Chapter 6 of LIFESMART discusses the emergence of a sense of self and establishment of self awareness in children. Here, we see a shift in a child’s description of themselves from physical characteristics to a more personal view of their character. “Erik Erickson categorized early childhood as the stage when children grapple with initiative versus guilt. They experience a tension between their increasing abilities and their developing conscience.” (141) This struck me, because teaching high school special ed, I see my students’ sense of self developing every day. All of my students want to appear independent and more adult in their own way. A boy with Down syndrome in my classroom carries around a clipboard because it makes him feel official—even though the writing on the clipboard is nonsensical. Another one of my female students with autism will wear her aunt’s high heels to school from time to time even though she cannot walk around in them. As someone who wants to further my career in educating, I enjoy seeing how my students develop their sense of self. Further, I try to encourage them to be themselves because the opinions and approval of others are important to their self discovery.
LIFESMART also notes that the role of the family, parenting styles, and siblings play an important part in a child’s social development. I would say that my parents adopted an authoritative parenting style. My dad was a Chicago police officer and enforced some pretty strict rules. Thinking back, I thought my mom and dad’s parenting style was a little too strict but after this weeks reading, changed my tune a bit. My best friend’s parents were very permissive so I spent the majority of my time there and coveted her way of life. Under their roof there were no rules and everything was permissible. Today, however, my best friend struggles to keep a job and dropped out of college. Unfortunately this situation matches up with table 6.2 on page 144 of the text. Further, LIFESMART goes on to say that siblings are a factor in social development. As the oldest sibling growing up I rebelled and pushed the parameters of my parents’ parenting style. This, in a sense, loosened the reign my parents had on my younger sister and helped her get away with more at home.
Chapter 7 of LIFESMART outlines the ever developing sense of self during middle childhood. From the reading, we learn that children’s critical thinking and problem solving skills, moral compasses, language skills, peer relationships, and technological dependancies are all effected by social growth. I see this daily in the classroom. Although my students are technically teenagers, their IQs and cognitive development label them with that of a child. From the reading, I determined that my students are stuck in an extended period of Piaget’s concrete operational stage. Because my students display more “mid-childhoodlike” tendencies, I believe that their development must be fostered closely. In the classroom, we constantly go over solving basic sequential problems and test processing abilities. Additionally, we focus heavily on moral development like right and wrong behaviors, choice making, and civic responsibilities. Even the simplest of social interactions with peers is difficult, so we reinforce conversations amongst other students and adults; and monitor their relationship building strategies.
This was an interesting perspective. I had focused on the left-right hand topic and the ADD/ADHD medication topic. I admire the work and information provided with your special education group. I can visualize those kids doing that with their young minds. It is an interesting view. I too can relate to the parenting style. I was the oldest of two with a sister 6 years younger. I though was the rule follower and dare not break the rules. My parents were a mix of authoritative and authoritarian. They were strict and set rules and if they were not followed, a punishment or consequence was the result. My parents were nurturing and explained things so we understood the purpose behind their rules. It felt as if they were old school, based on their parents' style, but building their own rules and style that was more understanding. I did pave the way for my sister but expectations were high since I didn't really break rules. My sister was more impulsive and didn't worry about consequences so rules were broken. In some ways I don't think my parents were as prepared for her personality. I have read though siblings born more than 5 years apart have tendancies similar to only children. Your views were interesting and I enjoyed the blog.
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing, I really enjoyed your blogs being that I work with diverse learners as well. I just had a few questions that would better help me. Do you think that your students being themselves will direct the opinion of other students in a way that improves your students' process of self discovery? How do your students respond to the negative opinions/disapproval?
ReplyDeleteVery informative. earlier in a response I was trying to think of a way to explain how, even at early development, children are so strongly influenced by peers and media, and not their own parents. Your example was exactly what I was thinking. Also, I think your examples of allowing your students to develop and express themselves as opposed to forcing them to follow norms is fantastic. In these chapters we read about self-development and and self-esteem. By allowing your students be how they want to be is building their own self-worth and, in my opinion, needed more in the classroom than is being given on a regular basis. Good stuff.
ReplyDeleteThat is funny how you hung around your friend because of her parents. I remember That I used to compare my parents to other ones and let them know why others allowed sleepovers and not them. My dad was the one who was real strict and my mom held a more authoritative kind of style. Yes, children need boundaries set in place or else they will suffer consequences as adults. I think your students are cute . I like how one of them walks around with a clip board and the other likes the high heels. Is almost as if they were in the preoperational stage, "symbolic play" in Piaget Theory.
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