teaching disadvantaged children in the preschool

Carl Bereiter

Siegfried Engelmann

pages

establishing appropriate schoolroom behavior

what kind of behavior should be expected of the children in school?

except when the children are instructed to yell or sing loudly during the instruction periods or the music period,they should be quiet and restrained-no runing,hitting,yelling or tussling,even during the unstructured activity periods,the activity should be kept in a low key

car behavior

"no feet on the seat"

behavior before and after classes

morning ritual,the ritual should change as the children become more sophisticated.in the beginning,it may involve repeating a simple statement,such as "these are hands."latter,it may involve a more difficult statement,such as"one plus zero equals one."as the children learn the days of the week,the ritual may consist of completing the statement"today is        . tomorrow will be          ."and answering the questions"what is today?what will tomorrow be?"

toliet behavior

children should be required to wash hands before leaving the bathroom and before eating

snack time behavior

children must not dawdle over their food

the children should deposit their empty paper cups,napkins,and any other grabage in the container,holding the cup upright during the process so that no juice is spilled on the floor

the atmosphere during music and unstructured activity should be more relaxed than during the study periods,the activity should be enjoyable

during unstructured periods,children should have their choice of listening to a story read by one of the teachers,looking at a book,drawing,or playing with a toy,children should be held responsible for returning play materials

classroom behavior

children should sit in assigned seats,they should leave their places only with the teacher's consent,they should be required to participate,which means answering in a loud clear voice and generally working hard at the tasks the teacher presents.children should not be allowed to interrupt the teacher at will,the teacher should allow relevant ideas and should praise the child for these,the teacher may occasionally allow a minute or two for the children to speak their minds

moral behavior

changing the child's moral behavior

偷窃、说谎等行为

what are the principles the teacher should follow in establishing appropriate behavior?

principle 1:reward the child who tries

the primary criterion is not whether the child performs,but whether he tries-whether he tries to attend to the presentation,whether he tries to produce the statement,whether he tries to take the steps that are necessary to arrive at the solution to a given problem, whether he tries to think,the child who tries should be rewarded,regardless of whether or not his performance was correct,the child who does not try should have rewards withheld and should be told why

principle 2:try to avoid rewarding undesirable behavior

all of these tendencies are undersirable ,because all are obvious demonstrations to the child who misbehaves that acting up is rewarded:the child who misbehaves receives special attention and special affection

principle 3:avoid shaming and coaxing

rules of behavior should be enforced in a matter of fact way,the teacher should tell a child what to do

principle 4:preserve the spirit of the group

the teacher should never discipline a child unless she personally observes the offense

principle 5:emphasize the rules of behavior that must be maintained,not the child's adequacy

stating rules openly not only produces more rapid conformity than the more permissive approach;the child's conformity is limited to the situation,so that he does not have to espouse a new value system in order to succeed in the school situation,he is free to dislike the activity if he choose,and,in other situations,he is free to do as he feels,openly stated rules,therefore,infrige less on individual freedom

principle 6:exploit work motives rather than play motives

people play because it is fun,people work largely for two reasons:working brings rewards,and it provides a secure routine

know generally what to expected,know where will,what will be doing,what kind of behavior will be expected

the most valuable aspect of a work routine,as compared to a play routine,is that a child does not expect to be able to abandon it at a moment's displeasure,he learns,in fact,to expect that it will not always be pleasant or rewarding from moment to moment,but that it will generally pay off in the long run

principle 7:provide the child with a realistic definition of success and failure

the teacher's reaction to a child's response has two rather distinct functions,one is to provide the child with specific information,the other is to let him know something about his adequacy

what are the motivaton that should be used to establish appropriate behavior?

a motivational bridge must be built,the child must be initially rewarded in terms that already mean something to him,these rewards serve as a bridge to teach the child the meaning of verbal praise and verbal castigation,if the teacher's warning of punishment is followed by punishment,her warning will soon become meaningful,similarly,if her praise is followed with some proof of good will,her praise will soon signify something of value,in the work oriented situation,extrinsic rewards,such as cookie rewards,can be introduced and withdrawn gracefully by placing the primary emphasis on a situational rule,not on the teacher's feelings,a rule is defined as something that governs both teacher and children,for this reason,the children do not tend to hold the teacher responsible for the rule or for change in the rule

the cookie reward

find something which functions as praise should function in motivating the child and then to substitute praise systematically for other motivators,thereby teaching the child how to react to praise

the first step in establishing the praise reaction involves using something which the child already values

1.teach the rule"if you work hard,you get a xx,if you don't work hard,you don't get a xx。“

