Final Learning Log

What?

The theory that I scored the highest on in my quiz and thus am most closely aligned was humanism, which makes sense to me because I am so big on the relationships that I want to build with my students. Social interaction is a key part of children’s cognitive and linguistic development, as well as their personal and social development. It is important to set clear guidelines for appropriate behavior and when the rules are broken, instead of just punishing the child, teach them why what they did was wrong and help them see different perspectives so they can better understand why their behavior was unacceptable. It is important to have a warm, supportive environment but with expectations that are firmly held. Children need positive feedback to help their development of their sense of self. Students create their own personal social, and moral understanding so as teachers it is important to allow them to examine and reexamine what they believe and their understanding of themselves and others. I believe that students wont succeed if they don't know how to have good healthy relationships and as their teacher, I can model that for them and help them develop a good sense of self and help them figure out who they are and who they want to be. The can learn to practice good relationships with others because they have learned how to have a healthy relationship with me as their teacher and now can apply it to other relationships and situations they might find themselves in. 

Right behind humanism was cognitivism. Cognitivism studies the mind and how it works and obviously as teachers it is important to know how the minds of the students we will be teaching work so we can help them understand and retain new information. We need to know how they process information so we can help them with the process to help them succeed in any area of life but especially in your classroom. I think that it is important to understand how students learn, process, understand, and remember information. It is important to understand how the memory works so as teachers we can focus on how to get the students to understand the material and commit it to their long term memory. Knowing this information can help us better understand what teaching styles to use to help students not only learn the material but remember it and also to understand what teaching style might work best for a particular student.

Behaviorism, while important and I think that everyone uses it in one way or another throughout their lives, especially when they are in a leadership role, I think it is important not to go crazy with this theory and it's practices. I think that just trying to condition responses based purely on positive or negative consequences kind of robs students of the ability to think and decide for themselves what is appropriate and what they like to do or what works best for them. This theory can be helpful while practiced with other theories but if used on its own, can cause children to never develop to their fullest potential because everything they do would be purely external and they wouldn't know how to think for themselves. 

I think that the biggest weakness for each theory is that each theory only encompasses a  part of what makes students develop and that it is important to understand that you don't have to pick one theory and stick by it, but you can take bits and pieces from each theory and kind of make your own. Any theory standing on it's own, is not enough to help us as teachers be the best we can be to help our students.

So What?

I think that learning these different theories is so important for future teachers. I think that each theory has it's strengths and weaknesses which is why I think that it is good to have an understanding of each theory so we can draw on the things that we think will help us as teachers and help our students develop cognitively, as well as socially and emotionally. It is important as teachers to understand the whole development of the students we are going to be teaching because we are going to be an active participant in their development whether we want to be or not, so it is good to know how we can help our students succeed in all aspects of their development. 

While I believe that I will incorporate bits and pieces of every theory, I think that I lean most towards humanism. I think that this is because I believe that the student and the relationship that you have with the student is so incredibly important. I feel like that needs to be the foundation to their learning because if they don't have a relationship with you or trust you, then the learning place will not be one that is conducive to them really learning and retaining the knowledge that you are trying to guide them to. I believe that learning is important and along with that, I believe that there are many things that need to be going on the outside of a teacher just standing at the front of the room lecturing, for the students to feel like they are in a safe nurturing environment and thus can really learn and experiment with what they learn and with themselves as individuals. 

Now What?

I think that the biggest area that needs improvement for me is giving assessments. I know that it is important to know all the theories that we learned in educational psychology because that will help us in working with our students but it will also help us in working with ourselves to come up with lesson plans and assessments that are appropriate for our students. While I feel much more comfortable with writing lesson plans and I can write objectives that I want my students to reach as a result of that lesson plan, I am still a little shaky on assessments and how to adequately assess every lesson. This is something that I think I need to practice but also I think it would be helpful to get out there and talk to other teachers and learn from them how they assess their own lessons and students. 

I also think that I need to practice differentiation more. I understand the theory behind differentiation and I can incorporate it into my lesson plans, but this is another area where I feel I need to get out in the classroom and interact with students who need to be differentiated for, so I have a better understanding of what differentiation can do and does do for some students. I think that differentiation is important and helpful for both teacher and students, but I feel I need more active practice with differentiation in the classroom. 

Overall, I think that I have a pretty good understanding of the psychological theories and I will constantly be mixing and matching theories to kind of mold my own theory that works best for each class and/or each student that I work with. I also know that it is important to keep myself up to date on these theories and review them every once in a while to see if there is something I need to change in the way I conduct my classroom. 

Chapter 4 Learning Log

What?

Group differences: Consistently observed differences (on average) among diverse groups of students (eg. Students of different backgrounds).

Equity: Absence of favoritism or bias toward particular individuals or groups of students.

Culture: Behaviors and beliefs systems of a long-standing social group.

Ethnic group: People who have common historical roots, values, beliefs, and behaviors and who share a sense of interdependence

Cultural mismatch: Situation in which a child’s home culture and school culture hold conflicting expectations for the child’s behavior.

Standard English: Form of English generally considered acceptable at school as reflected in textbooks and grammar instruction.

Dialect: Form of English that has certain unique pronunciations and grammatical structures and is characteristic of a particular region or ethnic group.

African American English: Dialect of some African American communities that includes some pronunciations, idioms, and grammatical constructions different from those of Standard English.

Personal space: Personally or culturally preferred distance between two people during social interactions.

