Week 7

It All Comes To an End

                Educational Psychology allows educators to think outside of the box. It allows us to be creative and more hands on in our approach to create a curriculum that will not only motivate our students but prepare them for society. It discusses how humans learn and develop in educational settings, interventions used, and social issues that could effect learning. This field of study also describes the intrinsic workings of the fundamentals of education as it pertains to theories, frameworks, and approaches to education. During this class, we have had the opportunity to study, research, and hopefully implement our findings and new found knowledge into our classrooms.

                I remember taking educational psychology in undergrad and I don’t remember enjoying it as much as I do now. I found that I can relate to the information more now, now that I am a teacher and see firsthand how theories are implemented in the classroom setting. When thinking of a theorist that I most agree with, I choose Jean Piaget. Piaget was a Swiss psychologist whose research proved that children’s cognitive development occurs primarily in actions with physical objects. He also developed the stages of development which are sensorimotor (Birth through ages 18-24 months), preoperational (Toddlerhood 18-24 months through early childhood (age 7), concrete operational (ages 7 to 12), and formal operational (adolescence through adulthood). Through these stages humans cognitive developments progresses greatly overtime. In the sensorimotor stage, it focuses upon how babies see and experiment with their environment developing their language and physical development causing their cognitive development to increase. During this time, babies are given visual and physical cues that will allow them to develop gripping, grasping, cuing, kicking, crawling, and sitting to name a few. In the preoperational stage, it describes children use their intuition and symbols to develop memory and imagination. This is shown through visuals such pictures or textured materials. We see signs of this prominently in the dramatic play area and social interactions with one another. During the concrete stage, humans begin to use reversible mental actions and are aware of external events. In the formal stage, the final stage adolescents are able to use symbols to make connections and understand concepts within their environment. I have taught prekindergarten for nearly five years and was a kindergarten teacher last year. I have substituted in classes ranging from infancy to fifth grade. All children are different and learn differently. With the guidance of Piaget’s stages, I am more aware of what to look for cognitively and socially within my students. Hands on approaches, rather than pencil and paper, in my opinion helps establish a more cognitive strengthening curriculum. My students are engaged in their learning process and I am able to assess them as well as myself on how to improve information being delivered and how it is used.

                As a preschool teacher, I found that the most learning in my opinion takes place during the ages of two to four years old. Children are learning social and emotional skills, mathematic basics, science, social studies, language and literacy, and so forth. They are using their memory and new information to form decisions and actions that show cognitive development. My favorite learning centers are math/manipulative and dramatic play. Their imaginations run wild and their potential is limitless.

                During the course of this class, we used Annual Editions Educational Psychology 12/13. This collection of articles have broaden my knowledge about factors that could positively, as well as negatively affect our classroom and school districts. Over the course of the class we discussed topics: approached to learning, social development, the differences in learners with disabilities, gender and cultural diversity, cognition development, technology, classroom management, student motivation, and classroom and school assessments. This week, we discussed assessments and multiple measures and how they may hinder our students’ and school’s overall progress. Through nonroutine uses of the content in these databases, the brain creates the richer, deeper, and more complex connections necessary for understanding. Without these connections, isolated bits of information may not get incorporated into the larger schema and thus may not be retained. (Conley, D., 2013, p. 244) If students are not mastering and fully have a grasp on the material being taught and cannot apply it, then students will not be able to move forward and testing will not fully assess their knowledge and capabilities within the content. We are then setting them up to fail.

                This class had broaden my spectrum and understanding on the inner workings of student learning process and the policy and social stigma that may delay adequate progress within schools. I hope that I can apply this knowledge effectively within my classroom and community. Thank you, Dr. Reed.

References:

Conley, D. (2013) Building on the Common Core. Annual Editions Educational Psychology 12/13. 244-246.

               

Week Six

Motivation and Classroom Management

                When I first graduated from college and received my first substitute teaching position, I remember feeling bombarded with emotions of excitement and yet was frightened at the same time. The students were fifth graders and their attitudes seemed to undermine my demeanor. I had students who wanted to test me in front of the other students. At this moment, I wondered if my education courses really prepared me for the classroom. I made it through a month, before I was offered a full time position at another school. Least to say, it has now been five years and I am still a teacher learning something new every day. This week we read three articles that discussed motivation and classroom management. Motivation is a stimulus, a force that drives someone. It is seen as an influence over behavior. Within these articles, the theories of motivation were discussed in three forms: behavioral, humanistic, and cognitive. Behavioral motivation suggests that a particular behavior will be followed by reinforcement. Humanistic motivation describes the social and psychological needs of an individual. Whereas cognitive motivation is driven by our success and failures and how they may effect our future goals and expectations.

