Personal Teaching Philosophy
Introduction
"Children become, while little, our delights…when they grow bigger, they begin to fright’s." This quote is from John Bunyan’s poem "Upon the Disobedient Child," and rings the truth. But, how can we help children develop into normal, healthy adults? That is a question society has been asking since the first days of civilization. There are four areas of development that allow children to grow into strong adults: motor, cognitive, language, and social-emotional.
Motor Development
Motor development is defined as "the development of skill in the use of the body and its parts" (Charlesworth 12). There are three areas of motor development: gross motor skills, fine motor skills, and perceptual motor skills.
Gross motor skills require the "use of large muscles…as well as general strength and stamina" (Trawick-Smith 201) and they are the first to develop in infants. Two examples of these skills would be creeping or standing with help. For older children, examples of gross motor skills would be jumping rope, martial arts, soccer, or swimming.
Fine motor skills require the use of "smaller muscles in the arms, hands, and fingers" (Trawick-Smith 209). In infants, an example of this motor skill would be grasping an object. In older children, examples of fine motor skills would be writing, drawing, tying a shoestring, or building with Lego’s.
However with these motor skills, particularly with fine motor skills, one must keep in mind that perception helps to put together these movements. "This ability to integrate movements and perception" (Trawick-Smith 210) is called perceptual-motor skills. Examples of using these skills would be baseball, football, or copying what a teacher drew ...
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...n certain subjects. So, I’ll try to have creative lessons in which the children will learn something and have fun while doing the activity. Finally, I hope I can become a good teacher and pass on what I have learned from my teachers in the past.
Works Cited
Charlesworth, Rosalind. Understanding Child Development. United States: Delmar Thomson Learning, 2000. 12, 16, 107, 271, 374.
Mayesky, Mary. Creative Activities: for Young Children. United States: Delmar Thomson Learning, 2002. 309.
Muzi, Malinda Jo. Child Development: Through Time and Transition. New Jersey: Prentice Hall, 2000. 187, 213, 264.
Smith-Trawick, Jeffery. Early Childhood Development. New Jersey: Prentice Hall, 2000. 135, 174, 201, 209, 210, 293, 295, 298. 300.
Wood, Chip. Yardsticks: Children in the Classroom Ages 4-14. Massachusetts: Northeast Foundation for Children, 1997. 1.
Some of the motor skills needed are coordination, stabilization, gripping and transporting. You need to be able to grip the bait in your hands while putting it on the rod, as well as grip the fishing pole once you have cast your bait into the water. Stabilization is also important. My family fishes on a solid dock, but some people fish on floating docks or on boats which makes keeping your balance essential for this activity. Transportation is an important motor skill when fishing. While fishing you have to be able to transport your bait from the bait bucket onto the hook, then you have to transport the hook and line from the top of the reel into the water, and then once you catch a fish you have to transport the fish off the hook and either back into the water or into storage. Even though there are many different processing skills to fishing I believe that coordination is the most important skill of fishing. While fishing you have to hold the rod in one hand, and turn the handle of the reel with the other all while maintaining your balance. You are constantly faced with completing multiple tasks a once, and coordination will help keep the activity running
Gross motor is crucial to a child’s development in and out of the classroom. My goal is to add fun exciting movement activities for example,
Subject engages in many physical activities and the objective physical description is healthy. I have seen the subject using gross motor skills in activities such as riding a bike, playing basketball, soccer, and tag. These exercises are gross motor because they use large muscles like those in the legs, and arms. I have also seen the subject displaying fine motor skills. Fine motor skills are the opposite of gross motor, instead of utilizing big muscles they utilize small muscles like the ones found in the fingers. Examples of fine motor are calligraphy, drawing a picture, playing with play dough, and playing with cards. Both types of activities are good for the physical development, and health of a child. Gross motor activities involve more muscles, and help in keeping fit. Fine motor activities target small muscles like the fingers so that you can better...
