In response to Betty's comments (attached), the negotiation of classroom
rules and or standards of conduct are a wonderful learning experience for
children. The notion that laws are made by a community for the good
of the community is not always readily understood by children. They
tend to look at law (police, etc. ) as being immutable objects which
are not human made at all. In my experience Betty is correct that
if the students have a stake in the rules of the classroom they are
much more likely to abide by them. I taught a Grade 8 math class who
were softball lovers. We used three strikes and you are out as a
rule in class. If the student did broke a classroom rule, they received
a strike on the board. Some could not contain themselves until they had
two strikes. I had very few who were out(ie lunch with the teacher).
-Kathleen
>
> I don't know what sorts of practices Jay finds excessively coercive, but
> preschool, kindergarten, and early primary classes are chock full of practices
> I would deem excessively coercive. Just as one example, it is common for
> teachers to insist that at grouptime children sit with their legs crossed and
> their hands in their laps. WHY? What does it matter how children are sitting,
> as long as they are able to listen and participate, and are not preventing
> others from listening and participating? I know this may seem trivial to an
> adult, but as Jay pointed out in an earlier posting, it may not seem trivial at
> all to the child. It also often turns into power struggles between children
> and the teacher, with the teacher nagging children to sit correctly, refusing
> to continue reading the story "until all children show me that they can sit
> properly and listen," etc. Wouldn't it make more sense for the teacher to
> engage the class in a discussion about what sorts of rules they might need for
> grouptime behavior, so that everyone can hear, participate, etc? Then children
> can decide with the teacher what the guidelines will be for how to sit (or lie
> down) during grouptime. Maybe they would decide that lying down is okay during
> story time, but not during sharing time. In my experience, young children are
> capable of engaging in this type of negotiation of classroom rules. And they
> are much more inclined to abide by them when they participated in making them,
> and understand why they need them.
>
> What do you think?
>
> Betty Zan
> Regents' Center for Early Developmental Education
> University of Northern Iowa
>
>