Recap: EDPY 302

Recap of EDPY 302: Learning and Development in Childhood (Educational Psychology)

After my summer job working with children, teens, pre-teens, babies and seniors, I was truthfully looking forward to this class. I find psychology class kind of like biology, where it's information you memorize endlessly for the exam. I knew going into this class that I wouldn't walk away with a decent mark, though I was pleasantly surprised that I did! 

Also, this is the first time that I took a "blended" course, meaning instead of having 3 hours of lecture every week, it was cut down to half. The other half was geared towards an online component on eClass. At first it was a challenge because I discovered that with these kinds of course you have to find more motivation to do the work than a regular class. At the beginning of the term I did not do the readings at all, just because I always disregarded the lecture on Monday mornings. However, upon completing my essay I increasingly found the course material more and more interesting. Because of this, I started to do my readings on time and actually enjoyed the course content! Who knew reading the textbook could be so beneficial?! 

Thoughts Throughout

This course had so many little things that we had to do, at first I was a bit distraught. Our grade was divided into 3 exams (all non-cumulative, thank god), a reflection assignment (basically 3 essays) and participation marks. I'm so thankful for our professor who chose not to make our exams cumulative, otherwise I would've quadrupled-stacked my flashcards. I honestly stressed so much about my assignment/essays over this term, though I had to keep reminding myself that all 3 essays were worth 20%. Yes, 20% (groan). The time that I put into those essays should actually be worth more. 

Final Thoughts

Out of all the classes that I took this term, I found this ed psych class to be the most interesting. In the second half of the term I looked forward to the lecture because our class actually had in-depth course-related discussions. My favorite topics that we learned and analyzed included types/causes of childhood bullying, various parenting styles and its impacts it has on children, as well as several learning disabilities. We talked about how teachers must be willing to work with children who could have these disabilities, such as dyslexia, dyscalculia or ADHD. 

I found these topics interesting as it will apply to me when I have students who may have these kinds of learning setbacks. Most importantly, it shows that children are not the same. They learn, they speak, they understand differently than their seat partner. As a pre-service teacher, I'm willing to go those extra miles for children who may need more attention and time than necessary. That's definitely okay, because I'm willing to put in that extra effort so that my students will go that extra mile.