My Final Reflection for Education

Jay T. Palmisano

4/29/14

Final Reflection

          In my Ecology of Human Experience class, taught by Kelly Swindlehurst, I gained many things from the class. I learned many useful ideas and tips for educating that will help me tremendously later on in my career. Along with learning many useful ideas, this class was unique from my past experiences with other education classes. This class will definitely have a strong impact on my career as a teacher because I learned many useful ideas that are apart of the history and tools a teacher has.

         Throughout this class I learned many lessons that were very useful and interesting. One of the lessons I learned was the Bronfenbrenner Model or also known as the ecological model. I learned that the Bronfenbrenner model is a way of depicting how an individual’s environment can impact him/her along with show the many aspects in an individual's life. This model shows the Microsystem, Mesosystem, Exosystem, Macrosystem, and the Chronosystem, which is surrounding the individual. All of these parts of the Bronfenbrenner model are essential to understanding why an individual is the way he/she is, is because the environment a person lives in, will end up effecting he/she either directly or indirectly. I learned this from the readings for the class called Ecology of Family, “Macrosystem Influences on Family, Socialization, and Children”. On page 97, it states:

“How do features of the macrosystem influence the socialization of children?... Specific effects of macrosystem (socioeconomics statues, cultural orientation, and religious orientation) on socialization are examined to better understand how large contexts can affect the way family systems operate” (Berns, p. 97).

In this reading it showed me that the Bronfenbrenner model isn't just the Macrosystem or the Exosystem, but it involves the relationships between the aspects within the Macrosystem and Exosystem. Along with learning about the ecological model, I learned about typical and atypical development along with disabilities. These two lessons go together because if an individual’s life is atypical (different from what the typical individual goes through) it sometimes can be because of a disability they face. When reading Typical and Atypical Development, by Martin Herbert, I learned about how an individual’s life can be atypical and what that can cause as problem situations for that person. On page 222 it states that “A child with a motor impairment is likely to be restricted in how s/he is able to interact with the environment” (Herbert, 2003).

This reading showed to me how a disability in a certain aspect of life can impact an individual greatly. This lesson then connects to learning about disabilities when I read Skin Deep Learning: Teaching those who learn differently. In this reading I learned that just because an individual has a disability or lives an atypical life, does not mean they cannot reach their fullest potential. The reading stated:

“The reality is that all children have much greater potential than we ever imagine, but our rigid educational system assumes that some children are incapable of achieving academically and that one model of instruction fits all. Schools that recognize differences without negatively stereotyping children, believe in all children’s potential, and implement challenging instruction that embraces children in all their splendid variety....” (Skin Deep Learning, p. 103).

Along with learning about the ecological model, typical and atypical development, and about disabilities, I learned about cross-cultural development. I gained insight about what  cross-cultural development is when reading Anthropology and Child Development by Robert A. LeVine. On page 1 it states, 
“The study of child development has been largely confined to children in North America, Europe and other Western countries, who comprise less than 10 percent of all children in the world. The overwhelming majority of children grow up in Asia, Africa, Latin America, and the Pacific under conditions differing dramatically from those familiar to Westerners...” (LeVine, 2008).

This showed me how this lesson is about understanding that individuals from around the world are different depending on their culture and environment. For example, a child growing up in America has a different culture, environment, ideals, and ways of living than a child from Africa or China. Because of these differences it makes the person more aware of understanding the background of a child so teaching he/she is easier. All of these lessons are what will help me become a better educator.

This class is going to be a major factor in my teaching career because these lessons will give me better understanding of why a student acts a certain way or how I will be able to help them get through a certain situation in the classroom. The lesson on the Bronfenbrenner model will help me in teaching because I will be able to look at a student’s environment and have some insight on why that certain student is the way he/she is. When I do understand why a student is acting a certain way, I will then be able to help or talk to the student to find assistance for them or aid them in getting past it. The second major lesson that will be useful is the typical and atypical lessons along with the disabilities lesson. Both of these lessons will help me as a teacher because if I do have a student in my class with a disability or has atypical development signs, then I will need to be able to understand why it is happening and what I can do to make it better for the student in my class. Knowing this will help my class be a solution to his situation or ease the pain, rather than it be adding to the problem by having me ignore it. The last major lesson in the class was on cross-cultural development. This lesson is a good lesson to end the class on because it leaves me understanding that there is no one way to teach a classroom full of individuals. I need to be prepared for a group of children that each have a totally different background. With these differences I need to be able to reach all of them and be able to change my approach of teaching them depending on their background or ideals. The cross-cultural development lesson was eye opening because it showed me how people from around the world live different lives, as a result of their environments, culture, ideals, and religion. All of this comes together to impact how an individual learns. In the end, this class was very different from all the other classes I have taken here at Johnson State College.

This class differed from my other classes here because in my past education class I learned strictly the history of education and theories from Piaget, Vygotsky, and others. The past class I took was very important on building my base understanding on the tools needed to become a teacher but this class was better because it taught me real world application of the lessons I learned. I feel better prepared to become a teacher now because I know the signs of problems in a student along with what a typical individual should do at what age and stage in life, and I understand how each person in the world is different depending on the country he/she is from.

At the end of this class, I feel I have done the best I could of done and have gained all the knowledge I can from this class. I feel I deserve a A in this class because I did all the homework, showed up to every class, did all the papers, and in general did the best that I can. These lessons I learned and the practical use of them will always be in the back of my head when I am teaching and will be useful for the rest of my life. I am ready to move on in the education course and continue to expand my knowledge on education and become as great of a teacher that I can be.

Work cited

Herbert, Martin. 2007. Typical and Atypical Development: Motor Impairments. Malden, MA. Blackwell Publishing.

LeVine, Robert. 2008. Anthropology and Child Development: A Cross-Cultural Reader. Blackwell Publishing.

Ecology of Family, “Macrosystem Influences on Family, Socialization, and Children”. Page 97

           Skin Deep Learning: Teaching those who learn differently. Page 103.