Barb Rentenbach Presentation

     Today's presentation on Barb Rentenbach and autism was an extremely inspiring and engaging learning experience. This presentation left me with a different view of autism and how I will consider autistic children in my classroom. I highly recommend that future educators either read her book or look up video clips of excerpts of her book, you will not be disappointed.
     Prior to this presentation, I had a very generalized view of autism that it was a disability that has a range of spectrums. When learning about autism, you don't learn the positive aspects of it nor do you learn the perspectives of people who have it. We assume that because an individual is unable to communicate with us verbally that they must be cognitively slow and therefore we downgrade their value to society limiting them from contributing. However, from this presentation I was able to see that just like there is no standard race or culture there is no standard brain. We are all made uniquely and no one can give you a uniform definition for normal. Every human being on this planet is diverse, but we're all important to this world. I learned that individuals with autism often relate better to objects than individuals, have fresh perspectives on things, make extraordinary writers, can be completely emerged in systems, processes, and orders, and that just like everyone else, they have real strengths. Just because an individual with autism is unable to communicate through expressive language does not mean that they are not receptive and are unable to communicate as a whole. These individuals are brilliant thinkers with a lot to say. They live a contemplative way of life as observers who learn from listening and seeing. They have a beautiful language when given the chance to communicate it and are capable of so much more than we give them credit for.
     With this fresh view of autism in mind, I also have a fresh new perspective of how I will consider autistic children in my classroom. As we have learned, we must remember that each student in our classroom is unique and will learn in different ways. Therefore, it is important that I take the time to find out who my student with autism is as a person and help him/her become the highest version of that. I must start where my students with autism excel and where they are comfortable in their skin and enjoy what they are doing. I must also be open to other forms of communication and provide alternative ways for these students to communicate with myself and their peers. This might involve allowing them to use an Ipad or a computer to type what they are thinking. I don't need to make their assignments less challenging just because they can't verbally communicate. I must remember not to shelter them from the effort intertwined in learning. I will also allow my students with autism substantial time during each day to be inside their autistic self and schedule this at the same time every day. In addition, I will be sure to let them know what to expect in the classroom on a daily basis and give them choices and decision making power especially regarding their schedule. Most importantly, I must keep an open mind with these students and remember that just as they are learning from me, I can also learn from them. Most importantly, I must consider these students with patience. Establishing a communication system may take time, but everything is in a walking distance if you have the time.

Group Differences Forum

Write a brief reflection on the group differences forum that you just participated in.

     Through participating in the group differences forum, I learned a lot that I did not know before. Through this forum, we took common diversity groups and went in-depth through discussion about how these topics appear in the education system and what we as educators can do to prevent certain stereotypes and misconceptions about these groups from happening. I learned that teachers and schools might be discouraging parental involvement of students from poverty backgrounds and that parental involvement in the classroom and school varies by race. This was interesting to learn because as educators we want to encourage ALL parents to be involved in their student's educational experiences. We want to provide the parents of our students a variety of ways they can be involved in the classroom. In addition, teachers also need to realize that cultural differences may play a part in the parents feeling the need to be involved in their children's education. In addition, I learned about the Christian privilege that occurs in our school systems and how this causes other students who don't relate to Christian ideas to feel isolated or secluded. For example, during Christmas time relating all the activities in each lesson to Santa Claus and Christmas trees without even considering that not all of the students in the classroom relate to these symbols. This proposed a fine line, to me, of how much a teacher is able to incorporate the cultures/religions of all of their students. I think from this discussion that it is important for teachers to find a way to incorporate the cultures and backgrounds of all of their students rather than assuming that each student in the classroom comes from the same background. By doing this, teachers are communicating to their students that they care about each student in the classroom as an individual and value their cultural background as something important. 

     The information presented in this forum will be very beneficial to me when I am in my own classroom. It will be beneficial in that it will make me aware of the fact that my classroom will be full of students from different backgrounds, cultures, and ability levels. The information from this forum will make me a well-rounded teacher by reminding me how vital it is to be aware of social and cultural biases that exist and how these may affect a parent's willingness to be involved or a student feeling comfortable and included in the classroom environment. It is important to make every student in the classroom a part of the classroom and incorporate their diverse backgrounds and cultures into the curriculum. In addition, as a future educator I now see the importance of not letting test results, statistics, and stereotypes define your students before they even enter your classroom. I want to start my school year off with all of my students on an equal playing field and provide all of my students with the same amount of encouragement and support to perform to the best of their ability. This group differences forum was very informative on the issues that exist in our school system and in our classrooms and allowed for us as a group to discuss how we could discourage these issues from happening in our classrooms. This information is something that I will carry with me into my own classroom and I am glad we had the opportunity to learn about and discuss these topics. 

PLE #10

Theories in educational psychology promote the idea that language plays a critical role in cognitive development. Examine table 2.2 (p.51), paying particular attention to the age range that you are interested in teaching. Consider how you might incorporate or adapt the strategies presented for use with your own students. 

Jeanne Ellis Ormrod's book "Educational Psychology: Developing Learners" states that many contemporary theorists share the beliefs of Piaget and Vygotsky that acquiring language is possibly the most important factor in cognitive development. Furthermore, Ormrod's book discusses how a child's language development is also affected by their environment. The richer the language that children hear at younger ages, the faster their vocabulary develops. In addition, some theorists believe that heredity also plays a role in a child's language development. However, what I find to be most interesting is that children use what they hear to construct their own understanding of language, which aligns with a constructivist view of learning. Children do not just absorb the language spoken around them, they develop their own understanding of what words mean, the rules governing how words are combined into meaningful sentences, etc. through their own experiences and observations.

