Chpt 14 standardized testing

By Tiffany

Isn’t the thought of being judged based on how well all of your students do on a test frightening? I do think there are better ways to see how effective teachers are and
I don’t feel tests are that accurate. As we have discussed, students suffer from test anxiety. I think it is great that the WASL gives them more opportunities to pass, but if you suffer from anxiety it is not necessarily going to change the next time you take the test. In a way, it is punishing those teachers who choose to work at lower status schools that may not share the same knowledge as others based on social or capital culture. My question is how could we change this? If we know that the WASL is not fair for all students, what are our options? I like the idea of letting your student have pretzels on their desk, but I don’t know if that would make every student comfortable. I think this will be an interesting challenge we will all face as teachers; how do we rise above this and give all of our students the same opportunities without putting us at that much of a disadvantage. I want to be an effective teacher, but how do I do that with the pressure of the WASL hanging over my head?

Chapter 14 Response to: Teachers Being Held Accountable

by April

You brought up a good point about every student being different. Another problem I see with these tests is that they don't show progress over time. A teacher may have done a wonderful job helping a student make progress over the course of the year. They may still be below grade level but they might be a grade level or half a grade level higher than they were when they entered the class.

Also, it doesn't take into consideration what the student did or didn't learn in previous years. At one point a teacher complained to me that they couldn't teach their students the grade level material because they were having to make up for the fact that teachers in lower grades weren't teaching material the way they should have (according to this teacher). So, it seems to me that a 4th grade teacher or a 10th grade teacher could be held accountable for the test scores of students that he/she only taught for one year and maybe even made great progress with.

Chapter 14: Standardized Testing

by April

It seems that with all the potential problems of standardized testing, high-stake decisions shouldn't be based on the results of one test. We've been talking a lot about NCLB and the WASL in all of our classes. I understand that schools and teachers should be held accountable for doing their jobs well, but I can't say I agree with using tests to determine that. As our chapter mentioned, teaching to the test becomes easy and suddenly students are only learning basic skills that are tested.

I have also have great concerns that students' WASL scores determine graduation eligibility. I haven't seen any specifics, but I wonder if there are students who are doing fine overall in school but then can't pass the WASL. It's good that students are given multiple chances to pass the test but I still question it. It seems that it would be better for graduation to be based on a variety of assessments to get a broad view of the student's overall achievement.

Obviously, the WASL isn't going away anytime soon. I thought the Guidelines section on page 533 had a helpful tip in taking some of the pressure off students. It says that we should do we can to make students comfortable. I've been given these types of tests by a variety of personalities. I can think of people administering the test who were relaxed, wore a smile and even used some humor. I also remember people who seemed emotionless and strict. The pressure level in each of those situations is very different. As a teacher I hope to be relaxed when testing my students. Someone told me of a teacher who let the kids have a bowl of pretzels on their desk during the WASL. Maybe something like that would help take some of the pressure off.

Chpt. 14: Teachers being held accountable

By Tiffany

The point/counterpoint in this chapter tackled the subject we seem to be discussing frequently in our classes; the subject of standardized testing and high stakes testing. This is obviously an issue all teachers are going to have to face when they have their own classrooms, but should it really determine a teacher’s ability to teach? If we hold every school and every child to the same exact standard, than we are not acknowledging the fact that everyone is different. I see holding teachers accountable for tests scores as punishing those teachers who work with diverse, low SES students. If my career depended on how well students did on the same exact test, I may have an urge to go work in an upper class, white suburban school. Sadly, these are not the kids that necessarily need the extra help.

If you focus all of your attention on getting your students to increase their test score, you will neglect other material they need for a well rounded education. It just amazes me that our society doesn’t take these things into consideration when it is clear that research and studies show the negative sides of testing. We have all read how standardized testing is not representative of the whole population, but rather the students that were raised with the WASP cultural and social capital.

I really was intrigued by the author’s quote of, “The high-stakes accountability process seems to assume that public humiliation is enough to get schools to improve.” This is the only reason I can see why they implement these required tests and why it is the only information they make available. It is not representative of how well students do in class, but rather on one test. By publishing this information and making a point to say a teacher is not doing their job is like saying if everyone knows how your students are doing, than you will be able to push them harder to succeed. I do agree that it is alright for the community to know how the schools are doing, but I don’t think test results should be the only information available. As a future parent, I know I will want to know how my child’s school performs academically, so I can’t say I think it is all wrong. However, like we have read, portfolios, exhibits or presentations could show us a better representative sample of how the school is doing as a whole.

Chpt. 15 Response to: Assessment - Yikes!

By Tiffany

I want to start off by saying; I love your title to this journal! Second, I know that my personal feelings have influenced the way I have graded in the past; how horrible is that? I have recognized this in the past and done what I could to get over it and grade the best I could, but like you said, we are only human. I do have to say that I couldn’t believe the grade differences either. How do you avoid it though? Also, I would agree that feedback is incredibly helpful. I am not necessarily one for constant feedback with every little thing I do, but I think it is important if you want your students to grow and develop. How can we change if we have no idea what went wrong? I agree with your comment about performance anxiety. I would much rather take a test over a presentation any day. I think it all depends on who your student is, everyone is different. No one loves presenting, but I literally get sick, dizzy and rash out. Presenting is not a comfortable situation for me.

Chapter 15 Response to: Testing and Failure

by April

I was glad you talked about diversity in terms of assessment. I was very interested in the example where the teacher looked back and realized that she may have disadvantaged her students in her testing by using examples from a "city" culture where most of her students had probably never experienced anything outside their farming/ranching culture. I would never have thought of this without this example. As you know, I grew up all over the place. I've lived in tiny towns (Petersburg, IN), big cities (Las Vegas, NV) and everything in between. I've lived near mountains, deserts, ocean, farm-land and even glaciers. I MUST be aware that not everyone has had the same life experiences as I have had. This will require much purposeful thought on my part as I prepare not only tests but also instruction. This program has been helpful in teaching the value of self-reflection and knowing one's self so that we can be aware of our personal biases and cultures and how that could inhibit our ability to reach all students. Hopefully by being aware, we will be more successful!

Chapter 15: Assessment - Yikes!

by April

I have to admit that assessment is an area that I've always found to be intimidating. Obviously I did not give grades in preschool but I had to keep written observations and be able to talk to parents at conference time about their child's social/emotional skills, fine/gross motor skills, academic knowledge (letter recognition, counting, etc...) and self-help skills. I was always nervous about being accurate and fair. And I did recognize times when I let personal feelings such as frustrations about a student's behavior get in the way of accurate assessment. Even doing "peer-reviews" in this class has been uncomfortable because I recognize the subjective nature of it.

I was surprised by the extreme differences of grades listed on page 559 for the same essay tests when graded by different people. I assumed there would be some differences but a grade of 64% from one teacher and 98% from another is incredible! I can think of times when I've turned in a paper and thought, "That was not good." I was later surprised by a high grade on it. This again brings out the subjective nature of grading, especially when you are grading someone's writing. I do think using rubrics can be very helpful. I especially liked the idea of having students write their names on the back of their paper so you can grade them anonymously. Of course we'd all like to consider ourselves above personal bias but let's face it, we're human.

It was good to see that clear feedback is valued as well as an opportunity to learn and try again. It's not always easy to figure out exactly why you got the grade you did so detailed feedback is really helpful. I just sent an e-mail to Professor Dunn to say thanks for the specific APA-related feedback. It helps me learn what I'm doing wrong and how exactly to fix it.

Lastly, I just have to comment on using performance-based assessment. I'm not saying this is a bad way to assess. I'm sure it's a great way to assess. However, when I think of performance-based assessment all I can think of are my "juries" in college where I had to perform three (usually foreign language) classical pieces in front of the voice faculty. The thought alone makes me want to vomit. We worry about test-anxiety for our students. For some of us, performance anxiety is much higher!

