Constructive Guidance and Discipline: Preschool and Primary Education - Softcover

Marjorie Fields  Dr. Marjorie Fields has just retired after teaching in the field of early childhood education for over 30 years.  She first taught kindergarten, then first grade, then began teaching teachers.  Thanks to her own children, she also had the experience in co-operative preschools and various types of child care.

Marjorie has a doctorate in early childhood education with research in parent involvement.  She has been active in early childhood professional organizations at the national and local levels and has served as vice-president of the National Association of Early Childhood Educators.  She has also served on the national governing board for the National Association for the Education of Young Children.  She has published extensively in the field of emergent literacy, including the textbook, Let's Begin Reading Right (Merrill Education/Prentice Hall), as well as in the field of child guidance.

This book is the outgrowth of over 25 years of reading and thinking in conjunction with developing and teaching early childhood discipline courses.  Dr. Fields credits her two sons with helping her learn what is most important about child guidance and discipline initially; now she continues to learn from her grandchildren-and with their mother; her new co-author. 

Debby Fields Debby Fields is a temporarily retired mental health counselor and stay-at-home mom of two daughters.  Debby has worked as an elementary school counselor and as a teen-parent counselor.  Through her work and life, she has learned a great deal about child development.  Early intervention and attachment were the focus of her work with teen parents.  This work allowed her a window into the lives of young adults and with attachment problems and the obstacles they face in raising hteir own children.

Debby has a master's degree in Marriage, Family, and Child Counseling.  She presented her master's thesis on multicultural counseling at a national convention for the American Psychological Association.  In addition to her training in attachment issues, she has focused on developing culturally sensitive practices and has a degree in anthropology.  Debby currentyly works in cooperative preschools with both her children.

Contributing Authors

Eileen Hughes  Dr. Eileen Hughes is a faculty member in the early childhood program at the University of Alaska Anchorage.

Lory Britain  Dr. Lory Britain has 30 years of experience developing curriculum materials and teaching children, parents, student teachers, and professionals in a variety of settings, including the university, community college, and private sector.

Sierra Freeman  Sierra Freeman ia a special education inclusion teacher in Paortland, Oregon, and works with elementary school children.

Constructive Guidance and Discipline: Preschool and Primary Education attempts to bring together the best of what is known about helping young children become happy, responsible, and productive people. We present guidance and discipline concepts within a framework of child development, developmentally appropriate practices, and Constructivist education. Thus, only discipline approaches that are consistent with all three aspects of this framework are recommended here. We take a stand about what is best for young children, rather than merely presenting an impartial overview of various approaches. We are convinced that adults cannot effectively assist children's moral development through the coercive approaches of behavior modification.

Major Theoretical Influences

The information and ideas presented in this text come from a number of respected sources. We see four theorists as having major influences on child guidance concepts in this century: Alfred Adler, Carl Rogers, B.F. Skinner, and Jean Piaget. Rudolf Dreikurs' recommendations of logical and natural consequences extended Adler's concepts, Thomas Gordon popularized Rogers' ideas through his Parent Effectiveness Training work, Skinner's work founded the widespread behavior modification techniques, and Piagetian scholars such as Constance Kamii and Rheta DeVries are spreading the word about Piaget's views on the development of morality. Though we reject Skinner's approach for the reasons explained in Chapter 9, we believe that the other three theorists have compatible views. Adler, Rogers, and Piaget all perceive the child as actively seeking understanding. This is in contrast with the Skinnerian view, which sees education as something that happens to a child from outside sources. Adler and Rogers, as well as Piaget, respect the child's personal rate and style of developing social understanding. All three perceive the proper adult role as facilitating rather than controlling the child's gradual development as a constructive member of society. Piaget's theoretical framework is much broader than that of Rogers or Adler, including all moral development as well as intellectual development. Thus, Adlerian and Rogerian concepts can be included as part of a Piagetian perspective, though the reverse is not true.

The research and writing of Jean Piaget and Constructivist scholars regarding intellectual and moral autonomy are central to the message in this book. We have adapted Thomas Cordon's recommendations for effective communication and interpreted Rudolf Dreikurs' concept of logical and natural consequences into our discussion of a Constructivist approach to discipline. We have also drawn on Erik Erikson's emotional development studies, referred to guidelines from the National Association for the Education of Young Children, and quoted Rheta DeVries. Many other sources used in this book are listed at the end of the chapters.

We look at guidance and discipline as teaching activities; therefore, the principles of effective early childhood education apply as much to guidance and discipline as to academics. In addition, we discuss the ways in which effective early childhood education practices prevent or alleviate many common discipline problems.

Like any other aspect of teaching, guidance must acknowledge diversity among youngsters. In our recommendations, we have considered individual differences due to innate temperament, or individual physical and intellectual capabilities. We also discuss the implications of culture, class, family problems, and gender.

