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.

Chapter 6: Behavioral Views of Learning

by April

This was an interesting chapter, I think in part because Prof. Mabry said when class first started that behavioral theories are outdated. Then I thought of how we tend to believe what we heard first so I tried to keep an open mind while reading. The questions as to whether using a reward system was a good or bad technique was highly debated in my last school. Some teachers loved it, some hated it. I fell in the middle, where I usually seem to be. I found it helpful at times and less helpful at other times.

I have certainly employed many of the strategies in the chapter in my own teaching. Specifically there is a section that talks about involving the family when working with a child with significant behavior issues. They suggested something like getting or having taken away buttons and the number left going towards points for things at home such as TV time. Which by the way, I think is a horrible idea. I may have mentioned this before but it always seemed to me that the kids who had significant behavior problems were also kids who spent a lot of time in front of the television at home. So, I think rewarding good behavior with TV time is not helpful. However, the family in my class chose to use this to help their child with his behavior problems. He had a chart in class and if he got a certain number of smiley stickers on the chart that day he got to take home a smiley face on a piece of paper and his family would reward him with TV time. This was very helpful for a little while but it's affects wore off in time. This seemed to be the case with most of the situations we tried to use reward system for. To me this says that using a reward system needs to be coupled with other strategies while slowly weaning the child off the reward system.

However, I'm not sure I'm ready to completely count out behaviorists theories. I liked the point in the debate section that said, "Would you continue to work for a company that didn't pay you, even though you liked the work? (page 239)" Well, obviously the answer is no. We work to earn a living and hopefully because we enjoy our job. In teaching our motivations are hopefully higher than just making a living but for many people, they work because they need money to live. So our world is system based on rewards. I absolutely think intrinsic motivation is important but I'm going to be open to behaviorist strategies in cases where other strategies aren't working.

I liked the point about functional behavioral assessments. The question, "What are students getting out of their problem behavior?" was a great one. The next step of course being that you would find another way to help the child get what they are getting through misbehaving. A simple example from my experience is the child who steals toys. Obviously what the child is receiving is the toy they want. So at that point, my job as the teacher is to help them learn better ways to communicate with peers to get what they want.

I feel like there is a lot that could be commented on in this chapter but I will end by saying that I think self-management skills are really important to teach. A 4th grade teacher I volunteered for mentioned to me that her students lack of self-management skills was a major reason for their academic struggles. Helping students set goals, and monitor and evaluate their progress can go along way in getting them to accept ownership for their learning.

Chapter 5 Response to: Stereotypes and Low SES

by April

The issue you mentioned of ensuring that we have high expectations for our students keeps coming up in almost every chapter we read. I thought it was interesting that on page 191 the text pointed out that "exemplary African American teachers are described repeatedly by their students as having high expectations and a demanding teaching style." But it didn't stop at that. Not only did it show that these teachers have high expectations for their students but they clearly had expectations for themselves as teachers as well in that they refused to lower standards even if it meant working extra hours to help students achieve success. I think we have to be careful to make sure that high expectations for students are coupled with high expectations on ourselves for quality instruction and commitment to helping children learn.

You brought up the issue of gender schema and stereotype threat. First, I thought it was interesting that the information in our Psych book was very incomplete or almost in disagreement from the information in our Sociology book. Actually as I was reading it I was thinking, "Weird, it seems that I've heard lately that the problem is now reversed and there is concern for boy's lack of success in school." So I wasn't surprised to see that perspective brought out in our sociology text. What I wanted to say about the stereotype threat, though, was that there can be positive stereotype threats as well that can hinder a child's learning. For example, telling a boy that boys are always good at math and science puts on a certain pressure that he has to do well in math and science. I think the issue is actually more pronounced in terms of racial positive stereotypes. When a person feels they have to live up to a certain positive view of their race, it adds the performance anxiety of, not only would I be failing myself if I don't succeed, but I will be letting down my race as well. I read that some where in the past and thought it was interesting. I think the point is that we have high expectations for our students as individuals and not based on known stereotypes. "I think you will succeed in math because you have the ability to succeed in math." Rather than, "I think you'll succeed in math because you're a boy and boys are good at math."

Lastly, you mentioned the struggle for students from a lower SES losing ground during the summer because of their lack of access to the resources that most middle-class students have. I would be interested in seeing data as to whether students from a lower SES actually do better in the long term in schools that are year-round rather than schools that are in session 9 months and out 3 months. I just wonder if that makes any difference in their long term achievement.

