Erick Erickson

Erick Erickson is referred as a socioemotional theorist who came up with these eight stages of human development. I am having a some trouble making deep connections with some of the stages so I going to hash everything out, right here, right now and maybe there will be some learning going on lol!

The first one is Autonomy vs. Shame and doubt  ( 1 yr to 2 yrs )
Question: First thing is I don't know what Autonomy means.  I have a niece around the same age so I already reflect upon her for this stage so if i can figure out autonomy that might help.

Response: Autonomy means "one who gives oneself their own law"  (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autonomy).

This is definitely a characteristic I see developing within my niece, so is talking more, exploring with her environment and developing her personality based on what she observes from the family. Also she is really not likinng be told "no" and it is true, she either fightsd back against be told no, or lowers her head in shame fo rdoing something that she was not suppose to do. Interesting?
   
The second is Initiative vs. Guilt ( 3yrs to 5 yrs )
Question:  The child starts to take responsibility for putting away their toys, and taking care of their belonging's, but what if they don't.

Response: Erickson states that this stage happens when the child already has the foundation of trust and autonomy. So I am going to conclude that when a child can trust that the environment we live in is a safe and loving one we can value and take care of things in our lives. On the flip side when we lose that trust the things in our lives that we value and care for fall to the waist side.

At this stage of my learning and understanding I agree with Erickson's stages and concepts, which will help me to understand why some of my future students are acting the way they do. It is just another teaching tool to help you connect with your children.

Being a wise consumer

I think it is important for people to understand and share some concepts discussed in EDUC class today by Robert Nellis:

- BE cautious of what is reported in the popular media
- AVOID making conclusions about individual needs based on group research
- RECOGNIZE how easy it is to overgeneralize about a small sample
- UNDERSTAND that a single study is not the defining word
- ALWAYS consider the source of information and its credibility


Adhttp://farm4.static.flickr.com/3285/2945559128_53078d246b.jpgd caption

(Robert Nellis 2011)

Why I think that it is important for us to recognize and understand these concepts? Because the media has become such a huge part of our lives. We use it for entertainment, and learning. Unfortunately, not all media is as credible as it may have been in the past, which may be ok if your just using it for the entertainment factor.

When we begin to use it as a learning tool it is important to use credible sights to pass along information. As a student I have learned that such projects like essays need to be support by scholarly articles, not just an article written by Joe Blow unfortunately.

I also think it is great as a teacher to get students analyzing information that is being fed to them by media. Sometimes what is being push at them is one sided, so the questions they ask about hearing both sides of the debate the more informed the will be, which is a great skill for life.

Allison Cameron and effective teaching

We expect teachers to handle teenage pregnancy, substance abuse, and the failings of the family.  Then we expect them to educate our children. 
~John Sculley

As I was searching for an awe inspiring quote to uplift your enthusiasm for teaching and carry your spirits high above the clouds I found this quote.  I think this quote sets the tone perfectly. To me this quote is honest and real. If you don't believe me just watch the video: Allison Cameron.

Allison Cameron was faced with a challenge. She needed to find a way to engage her group of children who were dealing with the realities of broken families, drug and alcohol abuse,and learning challenges.

What inspires me, and what I hope to implement into my own teaching practice is that Allison Cameron kept on working until she found what strategies worked for her and her kids. As a student I have seen and personally felt the sting of  failure because I could not conform to the teachers style.

Allison found a way to challenge her students in a different way. Through discovering the use of treadmills and exercise to spark the brain and help brain cells grow, Allison was able to have some of her ADHD and ODD children stop taking the medications because they were able to control their behaviour after trying her treadmill exercise every morning.

The most important massage from the video that I received was that you need to engage and challenge you body is different ways and in return you are fully engaging and challenging your brain. Everything in your body is connected. I once read if you study visually you comprehend ~20% of the material, if you study verbally you comprehend ~27% of the material, if you study kinesthetically you retain ~35% of the material. But if you study visually and verbally you will retain ~ 60% and when you being to study using all visual, verbal and kinesthetic skills you can retain ~ 80% of the knowledge.

I believe it is important to be fully engaged in the material and that is something that is a long term goal Allison is striving for, for her children.

Bloom's Taxonomy

There are the six different stages of Bloom's Taxonomy:

Knowing - regurgitating information by memory.
Understanding - Explaining things in your own words.
Applying - You know and understand the material and are able to use your knowledge.
Analyzing - Taking something apart. You can see all the working parts and do some deep/critical thinking.
Evaluating - Making a judgement. Deciding the worth or value of something.
Creating - Drawing together information and making it into a new form.

These stages are ranked from the foundation (knowing) to higher levels of learning domains (creating). At different stages of my life I find myself at various levels of the learning domains. Whether it was math, scoiology, or english I would compare my understanding of the content to a certain stage of learning. What I have come to learn is that this form of analytical thinking can be applied to various other aspects of your life not just the scholary parts. For instance I am in the process of creating a career portfolio. Everyone knows the basic concept of a portfolio- it's a reflection of your past experiences and knowledge.

The process of creating a career portfolio takes us through the first five stages of Bloom's Taxonomy. I am  able to explain what a portfolio is and what needs to go into a portfolio in my own words, gather all the information that needs to go into the portfolio and section them into categories, even decide the most important certificates or awards to put in or leave out due to their relevence to the job I am applying for.

Here is the fun part, and the part which I think most forget about. What about the creating? If I have for example an award of excellence from grade 7 which is not relevent enough to be metioned in the awards section of my portofolio but the meaning of the award is, can I create a different way to present or include it?

I could create a section in my resume labeled " Personal characteristics and accomplishments" where I include my award of excellence. Then, when at an interview for a teaching job when the interviewer asks about the award I can then explain the significance of why I have included it. It could be that I was a low academic student, and my former teacher took the time to work with me on my fear of failure and the support he/she gave me allowed me to succed. Therefore, that experience taught me the importance of being connected with your students and that is one quality that I will bring to the classroom.

Being able to incorporate that experience and show some reflection on past expereicnes could be the difference between me getting hired instead of someone else.

I challege everyone to start incorporating the levels of Bloom's Taxonomy into their daily lives and and see what level they are at for different tasks. Then ask yourself, "why you are at that stage and why not at another?"

For Example:

When asked to teach your father how to save a photo and place it into an email, did you take over the task or just did it youself, only reaching the applying stage?  Why was that? Were you to busy to teach him? Had you done it before and were just frustrated? Or was the whole task of explaing it overwhelming?

While searching for your necklace in your dresser drawer you had the idea to hang all your jewelry on an antique coat hanger making it artisitc as well as more funtional and organized to efficiently find what you need taking you all the way to the creating stage. Was this easier becuase it was a tactile/kinesthetic task? Or was the environment positive and free to be creative allowing for success?

Once you understand why you reach certain levels, you will then be able to indentify and understand why your child or students will reach certain levels for a cerain task and perhaps have strategies to take them one level higher.
Have fun.