2013 12-12 Guidance Philosophy - lp4

Guidance Philosophy
Guidance is positive discipline. Guidance teaches, where as punishment or negative discipline hurts, and can have life altering affects. We need to step back and with new eyes, see what this would look like. In order to effectively use guidance, we need to replace all discipline techniques that impose pain and suffering, with positive instructive practices. This would mean being a guidance professional, teaching democratic life skills, and using leadership communications that build an encouraging program. The following paragraphs will give further details on what makes up each positive instructive practice. First, we will address what a guidance professional is. A guidance professional can be broken down into three intertwined pieces, and they are: seeking understanding, relationships, and a mediator. When seeking understanding of a situation to guide children to a peaceful outcome we need to have knowledge and understanding of childrens needs, and accepting them for who they are. Maslows Theory, (Maslow, 1954), explains that childrens more basic needs or lower level of needs need to be met first, or you will be less likely to make any gains in higher levels. This will help paint a clearer picture of problematic situations, or can be used to rule out certain possibilities. Excepting a child for who they are means we have an understanding of their individual temperament. Temperament is something they are born with. Its how they respond or react to people, places, and things; not to be confused with personality which is a combination of temperament and life experiences. That is why we need to work with children instead of trying to change their inborn traits. Each time we interact with a child is an opportunity to build positive relationships. We can do this by listening, making eye contact, and engage in one-on-one, faceto-face interactions to encourage teacher-child attachments. Forming partnerships with each childs family is also important. We do this in order to have knowledge and be respectful of their
culture, diversity, and way of life; to establish similar guidance from home to caregiver; to help meet each childs needs, and to address any problematic situations. A mediator uses active problem solving, along with other guidance tools and techniques, to help children participate in communicating to solve their problems. Second, we will look at teaching democratic life skills. These are the skills children will need in order to be successful in life. Children are not born with these skills and many adults struggle with them. Children need to be taught things such as self-regulation, self-motivation, and problem solving. First its important for children to learn how to identify different emotions by what they look and feel like. They need to understand that not everyone looks the same when expressing a feeling. We also need to teach how to acceptably express their feelings. An example of this would be to encourage children to use acceptable words instead of hitting. Being taught different ways to self-soothe when under stress is just one of the many ways to help them learn how to self-regulate. We need to encourage and respect each childs thoughts and ideas. This will allow them to decide how they feel and be creative as they learn to be self-motivated. Next, we need to learn how to problem solve. Through social stories and activities we can teach children different ways they can solve a conflict with a friend, and then give them opportunities to practice all of their new skills through-out the day. Finally, we will view leadership communication. This means we need to be a friendly leader that builds an encouraging classroom. We can accomplish this with guidelines not rules, encouragement not praise, and an encouraging program. Rules usually focus on what not to do. If used, there should be only a short few; children should be included when making them. Wouldnt it make sense for children to want to follow rules they help to create? Jean Piaget, (Piaget, 1960), talks about so much resistance, wasted time, and wasted energy put into a child
avoiding negative discipline; when all of that effort could be put into cooperation. What do you feel timeouts usually teach? I like the concept of making sure we guide children while we teach in a positive way. We should guide the children by intentionally planning where and with what they can use to do the activity they are interested in doing. In short, we need to give them real choices for what they are interested in. Real choices are some things you will allow that are safe, developmentally appropriate, meaningful, and important to the child. Praise is not always as good as its intended. It can be a quick reply without true thought, it manipulates causing children to become dependent while feeling less secure, it can steal their pleasure, cause a lose interest, and even reduce achievement. Instead, say nothing and let the children have their moment to decide how they feel, say what you saw, or even talk less while asking open ended questions. We want to encourage, be supportive, as we let them discover and decide for themselves about their accomplishments. In order to successfully encourage children, we need to have a program that supports this concept. We can do this by having a daily schedule that fits and flexes with each childs needs, a room arranged with furniture and materials that are developmentally appropriate and invite the intended behavior, and develop and modify a curriculum to meet each childs developmental needs while supporting growth. In summary, guidance with consistency will leave less need for adult regulation, and many beneficial qualities such as safety, trust, self-regulation, competence, reflection and respect. Punishments can make things worse while being abusive both physically and verbally while stopping the child from learning from the original problem. Positive instructive practices such as being a guidance professional, teaching democratic life skills, and using leadership communications that build an encouraging program, allow children to grow and learn. Adults
expect to be treated with respect. We learn better this way. It only makes sense that children would learn more when respected too. I see guidance as being the best way to raise children.
References
Maslow, A. (1954). Motivation and personality. New York: Harper. Piaget, J. (1960). The moral judgement of the child. Glencoe: Free Press.

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Guidance Philosophy

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