Children have different linguistic characteristics and abilities at different grade/age levels. I am interested in teaching K-2. Linguistic characteristics and abilities at these grade levels include:
     - Knowledge of 8,000 to 14,000 words by age 6
     - Difficulty understanding complex sentences
     - Overdependence on word order and context when interpreting messages
     - Superficial understanding of being a good listener
     - Literally interpret messages and requests
     - Increasing ability to tell a story
     - Mastery of most sounds, but some difficulty pronouncing r, th, dr, sl, and str
     - Occasional use of regular word endings with irregular words
     - Basic etiquette in conversations
     - Reluctance to initiate conversations with adults

Ormrod's book provides suggested strategies to use at these grade levels to aid in the linguistic development of students. These strategies are something that I will be able to incorporate and adapt in my classroom. One strategy presented is to read age-appropriate storybooks to enhance the vocabulary of my students. For this, I would make sure that all of the books provided in our class library are age-appropriate for my students in order to meet my students at their existing vocabulary. In addition, I will also provide books that may incorporate new words that my students are unfamiliar with to further build their vocabularies. I will tell my students that any time they see a word they are unfamiliar with while reading to look that word up in the dictionary and write the word, its definition, and a sentence using that word in their vocabulary journals that we will be building throughout the school year. I will also incorporate the use of a word wall in my classroom where my students and I will display new vocabulary words, discuss these words, practice using these words in real-world contexts, and recite these words. Furthermore, I will provide books that are age appropriate that use more complex sentence structure to further challenge my students' linguistic abilities. Encouraging students to read is also important because children and adolescents learn many new words through reading than they do other activities. Therefore, it is important to provide a print-rich environment for my students to enhance their vocabularies.

Another strategy suggested is to have students construct narratives about recent events. This provides practice on their ability to tell a story, write sentences using correct word order and sentence structure, and incorporate new vocabulary words into their daily language. I will use this strategy in all subject matters in my classroom through writing portfolios and journals. Each week, I plan to introduce new vocabulary words to my students and have them practice using the words throughout the week in order to store the words in their long-term memory. I want my students to write about their own personal experiences because it makes their learning relate to their own lives and therefore will increase the chances of my students using new vocabulary words in their every day language. In addition, practice makes perfect and providing my students with ample opportunities to write will result in enhancing their vocabulary and their ability to write clear and meaningful sentences in a variety of contexts.

Another important strategy Ormrod suggests for these grade levels is to give corrective feedback when students' use of words indicate inaccurate understandings. Since my students will be at very young ages of development, they will continue to refine their understandings of words. Therefore, it is very important that I pay close attention to my students' speech and written work to pickup on any misconceptions my students might have about word meanings and correct these misconceptions. In their written work, I will correct their tendency to use regular word endings on irregular words and provide the class explicit instruction on this area if I notice more than a couple of students making the same mistakes. In addition, I will provide practice for my students in learning centers and in whole group instruction on correctly pronouncing words with the r, th, dr, sl, and str sounds. By addressing misconceptions at a younger grade level, I am preventing my students from constructing an incorrect understanding of language.

Ormrod also suggests the strategy of working on listening skills with your students. This will definitely be incorporated into my classroom because being active listeners is an important skill for students to learn. Active listeners use their whole body to focus and realize that good listening requires understanding what is being said and not just sitting quietly. I will have a poster in my class that illustrates what active listeners do to remind my students how I expect them to act. In addition, I will test their listening skills by asking a student to repeat back to me the instructions I have given them in their own words or to summarize an event in their own words during one of our read-alouds.

The last strategy suggested is to ask follow-up questions to make sure your students accurately understand important messages. Since students at these grade levels have the tendency to make literal interpretations of messages and requests (e.g. Your eyes are bigger than your stomach to literally mean that their eyes are larger than their stomach), it is important to check their actual understanding. I will ask my students questions during read-alouds to check for their understanding of the stories and will also incorporate questioning in other subject areas as well to make sure my students actually understand the meaning of different topics, messages, words, etc.

Self-efficacy and Self-regulation

How might self-efficacy and self-regulation contribute to the intervention plans you use in your case study?

Elementary Education Case Study:

You engage your third grade students in cooperative learning activities at least twice a day, changing heterogeneous group members once every four weeks. You have agreed upon routine procedures that your classroom community uses within their small groups, including the roles and responsibilities of group members. Lately you have noticed that one small group always seems to have difficulty grasping material and completing their project in an acceptable manner.  You observe this group carefully and find that Lisa seems to be the catalyst for their problems.  She gets angry with others if she does not get the job she wants and refuses to do her part in contributing to the group’s learning.  She constantly interrupts others in her group.  She does not pay attention when her group prepares for class presentations. 

In the social cognitive learning theory, self-efficacy is defined as the belief that one is capable of executing certain behaviors or achieving certain goals. As our book states, self-efficacy plays a key role in how hard an individual tries, how long they persist at challenging tasks, and how much they learn and achieve. In my intervention plan to change Lisa's behavior in her small group, I first want to find the root of the problem that is causing Lisa to act out. One possibility that could be causing Lisa to not contribute to the group and to disrupt their learning is that Lisa may have a low self-efficacy about the academic task the group is completing. Because Lisa may feel that she is not capable of achieving the role her group has given her or does not think that she is good at the task the small group is performing, she does not try hard in the group and as a result does not benefit from learning nor does she benefit from achieving an academic goal. To help with this, I will sit down with Lisa and together we will set goals for Lisa to meet that are both challenging and attainable. If Lisa feels that she is capable of succeeding at an academic goal in her group, she will be more likely to contribute to the group and to cooperate with her group members. Once Lisa achieves the goal her and I have set for her, her self-efficacy will be higher and in return she will benefit from learning and from achieving an academic goal. In addition, I will be sure to encourage Lisa and support her throughout the process of achieving the goal we have set for her to help boost her confidence that she is capable of meeting the goal. 

