Overview

Taking this education psychology course will help me throughout my career as a teacher.  I found learning about the different philosopher theories helped me to look at how children develop and their behaviors in a different way and gave me a better understanding. I also found the video we watched with Richard Lavoy educational and eye opening it gave me a new perspective for  helping and working with children with learning disabilities. This course also gave me a different view as why children can act the way they do that many external and internal forces play a role in a children behavior.  I think we all know that the environment plays a role in our environment but forget about it and blame the individual.  It is important for teachers to help shape children futures and the knowledge we gained, can help us to shape that path for each individual child in the way that is best for them cause no two student is the same.     

Assessing Students Learning

Assessment is the gathering of reliable information pertaining to students knowledge and understanding of critical concepts.   This is not to be confused with evaluation which is the process of making judgment, based in part on assessment data. There are four types of assessment:
1. Before instruction assessment 
2. During instruction assessment (formative assessment), assessment for learning to provide information on how they are doing
3. After instruction assessment (Summative assessment)-Assessment of learning
4.Assessment as learning, a self assessment reflecting upon your own learning 

Three features to assessment 
1. Reliability, results that are produced are reproducible 
2.Validity, test or a assignment that measures what it is intended to measure  two types 
           A) Content Validity, assessment instruments measures the content that you`ve covered
           B) Instructional Validity, assessment of what was actually done in class

It is important for teacher to be fair when assessing students all students should have an equal opportunity to learn and demonstrate their skills.  Some current trends used to assess student include the use of at least some performance base assessment, higher order cognitive skills, use of multiple assessment methods, having high performance standards and using computers as part of assessments   
  

Managing The Classroom

It is important when teaching and dealing with students while managing a classroom we deal with problems is a matter of timing and the best timing is before the issues become a problem.  To do this teachers need to take a proactive approach to managing the classroom.  As teachers we need to strick a balance between preventive and reactive.  When a problem arises in our classrooms we need to asses the seriousness.  To do this we need to look at 3 things 
1. Consider the sevairity of the behavior 
2. Consider chronicity of the behavior, pervasiveness of behavior throughout the year 
3.Frequency, How often 
 After you have assessed the behavior you can decided what type of intervention is required;
Minor intervention include 
-non verbal cues
-keep the activity moving
-moving closer to student 
-redirecting the behavior 
-give needed instruction
-directly and assertively tell student to stop
- provide students with choices 
Teacher need to ensure they are sensitive to the development needs of students and understand that relationships with students are important.
the 2nd type of intervention is Moderate intervention this includes;
-withholding a privileged
-giving a detention 
-removing/ isolating student 
The last type of intervention is serious intervention such as:
-In school suspension
-Out school suspensions
-Expulsions 
-Involving the law 
It is important for teachers to know how to assess a situation in their classroom and how to handle the situation to maintain and manage their classrooms. 

Orientation

There is 3 types of orientation:
1) Helpless orientation, where a person feels helpless like they can`t do anything.  There is two types of helpless orientation
       a)internal attribution, is blaming one self for not being able to solve a problem
       b)external attribution, is blaming an external source for not being able to solve a problem
2)Performance orientation, motivation is based on the outcome.  The danger to this type of orientation is if the outcome is not achieved it makes us vulnerable
3)Mastery orientation, is motivated though our own desire to succeed people with mastery orientation have a sense of curiosity, of self ownership of success or failure

Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs

Maslow developed a model to explain how humans motivation and behaviors 

 


The bottom four in the pyramid are a persons deficiency needs; the top four are the growth needs.  Maslow states an individual without deficiency needs can not move up the pyramid towards the growth needs.



 

Co-operative Learning

Cooperative learning occurs when students work in small groups to help each other learn.  For my self personally, I find small group discussions help me to see things in different perspective; group work also help to me to remember facts when there is a discussions on the topic.  Cooperative learning emphasizes the social context of learning and the mutual construction of knowledge.  There are five components of cooperative learning.
1.Positive interdependence is dependent in the success of the whole group.  2.Positive face to face interactions helps to build on individuals team skills.  3.Interpersonal and small group interactions help students learn to take on specific roles in a group to ensure all tasks are done to complete project.
4.Individual accountability it is important to assess both the group and individuals so there is no slacking done by members of the group.
5.The last component is critical thinking this step includes taking a step back and thinking about what you learned in the group and reflecting on it in order to turn what you did into knowledge.

