**4.2 Shyness in the classroom**

Shyness, or withdrawal, refers to the extent to which a child is uncomfortable with new situations or new people (e.g., is shy with new adults, does not approach/avoids new children/visitors, acts bashful, prefers to play with a familiar person, is nervous/ anxious/fearful/wary in new situations) [47]. Shyness can impede children's social and academic success in educational settings. Shy children may feel uncomfortable

*Expected behavioral outcomes depending on low or high regulation and reactivity combinations.*

**259**

*Temperament in the Early Elementary Classroom: Implications for Practice*

asking for help or speaking up when needed and often become at a risk socially and academically. Because of their lack of interactions with peers and teachers in the classroom, shy children's social and academic difficulties tend to go unnoticed by teachers [41]. The social nature of the classroom can be daunting for children who are withdrawn and quiet; therefore, the classroom may cause shy children to miss out on classroom interactions and instruction [53]. Shyness is a reactive temperament trait that is often neglected; shyness puts children at risk for withdrawal and disengagement in the classroom [47, 54]. In addition, children who are high in shyness tend to be underestimated by their teachers in terms of their ability and interest [55].

Motor activity, the tendency for a child to display large body movement or physical motor activity, is often associated with excitement and eagerness for new experiences. However, because of the structured nature of classroom contexts, high motor activity often disrupts whole class settings (e.g., inability to sit still, running in classrooms, and rushed or hurried behavior) [48, 56]. Motor activity can both facilitate and impede children's adjustment in the classroom depending on how well a child can regulate this high activity level (e.g., running during outdoor playtime, but sitting during lessons). When children are highly active, their behavior may be disruptive to their learning, whereas a more moderate level of activity can be conducive to academic growth [42, 48]. Teachers can support active children's adjustment by providing expectations that align with those children's activity levels [41].

While some children have a difficult time hiding their temperamental tendencies, other children have high levels of regulation, allowing them to control negative reactions, internalize inappropriate reactions, stick to tasks until they are finished, and behave appropriately [5, 57]. Effortful control, often conceptualized as a child's ability to pay attention to specific stimuli yet inhibit inappropriate behaviors, reinforces children's adjustment in the classroom. Children with high effortful control regulate their initial spontaneous reactions to the environment purposefully. For example, shy children with high effortful control may speak up despite feeling anxious (purposeful activation) and active children with high effortful control may sit still on the

carpet during circle time despite feeling antsy (purposeful inhibition) [41]. Correspondingly, task persistence, often conceptualized as a child's selfdirection in completing tasks or responsibilities (e.g., remembers to do assignments without being reminded, returns to responsibilities after an interruption, continues assignments/projects until finished, or complete assignments), also promotes children's success in school. Children with low task persistence tend to have problems completing tasks and focusing attention [58]. Alternatively, children with high task persistence show the ability to ignore distractions, remain focused on specific tasks, and successfully complete assignments. Task persistence may relate to a child's ability to ignore desires or impulses to accomplish a specific goal (e.g.,

listening to instructions in order to determine how to play a new game).

A higher quality classroom environment fosters increased social skills and academic achievement as well as decreased aggression and externalizing behavior; this is particularly significant for children who are higher in reactivity and

**5. Teachers supporting temperament variance**

*DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.96270*

**4.3 Motor activity in the classroom**

**4.4 Self-regulation in the classroom**

*Temperament in the Early Elementary Classroom: Implications for Practice DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.96270*

asking for help or speaking up when needed and often become at a risk socially and academically. Because of their lack of interactions with peers and teachers in the classroom, shy children's social and academic difficulties tend to go unnoticed by teachers [41]. The social nature of the classroom can be daunting for children who are withdrawn and quiet; therefore, the classroom may cause shy children to miss out on classroom interactions and instruction [53]. Shyness is a reactive temperament trait that is often neglected; shyness puts children at risk for withdrawal and disengagement in the classroom [47, 54]. In addition, children who are high in shyness tend to be underestimated by their teachers in terms of their ability and interest [55].