Chpt. 15: Testing and failure

By Tiffany

We have been discussing the WASL in a couple of the classes we are in and I just thought this chapter was incredibly insightful with respect to that. You cannot judge a person based on how well they do on a test; it is not only inaccurate, but it also can be a way to discriminate. The author said that retained students were more likely to be members of a minority group or living in poverty. Of course this would be the case because tests are reflective of the WASP society and they are not differentiated. It is inaccurate to assume these students would benefit from the same teaching strategies as upper-middle class students do. I think this is why differentiated lesson plans fascinate me; I really hope to be able to incorporate it into my own classroom because it appears to benefit all students involved.

The author discussed the effects of failure on students. It was discussed that you “must encourage students to reach beyond their intellectual grasp and allow them the privilege of learning from mistakes.” This made me think back to the Zone of Proximal Development; the area between the student’s current level of development and the potential that they could achieve. It is something I think we really need to focus on as teachers, it is essential for us to find this zone. It concerns me because I am not sure how to find this zone exactly; I worry whether or not I will push my students to hard or not hard enough. I think the key is to not let them see their failure as negative. We can all learn from mistakes made by ourselves or even by others so teachers should that the opportunity to make a lesson out of a mistake. I thought it was helpful to read that we need to help students fail successfully. I know I have failed many times, but it was the times in which I reflected on my mistakes and learned from them that make me feel my failures did not define me. My hope is to guide all of my students through their failures and let something positive come out of it so as not to impact their self-efficacy.

My final thought was is that the author discussed feedback in this chapter and I think this has a lot to do with failures. If we want students to learn from their mistakes, we have to give them the opportunity to do so. A smiley face or a frowning face does not provide adequate feedback, so to make a point in explaining ways or opportunities for a student to improve is important. It is important to have high standards set in your classroom for everyone, but it is important that these standards can be reached, by everyone.

Chapter 12 Response to: Discipline and Management

by April

I can completely understand your apprehension with the first few days of school. Every year it's a brand new set of kids and you are starting all over. It's intimidating but it can also be exciting. You have a fresh chance! I love that! If I didn't do so well communicating with parents last year, I know that this year I have a new opportunity to do better! If I didn't set clear enough expectations last year, I know that I can try again this year. I think the key to those first few days is preparedness and organization. You need to have very clear ideas in your mind about how you want it to go. Things will come up and you may deviate from that a bit, but you must have a plan. Down time, slow transitions and teacher instructions that last way too long are all things that lead to classroom management problems, especially when everything is new. The text had some great ideas as I'm sure you saw.

I'm thinking back to how some of these things looked in my preschool classroom. The first day of school we always had name tags ready for students and materials set out for students to jump right in to a fun activity. Although after a few days our morning routine involved finding their name, putting it up to show they are "here" and getting a job for the day, we never started with that on the first day. The kids would enjoy a fun activity and then we'd all come together for circle time where we'd talk about finding our names and getting jobs and we'd talk about expectations and things like that.

Just know that kids can read you. Be confident, have fun and well prepared and you'll be great! And I know I've said this before, but confidence can be faked. Trust me, I do it all the time. I'm sure I'll be incredibly nervous for the first day of school, but I have no intention of letting my students or their parents in on that little secret!

Chpt. 12 Response to: Classroom Management

By Tiffany

I agree that this chapter had some good tips for us for when we get our own classroom. I agree 100% that people need to follow through on their threats (not harmful ones, that is). So many times I have seen both teachers and parents threaten to take something away from the child if they do not do what they are told. Next thing you know the child is doing it again and the same threat is being told. I don’t think many people give kids the credit they deserve. They may not have the wealth of knowledge that an adult has, but they are smart and they are very perceptive. Eventually they will come to realize that they can get away with anything and the next thing you know you have lost any potential ability to bring the child to respect you and your authority. I know as a teacher, I am going to be sure to follow through on anything I say. If I know it is not possible for me to follow through on, than I just won’t say I will do it.

Teaching is a very stressful job, but it is important to remember that these are kids. Yes, they may frustrate you and do things you feel are not okay. This doesn’t mean you should yell at them and give up on them. They need a nurturing environment to feel comfortable enough to learn and it is the teacher’s job to provide this. To provide this environment you need to listen to them, hear what they are really saying, not just what comes out of their mouth. Of course this is easier said than done, but I for one will strive to do my best at this.

Chapter 12: Classroom Management

by April

I thought this chapter had a lot of important tips for teachers regarding classroom management. I was relieved to see that I already did many of the "effective teacher" techniques in my past teaching experiences. I'm a huge believer that follow-through is one key in changing student's behavior. I've seen parents and teachers make empty threats that they would never follow through on and after a while, children begin to see that their adult won't follow through and they completely ignore instruction. For example, I remember at one point hearing a parent say, "If you don't come here right now, you will not have lunch today." Ok seriously, no parent (at least I hope) is actually going to deny their child lunch as a punishment. I also learned that if you choose to make heavy punishments, you had better follow through on them no matter how hard it is to do so. For example, we had a loft in my classroom and the rules were that it was only a place for resting quietly and reading. Toys were not allowed and standing was not allowed. My afternoon class continually chose to ignore my instructions and reminders and so I finally told them, "If you choose to take toys in the loft one more time, I will close the loft for the next two weeks." They did not follow my instruction and therefore they lost two weeks in the loft. For two weeks I listened to them whine and complain about not being able to go into the loft, but I had to be willing to follow through regardless. I always try to think of the possible consequences before I let students know how I'm going to respond if they choose to misbehave.

I especially liked the section about empathetic listening. It's easy to get frustrated with students when you are teaching because there are so many things going on at once and you are responsible for managing them all. I know how easy it is to react to students rather than listening and trying to seek the real reason for the problem. The example in the book about the boy who said he hated the book was a great one. That teacher could have done any of the wrong things listed on page 468, and I know I've done some of those things from time to time. In this example, however, the teacher asked questions and sought the reason behind the students response. Not only was she then able to help the student, their relationship was improved as the teacher showed respect for the student. I need to remind myself daily to slow down and listen and seek understanding so I'm not just reacting.

Chpt. 12: Discipline and Management

By Tiffany

There was a lot to take from this chapter, but I don’t feel I need to discuss it all. The one topic that did upset me was in regards to student discipline. The author stated that the lack of student discipline is one of the main problems schools face today and in the past. I think it frustrates me because as a teacher our hands are tied. For example, the student I worked with was known for hurting other students. However, if he was on top of a child, punching or kicking him, we were told to pull the abused child away and not touch the aggressive one. Why, you may ask? This is because his mother threatened to sue the school if we ever touched her son. How do we deal with this? I am sorry, but I feel if a child is hurting another child, we should be able to grab them to pull them off. What kind of society do we live in that we protect the aggressive children over the abused? This is a really sensitive subject to me because of what I went through in my past job. I know I am not the only one frustrated by this situation. No wonder discipline is lacking, we aren’t permitted to do anything.

The other topic that interested me was the whole beginning of the chapter, discussing the importance of classroom management. The one thing that I couldn’t help but think about was the importance of the first few weeks of class. My first day as a teacher (as I am sure everyone’s is) is going to be full of insecurities and stress. We won’t know what to expect and being in a new situation is always nerve-racking to begin with. Now on top of all of those original thoughts I had, I am going to focus on how important a smooth day is because it sets a precedent for the rest of the school year. I could have gone without reading that part, but at the same time it is important for me to know. I am going to make a point to mark this chapter for future references, as it had great suggestions on managing a classroom.

Chapter 11 Response to: Classroom Issues

by April

I thought it was interesting that we had almost opposite experiences with group work when we were young. You felt useless because some students took over. I felt stressed and overwhelmed because I, while also being shy, felt like I always had to step up and lead groups because other students wouldn't take any personal responsibility for the group work. In either situation, I think we've both brought out an important point, teachers have to watch over group work and ensure that it is benefitting all students involved.

