Social And Moral Development

What?
This week we learned about moral and social development. Every action has a reaction and how we treat developing children and adolescents contributes to the future actions of the person. According to Erickson, if children are treated with love, encouragement, praise, and affection, then the child will develop more positive characteristics such as trust. Kohlberg discuss stages of social moral conformity starting with obedience. He believes that children are obedient in order to avoid punishment and later progress to being guided entirely by their own conscience. These are both great theories to explain everyday life.

So What?
Today’s researchers find that those who have made a strong commitment to an identity tend to be happier and healthier than those who have not. Those with a type of identity confusion tend to feel out of place in today’s world. With the world rapidly changing, identity crises are more common today than in Erikson's day. Exploring different aspects of yourself in the different areas of life, including at work, within your family, and in romantic relationships, can help strengthen your personal identity.

Now What?
I plan on applying social and moral interactions to the students by building positive activities in my classroom. Teaching problem-solving strategies have been proven to be beneficial in other classrooms. I would focus on teaching and modeling these strategies at the beginning of the year before the conflicts among the students in the classroom even begin. I have learned that a teacher needs to do more than just teach academics in the classroom. How the student feels inside the classroom walls affects the students learning experience and attitude. As a teacher, I hope to continue to improve my skills on dealing with these issues so that everyone in my classroom may feel appreciated, comfortable, and welcome while exploring different ways to finding their identity.