1. The second paragraph lists a number of strategies that Ms. Knowles and Ms. Brophy have tried to teach social skills. Which one do you think might be most effective and why?
These teachers taught children how to go about the process of joining into a social activity. I find this to be the most effective way to teach social skills because it is a direct approach. At first, I thought children's books might be the best way, but after reading a book about a big ugly fish that makes friends by saving the day, there may be a step missing for the children. How could they save their friends from a fisherman's net to make them like him/her? Certainly children's books can teach valuable lessons as the children evaluate what was really being said as the moral of the story, but at a younger age- maybe 3 or 4- I think it is most helpful to explain literal ways to do something. By explaining to shy children how to appropriately ask "Can I play?" or to assertive children, how to include the shyer children, both parties are benefited. The shy children will most likely get to join in the fun and the more confident children will feel like they helped someone out and they will simply have more friends to play with. Teaching children how to take initiative and do something about their desire to play or recognizing someone else's desire to play will positively influence each child's temperament. It also helps the children exercising the recommended skills to become more autonomous.
2. The teachers occasionally use storybooks to promote discussions about social skills and making friends. How might children's literature also help them resolve one of Erikson's stages of psychosocial development?
I think children's books are a fun way to show comparisons to social situations that children are trying to learn, and they can help with the Initiative versus Guilt stage of Erikson's psychosocial theory of personal development. This stage takes place between ages 3-6. By discussing the themes, meanings, and morals of children's books, the attention of the young audience is captured, and there is a flow that sometimes takes place that can be a great preface to a teacher-instructed social learning discussion. Children's books can help children relate to a character in the book and form a greater sense of self-purpose as they see the colorful character succeed in a social situation. This relation between a fictional character could reach the imagination of a child and help them take initiative in their own social interactions.
3. How might children's literature help them develop moral reasoning?
Children's literature can help students of all ages develop moral reasoning by the emotions that books can evoke and the discussions that they can create. Children's books allow students to feel the cause and effect of social circumstances on their own. They can make up their own mind of whether the outcome was something they desire or not and how to obtain it or veer away from it. If the book presents positive emotions, then it will benefit the student in deciding to exercise that positive social characteristic. These books can also promote trust in that they will invite a feeling that the world is reliable and safe.
4. The teachers read the children a letter they claim has been written by their friend Mr. Stone. What are potential cognitive, social, and moral advantages of this strategy? Incorporate ideas from Chapters 3 and 4 in your response.
The teachers could be creating a familiar pathway with having the focal point be a letter written by their friend. Children can relate to letters that come in the mail and a friend that would write a letter. This can set a good foundation that connects with prior knowledge and a small schema. This method also goes along with part of Vgotsky's main theory that thinking is a function of both social and cultural forces. Receiving a letter in the mail from a friend is both a social and cultural aid to helping the students relate to the information coming that may be new for some/most of the students. Some of the responses these teachers may have gotten after explaining that they had received this letter could have been shouted out responses like: "Oh! My mom got a letter from her friend, Susan, yesterday in the mail!", or "I chased the mailman on my bike yesterday! Maybe he had that letter in his car!", or "I wrote my Wish List to Santa and my mom wrote 'Christmas Letter' on the top. I know what a letter is." These are some examples of pathways that have already been formed to help reach a new schema that is being presented to them. Instead of just listing the information of the discussion plainly, this method can allow the students to assimilate and get a good start on the new information coming.
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