- The General, And Very Broad Definition of Human Development is that it is the “change over time.”
- Students have a different learning styles at which they learn.
- Students learn material at different rates than others.
- There are different stages to development: Sensorimotor Period, Preoperational Period, The Concrete Operational Period, and The Formal Operational Period.
- Learning has to be an active process according to Piaget’s theory of Gentetic Epistemology.
- Development is lifelong according to Paul Blates’ idea.
- Students be motivated to learn if you give them the “choice” on something that interests them.
- Robert Selman’s Stages of Perspective Taking and Friendship which is separated into 5 stages.
- Paul Blates’ Three Specific developmental systems of influence: Normative Age – Graded Influences, Normative History – Graded Influences, and Non-Normative Influences.
- Psychologists divide various aspects of an individual to capture the elements that are influenced by development. The list often includes: physical, cognitive, social, emotional personal, moral, and spiritual.
My experience over the last four weeks has helped me to understand how to be a “developmentally appropriate” educator by getting to work with a diverse range of different students and getting to be more experienced as I continue my educational journey. Getting to work with different students allowed me to see that students learn in different ways and some learn faster than others. It has also allowed me to experience the idea of what teachers could do for the students to “meet them where they are.” The other part of this is allowing us to go into a certain classroom and build on our educational experience – last year was the Village Project and this year being our Sophomore Block has allowed us to work with a diverse age range. Being able to step into an actual classroom and see what the students are learning and how they are learning it also added to this experience as well.
One big developmental idea that I found valuable this semester was the idea of student motivation during class or worktime. One of the articles that pertained to my research project was about academic motivation and how we just need this “start” to help us get going on the things we need to get accomplished. In regard to this idea, as shown through the observations of the classes doing my field work experience, some students are motivated to do their work while others are not. It’s important to understand that if students are motivated and they attempt the task that’s before them, they will at least have tried the assignment or task rather than not being motivated to do it at all.
As I am in the classroom, what I am observing is a diverse number of students that all come from different backgrounds and the developmental indicators that I might be able to observe in my students in light of my project goals are to see how the students are responding to certain lessons and how they learn best. For example, we just finished watching a movie called Patch Adams and the students had to fill-out an organizer in response to the movie. Overall, I think they enjoyed the movie and building on their knowledge of facts vs inferences. “We know for a fact…” or “we can infer… because of…” The students, know with their information gained, have to fill-out a graphic organizer. In addition to this, this class that is watching the movie, the title of course is called “Our Stories of Struggle” which students have to choose a title from a list of books that sound interesting to them. Based on these observations, the students are developing their knowledge through different forms of information.
Within three days of my sophomore block, another staff member that I met on the first day came into the room where I was and mentioned to me that the students and their learning was like a garden and the flowers in the garden. Some students (flowers) may be starting to grow, some may be growing, and others are ready to blossom. The behaviors that I have noticed in this school that provides indicators of the developmental levels of my students have been that most of them are growing into the learners that they want to be. Some students might just need a little more motivation than the others to get them on the right path, but once that happens, then the students eventually grow into critical thinkers and want to learn.
“As a teacher, you are also a learner.” – Dr. Riggle
“Tell me and I forget. Teach me and I remember. Involve me and I learn.” – Benjamin Franklin
I would not be writing this if it were not for the education that has brought me to where I am today. At first, I’m sure I can speak on behalf of many when I say that I did not first aspire to be a teacher. Instead I wanted to be a Funeral Director, but throughout the end of my middle school year to the end of high school, I had many mentors get me to where I am today along with a passion for the subject of literature. Listed below is my teaching philosophy. In other words what I believe are the fundamental needs to be a great teacher. Being a great teacher can mean many things, but I believe the centralizing idea to have is to build those connections with your students, and maybe, just maybe, they will want to follow in your footsteps and become teachers themselves. These are the things that I believe:
A classroom should be a place where all students feel welcomed. Ex: Schools, especially classrooms should be a place where students feel welcomed by making sure they understand that the teacher is there to listen to them. It is a place where students should speak and feel comfortable speaking their minds as well. As a teacher, understand that you are not the students’ guidance counselor, but they have to know that you are there for them in a school setting.
Every student needs an adult role model in their life. Ex: I believe that every student needs a sort of role model in their life. Parents or guardians have to be there for their children and teach them the ways to be civil in our society.
Students need different types of learning patterns. Many students, I believe, have different learning patterns. Students may learn: visually, hands-on, etc. Ex: Not all students are going to learn in the same exact way that other students may learn. Some students work better with hands-on learning, others may feel like they have the material downpat when they visualize it.
As a teacher, I will understand that failing helps teachers learn if we want meaningful learning to take place. Ex: It’s the notion that the most meaningful things that we learn come out of challenging situations. I believe that everyday is another day to learn something new and by failing you actually prepare for the next time a situation arises. Failing makes people better learners, so they know not to do that same thing over again.
As a teacher, I will understand that there will be someone to help you along the way. Starting out at a new school can be difficult, especially going into your first year of teaching. However, there will be staff members there to help you. If I would happen to get stuck, I would reach out to another faculty member that is teaching the same subject as I am and see what worked for example if they taught some kind of assignment that I was going to teach.
As a teacher, I will keep my temper down when getting yelled at by a student or parent, but ask them to share their view first so I can de-escalate the situation. Ex: As teachers, we have to understand that we don’t know what is going on in every student’s life. The best thing to do, in my opinion, is to meet the student or parent where they are or try to understand why they are upset and what we can do to fix the problem.
As a teacher, I will understand my purpose in the school district where I’m at. We must not forget why we chose to teach in the first place. Perhaps we had a certain educator(s) in our past that have aspired us to become educators ourselves. We need to understand that we are not only serving the school, but we are serving the community as well. In the wise words of Dr. Riggle “we are called to serve.”
