Final Class

I really enjoyed the final class, it was nice to see everyone's ideal classroom.  I liked many of the ideas people came up with and the reasons why. I liked kahoot, I think it was very fun and was another good resource for me. I liked all the technology I learned about  this semester. I liked the blogger and livebinders we used this semester. I also love google docs and the concept map making website. I learned so much about different theories and theorist and I'm really exciting to have taken this class early in my grad career. I liked all the aspects of educational psychology and thinking of ways to incorporate them into my future classroom and future lessons.

The virtual class was so interesting I really learned a lot from everyone's presentations.

I really enjoyed this class. I just kind of wish it was a whole semester long  so somethings wouldn't have been a little rushed.

Integrating Theories of Learning Power Point

Power point 1

Power Point 2

Integrating Theories of Learning into the Classroom

Caitlin Higgins

ED 5410

Professor Smirnova

Summer I 2016

Integrating Theories of Learning into the Classroom

                Educational Psychology is a distinct discipline with its own theories, research methods, problems and techniques to apply in research on learning and teaching (Woolfolk, 2013). Educational psychology is useful in understanding teaching and learning because it is important to understand how children learn and the best ways and methods to teach them to learn. I enjoyed reading in the first chapter about the relationship of students with their kindergarten teacher, predicting their future educational success. I liked reading and learning about what was involved in being a successful teacher, for example: having high expectations, being sensitive to needs and providing feedback. As teachers it’s important to give and teach students the skills they need to know not only about math and science but about how to develop good social and emotional skills. If we know where children are developmentally, we as teachers know the best way to help them and what they need. Elementary aged schoolchildren are developing physically, socially, morally and cognitively, so following academic psychology research you can incorporate methods that have been proven to be helpful. Educational Psychology can also be used in classroom management techniques and for supporting preferred behaviors.

The way a classroom is arranged and the rules and procedures of the classroom are so important for maintaining control and making the most effective use of time. One of the most valuable pieces of information I gained from the readings and my observations, was the importance of setting up a well-organized and structured classroom. It is important that all students know where to find items (pencils, paper and the stapler) and know the rules of the classroom. Establishing this early saves a lot of time and energy that could spent on more important things. It was also really great to see how the teacher I observed set up her class room because the way your classroom is set up is so important, and got me thinking on the aspects of hers I thought were important and how to put my own spin on it. Classroom rules I plan on instituting include: listen and valued each other’s opinions, this is important so everyone is respected and feels comfortable speaking. Other rules include: listen when someone else is speaking, follow directions, and show respect for classroom, class mates and school, these are important to maintain order and have a safe classroom. Other rules include: work quietly and do not disturb others, keep hands/feet/objects to yourself and to have students always raise their hands. I want my future students to always try their best, use kind words and most importantly never give up. I think these class rules will set a class culture of respecting and valuing each other while keeping the classroom safe and managed. Classroom Procedures I think are important are to leave things neatly how you found them, walk in lines in the hallway, respect others and when the teacher, is talking you are listening. I set up my classroom two be really organized and clear. Also I would like to have a schedule on the wall so the children know what they are doing and the order the day will go in. Functional academics would be beneficial to many students because it combines functional skill and academics, and was something I took into consideration when designing my classroom. Systematic instruction would also be beneficial, and used in the design of my future classroom for many students this includes prompts, consequences for performance, and strategies for the transfer of stimulus control.

Another important aspect I will bring to my future classroom is managing cultural diversity and parental involvement. It is important to have a multicultural classroom that shows different cultural heritages and racial backgrounds. This promotes diversity and allows all students to feel included and important, which I think is one of the most important aspects of teaching and something I will definitely include in my future classroom. Having culturally diverse posters and books in the classroom is important so everyone student feels included and valued. Another important aspect I learned was the importance of parental involvement in the success of a child. It is very important to recognize and remember that all families are different and make parents feel welcome. It is very important to respect families and encourage their involvement in the school so they feel a part of it and like they are working with the teacher and school to help their children succeed. It is very important to have an open line of communication with parents/guardians. As teachers, we must also respect and understand the different kinds of parenting styles.  A parenting style is a general pattern of behavior that a parent uses in rearing his or her children. The first kind of parenting style is the Permissive parenting style. In this style parents are low on maturity demand and control, they may be less controlling in order to stress warmth and child's autonomy. These types of parents may be less controlling because they do not know how to control or do not have resources to control.  These parents see themselves as resources rather than active agents.  Next is Authoritative parenting this style is characterized by emotional warmth, high standards for behavior, explanation and consistent enforcement of rules, and inclusion of children in decision making (Woolfolk, 2013). Then is the Authoritarian parents they provide structure and rules, though they are not always clearly communicated, they are highly demanding and directive.  And they are often not sensitive to child's conflicting viewpoint and expect child to accept their judgments, values and goals without questioning. The last type of parenting style is Neglectful parents they are generally low on demand and control, set few limits and have low attention, interest, emotional support.

I want to teach elementary school aged children. At this age they are going through drastic physical, social, cognitively, morally and emotional development. Play is essential for helping them learn social skills such as fairness, cooperation and allows them to explore in their environment. They are also forming peer relations which is so important to the formation of their self-concepts. At this age they are in the Preoperational symbolic function stage where objects represent other objects in pretend play. They are also in the Intuitive thought stage where they are growing in curiosity and reason. The Moral stage they are in is the Obedience/Punishment stage where rules are absolute and should never be broken. And physically girls are typically  developing faster and weigh more and are taller.

