GUIDANCE PHILOSOPHY PAPER

Guidance Philosophy Paper



Guidance Philosophy Paper

Introduction

The purpose of this paper is to state and justify my personal philosophy of guiding 3- to 5-year old children. The paper presents and in depth discussion about my assumptions relating to the set of learning variables that I believe are most important in a child's learning and development. Based on these assumptions, I determine my goals of guidance and the best teaching and practicing techniques that will help achieve those goals. In the final part of this paper, a quick review of my inferences about the discussion is presented. In developing this paper, I went through extensive pedagogical literature and learning theories. As such, most of the discussion is based on the concepts and theories. However, the theories and practices have been reviewed in a limited space so that I focused more on my own beliefs to reflect on my teaching practices.

Discussion

Assumptions about how children learn

Before building any assumptions of best teaching practices for 3 to 5 year old children, one should have a clear idea about how children learn. Since this children group is both active and social, all curriculum design must be designed keeping in view the needs of children themselves. Although a lot of research is directed in this area, current research hints us about the appropriate stage where children actually learn - that is, where they are able to go from the level of concrete learning, to the point of abstract learning. In my personal experience, decontextualized learning was a fruitful activity. For instance, I got some smart responses from children when I asked them to recall their recent visit to a drawbridge. The decontextualization took place when children were busy assembling current building blocks. I believe that teachers must be able to recognize the strengths and weaknesses of their students so that they may revise their teaching styles suited to the needs of students.

Children in the age group 3-5 are smart enough to take an initiative for an activity. Their activities are characterized by their own choices with regards to play, choosing materials, and even selecting food items. Therefore, we might use an environmental approach, and design varying areas of interest in a laboratory setting so that children may explore, try out and share ideas. They may also be interested in showing their creative representations in the games and other activities like singing, drawing and dancing.

Assumptions about the motives of young children's behaviors

Why should preschool children learn? Are their behaviors guided by the influence they take from environment? Or do their personal biological and psychological profiles make them what they do? These are the questions which I tried to answer to make my assumptions of young children's' behavior. Children at preschool stage are egocentric; they are not able to see things from a point of view other than their own (Amann & Ducret 1992). According to Piaget, this phenomenon does not represent selfishness. This phenomenon is termed as 'egocentricity' which does not imply the ...