Chpt. 5 Response to: Diversity in Education

I think the program your school started is great. I think all schools should partake in this. I think ignoring the fact that we are different is saying that your differences are not significant; that our differences don’t make us who we are. I know that my culture and my upbringing have defined me as a person; my beliefs and my priorities are based off of how I was raised. If we don’t acknowledge different cultures how can we learn from one another? Someone in our class once said something about teaching children to be colorblind. Whereas I understood where she was coming from, I feel that teaching our children to be colorblind is teaching them that being different is not acceptable and that we just shouldn’t acknowledge it.

I know in my high school we had the Hispanic wing by the ESL room. All of their lockers were over there and that is where they hung out. We did not have the extreme you did, but we did have some segregation. I think it is unfortunate that our school systems are like think. I hope that as a teacher, I am able to make small steps by treating each and everyone of my students equally, but also learning from their background and cultures. I think modeling this interest and respect is essential for children to view. My final thought on this topic is that one day children do grow up and go out into the real world. If they never learn about any other culture they will be naïve and ignorant. They will not be able to function successfully in the business world because you do communicate with other cultures quite frequently. They can’t just ignore the differences because they could offend someone or appear to be showing disrespect.

Your comment about stereotype risk was interesting to me and hit home. It is something I think teachers need to take to heart. I remember in college, I was getting ready to take the final; literally the test was in front of me. I felt ready and I knew I would do great on it. Well, the first thing out of the professor’s mouth was that everyone does poorly on his tests. Maybe two people in the class will get an A, but the rest of us would get a C. Well, sure enough I got a C. I really do think it had to do with him getting in our heads and telling us we couldn’t succeed. I am going to try and always encourage my students and let them know that they can do great things (however corny that sounds).

Chpt. 5: Stereotypes and Low SES

With the growing diversity in schools, I think the most important thing a teacher can bring to the classroom is acceptance and understanding and the hope that your students will bring the same. I feel that the majority of this chapter was about accepting others that don’t fit into the “norm”. I think it is important to be conscious of others that are different from the “normal student” and make sure your lesson plans do not discriminate towards these students; make sure that all of your students can comprehend it.

Equity Pedagogy, from Banks’s Dimensions of Multicultural Education relates a lot to differentiated classrooms, which is what I talked about in my last journal entry. In order for a differentiated classroom to succeed the teacher must adapt their lesson plans in order to better suit each students’ learning styles. I think as a new teacher (I hope!) I will be at an advantage because I do not have a “routine” that I have followed the last ten years. I am more open to trying new things because I do not know what works best for me. I do feel that differentiated lessons plans may be more work for teachers, as we discussed in our special education class, but I feel the benefit to the kids could be substantial. We just need to remember to take small steps towards this kind of lesson plan so as not to get overwhelmed. It is not good for anyone involved if the teacher gets burned out on something new in the first year.

Many low-socioeconomic status students have lower achievement than others. I think it is important, as a teacher to encourage your students to look past their own stereotypes, whether they are conscious of it or not (don’t point it out to them, jut don’t treat them differently). Low socioeconomic status does impact the expectations of some teachers towards their students. However, it is important to hold high standards for all of your students. They may be going through Erikson’s stage of industry versus inferiority and without the chance to try and to struggle they may feel inferior and never get past this stage. If we hold low standards for these kids, then we are telling them that we don’t believe that they can succeed at anything difficult or challenging.

Also, students may not succeed because they are attempting to avoid the stereotype, otherwise known as stereotype threat. They may be concerned about fitting into what people already believe to be true so they may avoid the situation all together. In the short term this may cause anxiety, but the long term effect could be much worse; students may drop out of school or never try new things because of their fear to become the stereotype. I think as a teacher, it is important to be conscious of stereotype threat and attempt to help these students get past it.

I did find it interesting that we are more likely to notice information that confirms what we already believe, information that reaffirms the stereotype. With this knowledge, I plan on being more aware of what I am processing in the future.

