REFLECTION/ MASLOW / ROGERS/ THE HUMANIST APPROACH

What I learned was Maslow’s hierarchy of human needs and

Carl Roger’s opinion about key elements of the humanistic
approach to education. Maslow’s hierarchy suggests that people
are motivated to achieve basic needs before moving on to other
needs. The lowest levels of the pyramid are made up of the most
basic needs, while the more complex needs are located at the top
of the pyramid. Needs at the bottom of the pyramid are basic
physical requirements including the need for food, water, sleep
etc. As people progress up the pyramid, needs become
increasingly psychological and social. Soon, the need for love,
friendship and intimacy become important.

I also learned that according to Carl Rogers, subject matter

must have personal relevance to the learner’s life and the
students must be active participant to the lesson. Students’
independence, creativity and self-reliance must be developed by
creating better learning situations. In order to create better
learning situation , criticism must be kept to a minimum and self-
evaluation must be encouraged. To Rogers, learning best takes
place when teachers come to see their learners as clients with
specific needs to be met.

What I had difficulty in figuring out was nothing.

I don’t suppose I need to focus more on a particular subject

because the whole subject is equally important to me.

I believe I will use “humanist approach” in my teaching

because if a teacher knows how learners learn better, she can
adjust her teaching accordingly. Now, I, as an undergraduate
student, want my teachers to behave humanistically during
teaching, so when I become a teacher, I will try to create
humanistic atmosphere. Moreover, children may be having
difficulties with learning in school because their basic needs are
not being met at home or in the classroom,so I will try to
recognize this problem and overcome it. I will respect my students
and their opinions , thoughts , feelings because they can build up
self-respect by receiving respect from others. I will try to make
my students think about something to help them fulfill their
cognitive needs. Accordingly, I will prepare challenging classroom
tasks and I will pay attention that these tasks should encourage
curiosity in order to help students realize their full potential.
Furthermore, I will give opportunity my students to make choices
for themselves in what and how they learn. To minimise anxiety
and enhance personal security , I will try to create optimum
conditions for learning. The last but not the least, it is important
for a tecaher to emphatise with her students by seeking how they
make sense the world because it is a bad policy for a teacher to
impose her own idea to the students.