I did think it was interesting that the text mentioned that independent work might be better for introverted and shy students. On one hand I completely agree with this. On the other, I ask, how do these students learn to cooperate with others? This skill is necessary for success in many and perhaps most jobs. In the classroom, teachers can provide for opportunities to learn this skill in a caring and supportive, noncompetitive way, before students enter the work force and have to cooperate for success.

I wanted to comment on the idea of a "comment box" but didn't in my original journal so I'm glad you brought that out. I've never seen it done so it was nice to hear of your experiences with it. When I read that I thought, "That's a great idea!" Of course, it does require that a teacher has thick skin. I'm guessing students will at times bring out things that they don't like about what the teacher does. A teacher has to be willing to accept criticism and be able to reflect and evaluate their teaching for the benefit of their students. I've always been sensitive and have never taken criticism all that well. But I've made it a point in the last few years (especially after facing upset parents) to be more reflective and open to criticism. Yes, I still take it personally more often than not and I do get my feelings hurt, but I'm determined to push through those feelings so that I can hear what others say and continue to become a better teacher, year after year.

Chpt. 11 Response to: Student Cooperation

By Tiffany

I really liked what you had to say about group work. I have many of the same feelings about it. I have seen many teachers, sadly, use group work as a way to get their other work done. This is unfortunate because group work can be extremely beneficial to students if used the proper way. Also, students do need to be instructed on how to work effectively together. I know I was never shown how to work with others and I do think it caused me to resent working in groups. It wasn’t until this program that I was able to see the benefit of working with others.

Finally, I do think that it “sucks” regarding students getting “the short end of the stick.” If group work is not successfully carried out than students may learn to label others. Some people do not know how to work with others and this could be the cause of their minimal effort in the group. Therefore, other students may not want to work with them and may resent them for something they do not know how to work with. Then you have the other end of the spectrum, the lazy students that just do not care. I think as a teacher, we need to be aware of all of the groups we create and to monitor them closely enough to make sure that everyone is benefiting from the group. Perhaps if one student does not work successfully in a group, you may want to have them work by themselves on occasion; just a thought.

Chapter 11: Student Cooperation

by April

I felt this chapter brought out positive and negative aspects of group work. It's important for us to be aware of both sides so that we can be careful in terms of the negative possibilities. On page 417 the author told a story about a partner project where one partner got an A on his part and the other partner got an F because he didn't do anything but combined they got a C. I don't know how else to say it except that, that really sucks. Teachers need to be careful not to make students resent group work or collaboration. Teacher's need to carefully monitor groups and not punish students for the inattentiveness of other group members.

Growing up, I absolutely hated group work. The issue of grading, I think, in relation to group work is something to think about. My biggest frustration growing up was that I was concerned about my grades and was worried that unconcerned group members would pull my grade down. Perhaps collaboration should be promoted for the goals of, for example, reasoning and critical thinking, without a focus on grades.

Teachers need to watch for groups where one student is dominating and need to ask if this is happening because the other group members are not engaging or if it is because that one student isn't giving room for everyone's voices. I also think that teachers need to walk around and interact with groups at work to watch for groups who are falling away from the purpose and into socializing. I've seen teachers sit back and work on other things while student collaboration is happening. Student group work should not be used as an excuse for teachers to sit back and not be involved.

Lastly, we shouldn't assume that students know how to work as groups. Skills such as asking good questions have to be taught and modeled to make the best use of student cooperation.

Chpt. 11: Classroom issues

Within this chapter, one quote caught my attention the most. Jerome Bruner said that, “I have come increasingly to recognize that learning in most settings is a communal activity, a sharing of culture.” This thought really made me think and I have to say I agree with it. It seems everything we are reading and learning about in these last couple of weeks has promoted cooperative and collaborative learning (which can share strengths and culture). I have always been the introverted student that individual learning was a better approach for. Looking back I did not appreciate group work and cooperative learning, but I strongly feel that if a teacher would have addressed how to effectively work with one another and did check on progress that I would have benefited from it more. That wasn’t the case and the teachers never seemed to check up on the groups; which made it easy for one or two people to take over and make the rest of us feel useless (I had this feeling all too often and because of that I still doubt myself when working in groups). I know I am going to strive to not let any of my students feel how I felt and I feel with regards to this topic. Through this program I have seen the benefit of successful group work and I would never want a student to miss out on that opportunity.

The subject of civic values brought back memories from my fifth grade year. I had a teacher who had a comment box in the classroom. We would write down any problems we had and then after lunch/recess we would sit in a circle and discuss it. Looking back I think it was a great way to make the classroom feel more like a community. I really admire her for what she did because no other teacher addressed issues this way and because of that many feelings were internalized and never worked out.

I thought the information regarding peer influence was interesting. It brought me back to the movie, Dangerous Minds. Clearly this knowledge is nothing new, that peers can control what others want to do in regards to learning. This would be why in the movie the teacher finds the student that all others look up to and they try to reach them. If they can get him/her to think school is important, then maybe others will follow. It also reminded me of Welcome Back Kotter and Vinnie Barbarino.

The author also discussed how being a “brain” wasn’t a good image and I reflected on my friend’s daughter’s words. She had told her mom that she had no friends, that nobody liked her. My friend asked her daughter why she thought that and she proceeded to say, “because I am good at math and I am smart. I am a nerd.” This was coming from a second grader. I think it is so tragic that this image of a “nerd” starts as early as second grade, if not sooner. No wonder so many students prefer to not learn, they don’t want to fall into that category at such an early age and due to that not have any friends. It saddens me because this girl is so creative and smart, yet she is missing out on all of the social interactions she deserves (such as birthday parties).

Chapter 13: Compassion, Flexibility and Homework

by April

I was interested in the topic of homework as well. I feel like we are really learning some great new ways of thinking about things in response to the traditional methods that we grew up with. I liked the idea of holding kids accountable for their homework as well. I don't think this happened when I was a student and I'm not sure if it does now, from what you said, probably not. It does make sense though that students would learn more if they were required to fix their wrong answers (with help as needed) so that they learn and show the right way of doing something. I'm thinking of math in particular. I was always anxious about math when I was younger. I'd take home an assignment, do it, turn it in and get a grade. The problem was that I didn't actually get help on the things I wasn't understanding. I'm guessing many students don't take it upon themselves to figure out where they went wrong on their homework. They probably just look at the grade and throw it out like I always did. Perhaps having students rework through problems would help with the issue of motivation as well. Students might be more apt to try and take risks if they know that they will be shown their mistakes and given an opportunity to learn from them and rework them.

Lastly, I think I fall more in the middle of the homework vs. no homework argument. I believe it goes back to what Dr. Finnely was talking about today, that is, knowing your community. I think someone mentioned the issue of how homework can cause students from lower SES to fall further behind because it is likely that their parents are able to give them the same support as the middle- and upper-class parents. When I'm a teacher, I think I will take into consideration this issue and if it seems that students aren't really benefitting from homework, I will try and make sure that I'm not relying on it too heavily for learning. I've also heard a lot of parents from a variety of SES backgrounds complaining about the ridiculous amount of homework their children get. That's something to keep in mind as well.

Chpt. 13 Response: Flexible and Integrated Planning

By Tiffany

I thought your reflection of your second and third year teaching were interesting. It is very true that you do have to be flexible, not just year to year but within the one school year. Students’ behaviors fluctuate through the school year. I know at my school when we got close to winter break the students tended to act out a lot more. This was the case with spring break as well. Finally, the end of the school year, which thankfully I am missing out on this year, the behavior is much more sporadic. I think planning is very important, but you need to be flexible and not be stubborn. If you see that your students are really into one educational activity, but it is time to move on, maybe either find a way to integrate the other activity into the current one, or give them some more time. I think it was great that you were able to reflect on the school year and make the appropriate changes. Your students are all different and until you get a feel for them (and even afterwards!) it is hard to know what works best for them.

