Engage children at key transition points in their day with "zone defense scheduling"
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See some sample schedules and commonly asked questions by teachers setting up a ZDS for the first time |
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How would you like to ensure children are well engaged throughout their day? The authors of the new guide Engagement of Every Child in the Preschool Classroom have outlined a series of classroom interventions you can implement to make sure children are engaged during typical "down" times—arrival, departure, and in lulls between activities.
The many small moments during the day when children might be tempted into mischief don't need to be wasted—they are rife with possibilities for building skills through active engagement. Learn about one particular technique outlined in Engagement of Every Child that makes sure children are constructively engaged throughout their day.
Try the "zone defense schedule" in your classroom
On the basketball court, players in a "zone defense" are responsible for covering a specific zone rather than a certain player on the other team. In the preschool classroom, teachers use a "zone defense schedule" (ZDS) in a team approach to cover specific areas as children move from activity to activity. The ZDS arrangement allows the teacher leading the activity to fully engage the children in her group, while the other teacher fields any distractions that may arise and sets up for the next activity.
Consider this typical scenario:
Debbie and Christy are teachers in a preschool classroom of 3-year-olds. Their schedule for the children's day includes circle time, art project, music time, and reading. Completing their teacher-directed activities is a challenge, however, because minor situations, such as the need to change a diaper or answer the phone, seem to constantly arise and demand their attention. The children often end up sitting unoccupied or acting up because they don't have anything to do while waiting for the teacher to return and resume the activity.
Debbie and Christy decide to implement a zone defense schedule so the children are not left unoccupied.
Here's how it works
Using a ZDS, each staff member is assigned a specific role during classroom activities. At least one adult works directly with the children, leading the scheduled activity, while another adult completes the extra classroom tasks (e.g., cleaning, handling phone calls) and setting up for the next activity.
Because the adult leading the activity is not distracted by the need to complete extra classroom tasks, she is able to devote full attention to the children and the current activity. Once her activity is completed, she engages the children until they move to the new activity, where the set-up person is waiting to involve them in the next.
Research has shown that with the use of ZDS, children experience short transitions with high levels of participation, in contrast to long transitions with low levels of participations when ZDS is not used. Researchers have calculated that the average amount of time lost per child during transitions drops from 20.74 minutes to 9.91 minutes with ZDS.
Setting up a zone defense schedule
To set up a ZDS, you need to follow just four steps:
1. Divide the day into 15- or 20- minute blocks of time. Any more, and the children may lost interest. Be sure to include teacher break times.
2. Review the day's activities for potentially troublesome transitions. For example, don't schedule a quiet activity immediately following an active activity because children do not have the chance to decrease their activity level gradually and ease into the quiet activity.
3. Assign roles to classroom staff. It helps to use a template (see examples in the download above). For a classroom with two staff members, assign Person A to the set-up role for the first block of time. Assign Person B to the set-up role for the second block of time, then alternate the role between the adults for the remainder of the day. With more staff members, the set-up role should be staggered throughout the day, with each person setting up for the activity he or she will be in charge of during the next block of time.
4. Rotate the daily roles of the adult weekly. This will give staff experience with each activity and variety in the roles they perform each week.
See Debbie and Christy's solution
Consider the zone defense schedule Debbie and Christy devised:
At 8:15, while Debbie was reading a story to the class, Christy was straightening up the room after arrival and making sure toys were accessible for free play. Once she completed these tasks, she joined the reading group. If a child arrived late to class, she greeted the child and helped him or her join the activity.
As story time was ending, Christy went to the area of the room designated for free play so she would be ready to engage the first child who made the transition to free play. Meanwhile, the teacher who had led storytime stayed behind and continued to engage the children who had not yet transitioned to free play. Once the last person had left storytime, Debbie put away the books, prepared for circle time, and then became available to interact with the children in free play.
Adapted from Engagement of Every Child in the Preschool Classroom by R.A. McWilliam & Amy M. Casey.
