Aussie Childcare Network Forum

Hello fellow members,

I know that there have already been a lot of posts regarding new graduates taking in Room Leader roles and seeking advice. I am one of them but I would like to tweek the story a bit. So here it goes... I finished my Diploma last year and I have now gotten the chance to find a full time role as a Room Leader. I am managing a 2-3 year old room and as we all know this age group has their own challenges and difficulties.

Majority of the children have been in that room for a year or so. Some of them even started as a baby in the centre and just moved up. However after 3 weeks of spending time with them, I find that their behaviour might not have been managed in a positive way. They do not respond with a gentle voice and would even laugh off when they see you getting really upset. I have been really working hard to manage the room but apparently I do not think anything is working. The other staff working with me has been in the centre long enough and she says that the 2-3 room has always been difficult. Apparently, no staff has lasted in that room for more than a year. Some of those who stayed there have asked to be moved to another room while others just left the centre altogether.

I have been asked to come up with activities that would really engage them and I have came up with some but I still feel like they are not enough. Group time is mostly a struggle as well because when one child acts up, I either need to get his attention back which will disrupt the whole group time or another staff will get him to sit and listen.

I really do not want to be all negative with this new role and the centre especially that the Director has been really supportive. Any suggestions on what I can do?

Thank you all!

Hi sorry to hear that you've been having a hard time in your new role. Believe it it not you can turn the behaviour of these children around, but you will need the other staff to be on your side and consistent as well.

First of all, never show the children that you get upset with their behaviour. You are in charge you are the adult and they need to listen to you. You need to feel authoritative and in control and not like the children are running the room. Always remain calm at all times no matter what. You need to establish clear expectations for behaviour, otherwise known as class rules, and communicate this to the children regularly, which means several times a day if needed. You should have a group session to initially establish these rules then consistently implement them. Do not get discouraged - it will take a long time for their behaviour to change but just persevere and it will happen.

Also, you need to teach the children how to behave, rather than just expecting them to behave. This means always role modelling the behaviour you expect them to exhibit themselves and explaining to them why their behaviour is inappropriate if they misbehave.

You also need to establish logical consequences for inappropriate behaviour.

As for planning activities, you need to plan activities that incorporate the children's interests. One main rule if teaching is that pedagogy and relevant engaging curriculum go hand in hand. If the children are bored, or if the transitions during the day are boring and lengthy, they will misbehave. Remember, children this young have short attention spans, so try and keep group time engaging, interesting and short in duration. Have you thought of doing finger plays? Children this age love finger plays and keeps their interest during story time. As for the child that misbehaves during group time, don't interrupt the lesson to correct his behaviour - it will only draw unwanted attention to this behaviour and the other children wi often follow suit. Instead, get the child to help you - ask him/her to stand beside you and help you with story time for example, turning the page when you ask them to, etc.

A behaviour management strategy that I've seen works quite well in kindys is the positive thinking space. As soon as a child breaks a class rule, you need to explain that they have broken the rules and why, and that they need to go to the thinking space, where they think of what they did wrong, and what they should do next time. They need to pick their inappropriate behaviour they exhibited from the laminated illustrated chart from the Velcro wall, then the more appropriate behaviour from the other side of the chart. Then, the teacher goes to talk this over with the child once they've done this. Maybe you could use something like this and adapt it for your younger aged room.

I hope this has been of some help and good luck I hope things improve. I know behaviour management issues can be emotionally draining, but if you stick to these guidelines, eventually things will improve.

Thank you so much ladies for taking time to post replies. I have been working for seven weeks now and though I have seen little improvements, I feel that I still have a long way to go. One of the things that frustrate me at the moment is nappy change time. Unfortunately, our centre is structured in a way that the nappy change room is in another room. So gathering the children that will have nappy change is a struggle because as you ask one to go and sit on a mat where they will wait for the rest, the one that has been is long been gone. Same with gathering them after outside play. They cant just sit still and wait for five minutes until the educators have been able to help everyone to put their shoes on. I do understand that these are all part of their development but I am now running out of strategies to manage this. I have tried singing but towards the end of the day singing and reading stories do not work any longer.

Thanks LA! Unfortunately, our room is always full on. 16-21 children with 2-3 educators everyday. It helps when there is a third person in the room but when there is only me and another staff that is when we struggle. If we only take two at a time that will leave the other staff with so many children. I am trying to discuss this with my director but I am hoping I could come up with some ideas before going to her. As for putting the shoes on, I really like the idea of getting out some books. I will try that with my class straight away!

Thank you so much for your help!