Chapter 3 Questions to consider

(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.

 

(3.22) 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.

 

      " You are particularly frustrated with a seventh grade group of students that appears to engage less and less with learning and more and more with one of your highly amusing leaders of the class. Cherie is really funny, but does not show good judgment in choosing appropriate times and ways to be funny. Yesterday she tripped Carmen as she passed her desk on the way to get a chair for a guest in our class. The day before, Cherie made rude noises throughout small group presentations. Today Cherie jumped up while Tommy was reading a poem about a battle, a poem that appeared engaging to the majority of the students; she started pretending she was shooting a gun at other students. Several joined in the pretend battle and disrupted the class to the point that Tommy could not finish reading the poem."

     In this case, the majority of the class seems to have originally been interested in learning, but the more Cherie acts out, the more the other students pay attention to her. In turn, the attention Cherie is receiving is likely provoking her actions. Being in the seventh grade, the students are going through several changes in their life, from childhood to adolescence. During early adolescence, it is common for a student's self-esteem to drop, and the students begin to search for ways to gain acceptance from their peers (Ormrod, 2011, pg. 71). It seems that Cherie's sense of humor is enjoyed by the rest of the class. When Cherie acts out in class and gets a reaction from the rest of the students, it is a type of reassurance. This helps Cherie's confidence and self-image.

     It is also likely that Cherie feels the need to entertain her peers, thinking that she is the center of attention. This is described as the imaginary audience, and is common among young adolescents. The imaginary audience is when an adolescent feels that they are the center of attention at all times (Ormrod, 2011, pg. 71). Because she is feeling that the attention is on her, she does not realize the harm she is causing to the other students, such as Carmen and Tommy.

     I plan to address the idea Cherie is having about needing to entertain the class, and that the classroom is not the place for jokes. Since she is likely using this as a way to feel accepted by her peers, it will be important not to hurt her feelings, but convince her not to act out during class time, or at the expense of each other. 

 

     Several tables in the book listed strategies regarding promoting a child's sense of self, perspective taking, and moral reasoning skills.  Regarding promoting a child's sense of self, I like the idea the book suggested of giving students opportunities to examine and experiment.  I feel that at the high school level, many students are preparing to enter the adult world, so treating them so is good preparation for the post-high school world.  For sense of self, I liked the idea of exploring the origins of people's perspective and motives in discussion of real and fictional events.  I think allowing students to see how many other perspectives are in the room helps them to begin taking a closer look at those perspectives.  For promoting moral reasoning and prosocial behavior, I liked the book's idea of encouraging performing community service to engender feelings of commitment to helping others.  The high school marching band plays a large role within a community, and often offer community service such as car washes or rummage sales.