Article Two:From Rules to Guidelines: Moving to the Positive

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56 Young Children • January 2012

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From Rules to Guidelines

Dan Gartrell

Guidance Matters

Moving to the Positive

At the end of a wing in an elementary school, a prekindergarten class walks past primary grade classrooms four times a day. The preschoolers have trouble remembering not to talk. With doors open due to the school’s old air conditioning system, their chatter distracts the primary children and their teachers. The principal discusses the problem with Renilda and Cathi, the pre-K teachers. They agree to figure out a way to have the preschoolers walk in line more quietly. Renilda recalls a group punishment from her own schooldays—when some children talked in line, the entire class had to “practice” walking up and down the hall five times in complete silence. Renilda shares with Cathi how she still feels bummed out about the experi- ence—she wasn’t one of the ones talking—and how negative the class felt toward the “talkers” and upset they were with the teacher. Not wanting to introduce the nega- tive dynamics of group punishment in their classroom, the two teachers hold a class meeting. They matter-of-factly explain the problem to the children and ask what would help them remember to walk quietly. The teachers acknowledge each idea the children offer. One child says, “We could be mommy and daddy elephants. We have to tiptoe so we don’t wake the babies.” Everyone likes this idea, and they decide to try it. As the children line up the next day, the teachers ask them if they remember how they are going to walk quietly. The children remember. When the class tiptoes by the principal’s office, he

Dan Gartrell, EdD, is emeritus professor of early childhood and foundations educa- tion at Bemidji State University in northern Minnesota. A former Head Start teacher, Dan is the author of The Power of Guidance, A Guidance Approach for the Encour- aging Classroom and What the Kids Said Today. Please send possible guidance anecdotes and other comments to dgartrell@ bemidjistate.edu. Portions of this article originally appeared in Exchange magazine (July/August 2010; www.ChildCareExchange.com). A study guide for this article is available through www.naeyc.org/memberlogin. This column is also available in an online archive at www.naeyc.org/yc/columns. Guidance Matters has a new schedule. It appears in the January, May, and Sep- tember issues of Young Children.

notices them and declares, “I like how you boys and girls are walking quietly down the hall.” “Shh,” one child says, “you’ll wake the babies.”

The problem with rules

Think about the likely differences in learning climate in these settings:

• One classroom has the rule, “No talk- ing in line.” Another has the guideline,  “We are quiet in line so we don’t wake  the babies” (or with older students,  “ . . . so we don’t bother children in  other classrooms”).

• One classroom has the rule, “Don’t  hand in work with careless mistakes.”  Another has the guideline, “Mistakes are  okay. We just need to learn from them.”

In a Young Children article worth  revisiting, Wien (2004) makes the case  that rules tend not to be helpful in

early childhood communities. Rules are usually stated as negatives. In fact, the way most rules are worded, it  seems as if adults expect children to break them (Wien 2004). For example,  with the rule “No hitting,” teachers  often feel pressure to be hypervigilant for this behavior, and then basically  can only ignore the behavior or pun- ish the child when it happens—lim- ited options indeed. Even when rules  are not totally negative, such as “Be  nice to your friends,” they may have  an unspoken “or else” implication in  teachers’ minds.   When an adult enforces rules with  children, the children know they have  done something wrong. However, the  negative experience in rule enforce- ment does not teach them what to do  instead (Readdick & Chapman 2000);  for example, “You know the rule, no  hitting! Go to the time-out chair.” Busy  with enforcement, adults easily forget  the importance of teaching children positive strategies like using words or  walking away as alternatives to hurt- ing a classmate. Rules can cause teachers to label children, lump them in groups, and  enforce rules accordingly: be lenient with the “good children,” who mostly  obey rules, and be strict with the  “naughty children,” who often break  rules. Studies show that children 

frequently subjected to punitive rule  enforcement feel rejected, develop  negative self-images, and may have  long-term problems with aggressive- ness in school and life (Ladd 2008;  Ettekal & Ladd 2009).    Professor Gary Ladd, at Arizona  State University, and his associates  have conducted landmark studies on the long-term impact of rejection  on young children (Ladd 2006; Buhs,  Ladd, & Herald-Brown 2010). Such  children are rejected by peers, who  are bothered by their classmate’s  aggression, and by teachers, who pun- ish the children for breaking the rules. (Remember that time-out is really temporary expulsion from the group [Readdick & Chapman 2000].) Rules tend to reduce teaching to law enforcement. A rule-enforcement  orientation can make teachers stricter than they really want to be (Gartrell  2010a). A joke about this is the  teacher who meant only “not to smile  until Christmas”—but didn’t smile for  30 years! Over those years, what are  the implications for the groups this adult leads? For the teacher’s aspira- tions to be a positive professional?

