Teacher–Child Conversation in the Preschool Classroom

This article explores conversations between preschool children and their teachers in the classroom environment. Teachers have an opportunity to engage students in cognitively challenging conversations at critical times during the day: book reading, playtime, and mealtimes. The article provides examples of the types of conversations preschool educators can model and facilitate in order to further develop a child's oral language and subsequent literacy skills during the school day.     

Child Behavior Problems,Teacher Executive Functions,and Teacher Stress in Head Start Classrooms

Research Findings: The current article explores the relationship between teachers’ perceptions of child behavior problems and preschool teacher job stress, as well as the possibility that teachers’ executive functions moderate this relationship. Data came from 69 preschool teachers in 31 early childhood classrooms in 4 Head Start centers and were collected using Web-based surveys and Web-based direct assessment tasks. Multilevel models revealed that higher levels of teachers’ perceptions of child behavior problems were associated with higher levels of teacher job stress and that higher teacher executive function skills were related to lower job stress. However, findings did not yield evidence for teacher executive functions as a statistical moderator. Practice or Policy: Many early childhood teachers do not receive sufficient training for handling children's challenging behaviors. Child behavior problems increase a teacher's workload and consequently may contribute to feelings of stress. However, teachers’ executive function abilities may enable them to use effective, cognitive-based behavior management and instructional strategies during interactions with students, which may reduce stress. Providing teachers with training on managing challenging behaviors and enhancing executive functions may reduce their stress and facilitate their use of effective classroom practices, which is important for children's school readiness skills and teachers’ health.     

Emotional Contagion in the Classroom: The Impact of Teacher Satisfaction and Confirmation on Perceptions of Student Nonverbal Classroom Behavior

Teachers appreciate nonverbally responsive students, but what is missing is an understanding of the direct influence of teachers' self-perceptions on their perceptions of how engaged their students are in class. Using the emotional contagion theory as a lens, this study examines the premise that satisfied instructors expect students to mirror their own behaviors in the classroom through being nonverbally responsive. Results of the regression model confirm that teachers' perceptions of their own confirmation behaviors most strongly predict their perceptions of how nonverbally responsive students are in class. Thus, instructors who are more expressive will likely induce students to be more expressive, leading them to determine their students are being more nonverbally responsive. Further, expressive instructors will be more attuned to student interaction because they may subconsciously expect students to mirror their actions through nonverbal behaviors—they will look for it. Additionally, satisfied instructors view their students as satisfied and look for these feelings to be exposed via nonverbal response behaviors. Implications for teacher training and mentoring programs are discussed.     

Preschool Home Environment and Classroom Behavior

A longitudinal investigation was made of the relationship between home-environment processes when children are between 3 and 5 years of age, and children’s classroom behavior in the primary grades. A generally moderate relationship was observed between the two sets of variables. Encouragement of social maturity showed the strongest relationship with classroom behavior, particularly patience, internal reliance, and inattentiveness. Of the seven classroom behavior variables examined, comprehension showed the largest number of significant relationships with early environment variables.     

有效课堂互动的教师行为探讨

课堂教学从本质上说是一种”沟通“和“合作”的活动。如何使我们的教学更有成效,使我们的学生得到应有的发展,是新一轮的基础教育改革必须面对的一个问题。师生互动的教学过程既充分发挥教师的主导作用又充分调动学生的主体性,教师只有进行有效的课堂教学互动,才能产生课堂效益。     

Teacher Perceptions of Learning Motivation and Classroom Behavior: The Role of Student Characteristics

The present study investigates whether teacher perceptions of students’ cognitive skills, their learning motivation, and their classroom behavior differ according to students’ socioeconomic status, immigrant background, and gender. Data from N = 4746 German fourth graders and data from their parents and teachers were analyzed using structural equation modeling. Controlling for student achievement as measured in a standardized achievement test and student motivation as measured by student and parent reports, we found that teachers overestimated the cognitive skills of high-SES students and girls in comparison to those of low-SES students and boys. Similarly, teachers perceived high-SES students, students who are not from an immigrant background, and girls as having a higher learning motivation and as having more cognitive skills. Finally, we found that teachers’ perceptions of students’ learning motivation and classroom behavior mediated the relationship between student characteristics and cognitive skills as perceived by the teacher.     

