R2P Post 2

A Clear Vision of Behavior

As I grew up with the same kids in the same school district, I thought we were all perfect and that we were going to grow up being friends forever and wanting to be the same thing when we are out of school.  News flash!! Everything is completely different and not one of us is perfect. I started to notice how each and every one of us has different thoughts and behaviors towards the same things. For example, my behavior towards reading was disruptive because I did not like to read but when I was learning about history, I was very excited and was engaged with everything we did. It really depends on how teachers interact with you and the subjects.

But as I started to get into teaching at Millersville University, I was placed in different field placements that showed me that behavior plays a big role in a classroom but the real question is “Does the environment or room setup play a role in behavior?” I did not think that I would be asking myself this question but it’s very important as a teacher to take notice of all the behaviors that occur in the classroom. I started to think to myself how a Head Start classroom is different than a regular preschool classroom and how different the student’s behavior is. Why are their behaviors like this? The good and the bad. Being in a Head Start classroom, every day there is something new going on and it does not matter what they are supposed to be doing, but for you to understand, here is their schedule for the time I am there.

Head Start Daily Schedule at Akron Elementary

8:15 – 8:55 – Welcome Routine

8:55 – 9:05 – Clean-up and Brush Teeth

9:05 – 9:30 – Whole Group Instruction

9:30 – 10:15 – Gross Motor

10:20 – 10:35 – Small Group

10:35 – 11:35 – Choice Time (play)

11:35- 11:45 – Whole Group Shared Reading

My Findings

Here I am, researching about behavior and how the environment affects the student’s behavior, and in my thought, I was honestly looking for articles about bad behavior. I came across this article Creating a Child Care Environment that Supports Children’s Exploration This article talks about how to create a classroom environment for children where they feel safe and where they can learn. By this, it will help improve their behavior.  But if they don’t feel safe than they are most likely to act out and misbehave. Reading this, you’ll come across “Setting up a safe place to play and providing appropriate toys can keep children interested in learning, reduce behavior problems, and save you from saying “No” too often (Childcare 2019)”.  There is nothing that will get the whole class’s attention when there is someone who is acting bad and is being disruptive.

As I continued to partake in my research, I started to watch a video that came up. You can click on ‘video’ and that will take you straight to it. This video talks about noticing the behavior, rather it’s good or bad and why they are acting like that. Teachers have to figure out what the student(s) is trying to communicate. If the student acts out during the activity over and over again, then they obviously aren’t happy with what they have to do. There needs to be something that fixes the behavior but also gets the activity done. The environment is considered to be the teachers too. How the teachers react to something might trigger an outburst or a temper tantrum. As a future teacher, I notice how teachers react and how they handle certain situations. But most of the time, the student just needs to let it all out and then they are fine. I wish I knew why they just need that little time to have a temper tantrum and then act like nothing happened but that just led me to another question.

Feelings and Thoughts 

I didn’t put much thought into the environment and how it affects student’s behaviors. I was looking for something that would be more negative but after my findings, the environment actually benefits behaviors. Different types of behaviors can occur at any given moment in a classroom setting, but it’s important to know what triggered that behavior to see if there is something that needs to be changed. Kids act on how they feel about something and I think that is 100% true. I have watched kids in the Head Start class for three weeks and I watched how they behaved towards something. If they did not like it, then they had an outburst, but if they liked doing something, they would act to share and play together. An environment is a big place that involves a lot of growing and their behaviors will really show how they feel about it. But as a teacher, it’s important to take notes on every behavior that happens each day. Please feel free to share your own thoughts and feelings about the classroom environment and how it might affect students’ behaviors. It would be greatly appreciated!