Toward guidelines

The purpose of having guidelines is to teach children to use them. For  instance, with the guideline “We are  friendly with our mates,” the adult can  calm down an upset child, then teach  the child how to use friendlier words  to express her feelings. (This teaching is built on a positive adult-child rela- tionship that the adult is always work- ing to improve [Watson 2003].) In this  sense, guidelines are not just “permis- sive rules”—a common misperception  (Gartrell 2010a). When there is danger  of harm, teachers must be firm—but  firm and friendly, not firm and harsh.   Techniques like guidance talks and conflict mediation work well,  along with class meetings, in the firm  but friendly teaching of guidelines (Gartrell 2010a). The expectation is  that children live up to guidelines all the time, not just sometimes.  Guidelines identify classroom stan- dards that teachers assist children (and other adults in the classroom) to learn and to use.   When adults model positive expec- tations, they teach children the skills 

they need for civil living (Copple & Bredekamp 2009). From the guideline  “We are friendly with our mates,” a  child extrapolates saying, “Please  share the markers.” Perhaps with  a teacher looking on, the comment  invites dialogue and problem resolu- tion. This set of interactions sure beats demanding, refusing, grabbing,  pushing away, and the teacher’s  enforcing a “No fighting” rule.   With infants and toddlers, guide- lines are expectations in teachers’  minds. Teachers consistently refer to and model them in teaching prosocial behaviors. An example is “Friendly  touches, Freddie,” as the teacher  helps Freddie give gentle pats to  another child.   With older children, writing and post- ing guidelines provides a functional literacy activity as well as a quick  visual reminder. Just a few guidelines  work well; one classroom (as men- tioned) had only one: “We are friendly  with our mates.” (These teachers  preferred the term mates, as in class- mates, to friends. They respected the children’s right to define their own  friendships.)

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Young Children • January 2012

  In the elementary grades, three or  four guidelines work well (too many  makes things complicated) (Gartrell 2010). Examples are

• We are friendly with others and  ourselves.

• We solve problems together.

• Mistakes are okay. We just need to  learn from them.

Class meetings

In the vignette Renilda and Cathi use a guidance fundamental, the class  meeting, to engage children in work- ing with guidelines. Teachers remark  that solutions to problems reached through class meetings—such as tip- toeing like mommy and daddy ele- phants—are frequently more creative  than what they themselves might have  come up with (Gartrell 2010b). Class  meetings can involve children in set- ting new guidelines and re-teach the  use of existing ones (Gartrell 2006).  Teachers often hold class meetings at the beginning of the year to invite the group to develop a few overall guide- lines (Vance & Jimenez Weaver 2002).  Class meetings empower children to  be contributing citizens of a learning  community, work together to attain a  sense of belonging, and develop indi- vidual responsibility (Vance & Jimenez  Weaver 2002; DeVries & Zan 2003).

Toward the positive

  As I see it, moving to the posi- tive requires an attitude shift by the  teacher from being a technician to being a professional. A technician operates with the ongoing mission  of rule enforcement. In contrast, a  teacher who is a professional continu- ously makes judgments about situ- ations based on a mission to under- stand and guide—a mission greatly  aided by the use of guidelines that transcend rules and their baggage. In the process of becoming more effective professionals, teachers need  to trust in and refine their developing  skills of observation, communication,  and relationship building. Change,  which often takes some courage,  begins within the mind of the teacher.  Adults learn even as they teach, and  that is a good thing—for the children  and for the adults.

References Buhs, E.S., G.W. Ladd, & S.L. Herald-Brown.  2010. “Victimization and Exclusion: Links  to Peer Rejection, Classroom Engagement,  and Achievement.” Handbook of Bullying in Schools: An International Perspective, eds. S.R. Jimerson, S.M. Swearer, & D.L. Espelage. New York: Routledge.

Copple, C., & S. Bredekamp, eds. 2009. Develop- mentally Appropriate Practice in Early Child- hood Programs Serving Children from Birth through Age 8. 3rd ed. Washington, DC: NAEYC.

DeVries, R., & B. Zan. 2003. “When Children Make  Rules.” Educational Leadership 61 (1): 22–29.

Ettekal, I., & G.W. Ladd. 2009. “The Stability of  Aggressive Behavior toward Peers as a Pre- dictor of Externalizing Problems from Child- hood through Adolescence.” Handbook of Aggressive Behavior Research, eds. C. Quinn  & S. Tawse. Hauppauge, NY: Nova Science  Publishers.

Gartrell, D. 2006. “The Beauty of Class Meet- ings.” Guidance Matters. Young Children 61  (6): 54–55. 

Gartrell, D. 2010a. A Guidance Approach for the Encouraging Classroom. Belmont, CA:  Wadsworth/Cengage.

Gartrell, D. 2010b. “Beyond Rules to Guidelines.”  ChildCare Exchange (July/August): 52–56.

Kontos, S., & A. Wilcox-Herzog. 1997. “Teach- ers’ Interactions with Children: Why Are They  So Important?” Young Children 52 (2): 4–12.

Ladd, G.W. 2006. “Peer Rejection, Aggressive  or Withdrawn Behavior, and Psychological  Maladjustment from Ages 5 to 12: An Exami- nation of Four Predictive Models.” Child Development 77 (4): 822–46.

Ladd, G.W. 2008. “Social Competence and Peer  Relations: Significance for Young Children  and Their Service Providers.” Early Child- hood Services 2 (3):129–48.

Readdick, C.A., & P.L. Chapman. 2000. “Young  Children’s Perceptions of Time Out.” Journal of Research in Childhood Education 15 (1): 81–87.

Vance, E., & P. Jimenez Weaver. 2002. Class Meetings: Solving Problems Together. Wash- ington, DC: NAEYC.

Watson, M. 2003. “Attachment Theory and  Challenging Behaviors: Reconstructing the  Nature of Relationships.” Young Children 58  (4): 12–20.

Wien, C.A. 2004. “From Policing to Participation:  Overturning the Rules and Creating Amiable  Classrooms.” Young Children 59 (1): 34–40.

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