The Instructional Defects and Rewards of Matildas Teaching - Essay Example

HERE HERE YOUR HERE HERE The Instructional Defects and Rewards of Matilda’s Teaching: A Comparison of Methods Matilda’s parents, in their somewhat blood-thirsty pursuit for foolishness, provided an unstable environment which stifled both her intelligence and creativity. Matilda maintained an open mind amidst an environment where the only guidance came from a television and corruption. Miss Trunchbull, another instructive adult figure in Matildas life, provided inferior educational lessons, leaving Matilda even more frustrated. However, despite the negative learning environment created by her authority figures, another figure at the school, Miss Honey, realizes Matilda’s potential and works to foster growth in her pupil. Miss Trunchbull maintains significant negative personality defects, believing that the most perfect school possible would be “one in which there were no children at all” (Bansal, 2). Trunchbull works for the sake of exploiting the youths in her school, satisfying her own, ill-conceived perceptions of authority and discipline, and to reinforce that her level of authority is superior. This is evident in the actions of tossing children out of the classroom window and locking them in a contraption which could be compared to a medieval torture device as a means of maintaining control. From a psychological perspective, Miss Trunchbull might be acquainted to an individual with a severe personality disorder and could well require psychiatric or psychological evaluation. Clearly, Miss Trunchbull’s approach to student discipline and generic education is one in which the student’s weaknesses are constantly identified and publicized, creating a learning environment where the student is not enticed to excel or to enjoy the fruits of youth, innocence and childhood. Miss Trunchbull works against no appropriate model of education whatsoever and clearly indicates her distaste for children in all of her interactions with the student population. Miss Honey, however, is a balanced authoritarian who mixes sentiment, empathy, kindness, direction and promotion as viable educational and psychological tools to stimulate Matilda’s self-confidence, self-expression, and to ensure she can reach the pinnacle of her talents and abilities. Honey’s approach to childhood education might best be comparable to a more progressive model in which the focus of student needs and aspirations becomes the foundation of all teaching methods. The one-on-one approach given to a somewhat embattled Matilda grants her self-assurance by creating connection and an open-communication environment. In Matilda’s home environment, her every thought or other creative idea expressed to her family members was immediately ridiculed and chastised, as her self-absorbed parental figures could never see beyond themselves and embrace Matilda’s abstract logic and intelligence. Miss Honey was able to use appropriate teaching methods and a humanistic approach to learning where trust and honesty were on the forefront of the daily lesson. Miss Honey also maintained a significant advantage in her teaching methods as she was able to immediately gain importance to Matilda as a rescuer, giving the child a sense of personal security and liberty. Morris & Maisto (2005) suggest that children in Matilda’s age bracket, in the theory of development, should have found these basic human needs at a much earlier age through proper parental and caretaker development. It could be said that Matilda’s failure to have her basic psychological needs fulfilled during her formative years had created an introverted and socially maladjusted youth. With this in mind, Miss Trunchbull only served to provide additional negative self-perceptions and complicating the ability to move into a successful and healthy adulthood. Without Miss Honey’s guidance, it might be a likely assessment that Matilda would have eventually lost the motivation to constantly work against others to be heard and acknowledged and retract within herself until she no longer desired community or positive socialization. Matilda did, however, seem to understand that Miss Trunchbull was acting out against her own personality defects and animosities she held, allowing her to cope with the negative learning environment. Though she was often shocked by the behaviors, she did realize they were a product of a need for psychological intervention. This indicates that Matilda was highly intelligent and mature in terms of sophisticated communication. Obviously, Miss Trunchbull did not attempt to acknowledge Matilda’s complicated personality but seemed threatened by it. This created a situation where Matilda likely realized she could do nothing to impress Trunchbull which likely caused her increased levels of personal frustration. Miss Honey was empathetic to Trunchbull’s negative influence and tried to draw out the more positive aspects of Matilda’s character such as discussing Trunchbull in a fashion which hinted at understanding and, perhaps, forgiveness. Miss Honey was an educational expert at reinforcing