October 13, 2008

What?

Today we talked about social development, sense of self, developmental changes, social development,Moral development, and Emotional development. In order to understand social development we defined two key words personality: consistency in behavior and temperament: general tendency to respond in a particular way. Personality can be linked to heredity and environmental factors. Temperament can determine the environment in the classroom and how the students fit in the classroom. Teachers should have a persistent, energetic, and able to ignore distractions. Under sense of self we defined self concept, characteristics, strengths, and weaknesses, and self-esteem, judgments about ones self. Both self-concept and self-esteem are influenced to previous performance, and the behaviors of others through comparison and how peers act toward us. We then talked about how self-concept and self-esteem influence developmental changes. During childhood their perceptions are concrete and optimistic. In early adolescence they believe they are always being watched and judged by an imaginary audience, they believe that no one knows how they feel or what they are going through. They also believe they are invincible. In late adolescence, there is a general sense of identity, where they construct who they are, what things they find important, and what goals they want to accomplish in life. We discussed Erikson's eight stages of development: 1. Trust vs. Mistrust (infancy), 2. Autonomy vs. Shame and Doubt (Toddler), 3. Initiative vs. Guilt (preschool), 4. Industry vs. Inferiority (Elementary), 5. Identity vs. Role Confusion (adolescence), 6. Intimacy vs. Isolation (young adulthood), 7. Generativity vs. Stagnation (middle adulthood), 8. Integrity vs. Despair (late adulthood). we talked about Kohlberg's stages of moral development 1. Punishment-avoidance and obedience, 2. Exchange of favors, 3. Good boy/good girl, 4. Law and order, 5. Social contract, 6. Universal ethical principle. We then discussed Gilligan's criticisms of Kohlberg's stages. Kohlberg did his studies with boys and didn't take into account the differences between boys and girls. According to Gilligan girls are more relationship and interdepence driven, they are more likely to show empathy and compassion, and they answer moral question on what "it depends on ...". Lastly we discussed Goleman and Emotional Intelligence. Children who exert emotional intelligence will understand when emotions are appropriate, they will know their emotions, they can manage their emotions, they can motivate themselves, they can recognize different emotions in others, and they can better handle relationships.

So What?

This information will help me to identify the needs of the students I teach socially, morally and emotionally. By being able to identify the students temperaments I can help them to fit better in my classroom. I can help those students that have low self-concept and self-esteem by encouraging them in their work and helping them succeed. I will be able to identify what stage of Erikson's social development my students are in and I will be able to cater to them. The same goes for Kohlber's stages of moral development. These will be great guidelines in helping my students learn to be honest and moral people.
Now what?
I have already become more aware of the social, moral emotional stages that I have been through and continue to progress through. I have also began to identify these stages in those around me and it has given me a lot of insight into those I know. I have also began to identify the stages that my preschoolers are in. By identifying the social, moral, and emotional stages of my students I can better enable them to solve their own problems, become self reliant, and aware of the world around them. By helping them progress through the different social, moral, and emotional stages, I can help them reach the next stage.