When I began teaching Preschool, I worried about how I would attend to the special needs of each individual child. As in most classrooms, there are children in my class who require a slightly higher degree of teacher attention.
My largest concern when it came to this matter was that I would make the other children (the one’s who do not need constant attention) feel as though they were less important and less deserving of my attention.
As I continue to grow as a teacher I realize more and more that there are relatively easy ways to deal with this situation. When a child asks me, “Why does Johnny get to read books at rest time and the rest of us do not?” I simply tell them the truth. I say, “Because that helps him have a better rest time.” If the child asks me if he or she can have books I say, “You already do a great job at rest time!”
What I realized is that children can handle the truth. They already know that so-and-so has trouble at school. They know which children need extra attention during the day; it is no surprise for them. Children know and understand far more than many adults give them credit for.
Once I came to this realization, I was able to focus less on whether or not each child was given exactly the same level of attention and more on strategies to help the children who suffer from behavioral problems and have a more difficult time at school.
While I was researching such strategies I came across this website: http://www.med.umich.edu/1libr/yourchild/behave.htm.
The site gives valuable information about dealing with temper tantrums, aggression, biting and bullying. I was able to gain a lot of insight from this information about how to deal with individual behavior problems. In the end, I hope to manage the problems in the classroom and have the ability to enjoy each child to the fullest degree possible.