We increasingly recognize that teaching must deal with youngsters whose lives are in crisis. These youngsters create major new challenges in guidance and discipline. Two chapters are devoted to providing background and support to teachers whose classrooms include youngsters with special physical and emotional needs or learning difficulties. Though parent involvement is crucial to all aspects of education and for all children, we emphasize the home-school link most in these chapters.

Changes in Third Edition

This edition continues and strengthens the approach of the previous editions. We have continued to work at making the message of the book clear and understandable. Since behavior modification is so pervasive in our society, the recommendations in this book require most readers to radically alter their thinking. Assisting students in a major paradigm shift requires that principles be carefully documented and clearly explained. We have found that the examples of classroom practice are most effective in helping students understand the concepts; therefore, we have carefully reviewed the classroom vignettes, adding more and better examples.

This edition brings on the expertise of Dr. Lory Britain and Sierra Freeman for the chapter on children with serious emotional problems. Both Lory and Sierra have been working in the "trenches" with at-risk children and their families and have first-hand insights to share as well as a solid research base. Dr. Eileen Hughes, author of the chapter on children with disabilities from the second edition, has added to and strengthened that chapter for the third edition.

This edition adds a "test bank" for instructor convenience. These are not test items requiring mere rote memory; they simulate actual classroom situations where problem solving is required for effective discipline. This approach to testing is congruent with a Constructivist approach to education, allowing the college teacher to model the principles recommended.

Organization of the Text

The first three chapters of the book constitute the foundations section. Chapter 1 begins to explain a view of discipline as a way of teaching autonomy and self-discipline while promoting self-esteem. Concepts introduced in Chapter 1 are more fully addressed throughout the book. Chapters 2 and 3 consider stages in children's physical, emotional, intellectual, and social development as they relate to discipline problems and solutions. We consider a clear definition of discipline and its goals, plus knowledge of child development, to be the basic understandings for a discussion of discipline.

Part II presents various approaches to discipline in descending order from most positive to negative. This sequence can also be considered as an ascending order from least intrusive to most intrusive. Chapter 4 discusses how to prevent behavior problems by matching the child environment to developmental stages. Chapter 5 explains the role of developmentally appropriate programs in preventing discipline problems. Chapters 6 and 7 emphasize both the prevention of problems and intervention when problems do occur. Chapter 6 explains how the adult example influences child behavior and shows how to help children use those examples during conflict situations. Chapter 7 presents effective ways to communicate with children both to prevent conflict and to address problems that arise. This subject of effective communication includes how to negotiate solutions to existing problems. Chapter 8 explains changing unproductive behaviors by using related consequences to help children understand why certain behaviors are unacceptable. Chapter 9 analyzes behavior modification approaches, and explains why rewards and even praise are counterproductive to goals of self-discipline. The dangers of punishment are presented in Chapter 10.

Chapters 11 through 15 constitute Part III, which builds on the previous two parts. Child development knowledge from Part I is used as part of determining the cause of behavior problems. Then information about guidance approaches from Part II is used to select an appropriate response. Part III analyzes typical causes of discipline problems and relates them to the approaches relevant to each. These chapters emphasize the necessity of dealing with the cause of problems rather than just the symptoms. Chapter 11 discusses the relationship between maturational level and acceptable behavior, and Chapter 12 looks at how unmet emotional needs cause problem behavior. Chapters 13 and 14 explore serious problems with causes outside of the classroom and suggest help for the teacher or caregiver. Chapter 15 presents an overview of possible discipline problem causes and provides assistance in identifying which causes pertain to a particular situation. This chapter also provides a guide for matching causes with the approaches to discipline that are most likely to be effective for each.

Providing Examples

Because we wanted to balance theoretical explanations with real-life examples, we use typical scenarios to illustrate ways of facilitating self-discipline and moral autonomy through approaches to discipline. Many of these examples are quite long to provide the context surrounding the situation. This is congruent with our message that teachers must not respond just to the behavior, but rather consider the many factors that might relate to the cause of the behavior. These "stories" have proven extremely useful to college students trying to visualize the practical applications of text material and struggling with abstract concepts.

Meet the cast of characters: Dennis, Maureen, Sheri, and the rest of the staff of the Midway Children's Center, a composite of typical preschool/ child-care centers in the suburbs, provide examples of discipline with three- and four-year-olds. Mrs. Jensen, her first-grade students, and the staff of a typical city school demonstrate the same concepts with primary grade children. Second-grade teacher Mr. Davis and his student teacher, Beth, have joined us for the third edition. Mrs. Jensen and Mr. Davis represent all the caring and effective public school teachers we have known. Because contrasting the desirable with undesirable practices often helps us define the desirable, we have also provided examples of common practices that we do not recommend. For this purpose the mythical teachers, preschool teacher Joanne and first-grade teacher Miss Wheeler, are described in some very real situations....