Barb Rentenbach

            Barb Retenbach’s speech and presentation was the best speech I have ever heard. I was completely intrigued the entire time. Barb opened up the door to a lot of misconceptions about Autism. Unfortunately, people believe that individuals with severe Autism are poor thinkers and profoundly retarded. However this is not the case. Individuals diagnosed with Autism are brilliant, they just communicate in a different manner than what is deemed as normal. However, once we figure out the best method to communicate with that individual with Autism we will discover sheer brilliance.  

            One aspect that was brought up during the presentation that made a profound impact on me was the whole concept of diversity and what our society is trying to do to it. Our society is trying to eliminate “disabilities” or medicate individuals to make them more “normal”. For example, people with ADHD we are trying to medicate that “condition” out of them by giving them medicine which makes them calmer and more normal. However, people with ADHD are our adventures, risk-takers, and warriors. To be an entrepreneur an individual has to take a huge amount of risk. During the presentation it was presented that most entrepreneurs have ADHD to some extent. So if we are trying to medicate some of these conditions away in order to make people more than it will completely change society as we know it. Society wants everyone to be the same but the fact is we all NEED to be different. Diversity is what makes the world go round.

            Another aspect from the speech that I really liked and has quite honestly been on my mind all day is the fact that people with Autism live in a world of the moment. Normal people have adult baggage they carry around every day and are constantly trying to juggle a million different things at once. However, someone with Autism can appreciate what is going on in the present and not worry about anything else. I consider this a great gift and blessing. Barb said they can look at a raindrop and think what a beautiful thing God made or think about all the colors in the color spectrum that glisten off the raindrop. We however, take this for granted almost every day. I believe that people with Autism live in a world of simple complexities while we live in a world of complex simplicities. I love the fact that individuals with Autism can take a simple every day event and see the extraordinary events behind it. Also Barb stated that normal adults can’t even sit down to enjoy a good lunch; she however can sit down and have a nice relaxing and refreshing lunch without a care in the world. Honestly, it makes me think that “normal” people are in reality the ones with the disability.

            This speech also helped me in regards to working with students with Autism in my future classroom one day. My number one priority will be finding that person’s interests and strengths in order to help them out the best way that I can. Barb mentioned that as teachers we need to meet these individuals where they are and go from there. I think too many times people get frustrated in the classroom with people with Autism. We expect them to do simple tasks and try to function more like normal individuals. In reality they may be missing the concept of a simple task because they are too busy thinking about a complex issue within that simple task. Also their normal function is not the same normal function that society holds and expects. As a teacher I should hold students accountable for their personal normality, not society’s.  It is safe to say that this speech has made a profound impact on me.

Group Differences

I really enjoyed the group differences forum today. I liked that different groups read about different topics then everyone was allowed to express their own opinions and ideas about the issues. One thing that I learned today that I had no idea about was that the Asian minority group were referred to as model minority group. I have never heard of this term used before. From the information presented in class today it will help to keep me in check in terms of making sure every group is included in the classroom. I need to make sure that all cultures, economic statuses, and ability levels feel welcome in my class. Maybe for next time the discussion forum could be a couple of days so we could really dig deep into the issues and have more time to thoroughly discuss the topics.

Language

 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.



Being a future elementary teacher I will be qualified to teach grades k-6. Therefore, since this is a younger group of students being read aloud to needs to be incorporated into the classroom as an everyday routine. This helps introduce students to vocabulary and language usages they would not be exposed to otherwise. Hearing new words and being able to hear the context certain words are used in helps students build up their vocabulary base. Also I need to make sure my classroom has many open discussion times. This allows students to be able to orally express their ideas, experiences, and opinions. By doing this it gives them more practice of oral language skills. Also it allows them to listen to how other students orally communicate and the words and phrases they use to express themselves. Writing will also be a huge part in my future classroom so students can physically write, see, and read language. Students will constantly be writing letters, paragraphs, facts, and other things to help improve their understanding of important language skills.

Self Regulation

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

 In regards to self efficacy or self regulation to the intervention plans in my case study I believe that the intervention set in place with Lisa has a lot to do with self regulation. When she is given a warning concerning her behavior that warning allows her to relize that her behavior is not appropriate at that time. Now that she is made aware that her behavior is not appropriate she can either choose to change it or keep acting the way she is. If she is made to get a life skill it makes her think about the action(s) she committed that forced her to get a life skill. This way she can cognitively regulate if her behavior and actions are appropriate or not and why they are or are not.

