Module 4

Chapter 9 introduced the concept of learning strategies and something I found interesting was teaching students "how to learn". Usually, we think of teachers teaching students subjects, not necessarily teaching them how to learn. There are a series of steps teachers must follow to achieve this goal, and one of them is not teaching students how to memorize. I know from experience, memorizing is only good for an upcoming exam but in the long run; you lose it. It is said that students must:

1) Be cognitively engaged and have to focus attention on important aspects of the material.

2) Invest effort, make connections, elaborate, translate, invent, organize, and reorganize in order to think and process deeply.

3) Regulate and monitor their learning (Woolfolk, p320).

Basically there is more to learning than memorizing. That's a lot of steps and as teachers we need to be aware of them. Utilizing a variety of learning strategies benefits students in many ways such as higher GPA’s; students learn self-regulatory knowledge and useful schemas, among many more. Teachers that just do the traditional lecture and taking notes strategy is boring. I never really learned anything, because I just memorized the notes. Teachers those are more active in the classroom and use strategies such as setting goals and timetables to help with planning. Or using concept mapping and creating examples to utilize comprehension are helpful for students to "learn how to learn". 

Chapter 10's focus on cooperative learning was pretty important. Cooperative learning is defined as "students working together, for one class period to several weeks, to achieve shared learning goals and complete jointly specific tasks and assignments"(Woolfolk, p373). When first reading up on cooperative learning, I had always thought it was just group work. From my own classroom experience, I have always hated group projects. Teachers usually just randomized students together and most of the time, one student did all the work. People usually didn't get along or it was just a total mess. I would rather have worked on things on my own. Cooperative learning however is not randomized group work. But like any kind of group work, things can go wrong. Cooperative learning is goal orientated. Students are required to have a goal set in mind, so they can work with each other for support and guidance. By having structured learning groups, learning was described as more fun. As opposed to unstructured as what I have experienced lead to nothing. Some examples of structured cooperative learning were not only helping each other, but having assigned roles. That was really cool, because everyone had a role they played in the group. Some things were the encourager, cheerleader, coach, checker, recorder, and etc. This way everyone participates and no one has that excuse that there was nothing to do. If my teachers influenced cooperative learning in my school, I would too think learning was more fun. 

The one thing I thought was really interesting in Chapter 11 was self-efficacy. In the beginning chapters, I talked about teacher's self-efficacy. But this chapter goes more into depth about it, and it's quite interesting. Self-efficacy is not to be confused with self-esteem, as I initially thought they were the same. Self-efficacy is more about judgments of personal competence, while self- esteem is self-worth. This sounds almost the same, but who knew they were not? In fact they come hand in hand. A psychologist by the name of Albert Bandura categorized self-efficacy into four categories:

1) Mastery experiences- direct experiences such as past successes and failures. Success raises efficacy, and vice versa. 

2) Vicarious experiences- observing others those succeed in something that similar to your task or goal.

3) Social persuasion- Pep talk

4) Physiological arousal- something that makes you happy or anxiety (Woolfolk, p406).

Teachers and most people face these things everyday, so I think that it's important that as teachers we can't fall down. Our self-efficacy is said to grow from real success from our students. After all students see everything, and having an optimistic teacher makes a classroom environment a lot easier to learn and teach in. 

