Maturation plus experience equals readiness. Maturity and experience are the framework for readiness to learn. After you have read this essay to you have a greater understanding of the learning process. You will witness the changes in behavior patterns as a child progresses in life. Being able to recognize the level of “readiness to learn” for each child is a collaboration of many different factors. The three key factors identified are: age, maturity level and physical readiness of each child. A child’s physical readiness impacts how a child learns. The simple definition of maturation states "it is the process of developing in the body or mind, the emergence of personal and behavioral characteristics through the growth process." http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/maturation …show more content…
As a teacher walks into the classroom, he or she is equipped with various strategies and plans. The teacher should adapt his/her classroom setting to meet the needs of the students. In many of the articles I read researching for this essay, consistently stated that everyone matures with age, barring no disorders. Children and adults with disorders mature in the same physical way, but their learning ability is very different and consequently complex. Finding and gathering the information to be conveyed to the students requires the teacher to be innovative. Some students are visual learners while others are hands-on or interactive activities. Children are like sponges, they soak up every word; just some soak it up quicker. Tenured teachers have learned through observation not to mention experience. Every child learns at a different pace which can be a struggle for the educator. Nonetheless the educator must adapt to meet the needs of each student. The educator must challenge those who learn quicker, to stay focused, not lose interest; while taking the time needed for those who learn at a slower pace. …show more content…
Gesell takes the intrinsic factor combines it with external factor when formulating his theory. Gasell stated in his methodology that genetics, temperament, personality, learning styles as well as physical and mental growth are crucial components in a child’s learning development. “Simultaneously growth factors are influenced by, environment, culture, health and experiences with peers and adults. Gesell is actually the first person to demonstrate that a child’s developmental age may differ from his chronological age.”
Matthew L. Sanders discusses the necessity of taking responsibility for one’s own education in a section of his book Becoming a Learner: Realizing the Opportunity of Education. In this section, Sanders explains how he initially blamed an instructor for not teaching him sufficiently and then learned that “No matter what kind of teacher you have, no matter what kind of class you are taking, if you are a learner you will set out to understand the material and create opportunities for success.” This statement is true and the concept can be applied through many methods to create success for students if they are willing to put forth effort.
Cloran (n.d.) suggest teachers need to have a broad understanding of giftedness and learning disabilities, a variety of identification measures and the ability to modify the curriculum and implement differentiated teaching strategies to meet the unique needs of all students. A graduate teacher recognises that students learn in their own way and should understand and be able to identify a number of teaching strategies to differentiate and meet the learning needs of all students. They may create groups based on previous assessment results and set clear or modified instructions for each group based on ability or learning styles. To address the specific learning needs of all student abilities, multi-sensory strategies using charts, diagrams, outside lessons and videos, as well as posters around the room or information on the desk could be used. Tomlinson (1999) suggests that differentiated instruction aims to build on student’s strengths and maximize their learning by adjusting instructional tasks to suit their individual needs. Ensuring teaching and instructions are clear, revising and prompting students during lessons and providing templates and assisting student in breaking down tasks into achievable, systematic chunks are some additional examples. Lucas, (2008) suggests highlighting key vocabulary within the text to focus students on the central concepts within the text. Quick finishing students should be provided with the opportunity to extend themselves with extension tasks that have a specific purpose and
Understanding the growth and child’s development is gaining skills in physical, social and emotional, intellectual, and communication and speech. You cannot meet a child’s need unless you know what to expect from their way of thinking.
Graziano’s article over the handling of his son’s disability in the classroom also involves issues that relate to teachers detecting signs of mental illness in the classrooms, how teachers identify a behavioral troubled child, and training school counselors on the Section 504 policy that are all happening in the world today. Realizing these issues can help parents with giving their child the best out of their education and can also help teachers understand the importance of their relationship with students. Everyone should have the opportunity for a brighter future and having a learning disability should not be the end of the road for any student.
The students in our classrooms, both special education and general education classrooms, require individualized education to reach their full potential. Each child’s potential is different just as each child’s road to reach it is different. Our job as teachers is to be there for the student’s to help them reach their potential through their own unique way.
“The path of development is a journey of discovery that is clear only in retrospect, and it’s rarely a straight line” (Kennedy-Moore & Lowenthal, 2011). Because development happens this way, it can have many implications for teachers. There are multiple factors and processes that contribute to the variability of individual development of children, however, these differences can be overcome and teachers can give every child the support they need to achieve. Factors specific to the middle childhood years include vocabulary development, differing temperaments, development of attention, fine motor coordination, gross motor skills development and concrete operational development, including conservation, classification and seriation. Although they can create some disorder, these factors should not significantly hinder a child’s education, but teachers should adjust their lesson plans to accommodate all kinds of abilities, including physical abilities.
