Gene Maeroff, author of more than a dozen books on education, visited schools around the country to write his new book on the importance of early education (prekindergarten through third grade). The result is "Building Blocks, Making Children Successful in Early Years of School" (Palgrave Macmillan). The founding director of Hechinger Institute on Education and the Media at Teachers College, Columbia University, where he is now a senior fellow, spent a day at Turie T. Small Elementary School in Daytona Beach in 2004.

In a chapter titled "Instilling Habits and Dispositions," Maeroff writes about practices that some schools use to encourage good behavior. An early childhood center in Lincoln, Del., for instance, has a "behavior coach," who wears gym-type clothes and, along with other school leaders, greets children as they enter school. For difficult situations, the coach has a time-out room, unfurnished, where she can safely deal with children having tantrums. A Harrisburg, Pa., elementary school uses a program offering children an alternative to acting out in anger. They are taught to deal with conflict by "doing turtle," pulling their heads back into their shells to think things over and let strong emotions pass.

This article appeared in the October 1, 2006 edition of the News Journal On-line.

Published Sunday, Oct. 1, 2006