CONSTRUCTIVE GUIDANCE & DISCIPLINE PHILOSOPHY AND PRACTICE

STATEMENT
Taylan Hayes

Through my experiences with the field of education so far, my constructive guidance

philosophy has been easily the most influential concept in my discovery of how I view education

and why I want to become a future educator. Experience combined with intentional absorbing of

progressive methodologies for education have guided the development of my educational

pedagogy and led me to the beliefs I currently hold about constructive guidance and discipline.

What constructive guidance and discipline means to me

Throughout the semester, I grappled with the concept of discipline or development. I

continually shied away from using the term discipline as that word tends to carry a negative

connotation and was generally a cause and effect situation. The term I replaced it with was

development, or constructive guidance in other words. I began to see a child’s misbehavior as a

chance for them to learn why they acted that way and what we could do together to prevent the

behavior from reoccurring. The most common form of discipline I know or have seen would be

removing a child from the situation, like negative reinforcement, but the child is the component

being taken away. If that is the method being used for behavior correction, when the opportunity

for dialogue comes, talk to the student about the situation. This is not an opportunity to lecture

the student about how their behavior was wrong, this is a chance to hear the student and come to

a consensus together about how to proceed in the classroom or activity. I found that this

definition of discipline fully aligns with my perspective on discipline: “helping children learn

personal responsibility for their behavior and the ability to judge between right and wrong for

themselves” (Fields, Meritt, Fields, 2018, p.3). This interaction of constructive guidance, or
development, is something I will take into my practice as an educator; hearing the students and

their perspectives and working as a team to combat the problem behavior if it should happen

again in the future.

My image of the children/students I work with or plan to work with as an educator

To me, children are an opportunity for growth and goodness in the world. Each class,

each generation is another chance to fill them with rounded knowledge about the world and

themselves for them to carry with them until they can do the same to the children in their lives.

Children require our love, nurturement, and respect. The way we treat children forms their

impressions of how they should treat each other and how they treat children when they are

adults. The Constructive Guidance and Discipline states “Can we afford to spend school time

teaching social skills and caring attitudes? […] we can’t afford not to” and I strongly agree with

and support this claim (Fields, Meritt, Fields, 2018, p.4). Every time I get the chance to work

with a child, no matter the setting or context, I emphasize the meaning of why I do what I do and

how they can do the same. I am patient, I am kind, and I am respectful in hopes that they see and

feel that and reciprocate the same to me or others. All in all, children are sponges who will

absorb whatever is put in their environment. A good educator knows this, but a great educator

creates an environment worthy of absorbing.

My short and long-term guiding and caring goals/outcomes

In any successful career, it is important to have goals planned out for the future, both

short-term and long-term and teaching is no exception. An educator should continue to strive for

excellence and have the personal awareness to understand and recognize areas in their expertise

that could be improved to better support their students.

 With that in mind, one short-term goal I have as an educator is to better understand my

personal biases and my own null education in order to offer a more rounded and impartial

education to my students. This entails reading, doing research, participating in field experiences

that offer multiple perspectives, and pushing my own life norms to include the pedagogy that I

want to offer to my students. Another short-term goal I have is to gain a better grasp the

strategies of constructive guidance so that I can practice and implement them this summer as a

camp counselor working with children of all ages. I could accomplish this goal by reading more

examples and definitions of the strategies as well as practicing them in situations I encounter in

my day-to-day life. Additionally, one final short-term goal I currently have is to work on

approaching every chance for student behavior development from a place of understanding and

love as opposed to seeing the situation as frustrating and something that needs fixing. I believe

this underlying tone of compassion is felt by the students and communicated throughout each

interaction. Continuing my growth in patience and love would be easily accomplished as a camp

counselor in the summers where I would be consistently presented with opportunities to practice

these crucial skills.

As much as short-term goals are easier to accomplish and check off, long-term goals

serve as important reminders of where you’ve been and where you’re going. Long-term goals are

also an excellent way of tracking the evolution of your pedagogy as an educator and can act as

check points for progress.

A long-term goal I have as an educator is to create a safe, nurturing environment for my

students, so they feel comfortable sharing how they are doing, feeling, or when they need help. I

want them to feel that this is their classroom too, they are not just guests for the year. Another

long-term goal I have set for myself is to educate my students past merely curriculum. I want to
educate them about the world, person-to-person relationships, morals and ethics, etc. This

requires me to have experiences that challenge me as a person and put me outside of my comfort

zone. Overall, I want my students to see their own personal value in their education. I want them

to care about their education and to want to take responsibility over what they are learning rather

than them feeling like their job is to sit and listen while I pour out information to them.

To close, I am aware that these goals and philosophies will continue to grow and change

as I do. The more I learn about myself, the education system, and children, the more my views

on teaching will evolve. I believe an educator’s philosophy should change over time, because if

it is not, they are remaining stagnant in their responsibility as educators to nurture the developing

minds of their students.

 References

Fields, M. V., Meritt, P. A., & Fields, D. (2018). Constructive guidance and discipline: birth to
age eight (7th ed.). NY NY: Pearson.