One concept that I found to be very important in Module 3 is the movement for teaching students self regulation skills in the classroom. Having worked with children for the past 16 years, I have seen a significant increase in the number of children who seem to either struggle with or be completely unable to regulate their emotions and/or behavior. This detrimental life skill has been missing in what I like to call “adult preparation training”. I guess this is on my mind since had an unpleasant discussion with my 13 year old son today that involved my explaining to him that, “our job (as parents) is to train you to be a responsible adult”. It is asserted that teaching self control is taking precedence over demanding obedience in the classroom (Woolfolk, p. 492). At first, I think it would be reasonable to say that parents should be responsible for this and the teachers are responsible for academics. Maybe this was true when there could be a stay at home parent, or when there were usually both parents involved. With the changes of family structures and single incomes seldom being feasible, what is the alternative?
Although teaching self management skills will require extra work on the teacher’s part, the benefits would be well worth the outcome. Students will see the true purpose of school as being that of learning academic knowledge instead of merely following rules, while teachers can spend more time on teaching as opposed to monitoring and correcting behavior (Woolfolk, p. 492). Additionally, students will learn to become responsible and meet their own needs without interfering with the rights and needs of others (Woolfolk, p. 493). Of course this would depend on the skills being taught effectively and consistently throughout all grade levels.
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ReplyDeleteSuch a great point, Lisa. If we could teach our children and students self regulation skills that will solve so many classroom discipline problems and prepare students for their adult life. Although the structure of the "typical" family home may have changed over the past generations we can still teach our students this valuable skill. We can foster self management skills by finding out what motivates students and encouraging students pursue their interest.
ReplyDeleteLisa this is powerful in the simplest form, it is definitely important to teach students these skills. We want the to become productive citizens in society so this is important skill for them to have. Many students rely so much on their parents to do everything for them and when they have to figure it out themselves that have no clue because they've never had to truly learn responsibility or even be responsible.
ReplyDeleteLisa, your post was very fun to read. I believe you touched on many important points and I could not agree more with you in the fact that it is so important to teach students these skills.
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