Gross motor development is the review of the child’s capability to move in a consistent man...
Cook, G., & Cook, J. L. (2010). The world of children. (2nd ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson Education Inc.
Fine motor skills enable our kids to secure buttons, hold a pencil, and cut with scissors. Gripping and holding onto the swing chain develop the hand, finger, and arm coordination that’s essential for our kids’ fine motor skills development.
Snow, C. E. (2008). Early childhood assessment why, what, and how. Washington, D.C.: National Academies Press.
The first type of development that can be observed is physical development. Physical development refers to a child's gross and fine motor skills. Gross motor skills are the use of large groups of muscles that can develop naturally through outdoor and indoor play. During play, a child may use their gross motor skills by standing, jumping, climbing, running or riding a bike. "If children are encouraged to be physically active, these skills can develop into advanced patterns of motor coordination that can last a lifetime" (brightfutures.org). Fine motor skills are the use of the muscles in the hands. These muscles can develop by using fingers to cut with scissors, write, paint and many other activities. Underdeveloped muscles, weight gain, and high blood pressure are all signs o...
National Center for Children in Poverty. Early childhood education. n.d. - n.d. - n.d. Retrieved 08 2010, from Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Early_childhood_education&oldid=377988928. Erikson’s Stages of Development. a.
Mastering fine motor skills is a very important process needed for physical and cognitive development. It is during early childhood that most children develop these skills, however there are many children that do not. A young child’s fine motor skills are developed through a vast array of activities that aide the child in doing little things such as grasping a toy as an infant, and buttoning buttons as a toddler or tying shoes when they are a preschooler. Fine motor development is the development of the small muscles in the hands and fingers. Many crucial daily activities depend on strong motor skills, such as writing, using eating utensils and getting dressed, among other things. Without fine motor skills a child will have difficulties preforming
Physical and motor development are two similar but different areas that describe child development. Physical development encompasses all of the various changes a child's body goes through. Those changes include height, weight, and brain development. Motor development is the development of control over the body. This control would involve developing reflexes such as blinking, large motor skills like walking, and fine motor skills like manipulating their fingers to pick up small objects like Cheerios. It is important to objectively study physical and motor development in children to gain knowledge on what characteristics are considered typical for each age and stage of development. This will enable me to be aware of when a child or children are developing at an irregular pace, and devise recommendations or find experiences and other resources that can aid in stimulating their development and to work towards closing achievement gaps. This particular assignment was to observe the selected child and reaffirm the importance of studying physical and motor development, and to develop ideas on how to involve it in my work as an early childhood professional.
Isenberg, J. P., & Jalongo, M. R. (2000). Exploring your role: A practitioner’s introduction to early childhood education. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Prentice-Hall.
During this stage of development, children continue to develop gross motor skills but most of the development is with their fine motor skills. During this stage children are beginning to learn how to color, use scissors, write, and possibly tie their own shoes. Children will develop hand eye coordination as well as the ability to manipulate objects to accomplish what they want. My development was especially slow in this area. I did not begin to write legible words until I was five almost six years old. I still to this day, cannot cut a straight line and I could not color in the lines until I was about ten years old. I have always struggled with hand eye coordination and anything requiring the ability to manipulate a small object.
As a future educator, I have many goals. My first goal would be to never overpower my students. Being a teacher should not be a job, it should be a passion. I will focus my classroom around the student’s needs, rather than my own. The classroom will revolve around the students. I will be their guiding hand through education. Another goal of mine is to have the students interact in a positive way. Social interaction is very important. As students combine with peers they share knowledge and learn how to solve problems. In the real-world, this what will happen. Whenever I can, I li...
Teaching is a daunting task that I do not intend to take lightly. Becoming a teacher has been a dream of mine for several years. I always knew that teaching would be the career for me, especially when I began working in the school system as a substitute secretary. I loved working in the school environment; coming in contact with children everyday made me realize how much I would enjoy teaching a classroom full of students.