In Anita Woolfolk's podcast on Martin Luther King Day and cultural diversity in the classroom, she spoke about ways a teacher can incorporate diversity into the daily routine as well as ways to turn a conversation around when you hear degrading remarks come from your students. "Words can hurt" (Woolfolk, 2007). Teachers need to be mindful of the way they use words as well, that way they are modeling for their students the proper uses of a particular word.
Students use many words in a ways they think is not hurtful to others. An example of this are the words "gay" or "retarded". Young children, if they have not been told these words are not adjectives or positive descriptions of a person, use them in response to questions from friends. "You hear these words in schools all the time. Students saying 'That's so gay". One teacher says whenever she hears that language in her classroom she says 'What was homosexual about that? Then uses the moment to discuss the usage of slang and derogatory language" (Woolfolk, 2007). If students have not been taught about cultural diversity, they do not know they are using the language in a hurtful way. As teachers we need to use every situation as a learning experience and cultural diversity should be a part of the daily routine just as reading is every day.
Monday, June 22, 2015
Sunday, June 21, 2015
Incidents of Learning in the Classroom (Cluster 9 Fieldwork Assignment)
For fieldwork observations, I have been in a second grade classroom in the Newburgh School District and it has definitely been a learning experience. I have been lucky enough to observe this class since the spring 2015 semester had started, so I was able to view moments of learning occur during my time with them.
When I started observing the class the children were in the midst of subtracting double digit numbers. I would see be introduced and would then watch the learning occur.There is one particular student who has had difficulty with mathematics since she started in September, this information I received from the observing teacher. The teacher told me she has watched her grow confidence in herself and now raises her hand to answer the questions.
I was fortunate to witness a moment of learning for this child in the last two weeks. The class has moved into subtracting three digit and two digit numbers by using their place value charts and number disks. The particular problem was 117-98=?. This problem focuses on how remainders effect the problem. This young girl worked through the problem and self-corrected herself a few times, then I saw the joy on her face and her hand shot up into the air to answer. It was fascinating to witness because there is the saying "A light-bulb went on" and that is literally what I witnessed. She was so excited to answer the question that she even told the class of her mistakes, how she self-corrected and then involved the class in a group discussion of the mistakes. This lesson became student centered very quickly which was amazing to see.
In order to promote positive behavior and participation this teacher uses a token system of reward. The way the positive reinforcement works is when a student completes a task or answers a question correct they may be rewarded by receiving a ticket token. The teacher decides randomly when a ticket will be rewarded. The token are then put into a bucket and at the end of the week the teacher picks out five tickets who will be able to pick a prize from the prize bin. The also keeps the behavior and participation at a high because the more tickets you receive the bigger the chance you will be picked for a prize. I asked how long she has been using this system and was told for about ten years she has been implementing this reward system of positive reinforcement and it has been very helpful in keep the negative behavior at a low and increase the classes participation.
I was fortunate to witness a moment of learning for this child in the last two weeks. The class has moved into subtracting three digit and two digit numbers by using their place value charts and number disks. The particular problem was 117-98=?. This problem focuses on how remainders effect the problem. This young girl worked through the problem and self-corrected herself a few times, then I saw the joy on her face and her hand shot up into the air to answer. It was fascinating to witness because there is the saying "A light-bulb went on" and that is literally what I witnessed. She was so excited to answer the question that she even told the class of her mistakes, how she self-corrected and then involved the class in a group discussion of the mistakes. This lesson became student centered very quickly which was amazing to see.
In order to promote positive behavior and participation this teacher uses a token system of reward. The way the positive reinforcement works is when a student completes a task or answers a question correct they may be rewarded by receiving a ticket token. The teacher decides randomly when a ticket will be rewarded. The token are then put into a bucket and at the end of the week the teacher picks out five tickets who will be able to pick a prize from the prize bin. The also keeps the behavior and participation at a high because the more tickets you receive the bigger the chance you will be picked for a prize. I asked how long she has been using this system and was told for about ten years she has been implementing this reward system of positive reinforcement and it has been very helpful in keep the negative behavior at a low and increase the classes participation.
The classroom management talk
Classroom management is a term teachers and teacher candidates hear from day one of their professional career. It is ultimately one of the most important aspects of teaching because if there is poor classroom management the learning environment is not going to work.
By now everyone has completed their final project to create what our ideal classroom would look like and how it would run to foster the construction of knowledge for our students. A portion of the assignment involved creating classroom rules. This part of the blog is where Anita Woolfolk's podcast on classroom management comes in. She spoke about a study of classroom management and the difference between a smooth running class and a poorly managed class. "In the smooth running classroom, the teachers had planned and thought rules and procedures from day one" (Woolfolk, 2007). This is a part of the learning environment as a whole. If students are not given specific rules or develop them with the teacher they are less likely to abide by the common rules of school. These teachers that Anita spoke about taught the rules of the class just as they would teach mathematics or reading. It was an important part of the daily routine, especially in the beginning of the year (Woolfolk, 2007).
