Why are my findings significant?
My findings are significant because they taught me a lot about my students and their social and emotional development. In addition, my findings taught me a lot about being an educator.
Providing support and allowing students' ownership
From this project, I learned that Kindergartens ARE capable of independently solving social conflicts but often need a little encouragement and reassurance from a teacher or adult before proceeding to solve a conflict on their own. This was apparent to me from the numerous instances when my students would come up to me to report a conflict, I would respond by saying, "How do you think you should solve that?" and my student would respond, "A Problem-Solving I-Message" then go about solving the conflict on their OWN with a Problem Solving I-Message. This was also a point made in the literature I read on teaching students to resolve conflicts, however, I didn't fully appreciate it until I reflected on my research. Church (2002) states, "It is important for children to take an active role in solving social conflict. At this stage of development, children are capable of understanding the importance of “using their words” to discuss the problem. However, they may need an adult negotiator to help them through the situation". In the beginning my primary instinct was to solve the conflicts for my students as I felt they were not capable of solving them independently. However, I slowly learned that with guidance, support, and encouragement they could solve their social conflicts independently. As an educator this taught me to never underestimate the capabilities of my students. In addition it taught me the importance of guiding, supporting, and encouraging students through tasks but eventually letting go and giving students the opportunity to try out a new skill on their own. I think this applies to teaching students academic content as well. When teaching students new academic content, I must guide, support, and encourage them but also give them the opportunity to try it on their own. If I don't do this then students will always rely on someone and not be able to complete things on their own.
Balancing constructive criticism with positive feedback
Through my conflict resolution lessons, guidance, and practice, my students were able to learn how to independently solve their social conflicts. However, putting an emphasis on social conflicts and the "Problem Solving I-Message" for the first four weeks of my action research project weakened the class community. Students who kept receiving "Problem Solving I-Messages" felt "put down" and accused. Therefore, I introduced the topic of appreciating others and the "Appreciation I-Message" in Phase 2 to make my students feel appreciated and bring the class together again. As a result, the amount of social conflicts decreased and the class community was strengthened.This finding taught me the importance of having a balance of positive and constructive feedback in the classroom. As a teacher, I must encourage my students to provide positive and constructive feedback to one another so students can learn and grow in a healthy way. I must also model this for my students by giving them positive and constructive feedback on assignments, on behavior, and performance. It is so easy to draw the students attention to the negative behaviors, wrong doings, and actions occurring in the classroom but I have to always remember to also point out the positive behaviors, accomplishments, and successes of my students if I want to have the best learning environment for my students. This is further indicated by Weinstein, Romano, and Mignano (2010), "Searching for deficits makes a certain amount of sense. After all, if we can identify what students don't know or can't do, we can try to fix the problems. But responsible teaching also involves searching for strengths" (p.63). This proves how important it is for teachers to identify and confront students strengths and weaknesses. In my classroom I will do this by providing my students with both positive and constructive feedback on assignments. In order to show my students that I recognize their strengths, I will acknowledging students who participate, follow directions, stay on task, listen to me, and work hard. In addition, in order to show my students the areas they can grow, I will address misbehaviors, areas of academic concern, areas of social concern and support them to getting where they need to be.
References:
Church, E. (2002). Learning to resolve conflicts. Early Childhood Today, 16(4), 38-39.
Weinstein, C. S., Mignano, A. J., & Romano, M. E. (2010). Responding Effectively to Problem Behaviors. Elementary classroom management: lessons from research and practice (2nd ed., pp. 63). New York: McGraw-Hill.
Providing support and allowing students' ownership
From this project, I learned that Kindergartens ARE capable of independently solving social conflicts but often need a little encouragement and reassurance from a teacher or adult before proceeding to solve a conflict on their own. This was apparent to me from the numerous instances when my students would come up to me to report a conflict, I would respond by saying, "How do you think you should solve that?" and my student would respond, "A Problem-Solving I-Message" then go about solving the conflict on their OWN with a Problem Solving I-Message. This was also a point made in the literature I read on teaching students to resolve conflicts, however, I didn't fully appreciate it until I reflected on my research. Church (2002) states, "It is important for children to take an active role in solving social conflict. At this stage of development, children are capable of understanding the importance of “using their words” to discuss the problem. However, they may need an adult negotiator to help them through the situation". In the beginning my primary instinct was to solve the conflicts for my students as I felt they were not capable of solving them independently. However, I slowly learned that with guidance, support, and encouragement they could solve their social conflicts independently. As an educator this taught me to never underestimate the capabilities of my students. In addition it taught me the importance of guiding, supporting, and encouraging students through tasks but eventually letting go and giving students the opportunity to try out a new skill on their own. I think this applies to teaching students academic content as well. When teaching students new academic content, I must guide, support, and encourage them but also give them the opportunity to try it on their own. If I don't do this then students will always rely on someone and not be able to complete things on their own.
Balancing constructive criticism with positive feedback
Through my conflict resolution lessons, guidance, and practice, my students were able to learn how to independently solve their social conflicts. However, putting an emphasis on social conflicts and the "Problem Solving I-Message" for the first four weeks of my action research project weakened the class community. Students who kept receiving "Problem Solving I-Messages" felt "put down" and accused. Therefore, I introduced the topic of appreciating others and the "Appreciation I-Message" in Phase 2 to make my students feel appreciated and bring the class together again. As a result, the amount of social conflicts decreased and the class community was strengthened.This finding taught me the importance of having a balance of positive and constructive feedback in the classroom. As a teacher, I must encourage my students to provide positive and constructive feedback to one another so students can learn and grow in a healthy way. I must also model this for my students by giving them positive and constructive feedback on assignments, on behavior, and performance. It is so easy to draw the students attention to the negative behaviors, wrong doings, and actions occurring in the classroom but I have to always remember to also point out the positive behaviors, accomplishments, and successes of my students if I want to have the best learning environment for my students. This is further indicated by Weinstein, Romano, and Mignano (2010), "Searching for deficits makes a certain amount of sense. After all, if we can identify what students don't know or can't do, we can try to fix the problems. But responsible teaching also involves searching for strengths" (p.63). This proves how important it is for teachers to identify and confront students strengths and weaknesses. In my classroom I will do this by providing my students with both positive and constructive feedback on assignments. In order to show my students that I recognize their strengths, I will acknowledging students who participate, follow directions, stay on task, listen to me, and work hard. In addition, in order to show my students the areas they can grow, I will address misbehaviors, areas of academic concern, areas of social concern and support them to getting where they need to be.
References:
Church, E. (2002). Learning to resolve conflicts. Early Childhood Today, 16(4), 38-39.
Weinstein, C. S., Mignano, A. J., & Romano, M. E. (2010). Responding Effectively to Problem Behaviors. Elementary classroom management: lessons from research and practice (2nd ed., pp. 63). New York: McGraw-Hill.