Memory

Memory is the interplay of encoding, storage and retrieval of information over time.  There are three stages  to the processing of  information into memory: Encoding, storage, and retrieval.  Encoding has five parts to it:
1.Rehearsal, the conscious repetition of information over time to increase the length of time that information stays in memory. 
2.Deep Processing is when you think about information deeply and the pattern makes sense.
3. Elaboration, the extensiveness of information processing involved in memory such as thinking of examples to elaborate on information. 
4.Constructing images, this is when you imagine a visual representation to help you remember and last of all,
5. Organization, when students organize information while their memory encodes it their memory benefits. 
 The way memory is stored can be classified in three types: sensory memory, short term, and long term memory.  Sensory Memory holds information from the world original moment and for only an instant.  Short Term information is retained at most for 30 seconds and long term memory hold enormous amounts of information for long periods of time.  The last stage of memory is retrieval this stage has 3 types:
1. Cue-dependent forgetting, is when you learn something you give it a label when you go to remember you have for forgotten the cue.
2. Interference theory, the new stuff you have learned is getting in the way of the old stuff you have learned. and,
3.  The decay theory, knowledge you have stored is not used so it begins to decay.

Bandura's Social Cognitive Theory and Observational Learning

The Social cognitive theory states that social and cognitive factors as well as behavior, play important roles in learning. To support this theory Bandura developed the reciprocal determinism model this model consists of 3 main factors behavioral, person and cognitive factors and environment. Bandura states these factors can interact to influence learning.  Each of theses factors can effect the individual directly or can influence one of the other factors.I find that this is true if something affects me in my environment it contributes to how I feel my behavior and mood. 

                                                      

Observational Learning is learning that occurs when a person observes and intimidates someone else`s behavior. We have all learned by observational, as children we learn how to act by watching our parents or adult figures around us or learn to perform a particular task such as making our beds. Myself personally learn best by watching someone else preform the task and then attempting the same task.

Cognitive information- processing apprroach

Cognitive information- processing emphasizes that students manipulate information, monitor it and strategize about it.  One way to think about cognitive information- process is to think of the mind as a computer; the 3 functions  a computer preforms are:
Input, information going into the computer system,
Storage, the brain organizes and stores the information and,
Output, the brain is able to to retrieve and use the information that was stored.  One important fact to remember about cognitive information-processing is that it deals with the return or retreat inward meaning it is concern with the internal and a very individual approach.

The main Characteristics of the information-processing and approach described by Robert Siegler:
Thinking-  the processing of information
Change Mechanisms- there are 4 main mechanism to create changes in students
          Encoding- taking raw information and encoding it within your system
Automaticity- the process of something becoming automatic, when we can think,
          or perform a cognitive activity with out thinking about it
Strategy construction - doing thing consciously and finding effective and                           efficient way to processing
Transfer- is when we can apply knowledge, learning, info from one situation                  to another.
Self-modification-how we can change our own developmental active process.

Functional Approach

When dealing with students behavior you need to always ask why is the student acting this way what is the purpose for them acting in this behavior.  Functional analysis examines a students inappropriate behavior as well as it's antecedence (what comes before) and the consequences; by examining these behaviors to determine the function that these behaviors may serve for the student.  After identifying the purpose of a behavior you can provide alternate ways for the student to achieve the same purpose in an appropriate manner, this is called positive behavior support.  The 5 strategies for creating a functional approach are:
1. Directly teach desirable behaviors
2. Consistently reinforce
3. Try to set up predictable routines
4. Provide frequent opportunity for choice
5. Provide adaptation to support academic success

During my school years to many times I observed teachers getting mad a students for acting out in class and would not take the time to find out what was causing this behavior. I believe that knowing this will help to create stable learning environment for all my students and help me to help students find an outlet for their frustrations. 