IRE cycle: Adult-child interaction marked by adult initiation (usually involving a question), child response, and adult evaluation.

Wait time: Length of time a teacher pauses, after asking a question or hearing a student’s comment, before saying something.

Worldview: General, culturally based assumptions about reality that influence understandings of a wide variety of phenomena.

Multicultural education: Instruction that integrates throughout the curriculum the perspectives and experiences of numerous cultural groups.

Stereotype: Rigid, simplistic, and erroneous, caricature of a particular group of people.

Visual-spatial ability: Ability to imagine and mentally manipulate two-and three-dimensional figures.

Gender schema: Self-constructed, organized body of beliefs about the traits of males and females.

Socioeconomic status (SES): One’s general social and economic standing in society; encompasses family income, occupation, and education level.

Resilient student: Student who succeeds in school and in life despite exceptional hardships at home.

Student at risk: Student with a high probability of failing to acquire minimal academic skills necessary for success in that adult world.

Summary: Students draw on prior knowledge and experiences to interpret their world and the interactions they have with their peers, and you as their teacher. It is important to take in many different factors when working with your students to be able to understand why they are the way they are or why they think the way they do. You need to take into account cultural background and not judge them according to your own cultural background. It is important to understand that our students are coming from many different cultural, familial, and socioeconomic situations. 

So What?

It is really important to understand the different backgrounds of the students that we will be working with. We need to know how to encourage every student to succeed, not just the ones who come from good backgrounds and who seem to have the potential to do well. We can encourage students to be resilient students by being a dependable source of academic and emotional support. Focusing on the students strengths and building on them. Helping the students identify missing resources and help them be able to find resources that might help them. It is important to be aware of your students so you know when it might be helpful for you to be a little more involved in their lives to be helpful to them.

Now What?

I think that having a background in working with troubled teens will really help me in this area. I have worked with at risk youth for the past 4 years or so and it sometimes takes a while to be able to feel comfortable working with them and to feel like you are helping them or making a difference. I think that one thing that we need is patience and understanding. These students can tell with you are fake or judgmental and they wont be able to succeed at all if they don’t think that you believe in them. We have to believe that our students can succeed no matter what backgrounds they come from or how difficult they might be. Only if we believe in them, will they want to work with us and allow us to help them succeed and that is what I want to incorporate into my classroom. 

Chapter 5 Learning Log

What? 

Spearman’s g  Intelligence comprises both (a) a single, pervasive reasoning ability ( a general factor) that is used on a wide variety of tasks and (b) a number of narrow abilities (specific factors) involved in executing particular tasks.	Catell’s Fluid & Crystallized Fluid intelligence: the ability to acquire knowledge quickly and adapt to new situations effectively Crystallized intelligence: the knowing and skills they have accumulated from their experiences, schooling, and culture.
Sternberg’s Triarchic Theory  Environmental Context: Adapts behavior to fit the environment, adapts the environment to fit one’s needs, selects an environment conducive to success. Prior experience: Deals with a new situation by drawing on past experience, deals with a familiar situation quickly and efficiently. Cognitive Processes: Interprets new situations in useful ways, separates important information from irrelevant details, identifies effective problem-solving strategies, finds relationships among seemingly different ideas, makes effective use of feedback, applies other cognitive processes.	Distributed Intelligence People are far more likely to think and behave intelligently when they have assistance from their physical, cultural, and social environment.
Gardner’s Multiple Intelligences  Linguistic Intelligence: Ability to use language effectively. Logical-Mathematical Intelligence: Ability to reason logically, especially in mathematics and science.  Spatial Intelligence: Ability to notice details of what one sees and to imagine and manipulate visual objects in one’s mind. Musical Intelligence: Ability to create, comprehend, and appreciate music. Bodily-kinesthetic Intelligence: Ability to use one’s body skillfully. Interpersonal Intelligence: Ability to notice subtle aspects of other people’s behaviors. Intrapersonal Intelligence: Awareness of one’s own feelings, motives, and desires. Naturalistic Intelligence: Ability to recognize patterns in nature and differences among various life-forms and natural objects.

Students with Special Needs 

IDEA : Individuals with Disabilities Education Act- US legislation granting educational rights from birth until age 21 for people with cognitive, emotional, or physical disabilities. 
 

IEP: Individualized Education Program – written description of an appropriate instructional program for a student with special needs. 
 
 Inclusion- Practice of educating all students, including those with severe and multiple disabilities, in neighborhood schools and general education classrooms.
 
 Least restrictive environment – Most typical and standard educational environment that can reasonably meet the needs of a student with a disability. 
 
 Retarded -  generalized disorder, characterized by sub average cognitive functioning and deficits in two or more adaptive behaviors with onset before the age of 18.
 
 Gifted – usually high ability or aptitude in one or more areas, to such a degree that students require special educational services to help them meet their full potential. 

So What?

I think that this information is really important to know and understand because there are going to be students with disabilities that we are going to be working with and it is important to know not only the laws that are associated with working with them. It is also important to know and understand that exceptional students also include students who are gifted and it is important to know how to work with them in a way that will help them continue to succeed. It is also important to continue to talk about these topics on a regular basis because I feel that the training in this area is minimal. 

Now What?

I think that I need to study this topic more. I think that I need to take the initiative to make myself more knowledgable with this area because I feel that although I have taken the exceptional students class, I am still unprepared to teach  class that has tons of different variations of students, whether they have disabilities or are gifted. I have learned different teaching strategies and differentiation skills but I feel like I just need to get into a classroom to have experience and practice with this. Or another thing I can do is talk to teachers or observe teachers more that work with classes that have students of many different abilities and find out ways that they work with these students to be able to reach all of them and teach them all in a way that will be helpful for them individually. 