Another reason for low success with these students is tracking. Since there are lower expectations for these students they may be taught to learn by a surface-processing approach; therefore only memorizing work and never fully grasping the concepts and understanding them. As a teacher I can help these students succeed by holding the same standards for all and giving them the tools and opportunities for success. However, the biggest obstacle for me and any other teacher is summer vacation. Students who come from lower-economic status do not necessarily have the resources that other students may have. This puts them further behind and over the years it really makes a significant difference. Is there a way a teacher can make a difference over the summer, other than instilling a love for learning in the student and encouraging reading?

My final thought is on the Gender Schema Theory. I do think this theory is practical in how younger children think. This is why I do get frustrated with females openly talking about their lack of interest in Science and Mathematics when children are around. Or when they say they are terrible at math. It could become a form of stereotype threat where future females will not even try because they don’t want to prove the stereotype true.

Chapter 5: Diversity in Education

I've always been shown multicultural education as "content integration" so I've had a bit of a hard time making sense of what the chapter is suggesting is actual multicultural education. I remember when I was working at the preschool on of the teachers made a comment about how the school feels like it promotes multiculturalism because it serves cheese quesadillas once a month. She always said things like, "Yes, because all Mexicans just eat quesadillas." I totally get what she is saying and agree with her but I'm not sure I've totally figured out how you move from just including a few connections to a culture and minimizing it in that way to something more. I think in our SpEd article about math it talked about a teacher who had students research how certain mathematical ideas originated in Africa. Would this be considered content integration or is this more appropriate?

We talked about the idea of being "color blind" in our sociology class and it reminded me of a class I took in high school called Dignity in Diversity. I think there is value in helping students recognize that we do come from different cultural backgrounds and that just because someone doesn't act like a middle-class white student doesn't make them deficient. Understanding is really important and certainly cooperative learning opportunities would be helpful in promoting that. I remember when I first moved to Anchorage I was befriended by a couple of African American girls. I'm pretty sure I was the only white kid hanging out in their group at the time. They teased me a lot and I always felt like I was an outsider. I now understand that teasing is actually part of the African American culture and they probably weren't trying to be mean to me but were actually including me and treating me like a friend. I think I told you that my high school right now is only 40% Caucasian (out of about 2000 students). I'm not sure of the exact stats from when I was there (10 years ago!) but I'm sure they were similar. Even in such a diverse school, we were incredibly segregated. We had 6 floors and each racial group took a different floor to hang on. The African American kids hung out in yellow hall. The Laotian kids hung out on the other side of yellow hall. The Asian kids hung out on one end of blue hall. And so on... The white kids were either potheads in green hall, jocks in purple hall or ROTC in orange hall. I'm not sure if this is normal or not, but we had security guards that roamed the halls during the school. The Dignity in Diversity class was started because we had so many racial tensions in our school.

I did think it was really important that the text pointed out that we need to exercise caution when learning about other cultures because membership in a certain group doesn't determine behavior but simply suggests that certain behaviors are probable. For example, people often assume that Christians always vote Republican. I, on the other hand, am a Christian and vote Democrat. So we do have to be careful that developing understanding doesn't turn into believing stereotypes.

I was really amazed at the stories in the section about stereotype risk. The power of the mind is really incredible. The fact that telling a male student something like, "Oh, men typically don't do well on this test," can actually impact their test score is incredible. I've heard this in relation to health issues as well. Telling a person that they are taking a medication that will relieve headaches will often actually relieve headaches even though the pill is actually a placebo. It's more about the person's belief in the pill than the actual medicine in the pill. When I think of that in relation to stereotypes, it helps me see how important it is to believe in all my students and demonstrate that to them. No student should fail simply because someone else believes they will!

Chapter 4 Response to: Labeling and Tracking

by April

I'm glad you pointed out the problem with testing and it's connection to the "surface-processing" approach. This was absolutely me in my under-grad work (except the classes in my major) and in high school. I was always an excellent test-taker. I would be able to study the night before and then sit and take a test and be able to picture in my mind where on my study sheet I read that information and then be able to answer the test questions. Once the test was over, I couldn't tell you what I learned. I think this is why my comprehension skills are weak and I read slowly. I was (and in many ways still am) very motivated by grades and the approval of others. When I took the three online history courses through WSU in preparation for this program I learned a whole new way of learning. There were no tests! What, no tests? No dates or names or places to memorize? The class involved reading texts and then responding to questions in essay format, often making connections between things like religion and politics. I found these classes to be much for difficult but much more interesting. It was the result of these classes that made me love not just getting an A but actually just learning about history and seeing it's impact on life today. I definitely think that deep-processing needs to be encouraged. There should be more ways than just a multiple-choice test to see whether or not children are learning the material you are teaching.

