Teaching is a very rewarding job and a valuable career. The main role of the teacher is to further the knowledge and understanding of every child within the classroom, which can be very difficult at times. Although I am not a teacher yet, I have had many educational interactions with children. I am a math tutor for an elementary school student named Chaniya who lives in my neighborhood and, also, a nanny for a two year old named Regina. In this paper I plan to discuss the educational experiences I have had with each child and how I have helped them reach their educational goals.
The children I work with are normally still in their sensitive period. The sensitive period is the age range during which a certain aspect of a child’s development is especially susceptible to environmental conditions (Ormrod, 2008 p. 25). While in their sensitive period children are influenced by environmental factors such as parenting practices, family structures, educational activities in the home and community learning opportunities. I believe that all of these factors influence a child’s educational opportunities. A child learns to adjust herself and make acquisitions in her sensitive period. There are various stages of the sensitive period that are determined by the child’s age. The ages usually range from birth to six years of age. The children I have worked with both fit into the age range of birth to six years.
There are many aspects in a child’s sensitive period. First, I am going to discuss the parenting practices of the children I work with. Parenting styles have been described as the collection of parents’ behaviors which create an atmosphere of parent-child interaction across situations (Menon, 2013). Both of the young girls th...
... middle of paper ...
...nce to work with children and being apart of the infrastructure of the educational process that will evolve throughout their entire lives.
Works Cited
Ballarini, F., Martinez, M. C., Perez, M. D., Moncada, D., & Haydee, V. (2013). Memory in elementary school child is improved by an unrelated novel experience. PLOS, 8(6),
Menon, A. (2013). Children's perception of parenting styles in relation to schooling background.Golden Research Thoughts, 3(3)
Obukhova, L. F., & Korepanova, I. A. (2009). The zone of proximal development: A spatiotemporal model. Journal of Russian and European Psychology, 47(6), 25-47.
Ormrod, J. E. (2008). Educational psychology: Developing learners. (6th ed.). Carlisle
Publishing Services.
Sherwood, R., & Pearson, J. (2010). Closing the mind's eye: Incoming luminance signals disrupt visual imagery. PLoS ONE, 5(12), 1-6.
Brazelton, T. B. & Sparrow, J. D. (2001) Touchpoints: Your Childs’s Emotional and Behavioral Development Perseus Publishing, Cambridge: MA
Child psychology incorporates standardized experimental methods in which the investigator controls the environment and non-experimental studies in which researchers observe the subject in a natural setting. When researching children, there is no ideal approach, and factors such as gender, age, personality, or the subject of the study are suggestive of what investigation method is suitable. An educational psychologist works with schools, nurseries or any other organizations that engage with children and provides reports and advice to SENCO (Special Educational Needs Co-ordinator) representatives about observation of particular children’s cognitive development and evolution. To help in the development of problematic children, an educational psychologist may use standardized tests to evaluate the nature of the problem and set milestones for a plan of action. Furthermore, when
Theorists such as Jean Piaget, Lev Vygotsky, Erik Erikson, Sigmund Freud, and Lawrence Kohlberg have studied and documented information about the stages of childhood development. The three main stages of childhood development are early childhood, middle childhood and adolescence. Each stage contains developmental behaviors and characteristics of different age groups. However, the childhood development stage that this paper is focus on is the middle childhood stage. During this phase in a child’s life, they go through a variety of changes. Such changes include; physical, cognitive, social and emotional changes. According to this course text, HDEV (2010), middle childhood comprises children between the ages of 6 to 12 years. In addition, in relation to the information that is presented in this text about the
Middle childhood brings many changes to a child’s life. Middle childhood is the developmental phase that leads from the period before commencement of the physiological processes and changes associated with puberty ...
Preoperational stage (ages 2-7) – Concrete physical stimuli are needed in order for a child to develop new concepts.
Papalia, Diane E, Sally W. Olds, and Ruth D. Feldman. A Child's World: Infancy Through Adolescence. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill, 2004. Print. The author is a child development and psychology professor. This is an anthology with strictly objective information. The content is broken down into physical, cognitive, and psychosocial developments of different stages of childhood.
Wells, Gordon. “The Zone of Proximal Development and Its Implications for Learning and Teaching.” Sep. 1996. http://cite.ped.gu.se/network/zpddiscussion.html (31 Mar. 1999).