#### **4.3 Motor activity in the classroom**

*Teacher Education in the 21st Century - Emerging Skills for a Changing World*

interactions affect a child's behavior can be found in **Figure 1**.

**4.1 Negative reactivity in the classroom**

demic outcomes.

**4.2 Shyness in the classroom**

higher levels of regulation. However, without sufficient regulation skills, this may be especially difficult. Thus, children with high reactivity and low self-regulation will likely have a more difficult adjustment to the classroom environment; a child with high self-regulation and, especially, low reactivity will likely have an easier adjustment. A visual representation of how low or high regulation and reactivity

Negative reactivity is conceptualized as a child's tendency to feel and express negative emotions (e.g., gets easily angered/frustrated, often cries/yells, moody/ cranky). Children high in negative reactivity become easily upset, react strongly to environmental stimuli or changes, and often seem moody; they will have more difficulty adapting to the world than children who are calmer or inclined to "go with the flow" [5, 17]. Especially without the support of strong regulatory skills, behavior indicative of negative reactivity can be antithetical to the classroom environment. Children who tend to display negative reactivity [categorized as "difficult" 67]. are at risk in the classroom environment because they tend to have lower quality relationships with peers [50] and teachers [51, 52] and poorer aca-

Shyness, or withdrawal, refers to the extent to which a child is uncomfortable with new situations or new people (e.g., is shy with new adults, does not approach/avoids new children/visitors, acts bashful, prefers to play with a familiar person, is nervous/ anxious/fearful/wary in new situations) [47]. Shyness can impede children's social and academic success in educational settings. Shy children may feel uncomfortable

*Expected behavioral outcomes depending on low or high regulation and reactivity combinations.*

**258**

**Figure 1.**

Motor activity, the tendency for a child to display large body movement or physical motor activity, is often associated with excitement and eagerness for new experiences. However, because of the structured nature of classroom contexts, high motor activity often disrupts whole class settings (e.g., inability to sit still, running in classrooms, and rushed or hurried behavior) [48, 56]. Motor activity can both facilitate and impede children's adjustment in the classroom depending on how well a child can regulate this high activity level (e.g., running during outdoor playtime, but sitting during lessons). When children are highly active, their behavior may be disruptive to their learning, whereas a more moderate level of activity can be conducive to academic growth [42, 48]. Teachers can support active children's adjustment by providing expectations that align with those children's activity levels [41].

#### **4.4 Self-regulation in the classroom**

While some children have a difficult time hiding their temperamental tendencies, other children have high levels of regulation, allowing them to control negative reactions, internalize inappropriate reactions, stick to tasks until they are finished, and behave appropriately [5, 57]. Effortful control, often conceptualized as a child's ability to pay attention to specific stimuli yet inhibit inappropriate behaviors, reinforces children's adjustment in the classroom. Children with high effortful control regulate their initial spontaneous reactions to the environment purposefully. For example, shy children with high effortful control may speak up despite feeling anxious (purposeful activation) and active children with high effortful control may sit still on the carpet during circle time despite feeling antsy (purposeful inhibition) [41].

Correspondingly, task persistence, often conceptualized as a child's selfdirection in completing tasks or responsibilities (e.g., remembers to do assignments without being reminded, returns to responsibilities after an interruption, continues assignments/projects until finished, or complete assignments), also promotes children's success in school. Children with low task persistence tend to have problems completing tasks and focusing attention [58]. Alternatively, children with high task persistence show the ability to ignore distractions, remain focused on specific tasks, and successfully complete assignments. Task persistence may relate to a child's ability to ignore desires or impulses to accomplish a specific goal (e.g., listening to instructions in order to determine how to play a new game).