Differentiation in schools is so important to teach diverse learners in such a diverse school system. Differentiation is the concept of teaching in a variety of ways to meet the needs of all your students. There are many ways to go about this including have a wide variety of materials, different teaching methods to help the different learning styles of your students and using a variety of grouping strategies. Different grouping strategies that would be successful include interviews, literature circles and turn and talks. I witnessed some of these in my observations and plan on using all of these strategies in my future classroom because I think it is very important to allow children to learn from each other.

A form of behaviorism that is very useful in the classroom is Operant Conditioning, which is defined as the changing of behavior by the use of reinforcement, which is given after the desired response. There are three types of responses that can follow behavior, these are neutral, reinforcements and punishments.  Neutral operant is a response from the environment that neither increases nor decreases the probability of a behavior being repeated.  A reinforcement, is a response from the environment that increases the probability of a behavior happening again. Reinforcements can be either positive or negative, but both increase a desired behavior.  And punishers are the last kind of response, and are a response from the environment that decreases the likelihood of a behavior being repeated. Operant conditioning can be used in the classroom to shape performance and can be used in classroom management techniques. Providing feedback can be instrumental in shaping of behaviors or performance in the classroom.  This can be done by the use of affirmation and compliments to give positive reinforcement of good behaviors. Positive reinforcement strengthens a behavior by providing a consequence an individual finds rewarding. Negative reinforcement is the removal of an unpleasant reinforcements can also strengthen behavior. Constructivism is another helpful teaching strategy because it is student centered, has students involved in their own learning and uses higher order thinking skills. Allowing students to work in partners is so important because this is something they will see throughout their school careers and in life. It is important to teach students from an early age that working together is beneficial to see different aspects and ways of doing things so they know there is more than just one way of doing things.

Bloom’s Taxonomy is another important aspect I will take away from this class and with me when I am a teacher. Bloom emphasizes higher order thinking to dive deeper into subjects. More learning occurs when students are asked to design or experiment compared to being asked to list, name or summarize. Another important teaching strategies I learned was Zone of Proximal Development, which is what students can do with help and alone. This can be done by; modeling thought process, use of organizers/starters and doing part of the problem. When using ZPD it is important to give hints, encourage small steps, connect new learning to prior learning and teach vocabulary and give examples. Use of graphic organizers, timelines and charts are helpful in ZPD but should also by a component of the classroom for students to create and reference later.

I thought the chapter on assessment was very helpful to me since it is still towards the beginning of my program. The things I learned in this chapter were things I haven’t yet learned. It’s important to know the different kinds of assessments and their criteria’s and how they are referenced.  There is a formative assessment that happens before and during a lesson. Summative assessment happens at the end of instruction. Authentic tests test skills and abilities applied in real life. Giving formative feedback is so important as a teacher so students know how to improve and what they need to improve on.

Learning about learners with different needs and that have differences was my favorite part of the book. I want to be a special education teacher so finding new way to help of future students was really interesting to me. It is important that special education class are not “lower level classes” because then the students are not learning what their peers are learning and may be ill prepared for high school and college. A disability is an inability to do something and a handicap is a disadvantaged imposed on an individual (Woolfolk, 2013). It is important to remember as a future special education teacher that disabilities and handicaps do not limit what a child can do it just may change the way they need to learn or process information.  Special education is specially designed instruction that meets the unusual needs of an exceptional student and that might require special materials, teaching techniques, equipment of services.

I will take away with me many things I learned in this class. I’m happy I took this class early in my program to use the information I learned as a foundation for the rest of my classes and in my future classroom. Learning about educational psychology really breaks down and explains the foundations of child development and the best ways to teach children based on their age and development stage.  I will take with me the techniques, strategies and information I learned with me and apply them in future classes and with my students. I learned a lot about different technologies and media resources, this was very important and will be another item I carry with me and use for the rest of my life.

References

Hallahan, D.P., Kauffman, J.M., & Pullen, P.C. (2011). Exceptional learners: Introduction to

                special education (12^th ed.). Boston:  Allyn and Bacon.

The IRIS Center. (2008). Collaborating with families. Retrieved from http://iris.peabody.vanderbilt.edu/module/fam/

Leffert, N., Lerner, R.M., & Scales, P.C., (2014) Developmental assets: A synthesis of the scientific research on adolescent development. (2^nd ed). Minneapolis: Search Institute

Woolfolk, Anita (2013). Educational psychology. (13^th ed.) Needham Heights Massachusetts: Allyn and Bacon.

Automated Basic Skills

Automated Basic Skills:
automated basic skills- are skills that are applied without conscious thought. The are basic and domain-specific strategies. (Woolfolk, 2013).

Stages:
1. Cognitive- Following steps/ directions guided by declarative knowledge.
2. Associative- Combining individual steps into larger units
3. Autonomous- Where the whole procedure can be accomplished without much attention

Teachers need to provide opportunities to practice these steps. They can not be something we assume children know how to do or were previously taught how to do them. As teachers and future teachers we must give students the pre-requisite knowledge and the opportunities to practice these skills, while providing feedback and help to move students through these stages. (Woolfolk, 2013).

Creating a learning environment

Create:

Class setup:

Classroom Rules:
1. Listen and valued each others opinions
2. Listen when someone else is speaking
3.Follow directions
4.Show respect for classroom, class mates and school
5.Work quietly and do not disturb others
6. Keep hands/feet/objects to yourself
7.Always try your best
8.Raise your hands
9. Use kind words
10.Never give up!

Class procedures and routines:
Routine:
1-Children arrive 2-put away bookbags 3-attendance 4-do now-collect homework/worksheets 5-lesson 6-activity 7-quiet work 8-lunch 9- independent reading 10- lesson 11- activity- 11- lesson 12- homework

Procedures: Leave things neatly how you found them. Walk in lines in the hallway. Respect others. When the teacher, is talking you are listening.