When I think about the variety of ways I could offend someone from another culture, I agree, it's a little intimidating. I took an early childhood development class when I was working at the preschool and the text for that class was very focused on multiculturalism. It talked about child rearing practices and a variety of other things that we may not understand about the culture of students in our classrooms and how too often teachers make judgments about families without understanding those backgrounds. I think the important thing to keep in mind is that we need to get to know the students and their families as much as possible and develop a respectful relationship so that honest conversation can happen. And it is our responsibility as the teacher to be the one reaching out and making the effort. We need to recognize how hard it may be for a family member who is unfamiliar with white middle-class culture to approach us with concerns or frustrations so we need to make the effort and be open to hearing those things and respectful in our responses even if we don't like the way something was communicated. Open lines of communication are very important in avoiding and resolving conflicts of all kinds, including those brought about by cultural differences.

Response to Chpt. 4: Tracking and Emotional Intelligence

I know what you mean with relating all of your information to your preschool class. That is what I tend to do with my last job, but I agree that it is our best source of information. I feel applying what we know to our past experiences makes all of this information real and interesting.

I found your question about the over representation of minority groups in lower achieving ability groups interesting. I think that your two potential answers to this reasoning fit together. It is unfortunate, but I think students are placed in these lower ability groups because of their differing cultural capital and because of this the teacher views them as lower achieving. Sometimes I wonder if all teachers should come back to school and take the classes we are taking because I feel so enlightened by all of this information and motivated to do my best to prevent this from happening in my own classroom. Granted, this is idealistic and it may not be possible for me to change, but I know I can do my best to work for that goal.

When I read your comment about emotion intelligence, I began thinking back to our past discussions about our old jobs. I think the most common reason for aggression and rage at such a young age is a misunderstanding of situations (at least the violence I witnessed). I know that the second grader I worked with really struggled to read the situation properly. This is why he usually acted out. I feel that if someone would have worked with him to educate him on his emotional intelligence, it would have had a huge impact on his behavior and a lot less stress for everyone involved. These are children, but they need to learn early on how to interact with one another and read situations properly. The older they get the more trouble they could get into because of this lack of intelligence.

I wish all schools and classes would educate children on tattling and solving problems on their own. During recess, I would have at least five different students come to me to tattle on someone else. We tried to discourage them from tattling, but fifteen minutes just didn’t seem like enough time to do it in.

I also agree that the best way to educate students on emotional intelligence is to model it yourself. I think the strategies are wonderful ideas, as long as they could be implemented. I think it should be a requirement in schools to teach these kinds of strategies and to model them. This doesn’t just mean having the counselor come in once a week and talk for thirty minutes about it, but to actually apply it to their everyday life. I think the counselor at our school came every other week at most (I know they are busy!) and that is why the regular classroom should work on these strategies as well.

Chpt. 4: Labeling and Tracking

Person-first language is something I never had considered before. After hearing it in my special education class and now reading it in this class, I am going to make an effort to phrase my sentences carefully. Children are impressionable and if you are demonstrating behavior that is unacceptable they will most likely follow suit (saying a bad word for example). There is a lot of pressure on teachers to be role models, treat everyone equal and to not make anybody feel inferior. It makes sense to use person-first language because a disability does not define who somebody is; it is just one of many characteristics about them; like the color of their hair.

It concerns me that I will be leading a classroom, yet I can easily offend someone with my lack of knowledge. As I commented earlier on April’s journal about the word “handicap”, I had no idea that it was offensive. I think as a teacher we need to be conscious of how our words and actions impact our students and we need to provide a safe environment for all of our students so they feel comfortable enough to learn.

Labeling is a huge issue in my mind, especially in the classroom. Teachers talk to each other about their current students and I think this is one way in which labeling begins. For example, a teacher may label a student as a “troublemaker” and tell other teachers about them. The following year another teacher has this child in class and this teacher may treat this child differently, without even being aware of it because there is a label of “troublemaker” attached to the student. This child may see this as a self-fulfilling prophecy and never work towards success or even respect from their teachers.

