At the risk of sounding sexist here, I am at my wits end trying to manage a group with a majority of boys. Power Rangers, Transformers, Ninja Turtles and Hot Wheels are the reaccuring theme. I find myself having to intervene in physical and hostile altercations continuously throughout the day---the 3 girls I have pretty much do their own thing as I am dealing with the boys on an on-going basis. As soon as I try to interact with the quieter ones--(the girls), trouble errupts where the usual suspects are. I follow the 6 steps to conflict resolution and they are becoming better problem solvers, but it is a slow process...I find myself becoming so anxious by the end of the day and ready to tear my hair out...my group and the rest of the childcare center meet up in the playground in the afternoon and many of those children have behaviour issues as well, and are led by an ECA who has limited qualifications, so I am forced to deal with those behaviour issues as well...we have another staff on the playground who is an ECA and a position that is constantly being replaced with different supply staff...trying to organize the transitions in and out of the playground without altercations or accidents is a major challenge...I find myself almost barking at the other staff members and students alike (which I hate--I used to consider myself a kind person)and becoming more and more frustrated---not to mention the feelings of guilt when I leave the center at night feeling like I have spent the day doing crowd control, instead of teaching...sometimes I feel so completely overwhelmed...I take my profession very seriously, and I have researched and tried everything I can think of to make it all work...including talking to my supervisor...trying to get outside help...talking to parents to get thier input...I have read every book and article that I can find....any help..hints...suggestions would be appreciated...maybe I just needed to vent???
Welcome to Ask An ECE, the only community on the Internet developed by & for Early Childhood Educators. We are dedicated to providing quality information and advice for parents of children from birth to High School, and resources for teachers.
Check out our Discussion Forums, or Ask our Experts your questions about child care.
Join us now, or log in below if you are already a member.
I understand your situation completely. We have 80% boys in our preschool room and I find my preschool teacher having the exact same issues. I attended a fantastic behaviour managment seminar recently and woudl be happy to forward you some of the tracking sheets they suggested if you wanted to email me your centre's address privately. It is taking a lot of work, but it is at least making us feel positive and productive to see the small changes.
Feel free to vent, that's what we here for!
I had this last year - 10 four year olds, and only 1 poor little girl, lol.
All the rest were hardcore boys.
I'd have music playing and stuff while we "worked", and played....and they could all be snugglers and stuff (well, most of them) but there were definitely days I just wanted to pull my hair out from all the Boy Energy, there's SO much of it!!
I guess what I found worked best was just changing activities, and kind of tailoring my activities and my teachings to them.....if they're interested, they'll sit better
We had a lot of ENERGY problems in one of our kindergarden. Mostly boys, but some of the girls too. The way that the teacher handle is to have a lot of song where they have to jump or mimic movements. So everytime she notice that they were getting restless, she would tell them that it was time for a song. By all means, it doesn't eliminate all the problems, but let just say that it help big time. With some of them, we use 1-2-3 magic. At the beginning, it's hard, but once they get it, it works great. Or there's the circulation lights too.
I so understand you on the part where you feel the coworkers doesn't do their job or part when it comes to behaviors. When I go on the school yard, I seems to get all the kids coming at me with problems or I'm stopping fights, while the teachers just seems to ignore them. The answers I always get from the students it that the teachers didn't do anything, that's why they came to see me.
Continue your great job! It's not always easy, but hang in there.
what is the workshop you are attending? I have attended the "Setting the Stage for Successful Behaviour" workshop which was somewhat helpful...my bible is "You Can't Come to My Birthday Party"...and the High Scope 6 Steps to Conflict Resolution...the latter 2 are amazingly effective, I guess I am seeing problems arise because there is so much aggression in my class right now--and I have to say, they are becoming better problem-solvers---they HAVE improved since September...I have to keep things in perspective--which is hard sometimes, when I walk into my class and the teacher who has been in my class tells me on a daily basis how horrible the morning was (my shift is 11-6)...also, many of my kids are there from 7 am until 5 or 6 pm..so many outside factors...the kindergarden teacher uses stickers and "prizes" for rewards (ack )....very little support from my supervisor....inconsistant and unqualified (and sometimes rather inept) supply and support staff...BUT, I must believe that things shall get better, even if sometimes I feel I am fighting a losing battle...
what do you mean when you say the circulation lights..????
thanks again for letting me vent!
Circulation light, work a bit like warning when they are doing something that they're not suppose too. some will use the smilly face or sad face instead. Green = everything is going well, yellow it's a warning, and red is a time out. One of the teachers printed little cars with students names on, and she just move the car from one light to another when needed.
It was a 5 week course on behaviour management through our Region's Behaviour Management team. We learned to use ABC data and tracking sheets and received a ton of information on conflict resolution and specific behaviour plans to treat specific behaviour situations.