Journal Entry #4

Journal 4: How will I create a holistic portrait of the learners in my classes? What will I need to know about them and how will I apply my knowledge?

Creating a holistic portrait of learners in my classes is going to be an incredibly difficult task. A lot of it will be getting to know each learner individually. It’s getting to know how these particular children individually develop cognitively, emotionally, socially, physically, aesthetically, and linguistically. That’s a long list, but it’s worth it to get to know each child’s level of development in each area because I believe that a holistic approach is very important.

When I gain this knowledge about each child I will apply it to make each child’s learning journey a good one. I remember what it’s like being taught math in a “different language” than I speak. If I understand that one child is a kinesthetic learner and another is a verbal learner, I can use that knowledge to be a better teacher to those children.

I found the section on adolescence particularly interesting because I am very interested in working with adolescents in the area of art therapy. The mention of a higher suicide rate in adolescents was hard to read, but inspiring, because perhaps I can help to lower those numbers. However, I’d never looked at it from a holistic perspective. I’d never taken all the factors that go into a young person’s development and realized that I can use every one of those factors to help that young person.

Why do I think the knowledge of holistic development is important in providing appropriate instruction for my students?

As it says in the article, it is very important to get an overall portrait of the learners in our class. It was really helpful to read this article and get such a full picture of every stage of development. It is important to have a grasp of the capabilities of the children you are working with. You would never you tame tigers without adequate training. To go into a classroom without knowledge of children is almost the same thing. You need to understand what you’re dealing with. It’s so important because without it, not only can we not understand the students to teach them, but we also won’t be able to understand why one child is good at math and another is good at drama. It is very helpful to be reminded that everyone learns differently.