The concept of Language and Literacy Development was interesting, especially since it connected to students in the grade levels I work with daily. In particular, I like reading about the different theorist and their research on child development. For example, when I read about nature and nurture, it made me think of Epigenetics, The term that was introduced to me by my pastor. During a meeting at church, he showed us a YouTube video entitled Epigenetics: Nature vs. nurture. The video showed an excellent illustration of Epigenetics. The video illustrated how two identical twins, although from the same gene pool the twins went on to live two separate lives. While one went down a road living a good civil life while the other lived a not-so-good life, the question was raised about whether nature or nurture was the cause(Faculty of Medicine - University of Oslo, n.d.). The video also correlated the same concept with an experiment with rat mothers and their babies.
The development of children as it relates to their
ages and stages is very significant to my teaching practices. As Slavin(2020)
stated, the genes of the students are beyond our control, but there are other
factors that we are in control of that significantly impact the language and
literacy of students (p.23). All educators should understand the stages and
development of their students so that we can better teach our students. Every
group of students we get is different, developing cognitively at different
rates. Piaget believed that all children go through each stage but at different
rates. I think a good example of thinking about in comparison is the physical
development of children. Just as all children develop physically at different
rates, in the same way, their minds develop at different rates. I think it was
very interesting to watch the example in Video 2.2; I thought that it was funny
that the little girl knew that they had unequal amounts at first, but she did
not understand that because the sizes were different, they still didn’t have
the same amount.
The Bioecological Theory of Bronfenbrenner was also interesting.
I see some validity in the ideologies and research of each theorist. When I
read from the viewpoint of Bronfenbrenner, I thought about my children and
their upbringing in the church. We have a lineage of churchgoers, so they have
a concept of heaven, hell, Sunday school, pastor, Satan, tithes, offerings,
deacons, and other church terms. In comparison, a child who has never been to
church would not know these terms unless they have friends or family who talk
about these things or if they have seen references on social media or other
media sources.
I can become a better teacher by understanding each
student's zone of proximal development and scaffolding until the students are
independent learners. I will continue to use peer interactions so the students
can hear each the private talk to one another. I will be more strategic when I
seat my students on the carpet so they can turn and talk with the most
appropriate student for their development.
A question that I have is about Video 2.4. I have mentioned before how my students struggle with regrouping. They have become very fluent with the addition with regrouping. However, some still struggle with subtraction. Other teachers, excluding gifted (GTE) teachers, agree that it is a common challenge across the grade level. I noticed that the class was a third-grade class. Now, I wonder if regrouping two-digit numbers was a third-grade standard. I also wonder, considering the Covid shutdown in 2020, should some standards, such as subtraction with regrouping, be shifted to 3rd grade? Slavin (2020) provided an image that is very accurate to how some second-grade students and teachers feel about subtraction with regrouping (p.34).
References
Faculty of Medicine - University of Oslo. (n.d.). Epigenetics: Nature vs nurture. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k50yMwEOWGU&t=286s
Slavin, R. E. (2020). Educational psychology: Theory and practice. (13th ed.). Pearson Education
Slavin, R.E.(2020) Zone of Proximal Development Comic. [image]. Educational psychology: Theory and practice. (13th ed.). Pearson Education
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