Furthermore, the social cognitive theory also involves self-regulation. Our book defines self-regulation as the process of setting goals for oneself and engaging in behaviors and cognitive processes that lead to goal attainment. For this part of the intervention plan, I as a the teacher will serve as a model showing Lisa how to control her impulses when she feels upset in her group. Lisa and I will discuss how it is possible for Lisa to control her anger and emotional impulses and I will provide Lisa with a stress ball that she can squeeze whenever she starts to feel upset or angry in her group. I will tell Lisa to squeeze the ball and breathe in 2 deep breaths in order to prevent herself from becoming angry in her group. In addition, I will use cues to make Lisa aware of her emotional outbursts by tapping her shoulder or tapping her desk and this will then cue Lisa to squeeze the stress ball to calm herself down. Eventually, I will not have to cue Lisa and she will squeeze the stress ball on her own to control her emotions. Hopefully, this will eventually end in Lisa not feeling the need to squeeze the stress ball because she has realized how to control her emotions and that she is able to learn more and achieve her goals when she controls her anger. This will overall lead to a change in Lisa's behavior when working in her small group. 

This article from education.com talks about how teachers can use games to teach their students how to self-regulate. This would be especially useful at a young age because the younger children learn to self-regulate, the more academic success they will have. I plan to use these games in my classroom to model to my students how to control their behavior. 

http://www.education.com/magazine/article/self-regulation-children/?page=2 

PLE Post #8

Consider your CSEL intervention case study. Are there tools from a behaviorist view for either encouraging productive behaviors or discouraging undesirable behaviors that you could apply to the case? What are they? 
Now, compare the interventions that you have identified above with what you think might work from a cognitive or constructivist viewpoint. How do they compare to behaviorist tools? What are the benefits of each theory, and what are the deficits? Which theory might play a larger role in how you determine classroom management? 

Elementary Education Case Study

You engage your third grade students in cooperative learning activities at least twice a day, changing heterogeneous group members once every four weeks. You have agreed upon routine procedures that your classroom community uses within their small groups, including the roles and responsibilities of group members. Lately you have noticed that one small group always seems to have difficulty grasping material and completing their project in an acceptable manner.  You observe this group carefully and find that Lisa seems to be the catalyst for their problems.  She gets angry with others if she does not get the job she wants and refuses to do her part in contributing to the group’s learning.  She constantly interrupts others in her group.  She does not pay attention when her group prepares for class presentations. 

Regarding the case study above, there are tools I could use from a behaviorist view for both encouraging productive behaviors and discouraging undesirable behaviors that I could apply. To encourage productive behaviors, one strategy I would use is creating a contingency contract with Lisa. Lisa and I would meet and discuss the behaviors that she is demonstrating in her small group and how those behaviors go against the routine procedures that our class agreed upon regarding small groups. Lisa and I would then discuss desired behaviors for working in small groups that I expect Lisa to demonstrate and agree upon a reinforcer when Lisa demonstrates this behavior. The reinforcers would be positive reinforcers that increase the occurrence of the desired behavior. Reinforcers could be both primary and secondary depending on what Lisa decides motivates her to behave more. Primary reinforcement could be candy whenever Lisa appropriately behaves and cooperates with her group. Secondary reinforcements could be praise, extra recess time, a homework pass, a ticket or token, etc. Another positive reinforcement I could use to increase a desired behavior would be the use of a behavior chart and a work habits chart. For this strategy, every time Lisa demonstrated good behavior in her small group and stayed on task and participated, Lisa would get to put a star next to her name on both the work habit chart and the behavior chart. When Lisa fills up an entire row on either chart, Lisa will receive a reward. The reward could be candy, getting to take her shoes off in class, getting to eat lunch in the classroom with a friend, etc. On the other hand, there are behaviorist tools I can use to discourage undesirable behaviors. One tool I could use is presentation punishment. When Lisa misbehaves in her small group and does not participate I will scold Lisa in front of her peers and Lisa will relate her behavior with an undesirable response from me. Other punishment strategies would be taking away recess time, adding work for Lisa to complete, removing Lisa from the small group and having her work alone, moving Lisa's desk to the front of the room or by my desk, etc. All of these forms of punishment would seek to decrease the occurrence of Lisa's undesirable behavior. 

From a constructivist viewpoint, I would not use reinforcers or punishments to encourage good behavior or discourage bad behavior. I would understand that it is important for Lisa to build her own understanding of why her behavior in her small group is not the correct behavior because currently it is apparent that she sees no issue in the way she acts. For instance, I would offer Lisa an opportunity for restitution when she misbehaves in her group. For this strategy let's say I see Lisa constantly interrupting her group, I would then call Lisa over and ask her if she knows what just happened in her group that might not make me happy, I would then tell her that she was interrupting her group members and it was making it hard for me and her peers to concentrate on what we are trying to do, then I would tell her that I do not like when she interrupts her group members and ask her if she can please do something to fix this problem, Lisa should say yes and I would ask her what she thinks the best thing for her to do to fix this problem is. This strategy allows Lisa to form her own understanding of why her interrupting others is not the correct behavior and also allows her to form her own understanding of how to correctly fix this problem. In theory, this constructivist strategy would decrease the occurrence of Lisa interrupting her small group members because she formed her own understanding of why it is an incorrect behavior and associates it with the fact that it upsets the teacher. 

