dump. Or how ignorant I was thinking that the people in New Orleans who didn't leave before Katrina hit were just nuts.
The one area I did understand, however, was that people who talk funny, (like New Yorkers!), aren't inherently stupid. (Being a Georgia girl, that was a given!) It's sad to say, but I don't remember cultivating conversations on topics like these since, well, 1985. I was so busy cooking dinner and being a mom to talk about anything other than homework!
We did an exercise that could be useful in a classroom of young children. We tried to determine the best name for the color of our skin. "White" is the color of this background. Is that really the color of your arm? We mixed different skin toned paints together. I sooo wanted to be gingerbread. I grabbed that bottle and put a few drops on my arm. What a great color. But just too dark for this chick. (Maybe that's why I lay out in the sun during the summer.) What I ended up with was a combination. Almond with a touch of toast. That's what I am. Nutty with just a little bread... hee hee. :)
What I have to complain about is a bit deeper than that. The 20 something year gap between college and grad school left me, well, a lot less enlightened then I thought I would have become. While life experiences are supposed to make us wordly, I think mine made me more (what's the opposite of wordly? living-roomly?)
This semester, my classes are in Learner Diversity and Technology in the classroom. The technology class has been amazing. From analyzing websites to creating movies and web pages, there was so much to learn. I finished my final project, but probably won't learn how to post it up here until next week!
The diversity class brought to my attention how incredibly unaware I was of people who weren't European Americans (aka White). I've been reminded that my depth of knowledge of religions other than Judaism is very limited. How blind I had been to environmental issues, like the plight of people who can't afford to leave their city that has been overrun by a toxic dump. Or how ignorant I was thinking that the people in New Orleans who didn't leave before Katrina hit were just nuts.
The one area I did understand, however, was that people who talk funny, (like New Yorkers!), aren't inherently stupid. (Being a Georgia girl, that was a given!) It's sad to say, but I don't remember cultivating conversations on topics like these since, well, 1985. I was so busy cooking dinner and being a mom to talk about anything other than homework!
We did an exercise that could be useful in a classroom of young children. We tried to determine the best name for the color of our skin. "White" is the color of this background. Is that really the color of your arm? We mixed different skin toned paints together. I sooo wanted to be gingerbread. I grabbed that bottle and put a few drops on my arm. What a great color. But just too dark for this chick. (Maybe that's why I lay out in the sun during the summer.) What I ended up with was a combination. Almond with a touch of toast. That's what I am. Nutty with just a little bread... hee hee. :)
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
Whoo Hoo!
There is nothing more satisfying than to wake up and read an article like this.
The Serious Need for Play: Scientific American
Posted using ShareThis
The title: The Serious Need for Play. This article comes from Scientific American Mind Magazine. The author, Melinda Wenner, points out that studies of over 6000 children have proven that "unstructured, imaginative play"..."is critical for becoming socially adept...and building cognitive skills such as problem solving." She continues to explain the intricate differences between free unstructured games, such as block building and imaginative play, and the more common activities that children are offered, such as playing soccer or a game of lotto. She takes on the Vygotsky philosophy of scaffolding to a level that is easy to understand and share with parents.
So, friends, I challenge you. Give a copy of this article to the families in your care. Use this as your door opener. Start the conversation. Go Team!
The Serious Need for Play: Scientific American
Posted using ShareThis
The title: The Serious Need for Play. This article comes from Scientific American Mind Magazine. The author, Melinda Wenner, points out that studies of over 6000 children have proven that "unstructured, imaginative play"..."is critical for becoming socially adept...and building cognitive skills such as problem solving." She continues to explain the intricate differences between free unstructured games, such as block building and imaginative play, and the more common activities that children are offered, such as playing soccer or a game of lotto. She takes on the Vygotsky philosophy of scaffolding to a level that is easy to understand and share with parents.
So, friends, I challenge you. Give a copy of this article to the families in your care. Use this as your door opener. Start the conversation. Go Team!
Sunday, January 25, 2009
Sundays
I teach Second grade Hebrew School on Sundays. Sometimes this strikes me as funny, since I never went to Hebrew school as a kid! But then again I never went to preschool, and so far I've done pretty well with that!
Why would an uber busy woman add one more thing to her list? In this case, I wanted to get into a classroom again and experience first hand the situations that my teachers can get into. I had this idea that if I could video tape the classes, you would see how to deal with specific discipline situations, or how to diffuse a potentially emotional moment. I assumed that you would see me role playing how to "keep the emotion out of it", or how to use "SPICE" to create a learning environment.
I was dead wrong.
Teaching these kids has taught me more than I could ever, EVER, teach you guys. Just a few examples...