...ve the patience and responsibility that is required when taking care of other people’s children and making sure that they leave in one piece day after day. Elementary school teachers aren’t given nearly as much credit as they deserve because they do have a lot on their plate. Middle school and high school teachers do have a lot more work to grade and in greater detail, but they also teach students that are capable of taking care of themselves whereas students in elementary school are not and need to be guided and taught in a way that will launch them on a good path when leaving elementary school. I want to be the one who creates curriculums, gives them time to play, organizes fun activities, and teaches reading and writing basics to the new generations. Being an elementary school teacher is not just a job, it is a duty, responsibility, and in my eyes, a luxury.
"The Species of the World." Unresolved Tensions in Sociocultural Practice. Culture & Psychology, 8(3), 283–305. Zaretskii, V. (2009, November–December). The Zone of Proximal Development: What Vygotsky Did Not Have Time to Write.
The next stage is preoperational which last from two to seven years old. Children in this stage continue to develop language and thinking skills which are acts of symbolic representations. Children in this stage are unable to distinguish that the change in appearance does not equal a change in quantity.
Great teaching requires sacrifice and consistently puts the development of the child first Esquith, after teaching for over 30 years and writing several award winning books, exemplifies this child centered philosophy of teaching. His purpose is to share his dedicated and selfless approach to teaching with teachers, in the hope that they too, will be inspired ‘to teach like their hair is on fire.’ He believes that commitment to each individual student is essential. As a role model, he stresses the importance of being dependable and providing an atmosphere that is safe and that promotes the love of learning. He focusses on values and teaching his students to respect themselves and others, to be kind and to always work hard (Esquith, 2007). With Esquith’s simple motto of, “be nice, work hard and there are no shortcuts, in the classroom” (Esquith,2007), it is easy to see why his students are so happy and successful.
Sensitive mothering refers to a mother who is sensitive towards her child, understands his/her needs and is willing to fulfil them. On the contrary, insensitive mothering refers to a mother who places her own needs above her child’s often ignoring and/or neglecting him/her. Ainsworth (Sylva & Lunt, 1989) studied the responses of the mothers towards her child and found that sensitive mothering fosters a secure attachment (Bowlby, 1988) between the mother and the child. In this case, the mother is seen as a secure base (Bowlby, 1988) providing the child with trust needed to explore his/her environment. Insensitive mothering leads to an insecure attachment (Bowlby, 1988) between mother and child therefore affecting the child’s ability to explore and develop. Ainsworth & Bell (in Sylva & Lunt, 1989) stated that the mother’s sensitivity towards her child builds the foundations for all future social and emotional development.
Through my own experiences, and as enforced by others' opinions in the profession, I have found that teaching is one of the most rewarding careers. Not only are you placed in the position of instructing and guiding children and young adults through the life long learning process, but you are able to give back to the schools and communities which have supported your early education and experiences that opened you up to a bright future. In becoming an educator, I hope to someday share the knowledge and lend the helping, supportive hand that I was once given, allowing students to formulate their own perspectives of the multicultural society and world around them. Teaching is a career I have been interested in pursuing throughout high school, and as my experiences and study in the field expands, I feel that my desire to teach will grow stronger and develop more soundly.
I chose education as my career path after working in a classroom to fulfill a Field Study course. The children had a powerful impact; they were amazing; challenging, and most of all loving. In helping them, I quickly realized that I was the one receiving the gift that ultimately inspired me down the path of serving disadvantaged children. After experiencing two semesters in classrooms, I realized my enthusiasm for teaching was not a mere in-the-moment feeling but rather a genuine enthusiasm. I became aware that teachers are an important foundation in society and I look forward to the opportunity to develop the skills children need to adapt and apply for the rest of their lives by encouraging knowledge, character and resilience.
“Teaching is often a difficult process, but the end result is very rewarding. Watching a child develop confidence and seeing a student progress in their studies is a very exciting process. Teaching young children is especially great because it is setting a foundation for life-long learning.”(Chronicle guidance publications). What is teaching? A teacher is a person who provides education for pupils (children), or students (adults) using lectures, audiovisual aids, demonstrations, and computers to present academic, social, and motor skills. Teachers can also teach foreign languages, art, kids with special needs, and P.E. Teaching has changed a lot compared to the traditional methods of just lectures and textbooks. Students now are encouraged to actively learn through groups or individual projects. They have learning games, debates, and experiments to help them through the learning process. Being a teacher would be a great career for anyone who wants to further themselves, to help people, and to have great benefits (chronicle guidance publications).