Personal Career Development in Teaching, Reaction Paper Example

Introduction
Within the lifecycle of teaching development there are four important factors (1) Hereditary considerations (2) Biological Maturation  (3) Psychological change and (4) Environmental factors.

Hereditary Factors :  Gregor Mendel, often described as the father of modern Genetics, was an Augustinian Monk that was educated at the University of Vienna.  He formulated that certain genetic characteristics were passed down from parents to siblings. Different offspring receive different genetic compositions from their parents.  As such there are certain characteristics that you will inherit that will contribute towards your proficiency as a teacher. (Miko, I. 2008)

Biological Maturation Teachers are really made not born and this stems from biological maturation at childbirth.  Those teachers that have allowed a child to develop naturally and provided them with encouragement, moral support and inspired them to achieve their visions are most likely to have influenced positive development towards a teacher as a career goal. From an early age children need to acquire a permenancy in the acquisition of moral, spritual and cultural values. (Swim, T.J. 2011)

Psychological Change  All teachers and child care providers have the ability and capacity to extend and refinev their learning skills to become great teachers. Skills like empathy and childhood development can be refined by adopting psychological learning skills and become an additional asset to the conventional wisdom of teaching.  Learning is a lifelong process and teacherts have a tremendous opportunity for maturing expertise and knowledge. Change in younger pupils occurs early in life and there is an opportinity to learn cognitive, social and other psychological development skills. (Stein & Wang, 1988).

Environmental Factors Environmental factors can have a profound impact on the behaviour of children and their approach to the teaching and learning process.  A child going to a rural school with clean air, relative solitude and lack of distractions and disturbances is far likely to succeed from an academic and learning experience to that of a City School. Rural schools tend to have more physical receation activities and space and this combines the important aspect of physical edication and learning.  Students are also likely to eat more healthy diets and less prone to the junk food diets pushed by inner city living.

Personal Reflection

There are generation gaps between the yong people today and the parents.  The parents are the generation after the second world war and known as the “Baby Boomers” of the 1950’s. They were essentially a free spirited somewhat rebellious group that were shaking off the shackles of the second world war.  Essentially a hedonistic society in the pusuit of self pleasures, enjoyment and the rewards of promising careers.  The new generation has taken the concept of liberalisation a stage further and has become much more of a technological generation based upon social awareness and communication through the internet and other devices. Career development still remains important but there is an increased sense of self awareness and the ability to co-exist in a multi-cultural environment achieved by standards of improved education and greater co-operation amongst one another. We have become a more tolerant generation as we live in a globalized multi-national environment that exposes us to more issues of cultural and social development.

Works Cited

Miko, I. (2008). Gregor Mendel and the Principles of Inheritance. Nature Education 1(1), 1-6.

Stein, M. K., & Wang, M. C. (1988). Teacher development and school improvement: The process of teacher change. Teaching and Teacher Education, Vol 4 Iss 2, Pages 171-187 .

Terri Jo Swim, P. (2011). Theories of Child Development: Building Blocks of Developmentally Appropriate Practices. Retrieved 6 8, 2011, from Early Childhood News: http://www.earlychildhoodnews.com/earlychildhood/article_view.aspx?ArticleID=411