 

                In the article, “The Perils and Promises of Praise” by Carol Dweck, it distinguishes the concepts of growth mindsets and fixed mindsets and how praising a students’ achievements can have a negative and positive effect.  Praise is intricately connected to how students view their intelligence. (Dweck, 2013, pg. 189). In a fixed mind-set, students tend to reject the opportunities to learn if they might make mistakes. (Hong, Chiu, Dweck, Lin, & Wan, 1999; Mueller & Dweck, 1998; Dweck, 2013, p. 189). They believe that their ability should bring them success which causes them to perform in a matter that lacks effort. Whereas, students with a growth mind-set care about learning and it ignites their intelligence. (Dweck, 2013, p.189) Every day we praise students for their intelligence and for their efforts. Sometimes more of one than the other. The article also describes of a study conducted in which students were praised for their efforts and praised for their intelligence. It proved that praising students on their effort “process praise” motivated them to perform and then re-perform using the same necessary effort to achieve positive results.  Our job as teachers are not to give students all the answers but to help to develop skills using methods that would challenge them. We can help them gain the tools they need to maintain their confidence in learning by keeping them focused on the process of achievement. (Dweck, 2013, p 191).



                What are the worries and concerns of middle school students? As educators we tend to lose focus on the individual student and sometimes view the class as a whole. We have to remember that their “social” concerns can also effect our classroom environment. Students’ motivation to succeed academically may become overshadowed by their desire to succeed socially. (Cushman and Rogers, 2013, p. 212)  In the article, “Middle School students Talk about Social Forces in the Classroom”, it describes verbatim through interviews with students about how they feel about certain aspects of the classroom that may hinder their learning and possible solutions that educators can take heed to in order to create a more harmonious classroom environment. For example being fair to each student, listening to student ideas, and helping students find common ground. Students have a voice and sometimes their words go unspoken. Collaboration between the student and teacher is imperative to create a safe and positive learning environment. One solution they provided was to create a list of classroom rules together as a class and have all the students sign it. This creates a sense of community within the classroom.

                In the article, “From Ringmaster to Conductor: 10 Simple Techniques Can Turn an Unruly Class into a Productive One” by Matthew Kraft, discusses methods on how to turn a circus (crazy class) into a productive learning environment. Where was this article when I was in college? In my opinion it was very insightful and honest. Every class is not the same. I was the new teacher in my class this year, I have some students who tend to try to get over on me versus my co teacher. I tend to ask why. Is it because she had these same students last year or is my demeanor too soft? Whereas, I go into the preschool classroom and they abide by the rules and the day is less challenging. In the article, it suggests ten techniques: teach a challenging curriculum that is flexible and can be conditioned to suit various learners; create nonnegotiable rules such as walking feet and use only two inch voices during instruction and lunch; set clear expectations of conduct during lessons and transitions; manage transitions wisely by assigning jobs and offering a small assignment; find a best method to gain attention during unruly times such as flickering lights or a clapping rhyme; create a behavior modification system such as the traffic light method; avoid public confrontations with students, instead set them aside to speak privately; create a sense that students are responsible for their own actions; and have open communication with students. These methods allows teachers to show respect and gain respect from their students. We are not drill sergeants, we are educators.



                These articles allows me to reflect on my teaching methods and reassess them. Am I creating a learning environment that challenges my students or am I hindering them. Am I a disciplinarian or a vessel of knowledge influencing our future? All I can say is that teaching is trial and error, we learn something from our students every day, and we must apply that knowledge to our classroom.

 

References:

Cushman, K and Rogers, L. (2013). Middle School students Talk about Social Forces in the Classroom. Annual Editions: Educational Psychology 12/13, 212-221.

 Dweck, C. (2013).  The Perils and Promises of Praise. Annual Editions: Educational Psychology 12/13, 189-191.

Kraft, M. (2013). From Ringmaster to Conductor: 10 Simple Techniques Can Turn an Unruly Class into a Productive One. Annual Editions: Educational Psychology 12/13, 229-232.

Related Articles:

A Union of Professionals: Classroom Tips.

Retrieved from: http://www.aft.org/pdfs/tools4teachers/CT-BehaviorMgmt0310.pdf

Huitt, W. (1996) Classroom Management.

