Vygotsky’s theory claims that a student needs a person with greater knowledge than the student, such as a teacher, to provide guidance so the student can then work by themselves (Casbergue 127). Combining these two practices can lead to an overall better learning experience for the student. Although a teacher, peer or tutor can help the student through Vygotsky’s theory of ZPD, not all of them can be a validating agent. We see this mostly with professors here at UCSD. Some professors lack to see that students are non-perfecting students and at times need reassurance so that they can succeed in the class. As a tutor, I plan to be the exact opposite of this and be a validating agent that is there to give confidence in the tutee’s ability to succeed academically while also providing them academic support. As a validating agent and tutor I will need pedagogies that best fit with my …show more content…
Over the past few weeks while in the EDS course, I have noticed that many students in OASIS programs have been open to criticizing OASIS on certain issues that needed to be addressed, such as diversity. As a student in TRiO SSSP, I have personally not seen any problems with OASIS, but hearing other students speak up about what OASIS fails to do, I began to reflect and think about their opinions. In our King and Shuford’s reading, I decided that I can apply the reflective thinking stages of King and Kitchener’s Reflective Judgement Model to reflect why certain groups of students criticizes OASIS. In these stages, one must view both sides of the issue and analyze both perspectives to build an effective solution under the given circumstances (King & Kitchener 163). Using reflective thinking, I will be able to reflect on why students feel a certain way about OASIS. Understanding the student’s perspective will lead me as a staff member to change my own practices to be more aware of what challenges students still face while here at UCSD and how can I change to help them overcome those