This also happens when schools use tracking. I know in my last job the students were well aware of why they were split up and who was in the low group and who was in the high group. I am sure it is easier on a teacher to work this way, but is it fair to the students? A sad experience I had with this was that last April a new student came to the school. She was from Russia and clearly English was her second language. She was put into the low reading level group to begin with because she couldn’t read out loud fluently enough. However, when she did an assignment it was quality work. She put sentences together better than any of the students in the average classroom. The lower reading level teacher suggested moving her back up, but nobody acted on it. So this girl has been “tracked” and her academic success will potentially suffer.

I think it is important as a teacher to recognize this. I think students would benefit from “untracking” because it exposes them to differing abilities. When there is a differentiated classroom, students are able to learn from one another. When a student is able to explain to another student the process of answering a question, not only does that student benefit, but the lower-level student benefits as well. Studies show that collaborative learning is effective. As a teacher, I feel differentiated classes could work best if you were able to provide extra help to the students struggling. Fortunately, your higher-level students could be this extra help and all of your students would be able to learn more effectively. Working with each other also teaches your students acceptance and tolerance for one another. It also teaches your students how to work with one another, which I feel is an ability that is lacking in students today (thanks to activities that do not require interaction, such as television and video games).

Another issue is standardized tests, which are constantly being debated over; whether they are effective or not. In my mind, I don’t find them to be effective. This is because it is teaching students to develop a surface-processing approach to learning. They are just memorizing their information in order to pass a test and then they forget this information later. I know that for me and many of my friends, we graduated high school with this learning approach. I think it is more important for teachers to aim to develop a deep-processing approach to learning. I do think that a differentiated lesson plan can assist with this because when students are attempting to teach other students, they must process the information well enough to explain it to someone else.

Finally, I think it is important, as a teacher, to not put much weight into IQ tests. In my opinion it is just another way to discriminate against low-socioeconomic status and differing cultures. I think that the schools need to move away from following the old standards of a white culture and need to become adaptable to the differing students enrolled in the classroom.

Chapter 4: Tracking and Emotional Intelligence

by April

I thought it was interesting that this chapter went further into detail about tracking and I think really answered some of our previous questions about what is best in regard's to grouping students. It seems that whatever grouping is chosen, it is important that high-level instruction and high expectations must be given to all children. Our text points out the fact that homogenous groups with lower achieving students tend to be given lower level instruction and expectations therefore perpetuating the problem. Not to mention the fact that if children become aware that they are the "slow group" - and they usually do - this causes the issues we've discussed in regards to labeling. I thought it was interesting that it also suggests that minority and children from a lower-socioeconomic group tend to be over represented in these lower achieving ability groups. Is this because teachers tend to view children in these groups as lower achieving students or is it because these students tend to struggle academically due to the fact that they lack the cultural capital to fit into public schools geared towards middle- and upper-class students? Either way it's something we need to be aware of when considering how we do grouping.

Of course the text also mentions that higher-achieving students tend to do better in homogenous groups then they do in heterogenous groups. It seems then that flexible grouping is the way to go. Perhaps at times children are grouped by abilities and other times they are mixed. Sometimes there's two to a group and sometimes more. Sometime cross-grade grouping is used. I believe you mentioned something in class about needing to help keep kids from feeling "pigeon-holed." Mixing up the way you do grouping seems to be a good way to do that as I believe you mentioned. It certainly sounds more complicated for the teacher, but better for the students.

I was interested in the question posed on page 116, "What do you think about the idea of emotional intelligence? Would you teach that in your class?" In my opinion, emotional intelligence is a huge part of a child being able to successfully participate in school and in the world beyond their schooling. I thought the text was right on in bringing up the fact that we all know people who are talented but unsuccessful. I think we talked about my friend who got her teaching certificate and has been trying to get a job for over a year now. I was pretty worried when I heard that until my friend, the assistant principle said she had interviewed her and she just does not interview well. When it comes to succeeding at getting and keeping a job, it's not all about what we know. We do need to be able to perceive our own emotions as well as the emotions of others. Being able to read nonverbal cues is important when interacting with people. We need to be able to make sense of our emotions and integrate them into our thinking. And we really need to be able to manage our emotions. The kids I've seen who struggle the most are really lacking in this area. They have not learned to control their impulses, focus their energy and not be overwhelmed by their emotions.

