• Introduction
  • Welcome!
  • My Philosophy
• Background
  • Introduction
  • Resume
  • Transcript
  • Bag Speech
• Psychology Concentration
  • Introduction
  • Child Development
  • Senior Thesis Project
• Issues in Education
  • Introduction
  • Disparities in Special Education
  • Promoting Positive Adjustment for Struggling Students
• Experiences in Education
  • Introduction
  • Exploration Summer Programs
  • JBFCS Child Development Center
  • Sauquoit Valley Elementary
  • Middle Settlement Alternative Academy
• Resources
  • Introduction
  • Student Motivation
  • Classroom Management
• Next Steps
  • What's ahead?

My Concentration in Psychology

COURSEWORK IN CHILD DEVELOPMENT: New Levels of Understanding

 

"Children's view of the world and their capacity to understand keep expanding as they mature, and they need to ask the same questions over and over, fitting the information into their new level of understanding"

-Joanna Cole

My studies in Child Development have helped me to understand that young children are rapidly developing physically, intellectually, socially, spiritually, and emotionally. It is my hope and responsibility as a teacher to help students reach their full potential by providing a caring, safe, and open classroom that facilitates their development in each of these domains. By studying the theories and concepts of scholars such as Piaget and Vygotsky, I better understand the stages of development and how to prepare developmentally appropriate activities and plans. Understanding the abilities of children at each stage is of the utmost importance for working with young children, and I am happy to have studied these stages in depth.

I've attached a project that I completed with a partner. The assignment was to create a day-care center, including developmentally appropriate toys, lessons, activities, and environment. My partner and I chose to create a day-care center/pre-school that caters to children ages 3-5, which marks an important period in a child's development, and requires developmentally appropriate activities to hone the skills they are beginning to acquire. For example, Piaget's stages of development suggest that around ages 3-4, children are just beginning to gain an awareness of social scripts and roles. By providing children with the opportunity to participate in sociodramatic play (pretend play as a doctor, chef, fireman, etc.), it allows them to better define the social world through social roles and scripts. Most importantly, it requires that the child regulate their thoughts and behaviors according to imaginary situations. Ultimately, children who are engaged in high levels of sociodramatic play around age 3 show higher levels of self-regulation later in childhood. To view this project and several other developmentally appropriate aspects, click here.