Good evening all!
Thank you for your help in this matter.
I have been an assistant teacher in many classrooms, taught all ages in my home daycare and worked with all ages of children., I have never been a lead. There is so much to experiment with and believe me I have gone through many to the extreme.
It's hard sometimes when I don't get the help I need. Especially when I have more kids than the normal because of staffing issues. So It can become frustrating,
I try to do my best, take time, and redirect but I do have many young toddlers that are used to running around and doing other things instead of circle time activities, Jesus time and stations. They are starting to learn little by little but I still need assistance.
I have rearranged my room many times, I have reduced the number of toys and what not, I have changed my pictures on walls ceilings because of the distractions but I am running out of ideas. I have had many assistant teachers come and go.
That is why I am addressing you all and getting the book. I tried to look up the pyramid but I cant get into it. It states more for your facility than for the teacher? I am confused.
But you are right, I am in trouble because I was thrown into this. Now I am thinking about getting out. I am hoping you all have some great ideas to help with my situation at hand.
I am not giving up on my children, I love them all dearly, I just need to find a peace of mind to teach them in a loving kind way without the outbursts from them. I know they are all children and it will happen from time to time but I have some serious issues,
One child throws chairs, toys or a table at me, and now there are a couple of my other children who are mimicking that child's behavior.
So if any of you have more information for me please bring it!
Thanks all
Lindy
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Linda Strub
Assistant Toddler Teacher
Little Saints
New Prague MN
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Original Message:
Sent: 02-22-2021 07:32 AM
From: Heather Dean
Subject: Challenging children in preschool ages 2-4
We use the same practice in our school. It's very effective and when it fails, it's usually because we can't get the parents buy-in. They can't see that their lack of consistent discipline sends a mix message. It's especially apparent during our parent teacher conferences and we invite the child to attend. Parents will actually marvel at how out of control their child is and will refer it to "unrestricted exploration." The child is in desperate need of structure and discipline.
We've had to cancel contracts in the past-but only about five or six in 18 years. I don't feel guilty anymore. We give ample time and opportunity for families to help us help get their child on tract.
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Heather Dean
Director
Bright Futures Child Care Learning Center
Fairfield CT
Original Message:
Sent: 02-21-2021 09:14 AM
From: Jeanne deMarrais
Subject: Challenging children in preschool ages 2-4
We use Conscious Discipline and I absolutely love it. It grounds you beautifully in coaching the child toward self regulation. I don't have enough good things to say about it.
Nonetheless, I have had 2 significant fails in using it. In both cases I was concentrating on the Conscious Discipline system and in both cases the children were powerfully drawn toward disruptive behaviors. In both cases the children had experience with systems like RIE that were sufficiently similar that they had already learned to tune out calls for empathy. In both cases I ultimately needed to more through empathy talk quickly and focus more on the consequences, but in a loving, non-punitive way.
Limiting the disruptive child's capacity to dominate the situation is actually core to Conscious Discipline, so I don't think I departed from the principles - it's just that you may not get all the words and attitudes you need for the consequences portion from the book. Have a behavior plan in place.
Just FYI, in terms of those two children, one is now in much more control of his behaviors and much more accepted by his peers than he had been when disruptive. He feels the power of his success and it is motivating. The other made some improvements but never stopped looking for avenues to disrupt (some of his issues/actions were very serious). At least our consequences protected the other children and classroom order. Ultimately, that second child left my program, so no more to report. But the difference in outcomes lines up with differences in parent responses. The second parent took no actions that I know of. She said that her child was consistently wonderful outside of school and that the school environment must be the thing that brought those behaviors out in her child. The first child's parents acted immediately. They sought professional support and we were able to create a plan for consequences that would be seamless between school and home.
I now ask on my application if a child has had any issues with physical or verbal aggression (and to explain if 'yes'). It helps me prepare appropriately and I think it puts me in a stronger position to respond to a 'you deal with it' attitude from a parent. It also reminds me that I can respond calmly and lovingly to aggression without normalizing it. The parents can be your strongest ally, so bring them in as quickly as you can.
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Jeanne deMarrais
The Mulberry Tree
Santa Monica CA
Original Message:
Sent: 02-20-2021 11:43 AM
From: Linda Strub
Subject: Challenging children in preschool ages 2-4
I am having challenging behaviors in my classroom this is the first time I have been a preschool lead teacher and it is getting disruptive and in some moments abusive what can I do to help my classroom if you have any curriculum activity books on challenging behaviors or any idea I've just ordered a book called conscience discipline so I'm hoping that will help me a lot any views let me know thanks.
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Linda Strub
Assistant Toddler Teacher
Little Saints
New Prague MN
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