幼儿园教师虐童行为的特征、影响及对策

幼儿园教师虐童事件数次发生,已经成为全社会普遍愤慨和共同忧虑的焦点问题。幼儿园教师虐童具有隐蔽性强,儿童难以抗拒,施虐方式多样,越小儿童越易受到虐待等表现特征。虐童行为不仅伤及儿童身体,更给儿童心理和精神造成严重危害。为有效防止幼儿园教师虐童行为,需要从政府、幼儿园和家长层面采取具有针对性的防治措施。     

Relations of Emotional Competence and Effortful Control to Child Disruptive Behavior Problems

Research in child development suggests that emotional competence and effortful control are important for the prevention of conduct disorder, although studies regarding their effects in relation to each other are limited. This investigation examined the additive contribution of specific components of emotional competence and effortful control to child disruptive behaviors, after controlling for IQ and symptoms of inattention/hyperactivity. The sample consisted of 357 Australian five- to nine-year-old children who were identified through a school-wide screening procedure as at risk for developing conduct disorder. Five independent variables were evaluated including emotion identification, emotion understanding, emotion regulation, inhibitory control, and cognitive flexibility. Outcome variables measured child disruptive behavior problems and were based on parent and teacher assessment. Results indicated that deficits in emotion regulation and cognitive flexibility are significantly related to risk for disruptive behavior problems, according to parent but not teacher report. These deficits outweighed inhibitory control, emotion identification, and emotion understanding in their association with problem behavior. Findings may enhance the content and delivery of preventative programs.     

The Classroom Teacher and the Role of Authority

This paper examines the ways in which teachers can use their authority to maximize their teaching effectiveness as well as to set a positive example for student social workers. Three areas in which teachers use their authority are discussed: setting the structure of the class, covering course content, and relating to students. Practices that contribute to both good teaching and impactful role modeling of authority are identified.     

Temperament and Interparental Conflict: The Role of Negative Emotionality in Predicting Child Behavioral Problems

This study examined temperamental irritability and fearful distress as moderators of the association between interparental conflict and child behavior problems in a disadvantaged sample of two hundred and one 2‐year‐old children and their mothers. Using a multimethod, prospective design, findings revealed that the relation between interparental conflict and changes in child behavior problems over a 1‐year period were moderated by temperamental irritability. Consistent with differential susceptibility theory, children high in irritable temperament not only exhibited poorer outcomes in contexts of high interparental conflict but also better adjustment in contexts of low levels of interparental conflict. Mediated moderation analyses revealed that fearful reactivity partly accounted for the greater susceptibility of irritable children, particularly in explaining why they fared better when interparental conflict was low.     

The Role of Teacher Efficacy in Strengthening Classroom Support for Preschool Children with Disabilities Who Exhibit Challenging Behaviors

Challenging student behaviors are a prominent factor in the development of teacher stress and burnout. When classroom-based teachers of preschool children with disabilities were surveyed to identify their training needs in one North Carolina county, the most frequent request was how to address behavior challenges of preschool children with disabilities. This study examined how instructional support to teachers of preschool children with disabilities and challenging behaviors affected three teachers’ classroom practices. The teachers received training and mentoring in classroom behavior management strategies and engaged in an online community of learners discussion group. Interviews and interactions from an online learning community were used to disclose whether the participants had implemented effective intervention strategies in their classrooms following the training. Teachers felt more competent in managing challenging behaviors after the online interaction with their colleagues. Teachers’ online interactions were a highly effective way to impact teacher efficacy. Therefore, special education preschool programs should consider providing more opportunities for the teachers to build their own learning communities to interact and support one another.     

Family Conflict and Children's Behavior Problems: The Moderating Role of Child Temperament

Child temperament was examined as a moderator of the link between family conflict and child behavior problems. Temperament assessed in early childhood was used to predict the relation between family conflict and externalizing behavior problems measured during the early elementary school years. For children with difficult temperament, a strong association between subsequent family conflict and behavioral adjustment was predicted; for children with easy or intermediate temperaments, low to moderate associations were predicted. These hypotheses were tested across 3 temperament groups (easy, intermediate, and difficult). Data were collected from 108 children and families participating in the Fullerton Longitudinal Study at ages 3 through 10 years. Consistent with the hypotheses, the data provided support for the moderating role of temperament in predicting the association between family conflict and child externalizing behavior problems. These findings suggest that temperamental difficultness operates as a vulnerability factor with respect to the development of children's behavior problems in families with high conflict.     

Play in the Preschool Classroom: Its Socioemotional Significance and the Teacher’s Role in Play

The goals of this paper were two-fold. The first goal was to examine the emotional and social developmental value of play in the early childhood classroom. This issue is important because of the recent impetus for a more academic focus in early childhood classrooms, and questions about the developmental benefits of play. The second goal was to examine and discuss the role teachers could play in making play a developmental and educational experience. This is because understanding the significance of play could make teachers less apprehensive about using play to promote learning and development, and enable them answer questions regarding the value of play. Using these goals as a backdrop, this paper discussed views of children’s play; the defining characteristics of emotional and social development; play and the socioemotional development of children; and the role of early childhood teachers in children’s play.     

