Council Delivers CDA 2.0 Support in Texas

This month, The Council's Senior Manager of Training and Outreach, Vilma Williams, traveled to Galveston, Texas, to educate attendees at the Texas Association for the Education of Young Children (TAEYC) conference.

Attendees were excited by the opportunity to to become Professional Development Specialists and the Council's efforts to enhance the bilingual specialization.

The sponsors of the conference Mitzi Bartlett, TAEYC President, and co-chair Teri Jackson expressed their deep appreciation to the Council for working with them in making our presentations possible.

Take a Moment to Reflect on...Guidance

The Council is excited to announce the 2013 release of Essentials for Child Development Associates: Working with Young Children. The newly-revised textbook will be organized around each of the thirteen Functional Areas and other key topics of interest to contemporary teachers and caregivers.

Here is an advanced sneak peek of "Chapter 10: Guidance" for you to reflect on...

It's a familiar scenario. It's Free Choice Time at preschool. Everyone is hard at work. Then, out of nowhere, a child starts screeching, a block is thrown or a tug-of-war begins. Before you know it, children go from being fully engaged in their play to coming apart at the edges.

It's no wonder that guiding young children's behavior is a top priority for parents and caregivers alike. Probably no topic of child development has been more discussed and more written about than children's behavior. It feels like everyone is desperate for solutions.

In Chapter 9 we discussed the desire to have a caring community of learners. In this chapter, we will focus on how to bring this about. Conflict resolution, which has already been introduced, is only one of the ways to achieve this. There are, however, a number of other important strategies available to you for dealing with children's "problem" behaviors.

In this chapter we will cover five important tasks that positively affect your classroom climate. These include:

1. Opting for proactive positive guidance over reactive discipline and punishment

2. Making use of positive guidance techniques

3. No more time-outs!

4. Dealing with challenging behaviors.

5. Partnering with families about their child's guidance.

Please take a moment to reflect on your own teaching practices. What else might you add to the above list? What do you think are the most important goals to remember in guiding young children's behaviors? What tips and strategies would you share with others?