Behaviour Management with Young Children

Crucial First Steps with Children 3–7 Years

Bill Rogers, Elizabeth McPherson

• Publisher: SAGE Publications Ltd
• Year: 2014
• ISBN:
  9781473906402
• Edition: 2
• Topic: Education
• Subtopic: Education Teaching Methods

?This book will make a difference not only to the behaviour of pupils but also to the sanity of teachers.?
-Jane Bellamy, Headteacher, Wold Newton School, Wold Newton, Driffield, East Riding of Yorkshire ?It is what we have been waiting for. A delight to read and will be a constant source of inspiration and guidance to us all.?
-Cathy Whalen, Headteacher, Mousehold Infant and Nursery School, Norwich, Norfolk ?What a privilege to read a book written by the person that has had the most impact on my classroom teaching and the whole ethos of our school.' -Debbie Hoy, Headteacher, Brookland Infant & Nursery School, Cheshunt, Hertfordshire Written by Behaviour Management expert, Bill Rogers and his daughter and Early Years teacher, Elizabeth McPherson, this book explores behaviour management in the crucial early years. Essential skills are explored in detail through a wide range of case studies and with specific focus on:

• challenging student behaviour
• positive discipline practice
• students with special behaviour needs
• how colleague support can help our day-to-day teaching
• anger management and safe restraint
• how to set up and maintain a whole-class behaviour agreement.

The ultimate guide for early years students, educators and teachers, this book will change the way you think and practise.

1

The Critical First Days and First Week

Day one – first meeting with our new class

There are 20 – or more – children sitting on the carpet, it is your first day with your class. (Reception – 4- and 5-year-olds.) The children are – naturally – excited. Some are anxious; a few confused; some are just ‘being themselves’ (annoyingly). There is a lot of natural, normal, kinaesthetic energy here. Some of these children have already been to playschool and kindergarten. Some have loving and thoughtful and caring parents and carers; some have tired, frustrated parents and carers and are subject to inconsistent parenting and discipline. Some of our children have witnessed very disturbing things – already – in their young lives; and not just on television.

Negotiating the social place, space and purpose of classroom and school life ...

Twenty (or more) children, some with significant and restless energy, will have to learn to understand and negotiate this place and space; to understand why they are here – every day. Some will easily sprawl, trip, roll, fall, bump into ...; fail to see someone ‘in their way’; cry easily ... Some will speak when (and how) they please, butting in and talking over others ... Some will have been ‘spoilt’, had far too much of their own way ... Some will not like being told ‘what to do ...’.

I recall a mother (many years ago now) earnestly explaining to me (after class one day), “Mr Rogers, my boy is a free spirit you know ... we don’t really have any rules at home as such ... ”. I assured her that her son (6) would have a very positive experience with us, learning to relate, work, share, co-operate within our whole-class behaviour agreement. She looked worried, but in time Sean learned to differentiate his ‘Lotus land’ from ‘what we did, how we worked, in our school ...’.

Beyond those early years of play and life and after having significant and personal adult attention they will need to learn how to discriminate and attend across others’ voices and behaviours; to take their turn in class discussions; to wait (to tolerate normal frustrations of some waiting); to learn that they cannot have adult attention immediately and undividedly. Most of all they will have to learn to modify their behaviour in relation to others. To do that, of course, they need to be aware of their behaviour (and its effects on others ...) and to be taught, encouraged, guided to that end.

They will all need reassurance, guidance, direction and discipline – from the outset. From these first moments our children will need to be taught – and encouraged – in those behaviours that will enable social co-operation and focused learning.

They will get used to ‘sitting on the mat’ – that carpet area facing their teacher. They will get used to putting their hands up (without calling out) to share or ask questions; to take their turn; to wait, think (perhaps) before they speak; to co-operate with their peers … That is all to come. Now they face their teacher; day one. They face the significant adult they will be with for most of each day, five days a week, each term throughout their first school year.

They sit there, some cross-legged and (already) attentive, others are quite restless. We have to initiate and sustain whole-class attention: a key skill that will become second nature to us and – hopefully – reciprocated in our children (pp. 14–22).

Prior to this first day the children will – fortunately – have had:

• Transition days, easing reception-aged children into the new world of ‘school’.

• Some schools will start with half-days, others with (say) Wednesdays off (again, for reception-aged children).

• Some schools organise ‘reception only play times’ gradually overlapping with ‘buddies play times’ until they go to full play times with the rest of the school (see p. 10).

• Transition is vital to easing children into school in a safe and positive way.

• Having tables set out with play activities (similar to a kindergarten set-up) is a useful way to get the children settled for the first week or so (depending on the dynamics of your class) and letting them play until the clingy, tearful parents and carers have left is very useful and allows us to deal with the more demanding and challenging students (p. 168).

• Parents/carers have had information packs and literature (that they have hopefully read) about how to assist their child’s transition to school. Activities such as labelling their uniform and letting them try it on, packing their school bag, explaining what happens at school, even role-playing, and trying out the play equipment are all important activities that enable this significant transition in their lives.

Play

It is crucial, in the early stages of the year, to allow time for play. Children have come from kindergarten which is almost exclusively play (both ‘free’ play and ‘directed’ play) into a more formal structured primary school environment. To go from a ‘play-rich’ environment, into an environment that requires children to also be ‘on-task’ at a table group, can be a shock to some children. They will need some time to adjust to the daily routine of school compared to kindergarten.

At the beginning of the reception grade year, I would set the tables up with various activities, puzzles on one table, drawing materials on another, a bucket of mobiles on the floor, etc. Children were then able to enter the classroom and begin their day in a familiar, non-threatening way, and as lingering parents and carers eventually departed, we were able to pack away and begin some whole-class, focused learning time on the mat. As the initial transition weeks progressed we were able to shift gradually to the more formal routines … e.g.: take-home books in the tub, straight on the mat for roll call, notes in the bag for take home.