Module 3-Classroom Management

Chapter 7 focuses on the behavioral views of learning. I found the concept of reinforcement pretty interesting, because it reflects on what it is and how it is used in the classroom. It seems that not everyone really understands what it is, and are using it in the wrong way. This creates classroom chaos and what we have seen in this week's video, "Angry Teacher". I mean everyone knows what is positive reinforcement (i.e. good grades, rewards), but what about negative reinforcement? The text states, "strengthening behavior by removing an aversive stimulus when the behavior occurs"(Woolfolk, 251). Before reading this chapter, I asked this, "is a teacher taking away a toy from a child to stop crying considered negative reinforcement?" I was so confused, because that sound like a punishment.  Now in my classroom with three-year olds, we have kids that have temper tantrums everyday. Our negative reinforcement approach is taking his/her toy away or we simply just walk away. Walking away seems to do the trick, because they eventually stop crying. But taking away a toy just seems so cruel and they still cry. Is that the right way to handle a situation like this? I guess my biggest concern was always handling bad behavior in the classroom. This chapter really helped my understanding on the differences between negative reinforcement and punishing. It gave specific examples on how to reinforce and specific instances. The concept of private reprimands is a lot more effective, than loud ones (something I should tell some of the teachers at school). There's the response cost, where a student may lose something like recess time for the amount of markings next to his/her name. Then there's social isolation or a time out for extremely disruptive behavior, but something I don't agree with it. These things don't seem all that bad and then on page 263, there is the "what not to do" section. Many of these I have seen in classrooms. Some examples were giving out more homework for misbehavior and ignoring minor misbehaviors. One important rule I have learned was "less punishment is more effective, as long as it is paired with reinforcement for doing the right thing"(Woolfolk, 263). I think all teachers should be aware of this. 

Chapter 13 discusses my favorite subject: classroom management. The first goal in achieving classroom management is giving all students access to learning. This is making sure that everyone knows how to participate in class activities. Wow. That sounds like a lot of work. But definitely something that can be done. It is said that a lot of classroom time is really spent on disruptions, late starts, and etc. But there isn't a lot of learning going on, so how do we do that? The second goal for classroom management is to increase academic learning time by keeping students actively engaged in worthwhile, appropriate learning activities (Woolfolk, 474). Breaking down the steps is really helpful in understanding how to help each student learn in the classroom. The third goal is to help students become better able to manage themselves. This is really important, because a teacher first needs to know how to manage her/his-self, before they can help a student. By doing so, it creates more confidence, less-stress, and supports teacher's sense of efficacy. This is definitely a plus for both students and teachers in handling classroom management. 

Module 2-Labeling

I wanted to focus on this week's blog on labeling and the effects it has on children. 

Chapter 4 talks about labeling students on their "intelligence" or by their disabilities. I don't think it's fair that students should be labeled, because then they are stuck with that label forever. In the text, it states "many teachers, parents, and classmates see a label as a stigma that cannot be changed"(Woolfolk, 116). Labeling a student "mentally retarded" is not only hurtful, but also so degrading. I remember back in high school, when many of my classmates used to call the special education kids "retarded". That used to make me so mad, because those kids knew they were being called that and it hurt them. It made them think of themselves as stupid or not being able to do things, just because of a label. What a lot of people don't know is that disability and handicap are two different words, and both of those words shouldn't be used to describe one person. "Disability is an inability to do something specific such as walk or hear. Handicap is a disadvantage in a particular situation, sometimes caused by a disability" (Woolfolk, 116). If people had a little more knowledge on these two words, maybe the labeling would stop. I feel that labeling a student is almost like adult bullying. Students label other students by the way they dress, what car they drive, or where they live. Teachers or adults label students on how high their IQ score is, what class level they are in, by the way they talk, and etc. 

Chapter 5 goes into bilingual and immigrant children. Many immigrant children's first language is not English, which makes it hard for these students to adjust to school life. They are put into ESL classes, and then are labeled as being "foreign" or "stupid". Then they come home and they are back to talking their native language. My brother used to be one of those students. My parents were only here for a few years, before they had my brother. Therefore, they didn't know English very well, which meant my brother didn't either. So he attended classes to learn English, but felt out of place because he couldn't communicate with this classmates or teachers. 

It is said in the text that, "in 2003, 12% of people living in the United States were born in another country" (Woolfolk, 185). 12%? That is so low, it's crazy as it what it is now. Currently, English Language Learners are the fasted growing segment of the U.S. Wow. Now we have diversity growing everywhere, and there's no need to make someone who doesn't speak English, feel powerless. The population has increased so much that now my friend, who is a teacher in Arizona, HAS to get an endorsement in ELL. It has become a requirement in the state of Arizona. 