Raised in different cultures all over Europe and the United States, four theorists have become world renowned for their theories of child development. As we review and learn their methods, the hope is to be able to apply them to everyday life by recognizing and utilizing them in the classroom setting.
Teachers help us expand and open our mind by giving us skills throughout students’ early life to help students when they are older. By learning information from teachers, students become better people, in a couple of ways. Besides inquiring knowledge from their teachers, students learn to work with one another, open their mind to other peoples’ thoughts and ideas, respect one another, and learn different techniques for life’s issues.
I believe that learning is a journey that both child and educator set out on together. This journey is a privilege that I take seriously, realizing that a child’s early years are a key formative time in their life. I believe that it is during this time that important foundations are being set in place that will not only impact them in the present but will also influence them later on in life.
The four factors that Piaget believed to be central to children’s cognitive development are biological maturation, activity, social experiences, and equilibration. Biological maturation refers to the individual’s genetic heredity that is present at birth and will be a key role in their growth. Activity is the child’s physical experiences, from these experiences the child will construct their own knowledge base. Social experiences are the child’s interactions with others as they grow. These social experiences also have an effect on his or her growth. Equilibration is the child’s search for cognitive balance when there is a cognitive imbalance, or dissonance that occurs.
Theories of child development have been researched and published over the years. These researches have been done by popular theorists four of whom are Piaget (1896 –1980), Vygotsky (1896 –1934), Ausubel (1918 –2008) and Kohlberg (1927 –1987). First and foremost let me define the term theory. A theory is a collection of related statements; the principal function of which is to summarize and explain observations. It is in a sense an invention designed to make sense of what we know or suspect. Developmental theory on the other hand is a systematic statement of principles and generalizations that provides a coherent framework for understanding how and why people change as they grow older. The writer in her essay will outline two theories of development Lawrence Kohlberg and Jean Piaget who spoke about the moral and cognitive development respectively.
It is argued that there are 4 elements critical to the effectiveness of the instructional process: 1. the learner, 2. the teacher, 3. the home, and 4. the academic programs and the physical facilities at the school. These are interdependent and interactive and must function in unison for effective teaching to take place. The teacher's primary responsibility is to help the learner grow intellectually, physically, emotionally, and socially. Therefore, teachers should be competent, dedicated, and committed to the profession of teaching and to the service of the students. Teachers should have adequate academic and professional preparation and the requisite traits of character. Teachers should be respected, appreciated, and sumptuously remunerated to enable them to devote themselves with total concentration to the task of teaching. A home where education is valued contributes in immeasurable ways to the quality of learning of the child. Finally, the school should have innovative, creative, differentiated, and challenging academic programs."</cite> For example, if the schools physical facilities aren't in a good, safe condition, the learner will have a hard time learning because his mind will be on his own personal safety and well being. A lot of the inner city schools in the United States are older than the teachers that teach in them. Some schools are so overc...
Arnold Lucius Gesell was an American psychologist and paediatrician and professor at Yale University, known for his research and contributions in the field of child development. Gessell was one of the first theorists to identify developmental milestones – he called them ‘Gessell developmental schedules’. He developed the maturational theory, which suggests that children’s development is due to their biological makeup and that environment has only a small influence. His research led him to three principles of physical development which are:-
As children grow towards adolescence they go through many stages of development. Child development refers to the stages of physical, cognitive, emotional, social, and language growth that occurs from the birth to beginning of adulthood. All aspects of a child's development may be affected by many different factors, including a poor learning environment, lack of social interaction, cultural background differences, abuse, and loss of a parent. All of the before mentioned examples can affect the child's maturation, "a biological growth process that enables orderly changes in behavior, relatively uninfluenced by experience" (Myers 172). Children grow and mature at very different rates, some faster than others, which is why it is necessary to understand the importance of the different types of child development. Though all parts of child development are important, it is probably language learning that is most important to a child's development as a whole.
... conclusion maturational theorist Arnold Gesell believes that a child will develop biologically and their environment has little involvement in a child’s development. Through a numerous of conducted experiments, he was able to put together and create a schedule of when milestones will occur which is known as the ‘Gesell Developmental Schedule’ where he was able to compare a child’s development to the standard norm. He also created the “Gesell Maturational Theory’, where heredity is of much more importance in their growth and development than the child’s nurturing environment. Gesell’s maturational theory is seen yet till today in a child’s everyday lives, from the time they are in the foetus till our adult life. His theory displays both strengths and weaknesses and other theorists challenging his theory but the debate between nature versus nurture will always arise.