How we manage children and teach children to manage their classroom at Kidzone

How we manage children and teach children to manage their classroom at Kidzone

Samantha Jane Morgan

Summary

1. We don’t just tell the children how to behave, we show them how to behave
2. We put less focus on punishment for bad behaviour, and more focus on encouraging and praising good behaviour. Positivity is more effective than negativity.
3. Every child learns differently.

Expectations

Children learn differently. Some children learn by what they see, others by what they hear and others by what they do. If we force children to learn in only one way, they may not learn at all, therefore we aim for a holistic approach to teaching to cover all students’ learning styles. At Kidzone, we aim to adapt our lessons to suit all students, rather than leaving different learners behind. Children must know the rules of the classroom but also be allowed to be themselves. If a child is engaged in the class, listening, answering questions, looking, but jumping up and down. This is not misbehaviour. Some children cannot sit still as well as others. At Kidzone, we do not want a strict, silent classroom. For anyone, adults and children; if you are not relaxed and comfortable you do not learn.

Children learn through playing, observation and discovering

Children have an amazing ability for learning language. Children of this age will learn language faster than most teenagers or adults. Some suggest this is because children do not ‘study’ language like adults do. Do you remember learning your native language? Probably not! Children of this age learn language not through study, but through play, observation and discovery. Language learning is subconscious for children, and does not always require sitting at a desk repeating vocabulary and phrases.

Behaviour Management and Conflict Resolution

Kidzone is declared a ‘violence free zone’. Kidzone is an environment where children can feel safe and comfortable. We are not teaching children; we are teaching future adults. Children often use physical violence with other children, as they are still learning to use their words. We aim to teach children to resolve conflict verbally. We aim to teach children cooperation, compassion and empathy. These are vital skills for adult life and humanity in general. Therefore, conflict resolution is imperative to teach children responsibility for their actions. Apologising for their behaviour is key to this. Children must realise causing harm to another human being is anti-social, counter-productive and wrong.

Kidzone encourages children to solve conflicts by using theirs words

Conflict between children is natural and will happen. They are learning to cooperate with other children. Hitting and physical violence is anti-social behaviour, if not handled now this will create bigger problems when the child is older. Telling children ‘no hitting’ is easy, but doesn’t allow them to understand they have caused pain for another human being. Instead of ‘no hitting’ perhaps we could start saying ‘we don’t hurt other people’. It’s very important for the child to see they have harmed another child, rather than the child feeling they are in trouble with the teacher. The conflict resolution is the most important part of this process. The child must apologise for their behaviour. Some children can be scared of saying sorry because it feels like a punishment. It is not. Saying sorry is the child realising they have misbehaved and doing the right thing to correct their behaviour. When children do say sorry, we praise it very highly (and in front of other children). The issue is, when children refuse to apologise. For this; we give 2 choices. You can say sorry or you can have time out. This is a tricky issue, as we cannot waste too much class time waiting for one child to apologise. It must be quick. Two hands are held up to symbolise two options. Sorry? Or time out? 3, 2, 1… then the child decides. It is difficult as the children are too young for an explanation as to why their behaviour is bad, but children do not need full understanding of language to understand the tone and the situation. We are all disappointed because you hit another child. You know not to hit. I am happy when you are kind to other children etc.

For this exact reason, we would like to say there is absolutely NO physical punishment at Kidzone. First, how can we tell children not to hit when we hit them, it does not make sense and will confuse the child.They may think ‘when I’m an adult, then I’m allowed to hit’. Secondly, it is proven that physical violence has zero effect on behaviour whatsoever. The idea is for a child to realise their behaviour is wrong and then want to correct it. With physical punishment, the child learns nothing. If you hit a child, they will learn not to misbehave only when you are around because you are the source of punishment.

Imitation

Children are constantly observing the world around them. They learn by imitating. Some children will quite literally copy every movement adults make, from sound to facial expressions. Anger is a natural emotion, but as adults we have learnt to manage our anger, and we must lead by example. Using anger to discipline children is not effective. Moreover it has been proven when children are fearful, it can greatly affect their ability to learn. Anger does not help children learn the rules or the consequences of their actions. We cannot scold a child with a raised voice and expect that same child to speak nicely to their friends. We teach with guidance and encouragement, not aggression.

Encouraging proper behaviour is the way to help children learn rules quickly

We believe all our children to be intelligent and capable of learning rules very quickly. Children know what is good and bad behaviour in the classroom. Therefore, use the positive tactic of strongly encouraging and support good behaviour, rather than focus on punishment. We have seen positive change in using this tactic, we have seen children pass this encouragement onto each other and create a support network within theclassroom.