Teachers' Interpretations of Preschool Students' Problem Behavior

• In Event: 16.040 - Teachers Writing: Developing Norms That Support Reflexivity and Practice

Abstract

The purpose of the study was to examine the types of language that teachers use to describe preschool student problem behavior, and how they interpret these behaviors in the context of a reflective writing intervention. The writing of 8 Head Start teachers was analyzed through emergent coding and suggested that teachers vary on the types of behaviors they identify as problematic, the attribution of the problem to a child or a specific behavior, and their descriptions of problem behaviors as absolute, conditional, or occurring at a certain level of frequency. Results of the writing analysis are discussed using a self-determination theory framework, and implications for teacher stress and well-being are discussed.

Authors

• Faiza M. Jamil, Clemson University

• Andrea Miller Emerson, Clemson University