DEVELOPMENT AND EFFECTIVE TEACHING
Students will demonstrate understandings of the developmental stages of children and adolescents, of a variety of models of cognition, and of how each of these can be connected to effective teaching and learning.
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At each stage of their personal development, different learning strategies and types of teaching have greater impacts on students - and students are always at different stages from their peers. Each student experiences cognitive, social and emotional development at different paces. Because of this I found teaching methods like differentiating instruction and catering to varying the needs of learners to be critical to an effective classroom. In my own lesson plans that I have created for class as well as my role as an advisor for the student newsletter The Trumansburg Troubadour I made sure to provide different ways for students to participate, creatively express their interactions with the content and work both independently and collaboratively with their peers.
Piaget & The Importance of Play
EDUC 21010 Educational Psychology
In this assignment I analyzed two case studies by Ormand and McGuire’s Date Auction and The Stand Up Comic, connecting them to readings and theories about cognitive development and then providing solutions to the issues at hand in the story.
This study also reflects Montessori, Piaget and Vygotsky’s notion of the importance of play. These theorists explain, “...the brain develops with stimulation and play provides some of that stimulation at every age” (Slavin 82). In the case study, student Connor develops his social skills after he makes friends through his jokes and engaging in playful interactions and activities. He matures once he has made a solid group of friends and feels comfortable with his identity because he was able to have this opportunity to play.
Through this analysis I developed a better understanding of how cognitive development also mirrors social development and how important it is to let students express themselves in creative ways, even if it may seem silly or off topic. Let the kids play!
Exploring Creativity With the Freytag's Pyramid
EDUC 21800
In this assignment I developed a Language Arts Lesson Plan for sixth graders that taught them the basics of storytelling through the Freytag’s Pyramid. The lesson includes presentations, worksheets, group activities and class reflections based on readings from Tomlinson and Marzano. When creating the plan I reflected on the stages of development learned in Educational Psychology to get a better idea of what type of lesson would work best with the sixth grade age group and how to form activities that are cognitively complex. In middle school, students are experiences the conflict Erik Erickon defines as "Identity vs. Role Confusion." The more chances students get to express themselves creatively, the more they can learn about their identity and share parts of their experiences with their peers. To include this in the lesson plan the students were tasked with writing their own stories based on the Freytag's Pyramid. With this assignment students get the chance to engage with creative writing and work collaboratively with their peers.