Do Images of Childhood Influence Opportunities - Essay Example

Name Course Instructor Date Introduction Drawing on the massive body of literature on childhood development, it can be noted that many at times childhood is conceptualized as either ‘innocent’ or ‘evil’. Children in the course of development, experience numerous transitions especially from family care to education under the care of the teacher. This implies that the teachers have to understand the means to make the transitions effective without traumatizing the children (Doh, Hyun-Sim, et al 180). Furthermore, since the children at most of the instances lack behavior of their own, the child depends on complimentarily, imitation or reciprocity to develop their behavior. As a result, the children create images associated with what they experience in their surroundings. Therefore, school being a means of preparing the children for the multifaceted real world, the classroom management becomes vital in determining the images the children generate and how they influence their future opportunities (Wagner, Lisa, &Willibald Ruch 1). This retrospect paper seeks to examine the influence of images of childhood on the opportunities for infants, children and adolescents under classroom management context by using theories like reinforcement theory and social learning theory (Akers & Wesley 231). Literature review In reference to the research by various scholars including Wagner and Ruch, there has been established that the images of children at an early age have an impact on the opportunities for either infants, children or adolescents (Wagner, Lisa, &Willibald Ruch 1). For instance, from the works of Froebel, it can be noted that childhood at times points at the child being a clean slate popularly referred to as ‘tabularasa’. As a result, scholars have the mandate to understand what the child goes through during crucial development stages which at most of the time determine what the child grows into Stoeber & Philip 79) From the personality assessment perspective, it can be established that character strengths plays a vital role in determining what an infant or a child develops into (Stoeber & Philip 79). As a matter of fact, the strength of character in a child translates to good behavior that can be related to key elements like social intelligence, hope and perseverance all of which determines the positivity of the child’s classroom behavior (Wagner, Lisa, &Willibald Ruch 6). From the research by Wagner and Ruch, it is indicated that the stronger the classroom behavior, the higher the grades for school achievement. Moreover, the personality traits as discussed by Wagner and Ruch are considered to be essential for the overall school achievement. For instance, character aspects like self-regulation and openness influence how a chi interacts with the teacher in a classroom allowing him or her to gain more compared to other students (Wagner, Lisa, &Willibald Ruch 3). Similarly, perseverance allowed a child to learn better and this is reflected in the improved grades. In the same manner, temperance traits determine how a child handles anger or excitement in classroom which reflects in the general classroom behavior. Therefore, the children and adolescents have the opportunities to take up leadership opportunities in classrooms especially when they display strengths like social intelligence and conflict resolution which are some of the images of childhood (Stoeber & Philip 80). In application of Good Behavior Game in the study of classroom management and how the childhood images apply in the context, Nolan, Houlihan, Wanzek, and Jenson point out that using diverse cultures and international students helps reveal the influence of childhood images on the opportunities for adolescents (Nolan et al. 423). For instance, aggressiveness in children in schools has been noted universally. As such, it becomes necessary to understand the factors that contribute to such levels of temperament and aggressiveness which has currently moved to technological levels like cyberbullying. Under the classroom management study, Good Behavior Game has been applied to reveals the underlying relations in the linguistically socioeconomically and culturally diverse populations of students (Pacini-Ketchabaw, Veronica, et al. 12). For instance, in application of GBG under classroom management, one notes that the attention problems, mental health problems, and externalized behavior influence the academic performance outcomes. With the application of GBG in classroom management, it can be established that children in a classroom experience certain responses from the teacher depending on the kind of behavior the students demonstrate (Stoeber, Joachim, & Philip 79). Notably, students who demonstrate anti-social behavior will most certainly attract less attention from the teacher and this can negatively impact on the academic performance of the student in the long run (Nolan et al. 421). Moreover, the study by Farmer, Reinke, and Brooks reveals that application of SWPBIS will influence the development of positive behavior in classrooms as a means to classroom management (67). With application of the behavioral psychology in this study, it is established that positive behavior is to be reinforced rather than concentrating on punishing the unwanted behavior (Farmer, Reinke, & Brooks 68). As such, children who demonstrate positive behavior in classroom context allows a teacher the responsibility to use such a student as a role model for other children (Pacini-Ketchabaw, Veronica, et al. 31). The model student is thus considered to be responsible for reshaping the behavior patterns of the rest of the students. Consequently, the student being rewarded implies that the other students get to realize the essence for good behavior and imitate