Retrieved from: http://www.edpsycinteractive.org/topics/manage/behmgt.html

Teaching Strategies: Motivating Students. Retrieved from: http://www.crlt.umich.edu/tstrategies/tsms

 

Week Five

Mastery and Backward Design

Have you ever had a moment where you ask your students a question in referencing a previous lesson in order to start a new lesson and the classroom is silent? You give them prompts but the vocabulary you are looking for from them does not seem to exist. You eventually give them the answer to move on. You then ask yourself was I effective at teaching them the material? Did I not do a good job? What activities did I do? What could I had done differently? Should I reteach the lesson or redo some activities that could enhance the material so that it could be permanently imprinted on their minds? This week we read two articles that gave insight onto similar situations like this and offered some solutions that would enhance students’ comprehension of material and “master” their skills. The articles were Classroom Assessment and Grading to Assure Mastery by James P. Lalley and J. Ronald Gentile, and Backward Design: Targeting Depth of Understanding for All Learners by Amy Childre, Jennifer R. Sands, and Saundra Tanner Pope. This synthesis will analyze the material within each article and address how it applies to teachers within their classroom.

You learn new material by applying it to past experiences and skills. Memory plays a big part in learning but comprehending what you learned to teach others enables you to fully grasp the material. In the article, Classroom Assessment and Grading to Assure Mastery, introduces the concept of mastery learning. Mastery learning requires that each student achieve a pre-established standard of performance on a specified set of instructional objectives in a criterion referenced manner… (Lalley and Gentile, 2013, p123) Through this concept of learning students’ performance and assessment will be conducted through enriched lessons based upon prior knowledge to build strong objectives and to build on and apply those skills using formative assessments and feedback. This is known to be criterion-referenced. In order to ensure mastery, Lalley and Gentile suggests setting a standard for tests, providing clear objectives drive the unit, using various forms of activities to enhance the lesson, and creating modes within the class for grading such as tutoring a classmate or pair and or group work. Tests offers teachers the opportunity to assess their students on the material that was taught. This could be done by assigning a project in relation to the subject, using class discussions as feedback assessments, and open ended tests to identify the if and why of the subject. Every student learns differently, as a teacher it is your job to understand how your students learn and to provide enrichment lessons that would apply the subject to ‘real life’ for them to fully grasp and comprehend the material.

Scaffolding allows students and teachers to build upon prior knowledge in order to understand new information and skills. Through this approach, in inclusive classrooms, teachers are able to step away from the textbook and expand lessons through activities that would benefit them. “…backward design planning focuses on learning outcomes, and standards, and the assessments for accomplishing those standards. These assessments then guide the development of the learning activities. (Wiggins and Mc Tighe, 2006) (Childre, Sands, and Tanner Pope, 2013, p. 128) In the article, Backward Design, it discusses the backward design approach in which teachers create enhancive activities that would span through numerous academias that would help students with and without learning disabilities comprehend the material and learn. In order for this approach to be successful, teachers should recognize students’ strengths and weaknesses, student experiences, identify standards that associate with the lesson, ask thought provoking questions that encourage discussion, and conduct a wide range of assessments such as observations. Each lesson should be sequenced so that each expands on a new skill learned. Learning activities should encourage students apply information, make interpretive judgments, and/ or synthesize information to generate knowledge and gain understanding of the larger issue (Bulgren et al., 2007; Scruggs & Mastropieri, 1994; Childre, Sands, and Tanner Pope, 2013, p. 131). Changing the way we teach, changes the outcome of learning for our students.

We want our students to be successful, but we have to be successful at teaching all of them.

References:

 Childre, A., Sands, J.R., and Saundra Tanner Pope. (2013). Article 27: Backward Design: Targeting Depth of Understanding for All Learners.  In Annual Editions: Educational Psychology 12/13, 127-135.

Lalley, J. P. and J. Ronald Gentile. (2013). Article 26: Classroom Assessment and Grading to Assure Mastery. In Annual Editions: Educational Psychology 12/13, 122-126.

Further Information:

Assessment, Evaluation, and Curriculum Redesign. Retrieved from: http://www.thirteen.org/edonline/concept2class/assessment/

Halverson, E., (2009)The “Backward Design” Process. Retrieved from: https://tle.wisc.edu/solutions/lecturing/%E2%80%9Cbackward-design%E2%80%9D-process

Using Curriculum and Assessment to Strengthen Classroom Practice. Retrieved from: http://www.pakeys.org/docs/PKC%20Curriculum%20Doc.pdf

Wiggins, G., McTighe, J. (2005) Understanding by Design, Expanded 2nd Edition. Retrieved from: http://www.ubdexchange.org/resources/backwards.html