With regards to the authentic tasks and integrated learning, I think it gives more opportunities for better comprehension. Your students are putting past knowledge with current knowledge and applying it to something real and tangible to them. I think it is a great way to provide a lesson, but like you, I wonder how much flexibility I will be given with my lesson plans once I have a classroom of my own.

Chapter 13: Flexible and Integrated Planning

by April

The first thing I connected with in this chapter was the idea of balancing planning and flexibility. I liked the last night of page 478, "So plans are NOT made to be broken - but sometimes they need to be bent a bit." I really think that how much you plan and how much space you make in your day is something that changes from year to year and you really just have to get to know the dynamic of your particular classroom. My second year of teaching I left a lot of room open in the day. I had several key things planned but didn't overwhelm myself with a multitude of lesson elements. My third year I looked back and thought, "I wonder if some of my behavior issues stemmed from some boredom and perhaps more structured learning activities would help?" So for everyday I planned more than could be fit in a day. I'd have multiple art stations set up so kids could do one or both. I'd have a variety of other learning center type activities available for kids along with just the general classroom set up of books, manipulatives, computers, dramatic play, etc... Well that year we had just as many behavior issues but I was a lot more stressed out because I had too much going on. Thankfully, I learned to reflect and evaluate in the middle of the year and started toning down my plans and leaving more room for spontaneity. So, I think you have to constantly be reflecting and making choices and changes to find the way your class, in that particular year, finds the most success.

On page 485 it talks about integrated planning. I've been thinking a lot about this lately especially thinking about authentic tasks. Students don't just learn reading during "reading time," they learn during social studies and science and math and so on. It is the same with writing. I could incorporate reading, social studies and writing by having students read a primary text, perhaps a journal written by an early settler in the West. Then students could respond by thinking about what it would have been like to be in that person's family and then write their own "journal" from that perspective. You could even bring in math by talking about trading and forms of money used and then have students act that out. You could present the perspective of the settlers and the Native Americans at the time and even point out the differences in what was used for money (I remember studying a tribe that used a type of beads as their form of money) and then have different groups in the class take on different roles and figure out how trading could have taken place between people who speak different languages and have a different system of money. I really like this idea of authentic tasks and integrated learning. I'm curious how much flexibility I'll find for this in the school I end up working in.

Chpt. 13: Compassion, flexibility and homework

By Tiffany

This chapter really hit home for me in some aspects, so I have a lot to comment on (sorry!). I have always been considered very sensitive and compassionate. This is why I look forward to working with children, because I feel that they need this compassion in the classroom. With the growing diversity in the classroom, I feel many students are sometimes overlooked in this aspect. It is important to let every child know that they are valuable and that they matter. This is why it was intriguing to read that there is a strong correlation between teacher warmth, friendliness and understanding and students’ attitudes. I think it is very important that students have a good attitude towards school because the more they enjoy class; the more likely they will enjoy learning. They will actually want to be in class!

I think another reason students may enjoy being in class is when they are appreciated; when they feel that they have a choice. Constructivist approaches to planning involved shared and negotiated lesson plans. I think this is such an interesting concept and I look forward to seeing if I can implement it into my own classroom. The fact that the teacher just provides ideas to help guide planning and the students help decide what activities and approaches to use is just fascinating to me. To give the students this much freedom and choice amazes me; it wasn’t even considered when I was in school! My only concern is if curriculum allows this. I know some schools have very structured learning environments and I just wonder how much flexibility you really have as a teacher. I will ideally plan on doing what I can, but I wonder how much the “system” will restrain me (I don’t really want to get fired during my first year!).

I definitely was reassured while reading this chapter. In one of my first journal entries I was worried because the author had stated that teachers are more effective if they actually have their degree in the subject they are teaching. What I am taking from this chapter is that this is true, but it also says that the reason they are more effective is that they present the information more clearly and recognize student difficulties. I figure, if I do my research and make sure I am clearly stating my topics, then I could potentially be as effective as teachers who have majored in the subject content.

The final topic I found interesting is seatwork and homework. I know the chapter said that seatwork should not be the main mode of instruction and I have to agree with that. After everything we have read, I can’t see that sitting at your desk and doing worksheets by yourself could be an effective way of teaching. I know when I graded all of the worksheets for the school I worked at, a lot of the papers had more than half of the questions wrong (average math class-they tracked their students). Clearly, it was too complicated for them and therefore they resorted to guessing. Not once did the teacher go over the incorrect answers with students so there was an opportunity to teach and it was overlooked. We talked in one of our classes about how due to requirements classes were moving on before students could fully comprehend the information and lesson. That is what happened frequently in this classroom; the school was very structured and the students struggled to keep up.

Also, it said that you should hold the students accountable for their homework. I know the school I worked for did not hold students accountable. If they got questions wrong, the number was circled and then it went into their Friday Folder. No child had to redo their answers or figure out how to do the problems correctly, the assignments just got sent home and it was left at that. As a teacher I am going to really strive to help my students with homework and to help them come up with the correct answers. The Point/Counterpoint about homework was interesting, but I have to disagree with the people against homework. I think that students could be interested in homework if a teacher strives to make it comprehensible and to make it interesting. There are always ways to make learning interesting; we just have to figure out how to appeal to students’ different needs and interests.

Chapter 10 Response to: Motivation and Self-Worth

by April

I agree with you that students need a supportive, encouraging teacher for growth. Along with that, they need a teacher who really believes in their ability to learn and achieve success. I think teachers will be most successful in helping students develop self-worth if they help them set and reach challenging goals. We have to be careful, I think, not to get into the realm of coddling our students in order to build their self-esteem. I think it was in this chapter that talked about how students get an impression about whether or not their teacher thinks they are capable. For example, offering help too quickly can lead students to believe that the teacher doesn't think they can do it on their own. I know we've talked about this before, but it's good for students to struggle because most things in life don't come easily and they should be prepared to stick it out and work hard to achieve their goals.

I have a similar feeling about wanting to have clear guidelines in regards to instruction and assignments. I think this is because I didn't have teachers who provided a safe place to take risks. It seems easier to achieve success when you are told exactly what to do rather than being required to really think through tasks and take risks. As a teacher, I hope to help parents and students see value in risk taking and creative thinking because those skills are very beneficial in the world after school and in school.

I think our text throughout has provided a variety of ways to help students at least start relationships with other students. Of course this isn't something we can control or force but we can at least provide opportunities and support. Some students need direct instruction regarding how to enter a conversation with peers or how to join play that is already taking place. I don't know that it's really appropriate at the elementary level, maybe it is, but in the preschool I would usually choose one of our friendly, slightly outgoing students and ask them to make an effort to befriend a child who is struggling in this area. This was usually a very successful technique.

Chpt. 10 Response to: Motivation

By Tiffany

I really thought you brought up some interesting and valid points. I mainly liked your example on how to phrase things to your students. It makes a lot of sense that you would want your students to know what they are doing well at. If you just say “good job,” there is no explanation of what that good job was for. However, if you tell them that they have showed great improvement with understanding the vocabulary words they will understand what they have achieved.

Your comment about control caused me to reflect on my past job. I remember the parent of John (not his real name) told me that if I let him feel he was in control, I would have less behavior problems with him. Where I do not agree with that, I do think it is important for kids to feel they have control over their schoolwork (which I am assuming you meant anyway, just explaining my train of thought). I agree that a balance is the most effective way for students to achieve in school. They need parameters to work inside, but with some flexibility they may show more excitement about school. Students could potentially choose to do an assignment that interests them. We all know it is more interesting to do an assignment based off of something that intrigues us. I think this is a perfect way to approach teaching, especially with the differing learning abilities. One assignment could be a little more in depth for the students that feel like pushing themselves and one could be basic, but just as interesting for students that are struggling.