The first day of school, I announced to the kids that THEY were going to have a large part of the responsibility for running this class. I would come up with the ideas, but they were going to have to execute them. So the kids decided to create a job chart. One of the kids wanted to create the role of line leader. "OK, I said, what is the job of the line leader?" He tells me. "Is that all he can do?" I asked. "Well...." started a great conversation, and the ultimate change to the title. We now have a weekly job called President, who, other than leading lines, can help break ties when a decision needs to be made.
These kids are 7. They came into the class expecting to be treated like 7 year olds. What that looks like I don't know. I don't have a 7 year old at home. While I really really "get" 4 year olds, I don't remember 7's. So, I treated them like partners in this class. When behaviors were challenging, I asked their advice. Shared some feelings, and voila, community! This system works. About 90% of the time, we are in total harmony. But the other 10% is the best stuff....
Today we were practicing the Shema. It's a very important Jewish prayer that reminds us that God is the only God. Can be a very reflective prayer, and is said both in the morning and the evening. Ok, so, how do you teach that to 7 year olds? I know... Let's try meditation.
16 kids, laying on their backs, trying their best not to touch each other's feet, giggle, slap a friend, snore. I couldn't get past the initial "Let's breathe in with our noses...." before they started with the oinking and snorting and hacking and laughing. Couldn't help myself. Started laughing out loud with them. Snorted a bit, too, I think. After a few minutes, we were done. After the awkwardness of it all was over, they were able to relax and breath, until I told them to say nothing, which caused a beautiful choir-like sound as several of them slowly said, "Nothing...."
One more. Beautiful 7 year old girl has a teeny, teeny mosquito bite on her face. It's under her eye and near her right ear. Teeny little thing. She is weeping, sobbing , how she doesn't want people to look at her. What to do? I've never had a daughter and never saw such intense emotion in my life. We stepped out of the class (I thought it would make her feel less "stared at") and as I rubbed her hair and tried to get her to relax, she kept crying. I honestly was at a loss for words. (Would you like to take a moment to think about that last sentence?)
I leaned over, tried to get her to look in my eyes, and told her that if she didn't stop crying, I too might start to cry, since this was so sad, and that she just needed to be ready in case I did.
That's all it took. She started to giggle, (why don't people take me seriously?), we skooched her long hair to the other side of her face to kinda cover the bite and went back into the class.
Guys, there is no way I could have thought this stuff up on my own. These classroom experiences have to happen. Need a piece of advice? When in doubt, punt. Relax, enjoy them, and stop worrying about the class lesson. Focus on the Life Lesson.
Why would an uber busy woman add one more thing to her list? In this case, I wanted to get into a classroom again and experience first hand the situations that my teachers can get into. I had this idea that if I could video tape the classes, you would see how to deal with specific discipline situations, or how to diffuse a potentially emotional moment. I assumed that you would see me role playing how to "keep the emotion out of it", or how to use "SPICE" to create a learning environment.
I was dead wrong.
Teaching these kids has taught me more than I could ever, EVER, teach you guys. Just a few examples...
The first day of school, I announced to the kids that THEY were going to have a large part of the responsibility for running this class. I would come up with the ideas, but they were going to have to execute them. So the kids decided to create a job chart. One of the kids wanted to create the role of line leader. "OK, I said, what is the job of the line leader?" He tells me. "Is that all he can do?" I asked. "Well...." started a great conversation, and the ultimate change to the title. We now have a weekly job called President, who, other than leading lines, can help break ties when a decision needs to be made.
These kids are 7. They came into the class expecting to be treated like 7 year olds. What that looks like I don't know. I don't have a 7 year old at home. While I really really "get" 4 year olds, I don't remember 7's. So, I treated them like partners in this class. When behaviors were challenging, I asked their advice. Shared some feelings, and voila, community! This system works. About 90% of the time, we are in total harmony. But the other 10% is the best stuff....
Today we were practicing the Shema. It's a very important Jewish prayer that reminds us that God is the only God. Can be a very reflective prayer, and is said both in the morning and the evening. Ok, so, how do you teach that to 7 year olds? I know... Let's try meditation.
16 kids, laying on their backs, trying their best not to touch each other's feet, giggle, slap a friend, snore. I couldn't get past the initial "Let's breathe in with our noses...." before they started with the oinking and snorting and hacking and laughing. Couldn't help myself. Started laughing out loud with them. Snorted a bit, too, I think. After a few minutes, we were done. After the awkwardness of it all was over, they were able to relax and breath, until I told them to say nothing, which caused a beautiful choir-like sound as several of them slowly said, "Nothing...."