#### **5. Teachers supporting temperament variance**

A higher quality classroom environment fosters increased social skills and academic achievement as well as decreased aggression and externalizing behavior; this is particularly significant for children who are higher in reactivity and

lower in regulation [59–62]. Understanding temperament is a useful tool for early childhood teachers to promote goodness-of-fit which occurs when teaching or caregiving practices positively align with children's temperament and classroom interactions [41, 63, 64]. Teachers who are knowledgeable about various temperament types and combinations are better equipped to respond to the individual differences in their classroom more thoughtfully and effectively. Therefore, interventions that provide teachers with temperament-based strategies with better understanding and effective management of children's emotions and behavior are helpful for disrupting trajectories for negative outcomes [6]. Temperamentbased responses include warmth, support, encouragement, affirmation, expectations, and problem-solving. Although individual child temperament is generally constant, their engulfing environment is adaptable. Goodness-of-fit can be established by modifying the environment (e.g., demands, expectations, and opportunities) so that it is responsive to every child's temperament [51] and cultural differences [32].

Kinkead-Clark [63] explored how early childhood teachers perceive the use of temperament-based approaches in classroom management and how children benefit from using temperament-based approaches to solve conflict in the classroom. Teachers who were trained to use temperament-based approaches in this study felt that it was unfair to use a 'one-size-fits-all' approach with regard to classroom management, appreciated children's temperamental diversity, and better understood how to respond appropriately to each unique child [63]. Further, Kinkead-Clark [63], suggest that it is important to understand what motivates child behaviors and to have realistic expectations about child temperament development, skills, and competencies (e.g., who they are and how this relates to what they do). For instance, it is more realistic to provide children who are low in task persistence with smaller parts of an assignment that are manageable rather than requesting they complete the entire assignment at once.

Children who have difficulty completing complex and sequenced assignments are not lazy or incompetent; however, they may be low in task persistence and require additional teacher scaffolding to understand how to break down the assignment into smaller components. Children who have difficulties remaining still are not intentionally disrespecting the teacher yet may have high motor activity and require more breaks in order to demonstrate better control. To help teachers understand how to best create goodness-of-fit in their classrooms, temperament scholar, Sandee McClowry Ph.D., RN, FAAN, has developed an evidence-based social–emotional intervention for kindergarten and first-grade classrooms.

#### **6. INSIGHTS into Children's Temperament**

*INSIGHTS into Children's Temperament* (INSIGHTS), a ten-week intervention, teaches social emotional skills to young children, their teachers, and their parents to promote long-term positive effects. The parenting and teacher programs include three instructional parts. Part one focuses on child temperament by explaining the 3R's: Recognize, Reframe, and Respond. Teachers and parents learn how to recognize children's unique temperament, how to reframe their perceptions of children by understanding that no temperament is ideal in every situation, and how various responses affect their interactions with children and subsequent behavior. It is important to note that teachers and parents also learn that different temperaments are not considered 'good' or 'bad', but instead learn how to adjust according to each temperament.

**261**

*Temperament in the Early Elementary Classroom: Implications for Practice*

Part two focuses on temperament-based management strategies. Teachers and parents learn how to apply temperament-based strategies specifically matched to children's temperament in order to improve children's behavior. Part three focuses on children's developmental needs. Teachers and parents learn how to support children in temperamentally challenging situations using scaffolding and stretching strategies. If the situation is overwhelming, parents and teachers are taught to remove or reduce it (i.e., scaffolding). However, if the situation is manageable when the child receives support, teachers and parents can apply stretching strategies to enhance children's self-regulation. The incorporation of parents is critical for

