Personal & Social Development

Chapter 3

(3.1) Personal and social development can have a major influence on both individual student

learning and the learning environment as a whole. Identify a case from the CSEL guidelines*
that you would like to address in your paper. Then, examine the possible developmental
factors that could be influencing your target student(s) or classroom in the case study. Consider
all dimensions of personal and social development, including cognitive, language, social,
emotional, and moral development. *CSEL guidelines can be found under CSEL Artifact. Cases
are included at the end of the document. Choose the case that best suits your desired grade level.

 

Elementary Education Case Study

You engage your third grade students in cooperative learning activities at least twice a day, changing heterogeneous group members once every four weeks. You have agreed upon routine procedures that your classroom community uses within their small groups, including the roles and responsibilities of group members. Lately you have noticed that one small group always seems to have difficulty grasping material and completing their project in an acceptable manner.  You observe this group carefully and find that Lisa seems to be the catalyst for their problems.  She gets angry with others if she does not get the job she wants and refuses to do her part in contributing to the group’s learning.  She constantly interrupts others in her group.  She does not pay attention when her group prepares for class presentations.

It is possible that since Lisa seems determined to be disruptive and insists on getting her way, that she is a product of permissive/passive parenting who rarely punish discipline their children for wrongdoings. Her lack of discipline at home could have easily transferred to the classroom. It is possible that she is somewhat experiencing a culture shock by being presented different expectations than at home (Ormrod, 65). It also appears that Lisa lacks stable personality traits such as openness, agreeableness, and extraversion. If she does have stable traits, they seem to lead to the negative side and lead to her gaining attnetion in result. I also think something can be said for her sense of "self." I think it is very likely that she has low self esteem. Even though young children have trouble thinking in the abstract, I think by the third grade at least students start comparing themselves with others and where they range. They might see other students excelling and think something is wrong with them. Lisa migth fall into the category of having a low sense of self and might even feel like a "rejected student" and her image might have never been righted at home.

(3.22) Check out tables 3.1 (p. 75), 3.2 (p. 83) and 3.3 (p. 91) with particular attention to the age

ranges you are interested in teaching. Identify your personal favorite ways that an educator can
promote a child’s sense of self, perspective taking, and moral reasoning skills.

-Provide opportunities for students to look at one another's work only when eveyrone has something to be proud of (p75).
-Help students resolve interpersonal conflicts by asking them to consider one another's perspective(p83).
-Explain how students can often meet their own needs while helping others (p91).