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Research

That Matters

The Teaching Pyramid

Preparing young children for kindergarten means more than teaching beginning math and language skills. It means helping preschoolers master the social and emotional skills they need in order to work out problems on their own, exercise self-control, express their feelings, and have positive interactions with peers, caregivers and family.

One successful approach to building this “emotional literacy” in children is The Teaching Pyramid. The Pyramid, developed by early childhood researchers, including Dr. Gail Joseph from the UW College of Education, provides a framework to promote healthy social skills for all children. It lays out a hierarchy of strategies, each building on the last, with those at the lower level of the pyramid targeted to all or most of the students in a class and those at the top increasingly tailored for specific children.

Step 1: is developing positive relationships with children, family and colleagues. In a warm, safe, responsive childcare environment, a preschool teacher may individually greet children by name upon arrival, and talk about the day to come. She is committed to developing a strong, nurturing relationship with each child.
Step 2: is using effective practices to prevent behavior problems. These include giving children needed structure and positive feedback on pro-social behavior. It also means designing classroom arrangements — such as well-organized learning centers — that minimize conflict and promote engagement and social interaction.
Step 3: is explicit teaching of social and emotional strategies. Some children will need focused instruction in skills such as controlling anger and impulse, problem-solving, making new friends and identifying feelings in themselves and others. Building their emotional vocabulary with words such as “excited,” “tired” and “disappointed” can help them express these feelings.
Step 4: the fourth and last step is individual intervention. This may involve working one-on-one with a family and tailoring a behavior support plan to address a child’s specific challenging behaviors. If the other steps of the pyramid are followed, researchers estimate only about 4 percent of children should require this most intensive level of individual support. By supporting each child at the necessary level, teachers can prevent many problem behaviors and better address those that do arise.