Jessica Rapp

Educational Psychology
4/29/16
Professor Boerieo

Philosophy of Education
Psychology has a very big influence on education and can be very beneficial for a

teacher. Psychology can help a teacher by allowing them to understand how the brain works

best, and what a child is capable of at a certain age. For example, by knowing where the brain is

at in development, a teacher is better able to put into perspective how he or she can expect their

students to perform. Psychology also is very beneficial to education in that it helps explain how

outside factors can affect the student’s performance as well. Finally, the last reason I believe that

psychology is so helpful in the education field is because it helps explain how the brain works

best, why some techniques work better than others because of the way the brain learns, and why

it is different for those with learning disabilities. This helps my philosophy of education

because I believe that teachers should focus on getting to know each individual student and teach

the whole child which will allow the students to achieve everything they are capable of because

the teachers are there assisting and supporting them.

Many theorists have come up with developmental theories to explain the growth of

children, two main ones that I will discuss are Piaget’s Stages of Cognitive Development, along

with Erikson’s Stages of Psychosocial Development. Piaget says there are four stages of

cognitive development. The first stage is sensorimotor and occurs form birth until age two, in

this stage infants develop the concept of ‘object permanence’ and their behavior progresses from

reflective to goal-directed. The second stage is preoperational which occurs from two until seven

years of age. In this stage children are able to use symbols as representations for objects, and
their thought process revolves around themselves, they are self-centered. The third stage is

concrete operational which occurs from seven until eleven years. In this stage, they are able to

think more logically, they are able to use reversible operations, and their problem solving is not

only based off of what is best for them, they are not as egocentric. Finally, the last stage is

formal operational which is eleven years and up. In this final stage of cognitive development

one is capable of abstract thinking and problem solving through the use of systematic

experimentation. These stages would be very beneficial to my philosophy because it allows the

teacher to better understand what their students are capable of. For example, a preschool teacher

after studying these stages would focus on symbols representing objects instead of asking their

students to think abstractly. When a teacher can truly understand the point in development their

students are at cognitively, they are able to push their students while staying in the realm of their

abilities. In Erikson’s Stages of Personal and Social Development there are eight stages that one

goes through and at each stage Erickson believes that there are crises that one must face and

overcome. The first stage is trust vs. mistrust that occurs from birth until eighteen months, in

this stage the infant is developing a sense of trust in the world. The second stage is autonomy vs.

doubt which occurs from eighteen months until three years, in this stage the child is beginning to

try and complete tasks by themselves. The third stage is initiative vs. guilt which occurs from

three unto six years of age, in this stage children become increasingly aggressive while exploring

their environment. The fourth stage is industry vs. inferiority which occurs from age’s six until

twelve years of age, in this stage children have the increase of desire to make things. When they

are successful they get a sense of happiness and confidence in themselves; whereas, when they

fail at these tasks they create a negative self-image. The fifth stage is identity vs. role confusion

which occurs from ages twelve until eighteen years of age, in this stage the individual tries to
answer the question “who am I?” in trying to find their identity. The sixth stage is intimacy vs.

isolation which occurs in young adulthood, in this stage the individual has found who they are

and they desire to share their life with another. The seventh stage is generativity vs. self-

absorption which occurs during middle adulthood, in this stage the individual is desiring to help

guide the next generation, this is often accomplished through raising kids. Finally, the eighth

stage is integrity vs. despair which occurs in late adulthood, in this stage the individual looks

back upon their life and realizes all they have accomplished or failed to do, they also recognize

that death is upon them. By recognizing these eight stages of personal and social development a

teacher is better able to understand the crisis their students are going through which will help

explain some of their actions and emotions. I will most definitely use the knowledge of these

two theories in my classroom one day to better help me relate and work with my students. For

example, knowing that I will be an early childhood teacher I will experience a lot of my students

going through the industry vs. inferiority stage. I will be able to use this by encouraging my

students when completing new tasks, and to work with them when they do not succeed at these

tasks, showing them that even though they did not succeed at this task does not mean they cannot

succeed at anything.

Next, there are a few learning theories; such as, Pavlov’s classical conditioning and

Skinner’s operant conditioning. Both of these theories have to do with how an individual learns

behaviors. I will use these theories when I am a teacher to help encourage and or redirect my

student’s behavior. I will have both positive and negative reinforcers to help in this process. For

example, if my students behave all day for a week straight I will allow them to pick a prize from

a treasure chest, the prizes being positive reinforcers because they will want to behave well in

order to receive a prize. This will help encourage positive behavior. I will also use negative
reinforcers to also encourage positive behavior. A way I will do this is if the student behaves for

a whole month straight I will take away one day’s worth or quiet time. By focusing on the

positive I am hoping that it will encourage the students to behave well in order to either receive

the positive reinforcement or get out of the activity they dislike.

In order to provide an optimal learning environment for my students I will have well-

organized classroom activities, the way I present these activities, and also a well-organized

classroom overall. By being well organized I hope that it will create an environment that will

encourage the children to learn because they have a sense of structure. Another thing I will do in

order to provide an optimal learning environment will be to focus on getting my students

involved because that way they will hopefully stay engaged. This leads in to my idea of teaching

an effective lesson. I know for me personally when I was able to be hands on when learning new

materials I was better able to retain that information. I also believe that this makes the material

more interesting because they are participating instead of sitting and listening to a lesson.

Another thing I will try to do in order to teach an effective lesson is try and relate the information

to their lives. I believe that by showing the students how the information relates to them, they

will be more interested in it.

When it will come to disciplining in my classroom I want to try and make it as relaxed

but structured as possible. I am not much of a yeller, and I want to create an environment where

they feel comfortable with me and not afraid of me. I know that when I was in second grade my

classmates and I were afraid to interact with our teacher because she yelled at us so much, so I

definitely want to try to avoid yelling as much as possible. I know situations will arise when the

only option will be to raise my voice, but for the most part I am going to try other methods as

often as possible. Some ways I will try and discipline my classroom will be to focus on the
students who are behaving positively. I have been able to witness how impactful this is

especially with the younger students. When the teacher stops and starts praising the students

who are listening, the students who are not listening stop and try to correct their behavior so they

too can get attention. Other ways I will handle discipline is by verbal reminders and applying

consequences. I will start the year by explaining to them the rules and why these rules are set in

place, I will explain to them consequences that will occur if these rules are broken, and I will

continue to remind them throughout the year what the rules are. This will hopefully help my

students to behave positively without needing to yell. Like mentioned earlier, to help manage

my classroom I will start the year out with a list of class rules. I will have these rules printed out

and posted somewhere visible in the classroom for the students to constantly see. By starting the

year out with this the students will all know what is expected from them and they will start with

a clean slate. By having the rules visible all year, it will be easy for me to point to them when a

student is misbehaving and will hopefully help the students stay on track

I believe that in order to make education most beneficial for all students I will need to

individualize some instruction. Some ways I will be able to do this is by spending one on one

time with a student to work on the material with them individually. Another thing I will do

could be to pair students together, one that is succeeding and one that is struggling, and have

them help each other. I think that by individualizing the instruction I will better be able to help

each student succeed which is my job as an educator.

Overall, I believe that teachers should focus on getting to know each individual student,

they should get to know and understand what stage their students are at in their life. When

teachers are able to grasp this they are able to teach the whole child, and they are to allow the

students to feel comfortable in their classroom. When they have accomplished this, their
students will be able to grow so much throughout the year because they know they have their

teachers support.