Saturday, May 12, 2012

Research Competency: Week 2

For my research topic, I would like to focus on behavior issues and discipline in the classroom.  This is an issue that faces many childcare settings and is something that many teachers struggle with.  I have decided that the initial subtopic of this broader topic will focus on the connection between parenting styles and child behavior.  I am a firm believer that parents play a crucial role in the behaviors of their child.  I understand that there are instances where all children will act out regardless of the parents, but that there is a larger connection between the interactions between the child and parent and the overall temperament and behavioral patterns in children. 

I chose this topic as it is one that I have dealt with in many areas.  In the daycare where my daughter was for the first year of her life, there were several children who displayed negative behaviors and they seemed to baffle the childcare providers.  I often felt that my daughter did not get as much attention from the caregivers as she was well behaved and had an easy temperament.  Once I became a kindergarten teacher, I was faced with many instance of children who displayed negative behaviors and I could often link them with certain aspects of the parenting styles that their parents displayed.  I believe that as we strive to work with children from all backgrounds, it is important to understand the role of parenting styles in the behaviors of the children.  This will provide the opportunity to gain a better understanding of the children and the background that may also provide clues to their behaviors.

My personal experience so far with developing a research simulation has been slightly frustrating.  I am not sure if I am on the right path with it and that is particularly discouraging.  I am also hoping that I have the information right when it comes to research versus a literature review.  In my mind, I am conducting my own research when looking up information regarding a question I have, but according to this course I am simply doing a literature review.  It is a little perplexing thus far.

I did enjoy filling in the research chart for this week's resources.  I think it gave me a better understanding of some terms that I would have simply read over and not understood in greater depth.  It allowed me to take the time to fully grasp the meaning of some research terms.  It also allowed me to reflect on the research process and think ahead to the parts of the research that I would enjoy the most.  I am still unsure that I am enjoying this class, but am finding the information worthwhile none-the-less.

4 comments:

  1. Stacy,
    I agree that we have probably all dealt with a child or children with challenging behaviors. I had one this year in my classroom! He was always hitting other children and for no aparent reason. Before I was let go, we were starting to make progress and have better days. I struggled with getting him to understand how his actions affected others! He sometimes would look at the other child, but I never felt like he understood that he had caused their pain. It was interesting to watch him some days. I remember one day he was stacking blocks and two other boys wanted to play with him. I was sitting very closely, and things went very well. What I remember most is him really looking at the other boys faces a couple of times, like he was studying them. I wondered what he was feeling and thinking. It is always hard to deal with those children with challenging behaviors, and as you said, you felt like your daughter did not receive as much attention as she should have. When I was in the classroom, I always felt like the other children were missing out because I had to focus so much attention on one or two children.

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  2. Stacey,
    Great topic! Looking at the different parenting styles should be an interesting way to learn about behavior issues. Understanding how and if the child is disciplined outside the classroom will help to provide insight into what can be done in the classromm to eliminate the behavior.
    Thanks for sharing.

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  3. I also chose the topic of children with behavior issues. We have chosen to look at different subtopics which is good, maybe we can learn form each other and gain something insightful out of this. I never thought to look at the parenting/disciplining styles of the parents. This should be very interesting to see if more or less if any discipline makes a difference in how a child behaves in the classroom. It is very distracting to the education and care of the other children to have to continually focus on a few select children who are disrupting the learning atmosphere.

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  4. I really like your choice of a topic Stacy. Classroom discipline is a major concern in schools everywhere. Children have become more disresopectful as ever and seem to get no home training at this particular school in my district. All children aren't bed though but some of them act as if their parents let them get away with murder. Discipline starts at home in my opinion, and if you raise up your children right their will be less classroom discipline. Great post Stacy.

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