Assignment Task: Respond to at least two of your peers' posts. In your response, propose one small action and one large action your peer could implement with their students to continue to help them with the problem shared in their initial reply.
Discussion 1 (Susan):
Examine whether the teachers' actions in the case study provided an equitable and just learning environment for her students.
Miss Antoinette's actions in the case study contributed to creating an equitable and just learning environment for her students. An equitable learning environment includes inclusive practices, differentiated support, and consistent opportunities.
By labeling the emotions and encouraging all the adults in the room to do the same thing, Miss Antoinette made sure that every child, regardless of starting emotional literacy, left the classroom with the vocabulary and means to express their feelings. She offered one on-one support for children like Gregory who required more support in emotionally regulating while simultaneously noticing and encouraging strengths existing within children such as Keisha. Daily activities around emotional regulation ensured that all children had consistent and regular opportunities to build their social-emotional competencies.
The learning environment creates a setting that incorporates empowerment, conflict resolution, and a supportive atmosphere. Teaching children ways to handle feelings empowers the children to take charge of their feelings and interactions to make choices and maintain some level of personal competence. Miss Antoinette was encouraging feelings from the children and making independent solutions to problems, thus building a mutually respectful classroom and understanding environment. A quiet space supportive of the creation of a serene environment, where kids felt safe to bring their emotions out, brought about a fair learning space where every child's emotional needs were recognized and catered to.
Ensuring that the language of feelings and strategies used are culturally sensitive, keeping in mind the diverse backgrounds of all students. Engaging families in the process to reinforce these skills at home and assure a consistent approach to social-emotional learning.
Explain whether you feel the solution the teacher used in the case study was ethical by developing a coherent argument that is supported by the NAEYC Code of Ethical Conduct and Statement of Commitment
Miss Antoinette's actions throughout the case study fit well with the ethical obligations outlined by the NAEYC Code of Ethical Conduct-commitment to children, developmentally appropriate practices, creating a caring community, and ethical responsibilities to colleagues. NAEYC Code offers valuing a period of childhood important and unique in the human life cycle, individual dignity, worth, and uniqueness. Miss Antoinette's efforts to help them label and regulate their emotions showed just how deep her respect for the needs and developmental places of each of the individuals. Treating each child's unique emotional journey with honor and consistent support, modeling emotional
The Code places importance on grounding work in the knowledge of how children develop and learn. Miss Antoinette applied developmentally appropriate strategies, like games, songs, and stories, to teach emotional vocabulary and regulation. In this way, it is lively and acceptable for young children and thus is easily learned. Recognize that children and adults reach their full potential in the context of relationships based on trust and respect.
By allowing the children to express their feelings and solve their conflicts within the classroom, Miss Antoinette established a sensitive and responsive community. In such ways, she attained confidence and respect from all children. The Code also reminds us of the importance of collaborating with colleagues to build a positive work environment. Miss Antoinette provided a model for and supported other adults in this classroom to label and regulate the children's emotions. She also left behind a supportive approach to consistency. Such collaboration made sure that all children get the same amount of support and guidance from them. Miss Antoinette's actions were ethical because they incorporated core values and principles from the NAEYC Code of Ethical Conduct. Her approach supported her students' emotional development and created an equitable and just learning environment.
Discuss how the strategies the teacher used were developmentally appropriate.
Support your thinking with the text, developmental milestones, and at least one additional scholarly source.
Miss Antoinette's strategies had been developmentally appropriate because, among other things, according to "Whole Child, Whole Life," labeling emotions helps children identify and understand their feelings, which are important first steps in emotional development.
Around the time children start to be between the ages of three to five years, they can begin to understand and identify their emotions and those of others. This helps them to further develop emotional awareness and empathy.
Daily integration of the emotional vocabulary that is regularly introduced through feelings games, songs, and stories provides children an opportunity to get more familiar with this broadened emotional vocabulary, which forms part of their social-emotional development. Children at preschool age are at an age when they get new words at a very fast rate and can learn more complex feeling words that allow them to describe their feelings more appropriately. Teaching emotion regulation strategies allows children to be equipped with teaching strategies such as deep breathing, muscle relaxation, and thinking of happy places that help them regulate their emotions effectively. In this stage, the children are learning how to regulate themselves. While learning specific techniques, the children can better regulate their emotions, minimizing emotional outbursts.
Modeling and encouragement are when adults in the classroom model emotional labeling and regulation, and they set a good example for children. Children learn through observation and imitation. Observing this behavior modeled by their teacher reinforces learning and encourages the application of these skills themselves. According to a recent publication in the Early Childhood Education Journal, emotional support and the teaching of emotion regulation strategies consistently provided through the years of early childhood are related to improved social competence and fewer behavioral problems later in life.
(Moses, 2021) Miss Antoinette's approaches were developmentally appropriate as they were consistent with developmental milestones, as reflected in the course text and additional scholarly research. It has not only helped children in her class develop important social-emotional skills, but it has also allowed her to establish a very positive and supportive learning environment.
Propose at least two things you would do next if you were the teacher in the case study in order to continue fostering the social-emotional development of the children in the case study.
