In the last 2 weeks I have interacted with the Director of the childcare center that I work at. I am also a Director as well as the pre-k teacher. The Directors name is Judy Shovlin, she has been a director for about 25 years. Judy and I talked a lot about discipline in the last 2 weeks. I know this has nothing to do with early literacy, but discipline has become very important to me this year, because I have a class of 6 pre-k students who have no social skills what so ever. My job is to teach them some social skills before they go off to kindergarten. Well, let me tell you that I have had a terrible time doing so.
I have had a mental health specialist come to observe me, and while I do a lot of things right I also do a lot of things wrong. Such as not being empathic enough toward these children. Everyday I have a struggle to get them to do anything for me. Today I asked them to clean up for snack and they began to scream no at me and throw toys. I give them a lot of warnings before clean up and that does not help. I tell them to pick up 10 things and that does not help. I play a clean up song and that does not help. The director and I have come to the conclusion that they are like siblings and this is why I am having so much trouble.
I try to make class as fun as possible but this seems to be a disaster. Today, we had computer class, and did some fun valentines projects and they had lots of play time. Their play time consisted of moving all the chairs and taking all the toys off of the shelf. They were playing the 3 little pigs, which was fine until they started to throw toys and jump off of the shelf. I then told them to stop and pick up and directed them to games. Playing games lasted for about 20 min. and then it was time to clean up for lunch and then it was the same old thing of throwing toys and screaming no.
I have told the director all of the things that I have done and nothing has made a difference.
This week I am going to add a good deed and good words marble jar. I hope that this will work a little.
I am ready to pull my hair out. I have never had a class like this before. I honestly can say I can't wait until May when I am working with school age.
The director has told me that it is not me, it is the class and how the parents have not taught them anything at home as for as being social. I hope that she is right and I am not just getting to old.
I need help!
If I were to be an advocate for something I would be an advocate for discipline. I would create a discipline class for all of the parents to attend which would be mandatory for everyone in the center. While we do have our discipline policy, I feel it is very important for the parents to attend a discipline class. When I try to talk to the parents now about their children, they do not want to hear it they just walk away from me. I guess they will care when their child gets to kindergarten and is in the office because of bad behavior.
Take a deep breath! They will run you over if you give up. After 13 years of home daycare and 3 years of teaching preschool this is what I have learned. Multipule warnings don't work. 1-2-3, modeling desired behavior, and prasie for the right actions does work. Young children can't retain a warning for long. I have used the stop light method with great success after I have taught them my expectations. 1 is a directive to stop unwanted behavior(they stay on green), 2 is a move to yellow (warning to made a better choice and participate etc., and 3 is a note home and no candy treat for a good day. This works because it puts the responsibilty on them and gives you some support as you have taught them how to be good listeners and other desired classroom expectations, it is visusal, and it is immediate which will change behavior. Before you know it they will be saying things like "I did good, huh." Or "I get my candy today."
ReplyDeleteIt sounds like you have a good support systems from co workers. Don't be afarid to ask them to actually come in and help get these kiddos back on track. You are right on when you say that they are treating each other like siblings and feeding off each other. You could also try pairing them up and using a centers approach. This limits who all can be where together, which can be helpful.
Vent any time. Let me know if any of this helps. NO FEAR! :)
Thanks for your advice. I started today with telling the children my expectations for them. We had a better day. I did not have as much of the bad behavior that I have had.
DeleteI can relate to what you are going through. I have been a Head Start teacher for 7 years and have taught some tough classes. I once had a group of boys I called the "wolf pack". When one of them started acting up, they all joined in and was so hard to get them back in line. Situations like that can really hamper your confidence. Some suggestions:
ReplyDelete1. Make sure they are not getting overstimulated. I love doing fun things too, but sometimes you really have to cut back on them because the kids get too stimulated. Try to keep things calm.
2. Make your expectations very clear. At your 5 minute warning, have a private coaching session with each one of your rable rousers. If you can get your hands on a 5 minute sand timer, I have found that the visual reminder that time is winding down is very helpful for kids who have a hard time transitioning.
3. Use the 1,2,3 Libby suggested. Remind them of your expectations beforehand, then tell them if they can not make the right choices, you will make the choices for them.
4. Keep your trouble makers separated. Don't be afraid to tell them that if they are going to cause trouble together, they can't play in the same center together.
Hang in there. It may be hard to see it now, but you will learn from this experience, and it will make you a better teacher.
Thanks for your advice I made my expectations clear to them today, I am looking for an egg timer.
DeleteSometimes we need help and don't realize it and when we get it, it becomes and eye opener for us. It is great to know that you know that you are not perfect and that you can take constructive critisium and make changes and make good from it. There are so many children with dicipline problems and I don't think that medication is the answer. So many times, children are labeled as having a medical conditiona and it's the parents that are allowing these children to do what ever they want to do at home so they believe that they can behave this way every where that they go. They need structure and guidence not medication. I belive some parents need classes on how to dicipline and how to raise a child that knows right from wrong.
ReplyDeleteMary you are not alone. I face this everyday with my classroom. The challenging behaviors are difficult and it is hard to teach a class with all the disruptions going on. Some advice that I had gotten to help with this situation is to look at the child at their eye level in sign language and verbal tell the student to stop. Remove the child from any unsafe areas or desired items. Place a child in a safety free zone. This zone is somewhere they are not bothering other students or students bothering them. This child needs his or space. For me my safety zone is the cubbie area. Students sit in their cubbies until they calm down. Once they are able to calm down give the child two choice they can either come and eat lunch or sit here until they are ready to come to lunch. You can try and talk to the child about their feelings. But, sometimes they just do not want to hear what you say or their mouths start saying things they should not. Sometimes I have to sit with the child with my back to them to keep him from hurting another child or myself. I have been punched, kicked, bit, spit on, and cussed out. I always tell them I am sorry you are mad but, you need to calm down before you can join the group activities. Most of the time the students are able to calm themselves down and come into a group when ready. The trick to stop the student from unsafe behaviors and give them choices before they join the class. Also I would not give a child more than 1 warning. Mean what you say and follow through. This is a difficult task with only one or two teachers in the room. There are some days I do not get anything done because, I am to busy with all the behaviors. Their are too many students in my classroom who need one on one care. I also review daily schedule daily and all day. I have individual schedules as well as classroom schedules. This helps students know what's next and transition into the next activity better. Also I have choice boards. The choice boards gives the challenging students with choices to learn from. They can either play with play doh or work at the science table during free choice. This helps them from running the classroom and options. It is tough to work with challenging students keep an open mind and communicate with co-workers, students and families to create creative activities that will engage the child in learning and less behavior.
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