Some kids need structured learning about these things. Examples might include role playing or reading stories about children who are dealing with anger or working through problems with friends. Other kids learn these things through real-life conflict. I know I relate everything to my work at the preschool, but it's my best source to connect to at the moment. One of our main goals there was to teach children to handle conflict in the right way and on their own. Scaffolding played a major role in how we did this. We would start by demonstrating for them how to respond in conflict and over time slowly allowing them to take on the responsibility. By the end of the year, tattling wasn't allowed and they were required to work things out on their own unless someone was hurt. Helping kids understand how others feel when they act in certain ways is a big help. Also giving them strategies for addressing their own anger is important. Having kids wait for a response when they ask for something can help with controlling impulses and delaying gratification. As a preschool teacher, someone was always wanting something from me. By the end of the year most students had learned to wait patiently until I was ready to address their need. And lastly, simply demonstrating emotional intelligence in the classroom is an important part of teaching it.

Chapter 3 Response to: Psychosocial Development, Parenting and Cheating

by April

I completely understand what you are talking about when you say that teachers will often just give answers in order to avoid the frustration of teaching a child who just isn't getting it. When I lived at home I used to help my sister with math. She has fetal alcohol syndrome and so helping her was very trying. She was frustrated, I was frustrated, and yes, the easy thing would have been to just give her the answer. Of course that's not acceptable. I do think you are right in suggesting that the conversations between teachers about students cause part of the problem. If you are a third grade teacher and over the last 3 years a child's Kindergarten teacher, 1st grade teacher and 2nd grade teacher have all been complaining about this child in the teacher's lounge, how do you set aside all your preconceived ideas about the child so that you can look at him/her with fresh eyes to find a fresh approach? It's certainly not easy. I even saw that in teaching preschoolers. And honestly, the more you talk bad about a child, the more that child becomes dehumanized. All you see is the challenge they bring rather than who they are. It's certainly something teachers should not be doing.

I agree that these children who are struggling need a teacher who is not going to give up on them. They need a teacher who will provide guidance, not answers. This is where the idea of scaffolding comes in. You begin by modeling the behavior you want the child to do and then slowly release more and more of it to the child. For example, when a child is learning how to read a book you first read to them. Then you let them turn the pages while you read and hold the book. Then they hold the book and turn the page while you read. And often after that they will be able to begin "reading" the book by themselves as they look at the pictures and remember the story you've read to them so many times before. Scaffolding can be a very helpful tool for the child who is struggling.

I thought your connection to the WASL in regards to cheating was an interesting one. In a high pressure situation such as that one, it's not only students who are attempted to cheat, it's teachers. I can't believe the stories I've read about teachers trying to cheat on the WASL in various ways. I spoke to my friend who was a Professional Development Specialist at the time of our conversation and I asked her about this very thing. Being rather ignorant of what the WASL entails I asked, "Is it really necessary for teachers to teach to the test and put all this pressure on students or if they just did a good job teaching in general, would the students do fine on the test?" She seemed to think that it was unnecessary for teachers to teach to the test and really they aren't supposed to do that. But she also reminded me of the pressure teachers are under to get good scores. So the pressure issue here is a trickle down effect. The administrators are under a great deal of pressure because of the impact that low scores will have on their school, the teachers are under pressure from the administrators and the students are under pressure from the teachers. What a mess.

Lastly, you aren't incompetent. If you were, you would not be a part of this program. It's natural to feel that way when you are having so many new things thrown your way all at once. I know you don't feel you have the experience and understanding that some other students have but you will and I'm guessing you know and understand more than you realize. I imagine once Fall starts and you are in the classroom observing and interacting will all of this information in the back of your mind, things will start clicking and your confidence will grow. I've been working with kids in a variety of "teaching" roles for about 6 years now and I still feel overwhelmed by all the information and most of the time I feel it flies right over my head! But I just tell myself to give it time to sink in and I'm sure it will.

Chpt 3 Response to: Development Stages, Parenting and Caring

Your journal is very insightful and I appreciate what you are getting out of our reading.

My main question is about the zone of proximal development. I couldn’t agree more with you in that you must let kids struggle through tasks in order to gain a sense of competence. The only concern I have is how much do you let a student struggle? I am sure it depends on the child, but I know the last student I worked with; if I let him struggle for too long (thirty seconds at most!) he would break down and start throwing things. I hope this is something that comes naturally to teachers, and once I am in the classroom it will be second nature to know this “zone”, but I don’t know how realistic that is. I guess you just have to read the student to know if it is too much for them. As you said, there is a lot of pressure in the earlier years because it impacts the rest of the years they are in education.

