CLD 121 Journal Entry 4 - Ch. 6, 7 and 8a of Writer’s Resource

[canirbas]

Reading about the APA style and design of a paper made me think of myself as an educator marking papers in the future. I can understand why it's so important to know all the important parts of a paper, not just for myself as a student, but for when I am a teacher and reading my student's papers. One of the expectations I have of myself to is master the art of writing a great paper and knowing the APA style inside and out, as I will be using it the next four years. I think that there is a lot of stress on children today to meet such high expectations of literacy, but it can be positive for those students who have good coping skills and resilience. Perhaps critical thinking should be taught to younger grades in a different form, so they can use these skills to cope with pressures of academic and social situations. When I was younger a large importance was focused on memorization for tests and then all the information would be forgotten a few days later. I haven't had contact with the younger grades or experience with the curriculum recently, so I am not sure if the emphasis has shifted or remained the same. When I was in younger grades, the most rewarding experience was applying my knowledge after learning, and it still is but in a more complex way. We would learn about animal habitats or the history of dinosaurs and then go to a nature conservatory or to the local museum. I will never forget one autumn day, in grade one, as a class led by our teacher, we walked around the neighbourhood surrounding the school and collected leaves, bark and plants to make a project from. It was such a welcome change from sitting in class and listening to the teacher for hours on end. Presently, at Ryerson we are learning all about children and their physical, social and cognitive development. I look forward to putting this into practice next term while in a day care setting. I find through observation class, I am more aware of the different behavioural traits of children and their learning styles. People are so interesting and complex, and I am also discovering a different side through my psychology class. Overall I am happy with my education thus far at Ryerson in the Early Childhood education program and I feel I have made the right decision. I worked for the past two years at a boring, yet comfortable job, and I feel fortunate to have the opportunity to attend post secondary education a second time around. Usually people can only afford to go once, so there is a lot of stress to make the right decision. I feel mid-twenties is an excellent time to attend post secondary education because I have adapted a learning style, had a few travelling experiences, saved a bit of money, and have a better idea what I am all about.

Note: the word count in this document is 474.