Articles:Developing Self-Regulation in Kindergarten
From unthinkMedia
Article Link: http://www.naeyc.org/files/yc/file/200803/BTJ_Primary_Interest.pdf Beyond the Journal • Young Children on the Web • March 2008
The problem
Kindergarteners have, who are typically around 5 years old, have a hard time regulating their behavior. According to teacher, "following directions" is their concern in the classroom, with more then half of their students experiencing difficulty.
How could teacher promote self-regulation
Teach self-regulation to all children, not just those thought to have problems
example:
during a calendar activity, instead of having children recite the dates as a memorized sequence, a teacher can alert students to the fact that two numbers are out of order. This way, children have to follow the number sequence and monitor the order the numbers are in to be sure it is correct
Create opportunities for children to practice the rules of a certain behavior and to apply those rules in new situations
three ways:
- children can follow the rules that are established and monitored by somebody else.
- children need to be able to set rules for each other (playground games) and monitor how those rules are followed. Violator of playground rules will not be asked to return.
- they need to apply the rules to themselves
Offer children visual and tangible reminders about self-regulation
early stages of learning self-regulation involve the use of visual and tangible reminders that support children’s memory and attention.
example:
children that put on "editor eyes", a pair of eyeglasses with the lenses removed, will remind themselves to check their work before turning it in
Make play and games important parts of the curriculum
Play needs to be taken very serious in kindergarten.
"Kindergartners learn self-regulation best through activities in which children—and not adults—set, negotiate, and follow the rules. These include make-believe play as well as games with rules. Further, to engage in games like the ones many kindergarten teachers use to teach math or phonics, children have to first have the ability to follow rules that are quite abstract and arbitrary. Children acquire and develop this ability during make-believe play, when they learn to follow concrete and simple rules such as not grabbing the stethoscope when pretending to be the patient"