Incorporating moments of play into the rigours of the day can enable children to relax and celebrate their achievements. Using play in learning activities is also a positive way to enforce concepts that we are teaching. Be it hands-on play using different-sized containers with water or grain to demonstrate volume and capacity, cooking activities and puppet plays to demonstrate different writing genres, or memory games to teach sight words; play can be woven into almost anything and can also help to develop a love of learning. (Elizabeth).

That is not to say that play only has a role at transition time. It can also be used as a vehicle for learning (social interaction, motor skills, role playing, spatial relations, the list goes on) as well as a ‘reward’ celebration. I used to allocate Friday afternoons as ‘developmental play time’. I would arrange various play activities ranging from collage and paper jewellery making to baby dolls and cars. I would use a task management board (similar to that used for literacy groups) and ask children to put their names next to the play activities set up for that afternoon. This enabled the children to try new games and activities, learn new skills and even make new friends. I would then use this time to observe my children and make annotated assessments of what the children were playing with and how they were learning through that play time. Without trying to sound too ‘academic’ about the whole thing … Friday afternoons, end of the week, tired little kids, a bit of play is good for them (Elizabeth).⁹

As Jerome Bruner et al. (1976) noted, play is as much process as it is ever ‘product’. The distinction between undirected (sometimes called ‘free play’) and directed play is – therefore – not firmly fixed. Free play is, primarily, voluntary. Any concept of ‘free’ – at the most – means free from directed play focus. This does not mean that such play is ‘better’, or ‘richer’ in form (or function) – it is different in its genesis and focus.

Nor is ‘free play’ (where adults are present, or need to be present) without guidelines for play behaviour, or even basic directed ends on how we clean up, and put the right toys, activities, in the right boxes ...

All play has the power to stimulate imagination, creativity and learning.

• It can enable formative skills: fine motor, organisation, pattern and order, social imagination, to name a few.

• It can enable symbolic imagination and social engagement (turn-taking, perspective-taking on others’ feelings about space, sharing, contribution ...) and co-operation.

• It can enable frustration tolerance (as when sorting; ‘building’; construction activities; jigsaws, etc.).

As Bruner et al. (1976, p. 55) note, ‘(it can engage) the possibilities inherent in things and events’.

My writing table – directed play?

Some of my students were not writing; they frequently said they couldn’t do it or didn’t want to write because it was “too hard …”. I set aside a ‘special’ table with A3 paper, crayons, felt-tipped pens, magazines (but not magazines like Who or any of those hyped up sorts …), age-related comics … I also put up a smallish whiteboard where students could take turns in ‘writing’ anything on the board.

It was part ‘play’ and part ‘free writing’ opportunity. For those students it reduced their anxiety and increased their motivation. All children could access this writing table area.

I also find that some children will write more ‘freely’, and expressively, if they are allowed to ‘draw their writing thoughts first’.

Planning for day one

Having greeted our children and organised name tags (essential), we would normally bring all our children to the carpet area for our first meeting together as a class group. Learning children’s names is essential, particularly when we need their individual and selective attention, in any context. Even before our – formal – day one we will probably have a ‘photograph register’ so we can normally learn their names by the end of the first day.¹⁰

Sitting ‘on the mat’ (the front of room carpet area) is a crucial routine we will utilise several times a day – every day of our teaching life. It is easy to assume that children will know how to behave in this group context whether on the mat, in table groups or moving – when appropriate – around a crowded classroom. As with all the core routines we develop, we work with the children’s natural, developmental ‘readiness’. We also need to teach behaviour related to that readiness (within that group context).

Some infant classes have children sitting at table groups for all learning activities, Even where this is a chosen seating arrangement, it is still crucial to teach behaviours appropriate to whole-class teaching time as distinct from small-group, on-task, learning time. I have witnessed teachers who, while speaking to the whole-class group, are ignoring the several students who have their seat backs to the teacher, or are rocking in their chairs, or still chatting ... Children need to be taught the expected behaviours for any whole-class teaching and discussion time.

‘Sitting on the mat’ (Carpet area)

It is deceptively basic – surely – to expect children to understand what we mean when we say ‘sit on the mat’? Perhaps not.

What we normally mean by ‘sitting on the mat’ is that we teach (and encourage) children to:

• Sit cross-legged; relaxed (without pushing back onto others), or sitting knees up and arms around knees. The actual sitting (in such a small area), ‘cheek by jowl’, is not easily comfortable if we do not consciously consider personal space and place. It is easy to bump and push into, or across, another child’s ‘space’ on the carpet area. A brief discussion, and modelling, of these deceptively basic specifics will help enormously. (This is very important for children diagnosed with autistic spectrum disorder. See, later, pp. 14f).

• I once had a child who was so overweight he simply could not sit cross-legged, so those children who wanted to could pull up a chair or cushion (so as not to single him out). Naturally they would lose the privilege if there was any distracting and disruptive behaviour (while sitting on their chair).

• Face the front of the room – and your teacher – and listen with ears and eyes. It is important that children learn to ‘listen with their eyes’. This helps maintain attentiveness (even transitory attentiveness!). This basic listening skill also (obviously) has wider currency than when the children are ‘on the mat’ (e.g. any group contexts such as assembly times ...). Some of my early years colleagues call this ‘whole-body listening’.

• Hands and feet in their lap or around legs (if the student has a strong – physical – preference for sitting that way). A key verbal cue we will need to use many times (in the first week) is, “Keep your hands and feet safe – in your laps.” Never assume 4- a...