Stephany Lawhon

Amanda BallardJordan Bittner Jenny Kim

DEVELOPMENTALLY APPROPRIATE

PRACTICE

Developmentally Appropriate Social/Emotional Environments:

For Preschoolers

CHAPTER 11

SOCIAL/EMOTIONAL ISSUES IN PRESCHOOL YEARS

Identification processGender/sex role identityCultural and racial identity InitiativeFriendshipProsocial behavior versus AggressionSelf Control

GENDER IDENTITY

Two components: Sexual identity Sex-role behavior

“Young children struggle with many issues as they attempt to understand what being a girl or boy means. The support they do or do not get in their preschool years lays the foundation for the rest of their gender identity formation”

CULTURAL AND RACIAL IDENTITY

Understanding of one’s racial or ethnic identity It is important to respond to cultural diversity.Respect and acceptance is required for an eff ective

early childhood education.

Question: How can you show acceptance to all races/cultures in

your classroom?

INITIATIVE

Healthy sense of self Children want to assert themselves through

initiative through pretending, inventing, creating, taking risks, and playing with others.

PLAY!

FRIENDSHIP

Friendship and learning the skills of friendship are important social/emotional issues of early childhood.

Desirable social skills can be taught and modeled by helpful teachers .

PROSOCIAL BEHAVIOR VERSUS AGGRESSION

Positive discipline methods help promote prosocial behaviors and lessen aggression

Children exhibit prosocial behaviors when they become aware of the need of help of others

SELF CONTROL

The process of forming a conscience- “an inner voice of self observation, self-guidance, self-punishment” is the goal of appropriate guidance for preschoolers.

DEVELOPMENTALLY APPROPRIATE ENVIRONMENTS FOR FEELINGS

SecurityWarm RelationshipsAcceptanceActive ListeningLimits on ExpressionProviding outletsModeling behaviorMaterials for expressionLearning about feelingsVocabulary to Express Feelings

NURTURING INDIVIDUAL IDENTITY

It is inappropriate to treat children as they are only members of a group

It is important to recognize the unique characteristics and needs of each and every child as an individual

It is important to recognize that forming a healthy gender identity is development task for preschool children. It helps to enable them to clarify answers.

IMPLICATIONS-INDIVIDUAL IDENTITY

Use words and nonverbal actions to show affection and sincere interest in them

Spend time talking individually with each child each day.

Create a classroom atmosphere that encourages and values individuality

Respond with sensitivity to children’s individuality.

Convey respect for individual parents’ styles and needs.

Provide opportunities, materials, and encouragement for children to initiate activities that have meaning and interest them personally.

Continually incorporate concepts related to personal identity into learning activities and conversations.

IMPLICATIONS-GENDER IDENTITY

Accept children's rights to be curious about their bodies

Offer experiences that challenge narrow, stereotypical views of gender behavior.

Recognize the play environment to encourage more cross-gender play choices.

Use art and photos to broaden children's views of what jobs men and women can do.

Examine pictures and language in books in the classroom to show diversity in work and home roles.

Involved children in new activities.Encourage all family members to become

involved.Communicate with parents about goals and

classroom practices to support healthy gender identity

Examine personal feelings about gender-free activities, comments, and attitudes.

DISCUSSION

What types of things do you see in your classroom that show acceptance for gender and individual identity?

What would you do in your classroom?

ROUTINES: WHY THEY MATTER AND HOW TO GET STARTED

Having a routine in a classroom allows children to feel secure and safe.

Feeling secure and safe allow children to trust each other because their lives are predictable and stable.

What types of routines do you see in your classroom?

When teachers are able to create an antibias environment for the students it will promote positive attitudes towards cultural and race identity.

There are many goals for an antibias environment for all children to be aware of.

Self awareness Confidence Family pride Positive social identities Express comfort with human diversity Recognize fairness and understand that fairness hurts

Teachers should be including ideas about cultural diversity and respect in their daily interactions and aware that what they are or are not using in the classroom will show what is valued by others.

