Jennie Lyon

 

I believe that the most influential time in a person's life is when they are children. They are like Jell-O, we need to fill their creative minds up with good educational values before they "set". I believe that as teachers, it is very important to be able to accurately assess where children are at developmentally. This will enable teachers to discover the most effective method to keep them motivated to learn.

 
I also support Lev Vygotsky's Zone of Proximal Development Theory. This theory states "The range of tasks that are too difficult for children to master alone but that can be learned with guidance and assistance from adults or more skilled children." (Educational Psychology, page 60) I support this theory because this plays a huge role in how children learn. They use their schema (prior knowledge) to build on what they are currently learning. Knowing this, as a future teacher I will be able to use more techniques and strategies to teach them new material by building off of what they already know. An example of this would be scaffolding. The Zone of Proximal Development also emphasizes that environment effects the child, and the child effects the environment. Knowing this as a future teacher, I will be able to set up a classroom environment conducive to learning.