Ciera Rinck: Chapter 3 QTC

(3.1) Personal and social development can have a major influence on both individual student learning and the learning environment as a whole.  Identify a case from the CSEL guidelines* that you would like to address in your paper.  Then, examine the possible developmental factors that could be influencing your target student(s) or classroom in the case study.  Consider all dimensions of personal and social development, including cognitive, language, social, emotional, and moral development. *CSEL guidelines can be found under CSEL Artifact. Cases are included at the end of the document. Choose the case that best suits your desired grade level.

The case study I will be examining is the elementary education case study, Lisa.  During small group time, Lisa is having trouble cooperating with her group members.  She gets angry with others if she does not get the job she wants, and she refuses to do her part in contributing to the groups leaning.  She is constantly interrupting her group members and she does not pay attention when her group is preparing for class presentation.  According to the textbook, personal development is development, with age, of distinctive behavioral styles and increasingly complex self-understandings; whereas social development is development, with age, of increasingly sophisticated understandings of other people and society as a whole, as well as increasingly effective interpersonal skills and more internalized standards for behavior.  Considering the dimensions of personal and social development may allow for some insight as to why Lisa is having trouble with group work and her classmates. 

Looking at social cognition it seems that Lisa may be lacking processes that allow her to think about how other people are likely to think, act, and react in various situations.  If Lisa is lacking these skills, it may be difficult for her to make friends and work skillfully in a social setting with her peers.  Also, Lisa may be lacking the ability to look at a situation from others points of view—or perspective taking.  She may not recognize that her actions and disruptive behaviors are counterproductive to the group. 

Other developmental factors that could be influencing her behaviors may be her emotional and moral development.  It seems Lisa may be emotionally and morally below the levels of her peers, therefore it is difficult for her peers to get along with her.       

(3.2) Check out tables 3.1 (p. 75), 3.2 (p. 83) and 3.3 (p. 91) with particular attention to the age ranges you are interested in teaching.  Identify your personal favorite ways that an educator can promote a child’s sense of self, perspective taking, and moral reasoning skills.

To promote a sense of self for first grade students, I would “encourage students to extend their abilities by tackling challenging tasks they think they can accomplish” (p. 75).  I think this strategy encourages students to be ambitious with their studies and thus encourages success in higher grades as they progress through school. 

To promote perspective taking, I would “ask questions about thoughts, feelings, and motivies during storybook readings; encourage students to share and compare diverse perspectives and inferences” (p. 83).  I think by using this strategy students are able to engage in real world skills and they are simultaneously exposed to other perspectives than their own. 

To promote moral reasoning skills, I would “model sympathetic responses; explain what you are doing and why you are doing it” (p. 91).  I think it is important to model how you want students to act, and by explaining it students are exposed to skills they will have to use in real life scenarios.