Teachers and parents are provided with 'vignettes' (i.e., quality video clips) that demonstrate how to model and frame temperament with young children. Vignettes are short videos, ranging from thirty seconds to two minutes, that help relay content visually. For adult participants, scripts were written that showed how the characters– each with distinctive temperaments–would react in various situations. The scripts were based on parent feedback from initial pilot studies [10]. There are a total of 50 vignettes; half are intended for parent participants and the remaining half are intended for child participants. The vignettes were assessed by experts in temperament theory for content validity. Experts scored each vignette for content relevancy and developmental appropriateness. They strongly endorsed the program materials with the average for the relevancy index being 3.72 and the developmental appropriateness 3.86 out of 4.0 [56]. Vignettes were recorded with real child and adult actors. The quality vignettes and relatable typologies help parents and teachers see how distinctive temperaments react differently to the same real-life experiences. These real-world vignette scenarios interacting with friends, family members, and teachers solidify content, as well as make it memorable and applicable for adults who are new to the idea of temperament. In one of the child-focused vignettes, "Hilary wants to play with Imani but Imani says no. Imani tells Hilary nobody likes her because she is the teacher's favorite student" [10]. Vignettes such as this one prepare young children for difficult situations and allow them to think about various resolutions ahead of time. To assess understanding for adult participants, handouts, worksheets, and assignments also assisted the teachers and parents as they identify child dimensions and profiles. Teachers and parents are further cautioned to avoid labeling a child by profile; the profiles are used only as tools to compare and contrast behavior and for the ease of communication within workshops, yet each child is recognized as an individual beyond a profile. The children's classroom version of *INSIGHTS* uses puppets with different temperaments to demonstrate how each puppet reacts to various situations and model positive social emotional behaviors [65]. Empathy is enhanced when children learn that various situations can be challenging for some puppets and children, while other situations are easy based on their temperament. *INSIGHTS* also introduces children to a problem-solving strategy that helps them expand their self-regulation skills. The strategy involves pausing when there is a problem, weighing pros and cons to different options, and trying out the most helpful option by role-playing with hand puppets [7, 66]. The puppets are important modeling tools for young children because they find them relatable which increase their engagement and comprehension [56]. The four profiles are Fredrico/Felicity the Friendly, Carlos/Coretta the Cautious, Henry/Hilary the Hard worker and Gregory/Gretchen the Grumpy. Each profile recognizes both the strengths and

*DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.96270*

continuity between school and home contexts.

challenges that are associated with the temperament profile.

A major goal of *INSIGHTS* is to improve goodness-of-fit [64] between the child and the classroom/home environment by increasing children's, teachers', and parents' understanding about temperament—both the child's and the adults. Adults learn how to respond more effectively to children's needs based on their

#### *Temperament in the Early Elementary Classroom: Implications for Practice DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.96270*

*Teacher Education in the 21st Century - Emerging Skills for a Changing World*

cultural differences [32].

complete the entire assignment at once.

**6. INSIGHTS into Children's Temperament**

lower in regulation [59–62]. Understanding temperament is a useful tool for early childhood teachers to promote goodness-of-fit which occurs when teaching or caregiving practices positively align with children's temperament and classroom interactions [41, 63, 64]. Teachers who are knowledgeable about various temperament types and combinations are better equipped to respond to the individual differences in their classroom more thoughtfully and effectively. Therefore, interventions that provide teachers with temperament-based strategies with better understanding and effective management of children's emotions and behavior are helpful for disrupting trajectories for negative outcomes [6]. Temperamentbased responses include warmth, support, encouragement, affirmation, expectations, and problem-solving. Although individual child temperament is generally constant, their engulfing environment is adaptable. Goodness-of-fit can be established by modifying the environment (e.g., demands, expectations, and opportunities) so that it is responsive to every child's temperament [51] and

Kinkead-Clark [63] explored how early childhood teachers perceive the use of temperament-based approaches in classroom management and how children benefit from using temperament-based approaches to solve conflict in the classroom. Teachers who were trained to use temperament-based approaches in this study felt that it was unfair to use a 'one-size-fits-all' approach with regard to classroom management, appreciated children's temperamental diversity, and better understood how to respond appropriately to each unique child [63]. Further, Kinkead-Clark [63], suggest that it is important to understand what motivates child behaviors and to have realistic expectations about child temperament development, skills, and competencies (e.g., who they are and how this relates to what they do). For instance, it is more realistic to provide children who are low in task persistence with smaller parts of an assignment that are manageable rather than requesting they