Operant Conditioning

Operant conditioning is a form of learning in which the consequences of behavior produces changes in the probability that the behavior will occur.  When using operant conditioning, the teacher needs to be aware what kind of stimulus they are using are they adding something (positive) or taking away (negative). They also need to consider what is the direction of the behavior change the stimulus is creating more (reinforcement) of the behavior or less of of the behavior. The main mechanisms of operant conditioning are reinforcement and punishment, reinforcement is a consequence that increases the probability that a behavior will occur and punishment is a consequence that decreases the probability that a behavior will occur. These create the four elements of operant conditioning: Positive reinforcement the frequency of a response increases because it is followed by a stimulus an example would be a teacher gives praise to create more of a certain behavior. Positive punishment involves the administration of an unwelcome consequence such as a teacher gives as a detention. Negative punishment involves the removal of a valued item an example of this would be taking away a recess from a student. Negative reinforcement is the frequency of a response increases because the response either removes a stimulus or involves avoiding a stimulus.  The goal of all these strategies is to increase the frequency of a targeted behavior.

Generalization in operant conditioning means giving the same response to similar stimuli.  Especially of interest is the extent to which behavior generalizes from one situation to another, an example of this would be your student behaves well in the class you want them to continue this behavior in the hall so u use a similar stimulus  to create that response.

Extinction in operant conditioning occurs when a previously reinforced response is no longer reinforced and the response decreases.  This is when reinforcement is stopped all together, there is no reaction to their actions you just ignore the student.

kolbergs's levels and Stages of moral development

Kohlberg's believes that there is three levels of moral development Pre-conventional, Conventional, and Post Conventional with two stages at each level.  A key point of Kohlberg's theory is internalization the change from behavior that is externally controlled to internally controlled.  In the pre-conventional stage the child has not yet obtained conventional thinking moral reason is controlled by an external rewards and punishments examples of this would be being rewarded by getting a cookie or being given a timeout for not listening.  The Conventinal stage internalization is intermediate, but essentially the standards are imposed by other people such as parents or society, example of this would be trying to uphold a reputation like good girl, good boy; the other side would be law and order (following rules).  The last stage post-conventional morality is completely internalized and not based on external standards, Includes social contract such as unwrittern agreements and rules and universal ethical examples would be Martin Luther King, Jesus.

                                          

I think that Kolberg's theory is a template for moral development but believe that we can be in many stages at one point in time for many people they know what is right and wrong but need that external reward or law and order to insure they do the right thing.  There is also certain situations where a person knows that there are certain rules, but reason beyond their control they also believe that doing the opposite would also be accepted.  Moral reasoning is different in every situation,culture, and between genders which makes it difficult to classify

Differenatiating Instruction

Differentiating instructional is an individual process of teaching and learning based on the developmental readiness, interest, and learning style of all students within a classroom.  The students readiness is based on their zone of proximity; where the student is at, what do they know and what can they do. Using the child's interests to help them to learn the curriculum, ensures the child will be more willing to put the effort into learning the subject when they can relate it something they are interested in. it is also important that the teacher to know that in order for the student to understand what is being taught a teacher has to take into account each individual learning profile how the student learns best: are they a visual, verbal, or audio learner.    The teacher can differentiate instruction by either modifying the content, modifying the process of learning or modifying product or any combination of the three.  The focus of differentiated instruction should be on the knowledge and skills that students bring forward to the learning process.

Richard Lavoy

F.A.T is a an informational video in which Richard Lavoy has put together different situations, that a learning disabled child would go through on a daily basis at school. It puts the viewer in the shoes of a a learning disabled child and helps them to see the world as a learning disabled child does; the difficulties of what we would consider a  simple tasks the learning disabled student has a hard time completing.  Lavoy's program helps parent and teachers to better identify with learning disabled children and gives advice and strategies on how they can help the child progress and build confidence in themselves.  This video was extremely educational it helped me to better understand what children with learning disabled children go through and gave me guidance for working with them in the classroom. I Believe that all people should watch this video to help them to better understand children with learning disabilities.   

