What?
Throughout chapter 3 and during class we talked about a lot of theories. The two that we focused on were Erik Erikson and Lawrence Kohlberg. Erikson has 8 stages that we looked at.

1. Trust vs. Mistrust=infancy
2. Autonomy vs. Shame and Doubt=toddler years
3. Initiative vs. Guilt=Preschool years
4. Industry vs. Inferiority=Elementary School Years
5. Identity vs. Role Confusion=Adolescence
6. Intimacy vs. Isolation=Young Adulthood
7. Generativity vs. Stagnation=Middle age
8. Integrity vs. Despair=Retirement Years

Kohlberg has 3 levels with two different stages in each

Level One: Pre-conventional Morality

Stage 1: Punishment avoidance and obedience

Stage 2: Exchange of favors

Level Two: Conventional Morality

Stage 3: Good boy/good girl

Stage 4: Law and Order

Level Three: Post-Conventional Morality

Stage 5: Social Contract

Stage 6: Universal Ethical Principle

We also talked about the marshmallow test. That is when a child is left in a room with a marshmallow, what does the child do? Another thing that we talked about is how our brain remembers things. We learned different strategies to memorize these theories.

So what?
I believe that it is important to know the theories and to know that everyone is different. I took what Dr. Byrd told us and put it into practice. While studying for the test, I made flash cards and went to the gym to study. This helped me memorize everything that I had written down. This is the way that I want to study for every test. I was not able to go to the study groups so I know that I will do better on the next test.

Now what?
I have already made plans to meet with a study group every week. I hope to take the things that I have learned so far and apply it into my life as well as my teaching. By knowing the stages of development I can understand what stage my students will be in so that I can help them to my best ability.

Extra Credit
I went and saw Temple Grandin. She is an amazing lady. I was surprised by how well she did in a large group. I loved the insights that she gave about children with autism. She kept telling us that autism is so broad of a subject that we need to look at individual cases to help our students. We need to find their strengths and build from that. She stressed that communication and attention is the key. I liked how she told us that Grannies are one of the best people to be with an autistic child because she can sit with them and keep them company. Temple taught me that even though she has autism, she can be a normal person. She has her doctorate degree and has a job that she loves. I am really glad that I had the opportunity to listen to her.