Learning Log, Chapter 3

What?

While learning and reading about chapter three I really started getting interested in development. The factors that determine your sense of self and how you develop to figure yourself out are very important. I learned about a series of steps for social development and they are so crucial in daily life. Eriksons steps are helpful to evaluate which step your at and to help assess others. You can see that this is the way our lives tend to go and that we'll eventually move past a bad stage in life. Every stage has an opposite side to show that in different stages of life things can go either way. The friends and the huge role the play in every childs life is important for each one of them to establish. Children learn so much through peer interactions such as learning to be social and be emotionally supported. If children are unpopular, feel rejected, or are neglected sooner or later their behavior, lack of caring for improving, and attitudes will change. All children should always feel of worth in your care and while you are instructing them. With emotional and social development soon comes moral development. Kohlberg who came up with stages of moral development are good starting points to evaluate students moral behavior. They will be for boys but not girls since he didn't include girls in his study. These stages help give us a backbone for childrens reasoning behind misbehaving or abiding for certain reasons. Knowing your students backgrounds and friends as well as having these stages in mind will help you see why certain students act out the way they do.

So What?

The topic in chapter three is important for me to know as a teacher, in that each child is developing emotionally and socially each month. Many of these months which they will be in my care. Each one of them will be at different stages and I'll need to know what each stages characteristics are, so I can be of help. I could incorporate into my life different scenarios or stories about bullying or leaving others out. I feel this subject was put in the syllabus because we are learning to teach children, and every childs emotional and social development plays a factor in the way they learn. Knowing about this subject can make me a better teacher by being an advocate and someone students can talk to. Instead of being a teacher that only lectures and doesn't know what is going on in the students lives. I could let them know about how the same things they are going through I went through and be a support. Doing group activities where the teacher picks the groups is a good way to mix up those that hide with people who are more social. They will learn to work in groups and complete projects,each having a certain role, and get it completed. These activities could show them that not everyone is weird and that others have similar interests within the class. Making them learn to like others and themselves will make school and the classroom more enjoyable.

Now What?

This weeks information has a lot of material that I can apply as a teacher. I can be able to see where the age levels of students struggle, and incorporate values assignments that help them view true friends differently. I'll need to keep researching and reading books about development to get a well rounded view of it. Also I can volunteer in classrooms and see how different ages of children act socially and which things are hard for them to get used to. This way I'll get a better look at the ages I could possibly be teaching and start preparing better.