I agree with everything you said about the WASL. My concern as a new teacher is that it may be relatively easy to learn (or research) about the different teaching strategies and techniques, but how easy is it for us to apply them in our own classrooms? As an inexperienced teacher I do not know how flexible curriculum is (at my last school it was very structured) and therefore I do not know how much time must be dedicated to WASL subjects. What are our options if we know it is not in the students’ best interest? This frightens me, but at the same time intrigues me because maybe it is possible to get around the “politics of school” and do what we feel needs to be done to benefit our students.

Chpt. 10: Motivation and Self-worth

By Tiffany

There were a couple of things that intrigued me in this chapter, so I worry I may be all over the place. Everything seemed to interest me. The first comment that stuck out in my mind was that teachers must encourage and nurture intrinsic motivation, while making sure that extrinsic motivation supports learning. I fully agree that this is true. I know I have been personally intrinsically motivated to go back to school. However, I would not be as motivated if there were not extrinsic motivation behind it. Getting the A on any assignment excites me and gives me more motivation to work harder!

Maslow’s hierarchy of needs has been around for quite some time. I know I have heard about this many times. It saddens me to think that you don’t ever accomplish the self-actualization phase. However, I guess it motivates us to keep going. I think one of the responsibilities of a teacher is to provide and support a student's self-esteem and intellectual achievement. If you give students a safe learning environment with reasonable goals, you can help maintain or increase their self-esteem. I know I have had a low self-esteem in the past; all through middle school and high school. I just wish I had a teacher back then that showed me that I was worthwhile and that I could achieve things if I tried. I hope to be that teacher for many students; a supportive teacher is essential in a child’s growth (in my opinion).

Self determination related a lot to me as well. The need to feel like you belong to a social group can really impact your education and your social life. I think as long as you provide a supportive and safe environment for your students, you can help them feel like they belong.

One thing I found interesting was that studies have found that students and parents prefer controlling teachers over teachers supporting autonomy. This does make sense to me because guidelines help students know what to do; what is expected of them. I for one, appreciate clear and concise guidelines, I know I am one who prefers controlling teachers. Perhaps this attributes to my lack of feeling of creativity. I think you need to know your school, your students and your parents to know what they need as students.

I had always felt alone growing up and I feel I lacked the bond with peers. That is why I really noticed the section about the need for relatedness. This need for closeness is important for the development of children and I think it really impacts a students want to be in school. I am not sure how a teacher can help with this, but I do feel it is something we should be aware of.

My final comment has to be the belief about self-worth. It made me laugh because it said that procrastination was a self-protective strategy. I know I have used procrastination as an excuse for failing (not really failing, but for getting a grade of a B). I never thought of it as an excuse, but that is what I used it for. As a teacher, I hope to prevent my students from doing this. I hope to be able to help them set realistic goals and to teach them how to learn and hold themselves accountable for their education. Basically, it seems I want to give students help in areas that I apparently lacked in. I just hope I can be an effective teacher and I feel I have a good chance of that with all of the information I have learned so far (and we are only in the first session!)

Chapter 10: Motivation

by April

I found this chapter to be very interesting because I have heard so many conflicting views about encouraging intrinsic vs. extrinsic motivation in school. For example, when I was teaching at the preschool it was discouraged to say, "good job." The reasoning was that the student would then feel motivated to please the teacher rather than to work for themselves. After reading the chapter, I certainly agree that the best chances for student success come from intrinsic motivation, however, I also appreciated the fact that the text pointed out that not all students are going to come in excited and ready to learn. If we count on that, we will end up disappointed and frustrated.

Going back to my original thought about saying, "good job," I think a better way to give praise or feedback would be to say something like, "I see that your understanding of subtraction has really improved." This way the feedback is positive and points out a students progress so they can see themselves having successes and then be motivated by the success rather than how I feel about their success. Actually I think the text talks about this a little in regards to using controlling statements verses simply providing information.

I have really seen this issue of control play out in the past, especially in terms of classroom behavior. Students do not like to feel like you are controlling everything. They need for us to give them as much autonomy as possible while still providing some guidelines and structure. There should be a balance. As a student myself, I am very uncomfortable with completely wide open tasks. That is probably why I didn't choose to do any of the "student-designed" tasks for this class. I liked being able to choose from a variety of possibilities with some listed guidelines. I can really see the effectiveness of this in an elementary school classroom where there is often a struggle between teacher and students for control. Allowing students to make choices gives them some ownership of their learning. For example, I could see giving students a variety of options for topics for a writing assignment or perhaps even a variety of forms of writing that could be used to respond. Perhaps they choose to write a report about what happened when Mt. Vesuvius erupted or perhaps they would take the point of view of someone living at that time and write a fictional story about what it would have been like to be there.

Also, I was really thinking about the anxiety issues related to the WASL and how it seems, from this reading, that the WASL can be really damaging to student motivation. When teachers are teaching to the test and telling students what they need to know for the test, the motivation is scores rather than developing an understanding that this knowledge has utility in real life (authentic tasks). This takes away the possibility for teachers to help their students have a sense of wonder and curiosity and it causes stress and anxiety for students making learning an unhappy experience.

Chapter 9 Response to: Self-Efficacy

by April

I know what you mean about feeling like you missed out on a lot of important things in school. One of my motivating factors for being a teacher was to give kids the things I missed out on. And yes, being given an opportunity to really reflect on learning is one of those things. I really hope that in an interview no one ever asks me to tell them a teacher that really had an impact on me. I don't know if it's because I switched schools all the time or if it's because I just didn't have good teachers but I really don't remember much of anything that was great about any of them.

It is a little nerve-wracking to think of the impact that our own self-efficacy can have on our students. I'm a big believer in self-talk, as I think I've mentioned. When I'm feeling uncertain about my abilities I try to just tell myself that I'm going to do great because I'm intelligent and capable. After a while you actually start believing it! Amazing, the power of our mind. I definitely think you're right, we have to be careful not to set too high expectations for ourselves so that we don't burn out. Someone in class the other day said (while laughing) that we probably won't ever see the long-term effects of our investments. They were slightly kidding, but there's a good chance that in most cases, that will be true. I've been enjoying that book, "Letters to Those Who Dare to Teach." It talks about needing to have an "armed-love" for our students and our profession, not to mention courage, humility and a variety of other qualities. It's not an easy profession we enter, but an important one.

Chpt. 9 Response: Constructivism and Learning

By Tiffany

I have to agree with you that worksheets seem to not be effective. I just don’t see why teachers are still using them so frequently if they know that it is not an effective mode of learning. I know the school I was at mainly did worksheets; actually I think that was all they did. Are work sheets appropriate for second graders or should they be steering away from them as well? I would think they would benefit more from understanding the concepts as opposed to filling in the missing words.

I felt the same way about group work. All through growing up I dreaded working in a group. My views have changed a lot since being in this program though. I think the issue for me was that no teacher ever showed us how to work in groups effectively. One person took the majority of the work and the rest of us split everything else up. There was no cooperative learning because we were working alone, in a group. I found that working together for the Scavenger Hunt project worked a lot better since we worked together and bounced ideas off of one another. As a teacher, I hope to be able to model how to work effectively with others and hope my class is able to work together as well.

Finally, I think that education has come a long way since we were in school or perhaps everyone always knew all of this information, they just weren’t willing to apply it to their classroom. I was never encouraged to think deeply about what I was doing or learning. I feel if I was that perhaps I would have gotten more out of my education.

Chapter 9: Constructivism and Learning

by April

Doing this chapter for my presentation really helped me make more sense of constructivist theory. When I think about learning in terms of students constructing knowledge as they try and make sense of their experiences it really connects with why my friend Ruth said that learning through worksheets is really not considered acceptable any longer but that project-based learning is valued. This was a big conversation at the preschool. There were some teachers who LOVED worksheets and some who absolutely hated them. Now that the debate is framed by an understanding of theory, I feel I can make a more informed decision about it!