Evaluate:
Source: Sieberer-Nagler, K. (2016). Effective Classroom-Management & Positive Teaching. English Language Teaching, 9(1), 163-172.

Summary:Classroom management is supposed to save time, by explaining the rules and set up of a classroom early on, so more time can be spent on important things like reading and learning. On the first day of class the rules should be established, "if you need paper or a stapler you can find them here" and " you do not have to ask me for them". Getting these procedures in early will save you a lot of time and students will also know what is allowed and expected from them. I really liked the quote from the article, "It is possible the most difficult aspect of teaching for many beginning teachers is managing students’ behavior. The time a teacher has to take to correct misbehavior caused by poor classroom management skills results in a lower rate of academic engagement in the classroom. Effective classroom management involves clear communication of behavioral and academic expectations as well as a classroom environment conducive to learning" (Sieberer, 164). Setting up classroom management strategies early will help run a better classroom and give your students more structure.

Teachers blogs:Stephanie. I'm a 5th year teacher living in Colorado.
Link:
Who is the author and the web site? Stephanie. I'm a 5th year teacher living in Colorado, who previously taught 1st and 2nd grade.
 
How does this author describe a classroom management issue? She has a whole section of her blog on her classroom management and organizational set-up. She said the most important component in classroom management is having a clean organized set-up because this will help maintain order.

How does this author's situation compare to that of the article you read? The blog and the article I read are similiar, but I think Stephanie is the voice of a real teacher, where the article was written by professors or researchers. They both have good tips but I enjoy reading from the point of view of a real teacher and their experiences, compared to a researcher.

Does the teacher use effective classroom management? There are many bins and shelves for organizing. The walls are full of student's work and posters but looks so neat! The classroom looks so clean and looks like it fosters learning. She uses a lot of techniques I am learning about in all my classes, including: sentence strips, reading corners and model centers!

Relate:
Classroom Flyer

5 Blog Questions

The blogs are assigned for you
Make sure to reflect on 5 of the following questions after reading and referencing our text book (when the appropriate chapter is assigned and in the summary). E.g.:

1)   What is the role of educational psychology in understanding teaching and learning? How can we use research to understand and improve teaching?

Educational psychology is useful in understanding teaching and learning because it is important to understand how children learn and the best ways and methods to teach them to learn. I enjoyed reading the first chapter that talked about the relationship of students with their kindergarten teacher predicting their future educational success. I always liked reading what was involved in being a successful teacher, for example: having high expectations, being sensitive to needs and providing feedback. As teachers it’s important to give and teach students the skills they need to know not only about math and science but about how to develop good social and emotional skills. If we know where children are developmentally, we as teachers know the best way to help them and what they need. In elementary school children are developing physically, personally, socially, and cognately, so following academic psychology research you can incorporate methods that have been proven to be helpful.

2)   Describe, in detail, Kohlberg's Stages of Moral Development.

Kohlberg’s Moral Reasoning contains six different levels of how children develop moral skills. Level one is Preconvention Morality and is contains the two earliest stages. Stage one is Obedience and Punishment is when children see rules as absolute. In stage two Individualism and Exchange children begin judging decisions based off individual needs and off different points of view. Level two is the Conventional Morality and is contains stages three and four. Stage three is Interpersonal Relationships refers to the “good-boy or good-girl” orientation that has to do with living up to the expectations of others. Stage four is Maintaining Social Order which takes into accounts society’s view of what is right and wrong.  Level three is the Post conventional Morality contains stages five and six of moral development. Stage five is Social Contract and Individual Rights this is when rules are followed because they are the law. And lastly, stage six in Universal Principle and is the final step of moral development. In this stage morals are decided based off the universal ethical principles and abstract reasoning (Woolfolk, 2013).

3)   According to your text, what does intelligence mean? How is intelligence measured? What should teachers know about intelligence? Have you ever known someone "really smart"? What were they like? Was everything "easy" for them?

Intelligence is defined as the ability to learn from our past experiences and acquire knowledge, and to use resources to adapt to new situations or to solve problems. (Woolfolk, 2013). Intelligence is usually measured through IQ test and other standardized test. These tests are normally norm references or criteria referenced. Norm references are the average performance of all who have taken the test. Criteria referenced means it is compared to pre-established standards (Woolfolk, 2013). Teachers should know that there are different types of intelligence and that there is not a set label or image of what is looks like. Intelligent students normally only mean the gifted and talented students and often students with disabilities are left out of this category because they do not fit the mold of what many people and teachers consider intelligent. Students with special gifts excel in some way compared to other students of the same age. There is much debate how giftedness or intelligence should be measured by. I have known someone that was “really smart”, I don’t think it was that they already knew everything but that they always wanted to know more and do things in a new way. I don’t think everything was easy for them but they kept trying and thought of innovative ways to go around a problem. I think intelligent people like working together and building off of other people. They are normally good at communicating on topics that interest them and dive deep within subjects.

4)   Discuss Token Reinforcement Programs that apply to the classroom.

Token Reinforcement Programs in the classroom improve student motivation and to manage behavior. Students who are motivated and engaged are more likely to learn, so using token reinforcement in the classroom to reinforce or reward positive behaviors will make it more likely to occur again in the future. In token reinforcement it is used as a system of collecting so many of something in exchange for something later. You must first know what behaviors you want and want you want to change. Once target behaviors are established you must find out what is reinforcing to each student in order for the reinforcement to be affective. It is also important to define the behavior clearly to the student so they know exactly what is being asked of them. Token Reinforcement can be praising students, sticker systems, prizes for so many stickers collected. Tokens should not be thought as currency and should be given more than one at one time or for one behavior. And it is important to never taken away tokens students have earned, you must only not give any for undesirable behavior (Woolfolk, 2013). I think Token Reinforcement Programs are especially helpful in the special education classroom. It clearly sets desired behaviors and gives reinforcement right after the behavior. It is similar to operant conditioning, which is consequences, rewards and punishments after a desired response or behavior.

