Shoelaces – The Common Thread
By Tamara McAtamney
EDI 600 Psychological Foundation of Education
School of Education
Long Island University, C. W. Post
May 20, 2009
Today we discussed three basic theorist of educational psychology. I have studied them before but today I began to reflect on how these theories applied to me and teaching. I work with children who have a developmental disability. Often staff and parents are very quick to do everything for the students when the task proves to be difficult. Due to their disability, the students are often willing to let everyone do things for them. The example of the student and his shoes in the Piaget slide was very familiar to me.
I work in home cases as well as in the classroom with some of my students. One afternoon, at a home case, I was getting a student ready to go outside. I told him to put on his sneakers. As I turned to put on my jacket he stretched his foot out to his mother who had just come downstairs. The mother began to tie the shoe when I asked her what she was doing. I told her that he knows how to tie his shoe and does so completely independently at school. I instructed him to tie his shoe himself and reluctantly he did it. His mother was shocked! He was thirteen years old and all this time she did not know that he could tie his shoe!
I try to teach the parents that I work with, and even some staff members that although they have a disability and they may not reach the milestones that Erickson and Piaget established within the timeframes they established, all students need to establish a sense of autonomy. In a way I feel it is even more crucial for the students that I work with so that they will become more independent as adults and be able to function to the best of their ability in our society.
Long Island University, C. W. Post
May 20, 2009
Today we discussed three basic theorist of educational psychology. I have studied them before but today I began to reflect on how these theories applied to me and teaching. I work with children who have a developmental disability. Often staff and parents are very quick to do everything for the students when the task proves to be difficult. Due to their disability, the students are often willing to let everyone do things for them. The example of the student and his shoes in the Piaget slide was very familiar to me.
I work in home cases as well as in the classroom with some of my students. One afternoon, at a home case, I was getting a student ready to go outside. I told him to put on his sneakers. As I turned to put on my jacket he stretched his foot out to his mother who had just come downstairs. The mother began to tie the shoe when I asked her what she was doing. I told her that he knows how to tie his shoe and does so completely independently at school. I instructed him to tie his shoe himself and reluctantly he did it. His mother was shocked! He was thirteen years old and all this time she did not know that he could tie his shoe!
I try to teach the parents that I work with, and even some staff members that although they have a disability and they may not reach the milestones that Erickson and Piaget established within the timeframes they established, all students need to establish a sense of autonomy. In a way I feel it is even more crucial for the students that I work with so that they will become more independent as adults and be able to function to the best of their ability in our society.
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