CULTURAL AND RACIAL IDENTITY

Teachers can do the following: Look through all pictures and books to make sure that they are

portraying the diversity of the classroom, community, and total North American population.

Reading daily to the students can help them appreciate the diversity of the world.

Providing toys, materials, and activities for centers that celebrate diversity.

Involving parents in classroom activities, visits, and allowing them to share family stories about cultural background.

Working with families to support and maintain children's home language, but also working with them to learn English.

Becoming sensitive to opportunities to help children move from discomfort to knowing how to gently challenge ideas that could lead to bias development.

CULTURAL AND RACIAL IDENTITY CONT.

Preschoolers are at the stage where they are beginning to understand what friendship means.

Adults and teachers able to help students with the beginning of friendship when they:

Allow time for face to face conversations. Providing materials that promote social play. Pairing children up during activities. Asking children if they would like to play with a friend. Help children develop effective skills for entering play. Help children understand how their behavior affects the

response of others. Model play entry skills to help students who are less skilled in

the activity learn how to enter the play.

FRIENDSHIP

Help children practice effective communication. Give children information to help them recognize when a friend

wants to play with them. Explore ideas of friendship and social skills with children. Help students recognize that preschool friendships may be short

lived.

FRIENDSHIP CONT.

The preschool years are the time to become aware of early opportunities for learning and teaching.

Teachers are able to do many things to help students develop prosocial behavior.

Providing Materials Providing Activities Encouraging Assistance Considering Posocial Actions Help Children Recognize Prosocial Behavior Reinforcing Prosocial Behavior

TEACHING PROSOCIAL BEHAVIOR

Modeling Prosocial Behavior Limiting Aggression and Antisocial Behavior Help Develop Empathy Opportunities for Kindness Creating a Caring Community

TEACHING PROSOCIAL BEHAVIOR CONT.

Preschool children are beginning to develop to control their impulses and are able to express their needs through language.

There are many diff erent techniques that teachers should know and try to help teach appropriate behaviors.

Developmentally Appropriate Guidance: Focusing on what children do right, rather than what they are

doing wrong. Working together to correct situations Practices that do not support positive guidance Emphasize coercion Focus on retaliation Stop behavior without teaching alternatives Involve displaying adult anger with children’s limitations in self-

control.

GUIDANCE TOWARD SELF-CONTROL

Ten positive guidance techniques that are developmentally appropriate:

Modeling Positive Statements Reinforcement, Noticing, Strokes Redirection Setting Limits Choices for Control Natural and Logical Consequences Discussion for Problem Solving “I”-messages Renewal Time

GUIDANCE TOWARD SELF-CONTROL CONT.

Friendships provide important opportunities for children to learn and develop.

Best practice emphasizes the importance of respecting and promoting diversity in children’s play experiences and friendships.

When children try diff erent activities and ways of communicating and interacting, they are better poised to develop the fl exibility to interact successfully in a range of social groups and situations.

( M a n a s t e r , 2 0 1 2 )

SUPPORTINGPRESCHOOLERS’ POSITIVE

PEER RELATIONSHIPS

Teachers are in a unique position to cultivate children’s cross-gender interactions and friendships. By intentionally planning and supporting certain experiences, educators can encourage children to build a social world characterized by meaningful relationships with peers of both sexes.

When we take action to help children focus on their common interests, we create opportunities for girls and boys to share positive experiences with one another—and this may encourage them to seek each other out in the future.