5)   Does anxiety promote or inhibit learning? Should anxiety be used as a stimulus for learning?  

Anxiety inhibits learning and should not be used as a stimulus for learning. In the classroom you want students to feel safe and comfortable because this in the best environment for them to learn. When students are anxious they are less like to perform well. Test taking can cause anxiety and limit the performance on tests. When we are anxious attention and focus are decreased. Students must feel calm and safe about learning. During my observations I observed a practice state test being administered, the teacher played alpha waves for her students during the test. Alpha waves are calming and it is similar to the music played during yoga which is supposed to calm students and make it easier to focus.



References
Woolfolk, Anita (2013). Educational psychology. (13^th ed.) Needham Heights Massachusetts: Allyn and Bacon.

Field Work Task 6/7

Task 6-

Since me observations were at the end of the school year, I observed and witnessed many assessments being done. Assessments test what the students know and have learned over the course of the year. I observed an incident of learning when a boy who was not a native speaker of English was mispronouncing words wrong that had the ending “ght” before reading the teacher reminded him the ending and the sound it makes and when reading out load he pronounced it correctly. He then went on to finish the passage and pronounced the “ght” ending correctly three more times! You could see the light bulb going off in his mind and you can tell he really understood it in that moment. She also gives them prior knowledge and information they might need. Before reading a passage about a falcon, she didn’t assume all students knew what a falcon was. She asked how knew what a falcon was, almost all students except 5 knew, so she had students explain to each other what a falcon was while she looked one up on the internet. The teacher I observed used positive and negative reinforcement in her one on one lessons. Positive reinforcement is presenting a motivating or reinforcing stimulus after the desired behavior, making it more likely to happen in the future. A negative reinforcement is when a certain stimulus is removed after a behavior, this makes future behavior increased because of removing or avoiding negative consequences. Positive reinforcement that I observed was the teacher giving students five minutes of free play after completing an activity. She also awarded students for completing all assignments for the day with stickers and stickers for good behavior. Negative reinforcement I saw was when she took away an eraser that was starting to distract a boy, so he would be able to focus again.

Tasks 7-

When I asked the teacher ways the help her and her students remember concepts and new material she said mnemonics, notecards and concept maps. It’s important to show students different ways of remembering and studying so they can find the one(s) that work best for them. One student I asked said writing down the same thing over and over again helps them remember. Another said visualizing and making a picture in their mind helps them remember. I think uses multiple approaches is so important to make sure students are learning all ways to remember. This can include utilizing their sensory memory that allows them to use their five senses, perception which allows the students to assign meaning to a stimulus and teaching students to look for relationships and patterns. The teacher I observed ( Ms.R) said it appeals students remember the material better in subjects they are most interested in. This makes senses because when students are interested and engaged their going to want to learn and remember what they are learning. If they are not interested they will just be passively learning instead of actively learning.  Making learning fun is also important, getting kids up and learning will be more memorable to them then just reading something out of a text book. This is especially true in subjects which as art and science. Bringing the material to life in any way possible will help students remember and be excited about learning. She recommends beginning teacher to learn about their students and their interest to better help them remember the information better. As an example she said if a student really likes music you can put the information into a song or a rhyme. It has to be something they enjoy or are good at which will give them the extra confidence to remember and want to remember.

Field Work Task 5

Task 5-

I observed many examples that show children’s cognitive, social, emotional and physical development. I observed a fourth grade classroom and observed students with different level of fine motor skills. One boy in the classroom has Autism and he had very low fine motor skills so he uses a computer to type his notes in class. I observed that the girls were taller and weighed more than boys, which goes with what I read in chapter three. The teacher let them use a lot of model centers and interviews to make learning more fun and allow them to experiment socially in their environment. Children develop at different rates and are developing in different areas but gradually. Their brains are shaped by activity, culture, content and experiences. So as teachers it is so important to give students the opportunity and experiences they need to grow because they may be missing out on crucial experiences based off their cultures or socioeconomic situations.

Field Work Task 4

Task4-

While observing the classroom I noticed individual needs of students some of these include: print awareness, improving reading concepts, teaching comprehension strategies and the important of using open ended questions. I also saw the importance of print concepts, phonemic awareness and a desire to learn to read and write, all of which I saw in my teacher’s classroom, through the use of posters, charts and access to a lot of books. Having a print-rich classroom is really important I learned because it encourages and promotes reading, this is something I saw a lot of students needing. Something else I took away from observing was the importance and need of the foundational activities that include storytelling, read alouds, and model centers. I like the ideas of the model centers because it shows real life situations and how print is everywhere in the world. In the model centers I observed, students are presented with a mock restaurant or doctor’s office which allowed for real world situation to take place in the classroom. I think this is a good idea because children get to get out of their seat and use their imagination, reading a menu or a chart in the doctor’s office. This would also offer a more diverse and different approach to reading then just books and the students really seemed to enjoy them. I think this would get the students interested in reading, out of their chairs and getting some of their energy out in a productive way. The most important thing I took away from this observation though was the importance of having a lot of books. They show different comprehension strategies such as calling on prior knowledge, predicting, questions, wondering what will happen next and determining the most important details. I think it is very important to teach student these strategies because I think often it is something we assume students know. If a child is reading and not understanding the text it is probably because he hasn’t developed these skills. It is also important to have a large variety of lessons to allow for differentiated learning. Open ended questions promote comprehension and understanding, instead of asking yes or no answers. I also saw a need for learning through fun activities, this get students engaged and more motivated to learn. Instead of a quiz on a class wide book they read, the teacher had them break off into different groups and do an Oprah Winfrey interview with one another. I also like the idea of the Oprah Winfrey Interview and plan on implementing them in my future classroom. I think it is fun and allows students to make connections and encourages a deeper understanding. Students must either learn in-depth about an author or individual to be able to pretend to be them or the students who are the interviewer or asking the questions show they understood the material by asking questions to the interviewee and fosters literature conversations.