As a teacher, if I am wrong or I don’t know the answer to a question a student has, instead of rambling, I will tell them I don’t know, but I will find out the answer for them. Ex: Teachers don’t know everything. It’s hard to believe it, but it’s true. It’s important to be honest with your students and with yourself as well. Regarding any question that you truly don’t know the answer to, students would much rather hear you say that you don’t know an answer than try to just explain the answer in a less-confident way.
Before my lessons that I teach, I will make sure I know the lesson to the best of my ability. Ex: You, as the teacher, are there for the students, and the students are there for you. It may sound a bit cheesy, but they are there in hopes to educate themselves. In order for students to learn something, they have to be taught it and have a comprehensive knowledge of the subject they are talking about. Before any teacher actually teaches their lesson, it’s important to understand the lesson yourself to the best of your ability. That way you can explain it to the best of your ability to your students.
As a teacher, I will build relationships – It’s important to build relationships with students. Building those relationships will help the student know that you are there for them. They will take those relationships that they have built with you and who knows, maybe one day in the future, they will grow-up to be an aspiring educator just like you.
As a teacher, I will have fun – the teaching business is a process. We tend to get caught-up in grading, discipline, and our activities outside of school and tends to get a little overwhelming. The most important thing to consider is to have fun. Have fun teaching the subject that you enjoy and have fun having those conversations with the students.
This list is not complete, nor do I think it will be completed in the next 3 years. It will probably be completed when I retire, that way this list will go out to the world for other inspiring educators to see. When an inspiration strikes, it shall be placed on this list. In order for us future teachers to become “good” teachers above are the examples that you have seen which fulfills just a portion of my teaching philosophy. Teaching can be stressful, not just physically, but more so mentally. If it is so tiring, why do we continue to educate children? To respond to this question, I can really only say one thing…. growth. Teaching makes us think, teaching makes us grow, teaching makes us inspire students, teaching makes us grow as humans and enrich the world around us. Below is a quote that I believe sums up what makes a teacher:
“The mediocre teacher tells. The good teacher explains. The superior teacher demonstrates. The great teacher inspires.”
- William A. Ward
Reflecting on my Village Project experience across the year, the ten big ideas that I will take with me as a result of this experience that wil help me as an educator are listed below:
1.) There will be someone there to help you along the way – In my case, starting out with the Village Project the site director was there to explain what our roles were as volunteers.
2.) Be there for the Students – when you are not at school, or in this case the village project, the students tend to wonder where you are.
3.) Help the Students – the school that I was at was a low-funded school. Students may not have the best homelives either, so it’s important to help them that way their minds will grow and you can pass your knowledge down to them.
4.) Deal with Discipline – Students will not always be on their best behavior. We had to deal with some discipline issues or remind the students that what they were doing was uncalled for.
5.) Understand why you’re there – Even though you might not want to teach Elementary Education, it’s important to realize why you are at the school in the first place – to dip your toes in the education field (regardless of grade-level) but also to serve the community. In the wise words of Dr. Riggle “we are called to serve.”
6.) You are Going to Make Mistakes – I know this one may seem to direct, but for the Village Project, you have a lot of students to look after; you and the staff members do, so you always can’t see everything that happens. The most important thing to know is that as long as you are trying your best, that is the best you can do. Making mistakes is a part of life – it recognizes the things that we may not know at first, but because we make them, we learn from our experiences to help better ourselves in the future.
7.) Take a Risk – I am going to use one of my personal experiences for this one. The whole after school program was in the gym and a game that they have all must have played before was called “color tag.” Me, not knowing how to play it, was brought to the center of the gym while all the students were lined-up against the wall and I had 1 student with me and I asked her “so, how do we play this game?” She responded by answering my question. Turned-out on that day, I learned how to play color tag. The whole point of this story was to take a risk in participating in color tag. If you take a risk, you may end up liking what you took a risk for.
8.) You Learn as you Go – after a couple days of the Village Project, you will develop a routine of what you are supposed to do and what a normal day looks like. Similar to being a teacher, after a while you get in the sense of a routine.
9.) Build relationships – It’s important to build relationships with students. Building those relationships will help the student know that you are there for them. They will take those relationships that they have built with you and who knows, maybe one day in the future, they will grow-up to be an aspiring educator just like you.
10.) Have fun – it’s important not to forget to have fun. Although you are supposed to be enforcing the rules, it’s okay to have fun while you are doing it – play with the students have a good time doing it!
- It’s important to be there for the students.
- Help students with their homework.
- Ask students about their day.
- In the first week, try to learn at least 4-5 student’s names.
- Try to meet the students where they are.
- Ask questions to the staff.
- Gives you someplace where you fit in and you can know you are doing a public service.
- Gave me experience dealing with lower-grade levels.
- Made me realize what grade level I would like to teach and wouldn’t like.
- Make memories with the students.
Note: These 10 “takeaways” are not ranked in any order.
If education has taught me anything so far, it would be the art of gaining life skills. I’ll take the subject of English for example. “When you are working with poetry, reading and analyzing a poem develops critical thinking skills, when you’re working with your group, that’s collaboration skills. As you’re figuring-out what’s going on, that’s investigative skills. How to tackle the assignment, is called problem solving.” This can go for any subject that any teachers plan on teaching, but regardless, what I can do is help students build these skills that they will need for the future. I can also be there for my students by helping them with their schoolwork and being there for them to talk to.
Note: Quote above is from Jessica Hawk – a teacher in New Jersey.
I am excited about teaching as I get to teach a subject in which I am passionate about and get to interact with different minds and students alike who will share their thoughts and ideas. I am concerned about teaching as I do not remember names that well, but I will get to learn everyone’s name and hopefully a little something about them.
