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.

Brain Learning Log

What?

Temporal Lobe

• memory
  
• speech
• hearing

Occipital Lobe

• vision(color recognition)

Parietal Lobe

• information from different parts of the body
• space, vision
• integration with different parts of the body

Hippocampus

• short term memory
• spacial orientation
• emotion
• new memories formed

Amigdola

• emotions(fear)

Brain Stem

• controls unconscious activity (breathing, heart rate)
• automatic emotion
  
• touch
  
• vision

Reticular Activating System

• center of arousal and motivation
• functioning is a prerequisite to conciousness

Cerebellum

• affects attention
• motor coordination
• equilebrium
• muscle abilities

Broca's Area

• language (production)
• if damaged, affects how you comprehend language

Wernicke

• controls reception of language
• comprehension of speech

Corpus Callosum

• connects the left and right side of the brain
• allows the two sides of the brain to communicate
  

Other Information

• no part of the brain does anything by itself
• development occurs back to front and is not fully developed until between 25-35
• brain develops in stages: physical coordination, emotion, motivation, and then judgement

So what?

I think that what we learned about the brain can help us understand a little more how our students brains will be developing while we are teaching them. I think that what I thought was most interesting and important for us as teachers to know what that the brain develops in stages with physical coordination first and judgement last. It makes so much sense why teenagers are so emotional but many times seem to lack judgement, it is because that part of their brain hasn't fully developed yet. I think that learning this allows us to be more understanding of students who might seem to lack judgement or motivation and instead of just get annoyed with them for lacking motivation or judgement, we can teach them the importance of these things and work through that difficult part of life with them. It will help when you get those students who get under your skin because they are not motivated and do really stupid things.

Now What?

I think that what we learned this week will help me understand better where my students are developmentally but also understand those who might have had some developmental problems or maybe some brain trauma. I think that this will help me to better empathize with them and work with them to be the best they can be. I think that realizing that people's brains develop differently will also allow me to work with each student individually and not necessarily have one set standard for each student. I think that while there needs to be a general standard, people develop differently and that should be taken into account as well when teaching and assessing what is being learned.

Educational Research Blog

What?

Descriptive Study: Describes characteristics or data that is collected about the populations being studied. They answer the who, what, when, where, and how questions.

Correlational Study: Looks at the relationship between 2 factors. Positive correlation: when one factor increases, another factor increases. Negative correlation: when one factor increases and the other decreases.

Experimental Study: Uses independent variables (a manipulation of some aspect of the environment) to determine the effect on the dependent variable (whatever it is you want to study, also what is affected by the independent variable).

Action Research: Research that is conducted by teachers that is specific to their schools, classrooms, with the goal of finding more effecive ways to positively intervene in the students' lives.

So What?

I think that knowing how educational research is done and what makes it valid is really important for teachers. I think that research has helped teachers learn more about the way students learn and the best ways to teach them. It helps teachers learn what different tools they can use to be the most effective teacher they can be. We have to make decisions constantly on how to teach and analyze how our students best learn, and knowing the current research can help us make educated decisions about what teaching strategies to use and implement in our own classrooms.

Now What?

I feel that because I did psychology for my undergraduate degree, that I am pretty knowledgeable on research strategies and how they are done, and what you can learn from them. However, I have never really studied educational research and there is a lot out there that I don't know about and I think it would be good for me to take a look at what research is out there on this subject. I know that as a teacher, I will have to constantly use different research strategies to discover how best to work with a particular class or individual student. There will me bany times when I have to figure out what educational strategy will be most effective for a particular student because while research says that maybe a particular teaching strategy has been proven to be mose effective for most students, it might not be effective for that particular student that I am working with.

Motivation Blog

1. The story of how I got to where I am is kind of an interesting one. I graduated from BYU in 2007 in psychology. I was planning on taking a year off and then going to grad school in recreational therapy. This was my plan up until I went to apply for grad school and for some reason couldn't do it. I kind of had an identity crisis feeling like I didn't know what to do with my life because I had this plan that all of a sudden wasn't the right plan anymore. I really struggled with what to do with my life and my mom suggested that I become a teacher and coach basketball because I love basketball and coaching. I kind of blew it off because I thought, I have never wanted to be a teacher. Then a few weeks later, I was asked to teach at church and I was so excited because I loved teaching. Duh, light bulb went on and I applied and got into UVU 3 weeks before the semester started with the plan to go into the education program.
I wanted to go back to BYU because that's where I had done my undergrad but BYU doesn't let you come back after you graduate unless you are doing a masters. I live in Provo and work in Spanish Fork so I decided to come to UVU. I took the prerequisites last semester and then applied and got into the program.
So here I am, in the education program at UVU, and in this class. I am in this class because it is required for the education program. But because psychology is what my bachelors is in, I am excited to take this class because it is up my alley.
2. I think that one thing that motivates me is to have some kind of reward at the end. If I know that there is a reward for what I am doing then I am more motivated to do it. The reward doesn't have to be big or even external. For example, I am motivated to serve other people because it makes me feel good and makes me feel like I am making a difference for someone. I study and work hard in school so I can get good grades, with the good grades being the motivating factor. I am also motivated by other people, if other people are involved, especially people that I enjoy being around, I am more motivated to do things or to get things done. I am also motivated by fun. I love to have fun and so if something that I am going to do has an element of fun, then I am more motivated to do it, even if doing something fun is the reward like I mentioned earlier.
3. I think that I succeed when I really make up my mind to accomplish something. I have a lot of will power and can be stubborn. So if I really want something and believe that I can get it or accomplish it then that helps me succeed. I think another thing that helps me succeed is when other people believe in me. When I have people that believe in me then I have more confidence in myself and feel like I accomplish more because I don't want to let them or myself down.
4. I think that most of the time the reason I fail is because I give up. Sometimes I feel like things get too hard, or I am going to fail anyway so why try. Or sometimes the reward isn't motivating enough for me to do the work to get the reward. There are other times when I am not equipped with the tools that it takes to succeed at something which causes failure.
5. I think I need to change my motivation from getting a good grade to really learning the material and figuring out how it applies to what I want to do as a teacher. I need to study and learn to better myself instead of to get the grade.

First Assignment

Goals:
1. I have a goal to get all my assignments done on time.
2. I have a goal to not procrastinate doing my work in this class since it is only once a week.
3. I have a goal to study to remember the material throughout my life instead of just for tests.

Weekly Preparation Plan:
Sunday-I will not do anything to prepare for this class because I don't study on Sundays.
Monday-I will read and study in the text book.
Tuesday- I will finish any reading and studying in the text book.
Wednesday-I will review what I have read or studied the previous week to prepare to attend class.
Thursday-Attend and participate in class.
Friday-I will look at the homework assignments and start working on them.
Saturday-I will finish homework assignments with the exception of the reading in the text book.

Study Strategies:
1. Attend class every week.
2. Read the text book.
3. Highlight important information or things that I am having a hard time understanding.
4. Do the homework to the best of my ability and try to learn what it is the assignment is supposed to be teaching me.

If I don't understand a topic I will:
1. Try to find the answer in the book by looking in the chapter we are studying or looking in the index.
2. Ask a classmate to clarify a difficult concept.
3. Ask the teacher to help me understand.

I will reach my goals in this course by studying the coarse material on a regular basis and not cramming for tests and/or assignments.