ED333

Critical Performance #One

1. State the problem:

A mother lives in a house on the banks of a large river. This mother has a three-year-old son who keeps

going down to the beach by himself. She told him he cannot go down to the beach but he still goes.

What should this mother do?

2. Children interviewed.

Tian, a boy, age 10, is in the fifth grade in Kiana. We talked a little about how school is going for him in

COVID times. He said he chose to do his work on paper rather than by computer and that he has been

doing well. I found him to be very mature in his response to our general conversation and in his response

to the stated problem. Tian helped his sister Dian a little by re-asking the question as if the little boy going

to the beach is a dog rather than a boy.

Dian, a girl, age 5, is a Kindergartener, currently learning through Zoom classes in Kiana. We had our

conversation by Facetime and the connection was good, but her communication skills on the phone were

a challenge. Dian is my niece and her mother is from China. Dian speaks Chinese better than English, so

I think part of the communication challenge was language. In spite of that, she did respond in the

expected way, according to Piaget and Kohlberg, for a 5-year-old.

Cate, a highly gifted 1st grader in Anchorage. We also talked by Facetime. Cate is the daughter of two

teachers, and she is an only child, so she gets lots of attention, and she is quite precocious. It is a little

hard to understand her because she has a slight speech impediment. Her home classroom was on the

wall behind her and we talked about her Halloween art and the sticker/reminders about assignments.

3.

Tian’s response:

“Make sure he is safe. Keep a good watch and notice when he goes. Why does he go? Maybe he has

some work to do and he’s trying to escape. Try to get him some friends to play with so he doesn’t want to

go to the beach by himself.”

Dian’s response:

“Tell him, ‘No, you can’t go to the beach.’ Put him in time out if he ever goes again.”
Cate’s response:

“Baby gates.”

4. Tian is very verbal and speaks English well, so it was easy to talk with him. I thought his response was

thoughtful, although he forgot that the boy we were talking about is only three years old and probably

wouldn’t be “escaping work.” I asked him if he ever did things like that, referring to escaping work, and he

said no. Tian tried to put himself in the role of the child because he wanted to understand what motivated

him and his idea that maybe he needed friends to play with is probably good advice.

Dian, as I stated above, is a communication challenge, but I think she understands English better than

she speaks it, plus she was shy to be on Facetime with me. When she finally did respond with the time

out advice, I asked a couple of other questions to see if she had any other ideas. By then we were talking

about the dog and she suggested we give him some food to keep him home.

Cate just went for the simple solution--”Baby gates.” I directed the conversation towards consequences if

he ever did it again and she did not bring up any punitive actions. I asked if she ever did the wrong thing

and what her parents did in those circumstances. She said they used to have time out, but now she just

takes a few minutes for herself.

I find it easier to deal with the older child. I find it fun to be able to banter with a 10-year-old boy and I find

it difficult to keep trying to find something that helps the younger child become more comfortable talking to

an unfamiliar adult. It takes time, but I’m sure that Dian would be jabbering and offering all sorts of advice

if she knew me better. Cate was comfortable talking on the phone with me, although I do find her hard to

understand. She knows me and likes sharing her world

Our readings about what to expect from different age groups aligned with these responses. According to

Piaget, younger children, age 5-10, practice heteronomous morality. The focus is on results rather that

intention. So, the boy did the wrong thing and should go to time out, because that is how bad behavior is

handled. Kohlberg’s stages are similar to Piaget’s and Dian is at the preconventional level where rules

are set by adults and they are not broken.

Tian is in Piaget’s autonomous morality stage and Kohlbert’s conventional level. A ten-year-old child can

imagine that there are extenuating circumstances and seeks to understand. He suggests how the adults

could change the child’s experience by introducing friends to reduce the draw of the beach. Slavin
mentions the importance of peers (Slavin p. 55) in middle childhood with friends becoming companions to

do fun things with, but also to provide security in situations with family when problems arise. Tian’s “find

him some friends” appears to fit the conventional level stage in his development.

The role of the teacher, as defined in SOE Goal #2, “Teachers understand how human development

affects learning and apply that understanding to practice.” I hadn’t thought before how confusing it might

be to the younger child when older people arbitrarily make changes, break what the child thinks are set

rules, and to not receive punishment for doing so. I think of parents who are constantly nagging their

children to turn off their computers but then let them back on to keep them quiet. Teachers and parents

need to be consistent.

Reference:

Slavin, R. E. (2018), Education psychology. Theory and practice. (Edition 12) Pearson Education, Inc.