Ecological Theory

The ecological theory gives us another interesting look at education and various students and the possible answers to why, what, or how come. A student may be repeating a negative action in class everyday, but if you have no clue as to what is going on at home for that child, a teacher cannot begin to understand or help the child. Also some parents may seem very involved in their child's success, whereas  other parents do not. We as teachers never get to see completely what it is like at home, but it is our duty to do all we can for each and every student and to not race to hasty conclusions. In the popular movie and book 'Matilda' is an exceptionally bright student, but her teacher does not understand why she is so smart, or why she is only in grade 1, when she has the abilities for a much higher grade. 


Youtube Clip from Movie 'Matilda'

As teachers we only see the external: a student is late for example, and then it is very easy to make the assumption that he does not care, but we do not know why he is late or what happened that could make him late. These assumptions can be very dangerous for the teacher -student relationship because a teacher may assume something and say something wrong that in turn sends the student away with the feeling of being wrongly accused and negatively judged.

As teachers, like students, we have our own ecological 'map' which shows what and why we may do something. For example, my father is an immigrant and so we have quite a few traditions of Canadian and British cultures. As teachers, it is important I think to leave our judgements at the door when we walk in and like I have mentioned before from something I heard in class,  "BE THERE WHEN WE ARE THERE!"

My Ecological Theory Map