A constructivist viewpoint focuses more on the cognitive processes of Lisa and how she as an individual has formed her own understanding of how one should act in a small group. A behaviorist viewpoint creates associations between reinforcers and punishments and the student's behavior. Behaviorism does not focus on the student's cognitive processes. Instead, it focuses more on the environmental stimuli and how they influence a change in the student's behavior. 

The benefits of using a constructivist approach for behavioral management is that it requires students to own their actions and be held accountable by their peers. In addition, it allows for them to gain confidence, self-respect, and the ability to express themselves as they build an understanding of appropriate behavior through their experiences. A downfall to using this approach is that learners do not always construct an appropriate meaning or understanding despite our efforts to promote conceptual change. The benefits of using a behaviorist approach for behavioral management is that it is very helpful in dealing with challenging behaviors through the use of reinforcers and punishment. A child is more likely, in my opinion, to decrease or increase a behavior if they are receiving something enjoyable, having something enjoyable taken away, or having something undesirable presented to them. A downfall to using this approach is that it completely ignores cognitive factors that take part in how a child behaves. In addition, reinforcers and punishments might not always be the best way to handle a situation and reinforcers might influence a child to pick up a bad behavior like rushing to get their work done just to get the reward. 

While I would like for constructivism to be how I structure my classroom behavior management, I feel that behaviorism will play a larger role in my classroom environment especially since I will be dealing with younger students. I feel that students will react more to the occurrence of reinforcers and punishments in terms of their behavior than they would having to take ownership for their actions and create an understanding of why their behavior is correct or incorrect. That being said, I won't give up on the idea of implementing constructivism but behaviorism is just a more familiar strategy to me when it comes to behavior management. 

This article discusses the effectiveness of implementing a constructivist approach to education. One section specifically deals with social and moral education where it discusses that children benefit from making mistakes, experiencing the consequences, and developing their own reasons for following the rules. I recommend you take a look at that section!

http://www.education.uiowa.edu/html/iae/iae-z-op-devries-1-5.pdf

Metacognition

Consider a lesson plan you might use. Which metacognitive skills/abilities are involved as students gain facility/knowledge in this domain? 

For this post, I am going to use an example of a math lesson plan on word problems for 3rd grade. Using the Dr. Seuss book "I Can Lick 30 Tigers Today!", I will build upon my students' prior knowledge of subtraction by introducing them to word problems. This story involves subtraction by the main character reducing the number of tigers through various excuses. The main character of the story goes from 30 tigers to 29 to 22, etc. However, the entire story can be seen as one giant word problem: "If the cat, the main character of the story, started with 30 tigers and ended with 1, how many tigers were sent away?".

To start off the lesson, I will introduce the concept of word problems to my students by telling them that math equations are not always written in number form. I will draw on the board for them an example: 4-2=2. I will then tell them that math problems also exist in word form and that a number equation can be used to solve the word problem. I will then write an example of a word problem: "Ms. Hallock has 10 kids in her class. One day, Ms. Hallock only had 7 kids in her class. How many students were missing from Ms. Hallock's class?" Then I would show my students that I can use subtraction from the word problem to find my answer by writing 10-7=3. 

Next, I will introduce the story to my class and have them predict what they think the story will be about based on the new math concept we just discussed. I will tell my students that what they predicted the story would be about connects to the new math concept I just introduced and that this story will help them to better understand word problems. Making predictions and connections are metacognitive skills that are important for comprehension. 

Then, I will read the story to my class and tell them to pay special attention to the story so that they will be able to answer the various word problems the story contains. Throughout the story, there are a number of places that allow for me to stop and ask my students questions regarding the cat reducing the number of tigers. I would ask my students "If the cat started with 30 tigers and now has 22 tigers, how many tigers did he send away?". I would explain to my students that it is important to stop and check for our understanding when learning new material/reading text by asking ourself questions or explaining to ourself what is being read. I would then ask my students to first explain to themselves how I could use subtraction to find the answer to this word problem. Then I would have them turn to their neighbor and discuss how I could use subtraction to solve this word problem. This would involve my students in self-explanation by verbalizing to themselves how to solve the problem. In addition, discussing it with a partner would involve monitoring their comprehension of word problems by checking their own understanding and the understanding of their peer. I would then have someone volunteer to tell me how to write the problem. 

After finishing the story, I would tell my students that we are going to solve a word problem together that relates to the story we just read. I would write the problem out: "If the cat started with 30 tigers and ended with 1 tiger, how many tigers did the cat send away?". 

Then, I would tell my students that they can use the word SOLVE to help them remember the steps to go through when working a word problem. Next, I would walk my students through the SOLVE process.

1. Study the problem. (I would have my students read the problem silently to themselves and decide what the problem is asking them to solve for. I would then ask my students to tell me what they think the problem wants them to find and then I would write what I think the problem wants us to find. Checking their answer based off my answer is a way for my students to use the metacognitive skill of comprehension monitoring by checking to see if their understanding matches with the correct answer.)
2. Organize the facts. (I would tell my students to look at the problem and identify what information is important by circling the most important words and numbers. Picking out what information is important to finding the answer is an important metacognitive skill. I would ask my students to think about what information they circled and to verbally explain to themselves how they know this information is important. This demonstrates the metacognitive skill of self-explanation, which helps to further their understanding of the material. I would then tell them what information I circled and allow for them to monitor their comprehension by comparing their circled words and numbers to mine.) 
3. Line up the plan. (I would first have my students decide what operation they need to use to solve this problem. Then, I would have my students work with their partner to write out an equation to solve the word problem and explain to one another why they chose to use a specific operation and why they set up the equation the way they did. This allows for additional comprehension monitoring. I would then write out the correct equation to be used to solve the word problem "30-1=?.) 
4. Verify your plan with computation. (As a class, we would test out the equation we came up with by solving 30-1=?.) 
5. Examine your answer. (I would ask my students if the answer we got to the problem makes sense to answer the question of how many tigers the cat sent away. We would then as a class decide whether we thought this answer was correct or not.) 