Field Work task 3

Task 3-

I observed in a fourth grade classroom, at this age of development children are growing cognitively, socially, and morally. Ms. R said she liked to teach her students the skills they’ll need to be successful in all areas. She thinks one of the best ways to teach this is allow them to learn from each other. She uses the child development characteristics in her lesson which includes using multiple intelligences to count, talk about with partner and talking through different problems. This uses Gardner’s Theory using the linguistic, interpersonal, and intrapersonal. Allowing the students communicate with each other allows them to learn and collaborate with one another. Ms. R uses Zone of Proximal distance in her lesson to give students confidences to do work and then slowly backing off so they can do what they can on their own. She said that students are on all different levels of developing so it is so important to learn about your students and what they can do and what they need help with in planning your lessons. If children are developing similarly you can group them and allowing them to work and build off each other. Depending on the assignment she will group stronger students with students a little behind to learn and work together and build positive peer relations. 

Field Work task 2

Power Point!

Task2-

·         The first person interviewed named being resilient, understanding and compassionate as three characteristics shared by intelligent people.

·         The second person interviewed said that being hard-working, pushing boundaries and being able to work/learn from others as three characteristics shared by intelligent people.

·         The third person interviewed stated that three characteristics shared by intelligent people are being able to take criticism, always wanting to learn new things, thinking innovatively

Summary:

■All people interviews thought that intelligent people are never done learning. They want and have a need to learn new concepts and ideas. Working together was another common theme in the answers. Intelligent people like working together and learning from one another because it is a fast and productive way to learn, by learning from others. They collaborate and work well with others and are team players. Thinking of new ways to solve problems and being innovative was another answer shared by some of the other people interviewed. 

Field work task 1

Task 1-

The effective teaching principle the teacher I observed uses the principle of differentiation to reach every child in her classroom. Differentiation in schools is so important because it is important to teach diverse learners in such a diverse school. Differentiation is the concept of teaching in a variety of ways to meet the needs of all your students. There are many ways to go about this including have a wide variety of materials, different teaching methods to help the different learning styles of your students and using a variety of grouping strategies. Different grouping strategies that  Ms. R thinks is important be successful includes interviews, literature circles and turn and talks. I plan on using all of these strategies in my future classroom because I think it is very important to allow children to learn from each other. Also, she thinks it is important to allow them to work in partners because this is something they will see throughout their school careers and in life. It is important to teach students from an early age that working together is beneficial to see different aspects and ways of doing things so they know there is more than just one way of doing things. The research on differentiations is an effective teaching strategies that empowers teachers’ continued learning process because new research and studies are always coming out so it is so important to be up to date on the current findings to better help your students. 

Power point-http://screencast-o-matic.com/watch/cD1Xo2iDFj

Caitlin Higgins   

ED 5410

Theorist in Educational Psychology

Summer I 2016

B.F. Skinner and Theories

Burrhus Frederic Skinner was born on March 20, 1904 in Susquehanna Depot, Pennsylvania and died on August 18, 1990 in Cambridge, Massachusetts of Leukemia.  As a child B.F. Skinner enjoyed school and learning and had a relatively uneventful childhood until his brother died at the age of 16. Skinner attended Hamilton College in New York and received his Bachelors in English Literature in 1926. He then attended Harvard University for graduate studies, where he would perform very important research and later become a professor at.  He went to graduate school to study psychology and behaviorism after meeting John B. Watson and getting inspired by him and his work in Behaviorism. In 1937, Skinner married Yvonne Blue and they had two daughters Julie and Deborah. Throughout his life B.F. Skinner was an author, psychologist, philosopher and an inventor; he made large discoveries and added to advancements in the field of psychology

B.F. Skinner was influenced by the works and theories of Watson, Pavlov and Thorndike, and he used their theories to shape his own based off aspects of their theories he did or did not agree with.  Skinner was influenced by Ivan Pavlov and his theory of classical conditioning (later developed by John Watson) which involved learning to associate an unconditioned stimulus that already brings about a particular response (i.e. a reflex) with a new (conditioned) stimulus, so that the new stimulus brings about the same response. John B. Watson was a huge influence to Skinner, he invented the study of behaviorism and his experiments such as Little Albert and Animal Education were very influential to many psychologist, especially B.F. Skinner, “In 1913, Watson published the article "Psychology as the Behaviorist Views It”, which is sometimes called "The Behaviorist Manifesto". In this article, Watson outlined the major features of his new philosophy of psychology, called "Behaviorism” (Day, 2016). And Edward Thorndike and his learning theory that lead to the development of operant conditioning within behaviorism. In his theory classical conditioning depends on developing associations between events, operant conditioning involves learning from the consequences of our behavior. Skinner even modeled his Skinner Box after Thorndike’s Puzzle Box (McLeod, 2007).  In the 1920’s, Watson had left the field of academic psychology, and Skinner saw his opportunity to get in the field by working off of and building off of Pavlov’s and Watson’s idea of classical conditioning, “Skinner's views were slightly less extreme than those of Watson. Skinner believed that we do have such a thing as a mind, but that it is simply more productive to study observable behavior rather than internal mental events. The work of Skinner was rooted in a view that classical conditioning was far too simplistic to be a complete explanation of complex human behavior. He believed that the best way to understand behavior is to look at the causes of an action and its consequences. He called this approach Operant Conditioning” (McLeod, 2007). Skinner built upon research that was previously done and used their findings and his thoughts on their findings to shape and create his ideas of Operant Conditioning.