that the poor learning environment was not the fault of Matilda and still maintaining a professional attitude as a teacher and an authoritarian. It appears as if Miss Honey was an academic expert in understanding childhood psychology and used those appropriate models by which to motivate her student rather than suppress her. The discovery of Matilda’s somewhat paranormal abilities should not be over-looked either, as Miss Honey realized just how unique Matilda really was. At times it seemed as though Miss Honey felt overwhelmed by her obligations to mold a very complicated and abstract child, but she always maintained her decorum as a professional instructor even in the face of potential overwhelming emotional reaction to Matilda’s talents. By not witnessing her teacher chastising her for these abilities, Matilda was likely being instilled with personal confidence which she lacked from her poor upbringing. This made Miss Honey more of a caretaker in an environment where this type of learning was appropriate in order to undo the damage of years of suppression and progress to academic learning once Matilda was focused and contented. Miss Honey was using learning closely tied to what is known as the Cheers Model, in which every student desires to be acknowledged and have a personal connection with the instructor (owp.com). Miss Honey was excellent at balancing professionalism with courtesy, creating a dynamic learning environment with mutual respect and, even when appropriate, celebration and reward. In a real-life learning environment, it should be hoped that any teacher would work to promote this positive teaching model. There were events in which Trunchbull and Honey interacted, creating the classroom perception of adult conflict. To the students, Honey was clearly a better instructor and they appreciated her devotion to teaching and the student. When Trunchbull entered various classrooms to discuss her desire for additional punishments and to give teachers guidance on how to reprimand children, she worked to compromise the students’ self-worth as a means to gratify her inflated ego. Many of the children were horrified, however Matilda had grown somewhat accustomed to these ill-conceived attacks in the home environment, so she was able to adapt more effectively without long-term damage. Miss Honey then could be compared to an intervention-minded instructor who works immediately to correct observed negative impact on her students by quickly moving the interrupted learning environment back to a stable and contented one using positive personality and psychology. The Trunchbull approach to elementary education, despite the fact that it borders on the criminal, is one that no child should be exposed to. The learning environment is kept dark and dank without any vibrancy, which is closely connected to Trunchbull’s general personality and approach to performing her job role responsibilities. Miss Honey, however, appears to understand the importance of visual presentation in the classroom and tries to stimulate the learning environment. This would make Miss Honey qualified as a teacher who recognizes the importance of visual perception in youth learning, giving this instructor a more well-rounded approach to education built on multiple disciplines of knowledge. Roald Dahl would likely suggest that Miss Trunchbull was the embodiment of every human character flaw and the outcome of what a lifetime of exposure to negative learning environments can create. Without the appropriate stimulation, security and mentoring provided by stable home and school environments, it is likely that a student cannot meet their fullest potential. Trunchbull only served to erode student achievement in every capacity at her disposal. Her approach to teaching is best described as incompetence. Dahl would likely offer that Miss Honey was a dedicated, knowledgeable and psychologically-valid model of positive education with an advanced focus on building motivation through positive reinforcement. Her techniques to draw Matilda out of her proverbial shell created an environment where Matilda and Honey were able to become friends while still strongly reinforcing the lesson and its intended curriculum. Her dedication to the student was evident when Honey finally met Matilda’s parents and realized their devastating effects on Matilda and she recognized her responsibility to remove the child from the problem. In some sense, Miss Honey could be compared to a child services agent whereby taking the child to a more stable environment was the key to better learning. This is something that Miss Trunchbull would never even consider, much less act upon. Clearly, Miss Honey was Matilda’s mentor and the tool to build a better Matilda for healthy, well-adjusted adolescence and adulthood. Bibliography Bansal, Rashmi. “Thank God for Roald Dahl”. Retrieved 9 Nov 2008 from Morris, C. & Maisto, A. Psychology: An Introduction. 12th ed. Pearson Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle River NJ, 2005. Owp.com. “Educational Specifications”. Agua Fria High School District 216. Retrieved 9 Nov 2008 from Read More