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 (you may need to Google for ideas but it's okay to just speculate based on your prior knowledge). 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.

From a behaviorist view point one way to decrease the undesired behavior from Lisa is by making a behavior chart when the students are in the cooperative learning groups. When the students are in their groups give the students who are on task  and behaving appropriately a sticker next to their name. Whenever a student fills up his/her chart with stickers next to their name they get a reward of their choosing. Whether that is reading a book, picking out of the treasure box, or a special treat at lunch. This should encourage Lisa to behave more correctly especially since she will be able to pick what her reward is.

From a constructivist viewpoint one way to help decrease the undesired behavior from Lisa is by having her go get life skills whenever she acts inappropriately in group settings. The life skills will be hung up in the classroom and will be skills such as respect, self-control, responsibility and honesty. Each student will get one warning when they act up and will be told why they got the warning. The second time the student will be told to go get a life skill. The student who is acting an unpleasant manner will go over to the life skill wall right down their behavior that caused them to get a life skill and the reason why it caused them to get a life skill. Then, they will write which life skill goes with that behavior and the definition of that particular life skill. That way the student will not only gain this knowledge for inside the classroom but can apply it outside the classroom as well.

The theory that I think would be most effective inside a classroom is the constructivist theory. For the behavorist theory the students are just getting conditioned to perfrom good behavior and reduce undesireable behavior. This does not teach them the reasoning behind why that behavior is appropriate or not, just the fact that they get rewarded or punished when they do certain things. For the constructivist theory on the other hand students actually understand why their behavior is not appropriate. The teacher talks to them letting them know why their behavior cannot be tolerated. Also it helps them take responsibility for their actions. They can also apply what they have learned about their actions to outside the classroom environment, such as the life skill example.

Some helpful resources I found while looking at this was a website that has a really good powerpoint on behavial issues in the classroom. http://www.slideshare.net/FebrianoArfiandi/classroom-interventions-for-chronic-behavior-problems

I also found this really useful article on constructivism. http://www.exploratorium.edu/ifi/resources/constructivistlearning.html

Metacognitive Skills

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

OR

Think of an activity or lesson component that explicitly teaches one or more metacognitive and one or more problem solving skills.

The question I will answer for this post is the first question. The lesson I have chosen to teach over is sea life. First I will have the students write down what they know and what they want to learn. At the end of the lesson I will have them write down what they learned and if there is anything they don't understand from the lesson. This incorporates students' metacomprehension. It allows them to see what they have and have not learned or what they need more help with in regards to not understanding the material. 

I will also have them make a powerpoint, write an essay, or design a poster on sea life. I will provide students with a rubric of exactly what is A material all the way to what is failing. This allows students to self-regulate. They can look at the rubric while they are working on their projects and determine if their research is deep enough to satisfy the rubric content. It teaches students to be thorough with their work and how to self-regulate how efficient they are being with their learning time. 

One outside source I found is a website gives good notes and definitions of metacognitive skills for learners that can easily be applied to the classroom. I actually used it as the main resource for writing this post http://education.purduecal.edu/Vockell/EdPsyBook/Edpsy7/edpsy7_meta.htm

This outside is over metacognition in the classroom. It is a great resource for teachers to refer back to. http://serc.carleton.edu/NAGTWorkshops/metacognition/teaching_metacognition.html

Constructivism

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?

 

 

 My lesson is a first grade lesson over telling time to the half-hour. In order to master this skill set they need to:

 

• Be able to pull from their previous knowledge of learning how to tell time on the hour.
• Work individually on their own personal clocks to practice making half-hours
• Work together in groups reviewing and practicing on the hour and half-hours with classmates
• Be able to build off of this knowledge in the future to construct a deeper understanding of time

Students will first need to practice on their own clocks what half-hour looks like after I have gone over the lesson. This allows them to build their understanding by personally being able to interact with a clockface and build meaning to telling time. Then the students will form groups to work together on telling time. The students will work in groups to figure out different times of clocks given. Then they will partner up and one student will be a minute hand while the other student will be the hour hand. Whenever I say a time the partners must lay on the floor and form that particular time out of their bodies. The group work allows students to be able to reinforce the information they have learned. It also reinforces the skills and concepts not only with themselves but with others as well.