In 1938 B.F. Skinner created the term Operant Conditioning, which is defined as the changing of behavior by the use of reinforcement, which is given after the desired response (McLeod, 2007). Skinner created an operant conditioning chamber known as the Skinner Box to measure the operant conditioning effects on animals including rats and pigeons, “A Skinner box, also known an operant conditioning chamber, is an enclosed apparatus that contains a bar or key that an animal can press or manipulate in order to obtain food or water as a type of reinforcement” (Debell, 1992).  The reinforcements must be given after the desired response to increase or decrease the desired behavior. Skinner identified three types of responses that can follow behavior, these are neutral, reinforcements and punishments.  Neutral operant is a response from the environment that neither increases nor decreases the probability of a behavior being repeated.  A reinforcement, is a response from the environment that increases the probability of a behavior happening again. Reinforcements can be either positive or negative, but both increase a desired behavior.  And punishers are the last kind of response, and are a response from the environment that decreases the likelihood of a behavior being repeated. Skinner’s theory of Operant Conditioning has had lasting effecting in both psychology and academic psychology (Woolfolk, 2013).

Operant conditioning can be used in the classroom to shape performance and can be used in classroom management techniques. Providing feedback can be instrumental in shaping of behaviors or performance in the classroom.  This can be done by the use of affirmation and compliments to give positive reinforcement of good behaviors. Positive reinforcement strengthens a behavior by providing a consequence an individual finds rewarding. Negative reinforcement is the removal of an unpleasant reinforcements can also strengthen behavior. In the classroom negative reinforcements can include: a student being ignored for inappropriate behaviors. Punishments in the classroom to decrease an undesired behavior can include phone calls home for tardiness or being unprepared (McLeod, 2007). Applied Behavior Analysis formed from the operant conditioning theory it refers to Antecedent, Behavior and Consequence, the three building blocks of analyzing and changing challenging or difficult behaviors. Antecedent is the environment the events or behavior that precedes the Behavior of Interest. Behavior has to do with the behavior that you are focusing on, it may lead to other undesirable behavior, or contributes to other undesirable behavior. Consequence is the outcome a child's behavior of choice with the related outcome. Skinner made huge discoveries in the field of psychology, but made advancements in the way learning is considered to happen and how to best aid this.  He believed education had two purposes: to teach verbal and nonverbal behavior and two aid student’s interest in learning.  He thought teachers must know effective ways of teaching based off student’s behaviors.  Skinner believed that for students to learn they must be engaged and motivated to learn not just passively accepting new information, they must be interested. The motivation to learn is different for everyone so you must figure out the best way to motivate and reinforce them to learn (Friedrichs, 1974).

Skinner’s work made vast developments in the field of psychology and academic psychology, and influenced many other psychologist and philosophers after him. Some of the psychologist that came after Skinner that were inspired by his work in behaviorism and operant conditioning include: Kohler, Premack and Bandura. In 1924, Kohler found that primates often seem to solve problems in a flash of insight rather than be trial and error learning. Also social learning theory by Bandura in 1977, suggests that humans can learn automatically through observation rather than through personal experience. Both of these psychologist were influenced and inspired by Skinner’s work and build off of and improved his theories just as Skinner had done with his influences.

References

Day, R. K. (2016). B.F. Skinner, Ph.D. and Susan M. Markle, Ph.D.: The Beginnings. Performance Improvement, 55(1), 39-47. doi:10.1002/pfi.21549

DeBell, C. S. (1992). B.F. Skinner: Myth and Misperception. Teaching  Of Psychology, 19(2), 68.

Friedrichs, R. W. (1974). THE POTENTIAL IMPACT OF B. F. SKINNER UPON AMERICAN SOCIOLOGY. American Sociologist, 9(1), 3.

McLeod, S. A. (2015). Skinner - Operant Conditioning. Retrieved from www.simplypsychology.org/operant-conditioning.html

Watson, J. B. (1913). Psychology as the Behaviorist views it. Psychological Review, 20, 158–177.

Woolfolk, Anita (2013) Educational Psychology (13th ed.) Needham Heights Massachusetts: Allyn and Bacon

Chapter 7 Questions

1. Reflect on your own learning. What examples of learning qualified as such according to the behaviorist perspective?]

I think the majority of my learning qualified as such according to the behaviorist perspective. Learning is a permanent change in knowledge or behavior due to experience. Everything from wanting to perform well to receive a good grade to the proper ways to act in class were taught by behaviorism. Behaviorism is a change in behavior due to an experience (reinforcement and punishment). A reinforcement is an increase of a desired behavior, an example of this would be studying for a test will make you perform better and receive a good grade. A punishment is a decrease of undesired behaviors, and example of this is being unprepared for class will make the teacher call your parents. Both behaviors are being shaped by their outcomes and the thoughts and experiences related to both.

     2. What is the primary difference between classical and operant conditioning? How might the difference affect learning?

Classical conditioning in an involuntary or automatic behavior (Pavlov's dog). If you normally don't perform well in math, starting a new topic might make you anxious. This behavior is not thought about it is a natural consequence to previous experiences. Operant conditioning uses consequences, rewards and punishments after the behavior. An example of operant conditioning is being rewarded by completing all assignments by having your lowest grade dropped. 