I know students and teachers alike will continue to judge or label students on various things, but it's great to see that the education system is working to help overcome these barriers for these students. 

Module 1-Effective and Successful Students and Teachers

Chapter one was very informative, as it helped me understand the true roles of teachers. It also emphasized how important they are and what they are facing in today's schools. One of the concepts that was talked about, was called teachers' sense of efficacy on page 5. I could totally relate to this and believe it to be 100 percent true. Teacher's sense of efficacy is defined as "the teacher's belief that he or she can reach even difficult students to help them learn"(page 5). Basically, teachers’ especially first-time teachers, believe that they could be that inspirational teacher in the movie, Freedom Writers. Hilary Swank played the role of an inspirational teacher in a low-income, high crime area school. She influenced her students to a way, where they respected her and learned to enjoy school. Unfortunately, life doesn't always work that way. Sure, if a teacher is confident in herself and in her students, they can do anything. But like the text says, without any support from fellow teachers or administration; teachers will most likely experience burnout. Also to note that, student teaching doesn't always paint a good picture for the real world either.

For example, my friend Stephanie just was hired as a 4th grade teacher. She loved her student teaching experience, and thought she would love her current teaching job. Unfortunately, that was not the case. Since she was a new teacher, she really didn't have a clue what she was doing and needed support. But the school did not give her any support. They didn’t even have a curriculum set up for the teachers to follow. Now because of all this, she is experiencing burnout and will less likely return to this school next year. 

This is so unfortunate not only for teachers, but for students as well. Teacher-student relationships are huge for students. The text states that, "positive relationships help students with behavior problems, and are less likely to have problems later in school"(page 7). While poor teaching leads to the exact opposite.  It is important for future educators to understand that these things can happen and we have to be prepared.

In chapter 2, it talks about the sources of cognitive development. In my opinion, the concept of nurture (environmental contexts) is how people develop. I mean it is very debatable, but how could it not be? Nurture is all about education, parenting, culture, social policies, and more (page 31). As I stated above, an effective teacher has support, which leads to positive relationships with students. Students who receive an adequate education from successful and confident teachers perform better in their studies. 

For example, when I was in fourth grade, I had a math teacher who absolutely hated me for no reason. She was my older brother's math teacher a few years back and hated him too. She thought him and I was the same person, but obviously we were not. I mean we are seven years apart and I'm a female. But she sought out revenge on me in spite of my brother. Therefore, she made my life miserable. Going to her class everyday was torture. I also of course was really bad at math, and she provided no support or help. Instead she embarrassed me in front of all my classmates, when I got an answer wrong or couldn't do it. This of course affected my learning abilities and I was on the verge of failing math. I remember coming home crying everyday, until my mom called the school and demanded I'd be switched out of this horrible math class. When I switched math classes, it was night and day. I got the support I needed, and no one made fun of me. I actually passed with a B, because my teacher took the time to help me. 

Parenting style featured in chapter 3 (also a nurturing characteristic) plays a huge role in successful students in the classroom. The text states, "European-American, middle-class families, authoritative parents are more likely to do well in school, be happy, and relate to others"(page 78). I can relate to this, because while I was born here, my parents were born in Poland. My parents were authoritative parents; they enforced rules and wanted my brother and I to succeed to school. But they also cared for us and showed us affection. I think we turned out well. We both finished college and are happy with our lives. But common sense says, of course students with neglectful parents and ineffective teachers will do horrible in school. There are exceptions of course, but I absolutely think the way a student learns is all about the environment that they are raised in and their support system. 

Reading these three chapters was very informative, while also very relatable. I could see myself based on my experiences and through the reading of becoming an effective teacher. In order to be an effective teacher, I need to understand my students and where they are coming from. But also gaining the support that I need to be a good teacher.