Description
Directions: Be sure to make an electronic copy of your answer before submitting it to Ashworth College for grading. Unless otherwise stated, answer in complete sentences, and be sure to use correct English, spelling and grammar. Sources must be cited in APA format. Your response should be four (4) pages in length; refer to the "Assignment Format" page for specific format requirements.
Let’s say you have been reflecting on your first few weeks as a preschool teacher. You often find yourself asking yourself things like, “Is this child just grumpy, or is there something more going on?” “Why aren’t the children cooperating?” “How can I manage this negative behavior that is occurring? Is there something more I can do?” With that in mind, consider the scenarios in Part A and Part B.
Part A
Three-year-old Tommy is crying and upset because he can’t draw a truck like Sam’s.
For this scenario
- Determine the cause of the behavior. Provide one (1) supporting fact to justify your answer, citing your source.
- Develop a guidance approach that you might use to address the cause of the behavior. Provide one (1) supporting fact to justify your approach, citing your source.
Part B
The block area is a popular area within the classroom. By the time clean-up arrives, nearly every block is on the floor. As clean-up is announced, children move to other areas, refusing to assist in clean-up of blocks.
For this scenario, describe
- two (2) possible causes
- two (2) possible guidance strategies. Justify your strategies.
Welcome to Lesson 8. Congratulations! This is your final lesson in this course. Throughout the lessons, you have learned some valuable information to help you discipline children correctly and encourage good behavior. This final lesson simply guides you through putting it all together.
During your last reading, Chapter 15, make sure to pay close attention to the parts about how to calm yourself down before you discipline and how to take time to plan discipline. You cannot be effective if you are angry when you give a consequence for misbehavior. If you discipline while angry, chances are high you will feel guilty afterwards, because rather than thinking through the discipline, you reacted out of anger. Doing this runs the risk of damaging a child’s growth in self-esteem, self- discipline, or moral autonomy. Here’s a great example of that in a For Better or Worse (2003) comic strip by Lynn Johnston:
Plan Your Discipline Strategies
Children need adults—even as “amateur” as we may be as teachers or parents—to guide them into learning appropriate behaviors. Even though this may mean you dole out a punishment or consequence for misbehavior, it should be well thought out and given without anger. It is okay for the child to know you are angry, but let the child know you will calm down and decide what to do when you have thought things through. This is where planning a discipline strategy is important. You can rest assured that children around you will ALWAYS exhibit certain behaviors, such as hitting, backtalking, temper tantrums, etc. Being consistent is the key to any discipline program, and having a plan helps you be consistent. It’s important to take into consideration that time may not always be on your side. If there is an emergency, for instance, you would have to act quickly and decisively. Once the emergency is over, you would then be able to analyze the best way to resolve a discipline problem.
It is important to remember that over the course of your career you will teach many children who do not have positive adult role models at home. They may only know how to get their needs met or the attention they desire by yelling, throwing fits, or even by using physical violence. It will be your job to teach them appropriate ways to get their needs met and get attention. With patience and loving discipline, you can help them become positive, contributing members of their class and, eventually, of society.
Graphic Organizers
There are several valuable charts in Chapter 15 that display useful information. Figure 15-1, Matching Problem Causes to Solutions, is a straightforward look at how causes and solutions match up. It is also designed to be a “forced-choice” tool, used from top to bottom, following the arrows. It starts with causes requiring the least intrusive interventions and moves on to more intrusive approaches and more serious interventions. You should always start with the questions at the top of the chart as you analyze children’s behavior to discover the causes.
In Figure 15-2 of your textbook, Complexity of Cause Analysis Model, we look at problem causes in a slightly different way. This model is important for remembering that multiple causes may be interacting to create problem behavior. This model shows clearly the complexity of the origins of behaviors. This chart needs to be used in partnership with the previous one since this one does not include a match-with-guidance approaches. When we discover there are several causes of a behavior, we need to use several guidance approaches—one for each cause.
Figure 15-3 in your textbook, Whose Problem Is It?, helps you think about the issue of separating those problems that belong to the child from those that belong to you, the adult. It is an extension of the discussion in Chapter 7 about appropriate uses of “I messages” versus reflective listening. This chart offers another way to look at which guidance approaches are appropriate for which causes. It helps counteract the common tendency to choose one favorite guidance approach and try to apply it across the board.
I hope you have enjoyed this course and found it to be a wonderful, thought-provoking journey. It takes so much patience and understanding to be an effective teacher of young children! Teaching can be a rewarding, as well as a frustrating, career. But mostly rewarding! The more you educate yourself in effective teaching strategies, the easier teaching will be for you. Completing this course has brought you closer to your goal of working effectively with young children. Keep up the good work in future courses and best of luck in your endeavors.
References
Fields, M.V., Meritt, P.A., & Fields, D. M. (2017). Constructive Guidance and Discipline: Birth to Age Eight (7th ed.). Boston, Massachusetts: Pearson Education.
Johnston, L. (2003.). For Better or Worse. Comics Archive. [Comic Strip]. Retrieved from https://www.fborfw.com/stripcatalog/indexkeywords....
Explanation & Answer
Attached.
Running Head: GUIDANCE AND DISCPLINE STRATEGIES FOR YOUNG CHILDREN
Guidance and Discipline Strategies for Young Children
Name
Institutional Affiliation
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GUIDANCE AND DISCPLINE STRATEGIES FOR YOUNG CHILDREN
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Introduction
The major goal of disciplining children is to instill in them the values of self-discipline,
moral autonomy while also building up their self-esteem. However, the commonly used methods
by most parents, teachers, and guardians of young children do not meet these needs but rather
undermine them. Most parents often choose to reward or punish their child as a means of
instilling discipline but this method is seen to work against the children’s ability to maintain selfdiscipline long term. Solely depending on the two forms of consequences when dealing with
such children can have the negative side effects of damaging s child’s self-esteem and selfdiscipline (Fields, Meritt, & Fields, 2017). Children’s misbehavior should be seen as a cry for
attention and as a means for the child to communicate certain needs that are not being met.
Three-year-old Tommy’s attitude towards Sam’s painting.
As a preschool teacher, handling Tommy can be approached by first analyzing the
situation to determine the factors that are in play. Firstly, Tommy is upset that his drawing,
according to him, is inferior to that of Sam’s. As their teacher, the first thing that one must
recognize is that children often lack a specific skill during childhood that can enable them to
manage such a situation. To an adult, it is easy to understand that art is subjective, and art by one
person can be considered to be better than another person, and to an adult, this is not an issue. To
a child, however, the teacher understands that based on how they have been raised or based on
learned behaviors from media or from the real world, a child may deem themselves as inferior to
their peer if they cannot match or outperform their friend on a specific task.
Similarly, Tommy might have looked at Sam’s truck and found it visually similar to the
real world truck when compared to his. Tommy may believe that other people who put his
GUIDANCE AND DISCPLINE STRATEGIES FOR YOUNG CHILDREN
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picture and Sam together would judge his drawing negatively and Sam’s positively. The fear of
this happening could also be a factor that has...
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