     3. What is the difference between positive reinforcement and negative reinforcement? 

Positive reinforcement is presenting a motivating or reinforcing stimulus after a desired behavior. This then makes the desired behavior more likely to happen in the future. A negative reinforcement is when a certain stimulus is removed after a behavior. This increases future behavior because of removing or avoiding a negative consequence, it is increasing a behavior not decreasing so it is different than a punishment. 

      4.  What is the difference between negative reinforcement and punishment? What are the potential unintended consequences of mixing these up?

A punishment is a decrease of an undesired behavior. While A negative reinforcement is when a certain stimulus is removed after a behavior. This increases future behavior because of removing or avoiding a negative consequence, it is increasing a behavior not decreasing so it is different than a punishment. A negative reinforcement is different than a punishment because it is increasing a behavior not decreasing.

Resources for Elementary Age Children

                                                                         References

http://www.simplypsychology.org/piaget.html
-Piaget

http://www.learning-theories.com/vygotskys-social-learning-theory.html
-Vygotsky

https://www.verywell.com/developmental-milestones-for-elementary-school-621042
-Developmental Milestones

http://geography.about.com/od/teachgeography/a/Teaching-Global-Education-In-The-Classroom.htm
-Global Learning

http://www.aboutkidshealth.ca/En/HealthAZ/DevelopmentalStages/SchoolAgeChildren/Pages/Physical-Development.aspx
- Developmental stages

http://www.education.com/reference/article/emotional-development/
-Emotional development

http://www.edutopia.org/blog/elementary-social-emotional-curriculum-2-appreciation-randy-taran
-helping build social and emotion development

http://www.classroominterpreting.org/Interpreters/children/Cognitive/earlyelem.asp
-cognitive development 8-11

http://specialed.about.com/od/iep/a/accomod.htm
Accommodation for students with special needs

Extra! Extra! Reflections

I really enjoyed watching these videos and took many important ideas away from them. In the Toward New Understanding of Mental Disorders I think it is important to rethink the ways we see mental disorders. I like the idea of thinking and referring to them as Brain Disorders because that is what they really are. I think this new name really takes the stigma off Mental Disorders and shows it for what is really going on. When they compared the average brain and the brains with PTSD, OCD and Depression, there are clear differences. I think some people see people suffering with Mental Disorders or Brain Disorders as being weird or having something wrong with them, but people who have heart attacks and Alzheimer's are felt bad for.  I really liked this point he made and it really made me think why people with Schizophrenia and Alzheimer's are treated so differently and the stigmas they both go through. I think this video and ideas like this should become more popular so we can think of Mental Disorders as health problems and change the way we see people that suffer with them.

In the Dyslexia video I really liked the simulation because for me it clearly showed how it might feel having dyslexia. Before watching the video I did think it was just as simple as seeing d as b. It is really important for teachers to go through simulations of disorders their students might be facing to give them a small feeling of how the student feels everyday. They will then have a better understanding on what the child goes through and way to help them. The time they spend decoding words will put them behind their peers and this is something they know and worry other students will notice as well. Dyslexia effects 1 in 5 children, which is 20%  of students so it is important to know how to help such a large population of your students!

Elementary School aged Development:

https://us2-broadcast.officeapps.live.com/m/Broadcast.aspx?Fi=e7e50c1b1e7a459b%5F8d183135%2D7d49%2D4df6%2Dbd03%2D7a2fc184b8c2%2Edocx

Student engaged assessments videos

I really enjoyed watching some of these videos because its nice to see what other teacher's do and what works and doesn't work. This way you can learn from their successes or failures and see how you can implement similar ideas in your own classroom. Its nice to learn from others because it really does take a lot of stress away and allows you to think of how you can improve or put your own spin on things that work.
 I liked the First and Last 5 Minute video because I think these are the most important time slots in the classroom. It sets up the foundation for learning for that day and get kids thinking and engaged the minute they walk through the door, so there is no time wasted. Entrance and exit tickets can be great for having children reflect and make the next steps clear. I liked in the video where the teacher had they write down any important advice or steps to help them tomorrow. This helps them remember and write future notes to themselves which is something I like because I do it with myself and my own learning. The First 5 Minutes allows to think of previous knowledge or building off ideas they learned the day before and I think takes a lot of stress and pressure off students by giving them a warm up they may receive participation points for but isn't being graded in dept. The exit ticket allows them to reflect on information learned that day and tests for the knowledge they gained from the lesson and whether they grasped the information or not. These are both activities I plan on using in my future classroom!

The second video I enjoyed watching was the interview with a 4th grade teacher. I liked learning how she created a class culture and had all of her students what was needed on their own. She set up her students for success by giving them the skills and rules they need to be independent. They talked about how they wanted their classroom to look (organized, safe and clean) and help the students responsible for this. By giving students responsibilities they felt more independent and were acting more mature because of this. I liked that she doesn't have class jobs because everyone show help everyone all the time. If someone sees something not being done they will do it instead of thinking it is someone else's job or responsibly. And I also took away from the video how she uses her quiet voice to get the attention of the students. Because if they see her mouth moving but can't hear her they will listen instead of speaking. This also sets the tone of the class, of talking quietly and calmly and will help the students learn to act accordingly. 

