Module 3

-Behavioral Views of Learning and Creating Learning Environments-

In Chapter 7, we begin by looking at how to explain and understand learning, before going on to my favorite section from the chapter: Contiguity and Classical Conditioning.  Woolfolk explains that one of the earliest explanations of learning came from Aristotle, that "we remember things together (1) when they are similar, (2) when they contrast, and (3) when they are contiguous" (Woolfolk, 248.)  During a high school life studies class is when I first learned about Pavlov's dogs and the experiments that Ivan Pavlov did to discover what stimuli prompted certain reactions in dogs.  Then as in now the practice of conditioning seems very interesting to me, however the manipulation of it does make me uneasy.  Pavlov's experiment is still referenced today, from on the Big Bang Theory television show to on The Office.  From there, I found the section on consequences, and especially reinforcement to be rather provocative.  When I began this part of the chapter I, like Woolfolk mentions (pg 250,) thought reinforcement= reward.  However, I them came to understand that the reinforcement in this setting refers to a consequence that "strengthens the behavior it follows" (Woolfolk, 251.) The reinforcement schedule outlined in table 7.1 was particularly helpful, as it outlined the five possible schedules for reinforcement.  I think this will really be useful to me in the future to remind me of the different reinforcements and what their reactions would be, for possible discipline as well as motivation.    Next in the chapter, Woolfolk talks about negative reinforcement.  As a nanny to a toddler, I use this method to teacher her to clean up.  For example, I will say "Eloise, when all your toys are back in your toy box, then we can go outside and play."  This has helped to teach her not only to clean up, but has helped her gain some independence to make her own decisions and gives her the confidence boost from being helpful.  Now, (thanks also to Barney the Dinosaur,) Eloise frequently will take the initiative to put away her toys and does it while singing the "clean up" song.  

Some of the topics from chapter 13 that stuck out to me as particularly compelling were creating a positive learning environment, planning spaces for learning and dealing with discipline problems.  As a first time teacher, having a set of rules and procedures will help with classroom management a great deal. The idea of making the rules a set of rights instead is really appealing to me. One of my favorite teachers from elementary school used this tool and it also aided in helping our social studies class when we were examining the United States Bill of Rights.  Depending on the age group, this could be quite helpful for both establishing guidelines for the class as well as a teaching tool. On page 479 of Woolfolk, the photograph of classroom rules is similar to one that I can imagine myself implementing in my early education classroom, as well as to add another paper listing consequences for not following these rules.  Next, the section highlighting the planning spaces and arrangements for learning was really helpful to me, especially since Woolfolk used examples for managing elementary classrooms, which is the age range I am planning on working with.  I really liked the explicit differences between effective teachers' classrooms and poorly managed classrooms, as well as ways to improve upon the poorly managed classrooms. Along with the IRIS modules we read this week, the section of chapter 13 regarding to dealing with discipline problems was quite helpful to me.  Other than the occasional outburst from a child in Sunday School classes I have taught and toddlers being grumpy toddlers, I have not had much experience dealing with persistent and frequent misbehavior on a large scale.  Learning how to stop problems as quickly as possible, as well as understanding the acting-out cycle will be imperative while working in a classroom setting with many students.  Additionally, the section on bullying and teasing will be conducive in the future to preventative methods I can implement in my classrooms.  Like most schools, my middle school growing up had its share of bullying.  There was one group of boys in particular that were the instigators and they had their set " targets" that they picked on.  Because of the small population of our school, we were a rather tight-knit group, and even if the victim of their taunts was not a close friend, chances were good that we had been in classes with this person since kindergarten and many would be more sympathetic to target of the bullying than join in on the taunts.  The guidelines listed on page 494 will help me in the future, should I encounter such a situation in a school that I am in.

Module 2

-From Learner Differences & Learning Needs to Language Development, Language Diversity & Immigrant Education, through Culture & Diversity, and Cognitive Views of Learning.