The five conditions for learning shared by constructivists were really helpful in seeing how the theory would work out in a practical way. I definitely see the importance of offering multiple perspectives and representations of content. I see in my own self a tendency to oversimplify concepts so I can only imagine how easy it for students to do that. I've not always loved group work in the past but I'm really starting to see how social negotiation is necessary for learning. We've already talked a lot about flexible grouping and I really hope to make successful use of different forms of grouping to promote learning through social negotiation.

I have to admit that prior to this program I hadn't really thought about the value of "thinking about thinking." As I've gotten older I've certainly become more self-aware in regards to the things that shape my thinking but as a young person I don't ever remember anyone encouraging that. We've talked already about modeling thought processes for students and giving students a chance for reflection is another important part of that. Another condition, student ownership of learning is obviously really important. I can see encouraging this few a variety of ways but one example would be to give students choices in how they respond to assignments.

Lastly, I mentioned this condition a little bit above but it's important that students be given complex and authentic learning environments. Simple worksheets do not allow students to construct knowledge as they make sense of their experiences. As educators, it's our job to provide opportunities for discovery and wonder with complex opportunities to respond.

Chpt. 9: Self-efficacy

By Tiffany

There was really only one topic in this chapter I feel like I want to dive into at this moment. Perhaps it is because there was a lot to cover in this chapter, but I felt the one that could benefit me as a teacher most was the information on self-efficacy.

The section about a teacher’s sense of self-efficacy is a frightening subject to me. The fact that my own self-efficacy as a teacher will influence how well my students learn is a bit intimidating. It mainly concerns me because I sometimes doubt my abilities, as I am sure many people have done in the past. However, I think if you go into teaching with the right attitude, you will be able to sustain your self-efficacy level. I think the high level of burn out (50% within five years! Yikes!) is due to new teachers thinking teaching is going to be easy and that they can make a huge difference in every child’s life! It is not realistic to drastically change twenty or so students’ lives in 180 days. It is possible though, to impact the life of just one child a little bit and I think this is what we all need to think about. Also, I figure as long as I acknowledge that people make mistakes (yes, even myself!) and that I can learn from them, then I will be able to maintain a good level of self-efficacy. I think it is okay to be overly optimistic as a teacher; that is what motivates us to continue learning and to continue trying.

I found the section of how to teach towards self-efficacy interesting. Mainly I found interesting that you should share control with your students. I think this is a great way to foster interest in students. With the child I worked with, I found that he responded best if I gave him options. I know this is in a different context than the learning environment, but I found that he was much more willing to do what needed to be done (like coming out of the tree) when I gave him a choice of options. There doesn’t seem to be many choices for kids in school; they have to be there, they have to do the math and the reading work, and they have to be with that particular teacher. I think giving students some choices, as long as they are restricted to the appropriate curriculum, will provide them with more interest and motivation to learn. It will allow them to have a feeling of importance, that what they say does in fact matter and that their teacher does care about their opinions. I am definitely going to keep these guidelines for myself and apply them in my classroom as much as possible.

I feel there is so much I could talk about with regards to this chapter, but I think I will finish with just one last thing. Inquiry learning involves students formulating hypotheses, collecting data, drawing conclusions and finally reflecting on their original problem and the thinking processes needed to solve it. In science class, students learn about these different steps, but I feel all too often that reflection is over looked. I know that reflecting will help students process the information more effectively and I think it is important for this aspect to be emphasized in the classroom. We have read many times in all of our classes (I think all of them, the books are confusing me now) that reflection is important if you want information to be processed and understood by your students effectively. I am going to aim to remember this for my own lesson plans.

After writing these journals and reflecting on all of the information, I am finding that I was missing a lot of this when I was younger and in school. My main goal and hope (right now) is that I can teach my students what my education neglected to teach me.

Chapter 8 Response to: Creativity and Classroom Skills

by April

I think you must be right in thinking that your self-efficacy is low when it comes to creativity. Perhaps if you broaden your understanding of creativity it would help. The only thing creativity is, is creating something new, on purpose. Creativity doesn't have to be art, it can be ideas. It can be writing. I do think people can be born with some natural talent in an area along with interest in that area, making it easier for them to be creative. But just because you can't draw like your brother, doesn't mean you can't create.

And it's okay if you need inspiration. Whenever I need to come up with something new I'm always keeping my eyes open for things that can spark my creative thinking.

In terms of teaching, think about that video we showed during our presentation. There's a part about "fanning their flame" with a picture of a candle. Like you said, we can be annoyed by non-conformist, curious behavior which often leads to creativity or we can embrace it and encourage it. We can fan our students creative flames. Part of that, I think, is providing a safe place for kids to share ideas and express imagination. By providing them with opportunities to explore new possibilities and modeling imaginative thinking, I think we can help students develop creativity. They might not all turn out to be Picasso but they might come up with innovative ideas for the world of business or politics or science or perhaps even education.

Chpt. 8 response: Crutches and Creativity

I really liked your interpretation of creativity. Clearly, we see creativity differently, but I think this is a good thing. I think the differences a teacher can bring to a classroom are what help children to develop to their fullest. If all of us were the same then there wouldn’t be any variety. I have figured out that you are a creative person and I think that is wonderful (I admire you for it!). I know that I have benefited by working in groups with you. I am more of a creative person when I have something to build off of and you usually provide that (like the vase). I do think as long as teachers recognize the importance of creativity, students will benefit from it. As I said in my journal, I would not consider myself a very creative person, but I do realize that it is important for everyone to develop their creativity. The suggestions in the book are incredibly helpful! This is where I think collaborative instruction can be helpful as well because then you get different perspectives and ideas.

With regards to spell checker and a calculator, I instantly went to my best friend from growing up. She always had this little electronic spell checker with her to help with writing. For some reason spelling did not come very easy to her. I think it impacted her future learning because she wasn’t forced to really concentrate on spelling words. Regarding calculators I don’t think many people take one to the store with them. However, I do math in my head all of the time when I go. So I think it is important to develop a basic foundation of these traits, but like you said, technology is where our future keeps heading. Students need to know how to use the computer if they want to succeed and not get lost in the future. Like you said, Professor Dunn has given us these useful websites that I feel will help students. I think teaching both skills are important for the overall education of students. One last thought on this is that lower socio-economic families may not have computers available to them and therefore they do need the ability to write and calculate without the use of technology. This is a sad thought, that not everyone is given the same opportunities, but one that needs to be considered.

Chpt. 8: Creativity and Classroom Skills

By Tiffany

There were a lot of things that intrigued me in this chapter. I have decided to reflect on the information I felt I could relate to most; however I plan on keeping this book to look back on all of the other information.

The one thing in this chapter that made me laugh was about creativity. I don’t know how much I believe that anyone can be creative in anything. Maybe in some ways, but I know I am not that creative of a person. By creativity, I think I am generalizing more towards arts, but that is usually what is associated with creativity. The reason I seem jaded about this topic is that I have a twin brother. We were raised the same way for the most part, with sports and athletics being the central focus of growing up. We were given the same opportunities and we went after all of them together. Yet, my brother is an artist (a tattoo artist) and he always has been an incredible drawer. In preschool we both painted a bear and you could tell his was a bear, but mine was a blob. I remember this because my parents had his painting framed later in our life and mine was in a box (this wasn’t until I was older though). What impacts the differences in creativity with the same environment is my question? Maybe I missed something growing up, but it appears we were given the same opportunities and followed through with them. For some reason I just could not get the artistic bug in me. I think the differences we have now are more severe because I did focus on sports since that is what I excelled at.

The book commented that teachers are not the best judges of creativity and I find this unfortunate because teachers are in the position to help students find their creative niche. I know teachers at the past school I worked at found curiosity and non-conformity annoying traits. I think it is important to foster creativity and curiosity in your students. I plan on remembering this when I have my own classroom! All students potentially learn better in different situations. This is another way my lack of creativity has impacted me. I prefer a very structured environment with clear and concise instructions. This is because I prefer not having to be creative. I know this shows that I have a low sense of self efficacy towards creativity and maybe that is what is impacting my ability to be creative, but when I was younger I thought I was incredible!