Chapter 10 Learning Log

What?

Key Terms

Social cognitive theory: Theoretical perspective that focuses on how people learn by observing others and how they eventually assume control over their own behavior

Model: Person who demonstrates a behavior for someone else.

Reciprocal causation: Interdependence of environmental, behavioral, and personal variables as these three factors influence learning and development

Self-regulation: Process of setting goals for oneself and engaging in behaviors and cognitive processes that lead to goal attainment.

Vicarious reinforcement: Phenomenon in which a response increases in frequency when another person is observed being reinforced for that response.

Vicarious punishment: Phenomenon in which a response decreases in frequency when another person is observed being punished for that response.

Incentive: Hoped-for but not guaranteed, future consequence of behavior.

Live model: Currently living individual whose behavior is observed in person.

Symbolic model: Real or fictional character in the media that influences an observer’s behavior.

Modeling: Demonstrating a behavior for another or observing and imitating another’s behavior.

Cognitive modeling: Demonstrating how to think about as well as how to do a task.

Observational learning effect: Acquisition of a new behavior after watching someone else do it.

Response facilitation effect: Increased frequency of a previously learned behavior after seeing someone else being reinforced for it.

Response inhibition effect: Decreased frequency of a previously  learned behavior after seeing someone else being punished for it.

Response disinhibition effect: Increased frequency of a previously forbidden or punished behavior after seeing someone else doing it without adverse consequences.

Self-efficacy: Belief that one is capable of excusing certain behaviors or reaching certain goals.

Resilient self-efficacy: Belief that one can perform a task successfully even after experiencing setbacks.

Collective self-efficacy: People’s beliefs about their ability to be successful when they work together on a task.

Self regulated behavior: Self-chosen behavior that leads to the fulfillment of personally chosen standards and goals.

Emotion regulation: Process of keeping in check or intentionally altering feelings that may lead to counterproductive behavior.

Self-instructions: Instructions that one gives oneself while performing a complex behavior.

Self-monitoring: Observing and recording one’s own behavior.

Self-evaluation: Judgment of one’s own performance or behavior.

Self-imposed contingency: Self-reinforcement or self-punishment that follows a behavior.

Self-regulated learning: Regulation of one’s own cognitive processes in order to learn successfully.

Co-regulated learning: Process through which an adult and child share responsibility for directing various aspects of the child’s learning.

Self-regulated problem solving: Use of self-directed strategies to address complex problems.

Peer mediation: Approach to conflict resolution in which a student (serving as a mediator) asks peers in conflict to express their differing viewpoints and then work together to identify an appropriate compromise.

Summary: Children learn a lot of their behaviors through watching others, siblings, peers, parents, etc. They learn by watching them do things and by seeing how that person is reinforced or punished for the behavior or succeeds or fails. They also adopt self-regulating standards often by modeling after others. Social cognitive theory emphasizes how people have control over their environment. They learn to self-regulate and control their own behavior and learn to set goals for themselves, monitor their own progress, and evaluate their results. People learn how to weigh their decisions and behavior on future consequences and usually perform behaviors that others model if they think that there will be benefit to them. 

So What?

I think that social cognitivism is a really important theory to know and understand not only as teachers but as adults and future parents or leaders in society. It is important to know how our own behavior affects those around us, especially children who look up to us to be an example. As teachers it is important to know how students perceive and learn from their environment because we are a big part of that environment and how we teach them and encourage them to learn, as well as how we treat them will have a huge impact on how they learn self-regulation and learn how to set goals for themselves and evaluate those goals. I also think that implementing self-efficacy in the classroom is so important because if the students don't believe they have the power and ability to succeed then they wont. So helping them realize that they are in control of so much more than most teenagers believe they are and empowering them, will help them in so many different aspects of their lives, with learning in the classroom only being one of those things. 

Now What?

I think that this theory is something that I have had to practice because I work with troubled teens. It is so important to be consistent with them and to  hold firm boundaries that they know and understand. It is important that if we as staff are not held to the same standards as the girls, then there is a logical explanation as to why. It isn't fair, for example, that the girls aren't allowed to swear but we as staff can whenever we want. The same thing needs to occur in the classroom. If there are rules that need to be followed, we as teachers need to follow those rules as well. We also need to hold consistent boundaries across the board with our students. It is important to not give students special treatment because you have a better relationship with them or because they are an athlete or anything else because it will confuse students as to what is expected of them if you hold them to a different standard than others and the things that they learn through vicarious learning could be things that you don't want them to develop as habit but could be your fault for them developing it by not being consistent with all your students. It is important as I mentioned above to teach the students self-efficacy but also self-regulated learning. It is important to get the students involved in their own learning and in wanting to learn. Social cognitivism should be used for learning as well as behavior and this can be done in different ways. For example by relating classroom learning tasks to students’ long-range personal and professional goals, describing and modeling effective cognitive strategies for reading, learning, and studying, assigning complex independent learning tasks, providing the necessary structure and guidance for students who are not yet self-regulated learner assigning homework and other tasks that require independent learning, providing concrete strategies for keeping track of how to learn and study effectively, and giving students opportunities to assess their own learning and compare their evaluations to your own. These strategies can help as we as teachers try to encourage the students to be active learners and involved in their own learning processes. 

Chapter 9 Learning Log

What?