Gender

When talking about gender we first we have to make sure to distinguish the difference between gender and sex; sex is defined as the biological dimensions of being male or female. Gender is the socio-cultural aspect of male or female. Gender generates an expectation of how a person should feel, think, act in society based on their sex this is known as gender roles.
When a child is growing up they are learning from adults and role model how they are expected to act in society.  By watching how people are rewarded or punished for the way they act. There are two theories on how children develop their socio-learning theory on gender: the Cognitive Development Theory, and the Gender Schema Theory .
The Cognitive Development Theory states that a child learns different concepts of gender and comes to see gender as a consistent. 
The Gender Schema Theory believes that a child develops a concept of what gender is then as time goes on they blend those gender concept with with their own self gender concepts.
I see the gender schema theory as being more accurate especially in today's society where it is more accepted by society for girls and guys to take on roles of the opposite sex.
As teacher we have to be aware and be careful no to cast or teach stereotypes, gender biases or sexual orientation issues.  This can be difficult as each person has their own belief on how gender should act or behave and as time goes on what we believe is accepted behavior may not be what the next generation sees as normal behaviors or attitudes.    

Gardners Multiple intelligences

Gardener believes that intelligence comes in the form of several skills , Verbal, Mathematical, Spatial, Body Kinaesthetic, Musical, Interpersonal, Intrapersonal, naturalist and Existential.  When a individual has a strong intelligence in one of these field it can give direction as to what occupation they would have a strength in. These intelligences are well defined in their name verbal is the ability to use language to express meaning, Mathematical, the ability to carry out the mathematical operation. musical a natural sensitivity to pitch, melody,rhythm, and tone.Naturalist: the ability to observe patterns in nature.The other are not as well described by their names Spatial in the ability to think in 3 dimension this is effective for this trait help architects, artist and sailors.Bodily- kinesthetic skills the ability to manipulate objects and be physically adept good example of these traits would Surgeons, dancers,athletes. Interpersonal skills is the ability to understand and effectively interact with others such as teachers, and mental health professionals.People with Intrapersonal intelligence such as theologians and psychologist have the ability to understand oneself and effectively direct one's life.The ability to contemplate global questions about life such as philosophers have existential intelligences.

                                              

I think that Gardner does have a very good point intelligence is not a single entity people have strength in certain areas and weaknesses in others. An individual can learn to build on other areas of intelligence by using the type of intelligence that they are the strongest at.   

Eric Erickson's stages of human development

Erikson's lifespan theory has eight stages he believes in that if a person doesn't meet the needs of each stage it will be carried with us they don't disappear.  His first stage is Trust vs Mistrust and is birth to 1 yr old the second stage is Autonomy vs Shame and Doubt and includes infants age 1 to 2 years in age in this stage the individual realizes that their behavior is their own, they get their independence and realize their will.  If the infant is restrained to much or punished to harshly a sense of shame and doubt occur.  The next stage is Initiative vs Guilt in this stage the child begins to do things for themselves such as brushing teeth cleaning up after themselves a sense of responsibility increases initiative.  Children develop uncomfortable guilt feelings if they are irresponsible or are made to feel anxious. The forth stage is Industry vs Inferiority and includes elementary in this stage children are building on knowledge and intellectual skills children will never be as curious as when they are in this stage. Inferiority is caused by the child having a sense of productiveness and incompetence.  The fifth stage is Identity vs Identity Confusion this stage happen while a child is in intermediate and high school years this stage is based on the individual finding out who they are such as the people we hang out the music we listen to also where they are going in life.  If they are not allowed to try different identity's they become confused about there identity.  Intimacy vs Isolation is the sixth stage this stage is where young adults in their 20's and 30's develop close and personal relationships with others the hazard of this stage a person is unable to form such relationship and becomes isolated which causes loneliness and a dark cloud over their lives. The seventh stage in Erikson's stages is Generativity vs Stagnation is the stage in a person life when they are in their 40's and 50's. Generativity means giving transmitting something to the next generation helping them develop useful lives stagnation is the feeling that you have done nothing to help.  The last stage in Erikson's development theory is Integrity vs Despair this stage takes place in a person life in their 6o's till death.  In this stage adults review their lives reflecting on what they have done if their evaluation of their life is positive they feel integrity; If not they become despairing and negative.

To an extent I agree with Erikson's theory that every one does go through these different stages throughout life and we do achieve either one or the other of the outcomes in out lives.  However at least for myself personally  I feel that I'm in several of these stages at this point in my life; these include the Identity vs identity confusion I'm still trying to find out who I or more less who i want to be. Intimacy vs Isolation trying to find that one person who I want to have that special relationship with and spend the rest of my life with. Generativity vs Stagnation i've given back to the next generation by either volunteering to coach younger girls soccer I have taught these girls how to improve their skills but also have helped them to learn the skills of teamwork, punctuality, listening skills, following directions, and leadership. I also believe that i look back on what i have accomplished so far and reflect on that to help me see what I feel is best for my future.So why I believe that every person does go though these stages they can be in more then on at a time. 

