Chapter 2 reflection: each student is different

Blog Entry #1


Educational Psychology Theory and Practice, Chapter 2: Cognitive Development


I do believe that instruction needs to be developmentally appropriate for students. There are so many things that we try to teach our students, however they are not ready for them. So as teachers are we setting ourselves up for failure? Do we push the students higher to think as an adult and leave the others behind? As an educator I really have a hard time with this. I don’t want my students to struggle through standards if they are not developmentally ready for the type material being assigned to them. I want to be able to set all students up for success so that they can reach their full potential. 


One thing I agreed tremendously with the side of neo-Piagatians in the reading was that the background of children makes a big impact in their learning and their ability to learn. I have seen this with my own eyes. I have taught in two different school districts. One was more affluent than the other. The other school had better readers, students had more background knowledge, and were just plain more successful in the classroom than the less affluent students. The other school was a title 1 school in a very poor district. These students did not know some very simple things because they did not have the same experiences at home that the other kids have had. They have not had the same opportunities, so their schema is much different. This means more groundwork must be done to provide these students with the same background knowledge as the more affluent students. They are capable of learning the same material, but more gaps must be filled in order for them to completely grasp the same material. In order to be a better teacher I must really take the levels of development and the children’s background into consideration. If the students have never heard for instance, a  beaver before, I need to make a conscious effort to show the students clips of a beaver building a dam, maybe take them on a virtual field trip to a zoo that has a beaver, and show them several pictures of a beaver and its habitat. 


Every child is different. It’s hard to think that they each develop at the same exact rate. I do not believe that all children develop around the same time. There are so many different factors that goes into a child’s development and there are so many outside factors that can affect their development and learning. In my opinion these outside factors play as much or more importance in the child’s development as genetics. 


The way we teach our children definitely makes an impact on how much they learn. One thing the reading talked about was scaffolding. In my opinion, scaffolding is of the upmost importance when teaching a child whether it be a new skill at school or playing a game at home because without it students would not have the confidence they need to develop a skill to mastery. They may be able to learn the new skill but have they reached their full potential? Have students mastered the skill correctly? Without scaffolding and giving extra support when a child needs it, they may not be able to master the skill they are learning or have full confidence. 


Another topic discussed in this week’s reading was cooperative learning. This also is so important for children and their development. Children tend to learn best from each other. I feel as though adults can be the same way. We learn best from our peers. Something I might tell my students may not come across in the same way as a child. Their perspective may be different than mine as an adult. Something very important when using cooperative learning is the grouping of your students. Finding a perfect pair to work and learn together is a task. Students can pick up new vocabulary and skills from their peers they may not have picked up during direct instruction from a teacher. 



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