Group Differences Forum

I really enjoyed the Group Differences Forum. I felt like it shed new light on the topics and liked how the topics were controversial ones in today's society. I valued everyone's opinion and liked how our classroom environment was safe enough for everyone to express their opinions. At times, I felt like some people were judging what I was saying (I know I talked to you about one issue after class one day)..but other than that I feel like everyone's opinions were respected.

I feel like these forums would be difficult for my grade level (1st grade is what I'm placed at for next year) and don't think this age group could participate in a mature discussion. I do think 3rd grade and up could incorpare this method into class--obviously with topics that are not as intense. Maybe if the class is focusing on different cultures, you could have questions about respecting other cultures and how you could help others feel welcome. Students need to be able to see other view points and respect them, and based on my knowledge of psychology, younger students are incapable of this.

Something that bothered with the forums is that I felt that there was a  view on our own race as negative and I'm not sure why. I feel like some people think white people are just conceited and like to step on people of other races and I wish people didn't feel like that. I liked how one person mentioned that other backgrounds are racial towards white people as well, and it's not just white people that are racist. I don't know--I just felt like there was this vibe that our race is horrible and needs fixing (just my viewpoint.)

I liked all of the topics because they are popular topics today and need to be addressed, especially before we, as teachers, enter the education system. We need to be aware of the viewpoints of others on these topics and need to respect that everyone has different viewpoints. Every topic was presented very well by everyone, and I think everybody did a great job!

Barb Rentenbach and Autism Video Response

These videos have completely changed my views of people with autism. I never realized how intelligent people with autism can be—the things Larry, Tracy, and the others were thinking and typing at the 2008 conference were amazing and I don’t think I could come up with sentences as beautiful or inspiring or ever be that funny! It amazes me that without FC, people with autism would not be able to communicate their thoughts. I can’t imagine thinking of ideas and not being able to express them. Larry said that he would have never been able to live the life he wanted to had it not been for FC, and it makes me grateful we have technology that can foster his dream.

It was also inspiring to see that some of the people at the conference were in school. This is very motivating to me as a future teacher. I know that if/when I have students in my classroom with autism that they are capable of attaining the knowledge and doing the work, I just need to figure out the best ways for the student(s) to show it. Just because they cannot express themselves and communicate in the same manner as others does not mean that nothing is going on in their minds.

I had the same reaction to the video on Barb Rentenbach. She says that she is labeled as a poor thinker, but that she actually has many thoughts, and this is evident in her book, I Might Be You. Some of the excerpts really stood out to me, such as: “My world, my change, the world continues to orbit the sun”—she is talking about objects and how she began holding a water bottle instead of a box of screws or tools (one or the other) but this line is so powerful and I feel like the greatest writers and poets of the world couldn’t come up with such a beautiful line.

Barn Rentenbach seems to have figured out the basics of life, which is: “peaceful, human companionship is priceless.” She says if we were to go on a walk with her, that we should clear our minds of the business world and just be. 

She also talks about students, and this was very educational for me. She says not to shelter students from the anxiety of learning—don’t be overprotective. Students with autism are capable of doing the work in the classroom, and just because they find something challenging doesn’t mean they can’t do it. If our goal as a teacher is to challenge our students, shouldn’t autistic students be challenged as well? Why would be shelter them and not make them try? Barb Rentenbach says to have them do the same work as the other students. I must keep this in mind in my classroom. It is so easy to assume that if a student has a disability that they cannot perform well in the classroom. However, those days are over. These students can perform well—it is up to me as a teacher to differentiate my instruction and materials to fit their needs so they can improve and master material.

One last quote that stood out me…

Labels don’t matter, the source is the source is the source…

(I am SO bummed I was working the Friday night she came to UT and that I have another class after Ed Psych so I cannot see her.)

PLE #10

I'll be interning in a 1st grade classroom next year, so for this post I'll focus on Grade level K-2. There are many ways I can incorporate some of the strategies suggested in the book to help with my student's language development.

Books are one of the main ways to help students acquire correct vocabulary. Allowing enough time during the day to read storybooks will interest my students and they won't even realize they are building their vocabulary as we read. Reading together both as a class and individually is important as well.

If a student uses a word incorrectly, I can give feedback that shows the student how to use the word the right way and help him think of another word that might work better for the sentence.

