Module 1

Concept 1:Teacher-Student Relationships

Summary: 

Chapter one is focused on what makes a good teacher and the impact teachers make. Woolfolk discusses on page 7 the importance of teacher-student relationships. A study done examined the connections between teacher-student relationships and engaged. By having positive relationships it was predicted the student would have higher engagement in school. The researchers also found that if teachers established a warm and caring environment and relationship students were more engaged in school. 

Reflection:

Although I haven’t done any field experience hours, I do work in a school. I work as a paraprofessional and I see every day (not now during this time off) how important teacher-student relationships are. I work in a therapeutic school for children with autism and a lot of my students have behavioral problems and rely on the support of their teachers. Most of my students need the help of their teachers to stay engaged during class every day. I’ve worked here for 2 years and have worked in 3 different classrooms with various ages and settings. One thing I’ve seen that has remained consistent is my student's needs for us to be there for them. Whether we are having a bad day or something is off, we need to remain that consistency for them. Oftentimes our students have trouble with school because it’s important to build a good rapport with them so they want to be engaged in class. One thing I always do is come into work with a positive attitude and leave all my personal business at the door. I start each day fresh. The environment I work in can be very tough and cause a lot of burn out so it’s important to come home and leave work at work. I start the new school day with a new attitude and as if nothing bad happened from the day before. This allows me to continue building those positive relationships with my students. Another thing we always do in my class is to keep learning fun. We do a lot of activities that keep the students engaged and involved. This helps with participation and makes sure they understand the lesson. 

Concept 2: Four Stages of Cognitive Development

Summary:

Piaget developed four stages of cognitive development. He developed these stages because it explains how a child constructs a mental model of the world. The first stage is infancy, which is the earliest stage on page 48. This is the sensorimotor stage because of the child's thinking involves seeing, hearing, touching, tasting, and moving. The next stage is the early childhood stage on page 49. By the end of this stage, a child can use many action schemes and is moving toward mastery. The following stage is the later elementary stage on page 50 where the child has an understanding of identity and classification. The last stage is high school and college on page 53. At this stage, the focus of thinking can shift from what is to what might be. This requires the student to think and generate all possibilities for any given situation.

Reflection: 

Piaget's theories and works are significant to people who work with children, as it enables them to understand that children's development is based on stages. This helps educators understand exactly how students should be developing at certain points in their life. I do think this is important because it helps us understand the intellectual growth of children of all ages. Although this is just a guideline and a theory, I do think it is a great understanding. It can also help if children aren’t necessarily developing on what would be called a “normal” path and what we are educators can look out for. I am going into special education, so a lot of what Piaget talks about might be things I won’t see because my students will develop at different rates or might not hit certain milestones. Often times educators will use Piaget's knowledge to shape their curriculum and activities so students can grow through experience. Overall, I believe this theory is important and can help shape the way students grow and learn.

Concept 3: Self-Concept

Summary:

Self-concept refers to the mental picture of how we view ourselves. It is our attempt at how we explain ourselves to ourselves. It's the way that we organize our attitudes, impressions, and beliefs about ourselves. It is multidimensional and develops though different situations and using a variety of frames of reference. People often use verbal and non-verbal reactions from people to gauge their self-concept. This can often be the foundation for social and emotional development.

Reflection:

Having a positive self-concept is very important, especially at a young age. Growing up children are very impressionable and often have low self-esteem. Since working in the education field I’ve seen students bully other students. My first line of defense is to teach my students how wrong that is. After someone hears negative things about themselves, they tend to start believing it and that weighs heavily on how they view themselves. As educators, it is our job to truly focus on how our students view themselves and always make sure it is in a positive and uplifting light. Our job isn’t only to focus on the academics of our students but to truly lookout for the social and emotional aspects of our students as well. I think that part can often be overlooked and can really fall behind. After reading this part in chapter 3, I believe that self-concept is such an important part of who we are. People can tell you how great and smart you are but it is how you view yourself that makes a big difference.