Child Guidance Philosophy
The book, The Power of Guidance, written by Dan Gartrell explores the approaches to
young child guidance. In chapter 2, Gartrell focuses on misbehavior and mistaken behavior. He
discusses that, “Mistaken behavior reminds us that the child is just at the beginning of a lifelong
learning process, which we also are undertaking, and that in the process of learning we all make
mistakes” (Gartrell, 2004, p. 7). Through misbehavior, children feel labels as they are punished
negatively. Through mistaken behavior, children are understood as developmental learners in
need of guidance. “Through methods and curriculum, educators need to accommodate the
developmental and experiential circumstances of each child” (Gartrell, 2004, p. 9).
There are three levels of mistaken behavior. These levels include strong needs, socially
influenced, and experimentation. In the strong needs level, children have the, “Inability to cope
with problems resulting from health conditions and life experiences” (Gartrell, 2004, p. 12). The
socially influenced level deals with the desire to please others; while the experimentation level
deals with the desire to explore the environment and engage in relationships. Through proper
guidance and understanding of the meaning for mistaken behavior, children can learn and
develop successfully.
An encouraging classroom is developed through guidance, going beyond time-out,
intervention alternatives, and class meetings. Gartrell argues that there are five reason why timeout is an undesirable practice. The first is that, “The imposed external control of the time-out
inhibits a child’s ability to build internal controls and may cause a child lasting feelings of ‘being
ineffectual’” (Gartrell, 2004, p. 65). The other four reason include, the idea that the time-out
chair doesn’t have personal needs met; time-out diminishes the child’s developing sense of self-
worth and confidence; the young child has difficulty understanding the relation of actions to
consequences; and opportunities for valuable learning lessons are lost.
An encouraging classroom creates guidelines, not rules. Instead of saying no to
something, a guideline states what can be done. This creates positive reinforcement. To build an
encouraging classroom, a teach can also, “Eliminate practices that single out individuals or small
groups of children for either public criticism or praise” (Gartrell, 2004, p. 77). There are also
four guidance basics to creating an encouraging classroom. These include, classic conflict
management, guidance talk, class meeting, and comprehensive guidance. To sustain the
encouraging classrooms, class meetings are most appropriate. “Teachers choose to hold class
meetings in order to establish a sense of belonging within the group, conduct class business, and
to solve problems that arise” (Gartrell, 2004, p. 95).
There are different meetings to establish these things. Common meetings include openended meetings, educational/diagnostic meetings, and problem-solving meetings. The most
important set of guidelines are set during problem solving meetings. “The dignity of individuals
is protected; situations are describes, not judged; feelings are states as I messages; suggestions
for solutions are appreciated; and a course of action is decided, tried, and reviewed” (Gartrell,
2004, p.100). An encouraging classroom is possible and successful.
The part of this book that resonate with what I see in the classroom is the comprehensive
guidance piece. The views of the teachers use the considerations that are listed in the book. For
example, they believe that there is no such thing as a bas child, children who show repeated
aggressive and extreme behaviors are in dangers of being stigmatized by peers and adults, and
that there must be a firm, friendly, and consistent intervention system. There is a child in the
class room that is a level three of mistaken behavior and uses intervention techniques to calm
down and get situation. Several guidance techniques are tried with this child. The best
resolution is to have one on one interventions.
I agree completely with the idea of mistaken behavior. I believe it is important to
understand the difference of misbehaviors and mistaken behaviors. A child is developmentally
growing each day and to successfully do so, they are entitles to make mistakes along the way. I
also agree with the idea of class meetings. This seems to work in my classroom through
interaction in a social setting.
2. Within the social and emotional development domain, toddlers are making progress
when they develop attachments to primary caregivers, demonstrate awareness of self and own
abilities, acquire a sense of belonging, explore people, places, and things, recognize
similarities/difference between people, imitate actions of familiar people, show empathy by
responding to social and emotional cues, communicate an array of needs, and explore emotions
and their impact on self and others. “They actively seek out their friends and especially enjoy
imitating each other’s behavior and engaging in group activities such as a simple game of follow
the leader” (Copple & Bredekamp, 2009, p. 67). These social and emotional steps are often seen
and observed in a day care or learning center. This domain relates closely to Vygotsky’s theory
on socialization through interacting with others. He believed that, “Much of children’s
understanding first occurs in communication with other people, then appears in private speech,
and eventually is internalized as thought” (Copple & Bredekamp, 2009, p.131).