If I were the teacher in that case study, the two strategies I would continue with to further build upon the children's social-emotional development would be peer mentoring programs and mindfulness practices. It would be wonderful to implement a peer mentoring system whereby children who have developed good emotional literacy and regulation can support their peers. Match the children up for activities where one child may support another in identifying and regulating the emotion. This reinforces the mentors' skills and offers extra support to those still developing this ability. This instills responsibility, empathy, and cooperation in the children.
Follow some simple mindfulness activities during daily routines, like guided breathing, brief meditation moments, or any other form of mindful movement, such as yoga. This will develop children's awareness of feelings and bodily sensations, enhancing their self regulation capabilities and reducing stress levels. The activities should be tailored for the age group and communicated in a playful, nondirective way for young children.
Other next steps would include engaging the families through the sharing of strategies and activities that can be practiced at home to make sure consistency is established and further reinforce those skills learned within the classroom setting. Seek continued professional development in social-emotional learning to stay informed on best practices and further strategies.
Support your decision with at least one additional scholarly source. With my intentions of implementing both peer mentoring and mindfulness practices, according to one study carried out by the Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, peer mentoring programs, where provided within the early childhood setting, have immensely improved social skills and emotional regulation among participants. The authors noted that the children who participated in peer mentoring showed much more empathy, cooperation, and conflict-resolution skills. (Hammer et al., 2018)
Mindfulness practices: A research brief by the Learning Policy Institute also showed that school-based mindfulness practices improve students' social-emotional skills, reducing stress and improving the sense of well-being. It is worth noting that these mindfulness activities enable children to develop better self-awareness and emotional regulation, which are skills that are important for their social-emotional development. (Greenberg, 2023)
Both peer mentoring programs and mindfulness practices find their academic support regarding effectiveness in promoting early childhood social-emotional development. These approaches contribute not only to developmental milestones but also to equipping children with some lifelong learning and emotional well-being skills.
References:
Greenberg, M. T. (2023). Evidence for social and emotional learning in schools. research brief (ED630375). ERIC.
Hammer, D., Melhuish, E., & Howard, S. J. (2018). Apa psycnet.
Moses, A. (2021). Social & emotional development: For our youngest learners & beyond. NAEYC.
Respond to at least two of your peers' posts. In your response,
- propose one small action and one large action your peer could
- implement with their students to continue to help them with the
- problem shared in their initial reply.
Discussion 2 (Jessica)
Case Study 1: Having been a Preschool Teacher and working with this age group, the instance and situation Gregory is experiencing sounds exactly like something that could have occurred in my own classroom. For me, identifying triggers and intervening before a behavior happened was vital for a safer and calmer classroom. I can sympathize with his teacher that they want to calm the situation down. However, repeatedly telling him to "calm down" is definitely not helpful, or the solution in the moment. Therefore, I don't think the teacher's approach was developmentally appropriate in this situation because a four-year old can't differentiate the intent in being told to calm down and they shouldn't because they need to feel validated and this comes off as dismissive. NAEYC Code of Ethical Conduct explains the difficulty in making the right choice in the moment by saying, "There may be no readily apparent, positive way to handle a situation" (2011, p. 2). From my experience, this will only escalate the behavior even though the original function of it has likely already passed in his mind. At that point, Gregory could have forgotten what he was upset about in the first place and he could then be focused on his anger and teacher's voice telling him to calm down. In this instance, I would calmly tell him I see he is upset and then I would step away some and give him space to try to self-regulate. Of course this would also require mindfulness that everyone's safety is at stake, so this would also mean making sure that while he is trying to self-regulate, he would need to be safe around peers and they stay safe near him. I would prompt him after some time with something like, "You look upset, I would be upset if I needed to use a toy someone else had too." Then I might say something like, "I'm sure if we ask Malik nicely, he will take a turn and share the Yshaped block with you," I would bring Malik close and safe but give him the language to help through this interaction such as, "Malik, Gregory is upset and would like a turn with that toy next, I can help you find another block to use for your building." I spent a lot of my day giving children language and the tools to work through social problems.
The first thing I would do is spend more time intentionally teaching my classroom how to identify what they are feeling and identify what others are feeling. I feel like children who understand that their emotions are valid and that they can use tools to manage them, will have a smoother time working through them and self-regulating in the future. Last year I had a student who had big feelings and when he would experience them, he would say things like, "I'm such a bad boy, nobody will love me now." Sadly, this told us that at some point, he was given that idea that if he had these feelings or made mistakes/bad choices, that he was inherently "bad" and unlovable. I worked very hard to undo this, and within a few months, he was able to manage his emotions so much better.
The next step I would take is making sure my students understood and were comfortable using the safe space and resources in our room to help them through their socialemotional issues. However, I don't believe it is appropriate to force children to use it exclusively when they are regulating. I think it is important to offer this space to them when they are in a position to accept information, like before instances arise.
Both of my approaches in a case study requires built trust and positive relationship building. "Whatever kind of relationship you have with a child, strive to make your interactions positive and developmental" (2023, p. 143). I believe giving them the knowledge in my two steps is developmentally appropriate and beneficial for helping young children recognize and identify their feelings and the feelings of others.
References:
National Association for the Education of Young Children. (2011, May).
Krauss, S. M., & Herrera, M. S. (2023). Whole child, whole life: 10 ways to help kids live, learn, and thrive. Corwin Press.