Application Of Theory: Early Childhood

Application of Theory: Early Childhood

Every builder knows "A house is only as strong as its foundation". They also know that they have to evaluate and become familiar the land before beginning to work. This rationale can be used as a guideline for teachers across the world, especially with the children in the early childhood stage, ages 2-6, because how teachers assist children in this stage will serve as the foundation for the life ahead of them. A child develops physically, cognitively and socially. It is important for the teachers to know how the child is developing in order for them to effectively teach the students because they lack of understanding can lead problems for the child. Additionally, if the teacher is aware of how the child is developing, they can assist and promote the way their students think, succeed, socialize, and understand their emotions. At this stage, teachers can also begin to promote diversity, because most often, it is in the classroom that children of this age encounter people that are different.

Throughout an individual's life, he or she goes through several stages of development, where they are developing physically, cognitively and socially. These stages begin from the day you are born and continue throughout your lifetime and last up until the day you die. Through each stage, there are certain changes an individual is expected to go through. Looking specifically the early childhood stage, physically, children's grow rate and body fat declines. It is also during this stage that the children began to rapidly develop their gross (running and jumping) and fine (writing and drawing) motor skills. Most importantly, during early childhood the brain and nervous system are growing.

It is in the early childhood stage that the child enters school and their cognitive development is noticeable. Cognitive Development can be defined as the growth of one's intelligence. During the early childhood stage, the child is developing symbolic reasoning and intuitive thought and they are perceived to be egocentrism. From the assignments they receive in class you can see the child's rationale and how they see the world when they tell the stories of their pictures. It is also because the child has entered school that they began to develop more socially. Although the children initially develop there social skills from their parents once they begin to attend schooling they develop relationships with their peers. They often want to emulate what they see their friends do from the way the walk to the way the dress. They also want to spend majority of their time playing with the other children.

All teachers should understand the different stages that a child goes through in order for them to effectively teach their students. Teachers should understand that successful learning depends on properly setting the stage for her development Ð'-- creating an open, supportive, engaging environment that meets a child's social, emotional, and cognitive needs. (Church and Ravid. 2003) When teachers have a lack of understanding of the development stages it can cause confusion in the classroom. For example, children who are at the early childhood stages are at the point where they often display temper tantrums when things do not go the way that they planned. Not knowing this may not only cause the teacher to become impatience but also cause the students to continue the behavior.

Most importantly, teachers who do not understand the development stages may not know where the students need to be. As teachers, we must understand that there may be some influences in the child life that has caused the child's developments to be halted. Sometimes it only takes five extra minutes spent on a subject, extra work or tutoring for the child to get back on track. In my school, I see that more and more teachers are having problems teaching their students and when they are not mastering the material in the manner the teachers thought they would. Unfortunately, these teachers want to automatically have the child placed in a special education classes or have the resource teacher work with them (My school is working on the inclusion style of teaching for students with learning abilities). If the teacher knew much about the development of the students they would know the differences between a child with learning disabilities and a child that has not been in the environment in which they could properly develop.

When a teacher fully understand the development stages and know what stage their children are in they will be in a better position to assist in their students' development. One important skill a teacher a can assist early childhood children develop, especially children in the early part of the stage, is there listening skills. It is important that teachers know that taking advantage of the world of sounds is a wonderful way to help young children develop their listening skills. (Miller, 2001) Students can read stories, play music, or just simply talk to the students in order for the children to pay attention. If it is something of interest, they will often listen to what is going on. However, having children pay attention to the sounds is not enough; therefore teachers mush request the students to repeat what is going on. This year I have decided to incorporate the ArthurÐ'® cartoon series into my classroom. This series teaches educational lessons through a story plot. I have the kids to pay attention to what is being said and ask them what is going on. I noticed that kids that watch the cartoons will remember what is said and the next time they see the cartoon they are able to cite some the lines along with the characters.

Understanding the students' development stages can also provide teachers information that can be used to help students achieve greater success; because, providing a high quality education for young children is a key to a child's future success. Foundational skills needed to achieve academic success include social development, cognitive development, and physical development. (Sanders, http://www.pbs.org/teachersource/prek2/issues/703issue.shtm) Additionally, the students must have self-confidence and motivation to succeed. Therefore, the teachers must not only ensure that their students are receiving educational activities that enhance the development in all three areas but they must make sure that the students willingly participate in the activities.

Some students may not want to participate in some activities because they may be weak in that area and as mentioned before, children at this stage often have temper tantrums. In my class, I often express to the students that it is important to participate in all the activities whether under my instruction or not. I make sure that I call on everyone student and