Research Article Summary

http://web.a.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=11&sid=0f039f74-5325-48d8-a572-3e1cb5891c48%40sessionmgr4004&hid=4112

Identifying middle school students’ challenges in computational thinking-based science learning

Caitlin Higgins ED 5401	Identifying middle school students’ challenges in computational thinking-based science learning
Bibliographic Information	Satabdi Basu, Gautam Biswas , Pratim Sengupta , Amanda Dickes , John S. Kinnebrew and Douglas Clark Identifying middle school students’ challenges in computational thinking-based science learning Basu, S., Biswas, G., Sengupta, P., Dickes, A., Kinnebrew, J., & Clark, D. (2016). Identifying middle school students' challenges in computational thinking-based science learning. Research & Practice In Technology Enhanced Learning, 11(1), 1-35. doi:10.1186/s41039-016-0036-2
Classification	Descriptive study.
Summary	The study is about computing as a medium for teaching math and science. The study talks about the scaffolding needed and the obstacles for teaching through this medium. The students had more control over their learning but needed more scaffolding and coaching in the process.
Conclusion	I think this type of teaching style would only be beneficial to advanced or gifted students. It seemed too complicated for the students to do on their own. There was also a lot of time needed explaining the program and how to operate it, which I think takes away valuable time that could be spent going more in-dept on the subject and letting the students communicate with each other. The students were mostly working alone or only with the teacher.
Thoughts	I enjoyed reading this article because I was curious to find out if students learn better on their own or while working with others. I know I personally prefer working with others and collaborating but I thought it was an interesting teaching approach. The result were similar to the ones I expected that the computer based program was less effective than conventional teaching styles. Its important to do these tests because with improved technology there will always be new ways of doing something, but often the original way was the best way for students to learn. The computerized teaching method needing a lot more scaffolding then other methods and the teachers thought they were spending more time teaching the program than the material. I liked this article because its nice to see that the new way isn't always a better way.

Chapter 1

Module 1:  Learning and Teaching Today

1.1: Describe the key elements and requirements of the No Child Left Behind Act.

Reading and math test are administrated in grades 3-8 and once in High School. Science is tested in every grade 3-12. Because of poor state testing scores schools can be closed and certain teachers may be fired. Differentiated Learning is important and allows students to work at different paces, exercise options and is to be assessed by indicators that fit the students interest and needs. Teachers should wait for students to ask for help. And teachers should alternate calling on students, so all students have a chance to speak. 

1.2: Discuss the essential features of effective teaching.

Being an effective teacher does not only mean having a degree that makes them be able to teach. Effective teacher care about their students first and are constantly finding new ways to engage and motive their students. Many teachers only care about test scores and do not know their students. I think we have all had an unqualified teacher, who put in the least amount of effort possible. Ineffective teachers do what is easy for them, not what benefits their students. Effective teachers are always making observations and changing lessons/activities as necessary. Their main concern is on their students and their well-being and giving them the tools they will need to succeed, not only in their class but in their future education. The difference between an effective and ineffective teacher is easy to see, the effective teacher's students are engaged in learning and are learning through many different techniques and medias. 

Module 2:  Research and Theory in Educational Psychology

1.3: Describe the methods used to conduct research in the field of educational psychology.

Single subject experiments can be used to systematically explore effects of an intervention on a student. Ethnographic research is real teachers and the naturally occurring events that take place in a classroom to better understand the meaning of events to all people involved. 

1.4: Recognize key theories of development and learning that influence educational practice.

Cognitive Development Theory by Piaget describes the four stages of development; sensorimotor, preoperational, concrete operational and formal operational. Sensorimotor is from ages 0-2 and they learn mostly through their senses. Preoperational is from ages 1-7 and they learn by language and symbols. Concrete operational is from about 10 to adulthood and they are able the think logically. Formal operational is from adolescents to adulthood and allows for hypothetical thinking. 

Zone of Proximal Development by Vygotsky explains what children can do alone and what they can do with help and how to use this in teaching. ZPD and Scaffolding follow strategies that include modeling, organizational starters, giving hints, encouraging small steps, connecting new learning to prior knowledge and giving clear directions. 

ENGAGE: Read and Ponder

Thorndike, E.L. (1910) The contribution of psychology to education. Journal of Educational Psychology, 1,5-12 retrieved from Classics in the history of Psychology. http://psychclassics.yorku.ca/Thorndike/education.htm

Ponder and answer the following questions, discuss them in your blogs and share the links to your posts on the forum:

1. What are the roles for education and psychology envisioned by E.L. Thorndike?

The roles of education and psychology include helping students discover. It should also be about real learning and not just memorizing facts. Students should be able to manipulate their environment and learn to create and build off previous information learned. It should include the student's behavior, intellect and character to change human nature. It should improve human being's welfare and to master our souls.  

2. Have these roles changed? What kind of methods did Thorndike recommend for research?

Education used to be adding on to the person's common sense. It was once thought that improving bodily welfare was a barrier to spiritual growth. Teachers used to think that their students were less capable then they really were. They were not growing and Bain's research is no longer used because it supported these ideas. 

Think about your Professional Development Plan. In your 1 page plan, identify:

1. What constitutes scholarly research.

Scholarly Research is peer reviewed and is published in articles, books and databases. They are written by professionals in the field that have conducted studies and research in the topic. 

2. Ways to acquire and interpret scholarly research.

Scholarly Research can be found in databases and articles. It is important to also read articles written about the original article to read about pros and cons of the studies that were performed. You can learn from others mistakes and take pieces you think will help your students because there is no need to reinvent the wheel. You can read ways other teachers have implemented these practices and learn from their successes and mistakes. 

3. Ways to use scholarly research in your future practice.

Using scholarly research is very important but it is more important to take the ideas collected and apply them to your students. You must change and adopt the practices that are used by others and make them your own. You must take into account your individual students and their needs and how these scholarly practices can help them in their education. It is helpful to take ideas that have been helpful to others but to customize and personalize them for your students and their skills and needs. There isn't one thing that will help all students, ELL and special education students may need more help and we can not just assume something will work for everyone. Differentiating learning is so important so all students have to ability to learn in the best way that works for them so they can succeed and love learning.