Children who have difficulty completing complex and sequenced assignments are not lazy or incompetent; however, they may be low in task persistence and require additional teacher scaffolding to understand how to break down the assignment into smaller components. Children who have difficulties remaining still are not intentionally disrespecting the teacher yet may have high motor activity and require more breaks in order to demonstrate better control. To help teachers understand how to best create goodness-of-fit in their classrooms, temperament scholar, Sandee McClowry Ph.D., RN, FAAN, has developed an evidence-based social–emotional intervention for kindergarten and first-grade

*INSIGHTS into Children's Temperament* (INSIGHTS), a ten-week intervention, teaches social emotional skills to young children, their teachers, and their parents to promote long-term positive effects. The parenting and teacher programs include three instructional parts. Part one focuses on child temperament by explaining the 3R's: Recognize, Reframe, and Respond. Teachers and parents learn how to recognize children's unique temperament, how to reframe their perceptions of children by understanding that no temperament is ideal in every situation, and how various responses affect their interactions with children and subsequent behavior. It is important to note that teachers and parents also learn that different temperaments are not considered 'good' or 'bad', but instead learn how to adjust according to each

**260**

temperament.

classrooms.

Part two focuses on temperament-based management strategies. Teachers and parents learn how to apply temperament-based strategies specifically matched to children's temperament in order to improve children's behavior. Part three focuses on children's developmental needs. Teachers and parents learn how to support children in temperamentally challenging situations using scaffolding and stretching strategies. If the situation is overwhelming, parents and teachers are taught to remove or reduce it (i.e., scaffolding). However, if the situation is manageable when the child receives support, teachers and parents can apply stretching strategies to enhance children's self-regulation. The incorporation of parents is critical for continuity between school and home contexts.

Teachers and parents are provided with 'vignettes' (i.e., quality video clips) that demonstrate how to model and frame temperament with young children. Vignettes are short videos, ranging from thirty seconds to two minutes, that help relay content visually. For adult participants, scripts were written that showed how the characters– each with distinctive temperaments–would react in various situations. The scripts were based on parent feedback from initial pilot studies [10]. There are a total of 50 vignettes; half are intended for parent participants and the remaining half are intended for child participants. The vignettes were assessed by experts in temperament theory for content validity. Experts scored each vignette for content relevancy and developmental appropriateness. They strongly endorsed the program materials with the average for the relevancy index being 3.72 and the developmental appropriateness 3.86 out of 4.0 [56]. Vignettes were recorded with real child and adult actors. The quality vignettes and relatable typologies help parents and teachers see how distinctive temperaments react differently to the same real-life experiences. These real-world vignette scenarios interacting with friends, family members, and teachers solidify content, as well as make it memorable and applicable for adults who are new to the idea of temperament. In one of the child-focused vignettes, "Hilary wants to play with Imani but Imani says no. Imani tells Hilary nobody likes her because she is the teacher's favorite student" [10]. Vignettes such as this one prepare young children for difficult situations and allow them to think about various resolutions ahead of time. To assess understanding for adult participants, handouts, worksheets, and assignments also assisted the teachers and parents as they identify child dimensions and profiles. Teachers and parents are further cautioned to avoid labeling a child by profile; the profiles are used only as tools to compare and contrast behavior and for the ease of communication within workshops, yet each child is recognized as an individual beyond a profile.

The children's classroom version of *INSIGHTS* uses puppets with different temperaments to demonstrate how each puppet reacts to various situations and model positive social emotional behaviors [65]. Empathy is enhanced when children learn that various situations can be challenging for some puppets and children, while other situations are easy based on their temperament. *INSIGHTS* also introduces children to a problem-solving strategy that helps them expand their self-regulation skills. The strategy involves pausing when there is a problem, weighing pros and cons to different options, and trying out the most helpful option by role-playing with hand puppets [7, 66]. The puppets are important modeling tools for young children because they find them relatable which increase their engagement and comprehension [56]. The four profiles are Fredrico/Felicity the Friendly, Carlos/Coretta the Cautious, Henry/Hilary the Hard worker and Gregory/Gretchen the Grumpy. Each profile recognizes both the strengths and challenges that are associated with the temperament profile.

