This semester, I’m currently assigned to a class in the 5th year level but as a requirement for our 7th activity sheet of our Field Study class, I needed to go back to the 1st grade class that I’ve observed last semester.
Comparing both these classes in terms of the children’s behavior, I noticed that the lower the year level that a teacher handles, the harder it is to keep up proper class management. Applying Piaget’s theory of cognitive development, they differ a lot because the grade one students are in the Preoperational Stage while the grade five pupils are already under the Formal Operational Stage.
Due to the grade one pupils’ active and playful nature, it will be harder for a teacher to handle them compared to the grade five students. But despite of the hardships that a teacher encounters in disciplining these kids, I think it’s a fun experience since the teacher is teaching with simple-minded learners whose main priority in life is to play. Going back with my observation experience with the grade one class last semester, I scribbled a lot in my notebook because of a thousand flashbacks about my childhood memories. Whenever I do that, there’s a bittersweet bouts of nostalgia sinking in me when I recall the days of my schooling in elementary, which was more than a decade ago. Continue reading
Br. Allen 