Terms

Behaviorism: Theoretical perspective in which learning and behavior are described and explained in terms of stimulus-response relationships.

Conditioning: Term commonly used for learning.

Response: Specific behavior that an individual exhibits.

Stimulus: Specific object or event that influences an individual’s behavior.

Contiguity: Occurrence of two or more events at approximately the same time.

Classical conditioning: Form of learning in which a new involuntary response is acquired as a result of two stimuli being presented at the same time.

Unconditioned stimulus: Stimulus that elicits a particular response without prior learning.

Unconditioned response: Response that is elicited by a particular (unconditioned) stimulus without prior learning.

Neutral Stimulus: Stimulus that does not elicit any particular response.

Conditioned stimulus: Stimulus that begins to elicit a particular response through classical conditioning.

Conditioned response: Response that begins to be elicited by a particular (conditioned) stimulus through classical conditioning.

Generalization: Phenomenon in which a person learns a response to a particular stimulus and then makes the same response to a similar stimulus; in classical conditioning, involves making a conditioned response to a stimulus similar to a conditioned stimulus.

Extinction: Gradual disappearance of an acquired response; in classical conditioning, results from repeated presentation of a conditioned stimulus in the absence of the unconditioned stimulus.

Operant conditioning: Form of learning in which a response increases in frequency as a result of being followed by reinforcement.

Contingency: Situation in which one event happens only after another event has already occurred; one event is contingent on the other’s occurrence.

Reinforcer: Consequence of a response that leads to increased frequency of the response.

Reinforcement: Act of following a response with a reinforcer.

Primary reinforcer: Consequence that satisfies a biologically built-in need.

Secondary reinforcer: Consequence that becomes reinforcing over time through its association with another reinforcer.

Positive reinforcement: Consequence that brings about the increase of a behavior through the presentation (rather than the removal) of a stimulus.

Premack principle: Phenomenon in which learners do less-preferred activities in order to engage in more-preferred activities.

Extrinsic reinforcer: Reinforcer that comes from the outside environment, rather than from within the learner.

Intrinsic reinforcer: Reinfocer provided by the learner or inherent in the task being preformed.

Negative reinforcement: Consequence that brings about the increase of a behavior through the removal (rather than the presentation of) a stimulus.

Delay of gratification: Ability to forego small, immediate reinforcers to obtain larger ones later on.

Terminal behavior: form and frequency of a desired response that a teacher hopes to foster through operant conditioning.

Token economy: Technique in which desired behaviors are reinforced by tokens that learners can use to “purchase” a variety of other reinforcers.

Contingency contract: formal agreement between teacher and student that identifies behaviors the student will exhibit and the reinforcers that will follow.

Group contingency: Situation in which everyone in a group must make a particular response before reinforcement occurs.

Continuous reinforcement: Reinforcement of a response every time it occurs.

Extinction: In operant conditioning, gradual disappearance of an acquired response as a result of repeated lack of reinforcement.

Intermittent reinforcement: Reinforcement of a response only occasionally, with some occurrences of the response unreinforced.

Baseline: Frequency of a response before it is systematically reinforced.

Shaping: Process of reinforcing successively closer and closer approximations to a desired terminal behavior.

Antecedent stimulus: Stimulus that increases the likelihood that a certain other response will follow.

Cueing: Use of signals to indicate that a certain behavior is desired or that a certain behavior should stop.

Setting event: Complex environment condition in which a particular behavior is most likely to occur.

Generalization: In operant conditioning, phenomenon in which a person makes a voluntary response to a stimulus that is similar to one previously associated with a response-reinforcement contingency.

Discrimination: Phenomenon in which a student learns that a response is reinforced in the presence of one stimulus but not in the presence of another, similar stimulus.

Behavioral momentum: Increased tendency for a learner to make a particular response immediately after making similar responses.

Incompatible behaviors: Two or more behaviors that cannot be performed simultaneously.

Punishment: Consequence that decreases the frequency of the response it follows.

Presentation punishment: Punishment involving presentation of a new stimulus, presumably one a learner finds unpleasant.

Removal punishment: Punishment involving removal or an existing stimulus, presumably one a learner doesn’t want to lose.

Response cost: Loss either of a previously earned reinforcer or of an opportunity to obtain reinforcement.

Logical consequence: Consequence that follows naturally or logically from a student’s misbehavior.

Time-out: Form of punishment in which a student is placed in a dull, boring situation with no opportunity for reinforcement or social interaction.

In-school suspension: Form of punishment in which a student is placed in a quiet, boring room within the school building, typically to do schoolwork under close adult supervision.

Psychological punishment: Consequence that seriously threatens self-esteem.

Applied behavior analysis (ABA): Systematic application of behaviorist principles in educational and therapeutic settings.

Functional analysis: Examination of inappropriate behavior and its antecedents and consequences to determine functions that the behavior might serve for the learner.

Positive behavior support: Variation of traditional applied behavior analysis that involves identifying the purposes of undesirable behaviors and providing alternative behaviors that more appropriately accomplish those purposes.

Summary: We understand a lot about behavior and learning by looking at classical conditioning and the principles associated with it. By understanding how students are conditioned, we might better understand their behavior which will help us understand their individual learning and in our teaching. We can also understand what stimuli might be producing specific behaviors and if they are negative behaviors, we can change that stimulus to hopefully change the negative behavior. The same goes for positive behavior in that if you know certain stimulus produce positive behaviors, you can continually use that stimulus. It is important to know that while behaviorism gives us a lot of information on human learning and behavior, it is not all inclusive, so it is important to use this perspective with other perspectives to gain a fuller understanding of human learning and behavior. 