Success

Richard Saint John while at a TED conference held a seminar  after 7 years research and 5000 interviews he came up with the 8 things people need to do to become success full
Passion- you need to enjoy what you are doing
Work- you have to work hard and have fun doing it
Good- to get good you need to practice practice practice
Focus- on one thing at a time
Push- push yourself physically, mentally
Serve- something of |Value
Ideas- to get you need to listen observe, be curious, ask questions and make connections 
Persist- through failure , through CRAP Criticism, rejection assholes and pressure 

I believe that this list is extremely accurate and gives people the guidelines they need in order to be successful in their lives

In groups in class we made our own list that as students we thought lead to academic success some of the top choices that students picked were:
Studying
Leading a Healthy lifestyle
Sleep
Determination
The want to learn

We also watched a interview with Malcolm Gladwell the topic of discussion was what role does talent play in success?  He Believes that success doesn't have much to do with talent but mostly to do with hard work and perseverance and practice.  That Talent is the desire to practice and the willingness to put your time and effort into practicing.  He also believes that culture can affect talent by creating a power distance, this is how you speak to someone that is higher up on the chain of command or has more superiority or your elder, This is because in some cultures it is unacceptable to correct seniority a good example would be a culture like china. Malcolm believes that the only way to be talented is to work hard at what you do.

I Believe that Malcolm Gladwell is right that to become talented at something you need to work hard and be dedicated to practicing no famous athlete has ever gone out on the playing field and was naturally a pro they had to put many hours of practice and training in to become the talented players they are.

Brofenbrenner's Ecological Theory

Erie Brofenbrenner bio-ecological model of development focuses on the social contexts in which students live, the people who influence their development and the interaction between students' characteristics and their environment His theory has Five environmental systems which are wrapped around the individual the first stage is called the Microsystem this includes the students family, friends, and school the microsystems is controlled by the students; because they control interactions and help to construct the settings. The next Layer is the Mesosystem and this is the sytem that connects all the microsystems together.  The third is the Exosystem this is the system that the has an impact on the individual but they have no control over, such as a parent losing a job or the availability to parks and recreational facilities in the area where they live.  The Forth system is the Macrosystem this involves society's values and culture and the last layer is the Chronosystem which refers to socio-historical conditions of students development. An example of this would be the conditions we learn in our different from those of our parents, we have access to wireless internet everywhere, being able to talk on the phone at anytime and texting.

                                                           
When dealing with children Bronfenbrenner wants us to think of all the microsystems.  As teachers we need to look at not only what is affecting the child during school hours but also in their lives outside of school.  I do agree with him that when dealing with children you have to look at all the areas that affect a child because things that are happen around us influence us directly and indirectly, they have a large affect on a person.  I think as a teacher that this will be a hard task to do, as you are caring for a large amount of students with different cultural backgrounds different circle of friends, coming from different neighborhood these children deal with situations affecting them differently; for one child it could affect them one way, same situation with a different child and it doesn't affect them at all.

Vygotsky's Theory

Today in class we talked about Lev Vygotsky theories on how a child's mind develops. I personally agree with Vygotsky's theory compared to Piaget's theory.  Vygotsky's theory takes into account that each child is different and that they learn at a different pace and in different ways. The 3 main points to Vygotsky's theory are assumption, zone of proximal development and scaffolding.  To go into detail about what Vygotsky mean about assumption is that a child learns by developmental trajectory is what a child knows can be used to build on, to teach them new things. A example of assumption would be math you can't ask a child with no mathematical background to multiply until they have learned the basics, so if you present them with the mathematical problem of 4*3 they must first know that what this equation means to solve that problem they also need to know the basic skill of addition.The second point is that cognitive skills are structured by language, as a child language is used as a tool that helps children plan activities and solve problems. The third point is importance of social relations and culture, a child's development is link strongly with the environment that they are brought up using the inventions of society such as computer and watching television they will be further along then those without.  This point is one that is extremely important, Piaget theory does not take into account that the use of technology and the culture you are brought up in plays a huge roll in the development of a children`s minds.  The last point to go with assumptions is learning is situated and collaborated this suggest that knowledge can best be advanced through interactions with other people.

