Week 4-Siebring

Week 4:  Early and Middle Childhood

            This week’s readings probably have been the easiest for me to comprehend.  I mean between my niece and nephew and the subbing I have been doing in the middle schools these are the ages I have had the most first-hand exposure to recently.  It was pretty cool to read Table 6.1 on page 132 because my niece, who is 6, has pretty much followed the levels of The Emergence of Motor Skills that is shown.  She is in the beginning of the shoe tying stage, but she is getting there.  My nephew on the other hand that just turned 4 is a little bit behind then she was, but I feel it is because he seems to have a bigger imagination then she did and he goes off into his world then learning new skills.  I totally agree with the section about Early Childhood Education.  I feel the years that my niece was in preschool before kindergarten was very beneficial educationally and emotionally.  Not only did she learn her colors and her letters at an early age, but it opened it her up to new people.  She was very reserve when meeting new people.  Now she is a social butterfly that can not stop talking in a group setting.  I have also noticed that my niece has followed Rhonda Kellogg’s stages of drawing during childhood as seen on page 150.  I am amazed how her drawing has gotten better in the last year. 

One of the topics that seem to stick out to me in the middle childhood reading is the discussion of eating habits of children on page 158.  I have noticed while doing some lunch room duty, many students may have not learned proper eating habits.  So many students will take the bare minimum that is required by the schools and the state.  However, a lot will not eat all those items and then in turn will buy snacks.  Then there are the students that I see that bring sack lunches from home and they are packed full of unhealthy food choices.  Many parents do not seem to want to take time and provide healthy choices and provide what is quick.  Another section that struck close to me was the Obstacles of Successful Problem Solving.  As a sub, I do not get to see and or figure out what causes each students success or failure on problem solving, but I have seen what I feel is the decay of problem solving amongst middle school age kids.  The Role of Schools in development in middle childhood was very fascinating to read.  I agree that schools play a major role in development.  A lot of schools that I have worked to instill this development, but there is so much more that the schools can do.  I do not know if it fears of parental complaints or restraints from government standards.  Many seem to do just the bare minimum to get the student through the “system”.

Week 3-Siebring

Week 3:  Conception through Infancy

          This week we read about the basics before conception of a child all the way to the development of the child while going through infancy.  Chapter three mostly discusses the biological basics of a child from DNA to the actual conception process.  It discusses the possible diseases and or defects during pregnancy.  This chapter continues to discuss the stages of Prenatal Development and the factors that affect the development.  Chapters four and five discuss the whole birthing process from the stages of labor and delivery to the methods of childbirth to the characteristics of the newborns.  Then it continues with the physical development in infancy and possible problems.  It also discusses the different types of development like perceptual and cognitive.

          This week’s module was very interesting for me to read.  Now only did it seem to be easy to read, but it gave a lot of important information.  I did find it difficult to find a personal connection with this reading as I have never have had a child of mine own.  I do have a niece and nephew and have seen some of his and her development, but not as detail as I read in these chapters.  One of the behaviors that is discuss that I do have experience with is the imitative behavior.  The one thing I did not know was that according to page 91 newborns have the ability to imitate right away.  With my niece and nephew, I would always make faces to them.  I found it my duty to teach both of them to stick their tongue out by imitating me.  Even at 4 and 6 we still play that game.  I found all the development readings very intriguing.  I never realize how quickly the development is with infants.  The one thing that I really found interesting was on page 112.  The visual cliff experiment was fascinating to read about.  I always knew that newborns do not see at a distance right away, but I did not realize that his or her depth of vision increases so quickly. 

          Even though I do not have a lot of first hand experience with the conception and infancy stage in life but found it very helpful.  My fiancée and I are looking into going through the DCFS classes and eventually adopt hopefully in the Fall.  I will admit I am naïve when it comes to ins and outs of infant development and growth so these chapters will help me when we are finally blessed with a child after the adoption.

Week 2-Siebring

Week 2:  Theories of Development

The reading for week 2 gave the readers many different types of theories of development and how they are alike and also different.  These theories were broken down into specific categories and those categories were:  Psychoanalytic, psychosocial, cognitive, cultural, behavioral, and contextual.  The reading also tells us about each theorist all the way from Freud to Lerner.  While each providing evidence to back his theory, they all fell under criticism when it came to the everyday application of the theories.

            This being my very first psych class I tried going into it with an open mind.  I never really put much thought on which theory of development I would find myself to believe in.  I had heard of Freud and Pavlov and a few others, but never knew about a lot of their studies on development.  Before reading this chapter, if someone would have asked me which theory of development I would lean towards, I would have chosen the cognitive theory.  I always felt that children and even adults develop and grow with continued learning.  After reading the chapter I would lean more towards Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs as a driving force in development.