So What?

Behaviorism is important to know as a teacher because it is important to understand how behaviors are reinforced both positively and negatively. We as teachers need to get to know our students enough to know what is positively and negatively reinforcing to them because what might be a positive reinforcement to one student, might be a negative reinforcement to another and visa verse. It is important to understand how to positively reinforce our students so that we can increase positive behavior in the classroom and outside the classroom. As teachers we have a lot of influence in the children's lives that we teach, and it is important to know how to find ways to give positive reinforcement so students know when they are doing things that they should be doing but also be able to feel like someone notices when they are doing well. 

Now What?

While behaviorism is important and I think that everyone uses it in one way or another throughout their lives, especially when they play a leadership role, I think it is important to not go crazy with this theory and it's practices. I think that just trying to condition responses based purely on positive or negative consequences kind of robs students of the ability to think and decide for themselves what is appropriate and what they like to do or what works for them. There are obviously specific things that are appropriate or not in the school setting but it is important to not rely solely on this theory to shape children's behavior because they wont learn to think for themselves and their actions will always be externally based, either trying to be rewarded or trying to avoid punishment. 

Chapter 7 Learning Log

What

Reconstruction error: Construction of a logical but incorrect “memory” by combining information retrieved from long-term memory with one’s general knowledge and beliefs about the world.

Individual constructivism: Theoretical perspective that focuses on how people, as individuals, construct meaning from their experiences.

Social constructivism: Theoretical perspective that focuses on people’s collective efforts to impose meaning on the world.

Distributed cognition: A process in which learners think about an issue or problem together, sharing ideas and working together to draw conclusions or develop solutions.

Script: Schema that involves a predictable sequence of events related to a common activity.

Theory: Integrated set of concepts and principles developed to explain a particular phenomenon.

Worldview: General, culturally based assumptions about reality that influence understandings of a wide variety of phenomena.

Conceptual understanding: Meaningfully learned and well-integrated knowledge about a topic, including many logical connections among specific concepts and ideas.

Community of learners: Class in which teacher and students actively and collaboratively work to help one another learn.

Conceptual changes: Significant revision of an existing theory or belief of an existing theory or belief in such a way that new, discrepant information can be better understood and explained.

Confirmation bias: Tendency to seek information that confirms rather than discredits current beliefs

Summary: Students continually add to their understanding of the world around them in and out of the classroom. This is very individualized because each person develops their own views on the world around them. At the same time, each person develops these views and the views are molded considerably by their social and cultural environments. They learn things from their ancestors, their parents, their teachers, and their peers, which help them construct their views of the world around them. Each student is unique in how the see and interpret the world around them.

So What?

This information in important to know as teachers because it helps us learn and understand what strategies are appropriate in teaching our students. There are misconceptions about what students know or believe and it is important to know what the misconceptions are so they don’t interfere with our teaching. There are many things that young students might believe about the world that are not correct and it is important to know how to show them that what they believe might be incorrect instead of just tell or teach them about it. By understanding how students construct information, it can help us teach them in a way that they will be able to apply what they are learning to real life which should be one of the goals of any teacher in any subject.

Now What?

As a future teacher it is important to know how students learn and comprehend things. I think that I will try to understand how my students gain their views on the world and by doing this, will be able to better understand not only why they learn or believe the things they do but also, understand them better as a person. I believe that relationships are the key to having success in most things in life and knowing how my students might construct their view on the world will help me in my relationships with them. I think that it is important for students to understand why and how things happen. This will help with misconceptions and with the students accepting new information. The 5 E's wold help with this.

I would have a lesson on the Stanford prison study and talk about the theory of cognitive dissonance and be able to critically analyze situations using this theory.

Engage: I ask the students if they thought that they would ever teat someone else, a peer in an inhumane way, just because they could.

Explore: I would have the students discuss the question and have them explore different situations where they might for some reason treat someone else inhumanely.

Explain: I would then show the Stanford prison study and we would analyze why the guards fell into an authoritarian role and the guards fell into a passive role, allowing the guards to treat them inhumanely.

Elaborate: We would then talk about how people build morals and how those morals change when their environment changes and we would talk about other situations when people have changed their morals because of a specific situation that they were placed in.

Evaluate: Have the students have the students write down an example of when someone did something morally wrong because of an authority figure or situation they were in that they wouldn’t normally have done in every day life. Connect to theory of cognitive dissonance.

Course Contract Update

There are some things that I have done well from my course contract and there are some things that could use improvement. From my goals, I made an assignment to get all my assignments done on time, which up to this point I have done. I also made a goal not to procrastinate. This goal could use a little work. I am so crazy busy this semester that sometimes I genuinely don't have time to work on assignments or study for this class until close to when they are due. But when I do have free time earlier in the week, which I don't very often, I can use some of that time to get ahead in this class or to just get started on the assignments so I don't feel rushed when I'm trying to get them done right before they are due. My third goal to study to remember the material throughout my life could also use some work. When there is so much material, it is generally impossible to commit it all to memory so sometimes I just memorize for tests, however, there are some things that because I think they are important I will study more or find some kind of connection of the material to my life so I will remember it better. So this goal could use a little work.