With regards to waiting for a child to show you respect; I found that interesting as well. I think it is modeled within our culture that you must show respect in order to earn it or in order for someone to care for you. I too, have fallen into this same situation, I am sure more than once. I think it happens a lot in the school environment. My first day working with a behavior disorder child involved many people telling me, “don’t be nice to him, we’ve tried nice” and many things to that effect. I know there is a lot of discussion between teachers about students so it is harder to have an open mind about a new student you have heard such horrible things about. I think our job as teachers is to remember that we can make a difference and maybe we can turn the student around just by giving them a chance.

Knowing that we are in all of the same classes, I too heard about the origin of the word “handicap.” I was actually quite appalled that we continue to use a word to generalize about a group of people that has such a negative connotation. I never knew where the word came from; just that many people use it. A side note is that this relates a lot to the classroom. Students will use all sorts of words that they do not necessarily know the meaning of. How can we scold them if we too are using words that are inconsiderate to others? I just found this to be an interesting thought.

Chpt 3: Psychosocial Development, Parenting and Cheating

Reading Erikson’s stages of psychosocial development was incredibly helpful to me as a new teacher. In order to help students pass through these stages successfully I now know I need to give them opportunities so they can find themselves. I have seen a lot of teachers in my past who had given up on a child, in a sense. When they were helping a student with their work they would just end up giving them the answer because it was too frustrating to help them along. It is one thing to help lead them into the right direction, but if you just tell them how to do their work they will never learn. I think this is important to remember as a teacher because sometimes the easier route of telling a student what to do is tempting. I just need to remember that these students need guidance; they don’t need someone telling them exactly what to do. My concern as a teacher is to know how far to push a student and at what time is it alright to help them when they are struggling.

While reading the different stages I have determined that I am 6 to 12 years old; I feel like I am going through the industry versus inferiority stage all over again. The sense of failure and incompetence are sometimes keeping me up at night because I just feel so overwhelmed with the lack of knowledge I apparently have (especially after reading the Critical Pedagogy book!) .

Another topic I found interesting was the different parenting styles that can impact a student’s ability to learn, which I never had considered before. My only concern is how to counteract these parenting style impacts that negatively affect my students. On top of this I also have to consider the different cultures a student may be brought up in because those parents may have differing morals and ideas on how to raise their child. I guess the most I can do as a teacher is to provide the support to that student while at school and let them know I am there for them and hope all of it sticks with them. I feel that bullying has a lot to do with the kind of family you come from as well, so as a teacher I just hope to be able to show them how to not be aggressive and how to be respectful of one another.

I feel parenting styles and teaching styles change during a divorce. With divorce becoming more and more prevalent I think it is important to know how to speak to the kids of these families. I recall when I was working at my last school I would catch myself wanting to say mom or dad or parents; I never quite knew what I should say. After reading this chapter I now know to say “family”, which makes a lot more sense to me. More importantly though are the challenges that students face in school after or during a divorce and I hope as a teacher I will be able to help them through the time. My personal view is that I think children thrive in a stable environment and since a divorce causes a lot of instability, my biggest concern is to provide that stability in the classroom for them.

The final topic I want to touch upon is cheating. I think the majority of people cannot deny that they have cheated one time or another. When the pressure to succeed is so heavy, how could you not fold under this anxiety at such an insecure age? I know the book said that you need to lower pressure for students in order to avoid cheating, but all I have to say is, WASL. The second graders in my class knew that next year they would be taking the WASL and they knew how important it was. This kind of pressure at this age cannot be good for their self-esteems, so I can imagine a lot of cheating will happen. My question is how do you combat this as a teacher if you are required to give these tests and students have heard from everyone else how important it is to pass them? I know you can try to reassure them, but if everyone else is telling them they need to pass it, they are most likely going to have severe stress anxiety and may resort to cheating.

Chapter 3: Development Stages, Parenting and Caring

by April

It's hard to narrow this chapter down to just a few things to respond to so this may jump around a little bit.
Erikson's stages have always made more sense to me than some of the other theorist's explanations of stages. Of course being a preschool teacher I'm very aware of the autonomy vs. shame/doubt stage. There were plenty of times when I've had to encourage parents to begin allowing their preschooler to do things on their own, even if they have to struggle with it.