2.starting from the first day of the program,award a cookie to a child if he tries hard during a reward segment of the study period

3.issue xx individually and relate each child's performance to the rule，對獲得xx的孩子說:如果你努力了，你可以得到xx，看，你很努力，所以你獲得xx。對沒有獲得xx 的孩子說：如果你努力了，你可以得到xx，由於你沒有努力，所以你沒有得到xx。“

4.relate the reward to the appropriate statement of praise and disappointment

i am very pround of you,you are good workers,xx,i am sorry,you didn't get a xx,but you didn't work hard

5.assure children who did not receive xx that they are not inadequate

you are a very smart boy,but you've got to work harder,you can do it if you put your mind to do it

6.when the children have gotten so that they behave adequately without frequent reminders about the xx rewards,change the rules so that the children receive their xx during xx time and not at the end of the period

你做得很好，不過我們現在先不吃曲奇餅乾，我們大課間的時候再吃

7.continue to praize and reprimand the child after the xx reward has been withdrawn

other rewards

whatever the children like can be used as a reward if it can be quickly given or withdrawn by the teacher-a particular learning game,a look at some fascinating object,a chance to sit on a certain chair

punishment

especially during the first month of the program,punishment may be necessary to clarify the rules of the school situation

the purpose of punishment is to deter the child from behaving in an undersiable way

1.reserve physical punishment for situation in which the child's behavior is unthinking and automatic

(現在不能體罰）

if the activity in which they are engaged in antisocial,destructive,or possibly dangerous,they must be restrained

i told you not to throw blocks,i meant,do not throw blocks

2.isolation seems to be more effective in combating behavior that  is more calfulated

the child should be warned two times about what will happen if he persists in his behavior

after the second warning,the punishment should be executed

the isolation room,if it is to be effective,should be an unpleasant place,providing an atmosphere that is far less enjoyable than that of the study room,a small,poorly lighted closet with a single chair will serve quite well

punishment should be used with discretion,equally important,it should be used if it is necessary,the teacher who shows children that she is soft in carrying out her warning will quickly lose not only respect but cooperation,after first month,punishment usually is rarely needed

specific behavior problems

the troublesome child

the troublesome child derives satisfaction form resisting the rules of the preschool,the source of his satisfaction may be the approval of his peers,special attention from his teachers,or a feeling of power

the most expedient way to handle this child is to cut off the source of satisfaction and thereby demonstrate that the child's actions are not effective in producing satisfying results

in the end,the troublesome child will come around if the teacher sticks to her rules,in many cases,the troublesome child is a very charming child,and when he wishes to take the role of the student seriously,he does a good job

the withdrawn child

the teacher should try to make him feel secure in the learning situation and should try to coax him toward the standards held up for the other members of the group

the indifferent child

the most severe behavior problem the preschool teacher will encounter comes in the form of a cheerful,seemingly well adjusted child,who is reasonably tractable during the instruction sessions,he says what he is told to say,he gives the appearance of paying attention,but he is not

she should tell the child that what he is doing is inappropriate,she should tell him how she feels about his behavior,and she should reassure him

maintaining favorable public relations

how should visitors be handled?

1.explain clearly in advance what you are going to do and why,but do not discuss methods except in response to questions

2.schedule the visit to begin during the juice and music period

3.take the visitor to the language class next

4.take every opportunity to tell him about individual children-what they were like when they started,the problems they have had,and what they have accomplished.help him to see the school in terms of what it is doing for the children rather than in terms of what the teachers are making the children do

5.in discussing a lesson after the visitor has watched it,do not dwell on why you did what or on what went before,rather,stress what is to follow,where it is going to lead

do not put on a show,but advise the visitor that what he is seeing is a slice of life with all its raw edges

how should parent meetings be handled?

1,schedule parent meetings for evenings(since the parents usually work during the day)and arrange for transporting parents to the meeting,parents should be contacted in advance, either by phone or in person.the time,place,and purpose of the meeting should be told.and a firm commitment to attend the meeting should be sought

2.the first meeting should be held about a week before the school term to explain the details of the program

the children's progress should be reported in a positive manner

3.at each meeting,review the two basic educational requirements the parents are to carry out at home:

a.require the children to respond with full sentences,do not let them simply point or nod,do not give them what they want unless they ask for it properly in compete statements

b.do not redicule or shame children by telling them they are dumb or by comparing them to other children,let them know that they are smart,be patient with their mistakes

4.develop a part of the meeting to brief individual sessions with the parents.the accent of these sessions should be on each parent's child,advice should be given,but with a certain amount of humility