My weekly preparation plan was shot after about 2 weeks of school. In all honesty I don't have time to devote to this class every day. I do try to spread things out over at least a few days so I am not cramming everything into one day. Sometimes having a plan in my life doesn't actually help. I feel that this semester, the reason I get things done is because I don't sleep and this isn't because I am a slacker or procrastinate, it is genuinely because i have so much going on that I don't have time to fit it all in normal day hours. So while I haven't really followed my preparation plan, there realistically hasn't really been a way for me to follow it and I'm not quite sure how to make it better because although my scheduling isn't ideal, I do get everything done.

I do think that overall, I have been doing well in this class and I am learning a lot.

Chapter 6 Learning Log

What?

Key Terms

Memory: The ability to save information mentally that has been previously learned.

Storage: The process of putting new information or what is being learned into memory.

Encoding: Modifying the format of new information as it is being stored in memory.

Retrieval: The process of finding information that has been previously stored in memory.

Model of Human Memory: Input > Sensory Register >Attention > Working (Short-Term Memory) > In depth processing (often involving connecting new information to prior knowledge) > Long-Term Memory

Attention: The focusing of mental processing on particular stimuli.

Sensory register: The component of memory that holds input in its original or unanalyzed form.

Short-term or working memory: The compartment of memory that holds, actively thinks about, and processes a limited amount of information.

Maintenance rehearsal: Rapid repetition of a small amount of information to keep it fresh in the working memory.

Elaborative rehearsal: The cognitive process in which you expand on new information based on prior knowledge.

Chunking: The process of taking individual units of information (chunks) and grouping them into larger units. Probably the most common example of chunking occurs in phone numbers.

Decay: Gradual weakening of information stored in long-term memory, happens the most with information that is used infrequently.

Interference: When the various pieces of information that have been stored in memory interfere with one another. Where something stored in the long-term memory gets in the way of remembering something else correctly.

Long-term memory: The component of memory that holds knowledge and skills for a relatively long time.

Declarative knowledge: Knowledge related to the nature of how things are, were and will be.

Procedural knowledge: Knowledge concerning how to do something, like a skill.

Meaningful learning: The cognitive process in which learners relate new information to prior knowledge.

Distributed practice: A technique whereby the student distributes his/her study effort in a given course over many study sessions that are relatively short in duration.

Massed practice: A form of practice of a motor skill in which there is relatively little or no rest between repeat performances of the skill.

Elaboration: The cognitive process in which learners expand on new information based on prior knowledge.

Mnemonic strategies: Memory trick designed to help students learn and remember a specific piece of information.

Automaticity: The ability to respond quickly and efficiently while mentally processing or physically performing a task.

Summary:Long term memory has enough capacity for anything we could ever need, but we must give something new that we are learning our undivided attention. To remember what we learn we must practice it over and over in different contexts. With out students it is important to know how they think and learn and remember things. We also must focus on the importance of understanding a concept rather than just rote memorization.

So What?

I think that it is important to understand how students learn, process, understand, and remember information. It is important to understand how the memory works so as teachers we can focus on how to get the students to understand the material and commit it to their long term memory. Knowing this information can help us better understand what teaching styles to use to help students not only learn the material but remember it and also to understand what teaching style might work best for a particular student.

Now What?

I think that I will use this information a lot as a teacher. I know that when I was a student I don't really remember being taught how to learn or how to remember things and I think that this information would have helped me as a student when I was younger. I know that for me I would just do rote memorization when I needed to and I didn't apply the things I was learning to my life or understand why the information was important to retain, so most of the stuff I learned and studied, I stored in my short term memory for a test but then would discard the information. If I can teach my students how to learn the material I am teaching them, and how it applies to them and will be useful to them, then they might have a better chance than I did to commit what they are learning to long term memory to be able to use way after they were a student in my class.

Temple Grandin Extra Credit

I went to hear the presentation by Temple Grandin and found it really interesting and I learned quite a bit about autistic learners.
I learned that visual thinkers are good in the fields of visual arts, such as photography, graphic design, painting, sculpting etc. They are capable of doing geometry and trigonometry but do not do very well with algebra. Pattern thinkers excel in music and math but struggle with reading and writing. Pattern thinkers going into fields such as programmers and engineers. She also talked about word mind thinkers know facts. They know sports stats or know every movie. These thinkers go into journalism, or work in libraries. She talked about the importance of finding out what the student likes or obsesses over as autistic kids generally have some obsession or another and use what they like or obsess about to teach them. For example, if the student likes trains, then you can teach math with trains using word problems that have to do with trains.
Sometimes kids with autism have a difficult time with loud sounds or particular sounds that overwhelm them. This is called sensory overload. A way to work with this is to record the sound that the child has a hard time with and then let them play it on their own timetable and have control over turning it off when they choose. She also talked about the importance of structure for children with autism. They have a hard time with surprises so it is important for them to prepare them for any change that you know is coming.
Overall, this presentation was very educational and I found it interesting to learn about how the autistic child learns from someone who has had autism and has still done some pretty significant things with her life. I think that many times, society discards students with disabilities and it is important to know that these students are capable of much more than sometimes people think they can.

Chapter 3 Learning Log

What?

Attachment: Bond that is formed between a child and their caregiver, generally strong and affectionate.

Sense of self: Perceptions, beliefs, judgments, and feelings about yourself as a person. Include 2 aspects self-concept (assessment of own characteristics, strengths, and weaknesses), and self-esteem (judgments and feelings about your own value and worth).

Imaginary audience: Believing that you are the center of attention in social situations

Identity: Definition created by oneself of who you are and what things are important to them and what they want to accomplish in life.