To conclude the lesson, I would have my students write out the answer to the problem in a complete sentence and then write what steps they used to solve the word problem to further expand their comprehension of word problems. This involves the students using the metacognitive skill of summarizing which enhances their learning and memory. 

This article explores what metacognition is, why it is important, and how it develops in children. It discusses why teachers need to help children develop metacognitive awareness and identifies factors that enhance metacognitive development. 

Developing Metacognition 

Chapter 7

Make a list of the sequence of skills necessary for ultimate mastery of the content of your lesson through a constructivist approach. Which of these learning activities/skills lend themselves to student's individual or group construction? How might you structure learning activities that lead students to discover these skills/these principles? 

For my example, I am going to use a math lesson on capacity. In order to achieve ultimate mastery of the content in this lesson, the students must be able to correctly identify which cup has the largest capacity and explain why. Below I will outline a list of skills needed to achieve ultimate mastery of the content.

• First, I am going to activate my students' prior knowledge of capacity by showing them two different sized cups and saying, "Ms. Hallock is thirsty! Which cup should she use? Why?" I would then listen to what my students say about which cup I should use and why. (The obvious answer to the question is that I would use the blue cup because it holds a smaller amount of water.) This part of the lesson involves whole class discussion and exploration of the concept of capacity therefore lending itself to group construction. 

• After discussing which cup they think I should use, I am going to add in another cup to challenge their previous answer. I will then ask them which cup they think holds more water and will ask them to discuss it with a partner. I will then have us discuss as a whole group which cup holds more and why and will listen to my students' answers in order to identify any misconceptions they may have about capacity. Having students discuss with a partner promotes individual construction and discussing as a whole group promotes group construction. (Students will more than likely answer that the green cup holds more because it is taller...this answer demonstrates a misconception) 

• Next, rather than telling my students the correct answer of which cup holds more, I want them to explore for themselves with a partner. I will provide each group with a green cup, a red cup, some small dixie cups, an empty container, and a bucket of water. (this way they can explore with a variety of materials different ways to solve the problem) I will then tell my students that they can use whatever they want to try and figure out which cup holds more water. In addition, I will encourage them to discuss various ideas with their partner about how they should approach this problem. Working together with a partner and discussing their individual ideas promotes individual construction. It is important to remember that children learn a lot from one another maybe even more than they do from us. In addition, having the students explore their own way to solve the problem also promotes individual construction. Furthermore, I am pushing them in the direction of conceptual change by allowing them to see hands-on that their existing belief that "the green cup holds more water because it is taller" is incorrect therefore addressing their misconception about capacity. 

• While the students are working together, I will walk around to each group and act as a guide to push them in the right direction, if needed. I will ask questions such as "Tell me what you are doing?" "Why did you decide to do that?" "What are you going to do next?" and if I see that they are stuck I will ask "What would happen if...?". This lends itself to the student's individual construction. 

• After my students have had plenty of time to test which cup they think holds more water, we will come back together as a group for a whole class discussion about the results they found. We will first talk about what each group did to find out which cup holds more water and what method they think worked best and what method they think did not work the best. We will discuss what their prediction was and then discuss what they learned through this lesson about capacity. This will once again address their misconception about capacity and then show how their existing belief about capacity was reconstructed through what they learned. Discussing as a whole group promotes group construction. 

• At the end of the lesson, the students should be able to see that the red cup have the largest capacity and explain that this is because it is wider than the blue and green cup. 
• At the end of the day, I will have students right what they learned about capacity in today's math lesson. This will promote individual construction and provide me with a formative assessment on how well my students understood the lesson. 

This is a great website on how to apply constructivism in the classroom. It provides detailed steps on how to implement constructivism in your classroom environment. In addition, it discusses challenges that you might face, how you can assess your students' progress using this approach, how constructivism aligns with state and national standards, and how to use technology to complement constructivism. You should check it out!

Constructivism in the Classroom 

PLE #5

How might your knowledge of the memory processes guide your instructional decisions?

     First off, it is important for me to know as a teacher how my students' retrieve and process memories and information. My students will be most likely to retrieve information when they have multiple connections to it. Therefore, I will make sure that my instruction allows for my students to make multiple connections to the concepts we are learning. This can be done through emotional connections like excitement, anger, and sadness. By making an emotional connection to my instruction, it will be easier for my students to retrieve information. In addition, we have learned that wait time during instruction is important. By waiting three-four seconds after I ask my class a question, I am allowing my students enough time to process the question and retrieve information from their memory. Furthermore, by providing wait time I am making it more likely that students who typically don't speak up will (females and minority students). I also know that it is important for me to make learning meaningful because students are more likely to remember information when it is relevant to them and their prior knowledge. To do this, I will make sure what I'm teaching makes sense and I will ask my students to explain their reasoning for their answers and relate it to their lives or tell how it is relevant to their lives. This will cause them to retrieve prior knowledge and make multiple connections to what they are explaining. I will also make sure that my instruction is distinctive and fun. We have learned that we are more likely to remember things that are unique, new, or bizarre. Therefore, I will make my instruction hands-on and engaging so that it sticks out in the minds of my students. I will also use mnemonic devices to make learning concepts fun through the use of songs, rhymes, verbal cues, etc. I know that this trick is effective because I still to this day remember the different mnemonic devices I learned throughout elementary school. Most importantly, I know that practice makes perfect and that students put skills to their long-term memory by practicing them. For instance, during science experiments I will walk my students through the experiment by explaining it while they practice doing it rather than me standing in front of the class and just showing it to them. There are many more ways I will adapt my instruction based on what we have learned about the memory processes, but these are just a few.