This is a silly but to the point video of constructivist vs. traditional classrooms.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lEsGHVdVkMw


 

Memory Process

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

It makes sense that students are more likely to remember new information if they can relate it back to old information. Therefore, as a teacher I need to make sure that I connect new information to back to old information as often as I can. It will be important to review concepts that they have already learned before directly jumping into the new material. Reviewing the old information before going over the new can help them not only recall what they already know, but also help them make a direct connection to the new information they are about to process. It is also important that I make the information relevant to them. Students and people in general are more likely to remember information that is directly relevant to their lives or interesting to them. Therefore, I need to assess my classroom dynamics and try to make my lessons relevant to the students in my classroom. Therefore, they are more likely to remember the information better.

Here is a video that shows 7 mental activities to helping improve memory. Some of these can be implemented in a classroom. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RsOJ7c3eDTI 

This is a websites that gives some tips for improving memory within a classroom.

http://www.cdl.org/resource-library/articles/memory_strategies_May06.php

cognitive learning

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? 



Some essential skills that I want my students to learn are how to relate previous material to new material. I want my students to be able to recognize that the material they are learning builds up over time. I also found it very interesting that students are very selective on what material they choose to listen to and store in their memory. This means that it is my job as a teacher to adapt the curriculum to make it relevant to each and every student in my class. Therefore, they can make a connection to the material they are learning and why it is relevant in their own lives to actually put it to memory.

Also I have learned that different students have different cognitive learning skills. Some learn better by watching, touching, doing, or reading. Therefore, whenever I am planning a lesson I need to consider all the different learning styles that each student may or may not have. I need to make sure the lesson touches upon several of the learning styles to appeal more cognitively to each and every student. That way they are more likely to put the information into their memory.



One article I found useful can be found at: http://www.scilearn.com/blog/cognitive-learning-styles-student-centered-classroom.php

Assessment Strategies

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.

The lesson plan I will choose to perform formal and informal assessment strategies on is over Presidents of the United States. Since my licensure will be in Elementary Education this will fit the needs of elementary school students.


Informal Assessments:

Before I start the lesson on the Presidents I will ask the students what they know about the different Presidents of the United States. The answers can literally vary as much or as little as needed. It can be anything from a fun fact about a particular president to knowing the exact order of the presidents. I am just trying to get a general grasp and feel of how much my class knows as a whole. Also I can have them write down on sticky notes something they want to learn and are curious about while learning this particular lesson. On the sticky note I will make sure each student puts his or her name so I can get a better understanding of what that particular student's learning desires are.


Formal Assessments:

The first formal assessment I will conduct will be a sheet that has at the top, "What I know, What I learned, and What I still want to learn." The students will write down everything they already know about presidents before the lesson. Then after the lesson they will write down what they learned and still want to learn. Another formal assessment would be at the end of teaching the students about presidents. I would give each student a choice between a test, writing a short essay, making a book, or doing an oral presentation. This way every student could pick the way that they express what they learned in the most efficient manner so I can get a better picture of how much that student actually learned.

One website I found had two really cute assessment strategy ideas. Both of these would be fun and ideal for elementary age students. http://www.rundesroom.com/2012/08/quick-and-easy-assessment-strategies.html 

The other website I found is packed full of all kinds of different assessment ideas. Alot of the ideas even go up to 6th grade and will fit basically any assessment need. http://www.ilovethatteachingidea.com/ideas/subj_assessment.htm

Conducive Learning Environment

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

It is important to create a conducive learning environment in the classroom for students. Without an effective learning environment students will not strive and achieve to be all they can be within the classroom. I believe that it is imperative in making sure that students feel a sense of safety and community inside the classroom. Students need to know that they can express themselves freely in the classroom environment. No one is going to criticize them for any questions, ideas, or struggles they have. Students need to also feel like their class is a community of individuals that work together to meet a goal. 

None of this can be done without respect for one another and for themselves. I would emphasize how important it is to show respect not only to yourself but to others as well. I would model what respect looks like by showing respect  to them at all times. I would also explain that part of showing respect for yourself is giving one hundred percent everyday at school. Part of respect is honesty. Being honest demonstrates that you respect them enough as an individual to be able to communicate to them in an open manner. Therefore, when a student had frustrations with other students they would need to calmly explain to that student why they are flustered so the situation could be worked out. Students need to know it is okay to openly be honest to me, as their teacher, about concerns, worries, or frustrations they have in regards to other students, school work, themselves, or even me.

