Posts

Module 5

Throughout the last chapters of the educational psychology text, I have noticed how important it is for teachers to motivate their students. Motivation can come on many different levels and for many different reasons.  Chapter 12 explain these different reasons that motivation is important for students learning. I found it very interesting that in chapter 12 anxiety was a big problem.  I recalled a lot of information that came from standardized testing was formed around students having anxiety. Students can understand the information set before them, but because they're so nervous none of the information can be recalled during test time. (Pg468-469)  The text also talked about how anxiety happens in the preparation stages of learning. I believe that if the standardized testing or assessments alone weren't so intimidating students would not have anxiety when it's time to take them. Chapter 15 talked a lot about how students can help each other when it comes to asses...

Module 4

Chapter 9 was a very interesting chapter to read.  I'm a strong believer that each class needs a little creativity to make the students feel more energetic about being in the class.  Children have to do so many different aspects now that adults never had to do when they were children. The amount of responsibility that they face takes away from them being children. Which is a reason wrong behavior problems are existing in the classroom. Children are not being exposed to fun and creativity anymore. They are used to video games and many are made to take on adult responsibilities. In the text, it states "  Creativity is important for an individual psychological, physical, social and career success” (351).  So this tells me that creativity is necessary for children to learn inside and outside of the classroom.  A great way for children to grow outside of the classroom is teaching them about diversity. According to the text researchers have shown multicultural ...

Teacher Interview on Classroom Management

I interview Melissa Watson who is a science teacher and an assistant principal at a local middle school in Chicago. Norma:  Melissa thank you so much for taking the time to talk to me today. This interview is about your classroom management style. How long have you been a teacher? Melissa: You're more than welcome and I've been teaching for 8 years. 3 years here. Norma: Let's start with how you construct your class when it come to classroom management? Melissa:  Over the last few years I've started with a behavior contract. •At the beginning of the school year the students comes up with a list of rules and consequences that we put down on paper. • The list of rules/ consequences will be created by each student in class, if the class is large then the students may group up and create their questions. • After all rules have been agreed upon the students get a copy and they must all sign it. I keep the sign copy until the end of the school year. Their par...

Module #3

Doing this week's readings and videos, classroom management was very much the target topic.  Chapter 7 focused a lot on behavior, different learning strategies and motivation.  The text uses the term reinforcement in a different way than we've normally understood it.  The time reward never comes to mind when I was younger thinking of reinforcement.  However, if I continue to do something that I wasn't supposed to do my parents reinforced the consequences for the behavior (Pg257). The two different types of reinforcement talked about in the text talk about are very different to me,  However, I do agree with the using a reinforcement schedule to keep students behavior on target.  I believe that the praise and ignore approach can definitely be helpful in softer the classroom. There are students who do not care about learning and their motivation is to throw the class off track. I have seen this behavior in my classroom. Those students behavior may form becaus...

Module #2

When I heard of autism disorder I was very interested in learning more about what autism really was. I have a 17-year-old nephew who's a senior in high school who was diagnosed with autism when he was 10 months old. Nolan came to live with us straight from the hospital. He was my mother's biological grandson, whose mother was addicted to drugs. Along with being diagnosed with Autism, he is deaf. In one ear he would only hear 30% and the other he could only hear about 10%. According to the text,  Autism is a developmental disorder significantly affecting verbal and nonverbal communication and social interaction (pg 155).  We notice there was something wrong with Nolan early on because he couldn't sit or roll over. Nolan wasn't able to walk until he was 3 years old. Nor was he able to speak.  He had a team of specialists who met with him 3 times a week to get him acclimated to standing, walking and talking.  Inside of the text Intervention at an early age is important...

Context for Learning Description of School and Students

Trinity Christian College Field Experience Form Context for Learning Description of School and Students About the School Where You Are Observing or doing Field Experience School Name and City:  Longwood CICS Chicago Type of School: Elementary School Setting: Urban Write your responses to the three questions below in paragraph form. 1.List any special features of the school or classroom setting (e.g., themed magnet, classroom aide, bilingual, co-taught with a special education teacher, pull-out program). Longwood did not have any special features in the class I was in, however they do have a pullout program as well as a special education classroom. 2.Describe any district, school, or cooperating teacher requirements or expectations that affects the planning or delivery of instruction, such as required curricula, pacing plan, use of specific instructional strategies, or standardized tests. Longwood CICS is apart of a charter network and they have their own curricula that t...

Module 1

Are there good teachers? Are there bad teachers?  Do teachers make a difference? These are some of the questions that I feel we're being addressed in chapter one of the Woolfolk text. These are major questions that an educator should ask themselves when entering or reevaluating their role in the class. Teachers have a major responsibility inside the classroom, However, the impact of the students lives outside of the classroom affects them in more ways than one. I strongly agree that the teachers-students relationship is a huge component to the success of a child academically (Pg 7). Positive teacher relationships predicted positive student engagement at every grade level.  Not only do teachers need to foster relationships with students, but they must also be able to adapt to new strategies as well as old components of teaching. Since technology is forever changing our world it is important for teachers to stay current and have the ability to go with the change (pg9). Just as...