     Below is an article on 10 ways to enhance students' memory so that they might develop a more efficient and effective memory. It provides excellent information on ways to adapt your instructional decisions and it also provides information you can tell your students to increase their memory. For instance, you can remind your students that information is better remembered when they review materials before they go to sleep at night.
http://www.cdl.org/resource-library/articles/memory_strategies_May06.php

PLE #4

What are the essential skills and/or learning outcomes you want your students to know and be able to do that relate to cognitive learning?

     There are several skills I want my students to be able to do that relate to cognitive learning. The first skill is that I want my students to be able to construct their own meaning and understanding. In addition, I want my students to be able to assimilate and accommodate new information in order to construct a better understanding of what they are learning. One of the more essential skills I want my students to be able to do is the process of equilibration due to the fact that this promotes more complex understanding and thoughts. Furthermore, I want my students to be able to take their constructed meaning and understanding of concepts and store it in their long-term memory. I think it is important for students to figure out what kind of learner they are and experiment with different strategies in order to find out what helps them to learn and understand most affectively. The earlier students start to do these essential skills, the better.
     In addition to wanting my students to be able to do skills that relate to cognitive learning, I also want them to know certain things about cognitive learning to better their overall learning outcomes. For instance, I think it is important for my students to know that they are in control of their own cognitive processes. For instance, being aware of the importance of attention in terms of cognitive learning will cause them to create effective personal learning environments. An example of this could be that my student knows they are easily distracted when they sit near the door or when they sit next to their best friend. In theory, they would then make adjustments to this so that their attention is not bothered. However, I realize how hard this concept would be for elementary students. In addition, I also want my students to know about metamemory strategies and how they effect their learning outcomes. For example, some of my students will not be able to remember what we talk about during a lesson unless they write some of it down. Most importantly, I want my students to know that there are several factors that go into creating affective learning outcomes and the sooner they are aware of these factors the better their learning outcomes will be.

     Below is an article on meta-attention for learning disabled and non-learning disabled children. When it comes to being aware of their attention, this study shows that younger children are more inclined to pay attention due to the effects of rewards and that older children are more inclined to pay attention due to their interest level.
http://www.jstor.org/stable/1510613

Ch. 14 Assessment

Think of a lesson plan from your licensure area. Knowing that assessment is an integral part of teaching, explain at least four informal and formal assessments that you will use in your lesson plan to provide you with feedback and involve the students in assessing their own learning. 

As we have learned in class and read in our textbook, assessment is a very important part of being an effective teacher. Assessments allow us to observe a student's behavior or academic achievement and draw inferences from those observations about the student's knowledge and abilities. I know everyone thinks of multiple choice standardized tests when the word assessment comes up, however there are many different ways that teachers can assess their students. Assessments are most effective when a variety of them are used to determine a student's knowledge, abilities, and behavior. As a teacher, I will make sure I use a variety of assessments to observe my students because it is important to remember that my classroom will be made up of different learners who demonstrate their learning in a variety of ways.

Using a Science lesson plan on friction for a 4th grade classroom that I recently created, I will explain how I would use both informal and formal assessments to provide myself with valuable feedback that I could use to reshape the direction of my teaching and also keep track of my students' learning while involving my students in assessing their own learning at the same time. The objectives of this lesson are that students will discover that friction is a force that resists motion by observing the effects of friction on a moving object, students will discover how lubricants reduce friction between an object and the surface, and students will suggest additional ways to reduce friction between objects.

4 Informal Assessments I will use:

1. Questioning: I will use this type of informal assessment at the beginning of this lesson and during this lesson to gain insight on the degree and depth of my students' understanding of friction and motion. Using questioning at the beginning of the lesson will allow me to see what preconceptions my students already have about friction and motion and what they do/do not already know. This will allow me to adjust the lesson to most effectively meet the needs of my students. Questioning during the lesson will allow my students the opportunity for deeper thinking. 
2.  Observation: I will use the assessment strategy of observation during the lesson while students work in groups to complete the activity, since a large part of this lesson is student-led. While students are working in groups, I will walk around and take notes on how well each student performs physical tasks, reflect on a specific aspect of their learning, note specific behaviors when working in groups, etc. By keeping a notebook of my individual observations on each student, I can furnish a picture of student learning over time. 
3. Write daily or weekly entries in their journals: I will use this type of informal assessment to further expand my students' understanding of the lesson on friction while also tying in a connection to Language Arts/Writing. Our Language Arts lesson for that week or day might be on short stories and poems and so to connect to this skill, I would have my students write about either what life would be like in a frictionless world or describe other ways to reduce friction between objects. This type of informal assessment would provide me with feedback on my students' understanding of friction after learning about it in the lesson and show me what they still need work on. 
4. Peer/Self Assessments: This type of informal assessment would allow students to evaluate their own learning. These are important because when students are required to think about their own learning, articulate their understanding, and what they still need improvement on, their overall achievement improves. One way I would use this assessment would be the "Two Stars and a Wish" peer assessment strategy. After writing in their journals about friction, each student would be paired with another student and would read to one another what they have written about friction. Each partner must then identify two things the author did well (stars) and one suggestion for improvement (wish). This type of assessment is great because it creates a classroom community and it also allows students to see where they could use improvement while also learning from their peers. 