I'm now adjusting my mind to remember that students in early elementary might face some of that as they begin a new phase of life but that the stages that really represent them are the initiative vs. guilt and industry vs. inferiority. I can see that helping kids learn to take initiative while not acting on every impulse can be a great challenge! I learned through my experiences and observations while teaching preschoolers that you really do have to let kids struggle. It's important for them to learn early that things don't always come easily in life but we keep working hard until we figure it out. If we do everything for them in order to save them the pain of failing, we are instilling feelings of guilt and that we don't believe they can get it right on their own.

The other important stage for the age-group I seek to work with is "industry vs. inferiority." It's a lot of pressure to consider the statement on page 69 that says, "How well students do in the primary grades matter more for their future success than does their school performance at any other time." I see how important it is to help children develop the skills to cope with the challenges that life brings when school is added to home and other social settings. They need to struggle through tasks and accomplish them to achieve success and feelings of competence. I think this goes back to the zone of proximal development. We have to give them tasks that challenge them but don't frustrate them and make them want to give up.

I was especially interested in the different types of parenting listed in the text. It was helpful to see them written in that way. I have seen all of those forms in one way or another but to understand them in terms of the level of warmth vs. the level of control was very helpful. I do think a teacher can combat some of the effects of low warmth or low control by providing those things in the classroom. I wonder if those discrepancies have anything to do with the fact that students often act completely different at home then they do at school? I had a student this year who, in my opinion, received low warmth and low control at home. She was extremely clingy and in the presence of her family she was aggressive and absolutely out of control and there was never any response from guardians towards her behavior. However, in the classroom she followed directions well. I began trying to model some "guidance giving" in front of her caregivers such as "Sarah (not her name), it is important that you do not run ahead of your grandmother in the road."

I also wanted to comment on the section about teachers and caring. I can admit to falling into the pattern of waiting for a child to show "respect" to be more caring towards them. I certainly haven't done that intentionally but I understand the tendency to get frustrated with a student and stop expressing care for them which of course just makes the situation worse and there goes the downward spiral. It was very helpful to see that situation placed in writing. Hopefully that will help me be more aware of the tendency towards that. I really want to read the Love and Logic book for teachers to learn better ways of working with children who are having behavior problems.

Lastly, I was surprised to learn that the origin of the word "handicap" comes from when people with handicaps used to have to beg to survive (cap-in-hand). It's amazing how words change when you understand their origins. I never understand why that was offensive to people before, but now it is more clear

Chapter 2 Response to: Theories Applied Towards Classrooms

by April

I want to expand a little on both our thoughts about the zone of proximal development and the possibilities of cooperative learning with that idea in mind. I think we both mentioned the learning groups we've seen in elementary classrooms. I don't feel like I have enough knowledge or understanding of these groups to say that students shouldn't be grouped in ability-level groups, but it seems from some of the things we've been learning that there could be a more effective way.

I'm thinking about some previous experiences I've had with a slightly similar idea. Back in my "Children's Pastor" days I used to run an annual Vacation Bible School for a week in the summer. I absolutely loved the concept I used for those programs. The way it worked was we'd have 50-100 kids and we'd break them down into groups of 4-5. Most people wanted to break kids up by ages because the kids ranged from 1st grade to 5th grade (we ran a separate program for 3-5 year olds). However, I set them up like families. The goal was to get a child from each grade into each group. That didn't always work out perfectly but we were close. The groups would then rotate through classes throughout the day that included art, games, drama and more. The activities were the same for all kids regardless of their ages. Most people thought their older kids would be bored being stuck with the younger and the parents of younger kids worried they'd get trampled by the big kids. What happened instead was a wonderful environment where the older kids became helpers to the younger. The younger learned from the older and the older deepened their learning by explaining things to and helping the younger. And behavioral problems were at a minimum.

So I have to wonder if something like this would work in a regular classroom. Obviously not by ages, but by level of understanding. Put students in a group with other students operating inside their own zone of proximal development. The students who are struggling more can learn by interacting with those who have a better grasp on it and the students who have understand can deepen their understanding by helping those who are struggling.

You mentioned the challenges of adapting your lessons for every level of child represented in your classroom. I wonder if this approach would alleviate some of that?