In my case study one of my students, Lisa, is acting out in her cooperative learning group. She gets angry with the other students if she does not get what she wants and refuses to do her job within the group. She constantly interrupts other students within her group and does not pay attention whenever her group prepares for presentations.

My first step of action would be to go over what respect means in our classroom with the whole class. I would remind them that being respectful includes giving 100% everyday, helping other classmates, and if you are angry or flustered with someone calmly telling them why you feel the way you feel. Even though I would address this to the entire class, I would make sure I made frequent eye contact with Lisa or walked closer to desk while talking. I would try to make subtle cueings to her letting her know that I was mainly talking to her, but do it in a discrete enough way that others may not pick up on it so she won't become embarrassed. 

My second step of intervention would be to pull her aside privately and talk to her. I would ask her if there is anything she would like to communicate with me concerning her behavior. Depending on her response to that is how I would choose to proceed in talking with her. If she did have issues or concerns I would deal with them accordingly, if not I would have her go over what respect is and ask her if she is behaving in that manner.

My third step of intervention would involve the parents. I would call or email them explaining the situation from there. I would discuss with them maybe implementing a self-regulation journal everyday or conducting a planned intervention.

I found two resources I really like that goes over respect. In the first resource you give each student a sticky note and they can either pick someone or draw names out of a hat (you can decide how you want to do that) and they write one good thing about that person. Then they place that sticky note on that person's desk for the rest of the day. The website goes over it in more detail here is the link  http://teachers.post-it.com/wps/portal/3M/en_US/Post-it-Teachers/Home/All-Activities/

The second resource is a T-chart going over what respect looks and sounds like. This is could be made with the students and should be put on a posterboard so it could hang up in the classroom. It would be a terrific visual aid.  http://www.gradeonederful.com/2012/05/respect-and-nomination.html  

 

Theories of Motivation

Consider the theories of motivation that we discussed in class.   Which theories of motivation are most helpful and instructive for you?  How can they enhance motivation and affect your students?  


I have really enjoyed learning about motivation this week. This is probably the most important aspect when teaching a classroom because without motivation students are not going to learn anything and our efforts are in vain. The theory I was most associated with was the extrinsic theory. With the children I have worked with in the past, in order to motivate them to do a particular task it has usually be from using extrinsic theory. I tell them if they finish this or do that then they will get cupcakes on Friday or be able to play a game that they love. After learning about the other theories I am going to incorporate different ways of motivation.

One of the most helpful and instructive motivational theory was intrinsic motivation. This is when motivation comes from within the student's own desire to learn the material. I can help invoke intrinsic motivation by giving students more control over their learning process. If a child as no interest in the material or topic they are learning then the material more than likely is not going to stick with them. Lessons need to be related to students in the best manner they possibly can so students can find some sort of relevance within the topic. I really like the idea of giving students more control over their learning by giving them choices. With choices of which book to write a report on or do want to do a power point, take a test or write a report on a subject, students are going to be more engaged with the material because it fits their needs and interests more.

I also like the goal theory. With a personal goal in mind students are more apt to be successful because they are the ones who decided on that personal goal. I like the idea of combining the goal theory and extrinsic theory together in the classroom. Maybe once a week have each student write down a short term goal for them to personally achieve by the end of that week. Of course the goal should be related somehow to the classroom. At the end of the week the teacher and student assesses if that students has achieved his/her personal goal for that week. If that student has then they get to pick from the treasure box or has a sticker put up on a chart, some kind of award is given to them. This helps motivate students internally by them setting their goals while at the same time reinforcing externally their good efforts for personal achievement.


One outside resource that I really enjoyed is called Classroom Motivation Techniques. It is a short article on simple ways to motivate and keep students motivated within the classroom. Here is the link for it http://www.ehow.com/how_4550201_classroom-motivation-techniques.html. Another article I really enjoyed also dealt with motivation within the classroom. This article is more detailed and covers a wide range of how teachers can keep students motivated from how to plan motivating lesson plans to helpful strategies. The link for this article is http://www.teachermatters.com/classroom-management/roles-of-the-teacher/motivating.html.

My personal objective for this course is for me to learn the most I can because I realize that having a better understanding of human psychology will help me better relate to my students.What I would like to personally accomplish in this class is how to become a better teacher by having a better understanding of what motivates students in the classroom. Also I want to help students learn in the most effective way possible. My hopes are that this class will give me a better grasp of students from a psychological standpoint. The concerns I have are how to properly assess students while still creating a fun and effective learning environment.