Through the Years

As a strong believer in life-long learning, I found it helpful to consider students' learning needs and styles in terms of their developmental stages. Erik Erikson's theory of eight stages of human development includes three stages that many of my students are in, namely five, six and seven - adolescence, young adulthood, and middle adulthood. I plan on being more mindful of how a student's stage of life can affect his or her intellectual needs and potential.

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Reading about Kohlberg's stages of moral development led me to think about Carol Gilligan's work on women's moral development, which I was first exposed to in college. I agree with Kohlberg's assertion that why an individual makes a certain ethical decision is as significant in some ways as the decision that is made. Moral reasoning and critical thinking skills are vital aspects of being well-educated, and the goal is to challenge and empower students to improve their critical thinking skills so they can make well-informed moral decisions.