On
Piaget, the Past and How it Relates to Me...
On the table before
me lay Education Psychology by Robert Slavin. Flipping through
the pages I began recognizing phrases here and there:. Piaget and
stages of cognitive development, Vygotsky's theories, and of course
Piaget versus Vygotsky. Trying to access where in my brain I recalled
these terms from, I must have unlocked some sort of mental filing
cabinet. Memories returned in a flood. Recalling back to roughly
1990, I took a seat in a classroom of roughly 20 high school girls
and just one other boy besides myself. There we all sat around the
edge of an amalgamation of tables, and in walked our teacher and she
began, “Welcome to Child Development.” Traditionally an all girls
class, this semester two boys had joined. The allure of all those
girls might have helped – I admit that was not a bad thing in my
eyes – but also, I had recently became an uncle for the first time.
My nephew was this cool little guy who was almost completely foreign
to me in so many ways. But how was he to grow? What was to come next?
I was curious and I wanted to learn.
Thinking back, I am
not sure how much that class helped me with my nephew. What it did
help with though was seeing children and people in a different light.
I began recognizing different behavior patterns and wondering where
they fit into different stages of development. Some may argue that
the emotional development of high school boys might be at about the
same level as a ten year-old. They may be right. I admit, we all
have our moments.
From my Child
Development class I am sure I learned much – I wonder how much was
retained. Luckily I can learn the information all over again. Where
are you long-term memory when I need you?Recalling those days there
was an assignment with an egg of course (my baby for a week that I
took care of), many quizzes were taken, and we embarked on a trip to
Perkins School for the Blind. What I do not seem to recall though was
if there was ever any look into our individual development and how we
could have related that to differing theories.
Progressing through
Piaget's sensorimotor stage is not a span that I seem to recall, but
“luckily” my family is fairly adept at oral history –
truthfully, we love to sit around the dinner table and tell
incredibly embarrassing stories about each other. Often, my mother
will detail how I was a very “hands-on” child”. Apparently, I
had an affinity for soft and silky things and was always compared to
Linus and his security blanket. The sense of touch was calming and to
this day when I am nervous or anxious, certain sensations still relax
me.
Escapes for a
short break...
Well, I took a short
break to talk with my mother. I asked her, “Ma, what was I like as
a child?” Her first response was a laugh. After about ten seconds
of hilarity, she caught her breath and told me that as early four
years old I was a bit...unusual.
“But not unusual
in a bad way!” she said as quickly as she could. At this
point she then described me as a child that beat to my own drum. I
loved to draw and create stories either on paper or with my action
figures. My eyes and my brain enjoyed dissecting the things in the
world around me. Apparently, my observational skills ruined several
surprise birthday and Christmas presents over the course of those
early years. Supposedly, even at the start of elementary school I
noticed and perceived the little things that most people missed. When
my sister swore to my parents that she did not in fact cut through
the woods on the way home, I asked her why her shoes were then
covered in mud. She was not happy and I wonder if she will ever
forgive me. Overall, if I had to relate Piaget's stages to my
personal development, I would have to say that they just did not fit
my experiences. Just like every child is different, not every theory
applies to all.
Vygotsky
and Why Some of His Theories Still Seem Applicable to Me Today...
Reading the theories
that Vygotsky proposed truly has me thinking. Vygotsky felt that
supplied teaching and social learning was a precursor to development
- a child needed to be taught and then he/she would internalize and
gain a better understanding, thus leading to development. A core
concept that I firmly believe in is his zone of proximal development.
In this zone a child has mastered a certain set of skills and is
ready to undertake a new objective, but in order to achieve the task
at hand, guidance is necessary. The instruction obtained will then be
incorporated into the child's set of skills leaving them ready for
the next task ahead.
As I mentioned
earlier, many years ago I was graced with a nephew. Since then I have
been graced six more times with as assortment of nieces and nephews.
Years have come and gone and I have seen them grow up to be college
students, high school students and elementary students. One thing
that they all have in common – other than having an amazing uncle –
is that they have all needed guidance in their learning and
development. I recall sitting with my nephews and helping them read
books that were beyond their skill set, yet reading along I helped
them understand the words they were reading. When they were advancing
their math skills there were concepts just a bit beyond their reach
that they needed just a tad more guidance with. And when it came to
their writing, well, they needed all the help they could get. I
cringed when reading my nephew's first foray into high school
freshman history papers. Needless to say I sat him down and we went
sentence by sentence through his paper as I explained things such as:
punctuation marks, capitalization, and the fact that sentences should
actually have meaning and significance.
And
Now for Some Language and Literacy Bits...
- Oral language – It is essential for parents, teachers, brothers/sisters and everybody else to engage children in their oral language development. Many children love to talk about their day and the world around them. Posing open-ended questions will allow for a broader range of interaction.
- Reading – Learning to read is probably the single most important facet in all of learning. The ability read is vital in learning other subjects. While it may be said that mere lecturing can be a source of learning, the ability to explore and read on one's own will create a vast sea of knowledge and allow a child to seek out any and all topics that they have an interest in. Children should be immersed in reading from as early an age as possible. Homes and schools should be flooded with children's books, magazines, menus, comic books, picture books, pop-up books and anything else that encourages a child to read. Reading needs to be an activity that children look forward to and want to be an active participant in.
- Writing – Reading and writing should be as interwoven as inhaling and exhaling.
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