For our Journal entries in my human growth and development class, we have to tie our readings into personal experiences. I thought some of you might get a kick out of this one.
Babysitting my six month old niece, Beatrice, on a warm Sunday afternoon, I can’t help but notice her intently staring directly into my eyes. I begin to wonder how much of her surroundings she comprehends. At this point she is just starting to take shape as a human rather than an organism that exists solely to eat. My dad starts laughing and begins to make jokes about her rotund thighs. She lets out a deafening cry that can be heard through the thick, brick walls of my brother’s apartment. She undoubtedly detected his sarcasm. She has developed a fondness for the women in the family, a partiality that I believe is due to (and excuse the cliché) the softer nature of our sex. Beatrice is a creature completely free of guile, which is why I love her so much. She has little appreciation for cynicism and lets you know immediately if she does not like you. Unfortunately for my dad, Beatrice finds his grey beard a little too sinister. Alas, he has had to spend numerous hours at the mercy of an inconsolable, twenty pound infant who angrily rejects everyone except a handful of female relatives.
It is on this strange note that I begin to discuss the amazing phenomenon that is child development. While it is unclear how much our little Beatrice is taking in, she certainly seems aware of people discussing her and can easily detect a change in a person’s tone.
Studies offer contrasting views as to whether “infant speak” practiced by mothers can aid in language development in young children. Our chapters on development and cognition offer some interesting insights into a variety of factors that affect and aid children as they are developing, cognitively and linguistically through their teenage years.
First, Vgotsky asserted that learning and development cannot occur without social interaction. Children acquire their way of thinking and much of their knowledge from their cultural surroundings. Second, they are guided by a more knowledgeable “other,” usually a teacher, coach or parent who helps them understand concepts they would otherwise not encounter or understand. For me this view seems irrefutable. Strange as it may sound, I was always aware of the tremendous influence my parents had on my learning and development. I can remember testing out notions on my parents and developing a view of the world through trial and error. My parents were also available for suggestions on school work that was just a little too difficult.
Related to this is Vgotsky’s notion that all children have a Zone of Proximal Development. According to this theory, a child is capable of a certain range of cognitive abilities and activities that he is not yet capable of completing alone, but can complete with the aid of an adult or more skilled peer. A teacher must work within a child’s zone for the lesson to be successful.
Vgotsky’s theories can easily be applied to classroom practices. Since Vgotsky asserts that much of students’ knowledge comes from their surroundings, it is important create lessons that incorporate their daily lives. Material becomes more approachable to students if it is relevant to them.
Teaching material that is within students’ Zone may also require scaffolding. Scaffolding can mean anything that shifts some of the responsibility of an assignment away from the student. In my field, ESL instruction, this may include simplifying the language in directions, making fonts bigger, providing word banks, or putting pictures next to vocabulary words. The importance of modeling all activities you assign in the classroom cannot be stressed enough for ESL students. Giving examples of exactly what you would like your students to do, prevents re-explaining the assignment a dozen times and eliminates confusion on the part of the students.
I look forward to learning more about how young people think and develop and how I can approach them in an effective and caring manner.
