Session

4:
Understanding How
Children
Think and Feel
 RATE YOUR STRESS
LEVEL

Level Level Level Level Level

1 2 3 4 5
 Stress
management exercise
– Shake, Count,
Clap
Revie
w
• Warmth provides a safe and secure environment for
learning, which encourages motivation and cooperation of
learners.
• Structure provides information and guidance to scaffold
children’s learning. It is not punishment, control, or
coercion.
• Warmth and Structure together are the two most powerful
tools of Positive Discipline.
 Knowing the
Understanding materials
child
development
Providin Providin The right
g g tools
Warmth Structure
Setting long-
A clear plan
term goals
 Your Learner! 18

• Name (not the real name)

• Male or female
• Age
• Family circumstances
• Interests or favorites
• Typical developmental
• characteristics of the child at this age
• Common challenging behaviors of the
child at this age
 Summing
up
• An effective way of reaching our long-term goals is knowing our
learners.
• Children’s capacity and abilities change as they grow; their needs and
challenges also change.
• Some of the challenging behaviors we encounter in class are linked to
their developmental characteristics
• Having appropriate expectations about what the child can and cannot
do, and what the child can do with some help facilitates responding
with Warmth and Structure
• Conflicts with learners may be prevented or reduced.
Each child arrives in the
classroom with a unique set of
experiences
that affects his/her…
• Readiness to learn
• Motivation to achieve
• Confidence in own abilities
• Comfort in the presence of
adults
• Social skills
Understanding
Child Development

Children’s behavior is greatly

influenced by what is going
on in their brain
 Understanding Child Development – Early
Grades
• Brain development is going on at a very fast rate

• Brain cells or neurons make many connections

and networks

• Intense drive to explore and learn

• Can be highly distractible, easily bored,

and needing sensory stimulation.

• Still learning about emotions

Covid-19 and the Early
Grader
• Limited understanding of what is going on around them

• Need new skills and routines to learn to prevent disease

• Frustration, which can lead to emotional outbursts

• Punishment in the home can happen. This can affect the

child’s
academic performance and motivation for learning
 How can the
Teacher Provide
Warmth for the
Early Grader?
3
Understanding Child Development – The Middle
Grades
• Brain development provides for
greater capacity for learning
and mastery of fundamental
skills
• Stage of Puberty, which may
come early for some and late for
others
• Getting more confident
Understanding Child Development – The Middle
Grades
• Conflicts with learners may arise
 they ask very critical questions or disagree with the teacher.
 bullying
 changes in the child’s moods, which may be interpreted as being disrespectful
or
mean.

• Punishment for these typical behaviors may undermine the

child’s
confidence and decrease their motivation to learn
Understanding Child Development – The
Middle Grades

 Acknowledging the child’s point of view

 Engaging the child in conversation

This builds the child’s self-confidence and promotes

greater interest in learning.
Understanding Child Development – The
Middle Grades
Bullying is common at this
stage.

Teacher:
• Scaffold children’s learning
Reduces bullying and
towards appreciating diversity,
increases the
kindness, challenging gender
confidence of
stereotypes.
• Models empathy and providing learners
guidelines for acceptable behavior
Covid-19 and the Middle
Grader
• Greater understanding of COVID-19 and the consequent
school closure
• Lost their extensive social network
• May experience sadness, fear, and pessimism
• Punishment in the home can happen
 How can the
Teacher Provide
Warmth for the
Middle Grader?
4
Understanding Child Development – Later
Grades
• The brain undergoes the process of pruning
• Adolescent brain continue to develop beyond the age of 18
• This means that their capacity for planning, anticipating the
consequences of their actions, and inhibiting risky behavior
are not yet mature
Understanding Child Development – Later
Grades
• Struggle towards gaining
more independence
• They are developing their
own identity
• They need security and guidance in
solving problems and making decisions
• Conflicts with adults are common.
Understanding Child Development – Later
Grades
• Understanding the struggle that adolescents face
• Recognizing the adolescent’s need for greater independence
• Providing information and helping them go through the
problem- solving process
• Punishment at this stage undermines the trust and
good relationship
Covid-19 and the Late
Grader
• Loss of social connection with their peer group or romantic
relationship can be a source of resentment and resistance to
or violation of restrictions
• Strong belief that nothing bad can happen to them or that
they
won’t get sick
• Disagreement with parents and conflict over
misinformation circulating over the internet
• Punishment and upheaval in the home can reduce motivation
to continue education
 How can the
Teacher Provide
Warmth for the
Late Grader?
5
 Scenario 19