Many of the classes at the Mount, especially in the special education department focus on classroom management. I have had a lot of experience reading about the best techniques but until I am able to be physically in the classroom I will not know if I have good classroom management skills. Anita spoke about ways to make sure the teachers are prepared and have the tools to incorporate positive classroom management.
References
Woolfolk, A. (2007, August 13). Podcast #12 - Beliefs about Classroom Management. Anita Talks
about Teaching. Retrieved from https://anitatalks.wordpress.com/
Caring is Caring
Anita Woolfolk recorded a podcast on the Importance of Teachers. I particularly enjoyed this podcast because it reminded me why I am pursuing a career as a teacher. When I tell people I am going to school to become a teacher many make a face as to say "Really?" or voice their negative opinion on the topic, such as "Are you sure you're going to find a job? Isn't that a thankless field? You're going to have to work two jobs just to get by because you'll make nothing in teaching". All over there are negative opinions about teaching and the school system, but Anita reminded me why I choose this path in the first place. Teachers can be some of the most important role models to students.
Anita spoke about the correlation between student achievement and efficient teachers. Anita recalled a study that followed a school districts third graders until fifth grade and found that students in a class with an effective teacher were in the 96th percentile on their mathematics achievement test (Woolfolk, 2006). They also found that the students who had the least effective teacher were in the 44th percentile on the same exam. This study showed the effects that a teacher has on a students achievement.
When an individual feels a connection with a place is when they are intrinsically motivated to participate and succeed. "Students have a sense of belonging when teachers care about the
m, their learning and their lives" (Woolfolk, 2006). Students need to feel that they are important and belong to the schools community. Without this relationship there are higher drop out rates and more students can fall into peer pressured situations to name a few. The following video is from a TED conference on education. Rita Pierson was an educator for forty years and grew up in a family full of educators. Take a look and see if you can see the similarities between student-teacher relationships and the achievement of the students.
Anita spoke about the correlation between student achievement and efficient teachers. Anita recalled a study that followed a school districts third graders until fifth grade and found that students in a class with an effective teacher were in the 96th percentile on their mathematics achievement test (Woolfolk, 2006). They also found that the students who had the least effective teacher were in the 44th percentile on the same exam. This study showed the effects that a teacher has on a students achievement.
When an individual feels a connection with a place is when they are intrinsically motivated to participate and succeed. "Students have a sense of belonging when teachers care about the
m, their learning and their lives" (Woolfolk, 2006). Students need to feel that they are important and belong to the schools community. Without this relationship there are higher drop out rates and more students can fall into peer pressured situations to name a few. The following video is from a TED conference on education. Rita Pierson was an educator for forty years and grew up in a family full of educators. Take a look and see if you can see the similarities between student-teacher relationships and the achievement of the students.
References
Woolfolk, A. (2006, August 25). Podcast #1 - The Importance of Teachers. Anita Talks about
Teaching. Retrieved from https://anitatalks.wordpress.com/page/3/
Skinner the Behaviorist
For my theorist project I choose to research the learning theory of behaviorism, focusing on B.F. Skinner. I was aware of Skinner's research prior to the assignment due to my undergrad psychology degree.
Even with my prior knowledge I found out new information about him that intrigued me. One key detail I found out was that Skinner developed a pigeon program during World War 2. He trained the pigeons using a behaviorist approach to learn and the pigeons would peck the enemy in order to keep them in one spot for the launch of missiles from the United States (Frye, 2015). I also learned that he was basically the founder of applied behavioral analysis, which many schools use today (Morris, E., Smith, N., & Altus, D., 2005). I only learned this theory after researching articles for the paper portion of the project. I wish I had come across this research so I could have implemented it into my presentation and add more to the slide of his impact on psychology.
All in all I was very impressed with the research I learned about Skinner. Due to this assignment I was able to fully understand the behaviorist learning theory and the importance it has in behavior management. I also am aware of the negatives of behaviorism, such as punishment. I have knowledge on the topic and I am able to implement portions of this theory into my behavior management skills so I can use the proper techniques in my future classroom. If you would like to learn more about B. F. Skinner here is my presentation and the paper I wrote.
Even with my prior knowledge I found out new information about him that intrigued me. One key detail I found out was that Skinner developed a pigeon program during World War 2. He trained the pigeons using a behaviorist approach to learn and the pigeons would peck the enemy in order to keep them in one spot for the launch of missiles from the United States (Frye, 2015). I also learned that he was basically the founder of applied behavioral analysis, which many schools use today (Morris, E., Smith, N., & Altus, D., 2005). I only learned this theory after researching articles for the paper portion of the project. I wish I had come across this research so I could have implemented it into my presentation and add more to the slide of his impact on psychology.
