The Class Meeting
An extension of the time-honored custom of “circle time” (which traditionally includes group activities or routines planned by the teacher) is the class meeting, a forum for informal and intentional discussions including those that help foster self-regulation (Gartrell, 2012; Pawlina & Stanford, 2011; Vance & Weaver, 2002) Like its adult counterpart, a classroom meeting can be a regular part of the daily or weekly schedule or called as needed (by either a teacher or child) when situations arise that require consideration by the group as a whole. Examples of functions that might be carried out in a group setting include:
- Problem solvingaddressing issues that affect the group or helping individuals brainstorm solutions for a problem with which they are struggling
- Creating, discussing, or revising guidelinesincluding children in this process enhances their sense of community involvement and investment in the welfare of the group
- Role playing/demonstrating appropriate actions or behavior
- Affirmations/acknowledging efforts and accomplishments
- Making joint decisions about curriculum that can involve children, such as choosing a field trip destination, determining what direction a project should take, or making a plan for how the garden will be planted
Class meetings teach children about the purpose of shared goals and foster a sense of partnership in a learning community (Galinsky, 2012), where all members learn from each other and actively engage in meaningful and relevant decision making.
Time Out
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Many teachers (and parents) believe that designating a chair or spot where a child can be sent for time out supports the development of self-regulation and fulfills a commitment to peaceful discipline, giving children a chance to calm down, think about what they did wrong and what to do next, and be ready to return to group play when released. Rules of thumb such as one minute in time out per year of age are commonplace.
However, an increasing number of early childhood researchers observing children placed in time out find fault with this traditional format and believe that it should be discouraged if not discontinued (Hendrick & Weissman, 2007; Karson, 2014; Readick & Chapman, 2000). Among their findings are that time out can result in feelings of isolation, sadness, and not being liked by the teacher; confusion about why they were there; and uncertainty about what to do when released. Moreover, when time out is used routinely for noncompliance rather than reserved for the most serious problem behavior, its effectiveness dramatically decreases (Readick & Chapman, 2000).
To avoid these negative outcomes, teachers who use time out should modify the practice to provide the child with a more active and meaningful role in self-regulation, by:
- Reserving time out for only the most serious negative behaviors (i.e., hurting someone else or damaging property) when other strategies such as redirection have failed.
- Keeping the child with an adult rather than sending him or her to a corner or isolated location. (This maintains the teacher-child connection and also reduces the possibility that the adult might forget about the child!)
- Helping the child use words to discuss what happened and how to make a better decision.
- Rather than imposing a specified time, let the child indicate when he or she is ready to return (modified from recommendations from Hendrick & Weissman, 2007).