            While being a substitute teacher on and off since 2002 I feel Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, in my opinion those most accurate theory of development when it comes to everyday real-life application.  I have even seen the difference in students where they are in the Hierarchy now from when I started in 2002.  As Figure 2.5 on page 46 shows us, the physiological needs like food and shelter is vital in development.  Even though many schools have a breakfast program, I have seen many kids who still do not get the basic needs when it comes to food and nutrition.  I am not saying that hinders his or her development socially, but I have seen it effect the learning.  These students will start focusing on being hungry and not pay attention in class and also start acting out and causing a disturbance in class.  Also because of social media and other electronics systems many students are not getting the sleep they require to function in school.  I have seen kids shut down while in class and even constantly fall asleep.    

            Then and now the safety need for students have not change much.  Overall most kids feel safe in school and in their life.  However, there are always a few instances that he or she may not feel safe and that become a challenge as an educator because the student would rather keep it in and not ask for help.  The biggest change I have seen is the love and belonging stage of Maslow’s Hierarchy.  Students in the past wanted to be more his or her own person no matter what anyone says.  Now kids are so worried about what his or her peers think of them that they will change who he or she is to fit in and feel like they belong.  An example I have seen recently is in the middle school level.  There was one student that always connected himself with another student that is always causing trouble for teachers and other students.  In turn he is always acting out and getting into trouble.  He was asked why he associates with the other problematic student.  He responded that he wanted to fit in and that is what the other students expected out of him so he just went along with it.  He does not even care for the other problematic student.

            After reading the chapter I definitely feel more connected with Maslow and his Hierarchy of Needs.  As a child and as an adult I base my choices on the basic needs that Maslow discusses.  Some needs are harder to achieve then others and feel content.  I honestly feel as an adult I have not even done a lot to achieve the need of self-actualization.  I hope this class will help me get to that level.

Week 1-Siebring-Mobius Strip

Week 1:  Mobius Strip

          This week the video Mobius Strip talked about the two different sides to a person life.  Parker J. Palmer discusses how everyone has an onstage life or outer life and a backstage life or inner life.  The onstage life being the physical and ego part of one’s life.  How they are seen or thought about.  The backstage life is more about the internal thoughts and feelings of a person.

          As Mr. Parker discusses each person has an outer life.  That life is based on the ego types of questions.  Some of those questions are “Am I making a difference.”  People are also asking if he or she is looking good while doing something.  He or she is just worried if they look good in general.  Those questions are what is being centered when making life decisions.  The other side is inner life.  This part talks about someone’s values or instincts.  Or put simply, his or her soul.  As it showed in the video at one minute and nine seconds, “we are born into wholeness and integrity without no separation between our inner and outer life.”  “As time goes on we become concern with surviving and succeeding in the external world, that we lose touch with our souls.”

          Mr. Palmer continues that in stage two children start realize that it is not safe to live his or her backstage life on stage and if he or she did it will not be safe in this world.  At this time children start to build up a wall of separation between the two lives.    After awhile people start to find it painful to live a life of disconnect between his or her inner and outer life and try make a connection between the two.  This connection in turns develops a proverbial circle.  While this is an improvement from the disconnect it also builds another wall.  What Mr. Palmer means is that a person will not let anyone in that does not think or see things the same way.  The introduction of the Mobius strip is interested because it the appearance of a more fluid connection between the inner and outer life.  As Mr. Palmer states at 4:34 of the video, it is an appearance because the principle of the Mobius Strip is that there is no inner or outer life, but in reality, they co-create reality with each other.

          I will admit that this video was very interesting to me.  While this is my first psychology class, I have had study psych in sections from other classes.  I found myself realizing that I have gone through these things in my life.  I will admit that I lived most of my twenties and the early part of my thirties making decisions based on my onstage life.  I have always been self-conscience growing up so I was always worried about what I looked like or what others thought of me.  Even though it seems easier to live side of your life, I feel it is not the healthiest mentally or emotionally.  I have just recently started to focus more on my backstage life and try to live using my values and morals in my decision making. 

          The principle of the Mobius Strip makes so much sense to me.  It still is a difficult process to follow all the time.  Mr. Palmer poses one question that makes it difficult when he says, “How can I be aware of the co-creating exchange that I can increasingly make choices that are life giving and not death giving.  I just hope by the end of this class I can become more aware myself of these choices.