4 Formal Assessments I will use:

1. Oral Presentation: For this assessment strategy, I will have my students present an oral presentation to the class on either sports in which friction plays an important role or ways that scientists have used their discoveries about friction to improve transportation. This presentation can be done either with a partner or individually, which allows the students some sense of control over how they are assessed. This will provide feedback on the students' understanding of the lesson and show what they are capable of doing. This type of task is meaningful, thought provoking, and authentic. 
2. Multiple-Choice Test: While this is not my favorite type of assessment, it will still provide useful feedback on what my students know and still need improvement on regarding the topic of friction and motion. I would use this assessment at the end of the unit on friction and motion to test my students' overall knowledge in this content area. This would show how effective both my teaching and the lesson were on furthering their understanding of friction. 
3. Conducting an Experiment: At the end of the lesson, I would have my students get in groups and discuss with one another an experiment they could conduct on friction and motion. This could be an experiment that shows how objects have different amounts of friction when rubbed against different surfaces. This type of performance assessment will give me feedback on what my students really know about friction by showing me rather than writing it out for me or telling me. By applying their knowledge of friction to conducting an experiment, I can see their level of understanding they gained from the lesson and adjust my teaching from there. 
4. Short-Answer Quiz: I will inform my students before starting the lesson that there will be a quiz when the lesson is finished. This type of formal assessment provides feedback on a student's understanding of friction by having them put into their own words what friction is, how friction stops motion, and how lubricants help assist objects in motion. I plan to use this assessment format to provide me with an overview of what my students learned and didn't learn through the lesson. This will give me a guideline of what concepts need to be further explained and worked on before I give my students the multiple-choice test at the end of the friction unit. 

Through using these different types of assessment, I can most effectively gain feedback that is both valid and reliable. 

West Virginia Department of Education 

This is a link to a great website on formative assessments. It provides a variety of ways for you to assess your students and describes why each type of formative assessment is valuable and useful. I found so many great resources on this site that I plan to use in my own classroom that will provide me with great feedback on my students' progress. I think it is important to utilize all the ways that you can assess your students in order to gain reliable and valid feedback. 

Chapter 13: Environments Conducive to Learning

PLE: Based on our readings and class discussion, how will you create a learning environment that is conducive to learning? Now consider you CSEL case study, develop a full continuum of responses for dealing with the misbehavior of your case. 

In class last week, we discussed what our ideal classroom environment would be like. I wrote down that I wanted mine to be organized, interactive, literacy-rich with posters, books, labels, etc, structured with the rules and expectations clearly defined, colorful, creative, inviting, comfortable, bright, and flexible.  By providing my students with a literacy-rich classroom, I am complimenting my goal as a teacher to instill in my students a love for reading and a motivational drive to challenge my students to increase their reading skills. By having an organized classroom environment, I am modeling to my students the idea of organization, while also establishing structure. In addition, by creating an interactive learning environment, I am complimenting my goal of having my students be actively engaged in the lessons that I teach. In writing these ideas down, I drew from my past experiences when I was an elementary student and what classrooms I loved and remembered the most. My classrooms growing up were colorful and interactive and full of resources and supplies.  Classroom management is one of the aspects I worry most about as a future educator. However, this is an important factor in terms of creating a conducive learning environment. After reading chapter 13, I have a clear idea of how I will create a learning environment conducive to learning.

The first aspect I will tackle when creating a conducive learning environment will be the arrangement of my classroom. I want to arrange the students' desks in a way that encourages student interaction. For example, I plan to arrange the desks in small groups to facilitate working together as a classroom community and plan to rotate the groups around so that my students learn how to work together with all of their classmates. By having my students work together in groups and as a whole, I am promoting a sense of community and belongingness, showing my students that they are all important and valuable members of the classroom. The classroom climate is also important in creating a conducive environment for learning. Therefore, I will be sure to regularly communicate my caring and respect for my students as people. This can be done by greeting them at the door each morning with a warm smile or complimenting them. I also want to establish a goal-oriented environment for my students where they are motivated to master subject matters. While it is important that my students know I am in charge of the classroom, I also plan to give my students some control over class activities. This could be done by allowing my students to set their own deadlines for assignments or allow them to choose how they want to spend their class time after they have completed their work. Choices could be activities on the computer or reading a book from the class library. Overall, I want to create a loving and comfortable environment for my students that has organizational structure to it. I want my students to respect me as I will respect them as individuals. Most importantly, I want my students to constantly be engaged in productive, worthwhile activities.

Regarding my case study, I have come up with a full continuum of responses for how I would deal with Lisa. After noticing that Lisa's small group is having a hard time staying on task and completing projects and that Lisa is the catalyst for her group's problems, I would first go over with the entire class the proper behaviors that they should be exhibiting when working in groups with their peers to reinforce how cooperative small groups should work together so that I am not singling out Lisa. I would then remind them that if I see group members not cooperating with their group that they will put a mark by their name on the classroom behavior chart. If this reminder did not change the way Lisa acted in her small group, I would try putting Lisa in a different small group and monitor this group more than others to see if a change in scenery for Lisa would change her behavior, maybe the peers in her prior group just weren't the right fit for Lisa's personality. If this still did not change Lisa's behavior, I would then pull Lisa aside to discuss her misbehavior and also just talk with her to see if I can get to the root of the problem. I would also remind Lisa of how I expect for my students to behave in small groups. If this still did not work, I would then have a meeting with Lisa's parents to inform them of Lisa's behavior and find out if there might be a particular reason Lisa is acting this way. I might also ask the advice of another teacher in my grade level to see if they might have some ideas on how to handle this situation without identifying that the student I am referring to is Lisa. My last response if none of the above responses worked would be to involve either the guidance counselor or the principal. I would let them know of the different responses I have already tried out to fix the situation and then let them decide how this case should be handled.