Erikson’s model of psychosocial development:

· Stage 1: Trust vs. mistrust (infancy) – Learn who can be trusted and who can’t be.

· Stage 2: Autonomy vs. shame and doubt (toddler years) – Develop self-sufficient behaviors if encouraged or develop shame and doubt if too much is expected too soon.

· Stage 3: Initiative vs. guilt (preschool years) – Develop independence in decision making and getting needs met or guilt about their needs and desires.

· Stage 4: Industry vs. inferiority (elementary school years) – Develop confidence in their abilities though perseverance, and diligence, or feelings of inferiority about their capabilities.

· Stage 5: Identity vs. role confusion (adolescence) – Develop a sense of who they are and where they want to go in life or questioning their place in society.

· Stage 6: Intimacy vs. isolation (young adulthood) – Develop close reciprocal relationships, and being willing to sacrifice one’s own needs for the other person or don’t form relationships because they can’t sacrifice their own needs

· Stage 7: Generavity vs. stagnation (middle age) – Working toward bettering and helping society progress through work or family to produce feelings of accomplishment or being self-centered and doesn’t help society progress

· Stage 8: Integrity vs. despair (retirement years) – Looking back on life’s accomplishments and feeling content or looking at life’s failures or disappointments and lack of productivity.

Cliques: Fairly stable group of friends generally consisting of 3 to 10 members.

Aggressive behavior: Behavior intended to hurt another physically or psychologically.

Prosocial behavior: Behavior intended to help others more than oneself.

Morality: What one believes about what is right and wrong.

Kohlberg’s stages of moral development:

· Stage 1: Punishment-avoidance and obedience – Make decisions according to their own needs with little regard for others needs.

· Stage2: Exchange of favors – Recognition that other people have needs and trying to fill those needs as long as their own are met as well.

· Stage 3: Good boy/good girl – Actions based on pleasing authority figures.

· Stage 4: Law and order – Looking to society for answers as to what is right and wrong.

· Stage 5: Social contract – Understanding appropriate behavior in relations to rules.

· Stage 6: Universal ethical principle – a hypothetical ideal stage that few people reach. Adherence to abstract universal principles that transcend specific norms and rules.

Summary:

Social interaction is a key part of children’s cognitive and linguistic development, as well as their personal and social development. It is important to set clear guidelines for appropriate behavior and when the rules are broken, instead of just punishing the child, teach them why what they did was wrong and help them see different perspectives so they can better understand why their behavior was unacceptable. It is important to have a warm, supportive environment but with expectations that are firmly held. Children need positive feedback to help their development of their sense of self. Students create their own personal social, and moral understanding so as teachers it is important to allow them to examine and reexamine what they believe and their understanding of themselves and others.

So What?

Knowing about the moral and social development of the students we will be teaching is really important as a teacher because during adolescent years, students are going through so many different things. They are still developing physically, their hormones are raging, and their emotions are out of control. All of these things affect such things as the way the students learn, how they concentrate in class, their behavior. It is important to be sensitive to where your students are developmentally in every aspect because it affects so much of how they function in every aspect of life including how they learn and function in school settings. Knowing this information can help us work better with them and help them toward being successful in school and ultimately in life.

Now What?

I know how important knowing how kids morally and socially develop is in working with kids. I work with troubled teens at a residential treatment center and knowing where they are in their moral and social development help us work with them. For many of them they are behind in their moral and social development or they have had things happen to them that have caused regression in their development and this affects every aspect of their lives, learning and education included. Many of the kids I work with were failing all their classes before they came to New Haven or had been kicked out of school. Many of them also have turned their schooling around while at New Haven because they have teachers that understand where they are developmentally and work with them to really learn the material and work through school, they are able to function in the school setting and succeed. This is important for me personally because when teachers are able to understand and work with their kids in a way that is appropriate for their moral and social development they can help them be successful in the school setting and I want to do all I can to help my students be successful.

Chapter 2 Learning Log

What?

Neuron: A cell that transmits information to other cells.
Synapses: A bridge between two neurons that allows information to be transmitted from one neuron to the other.
Myelination: The growth of the myelin sheath around axons which causes faster transmission of information from one neuron to the other.
Schemas: Groups of similar thoughts or actions repeatedly used in response to the environment.
Assimilation: The process that involves dealing with a new events that is consistent with already formed schemes.
Accommodation: The process that involves dealing with a new event either by modifying an existing scheme or developing a completely new one.
Disequilibrium: Causes mental discomfort because you are unable to address new events with existing schemes.
Sensorimotor stage: The first stage in Piaget’s stages of cognitive development. In this stage, schemes are based mostly on behaviors and perceptions.
Preoperational stage: The second stage in Piaget’s stages of cognitive development. In this stage, children’s vocabularies increase and they are able to think about objects and events beyond their immediate view but can’t yet reason in a logical way.
Concrete operations stage: The third stage in Piaget’s stages of cognitive development. In this stage, adult like logic is more developed than the previous stage but is limited to concrete reality.
Formal operations stage: The fourth stage in Piaget’s stages of cognitive development. In this stage, logical reasoning can be applied to concrete reality and abstract ideas.
Self-talk: Talking to yourself to help guide you through a task.
Inner speech: Talking to yourself mentally to help guide you through a task instead of talking out loud.
Zone of proximal development (ZPD): Different tasks that an individual can perform if they are guided through the task but cannot yet do on their own.
Scaffolding: Some form of structure or guidance that allows a child to perform a task within their zone of proximal development.
Cognitive apprenticeship: The process in which a teacher not only helps a student complete a task but helps them with how to think about the task.