Another topic that interested me was problem solving. Problem solving is a skill that is needed from childhood to adulthood. IDEAL was a great acronym for this. I like that it involves defining goals because I think goals are essential to success. I think teaching problem solving skills is important and helping students define goals that are realistic and reasonable. As you saw in class, I make a daily list of every minute of my day and cross it off when I finish. It gives me a sense of accomplishment which then boosts my attitude.

The final thing I want to discuss is the section regarding study skills. I just had to laugh when it said that underlining and highlighting are not effective strategies. This is what I was shown to do in school and I continue doing it. I think it is very true that it is not effective in helping you process information and retain information, but I have found it convenient for this intensive six week course! I do think it is imperative to teach students the proper skills for reading and processing information. I know I was never taught these skills and it does impact me in a negative way when it comes to studying. Teachers need to teach and demonstrate the proper study skills for their students.

Chapter 8: Crutches and Creativity

by April

There are a lot of great practical things in this chapter so I just chose a couple to respond to. First I wanted to comment on the Point/Counterpoint section regarding the use of calculators and spell checkers. This is something I can see both sides too. I do think students should be taught basic math and spelling skills prior to being given access to these tools. In life, students may not always have access to these types of tools and so they shouldn't be relied upon as the sole means of spelling or math computations. However, technology is a real and useful part of our lives now and students should be taught how to use technology and should be given access to it. In more complicated math computations, students will still need to learn formulas to use a calculator. A calculator is only helpful if you understand the formulas. When writing using a word processing software, spell checker is a great way to point out students mistakes and allow to fix them. Even spell check doesn't always know exactly what the right word is so it will give students choices to fix their word correctly. They will have to be able to read and make judgements about spelling even to use a spell checker. Professor Dunn has given us some great examples of helpful software for children with disabilities in particular in regards to spelling.

Lastly, I wanted to comment on the "creative" section because I grew up being told I was a creative person because I'm a musician and I like to draw and create things. I had to laugh in the beginning when it talked about myths about creativity and said that creativity isn't necessarily synonamous with the negative traits that are often paired with it. For some reason people always tend to assume those moody, unpredictable traits follow musicians wherever they go. Rock stars give the rest of us a bad name! I really liked the line on page 306, "Creativity is the ability to produce work that is original, but still appropriate and useful." I have some artist friends who would seriously disagree with the "useful" part but it terms of creativity in education, that statement really takes the mystery out of it and puts creativity in reach of all students, in my opinion. I was really glad that the author pointed out that the best creativity doesn't necessarily happen in a group setting but that it is more effective for students to brain storm on their own and then come together for group work. Personally, this really hits home. When we are given a group assignment to do on the spot in class, I usually cannot seem to get my creative juices flowing. Give me time to think through it at home and I am more likely to contribute something creative. I think the text is right on when it talks about setting a problem aside and letting it "incubate" being one of the best ways to find a creative solution. Given the proper amount of time, a person can take the knowledge they already have about something and organize and reorganize their thoughts about it over and over, often leading to a breakthrough. I think I've said in the past, my best ideas always come right as I'm falling asleep, just as I'm waking up or while I'm in the shower. Creativity takes time, flexibility, persistence and motivation. As a teacher, I realize the importance of giving students time to process and create and to be aware of giving overly rigid guidelines that don't allow for flexibility in responses.

The guidelines for encouraging creativity in the classroom are really great ideas. I really want to be a teacher that encourages creativity rather than stifling it. I want to accept unusual ideas and imaginative responses and give my students a safe place to take risks and see things in fresh ways.

Response to Chapter 7: Important Skills for Learning

by April

I thought it was interesting that you mentioned diversity in regards to elaboration. I wrote in my margins in the Diversity section that I wondered if there's a connection between the issue of elaboration and differing cultural capital, causing some of what we're seeing in regards to minority students struggling in school. Do minority students struggle to learn because the ways we present new knowledge is often not something they have previous experience with or knowledge of? I think you're right to say that we need to provide multiple representations of content in order to help minority students elaborate on new knowledge.

When you mentioned "modeling metacognitive skills" it made me think of our orientation when someone said that just because a person is a good teacher, doesn't mean they will make a good mentor. This is often because expert teachers can't always explain their thinking because it has become to natural to them. Being able to model our thinking skills is important and something we need to be aware of. I think it was our Psych book that talked about working out a problem out loud so students can "observe" how you think through something. I think it can be very hard to break down thinking processes that come so automatically to us, however, we should practice this skill so that we can help our students do the same.

I also noticed the differing opinions on memorization. I completely understand how just teaching in a way that promotes rote memorization is not helpful for students in the long run. They will learn for a test and quickly forget. I think we both mentioned in our last entry that we did this in school. But I agree with you, memorization was helpful for some things, such as spelling tests. I was thinking about this a couple weeks ago about math skills. I was trying to think about how you would teach multiplication tables in a meaningful way rather than through rote memorization. I didn't come up with any ideas. Perhaps a combination is helpful. We help students memorize multiplication tables and then we give them meaningful tasks to practice them. I suppose we'll learn more in our math methods courses!

Chpt. 7 Response to: The Development of Knowledge

I have wondered that same thing with ADHD students. If a student paying attention is essential for them to learn, then how will students with ADHD learn anything? It does present a challenge for these students and I think this is why it is important for teachers to be creative in how they approach topics and attempt to get their attention. I did go look for that video you discussed, but couldn’t find it. I did find a similar one and had my husband do it, since I already knew what to look for. He did not catch it either. That is just fascinating to me that you could focus so hard on something that everything around you is not acknowledged. I think this is how I am as a driver sometimes. I focus so hard on the road that I do not notice anything around me. Needless to say, you are better off not being on the road when I am.

Your example of priming with your church music was intriguing. I would never have thought that it would make a difference, but clearly it does. I am impressed with whoever thought to use this tactic.

I have noticed that a lot of our class discussions and what we both put in our journal relate the information we read to past experiences. I think putting it into a context that is familiar to us helps us understand and retain the information better. I felt the examples in the book were worthy of taking note of. I especially like the idea of having students put things into their own words. When I was working with a second grader, I asked if he could paraphrase (after I explained to him what that meant) the story and he couldn’t. Looking back on it, it is possible that he just didn’t understand the story. I wish I knew then what I know now and I could have found different ways to help him comprehend the story. It never occurred to me that this was why he couldn’t paraphrase the story.

Chpt. 7: Important skills for learning

I found a lot of useful information in this chapter, but I couldn’t think of many past experiences to draw on. I was first interested in their example of an information processing system. The author’s comment about, how a person learns information to begin with will impact what they will be able to remember later is important to think about. As teachers, this could mean the success or failure of our students. The chapter discussed how elaboration is important. That people use old information to comprehend new information. It will be important for us to provide information to students in an effective way for this information to be easily elaborated on, organized and put into the correct context. My only concern with this is how to do this effectively with the growing diversity in the classroom. I suppose presenting the material in different ways could help each student comprehend the information to its fullest.

It was nice for me to see that it is normal to forget information and that there is a real reason I do. In a classroom we learn so much information that it may be hard to keep all of it in our long term memories. We are all experiencing this type of interference with the overwhelming amount of information we are receiving in this program. Hopefully we will be able to get this information from our working memory to our long term memory. If not, I guess it is a good reason to keep the books and notes. For our future students to be successful it will be imperative to give different opportunities for learning and different situations so ideally, the information will be meaningful to each student.

I did find it interesting to learn about metacognitive knowledge and to do a little research on it (as this is the topic for my presentation). I talk to myself a lot so it was nice to hear that it is a skill that needs to be learned and a skill that could help me become more self aware. Like the self management skills in chapter six, I feel that strategies to develop metacognitive skills are important to use. The article I read regarding metacognitive knowledge gave different strategies on how to teach students these skills. One of the strategies talked about was to model the skills to your students so they can see how effectively to use them. I think being able to regulate your own thinking and learning is essential for students to be successful in the long run.

