Article Two:From Rules to Guidelines: Moving to the Positive
keeks
GuidanceMatters.docxMoving to the Positive
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notices them and declares, "I like how |
nice to your friends," they may have |
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you boys and girls are walking quietly |
an unspoken "or else" implication in |
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down the hall." |
teachers' minds. |
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"Shh," one child says, "you'll wake |
When an adult enforces rules with |
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the babies." |
children, the children know they have |
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The problem with rules
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done something wrong. However, the negative experience in rule enforce- |
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Think about the likely differences in |
ment does not teach them what to do |
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learning climate in these settings: |
instead (Readdick & Chapman 2000); |
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• One classroom has the rule, "No talk- |
for example, "You know the rule, no |
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ing in line." Another has the guideline, |
hitting! Go to the time-out chair." Busy |
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"We are quiet in line so we don't wake |
with enforcement, adults easily forget |
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the babies" (or with older students, |
the importance of teaching children |
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" ... so we don't bother children in |
positive strategies like using words or |
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other classrooms"). |
walking away as alternatives to hurting a classmate. |
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• One classroom has the rule, "Don't |
Rules can cause teachers to label |
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hand in work with careless mistakes." |
children, lump them in groups, and |
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Another has the guideline, "Mistakes are |
enforce rules accordingly: be lenient |
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okay. We just need to learn from them." |
with the "good children," who mostly |
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In a Young Children article worth |
obey rules, and be strict with the |
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revisiting, Wien (2004) makes the case |
"naughty children," who often break |
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that rules tend not to be helpful in |
rules. Studies show that children |
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 punish the child when it happens—limited options indeed. Even when rules are not totally negative, such as "Be
Aøf472
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 remcnbering not to talk. With doors open due to the school's old air conditiorng system, their chatter distracts the primary children and their teachers. The principal discusses the problem with Renilda and Cathi, the pre-K teaches. They agree to figure out a way to havo the preschoolers walk in line more qu etly.
Renilda recalls a group punishment from her schooldays—when some children tal; in line, the entire class had to "prac ice" walking up and down the hall five :rnes in complete silence. Renilda sha: •s with Cathi how she still feels bummc d out about the experience—she wasn't one of the ones talking—ane how negative the class felt toward tf e "talkers" and upset they were with tm teacher.
Not wanti:a to introduce the negative dynami of group punishment in their classrc 'm, the two teachers hold a class mec ng. They matter-of-factly explain the oblem to the children and ask what wr 'Id help them remember to walk quietly. The teachers acknowledge each idea ti children offer. One child says, "We c ald be mammy and daddy elephants. V have to tiptoe so we don't wake the babies." Everyone likes this idea, arthey decide to try it.
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As the ch |
Iren line up the next day, |
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the teacher |
ask them if they remember |
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how they a |
going to walk quietly. The |
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children rev |
•mber. the class |
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tiptoes by t' |
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Dan Gartrell, EdD, is emeritus professor of early childhood and foundations education 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 dgartreil@
bemidjistate.edu.
Portions of this article originally appeared in Exchange magazine (July/August 2010; wwvv.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.
56 Young Children •January 2012
frequently subjected to punitive rule enforcement feel rejected, develop negative self-images, and may have long-term problems with aggressiveness 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 punish the children for breaking the rules. (Remember that time-out is really temporary expulsion from the group [Readdick & Chapman 20001.)
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 aspirations 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 relationship that the adult is always working to improve [Watson 20031.) In this sense, guidelines are not just "permissive 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 standards that teachers assist children (and other adults in the classroom) to learn and to use.
When adults model positive expectations, 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 resolution. This set of interactions sure beats demanding, refusing, grabbing, pushing away, and the teacher's enforcing a "No fighting" rule.
With infants and toddlers, guidelines 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 posting guidelines provides a functional literacy activity as well as a quick visual reminder. Just a few guidelines work well; one classroom (as mentioned) had only one: "We are friendly with our mates." (These teachers preferred the term mates, as in classmates, to friends. They respected the children's right to define their own friendships.)
In the ele:nentary grades, three or Toward the positive
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four guidelines work well (too many |
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makes things complicated) (Gartrell |
As I see it, moving to the posi- |
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2010). Examples are |
tive requires an attitude shift by the |
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• We are friendly with others and |
teacher from being a technician to |
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ourselves. |
being a professional. A technician operates with the ongoing mission |
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• We solve problems together. |
of rule enforcement. In contrast, a |
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• Mistakes are okay. We just need to |
teacher who is a professional continu- |
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learn from them. |
ously makes judgments about situations based on a mission to undermission greatly |
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use a guidance fundamental, the class meeting, to engage children in working with guidelines. Teachers remark that solutions to problems reached through meetings—such as tiptoeing like tnommy and daddy elephants—arv frequently more creative than what they themselves might have come up Teachers |
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., C.W. Ladd, &S.L. Hecald-Crown. 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. Developmentally Appropriate Practice in Early Childhood Programs Serving Children from Birth |
stand and guide—a aided by the use of guidelines that transcend rules and their baggage.
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sibility (Vance & Jimenez through Age 8. 3rd ed. Washington, DC: NAEYC. Weaver 2
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DeVries, R. , & B. Zan. 2003. "When Children Make Rules." Educational Leadership 61 (l): 22—29.
Ettekal, L, & G.w. Ladd. 2009. "The Stability of Aggressive Behavior toward Peers as a Predictor of Externalizing Problems from Childhood through Adolescence." Handbook of Aggressive Behavior Research, eds. C. Quinn & S. Tawse. Hauppauge, NY: Nova Science Publishers.
Gartrell, D. 2006. "The Beauty of Class Meetings." Guidance Matters. Young Children 61
(6): 54-55.
Gartrell, D. 201 Oa. 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. "Teachers' 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 Examination 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 Childhood 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 (I): 81—87.
Vance. E., & P. Jimenez Weaver. 2002. Class Meetings: Solving Problems Together. Washington, DC: NAEYC.
Watson, M. 2003. "Attachment Theory and
Challenging Behaviors: Reconstructing the
Nature of Relationships." Young Children 58 12-20.
Wien, C.A. "From Policing to Participation: Overturning the Rules and Creating Amiable Classrooms." Young Children 59 (l): 34—40.
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