Notes, News, and Tips
Kaplan's early childhood consultants work with teaching staff, child care providers and parents across the country sharing teaching ideas and instructional techniques. Below are notes, news, and tips from a Kaplan consultant that can be used by parents and/or educators.
Conscious Discipline:
Making Classroom Management a Win-Win Situation
From the moment a teacher enters a classroom for the first time in a new school year, he/she has many choices and decisions to make. Choices about curriculum, classroom set-up, schedule, and finding enough materials for all the children in the classroom tend to permeate the first-of-the-year discussions and thought processes. Sometimes, teachers will also be considering using a new or modified behavior program or technique — but only one based on what they have done in the past.
What the Conscious Discipline program does is keep some of the comfortable points that teachers have traditionally used and then incorporates some components that really offer a change of heart and attitude. Becky Bailey, the author of Conscious Discipline, has been developing the program for nearly 20 years. I say developing because that is exactly what Conscious Discipline does — it continuously evolves and develops as the concepts are utilized and incorporated into a program. Conscious Discipline is a process and ongoing endeavor to make classroom management truly a win-win situation for teachers, children, parents, administrators, and others who work in a center or school environment.
Conscious Discipline is based on the idea that if a teacher or other adult working with a group of children is cognizant of brain-compatible strategies — strategies that are based on research about how children/adults learn and respond in certain situations — then the interactions of the teachers or other adults with the children will be more appropriate and result in classrooms with mediation and dialogue — not intimidation and fear.
Is Conscious Discipline foolproof? Absolutely not! Do the strategies work 100% of the time? No! However, as one who has been involved with the Conscious Discipline program since its inception, I can honestly say that my own classroom environment, my relationships with the children in my care and other staff in my building, as well as my attitude and interactions with others in a variety of situations and circumstances outside of education have been forever changed for the better.
Teachers and caregivers everywhere can benefit from the Conscious Discipline program. Part of the program is about coming to grips with our own attitudes and expectations as adults — attitudes and expectations that may not be appropriate when dealing with certain behaviors and situations in a classroom. Conscious Discipline is about the teacher learning to recognize and internalize his/her own social-emotional mental health and subsequently model the positive aspects to the children in his/her care. Factors such as composure, encouragement, assertiveness, choices, positive intent, empathy, and consequences (the seven main ideas related to Conscious Discipline) are fundamental components for anyone's personal mental health and interactions with others.
The Conscious Discipline book itself is the type of book that can be used for a self-study, as a workbook for groups of teachers who want to explore how to incorporate Conscious Discipline into their programs, as a text for classroom management courses, or as a text and practice guide during a full-blown Conscious Discipline training. The suggestions, activities, and information in the text are extremely timely and valuable.
Kaplan is pleased to let you know that we will be working closely with Becky Bailey to provide not only her materials for purchase but also sponsoring her at several events as a speaker. You can find the Conscious Discipline book here on the Kaplan website or in the Early Childhood edition of our catalogs. Other related products are found in the other catalogs and more products will be added as new catalogs are produced.
If you or your group is interested, Kaplan can also provide you with an overview and introductory training to the Conscious Discipline program. We now have a cadre of 12 persons around the US who have been through a basic train-the-trainer for Conscious Discipline. Please feel free to contact the Kaplan Professional Development Department at 1-800-334-2014, ext. 5390 or complete our Request for Training form for more information in having training on the Conscious Discipline program at your site.
Conscious Discipline can and will change your classroom for the better. And along the way, it can and will change you, too!