(Manaster, 2012)

SUPPORTINGPRESCHOOLERS’ POSITIVE

PEER RELATIONSHIPS

Behavior Role Play

ACTIVITY

Developmentally Appropriate Social/Emotional Environments: For

Primary Aged Children

CHAPTER 12

Development of self-esteem in the primary years is closely bound to the development of a sense of industry, defined as the core confl ict of the school years. Core Conflict: Erikson’s term that describes the

psychosocial issue to be resolved in each stage of development for healthy personality development

Influenced by both cognitive and social accomplishments

SOCIAL/EMOTIONAL ISSUES FOR THE PRIMARY YEARS

Peer Relationships and Group Skills

“By age six most American children spend more than 40% of their waking hours in the company of peers”

This has to do with the development of middle childhood. At this age parents are realizing the children’s

greater ability to think and act for themselves and allow them to begin spending extensive time with their friends.

These new experiences in friendship allow for children to master new cognitive and social skills.

SOCIAL/EMOTIONAL ISSUES FOR THE PRIMARY YEARS

Peer Relationships and Group Skills (ctnd.)Basic Developmental Functions of Friendship

Friendships… Are the source of learning basic social skills such as

communication, cooperation, and the ability to enter an existing group.

Help children learn about themselves, others and the larger world.

Offer fun, emotional support and relief from stress. Help children begin to learn about intimate relationships Seem to help children feel good about themselves.

Friendship teaches skills that help children fi t into peer groups which is an important task in the primary years.

SOCIAL/EMOTIONAL ISSUES FOR THE PRIMARY YEARS

Peer Relationships and Group Skills (ctnd.) It is crucial for teachers to help children develop the

social skills necessary for group membership.

Students who do not develop these friendship skills are at risk for: Poor school achievement Greater likelihood of dropping out of school Higher incidences of juvenile delinquency Poor mental health as adults.

Adult interventions and coaching from teachers can help children develop better relationship skills.

SOCIAL/EMOTIONAL ISSUES FOR THE PRIMARY YEARS

Moral DevelopmentPrimary aged children become increasingly able to

judge right from wrong, based on intentions. Primary aged children are in a stage of moral realism.

Moral Realism: when rules are regarded as unchangeable, absolute, and imposed by an external authority.

Preconventional level of morality: when moral reasoning is influenced by a concern for obedience and punishment for satisfying personal needs.

School age children slowly move into the conventional level of morality. Conventional level of morality: when children become more

concerned with being fair and good, and look to others to approve the moral acts.

SOCIAL/EMOTIONAL ISSUES FOR THE PRIMARY YEARS

Emotional Development and Stress

For most students the early school years brings feelings of stress to their lives for the fi rst time.

As children are beginning to learn how to deal with this stress, it is important to create less stressful environments for them.

It is also important to help them learn how to cope with stress, and learn to deal with these new feelings as they develop.

SOCIAL/EMOTIONAL ISSUES IN THE PRIMARY YEARS

Table Pairing and Share

What are some potential stressors that school-aged children might face for the fi rst time?

How can a teacher best help his/her students cope with these new feeling of stress? Name one strategy.

Teachers can arrange their classrooms and activities to benefit the social/emotional development of the children.

Skills for Group Participation Teachers trying to help develop peer group skills

should: Become aware a children’s style of interaction, preferences

of companions, and ability to communicate with others. Helps teachers to plan appropriate grouping or pairings Sociograms are a good tool for keeping track of the children

socially, diagraming their patterns of social interaction or isolation.

IMPLICATIONS FOR TEACHERS PLANNING SOCIAL/EMOTIONAL

ENVIRONMENTS

Skills for Group Participation (ctnd.)

Create informal physical arrangements that allow children to work with particular people and allow for small group interaction. Physical environment can help support children working and

talking together. This benefits students who are quieter and work more

comfortable in a more intimate setting. Create specific pairings for projects.

Based off of children’s interests or communication styles. Working collaboratively together on a common activity often

fosters friendships between students.

IMPLICATIONS FOR TEACHERS PLANNING SOCIAL/EMOTIONAL

ENVIRONMENTS

Skills for Group Participation (ctnd.) Teach social skills directly

Less popular children usually are unable to initiate contact with other children and often provoke those peers with undesirable behaviors.

