Reflections of an Early Education Teacher, Essay Example

The interview which was conducted with an early education teacher will be summarized. The teaching perspective and the challenges faced by the teacher will be reviewed. The perspective of educational theorists will be compared. The educational theories which are most aligned with my teaching perspective will be reviewed. The plans which I have for my future as an early education teacher will be detailed.

Summary of the Interview

The teacher who was interviewed is Angela.  The interview took place on January 14^th, 2014. Angela lives and resides inBurlingham, NY. She teaches in the third grade and works part time with her husband in a restaurant. Angela has a bachelor’s degree in elementary education. She is licensed by the State of New York as a school teacher. Her family obligations prevented her from pursuing a Master’s degree.

Angela starts her day at 8: 00 AM. She stars the day with her class by teaching basic math, writing and reading lessons. The children are given a breakafter the math, writing and reading lessons. The children are given a snack during their break.  In the afternoon, Angela continues her class by reviewing science projects with the class. The science project is followed by a particular subject. Angela dedicates the time for the particular subjects to teaching the children the basics of creative art and music.

Angela is required to attend the teaching conferences. The students’ parents attend the conferences and the informal meetings which take place at the school. Angela believes that the parents’involvement in the children’s education should be more than helping the children completestheirhomework assignments.

Angela believes in exercising a lot of patience in teaching her students.  Her teaching perspective involves an authoritarian approach which combines encouragement and interest. Angelabelievesthat she should be aware of the development of each child’s skill sets and abilities. If Angela were allowed to make changes in the curriculum, she would change the way that the children are presented the required math and science lessons. She wants the children to have the capacity of reasoning the answers.  Angela believes in distributive education. She believes that the teachers at her school should be given more authority with regards to the lessons plans.

Angela gets satisfaction when the classroom becomes an engaging environment for the children. She appreciates the manner that the children learn from each other. Angela wishes that she had been aware of the responsibilities of teaching third graders before she began. She believes that teaching children required dedication and commitment.

Distributive Leadership and the Impact on the Students’ Learning Experience

The issue which I would like to discuss which was brought up by Angela in the interview is the aspect of distributive leadershipin the classroom. Angela mentioned that she wishes that she would have been more aware of the inability for the teachers to change the lesson plans at her school. Research which has been conducted demonstrates that the teachers’ levels of commitment are affected by the participation in the decision making processes (Hallinger & Heck, 2009).

Distributive leadership has been a controversial subject which has received significant attention in the literature. Research shows that the delegating of distributive leadership to the teachers has the outcome of increasing the students’ grades and attendance.  This can be attributed to increase in the perceptions of self- determination and autonomy which are maintained by the teachers. The aspects of autonomy and self-determination with regards to the educational delivery of the lesson are converted into positive affect. The students’ are able to perceive the aspects of positive affect and optimism from the teachers (Hallinger & Heck, 2009).

There are other studies which have suggested that the delegating of distributive leadership to the teachers could result in a dissipation of leadership influence with regards to the principal and conflictsamong the teachers and educational leadership. There may be a replication of the employment responsibilities among instructors. This can be attributed to more of the teaching faculty serving as leaders in the educational establishment.  In the circumstances where distributive leadership is ineffectively delegated to the faculty, it may be converted into defective leadership (Hallinger & Heck, 2009).

Distributive leadership is in style.  Notwithstanding, there is scarce literature which has been dedicated to this aspect of leadership.  Research has proven that there is a correlation between the level of the teaching staff’s commitment and the delegation of distributive leadership (Hallinger & Heck, 2009).

Preferred Educational Approach Model

The preferred educational approach model which I would base my teaching methods upon is Erikson’s theory of industry in comparison to inferiority. The children’spersonalities are forming. This was stated byAngela in the interviews. Thechildhood personality transformations which occur during the elementary school age years is founded upon the work of Freud and the latency stages (OpenStax College, 2012). The industry and inferiority stage is the most substantial psychological conflict which the children experience in middle childhood.  This is similar to Bandura’s theories of mastery and competency. In the children developing a sense of mastery, confidence is instilled which will continue into the later parts of their education (OpenStax College, 2012).

The reason that I apply this perspective is that the children in the elementary school age years are experiencing changes with regards to the manner in which they perceive themselves.  The children are awakening to novel concepts of themselves and formulating their internal and observed behaviors into assumptions. The children perceive their identities in the context of things that they are skilled (OpenStax College, 2012).Children begin to form reasoning abilities at the elementary school level.  Mead perceived that a well formed child is the child which adopts a sense of their identity which matches the identity that is perceived by others (OpenStax College, 2012). The concept of competencies is an important aspect in the development of the child’s psychological identity.

The sense of competency also provides confidence and self-esteem to the child’s identity which is being formed in the elementary school levels.  The authority figures in the children’s lives (i.e., parents and teachers) continue to play important roles. The most important figures in the children’s lives are their friends. This enables them to develop their sense of self-esteem on three distinct levels. Theselevels are social, physical and academic (OpenStax College, 2012).

Alignment of Teaching Practice with EducationalTheories

I would say that Vygotsky’s educational theories are most aligned with my own perspectives. Vygotsky formulated the social theory of development. Children’s social communication is essential to their personality development. This infers that the children are trying to develop inferences from what the experience. I believe that the learning process and the social development process go hand in hand. Social education is very important to a child’s healthy development and normally precedes learning (Sigelman & Rider, 2012).

The second aspect of Vygotsky’s social theories of development is that there is no solitary principle which can detail a child’s development. Vygotsky social theory of development is distinct from Piaget’s theories of development in three ways.

1. The cultural influences are important to the forming of the child’s cognitive capacities.
2. The environment and the social influences are significant in forming the child cognitive production.
3. The context of language is important to a child’s cognitive development(Sigelman &Rider, 2012).

The third aspect of the Vygotsky’s area of nearest development theory is animportant characteristic of Vygotsky’s social theories of development. This theory delineates what the child is able to accomplish alone and what the child needs help in order to accomplish. The teaching strategies that would be used are expositional teaching, show and tell teaching and teacher instructed exercises development (Sigelman & Rider, 2012).

Plans for Study in Early Childhood Education

I would like to continue my professional development. The use of online learning is a popular innovation which will be the recipient of greater attention as technology progresses. I would like to become more proficient in online instructional delivery to the children who are elementary school age. This generation has been deemed as the digital generation. As a teacher, I feel that it is important to bridge the divide between the children which were born in the digital age and the adults who must catch up to the rapidly changing technological implementation. This is why I would continue to focus on my professional development as an early childhood education teacher. I would like to the most effective teacher that I can be.

References

Hallinger, P., & Heck, R. H. (2009). Distributed leadership in schools: Does system policy make a difference? Distributed Leadership, 7, 101-117.

OpenStax College (2012). Introduction to Sociology. Houston, TX: The Baylor Organization.

Sigelman, C. K., & Rider, E. A. (2012). Life span human development, 7^th edition. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Cengage learning.