One more. Beautiful 7 year old girl has a teeny, teeny mosquito bite on her face. It's under her eye and near her right ear. Teeny little thing. She is weeping, sobbing , how she doesn't want people to look at her. What to do? I've never had a daughter and never saw such intense emotion in my life. We stepped out of the class (I thought it would make her feel less "stared at") and as I rubbed her hair and tried to get her to relax, she kept crying. I honestly was at a loss for words. (Would you like to take a moment to think about that last sentence?)
I leaned over, tried to get her to look in my eyes, and told her that if she didn't stop crying, I too might start to cry, since this was so sad, and that she just needed to be ready in case I did.
That's all it took. She started to giggle, (why don't people take me seriously?), we skooched her long hair to the other side of her face to kinda cover the bite and went back into the class.
Guys, there is no way I could have thought this stuff up on my own. These classroom experiences have to happen. Need a piece of advice? When in doubt, punt. Relax, enjoy them, and stop worrying about the class lesson. Focus on the Life Lesson.
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
Change is on the horizon!
Hey friends!
Over the past 18 years or so, we have worked together to create change. We've talked about what a classroom would look like if the children's interest drove the curriculum, if circle time could be tweaked and seen as an opportunity to meet, rather than teach. We considered a change from whole group to small group learning, and even wondered if it would be possible to make snack a center rather than a forced activity.
Some of us pulled out the easles for the first time in years, knowing the importance of this experience on brain development. We changed our thinking regarding classroom clean up in order to allow the children the chance to build higher towers and longer roads. Many of us eliminated time out from our vocabularies, and even created a position in the class for 4 year old mediators. All of this happened because you believed.
You believed in a vision that you couldn't yet see. You believed the children to be competant and capable, and wanted to learn how to best care for their growing brains. You trusted enough to try new things, and you made the changes and saw the results. Then you used that momentum to make more change. Your emails and notes prove how surprised and proud you are of the changes.
Today I sat in on one of my school's experience with the inauguration. The children, decked out in red white and blue, were eating lunch and listening to speeches, music and poems on the tv. (BTW, this is the first time in 5 years I have seen teachers watch TV in a preschool with children. There's another change!)
The children's behaviors were perfect. They are four years old and very good at it. They were curious, interested in the entertainment, and even talked amongst each other. The teachers let them chat, only asking for a bit of extra silence when the actual swearing in took place. For over 45 minutes these kids were interacting, discussing, laughing and enjoying the idea that "something special" was about to happen.
I walked over to Ben, my bestest 4 year old friend. I asked him what was happening and he told me "The president is not an elect. He is a president today." The little girl next me said, "And that's a change!"
Well, President-no-longer-elect-Obama, you have a new group of followers who are looking to you to create a vision. Although they can't quite read or write, they have faith in you and believe you are something special. I wish you much luck and want you to know we look forward to your success.
Over the past 18 years or so, we have worked together to create change. We've talked about what a classroom would look like if the children's interest drove the curriculum, if circle time could be tweaked and seen as an opportunity to meet, rather than teach. We considered a change from whole group to small group learning, and even wondered if it would be possible to make snack a center rather than a forced activity.
Some of us pulled out the easles for the first time in years, knowing the importance of this experience on brain development. We changed our thinking regarding classroom clean up in order to allow the children the chance to build higher towers and longer roads. Many of us eliminated time out from our vocabularies, and even created a position in the class for 4 year old mediators. All of this happened because you believed.
You believed in a vision that you couldn't yet see. You believed the children to be competant and capable, and wanted to learn how to best care for their growing brains. You trusted enough to try new things, and you made the changes and saw the results. Then you used that momentum to make more change. Your emails and notes prove how surprised and proud you are of the changes.
Today I sat in on one of my school's experience with the inauguration. The children, decked out in red white and blue, were eating lunch and listening to speeches, music and poems on the tv. (BTW, this is the first time in 5 years I have seen teachers watch TV in a preschool with children. There's another change!)
The children's behaviors were perfect. They are four years old and very good at it. They were curious, interested in the entertainment, and even talked amongst each other. The teachers let them chat, only asking for a bit of extra silence when the actual swearing in took place. For over 45 minutes these kids were interacting, discussing, laughing and enjoying the idea that "something special" was about to happen.
I walked over to Ben, my bestest 4 year old friend. I asked him what was happening and he told me "The president is not an elect. He is a president today." The little girl next me said, "And that's a change!"
Well, President-no-longer-elect-Obama, you have a new group of followers who are looking to you to create a vision. Although they can't quite read or write, they have faith in you and believe you are something special. I wish you much luck and want you to know we look forward to your success.
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