I can help my students become better listeners by explaining to them that just sitting quietly on the rug doesn't mean they are actually listening. If they are sitting quietly but thinking about what they are going to do that afternoon, they aren't listening. During instruction or book reading, I can stop and ask questions throughout to make sure my students are listening. Or say something like, "Now let's see who can listen well and can figure out why the character in the story does this..." This will help them focus.

I'm in a 1st grade classroom right now, and every morning the students can share a story. They must raise their hand and be called on, stand up and face the class and tell the story, and everyone else must be quiet and listen. This teaches students how to take turns.

I also thought this blog was a great way to read about a teacher's experiences teaching ELL. I'm doing the ESL endorsement so I enjoy checking up on this blog every now and then to familiarize myself with how to help students acquire the language skills of another language.

Ch 10 #9

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

 

I can increase Lisa's self-efficacy by showing her that I have confidence in her abilities and that I know she is capable of working well with others. Lisa will need to see her progress at collaborative group work, so it is important that her peers can provide positive feedback to her. The website I talk about below explains that even at the college level, students are unaware of the progress they make. This is because of past experiences. If Lisa can learn how to work well with others, she will feel better about herself and can have higher self-efficacy, which leads to success in the future.

This is a great website about self-efficacy. Be sure to click the arrows at the bottom because there are multiple pages. At the bottom of each page there are Checks for Understanding to see if you have understood everything. This can be great to help with your CSEL and Personal Learning Theory.
 

Self-regulation with Lisa needs to be modeled because it is apparent she does not know how to control her behavior or emotions. Promoting self-talk, such as, "Ok, am I doing what I am supposed to be doing? Am I staying on task?" are ways for Lisa to check herself. Self-monitoring is important when it comes to self-regulation, so I can give Lisa a checklist and a small timer. Every 10 minutes, the timer will beep, and she will give herself a smiley face is she is working well with others or a frown if she has not been doing what she is supposed to be doing. This way, she has a visual of her behavior and can see what it looks like. 

Emotion Regulation is an aspect of self-regulation and this can help when Lisa gets angry when she doesn't get the part she wants in a project. I can give her a small stress ball that she can use whenever she has negative feelings. We also could have a "cool down" spot in the room for anyone, not just Lisa, to go to when they feel like negative emotions are taking control.

All of these are ways for Lisa to improve her self-efficacy and self-regulation.

PLE #8 Ch 9

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?

There are many tools from a behaviorist view that I could use with Lisa to both encourage productive behaviors or to discourse undesirable behaviors. Before I put my students in their groups, it is important to discuss the correct ways to behave when doing group activities. Making a list on the board and brainstorming ideas about how to treat each other would be a good way for Lisa to see what is expected of her. Once everyone knows the type of behavior that is expected in the classroom, the students will go to their groups.

I will pay attention to Lisa's group and whenever she behaves, doesn't get angry at others when she doesn't get her way, and contributes to the activity, I will praise her and will point out what she is doing that I like. For instance, if she doesn't interrupt a classmate, I will say "Lisa, I like how you are listening to John." This way, Lisa will know the behavior that is attached to the praise.

If this is ineffective, I can meet with her one on one and design a contingency contract. We will discuss the behavior that is inappropriate and decide on what behaviors will be appropriate. We will also discuss reinforcers for the good behavior. For instance, if Lisa can get through the group activity without talking out of turn and without getting angry when she doesn't get her away, if she contributes and helps prepare for the class presentation, she will receive a sticker that she can put on her behavior chart that I will design. If she reaches 10 stickers for positive behavior, she will get a larger reward (such as getting extra time on the computer). Hopefully this reinforcement will help Lisa behave appropriately. Eventually, I would like to take away the reinforcers and hope that Lisa can behave this way on her own.

I could also make this a class-wide token system, and if all of the groups work together and behave, the class will receive points. Every group has to behave in order for the class to receive points. This way, everyone will help each other, and hopefully Lisa will be reinforced as well to behave. Once the class reaches a certain amount of points, they will have a pizza party.

From a cognitive viewpoint, I've been having a hard time trying to think of how I would go about dealing with Lisa. Thinking about Piaget's stages, Lisa is at concrete-operational, meaning that she should be able to realize that other people have viewpoints and their own way of thinking. Perhaps I could use this to show her that everyone wants to have a certain role in the group and that we all need to take turns?

