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Sherridan Williams
Dr. Spear
English 341
2 October 2014
Ethnographic Essay

Richardson Center for the Child Creates a School Family

The Richardson Center for the Child is

have responsibility by doing classroom jobs,

located on Francis Marion Universitys

and to see themselves as part of a valued

campus, in Florence, South Carolina.

community.

Recently, the director, Melissa R. Ward, and

The center has been open since July 2008

the four year old teacher Blake Brookens,

and received their first license on August 7,

attended a training on how to incorporate

2008. The president of Francis Marion, Fred

Conscious Discipline, which focuses on

Carter, dedicated the center to Gail and

compassion and self-regulating emotions,

Terry Richardson, because of all of their

into the classrooms at the center, which was

loyal donations to help get the center funded

implemented this year in two of the

and on the ground. To be qualified to work

classrooms. As a parent, you would know

at the Center for the Child, one must have a

that your child feels safe and is being taken

four-year degree, preferably in Early

care of compassionately if they were to

Childhood Education or Psychology.

attend a similar center that offers Conscious

Conscious discipline is a whole class

Discipline. Conscious Discipline helps

approach to discipline and behavior

create a school family by teaching the

management. With conscious discipline

children to self-regulate, be compassionate,

children learn that they are part of a class

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family. The students have jobs and also

of Charleston where she received her degree

learn that their behavior affects others. The

in early childhood education. Early

children are being more compassionate to

childhood education was her calling because

one another also. They are taught to see

she has always loved children and while in

themselves as part of a community and to

high school she was a teacher cadet for

value themselves as part of the group. The

kindergarten and first grade. She loved the

discipline is self-discipline as opposed to

idea of someday being a teacher while she

punishment. Children are taught to identify

went through the teacher cadet process.

their emotions and are given strategies to

Blake says, she values being an early

learn to self-regulate their responses to

childhood teacher because she loves the idea

emotions (Bailey 9-12).

that children are a blank slate, they take in

There are five rooms at the center, which

everything that you say, and you can mold

range from infants to four years old. Any of

them into developing relationships.

the rooms could have chosen to integrate

Brookens has been using conscious

conscious discipline into their classrooms,

discipline in her classroom since August.

but only the three and four year old teachers

The idea of using conscious discipline was a

decided to use this discipline in their room.

must for Brookens because she loved the

The three and four year old teacher are

idea of the children feeling a part of a

expecting it will spread to the other rooms

classroom family.

once the other teachers see what conscious

discipline is all about.
Blake Brookens has been at the center for
four years. She attended college at College

Brookens believes that integrating

conscious discipline in her classroom was
the best thing she could have done. She
thinks conscious discipline has changed the

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whole atmosphere of her classroom and the

being an Early Childhood major, Walters

children respond more effectively than

still values the importance of teaching

before. She believes that, conscious

children at a young age to help prepare them

discipline is a program that implements

for their future in education.

discipline and social development by

Walters also incorporates Conscious

teaching students to control and regulate

Discipline into her classroom. She is so

their emotions by using rituals and routine

happy that she decided to give it a try

daily in the classroom. By using conscious

because she feels, like it is the best

discipline in the classroom, Brookens can

discipline ever created and she cannot wait

tell quite a difference in the childrens

to see how much the students grow and

behavior and attitude. The children have

mature by using this discipline. She can tell

learned how to better express the way they

a huge difference in how the children

feel by self-regulating and calming

respond to one another. The atmosphere of

themselves down.

the classroom has been more welcoming and

The other teacher who uses Conscious

compassionate in just the short amount of

Discipline in her classroom is Jennifer

time she has been using Conscious

Walters, the lead teacher for the threes.

Discipline. She says she loves all of the

Walters has been at the center for six years

routines and rituals that go into creating a

and attended Coker College where she

school family.

received a double BA in Education and

There are many rituals and routines that

English. Although Walters did not major in

help make up conscious discipline. Through

Early Childhood Education, she did have

conscious discipline there is something that

Early Childhood classroom experience. Not

is called the safe place. The safe place is

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where the students can go if they are upset,

but it is up to the teacher to decide how to

mad, or just need to

handle using the safe place.

calm down. In the

Another aspect of conscious discipline is

safe place there are

the students have classroom jobs, which

pillows and chairs the

makes them feel important and meaningful

students can sit on. There

to the classroom. By assigning the children

are books that the children can read to help

jobs, they learn how to work together

calm themselves down and also soft baby

smoothly as a community. One of the jobs

dolls that the children can hold and talk to

that stands out is the greeter. With conscious

about how they feel. These materials are

discipline, the way students are greeted is

only found in the safe place and are left

very important because they need to feel

there when the student leaves the safe place.

safe when they enter the classroom and

In the threes room, if a child gets upset they

know that it is a welcoming environment. In

are automatically sent to the safe place then

the threes room it is one of the students job

they are talked to by one of the teachers. The

to greet their friends, the student usually

safe place is handled differently in the fours

says good morning and asks them how they

room, if a child is mad one of the teachers

are doing. This days greeter is really shy, so

tries to calm them down before they go to

when she approaches her friends she plays

the safe place. Both of these approaches are

with the bottom of her shirt because she is

correct according to the book, Creating the

nervous. The teacher is hoping by this

School Family. This book explains how

student being the greeter she will learn not

either approach could work in a classroom,

to be so shy.

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In the fours room, Brookens does greeter

Conscious Discipline is a great structure

handshakes with the students

for creating a school family in the

as they walk in. One of the

classroom. With Conscious

students walks in the

Discipline it makes the students feel

classroom and was very upset

valued and an important part of the

about leaving his mother. He was clinging to

classroom. This gives the students

her leg so tightly, but as soon as he started

confidence that they do matter to the

doing the handshake with Brookens, he was

classroom as a whole. The students feel safe

so happy and forgot all about his mom

in a Conscious Discipline atmosphere

leaving. The student knew he was in a safe

because they are being taken care of

and welcoming environment. Brooken also

compassionately and they learn how to

lets one of the students, who is the greeter,

better deal with their emotions by self-

do a different handshake with the other

regulating. The children begin to grow and

students. I asked Brookens if I could do a

mature more when they learn how to better

few of the greeter handshakes with the other

self-regulate their own emotions effectively.

students coming in and I quickly recognized

how it makes the students feel safe and
welcomed. Their face lit up and they get
excited about being at school. Doing the
greeter handshakes is also a part of
conscious discipline because it helps create
the school family by making the students
feel safe.

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Works Cited
Bailey, Becky. Creating the School Family. Loving Guidance, Inc., 2011. Print.
Brookens, Blake. Personal Interview. 18 Sept. 2014
Walters, Jennifer. Personal Interview. 18 Sept. 2014