The zone of proximal development is a range of tasks that are to difficult for children to master alone but can be learned with guidance and assistance.  In the lower limits a  child can solve problems and tasks by working alone and the upper limit is the level of additional responsibility a child can accept with assistance from an able instructor

Scaffolding is the level of support that a teacher or mentor gives to a child and is based on each individual child's zone of proximal development.  When first teaching a Child a new concept you give them step by step instructions then you allow them to do problems on their own when a question is asked you show them how to fix the problem they have encounter as time goes on when a problem arises you ask them to go back to the problem and go over the steps to see if they can figure out where they went wrong on the problem by themselves.  This helps give  the child the support they need to be able to solve problems and be able to think through and solve problems on their own.

Vygotsky's theory makes the most sense to me and takes into account that the way each child learns is different.  He also understands the culture and society that a child is brought up in plays a role in that child's development.  



 

Piaget's Theory

Piaget Theory is that the mind uses Cognitive processes such as schemas to develop the mind (Cognitive Development).  There are two processes that are responsible for how children use and adopt their schemas, assimilation(an act in which individuals incorporate new knowledge into existing knowledge) and accommodation (an act in which individuals adjust to new information) Piaget also Believed that cognitive development happened in a sequence stages which are age-related. His four stages are called The Sensorimotor Stage, Preoperational Stage, Concrete Operational, Formal Operational Stage.  The Sensorimotor Stage Birth to 2 years of age the infants get an understanding of the worlds around them by sense of touch sight and hearing.  This includes a baby hearing a noise and turning to find what made that noise or discovering that different objects have different textures.The Preoperational stage age 2 to 7 is when the child expands there use of language and increase in symbolic thought. They are learning how thing are put together such as building simple puzzles or playing with Lego.  The next stage is the concrete operational Stage last from about 7 to 11 years of age. In this stage the child can now reason logically about concrete events and classify objects into different categories such as comparing sizes, knowing that cookies are made from adding different ingredients together. Piaget`s last stage is called the Formal operational stage and emerges between 11 to 15 years of age. This stage individuals move beyond reasoning about only concrete experiences and think in more abstract ,idealistic and logical ways.   This includes being able to reason through different possible choices and outcomes.

Although Piaget`s does understand what the basic learning skills of children in those stages his theory does have some flaws.  His theory does not take into account that children all learn at a different pace some are quicker learners and developers, what one child is able to do when they are 1 another child may not be able to do until they are 3.  In other cases a child can excel, where most children are doing a certain task at the age of 14 this child is only 10 and is understanding at the same level. Piaget also didn`t take it to account that culture and education play a role in how a child`s mind develops. The way children are brought up in a culture can have a large affect on how they develop. Depending on the teacher a child has can also play a role in how the child develops if they have a teacher that can help student to achieve higher standards then normal they would reach the next stage in Piaget`s theory before they were suppose to.

While Piaget`s theory is right that at certain ages in children`s life their minds is learning and developing. I Believe that Piaget`s Theory is only that a guideline as to where a child mind development should be because each child leans and develops differently based on family,and culture and that fact that no two children are the same

Effective Teaching

Going through school and playing sports has given me the opportunity to see different styles and techniques of teaching.  We each have different thoughts of what type of teaching or coaching methods we preferred or that worked best to help us reach our personal and educational goal.  The characteristics that our mentors had to make our experience more enjoyable such as humor, making the lessons interesting and a in depth knowledge of the topic that they are teaching us, also talking to as adults and trying to push us to be the best we can be made our learning experience enjoyable and even on topics we disliked these traits made the lessons tolerable  .
Teaching involves dealing with a diverse mosaic of children from different cultural background, different learning capabilities, each with there own personality, interests, and life story.  As a teacher you have to respect there culture, family values, and individuality, this makes teaching an extremely complex job. Assuming that classrooms in Alberta have an average of minimum 20 students per class, how as teacher do you meet each one of the student personal, cultural and educational needs. It seems that to meet these needs of the student would take a mental physical toll on a person so it takes a person of incredible patience,tolerance,creativity, understanding and flexibility to be a teacher