3. Some of the socials goals in our classroom include: “to show empathy for others, to
feels safe and secure away from parents, to show affection or dislike, to influence others, to help
at cleanup time, to show interest in conversations, and to explore with others.” These goals and
expectations are the most important ones in the toddler classroom I observe at.
Some of the guidance practices seen in the classroom include using an area for children
to calm their bodies down until they are ready to talk. A child who is having trouble listening or
who is hitting another child is asked to walk away and let the teacher know when they are ready
to talk. Once they are ready, the teacher brings over the children the conflict was between and
have them talk through it with each other to describe what they didn’t like and what happened.
In this classroom, children are never deprived of a learning experience. They are guided through
a conflict to solve the problem and learn a valuable lesson from it.
Another form of guidance seen in the classroom is class meetings. In our classroom this
is more commonly known as circle time. If the children are not listening, we flicker the
classroom lights to get their attentions and ask them to sit at circle. Once they are all seated, we
discuss why it is important to listen and what can happen if we don’t listen such as getting hurt.
4. One of the behavioral issues that challenges me is with two boys in the classroom.
When we reach circle time around 9:00 a.m., the children are all seated except the two boys.
Almost every day, they go off in the classroom and fail to come to circle. Instead of stopping
them from wandering off, we let them. Once circle time has ended, we call them over to circle
and explain to them that it hurts our feelings when they do not listen. For me this is challenging,
because as a student, some of the children see me as a playmate rather than a teacher. I am
trying to learn how to establish to them that I am a student teacher in the classroom. I work well
with several of the children, but the two boys I recently mentioned fail to listen to my words. I
need to try having an intervention like Gartrell suggests.
Another issue I face is with another child in the class. Around lunch time, he starts to
turn his chair while he is eating. When his chair is turned to a certain angle, he drops is food and
runs around the classroom. For the next fifteen minutes, he is yelling and running around the
classroom. He needs to be restrained by J, the cooperating teacher because his body is physically
out of control. After reading Gartrell’s book, I now understand that this child struggles with
level three mistaken behavior. He is trying to cope with several problems at home. It is
understandable that he is acting out in class. The problem is trying to guide him through his
events and help him learn through it. There seems to be no progress, but as teachers, we cannot
give up.
Along with Gartrell, I believe that there is a power through guidance. I believe that
children are constantly learning and are entitled to make mistakes. I also believe in modifying
curriculum to fit the needs of all children and provide opportunities for them to grow and
develop through all domains.
I will develop a respectful and caring classroom environment through understanding. I
will, “Accept behavior as developmentally appropriate and will not see the child as an
adversary” (Gartrell, 2004, p. 2). I believe that a behavior does not define a child and that they
deserve as much respect as any other child should receive. My classroom environment will also
accommodate children for developmental learning. We will use guidelines instead of rules as
Gartrell discusses in his book. For example, instead of telling a child that there is no playing
with the toys on the slide, I would say that they can play with the dolls in these areas. This
provides positive reinforcement and creates a caring classroom environment.
For community building, we will hold daily class meetings. The most common meeting I
plan on using is the open-ended meeting. Here, we will, “Discuss hypothetical life problems”
(Gartrell, 2004, p. 97) such as “what would you do if...?”. We will also meet to solve problems
by describing situation and using suggestions for solutions.
The overall feel of the classroom will be warm, inviting, and encouraging. Children who
experience mistaken behaviors are guided through life learning experiences within the
classroom. Guidance in the classroom is the most important factor to creating a warm feel in the
environment. I plan to use calming techniques and physical restraining to guide children through
mistaken behavior. The classroom will have an atmosphere that is socially and emotionally
acceptable and successful. My overall goal is to provide rich experiences for the children and to
never stop them from a potential learning lesson. They will feel self-worth and importance in
my classroom.
Bibliography
Bredekamp, S. & Copple, C. (2009). Developmentally appropriate practice in early childhood
programs (3rd ed.). Washington DC: NAEYC
Gartrell, D. (2004). The power of guidance: teaching social-emotional skills in early childhood
classrooms. Australia: Thomson/Delmar Learning.
(2005). Social/Emotional Development. New Hampshire Early Learning Guidelines. New
Hampshire: Child Development Bureau.