Finally, it was interesting to read the different opinions about memorization. I have to agree with the comment that if you do not teach memorization strategies to students, you are doing a disservice to them. It was amusing that this was in the same chapter where they discussed the writing strategy for older students using mnemonics to remember DEFENDS. I think it is important to show students how to memorize some things, as long as you don’t have them memorizing information as opposed to understanding it. As the author says, students may turn to memorizing information that they are having trouble understanding or when teachers require exact information. I know that memorization helped me get good grades on my spelling tests!

Chapter 7: The Development of Knowledge

by April

Having just read several articles about ADHD, one of the first things in this chapter that really stood out to me was the importance of attention in learning. This chapter states that being able to pay attention is the first step to being able to learn. This really brings out the challenges faced by children with ADHD. There is a video circulating on the internet that tells you to watch the number of times a ball changes hands (I think that was it anyway). So you are watching this video and counting how many times the ball exchanges hands. At the end the video asks if you noticed the giant bear walking around among the people who are passing the ball. I did not. But when I went back and watched again, there was the giant bear, seemingly impossible to miss. Knowing that attention has to do with being able to focus on certain stimuli while ignoring others, I wonder if a child with ADHD would notice the bear during the first viewing. I had to laugh at the example of the college professor jumping on their desk to make a point. I can't imagine myself doing that but I do think we need to be aware of how important it is that our students are paying attention and we need to be creative in helping them to do that.

When the author talked about priming I automatically thought of another silly thing. My step-dad used to tell a rhyme where he'd have you repeat words after him that rhymed with milk. He'd make some up to. Then after a while he'd ask, "What do cows drink?" Well, obviously, cows drink water. But after saying all the words that sounded like milk, most people automatically answer, "milk." The author didn't go into very much detail in regards to priming but I think I've heard of including new information in subtle ways before trying to teach it to students so that they have a background in that information without even realizing it. We actually use this technique at church in regards to teaching new music. If we know there is a song we want to teach we will put it in the "pre-service mix" so that as people are waiting for church to start they will hear the music playing on a CD. Then when we play it in church for the first time they will think, "Hey, I've heard this before," and will be more open to learning it.

I think that goes along with the idea of elaboration as well. Students will have a deeper understanding and a better ability to remember new things they are learning if they already have some experience with it. This is probably why we try to make sense of these new things we are learning by connecting them with our past experiences. So perhaps giving children experiences with certain concepts before actually trying to teach them would be helpful. Other ideas listed in the chapter that I thought were good included asking students to put things into their own words, come up with examples, explain it to a peer and more.

Lastly, although we talk about this later in chapter 9 as well, I wanted to comment on the concept of making learning meaningful because it certainly relates to memory. If learning happens in the context of authentic experiences, it will be more likely to be generalized and remembered. This is why project-based learning carries more weight than having kids do simple worksheets.

Chapter 6 Response to: Reinforcement and Learning

by April

I have to agree with you regarding the reward system. I don't think it can be used for very long without it losing it's effectiveness. I had a child that we tried to give a small piece of candy at the end of the day if he'd gotten through the day without hurting another child. For a week, it was a very effective technique. After that, the candy lost its appeal. What this did show me is that he had the power to control his behavior, which gave me more motivation to find a technique that would work in the long term. I think if I had known about the self-management strategies, a similar technique would have possibly worked with him. Unfortunately I didn't actually have any information about possible strategies to use. I only had what I could come up with in my own mind. The other thing I think you mentioned in your response to me was the response of the mother in regards to changing the reward all the time for the boy you worked with. I don't remember if it was in this chapter or in the articles I read for SpEd but somewhere it pointed out the importance of the parent's commitment to helping their child and that often means learning new parenting techniques. There are usually a lot of factors at work, affecting a family's willingness (or unwillingness) to look at their own responsibilities in regards to their child's behavior. We, as educators, need to be ready to provide resources to help parents but also we need to be sensitive to the internal struggles parents have regarding their children's behavior.

I like how you explained self-management skills in terms of the way they help you study and get through a program as intense as this one is. You pointed out a few great things that should be taught, not left to chance. We can and should teach out students to set goals, to prioritize, to assess, to "check things off," and more. I remember my freshman year of college we were required to attend a seminar on time management. At the time I thought, "We're in college, who at this point doesn't have time management skills?" Well, I was surprised to find out that most students didn't have time management skills. Obviously it comes easier for some than others to manage "self," but I do think it can be taught and it seems that schools are failing students in this area.

Chpt. 6 Response to: Behavioral Views of Learning

The comment you made about working with the family of a child with significant behavior issues definitely caught my attention. I think it is important to work with the family of a child, but what happens when this isn’t a priority to the family. I fear we may face this a lot in our years as teachers and my concern is what to do if the family doesn’t care. I experienced this with the child I worked with. His mother was not willing to work with me in an effective manner. She wanted us to come up with a different reward system every time her son was no longer interested in the current one; which happened every week. She wasn’t willing to talk to him about his behavior at school. It made it a frustrating situation for everyone involved and did not benefit the student in any way.

The comparison to working as an adult for free intrigued me. I have never thought about that and I have to agree, most, if not all people would not work for free. I have loved my jobs I held in the past, but I would not work there if I did not get paid. I agree that intrinsic motivation is important for everyone because when you do get older, you do not get rewards or compliments for every little thing you do. I think it is important to help your students develop this motivation, but there does need to be other strategies used, especially with younger kids who do need that instant gratification sometimes (not all kids, but some).

I thought it was interesting that we both commented on self-management skills. I see how the lack of these would cause academic struggles because without setting goals, there is no motivation to accomplish things. If there is that motivation, maybe they do not know how to monitor their progress and as a result they do not complete what needs to be done, on time. Therefore these students would not be successful.

Chpt. 6: Reinforcement and Learning

There were a couple of things I felt were interesting in Chapter six. I enjoyed reading about the different forms of reinforcement. I know I used positive reinforcement many times with my student, but I quickly found out that when it is new, it is exciting, but it soon gets old. He quickly decided that it wasn’t too important to him so some days he would try for the reward and other days he just didn’t care. I think this just shows that you need something more than just a reward system to change a child’s behavior.

The other thing I found interesting with the topic of reinforcement was reprimands. All of the teachers in the grade I worked in used public reprimands regularly. It was interesting to read that those are not as effective. As a shy girl, I was always mortified when I got reprimanded publicly. However, I was not in trouble frequently and I was usually on task.

I was intrigued with the concept of observational learning. I understand how this would be effective for students, but one of the key elements to this is attention. With the amount of young kids diagnosed with ADHD, I think it is harder for them to stay focused long enough to learn much. That is why I think it is crucial for teachers to be creative and to capture their audience/students. I had a staff assistant tell me once that when she stood in the front of the class to explain something, half of the class wasn’t even focused and the other half appeared to be day dreaming. I think this is one of the greatest challenges as a teacher and one I will think about a lot. Hopefully, my students will be interested in what I have to say and hopefully that thought won’t keep me up at night.

Going back to school after not being in it for a little while has been hard. That is one reason the self-management section intrigued me. I think for anyone to be successful in school, not just pass classes, but actually learn from them, they need to have well established self management skills. I know I set a goal for each one of my days on how much work to do and what I need to get done. I then monitor and evaluate my progress by either crossing something off of my list or by picking up my study pace and finally I reward myself by relaxing. I think all three of these steps are vital to any student being successful. It is important for students to have a goal and slowly work up to this goal. As a teacher, it is my job to help a student set a reasonable goal. I can then show them how to monitor their progress and let them know they have done a job well done.

I think this informal education is sometimes lacking in classrooms and I think it would be hugely beneficial for it to be a necessity in a classroom. It directly impacts a student’s self-esteem. If they feel they are making progress, even if they didn’t ace the test, then they will keep trying and work harder to complete their next goal. More importantly, they will feel good about what they have done.