Early Childhood Behavior Management: Developing and Teaching Rules
Assessment
Take some time now to answer the following questions. Please note that the IRIS Center does not collect your Assessment responses. If this is a course assignment, turn it in using your professor’s preferred method. If you have trouble answering any of the questions, go back and review the Perspectives & Resources pages in this module.
- Explain how behavior expectations and classroom rules differ.
- Assume that your school’s mascot is a wildcat and your school-wide behavior expectations center around this mascot. They are:
- Care about others and self
- Act responsibly
- Teamwork
- Stay positive
Using the matrix below, develop rules to align with the school’s behavior expectations and to reflect the guidelines for developing rules that you learned about in this module.
| Behavior Expectations | Classroom Rules | Cafeteria (outside the classroom) |
Circle time (inside the classroom) |
|
Care about others and self |
|
|
|
|
Act responsibly |
|
|
|
|
Teamwork |
|
|
|
|
Stay positive |
|
|
|
- Describe four ways you can intentionally and systematically teach the classroom rules you listed in the matrix above.
- Imagine you are a teacher who has a class of 12 four-to-five-year-olds. The children in your class have been doing a good job following all the rules with the exception of “listening when others talk.” Describe a classroom reinforcement system you could implement. Be sure to include:
- What your system would look like (visually)
- How you would involve the children
- How you would acknowledge the children
- Discuss three reasons why it is important to communicate with families about rules.