It is important for adults to intervene and teach these children appropriate social skills to prevent the behavior from becoming permanent.

Social Skills that can be taught: 1. Giving attention to others2. Becoming aware of others perspectives and wishes. 3. Taking turns4. Initiating conversation5. Listening and talking appropriately 6. Being assertive rather than aggressive7. Looking and being supportive of other children 8. Learning to enjoy being with others

IMPLICATIONS FOR TEACHERS PLANNING SOCIAL/EMOTIONAL

ENVIRONMENTS

Skills for Group Participation (ctnd.) Support children as they learn to take a social perspective.

Teachers should plan classroom activities and discussions to help children understand other’s feelings

Classroom meetings a great way of implementing this. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-vCdCoV0JdQ

Plan group activities so that curriculum and daily time are designed for cooperative learning. When children discover the joys of working with others as a

team, they are motivated to develop group participation skills. Positive group experiences need to be fostered by the teacher,

they don’t just “happen”

IMPLICATIONS FOR TEACHERS PLANNING SOCIAL/EMOTIONAL

ENVIRONMENTS

Skills for Group Participation (ctnd.) Create a classroom atmosphere that will not tolerate

exclusion or unkindness to its members. Teachers need to help children see that each member of the

class has a different and valuable contribution to make. Teachers should teach children to refuse to react to provocative

behavior, instead of negatively reacting to it.

Create a sense of “caring community of learners that supports all children to develop and learn” Allow children to engage in empathetic activities and consider

others perspectives.

IMPLICATIONS FOR TEACHERS PLANNING SOCIAL/EMOTIONAL

ENVIRONMENTS

Teachers have an important role in creating environments that foster the development of student’s self-esteem and self-effi cacy. Self-esteem: Confidence in one’s own worth or abilities Self-effi cacy: The confidence of an individual in their ability

to perform certain tasks. Children with higher self-esteem and self-effi cacy

seem to be more academically successful.

(Szente, 2007)

SELF-ESTEEM

Children develop self-esteem from environments which:

Have learning tasks and methods that are developmentally appropriate to their level. Individual plans and materials allow children to learn

without fear of failure/embarrassment. There is a broadened scope of activities.

This helps children involve themselves with their peers instead of socially comparing themselves to their peers.

SELF-ESTEEM

Children feel that they are equal and respected within the classroom.

Teachers have planned games and classroom activities that enhance self-esteem

Children participate in democratic discipline. Students should take an active role in classroom regulation.

SELF-ESTEEM

Teachers need to promote a strong self-effi cacy, just as much as self-esteem.

Children with strong self-effi cacy are more persistent and more motivated to accomplish goals.

Teachers need to allow children to set goals, and promote self-motivation toward those goals.

Goals need to be both long and short term, as well as measurable. These goals should be appropriate to the students

development, and something they can achieve. Teachers should find ways to help students reach

their goals.

(Szente, 2007)

SELF-ESTEEM

Group 1 Create a developmentally appropriate classroom

environment that promotes group skills and participation for a preschool student who is very timid and does not want to enter in group activities with other students.

Group 2 Create a developmentally appropriate classroom

environment that promotes group skills and participation for a primary aged student who is aggressive and hostile toward other students in a group setting.

ACTIVITY

Medoff , L. (August 6, 2013). Retrieved from http://www.education.com/magazine/article/importance-routines-preschool-children/

Manaster, Hillary; Jobe, Maureen (2012) Supporting Preschoolers’ Positive Peer Relationships Young Children, v67 n5 p12 Nov 2012. 6 pp.

Szente, Judit. (2007) Empowering Young Children for Success in School and in Life. Early Childhood Education Journal, vol. 34, No. 6, June 2007. pp.449-453

The DSC Way (August 26,2011.) Retrieved fromhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-vCdCoV0JdQ

REFERENCES