Masters in Psychology ~ 2.3

A.Exquisite
May 13, 2024
5 min read

Updated: Aug 7, 2024

x AALiYah

Developmental Psychology

week 3 objectives:

Human Life Span Development
Conception to Death
Childhood

discussions on early and middle childhood.

assignment to address new teachers.

class objectives included developmental changes through stages and transitions.

excerpt on my additions to the assignment:

" Early Childhood After prenatal and infancy stages, materializes the early childhood stage which includes years 2-5. “During this period, roughly covering ages 3 to 5, a child’s personality, interests, and social orientation begin to come into focus, but parents should keep in mind that personality traits, personal preferences, and intellectual and academic ability are not “locked in” for life during this (or any other) stage. At this age, many children will have their first formal learning experiences—including learning to socialize with others without a parent present.” (Psychology Today, 2024). This is where the professional teacher role enters the scene of childlife. During this stage children are coming into themselves leaving such a dependent state into a small but open state of independence, exploration, and learning. Though guided, children often teach themselves many things like crawling and walking, and now is the time for guided discovery in the form of lessons in language, arts, sciences, and more. Middle Childhood Middle childhood starts from around the early childhood ending age of 5, and lasts until about around emergence of the preteenager years. Children move out of introduction and into more of an intermediary developmental stage – enhancing and refining the skills previously obtained and consuming more new information to be obtained. “The ages of 6-11 comprise middle childhood and much of what children experience at this age is connected to their involvement in the early grades of school. Now the world becomes one of learning and testing new academic skills and assessing one’s abilities and accomplishments by making comparisons between self and others. Schools participate in this process by comparing students and making these comparisons public through team sports, test scores, and other forms of recognition. The brain reaches its adult size around age seven, but it continues to develop. Growth rates slow down and children are able to refine their motor skills at this point in life. Children also begin to learn about social relationships beyond the family through interaction with friends and fellow students; same-sex friendships are particularly salient during this period.” (Lumen LifeSpan Development). Transition Transition is defined as, “the process or a period of changing from one state or condition to another: “ (New Oxford American Dictionary Version, 2023). Healthy is defined as, “not diseased; indicative of, conducive to, or promoting good health; normal, natural, and desirable.” (New Oxford American Dictionary Version, 2023). Physical changes increase gross motor skills and puberty will cause physical growth and hormonal changes resulting in maturations of things such as height, weight, acne, and body hair. Neurological changes relate to the nervous system. Laying the foundation for cognition, neural connections are expanding and evolving as the brain continues its growth - influencing everyday activity performance. Cognitive changes are on the uprise as cognition is enhancing and fine-tuning - progressing from coloring all over the paper, to over the lines of a shape, to perfecting coloring inside a shape. Hand-eye coordination is being perfected, and perception and reasoning is improving. Moral changes occur in the development of decisions and intuition. Decision-making constitutes the chosen actions and solidifying personality traits. Intuition encompasses listening to one’s inner voice in comparison to the external voices one is subjected to. Moral consists of principles of right and wrong, and is defined as, “holding or manifesting high principles for proper conduct.” (New Oxford American Dictionary Version, 2023). Social changes are observable in clearer and fluent language, going from saying words to completing sentences, and holding a conversation. These social changes also contribute to personality development through interactions and play. As development continues, children progress through stages. This transitioning can be rocky, and so it is both families and associates who assist in the smooth sailing of growing. This can come in the form of being understanding while listening to them express themselves, encouraging them to express themselves, sharing relatable experiences to show them that they are not experiencing these changes alone, and purposefully taking part in activities to promote balance. These changes are inevitable and so the goal is for healthy changes, to result in healthy development. “Parents, guardians or representatives serve a vital role supporting and encouraging self-determination and student led decision-making during the transition process by reinforcing students’ interests and supporting their journey.” (Transition Planning to Prepare Our Youth for Success, 2024). New Elementary School Teachers To be a new teacher can exciting enough, with eagerness to share your expertise, ability and opportunity to assist in child development, actively putting children on a forward path of intelligence, and nervousness to stand in front of a room full of children with all eyes on you to provide them with all of the tools they need to begin and continue their course of learning and integrating into the community. Furthermore, to be a new elementary school teacher is probably the most important of all, as you are likely their first teacher, you are someone they are likely to remember for a long time to come, and, as laying the foundation for their academic career you will most likely be the standard they compare their future teachers, professors, and instructors to. How important of a job and what a responsibility to behold. It is of utmost importance that you are prepared to prepare these young minds and encourage their growth into their great potential. Training In order to have new elementary school teachers best prepared for their position in the upcoming school year, after proper degree requirements have been approved by myself as Principal Aali, mandatory 22 credits of training must be completed prior to start-date in our Summer Psychology Program, to include lessons in: Problem-solving & Critical-thinking, Nature & Nurture, Code of Ethics, and Life Coach Therapy. Some of the objectives in our Summer Psychology Program include but are not limited to: To enhance each student’s individual social, emotional, physical, spiritual, and mental states of being; “To improve students’ academic performance; To instill students with intrinsic motivation to learn; To develop teachers who use positive approaches to instruction and classroom management;” (Teaching goals and objectives, 2024), and, To encourage individuality as well as healthy social interactions between peers and counsel. “Parents and educators who clearly understand how young children develop can play an active role in creating programs that foster their natural interest in learning, rather than stifling it.” (SANTROCK, 2020, pg 486). “Although parents as the primary caregivers play a crucial role in child development from birth, from early ages many children start to attend early childhood education and care settings. From that moment onwards, teachers become important adults in children’s lives.” (Koşkulu-Sancar, S., 2023 pg 4) To summarize, though the applicable stages of development explained here are different from other stages, many developmental components are still at play and are vital to childhood development as a whole. The transition from early childhood to middle childhood is a crucial time for our new learners, therefore it is obligatory that teachers are fit for this position of leadership.
Koşkulu-Sancar, S., van de Weijer-Bergsma, E., Mulder, H., & Blom, E. (2023). Examining the role of parents and teachers in executive function development in early and middle childhood: A systematic review. Developmental Review, 67. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dr.2022.101063 Lumen LifeSpan Development: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/wm-lifespandevelopment/chapter/periods-of-human-development/ New Oxford American Dictionary Version 230 (294) (2023). Healthy. Apple Inc. New Oxford American Dictionary Version 230 (294) (2023). Moral. Apple Inc. New Oxford American Dictionary Version 230 (294) (2023). Transition. Apple Inc. Psychology Today (2024). Early Childhood. Sussex Publishers, LLC. https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/basics/child-development/early-childhood SANTROCK, . (2020). EBook online access for life-span development (18th ed.). McGraw-Hill Higher Education (US). Teaching goals and objectives. (2024). Positive Action, Inc.. https://www.positiveaction.net/grant-writing/teaching-goals-and-objectives Transition Planning to Prepare Our Youth for Success. (2024, February 15). U.S. Department of Education. https://sites.ed.gov/osers/2024/02/transition-planning-to-prepare-our-youth-for-success/ "