So What?

Understanding cognitive and the linguistic development of adolescents is really important. Understanding that students develop differently will affect your teaching style to accommodate those differences. If you want to be an effective teacher, it is important to understand the different developmental stages and through learning about them be able to better work with your students and teach them on a level where they will actually learn and retain the knowledge you are trying to give them. When we get out in the classroom, we are going to have students who are developmentally delayed or who are developmentally ahead and by learning about how students develop and how to work with the students at the different developmental stages it will help you to not focus just on one group and forget the other. The different theories help explain the developmental stages and having an understanding of different theories allows you to choose the theory that best fits a particular student or mix the theories to best understand and help the student. It is also helpful to understand language development because you might work with students where English isn't their first language and understanding how language develops will assist you in working with these students in your own content area.

Now What?

I want to keep my students engaged in the material I am teaching in my classroom and if I am not working with them at a developmentally appropriate level then the students will disengage and stop being active participators in their own learning process. Learning about different theories allows me to have multiple resources to draw from to work with a particular student or class. It allows me to apply the information I have and pick and choose what fits in a particular situation. For example I might have a particular student in which Vygotsky's theory best helps me understand where they are developmentally and how to help them, but I might have another student where Piaget's theory will be more helpful. Also, I'm sure that I will encounter students where English is their second language and it will be important to apply my knowledge not only to help them with the English language in and of itself but also in learning vocabulary or concepts that might be specific to my content area.

Rainman Extra Credit

Today I went to see the presentation by Kim Peek, the real Rainman. It was so cool. I was amazed at the things that he could do, such as read 2 pages at once, with his left eye reading the left side and his right eye reading the right side, and retaining most of what he read and committing it to memory. It was amazing to hear some of the stories about him growing up and how at a really early age he had memorized so many things and how now that he was introduced to music he can play with 85% accuracy all the music he had heard between the ages of something like 18 months and 6 years. I also loved how his dad talked about how Dustin Hoffman told him that he had to share Kim with other people and his dad didn't feel that he couldn't because he was severely mentally retarded. But when he finally did, it was a great experience for him and Kim and all the people that they came into contact with. It's incredible all the people that Kim's life has touched and all the people he has shared himself with. Kim and his father are so generous in sharing themselves and in sharing the Oscar that they have from the movie Rainman. They wanted everyone to be able to hold it so that we could say that we had held an Oscar. So Lindsey and I took a picture holding it together. Kim had a personality that just made you love him from the beginning. He is an inspiration to all and I feel very lucky to have been there today to hear him.

Chapter 15 Learning Log

What?

Assessment: Observing a sample of a student’s behavior and drawing conclusions about the student’s knowledge and abilities.

Formal assessment: Already planned assessment that is used for a specific purpose in drawing conclusions about the student’s knowledge and abilities.

Informal assessment: An assessment that is done just by a teachers spontaneous or unplanned observation of something a student might say or do in the classroom.

Paper-pencil assessment: Where we give the student questions that they must answer by writing down their responses.

Performance assessment: Where students show what they know or can do in a non-written form.

Authentic assessment: Measuring student’s abilities or knowledge in a real-life context or situation.

Reliability: How well an assessment produces consistent information about the knowledge, skills, or characteristics that are being assessed.

Standardization: How well an assessment can be generalized by having similar content, format, how it is administered, and scoring.

Validity: How well an assessment measures what it is supposed to measure and allows us to have appropriate inferences about the characteristics or abilities that we are trying to measure.

Practicality: Extent that an assessment instrument or procedure is inexpensive and easy to use in a short amount of time to administer and score.

Table of specifications: A two-way grid that indicates the topics that should be covered and what students should be able to do with the topics covered.

Rubric: List of components that a correct response would include or the characteristics we consider as we judge it.

So What?

Assessments are a huge part of the learning process and a huge part of teaching. There will always have to be assessment in anything that we do. Just as right now my performance is assessed at work, my students will have to be assessed on their performance and knowledge of the subject I am trying to teach them. Assessment is present everywhere and in everything we do, sometimes without us even knowing it. I think that learning about the different assessments and what they are used for and how to use them is valuable information for a future teacher because we will need to assess our students and it is important that we understand the different assessments and can implement them in the best way possible and for the subject matter or assignment. It is also important for us as teachers to look at the assessments we give to our students to assess our own teaching. They can help us know if we are teaching what we want the students to know and if they are comprehending what we are teaching. They are also helpful in looking at if what we are teaching and assessing is aligned.

Now What?

Assessment will always be present in my classroom in many ways. I will use a few different types of assessment such as rubrics for things like essays, and paper-pencil assessments for homework assignments or tests. While these kinds of assessments are important and will be present in my classroom, I will want to do some performance assessments as well in the form of debates and classroom discussion. I’m sure I will do informal assessments on my students every day in trying to figure out how they learn, and work. I want my students to know exactly what I expect from them so I will let them know how I am assessing them when I am explaining an assignment, and then make sure they understand what I expect of them and how I will assess them and not deviate from how I told them I will assess them. I will use these assessments not only to help me know where the students are at in my class but also to help them understand where they are in their learning as well and it will be a way to give them feedback on how they can improve and congratulate good work they are doing.I think I still need to learn more about making sure my assessments fit my teaching style and the level of understanding that I am teaching on. I also need to learn more about how to make my assessments valid and reliable.