Building A Classroom Community (click on link)
This link is a great article on how to build a classroom community. The article states the importance of classroom communities because students who feel a sense of identity in a group are known to be the most successful in school. Creating this classroom community is vital to establishing an environment conducive to learning and this article provides great steps on how to accomplish this task. This will be especially beneficial for me as a new teacher.

Motivational Theories

Learning about the different motivational theories has been really interesting this past week, especially when applying them to myself as both a student and a future teacher.

The first motivational theory that I find helpful is the Expectancy versus Value Theory. This theory is helpful to me because it explains why I expect a lot out of myself when it comes to school. This is due to the fact that I have always been successful at school throughout my academic career and because of this, I have built a high self efficacy. Therefore, it is easy for my expectancy of my performance to be higher than my peers. This is both good and bad for me. It is good because I expect that I will always perform on a high level in school. This expectancy pushes me to work hard and perform to the best of my ability. This expectancy is also bad because it makes me more vulnerable to feeling like a failure when I do not perform to the high ability that I expect myself to.  In addition, I have also realized that value plays a role in my motivation. Value can be high or low due to importance, utility, interest, and cost. For example, my freshman year of college I struggled through the class Anthropology, even though I absolutely hated it, because it was a means to my desired goal of graduating and therefore it had the value of utility. This theory, as a whole, will affect my students because they are more likely to engage in a particular subject area or behavior if they have an expectancy of success while also finding value in the subject area or behavior. Value affects the choices my students will make which contributes to their effort and achievement due to their expectancy of success. As a teacher, it is my job to show my students that what they are learning in school has a high value while also building their expectancy of success at that particular subject.

The other motivational goal I found both instructive and helpful was the Goal Theory, especially in the area of learning goals and performance goals. As a whole, goals drive our motivation whether they are short-term or long-term. Goals give you something to work towards and accomplish and can possibly raise your sense of expectancy and value towards a specific behavior. Last week in class, we looked at learning goals and performance goals. Learning goals, known as mastery goals, are the desire to acquire additional knowledge or master a new skill. Performance goals are the desire to demonstrate high ability and make a good impression. Prior to last week's class, I was not aware of the distinction between different types of goals, goals were goals in my eyes. However, this theory is instructive and helpful in making a clear distinction between the two and the ways they affect one's motivation. This theory will affect my students' motivation in several ways. For instance, if my students set learning goals for themselves, they will have the motivation to engage in activities that will help them learn. This includes paying attention in class, learning from their mistakes, and realizing that learning involves trying hard and continuing to persevere even in the face of failure. In addition, my students will benefit from performance goals if they are combined with mastery goals. Performance goals by themselves can be less beneficial to my students' motivation. For example, as learners, students will exert only the minimum amount of effort to complete a task, may be tempted to cheat in order to get good grades, and prefer short, easy tasks. As a teacher, it is my role to pick-up on characteristics of this type of goal and use it to my benefit in order to motivate my students. For example, I can post the highest or best work on the bulletin board. This will increase my performance goal students to work hard to get their work on the board in order to look competent in the eyes of their peers. I can also remind my students of the importance of good grades for success. On the other hand for my learning goal oriented students, I can insist that they actually understand a subject matter rather than just simply memorize the material. I can also have my students make short-term concrete goals to increase their motivation to learn.

There are several other motivational goals but, these two types of goals are the ones that stuck out most to me and were the ones I was most able to relate to as both a student and a future educator. While researching about motivation in elementary children, I came across the website "KidsHealth" (click to view website). This article on "Motivating Kids to be Active", made an interesting connection between being physically active and motivation. It discusses the importance of kids being physically active and how this directly affects them being academically motivated, alert, and successful. In addition, physical activity can also build self-esteem, which plays a part in motivation to learn. I found this particularly interesting because as a teacher, I can create lessons that involve forms of physical activity in the classroom because when kids enjoy an activity, they are more likely to want to engage in it and do more activities like it. I think this article made a vital connection between living an active lifestyle and the benefits its brings not just physically, but cognitively and its application to motivation.

First Day of Class

During the first Educational Psychology 401 class, we discussed several things. We first go to know each other and listen to why each of us decided to go into teaching. This was a great part of class, because it was inspiring and uplifting to hear everyone's thoughts on what led them to go into teaching. In addition, we heard about what led the interpreting majors to pursue a career path of interpreting whether that included teaching or interpreting in the medical field. It was fascinating to hear about their reasons for going into this field and the expectations they have for themselves in this career. The overall feel of the class was comfortable and relaxed, which made it easy to express my opinions and openly have conversation with my peers.

My objectives for this course are to obtain a thorough and better understanding of educational psychology. I am looking forward to enhancing my knowledge on how/why students learn and develop throughout the educational process as they grown and mature into adults. I would also like to learn about the different behaviors that children portray and the reasons such behaviors exist in a learning environment.

My concerns for this class are being able to thoroughly understand the reading enough to demonstrate my knowledge on the subject matter in class, especially since each of the chapters in the book are pretty lengthy and loaded with informational material. In addition, I am also concerned class participation. I always make a conscious effort to participate in class discussions, but fear that sometimes I might not understand the concept well enough to discuss it and therefore won't receive participation points for that particular class. As a whole, I am looking forward to the experiences that this class will bring and the information it will provide me with that will foster my growth as a future educator.