A major goal of *INSIGHTS* is to improve goodness-of-fit [64] between the child and the classroom/home environment by increasing children's, teachers', and parents' understanding about temperament—both the child's and the adults. Adults learn how to respond more effectively to children's needs based on their

temperament and to provide scaffolding that bolsters children's self-regulation. These strategies have led to improvement in teachers' ability to positively interact with children and to respond to their behavior [67]. The intervention was first developed and implemented in an urban metropolitan New York context. There are several significant findings from the randomized clinical trials that tested the efficacy of the intervention including decreased behavior problems, increased emotional support in teacher practices, less off-task behaviors, improved child engagement, and improved teacher-child relationships [51, 65, 67].

The *INSIGHTS* intervention continues to be replicated to evaluate its efficacy in different environmental contexts. The intervention was adapted for Jamaican classrooms [63] and is currently being implemented within rural Midwestern Nebraskan communities [68]. Samples from these contexts are both considered low-income as well as early childhood. Replication in various U.S. (and Caribbean) subcultural contexts addresses the current literature gap regarding subcultural temperament variation. Rather or not regional culture and racial/ethnic makeup affects temperament outcomes, adjusting for age as well as socioeconomic status (i.e., will there be temperament variation across contexts where developmental level and financial limitations are constant?), will be an original finding in temperament literature. For more information regarding early childhood classroom temperament, we recommend Sandee McClowry's *Temperament-Based Classroom Management* [7].

#### **7. Conclusion**

It is essential that research on temperament development in classrooms continues to be conducted so that the concept remains relevant and reliable as children face new and unprecedented challenges. As previously mentioned, today in the United States alone, more than half of young children experience some form of trauma [8, 9]. Due to the spread of COVID and the continuation of racial injustices, youth trauma is likely to increase [10]. As an external factor, trauma impacts child mental health by interacting with temperament and ultimately affecting child behavior and success in school. Interventions such as INSIGHTS help children and teachers recognize and work with temperament, thus fostering the development of social–emotional competence for navigating current and future challenges [1, 8]. Still, there is much we do not yet know. There is evidence that temperament influences intrinsic classroom motivation, although research [69] suggest that it does not significantly influence extrinsic classroom motivation. There is also little information on how modern classroom realities interact with temperament (e.g., virtual learning, social distancing/ decreased social contact, and increased attachment to the home setting). Although these global stressors affect each individual child's temperament combinations and behaviors, understanding the major temperament dimensions allows teachers to consider child point of views and more fluently adjust to accommodate individual differences.

#### **Acknowledgements**

INSIGHTS New York, Jamaica, Nebraska.

#### **Video**

This video provides introductory overview of the INSIGHTS intervention. Footage was collected from Nebraska samples. https://vimeo.com/339204616

**263**

**Author details**

Jungwon Eum2

Martinique Ann Sealy1

, Nicole Adams2

2 University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Lincoln, USA

4 INSIGHTS Intervention, LLC, New Fairfield, USA

\*Address all correspondence to: sealym@vcu.edu

3 New York University, New York, USA

provided the original work is properly cited.

1 Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, USA

*Temperament in the Early Elementary Classroom: Implications for Practice*

\*, Kathleen Moritz Rudasill1

, Angela Hinrichs2

© 2021 The Author(s). Licensee IntechOpen. This chapter is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/ by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium,

, Jentry S. Barrett<sup>2</sup>

and Sandee McClowry3,4

,

*DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.96270*

*Temperament in the Early Elementary Classroom: Implications for Practice DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.96270*
