Concious Discipline

1. Conscious
Discipline
KRISTIE HEBENSTREIT
SOE 115 PSYCHOLOGY OF TEACHING & LEARNING
KENDALL COLLEGE
https://www.tes.com/lessons/epbEop-G0pJ2Fg/conscious-
discipline

2. Overview of Concious Discipline
 Conscious Discipline was created by Dr. Becky
Bailey in 1996. With 35 years of experience
with the most difficult children Dr. Bailey
believes you must discipline from within rather
than applying discipline to children. Concious
Discipline focues on emotional processes and
interpersonal skills.
 I wanted to learn more about conscious
discipline because it is the technique that is
used in my Head Start classroom. I feel like I
am continually learning more about it.
https://consciousdiscipline.com/about/becky-
bailey/

3. What are the 3 componets of
conscious discipline?
Safety
 Using self
regulation
children
and adults
are able to
manage
and deal
with
emotional
upset.
Connection
 By engaging in a
school family
ritual it allows
children and
adults to form
trusting and
healthy
relationships.
Problem Solving
 By changing the
way we react to
conflict and
developing social
emotional skills it
increases
resiliency.

4. Routines and Rituals
 Concious discipline incorporates many routines and rituals in the
classroom. This allows children to develop accountability and a sense of
a school family.
 According to Concious Discipline : 7 Baic Skills for Brainsmart Classroom
Management routines are essential in creating internal clocks for
children. Rituals have connection as their goals
Routines Rituals
Classroom schedule Greeting Song
Handwashing Wishing Well
Toothbrushing Safe Keeps
Connecting
Safe Keeper
Classroom Jobs

5. Breathing
Conscious discipline incorporates breathing techniques.
Breathing allows children to keep composure when they
are feeling strong emotions. When children take the
time to take deep breaths it allows them to regain their
composure so they can effectively handle any situation.
Four of the breathing techniques used in Conscious
Discipline are STAR, Balloon, Drain, and Pretzel.

6. Feeling Buddies
Each feeling buddy has a different
emotion. The four core buddies are Angry,
Scared, sad, and happy. Their cousins are
just below them frustrated, anxious,
disappointed, and calm.
The children learn about the feeling
buddies through a series of lessons best if
done in a small group setting.
The feeling buddies homes are in the safe
place.
It is important that the children are taught
that the buddies are not toys, but tools to
help manage their feelings. http://domesticexecutiveonline.com/2017/05/feeling-buddies-families-toolkit-can-
help/

7. Safe Place
A safe place is a cube with openings in the
sides as pictures on this slide. This is a
place for children to go when they are
feeling strong emotions. While in the safe
place the children will talk to feeling
buddies and breathe with them. When first
attempting this an adult will accompany
them walking through each step and
reassuring the child that they are safe and
can handle it.

8. Choices
We all have choices to make everyday. Some choices we do not want to
make. In conscious discipline instead of demanding a child to do something
we are giving them choices. Two positive choices that lead to the same
outcome. For example I Have a child who has pulled every block off the shelf
and is now leaving the center a mess. I am going to give him two choices.
Teacher: You need to clean up these blocks.
Student: I don’t want to
Teacher: You can clean up the red blocks first or clean up the blue blocks
first. What works best for you.
The choices given have the same end result the blocks get cleaned up. It is
important with conscious discipline to focus on what you want the child to do
not what they are doing wrong.

9. Conecting it
Concious Discipline has a lot of prompting involved. In order for children to
learn how to manage their feelings in this particular strategy you mucst
constantly prompt them on how to react and handle the situation they are
facing. Below is a video to show how prompting is done in conscious
discipline
https://youtu.be/CcWGq9pcfc4

10. My Experience
Four years ago I started using conscious discipline in my classroom. I had been
through various trainings and still had no clue what I was doing. I often referred
to it as the “Hippie Method.” I did not understand or think it was beneficial. Four
years later I find myself using it at home with my own children. The struggle I find
is getting parents involved. Many do not understand it. I am constantly showing
videos and creating handouts for my parents because the benefits of this strategy
amaze me.
This year I have a little girls in my classroom when we started she had a
meltdown at clean up time everyday. I guided her through breathing and now
when she becomes upset she tells me what she needs and goes to the safe place
by herself and handles it amazingly.

11. References
Bailey, A. A. (Year of publication). Title of book: Capital letter also for subtitle. Location: Publisher.
 Bailey, B. (2000). Conscious Discipline 7 Basic Skills for Brain Smart Classroom Management. Oveido, FL:
Loving Guidance Inc.
Bailey, B. (2015). Conscious Discipline Building Resilient Classrooms. Oveido, FL: Loving Guidance Inc.
Woolfolk, A. (2016). Education Psychology (13th Edition). Boston, MA: Allyn & Bacon
Bailey, B. (2018). . Retrieved February 12, 2018, from https://consciousdiscipline.s3.amazonaws.com/About/Dr-
Becky-Bailey-Bio.pdf