All in all I was very impressed with the research I learned about Skinner. Due to this assignment I was able to fully understand the behaviorist learning theory and the importance it has in behavior management. I also am aware of the negatives of behaviorism, such as punishment. I have knowledge on the topic and I am able to implement portions of this theory into my behavior management skills so I can use the proper techniques in my future classroom. If you would like to learn more about B. F. Skinner here is my presentation and the paper I wrote.
References
Frye, T. (2015). B. F. Skinner’s Theories: Lessons and Quiz. Retrieved from
http://study.com/academy/lesson/bf-skinners-theories-lesson-quiz.html#lesson
Morris, E., Smith, N., & Altus, D. (2005). B. F. Skinner’s contribution to applied behavioral
analysis. The Behavioral Analyst, 28(2). Retrieved from
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2755377/
Testing 1-2-3
So the multiple choice tests were the bane of my existence during this course. As I have said in my previous post about standardized testing I said I have never been a good test taker. I especially dislike multiple choice tests because there is only one correct answer. I learn more content when the tests are open ended questions and I am able to use what I have learned to create the answer.
I understand the importance of self-assessment in the construction of knowledge but the amount of assessments this edlab expected of us was a lot. The pretest was meant to gain a sense of our prior knowledge of the topics and then the posttest was to see how much we learned after reading the text.
What I did not agree with was the learning objectives we needed to complete if we received a low score on the pretest. I feel that the pretest is meant to be the basis for our learning. Like Laura said in class as well as Rachel in her blog post, it felt like we were being punished for not have sufficient prior knowledge on the material we had yet to read about. I feel that the learning outcome activities should be a suggestion alone without needed to be completed in order to move onto the post test. If we would like to gain more knowledge on the topics we are able to complete the activities but if we would rather go to the post test we should be able to do that.
Also Pearson's edlab had restrictions while I used it. The program would be under maintenance during the week so I was unable to complete the tests. I found to be very frustrating. There was a day when the site was under maintenance for two complete days so I had to wait to complete the tests and also do read the text because the text is attached to the website.
This etext experience had its ups and downs but I feel it will be useful in our future classrooms. Technology is being used in every classroom in the country in some way, such as Smart-boards, iPads, and computer labs are just some ways our students are coming in contact with technology. In ten years we may even have a computer for every student in our class instead of the lab. There also may be classes that meet strictly in a online format, so this testing format has made me prepared for the future classroom and texts I may come in contact with during my teaching career.
I understand the importance of self-assessment in the construction of knowledge but the amount of assessments this edlab expected of us was a lot. The pretest was meant to gain a sense of our prior knowledge of the topics and then the posttest was to see how much we learned after reading the text.
What I did not agree with was the learning objectives we needed to complete if we received a low score on the pretest. I feel that the pretest is meant to be the basis for our learning. Like Laura said in class as well as Rachel in her blog post, it felt like we were being punished for not have sufficient prior knowledge on the material we had yet to read about. I feel that the learning outcome activities should be a suggestion alone without needed to be completed in order to move onto the post test. If we would like to gain more knowledge on the topics we are able to complete the activities but if we would rather go to the post test we should be able to do that.
Also Pearson's edlab had restrictions while I used it. The program would be under maintenance during the week so I was unable to complete the tests. I found to be very frustrating. There was a day when the site was under maintenance for two complete days so I had to wait to complete the tests and also do read the text because the text is attached to the website.
This etext experience had its ups and downs but I feel it will be useful in our future classrooms. Technology is being used in every classroom in the country in some way, such as Smart-boards, iPads, and computer labs are just some ways our students are coming in contact with technology. In ten years we may even have a computer for every student in our class instead of the lab. There also may be classes that meet strictly in a online format, so this testing format has made me prepared for the future classroom and texts I may come in contact with during my teaching career.
To Procrastinate or Not to Procrastinate...
An interesting point Anita made was that procrastination can be environmental, such as the assignment is not of intrinsic interest to the individual or procrastination can be individually developed, such as being a perfectionist (Woolfolk, 2007). I never thought that perfection could be related to procrastination. If the individual wants the project or assignment to be complete perfect with no errors they may take even longer to edit or revise due to the perfection aspect. This comment made me think of a friend I have who always wanted everything perfect. If she received a 98% on a test she would be very unhappy and ask the teacher why. To most of us 98% is great and it is still an A but to a perfectionist it is not good enough. She also procrastinated her undergrad thesis because she felt she needed to add more and more to make it the best. Ultimately she was docked a whole letter grade because it was not received on time. I felt this portion of the podcast was important because it showed the opposite side of procrastination.
This is a short musical video on procrastination. It made me laugh and instantly gave me the jump start I needed this morning to accomplish all the tasks for the end of this summer course. Hope you enjoy!
References
Woolfolk, A. (2007, May 31). Podcast #10-Procrastination. Anita Talks about Teaching. Retrieved
from https://anitatalks.wordpress.com/
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