Analysis
• It has been 1 month since the beginning of the school
year but your female kindergarten learner can only
finish 20% of the work sheets she is required to finish
at the end of each week because she can only sit at
her desk at home for a few minutes at a time.
• If you were to assume the point of view of the
pupil, what would be the developmental reasons
for not being able to sit at the desk for a long
time?
• Now, assume the point-of-view as the teacher.
Knowing the child’s point of view what will you
say to
 Scenario
Analysis
• You notice your grade 3 male learner has
drawn doodles on his submitted worksheet
instead of completing the assigned work.
• If you were to assume the point of view of the
learner, what would be the developmental
reasons for doodling on his work sheet instead
of completing the assigned work?
• Now, assume the point-of-view of the teacher.
Knowing the child’s point of view, what will
you say to him to provide Warmth?
 Scenario
Analysis
• You are on a home visit when notice your grade 7
female learner call her neighbor, a fellow learner
passing by, a derogatory name because of her
well- developed breasts and short skirt.
• If you were to assume the point of view of the
learner, what would be the developmental
reasons for calling someone a derogatory name?
• Now, assume the point-of-view of the teacher.
Knowing the child’s point of view, what will you
say
to provide Warmth?
 Scenario
Analysis
• You overheard your grade 11 male student
planning to skip his Math online class to join his
friends to play online computer games instead.
• If you were to assume the point of view of the
pupil, what would be the typical reason for
skipping class and playing computer games
instead?
• Now, assume the point-of-view of the teacher.
Knowing the child’s point of view, what will you
say
or do to provide Warmth?
Summing
Up
• Teachers have the opportunity to establish good relationships
and habits that can lead to the long-term goals for their
learners.
• Typical developmental characteristics of children are often
the sources of conflict and are misinterpreted as bad
behavior.
• Providing Warmth (such as empathy or considering the
child’s
point of view) allow teachers to understand the child’s situation
and helps her provide the appropriate Structure to respond to
the child’s needs at the moment.
 To be effective teachers, we need
to…
• Know our learners’ abilities at different ages
• Understand that some learners might
not have the experiences or
information they need to succeed
• Reflect on what we could do differently
to help them learn
• Recognize that our learners’ perspectives
might be different from ours
• Understand our own contributions to
conflict with learners
 When we understand how children think and feel
at
different ages, we recognize…
Children’s right to
• Protection from all forms of physical
and mental violence (Article 19)
• An opinion and for this to be
considered seriously (Article 12)
• Education that respects their dignity
(Article 28)
• Play (Article 31)
 “Hindi talaga natin maiwasan may mga batang malilikot, maiingay.
Tinatawag ko po sila isa-isa. Kinakausap ko ng heart to heart kung ano
talaga ‘yung gusto niya, bakit siya maingay. I-consider mo ba ‘yung
family background nya… ‘Ano ba’ng problema? Bakit ka malikot sa
klase? Bakit ka maingay?’ Effective talagang kausapin ko siyang mag-isa
kesa pagalitan sa buong klase. Then the next day, magtaka ka na lang
na iba na ‘yung kilos nya.”

- Grade 5 Teacher at Jose C. Catolico Elementary School, Gen. Santos

City
20
Recognizing
individual
differences Knowing the
materials
Understanding
child
development
Providin Providin The
g g tools
Warmth Structure
Setting long- The plan
term goals
Imagine…
You are a very active person. You love being outdoors, playing
sports, and especially running. When you aren’t doing
something
active, you quickly get restless.

You meet someone you really like and you start to become
friends. You want to share your favorite activities with her
and you’re excited about all the things you could do
together.
Soon you discover that her favorite activity is reading. She wants
to spend the weekends with you, reading side-by-side.

But when you try to read with her, you can only sit still for a few
minutes. You invite her to go for a walk and she says, “Maybe
later.”

So you sit and read for 15 minutes and then invite her again for a
walk. She becomes irritated and says, “Why can’t you sit still? If
you can’t sit here with me, then I’m going to go and read by
myself.”
 Flipchart 21

Feelings Relationship

Behaviors Need
s
Imagine…
You meet another new friend who also loves to read. She invites you to
her home to show you the books she has collected. She suggests one
for you, about the best places to run in your community. You think this
book sounds really interesting and you want to sit down and start
reading it right away.

After reading a chapter, you feel restless and invite your friend to go
for a walk. She says, “I know that you love to be outside and moving.
Let’s go for a walk and then we can come back and read some more.
Maybe after each of us reads another chapter, we could go and check
out one of the
running paths you’ve read about.”
 Flipchart 22

Feelings
Behaviors
Relationship
 Summing
Up
• Conflict between teachers and learners may arise from
individual differences
• Teachers are different from their learners and sometimes teachers
are not conscious of their expectations that lead to conflict
• It is important to be aware of these differences and reframe our way
of interpreting the actions of our learners
• Teachers can have the appropriate expectations based on our
learner’s
individual differences
• Teachers can respond with Warmth and Structure to enable
these children to move forward with their learning
 Recognizing Individual Differences -
Temperament
• Temperament is the genetic basis of
our personality; it reflects how
each person reacts to his/her
environment
• It is neither good nor bad
• It remains fairly stable throughout
the
person’s lifetime.
Recognizing Individual Differences -
Temperament
Some
children
Low In High
between