the same. The perspective held by Farmer, Reinke, and Brooks can further be discussed through the reinforcement theory pioneered by BF Skinner under operant conditioning. Under classroom management study, it is important to understand that the behavior demonstrated by children is usually learnt and therefore can be reshaped (Farmer, Reinke, & Brooks 69). As a result, the childhood images a child develops due to association determine how the child will interact with a similar scenario in the future. The reinforcement theory tries to explain human behavior by providing grounds on why people do the things they do in the way they do (Slobodskaya 2). Similarly, children tend to associate the images of their first encounters with the possible consequence of similar actions (Pacini-Ketchabaw, Veronica, et al. 55). That is to say, under classroom context, the children develop their behavior by observing what happens around them. As a result, the children learn to associate antecedents with consequences. Hence, the children develop positive behavior be avoiding negative outcomes. As such, a teacher in a classroom has to create the necessary antecedents (stimulus) in order to understand the elicited behavior besides the consequences that ensure the behavior is continued. In application of ecological perspective to the classroom management context, it can be further pointed out that the outward behavior demonstrated by a child is influenced by the environment in which the child live in (Stoeber & Philip 81). Consequently, restructuring the classroom environment with the aim of strengthening positive behavior in a child is crucial for classroom management. For example, creative conducive environment free from risky situations allows the children to develop positive images towards their surrounding and therefore act responsibly suppressing the probability for developing challenging behavior (Slobodskaya 3). From the social learning theory, it is possible to understand that classroom management can be studied by understanding how the children interact with the situations and the people within their surroundings (Harris 1880). The social interactional approach indicate that the interactions the children have on daily basis determine the images the children create to express specific behaviors. Consequently, the children develop their behavior through either imitation, complimentarily or reciprocity where either of the aspects require other party or parties so that one can interact effectively (Stoeber & Philip 80). Therefore, the images created under such conditions play a vital role in determining the overall behavior demonstrated by a child (Slobodskaya 2). Conclusion Conclusively, the childhood images generated by infants, children and adolescent are crucial in determining the opportunities for each of the categories (Harris 1882). From the perspective of Froebel, one notes that since the children come into being as blank slates, the information a child gets from the surrounding at most of the instances remain intact in form of images (Stoeber & Philip 79). Under the classroom management context, it can further be understood that a child’s character impacts on the academic performance of the child (Harris 1). When discussed from the personality assessment perspective, it is established that good behavior and perseverance determines how a child interacts with the teacher in a classroom and this can contribute to a child being assigned leadership roles due to the social intelligence and conflict resolution skills demonstrated by a given child (Harris 1881) Moreover, in classrooms with diverse cultures or nationalities, application of Good Behavior Game reveals that anti-social behavior by students implies that the teacher may sideline the students (Nolan et al. 421). The problem with the sidelining is that the child develops negative images of authority and can develop challenging behavior making it difficult for the class management process. In addition, the classroom management context can further be discussed with reference to ecological social interactional and behavioral perspectives (Nolan et al. 422). With these approaches, it is evident that application of various theories like reinforcement theory and social learning theory in the study of classroom management enables one to understand how the images of childhood impact on the opportunities for either infants, children or adolescents (Harris 5). References Akers, Ronald L., and Wesley G. Jennings. "Social learning theory." The Handbook of Criminological Theory (2015): 230-240. Doh, Hyun-Sim, et al. "The effects of mothers' depression and parenting behavior on preschoolers' externalizing problem behaviors." Korean Journal of Child Studies 35.4 (2014): 179-198. Farmer, Thomas W., Wendy M. Reinke, and Debbie S. Brooks. "Managing Classrooms and Challenging Behavior Theoretical Considerations and Critical Issues." Journal of Emotional and Behavioral Disorders 22.2 (2014): 67-73. Harris, Kathleen I. "Developmentally universal practice: visioning innovative early childhood pedagogy for meeting the needs of diverse learners." Early Child Development and Care 185.11-12 (2015): 1880-1893. Harris, Kathleen I. "Heroes of resiliency and reciprocity: teachers’ supporting role for reconceptualizing superhero play in early childhood settings." Pastoral Care in Education (2016): 1-16. Nolan, Julene D., Kevin J. Filter, and Daniel Houlihan. "Preliminary report: An application of the Good Behavior Game in the developing nation of Belize." School Psychology International 35.4 (2014): 421-428. Pacini-Ketchabaw, Veronica, et al. Journeys: Reconceptualizing early childhood practices through pedagogical narration. University of Toronto Press, 2014. Slobodskaya, Helena R. 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