Predicting Behavior Problems in Children with Epilepsy: Child Factors, Disease Factors, Family Stress, and Child-Mother Interaction

This study examines the relative role of parent-child relationships, family stress, and disease factors in predicting behavior problems in children with epilepsy. It extends existing literature on parent-child relationships and behavior problems by examining children with biological risk. Child-mother interaction was observed for 51 children with epilepsy ages 7–13 years and related to teacher- and parent-reported behavior problems. Child's self-reliance correlated with parent-reported problems; expression of affect related to teacher-reported externalizing problems. A child self-reliance factor accounted for behavior problems after partialing age, gender, IQ, epilepsy variables, and family stress. The term child gender × quality of mother-child interaction predicted teacher-reported externalizing problems, with mother-child interaction correlated with behavior problems for boys. Child-parent relationships predict the development of behavior problems over and above the influence of disease-related factors, even for children at considerable biological risk.     

Teacher Classroom Management Skills and Pupil Behavior

An experimental group of 20 in service elementary teachers was trained using the Utah State University Classroom Management Protocol Modules, and compared before and after training with a control group of 9 teachers. Although the experimental teachers received more favorable post-training scores on all 13 classroom management behaviors covered in the modules, the differences were generally small and nonsignificant. The level of work involvement and deviant behavior of pupils of the experimental group teachers was also compared before and after the teachers had been trained. In recitation situations, pupil work involvement increased and deviant behavior decreased significantly. In seat work situations, pupil work involvement increased significantly, but no significant changes occurred in deviant behavior.     

Behavior Problems and Social Skills in Preschool Children: Parent-Teacher Agreement and Relations with Classroom Observations

The goals of the present investigation were to provide basic psychometric information about the use of the Preschool and Kindergarten Behavior Scales (PKBS: Merrill, 1994) with a sample of normally-developing preschool children, to assess agreement between parent and teacher ratings of children on this instrument, and to assess concurrent, criterion-related validity of these instruments in terms of their relations with observations of children's behavior in the classroom. Parents and teachers of 47 preschool children completed the scales and these children were observed naturalistically in the classroom setting. Overall, agreement between parents and teachers was modest (-.09 to .38). Cross-informant correlations were poor (-.09 to .27) for social skills, low (.15 to .36) for internalizing behaviors, and modest (.29 to .38) for externalizing behavior. Both parents and teachers rated boys as having more externalizing behavior problems than girls. Parents perceived their children to have more externalizing, and more overall, behavior problems than did teachers. In general, teacher reports, but not parent reports, were significantly associated with children's independently observed goal-directed activity, sustained attention, inappropriate behavior, peer affiliation, expressed negative affect, and proximity to a teacher in the classroom. Results argue for the clinical utility of the PKBS for teacher-report assessment of child behavior problems and social skills in the preschool years, and suggest the need for cross-contextual assessment. Also, it is clear that children's behavioral and social competence are crucial for optimal functioning in the preschool setting.     

从"以学生为中心"的教学谈高校教师的情绪能力

“以学生为中心”教学模式通过创造一种愿意接受的气氛来提升学生的控制感,通过发展学生个人和团体目标来挖掘学生的学习动机,这两方面的效果对于解决当前大学课堂教育中存在的学生被动学习现象有着重要作用。本文在简要介绍“以学生为中心”教学模式的基础上,从情绪能力角度分析了该教学方法对教师素质的要求。     

江西省幼儿教师培养存在的问题及对策

基于江西省幼儿教师队伍建设和培养现状,在今后的幼儿教师培养工作中,应科学规划幼儿师范院校布局、规范相关院校学前教育专业办学行为;制定导向性政策体系、重点支持相关院校办好学前教育专业;创新幼儿师资培训工作、建立职前培养与职后培训一体化的新模式;依法加强幼儿教师队伍管理、不断提高幼儿教师地位和待遇。     

Disorganized Infant Attachment Classification and Maternal Psychosocial Problems as Predictors of Hostile-Aggressive Behavior in the Preschool Classroom

This study of 62 lowincome families examined the relation between maternal and infant measures assessed at 18 months infant age and child behavior problems at age 5 as rated by preschool teachers. The infancy assessments included measures of mother-infant interaction, maternal psychosocial problems, infant cognitive development, and infant attachment security, including the disorganized/disoriented classification. The strongest single predictor of deviant levels of hostile behavior toward peers in the classroom was earlier disorganized/disoriented attachment status, with 71% of hostile preschoolers classified as disorganized in their attachment relationships in infancy. Maternal psychosocial problems independently predicted hostile aggressions in preschool and combined additively with infant attachment security in prediction. Results are discussed in relation to the asymmetry of forward and backward prediction that characterized the findings and in relation to the potential significance of disorganized attachment behavior as a precursor to later maladaptation.