An important aspect of constructivism is that students reflect and talk about their activities. They also set their own goals. Lisa can construct her own ideas about what a good student looks like and how a student should behave during group work. She can construct her own goals and ways she can meet these goals. 

I feel like a cognitive viewpoint has the most deficits because it doesn't really apply to behavior--so if a child is misbehaving, it is hard to figure out how to deal with the child just based on cognition. Behaviorism is a great way to deal with Lisa because, obviously, we are dealing with her behavior and can use conditioning and reinforcement to get her to behave appropriately.

I think constructivism would be the best way to go about classroom management in my classroom because it involves both behavior and learning. Students need to know why they are behaving a certain way and need to be involved in ways they can change their behavior. Having students involved in the process helps them learn more. If Lisa can construct goals that she wants to attain, she will be more likely to follow through because she played a part in creating them. Also, with constructivism, I can look at her background knowledge to see if there are reasons why she is misbehaving during group time (perhaps her parents don't give her enough attention at home so she acts out in school, or she could be used to getting her own way at home and thinks the same should happen in school.)

All of the theories have positive aspects, but I think constructivism is the most effective in the classroom.  

I liked this article because it talks about both constructivism and behaviorism, comparing them, and discusses real-life examples in the classroom based on a video of preschoolers.

PLE #7 Ch 8

To teach my students metacognition skills in the classroom, it is important to model effectively these skills. For instance, in Reading class, I can talk to my students about how it is impossible to remember every little detail in a story--our brains cannot hold on to that much information at once. Because of this, it is important to pick out the main ideas of passages. This is something that will take practice, so for the first time we do this, a student will read a page and we will stop as a class and discuss the main idea of that page. I will write on the board what the students think the main idea is. We will continue to do this until the passage is finished. The students will be able to learn the process of picking out of the main ideas and will see how it is easier to remember what you read when you pick out the key concepts.

It is also important for students to be able to stop when they are reading and ask themselves if they understood what they just read. It is so easy to read something and not know what you read. Students need to be able to realize that this can happen quite often, and that by stopping periodically and asking questions can help you stay on track. To teach this, I will model this practice while we read together as a class. I will stop after I read something and say out loud, "Let me check to make sure I understand what I just read." This way, students can see what a comprehension check looks like and will learn the importance of it.

Problem solving skills are especially important in the classroom. If students do not know how to go about solving a problem, they will not be able to succeed. An important problem solving skill is writing down important information needed to solve the problem and possible solutions/approaches to the problem. For example, if a student is solving a math word problem, he/she needs to write down all the elements of the problem that will be needed to solve it. If the problem says something like, "Molly has $1.00. A candy bar is $.20 and a tootsie roll pop is $.30. How many of each piece of candy can Molly buy? Is the more than one option?" The student needs to write down the total amount Molly has to spend, the amount of each piece of candy, and the options. In the beginning, I can give them fill in the blanks for this so they have some structure, but by the end of the unit the students should be able to do this on their own. This will teach them organization when dealing with problems with more than one answer and will let them see their thinking process.

These Problem Solving Skills can be beneficial to both you and to your students.

PLE #6 Ch 7

In order for my students to fully master the content of my lesson, which is Vocabulary, they will need to do more than just memorize the definitions. This will not stay in their long term memory and they won't learn how to use the words in sentences. So, I will need to give the students activities that require them to dig deeper and to see the meanings of the words, how they are used, and when they are used.

I will provide my students with newspapers and magazines that contain these words. They will have to search for the words and will see how the words are used in real life and why they are important to know and recognize. They will cut out what they find, such as the words themselves, picture, synonyms, etc. and glue them on a poster board. This is an example of students individually constructing their ideas. When they are finished, each student will present their poster to the class so everyone can see how the words have been used. The students will also have to use their own words when discussing vocabulary words, and this helps them stay away from rote memorization.

Another activity my students will do is charades. This is a fun, interactive game that will allow me to see if my students really understand the meanings of the words. The students will be entertained and will not even know they are learning what the words mean. This is an example of group construction because they are coming up with their own ways to describe/act out the words and their peers have to guess what the word is.

Making learning active and based on the real world will help the students fully understand the meanings of the vocabulary words. They will come up with their own ways to describe their words, and will be able to remember the words better because of this.


You can explore this website to see more ways to use constructivism in the classroom.