ABSTRACT
This chapter looks at classroom life, challenging behavior and discusses teacher responsibilities for the early childhood classrooms. The discussion emphasizes the critical role that teachers play in meeting learning outcomes, developing social competence in individual children, and maintaining a safe, secure environment for all children to learn and thrive. Children come to teacher's classrooms with various social and emotional skills that manifest themselves in their behavior. For teacher's purposes, then, what should they be thinking about regarding child behavior in the classroom? If teachers seek to create a productive learning environment, then they must both promote social competence, which is, broadly speaking, the ability of young children to get along with others. The teacher must help the other children to feel safe, comfortable, and reassured that all will be calm in the classroom. Besides thinking about the safety and security of the children, teachers are aware of their responsibility for helping young children learn the ways schools operate.