Woolfolk started chapter 4 discussing Intelligence, as well as the differences between a handicap and a disability. I completely agree that without person-first language, students and peoples with learning disabilities are seen more as their condition than as a person (Woolfolk, 117.)  Following this, the author delves into several theories and views regarding intelligence and multiple intelligences. In this section I found Howard Gardner's theory of eight intelligences particularly interesting, as well as his six Entry Points in designing curriculum (Woolfolk, 122.)  I believe that these will be rather helpful to use when teaching, and plan to use them in the future.  Next, Woolfolk goes into measuring intelligence and the concept of intelligence quotient, or IQ.  While I believe that learning ones IQ score could be helpful for things such as studying achievement, I do not agree with some that think an IQ test should be part of standard testing for students.  Just because a test has a certain outcome does not determine who a student is or what they can or cannot accomplish, in my opinion.  Chapter 4 goes on to highlight individual differences and the law, explaining IDEA, the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act of 2004 as well as Section 504 of the Vocational Rehabilitation Act of 1973.  Because I have only limited experience working with children with disabilities or disorders, I found it very helpful and interesting to learn more about the different challenges, disorders and some good ways of approaching students with these.  Growing up, I had a classmate who was deaf, and we had the opportunity to learn more about his impairment, and as such I can speak some American Sign Language. Looking back, our teachers were very wise to help Ravi to not feel like an outsider by encouraging him and his interpreter to give weekly (and sometimes daily) lessons on ASL.  Lastly, this chapter covers gifted and talented students.  When I was young I was in my school's Gifted and Talented program.  While a member, I found it to be just a great after school program that sometimes allowed me to participate in alternate activities during and after school, as well as being "allowed" to read the books that the older kids were reading.  Eventually, funding for the program was cut in the younger grades and the G&T program moved more into the Quizbowl, Academic Decathlon and Forensics team. It would be interesting to do some research on how student achievements would have changed if the program had not been cut.
Moving on to chapter 5, the main topic was language.  To me it was very intriguing to learn about bilinguals, and how children develop while learning two languages. Growing up I was not exposed to any second languages (unless you counted the odd curse word uttered in Norwegian or Swedish by my elders) until 5th grade, when Spanish became mandatory until high school.  After this we were given the choice as to what language we wanted to take, as long as we took two years of language courses.  As we were such a small high school, the only on-sight foreign language teacher was Spanish, however we did have a virtual classroom of sorts, called the I-TV network through which I was able to take German.  I cannot imagine what it would be like to be able to be exposed to two or more languages as a child and be able to speak them both fluently.  How lucky!  Because classrooms are changing, I found the section on teaching immigrant students and English language learners to be particularly helpful.  The section on sheltered instruction (Woolfolk, 192) was very thought provoking in particular, and I very much so believe that working with families is extremely important to help students with these needs succeed and thrive.
Chapter 6, on culture and diversity was also quite provocative, especially the topic of gender roles.  In the culture I grew up in (rural Scandinavian farmers) women essentially ran the household behind the scenes. Cooking, cleaning, taking care of the children were all "women's work."  As a child I heard stories about my paternal grandmother leaving the farm and going to work part-time as a school cook when milk and corn prices were low to help with the bills and she still would come home and bake 20 or more loaves of bread a week for her 7 children, husband and farm hands.  It's hard to fathom baking that much bread over the course of several months, let alone each week! While times have changed, I can still see the lingering ingrained gender roles at play when my family all gets together during the holidays: the women all cook, set the table and serve the meal, then after the meal we clean up and chat in the kitchen while the men drink coffee and play cards.  By no means is it a requirement for these things to occur, it just happens because it has always been that way.  I believe that men and women are equal and can do the same things. To say anything different would be an immense stereotype.  As a future educator, I will encourage my students to do as they please, regardless of perceived gender roles, and encourage them to be who they are, not who someone else thinks they should be.
Lastly, chapter 8 dealt with the elements of the brain, cognitive perspective and cognitive learning.  Our brains are so incredible!  Not only does it continue to change throughout our lives, it is always involved in everything we are doing. The memory functions of the brain are particularly fascinating to me, and it made me want to do more research into the topic.

Overall, while these readings were lengthy, I found them to be universally thought provoking and am excited to learn more and to use this knowledge to help my future students succeed. 
 

Module 1

- From Learning, Teaching and Educational Psychology through Cognitive Development and The Self, Social and Moral Development-

Starting off in chapter one of Educational Psychology by Anita Woolfolk, we are introduced to several ideas on learning and teaching today, what good teaching is and examples of such, and ending with the role of educational psychology.  Overall, while there was quite a bit of information to process at once, I especially found many things quite intriguing.  For example, the concept of differentiated instruction was fairly new to me.  Where I grew up, we did not have much diversity and most people (educators) had been working in the district for some time and were set in their ways.  While in high school I did have some glimpses of method of teaching, they were just usually endorsed by the younger substitute teachers that would teach us if one of our regular instructors had to have an extended absence.  Teaching that "takes into account students' abilities, prior knowledge, and challenges so that instruction matches not only the subject being taught but also students' needs" absolutely appeals to the type of educator that I hope to be.
As intriguing as this chapter was, I did get the impression that students are seen more as percentages, research fodder and test scores than as learning young people.  Rather than the achievement standard test scores and the required tests coupled with a looming deadline for adequate yearly progress standards, why don't researchers and lawmakers instead actually look at what the students are being taught?  In my opinion, it seems like lawmakers and people in power are making standards and rules just so that the country won't be left in the dust (a noble quest indeed,) while instead they should be aiming to have well rounded individuals, proficient in a range of topics, not just science, math and English.  Children should be learning to appreciate the words that Shakespeare wrote, not just memorizing the words and the concept so they can get a good test score.

In chapter two, we are introduced to the definition of development, as well as three questions about development that psychologists have strongly debated: nature vs. nurture, continuity vs. discontinuity, and critical vs. sensitive periods for development. Following this, there is a very interesting look into the brain and some of its functions and how they are linked to teaching. The book then reintroduces Jean Piaget's theory of cognitive development, which is based on the assumption that individuals create knowledge based on their experiences with other people, objects and ideas.Lastly, we are shown how the principles in Lev Vygotsky's theory of development have influenced our current educational research and practices.  While again, there was quite a bit of information to absorb in this chapter, the most interesting to me was the section on the brain, in which I was taken back to my introduction to psychology class and how fascinating the brain is.  The fact that one tiny neuron has the ability to transmit so much information in much less than an instant is simply remarkable.  The brain is such an amazing organ that it's tough not to want to delve into it as deeply as you can.


Chapter three on the self, social and moral development was also especially interesting, as it went into detail the development of a child from the three major influences they have. As I was growing up, I lived in a somewhat secluded area, thanks to a small town population and that my parents were farmers.  That being the case, my family was more than likely the largest influence on me and it was interesting to read into how my mother and father's parenting styles helped shape who I am.  This chapter was also intriguing to see the amount of research that has been done into such topics as cliques, popularity and  their effects. 

Overall for the first set of chapters in this book, while they were at times overwhelming, I found myself really looking into different points of view and reflecting on how my own thoughts are compared to those mentioned.  All in all, a very compelling section.