• Activity
Level
• Distractibility
• Intensity
 Recognizing Individual Differences -
Temperament
• Children who have very high activity levels are often perceived
as difficult children
• Children who are easily distracted are often perceived as
difficult children
• Children who show intense emotions are sometimes perceived
as difficult
 Temperament that are often perceived as
challenging can be perceived as a
strength.
• Each temperament, whether high or low, has its
own
advantages and challenges.
• Being aware of the differences in the temperament
of our learners will help us understand them better
and scaffold their learning better.
Who is the best for the 23

job?
Disaster Response Rescue
Basketball or Football Referee
Team Member
(A person with High Activity Level?
(A person with High Distractibility
or
Level
Low Activity Level?)
or Low Distractibility Level?)

Grocery Cashier
(A person with High Activity Level? Accountant
or Low Activity Level?) (A person with High Distractibility
Level or Low Distractibility Level)
 Recognizing Individual Differences –
Temperament
• Teachers have their own temperaments
• Their temperament can be different or the same as their learner
• This can cause conflict because often, we expect others to
behave the same way we do
• For example, a teacher with a low activity level may think
that a student with high activity level is difficult to handle
and use punishment to force this child to sit still.
• Differences in temperament
can be a source of conflict
• When the teacher is aware of
the difference between her
own and the learner’s
temperament, she will have
appropriate expectations of the
child’s behaviour
 Key
messages
• Teacher and learner conflicts are often
the result of similarities or differences in
temperaments and needs
• Warmth and Structure are more likely
to reduce these conflicts than anger
and punishment
• The aim is to channel our temperaments in
constructive directions, rather than to try
to change each other’s fundamental
characteristics
 Other Individual
Differences
• Differences in home environments
• Cultural differences
• Differences in talents and interests
• Life experiences
• Information processing differences
• Learning challenges
• Life experiences (disaster,
violence, discrimination)
Differences in Home
Environments

• Negative
• Positive
• Violence between parents or toward
• Supportive
child
• Encouraging • Criticism, name-calling, degradation
Differences in Interests and
Abilities

• Physical disability
• Science and Technology
• Neurodevelopmental
• Arts and Crafts
• Business disability
• Psychological
disability
Differences in how children process
information
Sensory
• input:
Attending Behavioral
• Sensing Output:
• Seeing Processing: • Recalling
• Hearing • Recognizing • Speaking
• Smelling • Decoding • Writing
• Feeling • Connecting • Drawing
• Tasting • Understanding • Acting
• Body • Creating
awareness • Building
• Showing
Summing
Up
• Children’s unique information processing capacity affect their
learning and behavior
• Teacher’s responses can compound their challenges or
encourage
them to develop strategies to manage their challenges.
• Punishment will not affect how student’s brains work
• They need understanding and support
 When teachers recognize learner’s
individual differences…

• They are fulfilling the child’s right

to a quality education without
discrimination based on their
individual differences (Article 2)

• The child’s right to develop

her/his personality, talents and
abilities (Article 29)
What can Teachers
Do?
• Establish an atmosphere that encourages learners to ask
for clarification and assistance.
• Respect each child as an individual.
• Focus on each learner’s strengths.
• Maintain communication with parents and guardians.
• Take an information processing perspective.
• Involve children in their learning and problem-solving.
• Do all that you can to build a strong foundation for your
students’
future lives.
Session
Summary
• Aside from developmental factors, individual differences may
account
for children’s behavior
• Sometimes teachers are not conscious of their expectations
from their learners that lead to conflict
• Lack of understanding of individual differences can lead
to expectations that the learner may find difficult to
meet
• Understanding individual differences enables the teacher to factor
in such differences and set appropriate expectations that the
learner can meet
Support for
Parents
• Talk to them about the positive
characteristics that make their child
unique from their other children.

• Parents can build on these characteristics

to motivate and encourage their children
to persevere with their lessons.
 Support for
Parents
• Talk about the some of the learner’s
challenges; are there possible difficulties
in information processing?

• This is a chance for the teacher to help the

parent see the child as a unique person
with strengths and challenges.
Home
Work:
Please read the following pages of your PDET Book for
more information:
• Pages 90-138 – Child Development
• Pages 147-168 – Temperament
• Pages 169-183 – Information Processing
Session Evaluation
https://tinyurl.com/PDETeval4
“I did then what
I knew how to do. Now
what I know better, I
do better.”
- Maya
Angelou
 Good Luck!
For support, you can
contact:
Wilma Bañaga:
[email protected] Jerly
Villanada: [email protected]
PDET Facilitators

facebook.com/groups/IPracticePositiveDiscipline