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 (12th 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. (2nd
ed). Minneapolis: Search Institute
Woolfolk, Anita (2013). Educational psychology. (13th
ed.) Needham Heights Massachusetts: Allyn and Bacon.
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