PLE 12: Group Differences Forum

I really enjoyed participating in the group differences forum.  It was interesting to discuss significant topics with people who share similar interests with me.  Additionally, I felt as though basing our discussion around scholarly articles not only allowed us to offer educated responses, but also prevented emotional reactions to controversial topics.  In addition to the topics discussed, I think homelessness would be another significant topic to include, perhaps combined with poverty.

Prior to the forum, I had basic thoughts and knowledge about each specific topic; however, I gained insight into different facets of each topic by hearing other people's experiences, perspectives, and beliefs.  This activity encouraged me to consider where I stand in regard to each topic and why I believe what I believe.  Each person brought something unique to the discussion, which heightened the quality of the conversation. 

In particular, the topic of religion in schools sparked my attention.  Even though I have spent an entire semester studying as part of the Urban Multicultural Cohort, I have never discussed religion.  I find this interesting because religion is a viable part of many individual's cultures.  If teachers are encouraged to provide resources and lead discussions that introduce and educate students about various traditions and beliefs from a variety of cultures, why is religion excluded from this instruction?  In order to promote students' understanding and acceptance of different religions, I think teachers should discuss different religious beliefs.  Otherwise, different religions will be foreign to these students, which could spark conflict and intolerance in the future.  This is one topic I wish we had gotten to spend more time discussing because it is often a taboo topic that gets neglected.    

My goal for the group differences forum was to not hesitate to jump in the conversation.  I feel as though I met this goal.

PLE 11: Barb Rentenbach

Although I was unable to attend Barb Rentenbach's lecture, I enjoyed watching the following two videos: Autism Teacher Please and Here We Are World: A Conversation Among Friends.  These videos gave me insight into the context of Rentenbach's struggles and successes in life as a person with Autism.  While I have learned about Autism through a Special Education class and various child psychology classes, I have never considered Autism from this perspective.

A misconception I had about people with Autism is that often they have sensory issues and prefer to be left alone and have their personal space.  However, Rentenbach discusses how even though she cannot always communicate does not mean she does not enjoy companionship.  Specifically, she discusses how just being with someone offers a sense of equality.  On the other hand, I always thought that people with Autism are socially inept and often are unable to process social cues such as sarcasm or humor. However, the video about the FC conference, shows many facets of individuals with Autism, including humor, competence, and peer relationships.  

Facilitated Communication should be accepted and the students who use these will be accepted by peers.  Additionally, students look to the teacher for how to react towards students with disabilities; therefore, the teacher should treat FC students with equity and respect.  While watching the video about the FC conference, I learned about how amazing this tool is to relay the incredible thoughts of people who cannot speak.  Even though people with Autism often have high intellectual achievement, sometimes people have misconceptions that people who have Autism are incompetent.  I believe this misconception stems from the lack of ability to communicate.  If a person cannot effectively communicate, others typically assume they do not have credible thoughts.  Thus, being able to first type one's ideas in order to communicate is highly beneficial in breaking down this misconception. 
   

PLE 10: Language Development

Theories in educational psychology promote the idea that language plays a critical role in cognitive development.  Examine Table 2.2 (p. 51), paying particular attention to the age range that you are interested in teaching.  Consider how you might incorporate or adapt the strategies presented for use with your own students.

Typical linguistic characteristics of Kindergarten, First, and Second graders include: 

• knowledge of 8,000 to 14,000 words by age six
• difficulty understanding complex sentences  
• overdependent on word order and context
• superficial understanding of being a good listener 
• literal interpretations of messages and requests
• increasing ability to tell a story
• mastery of most sounds, some difficulty pronoucing r, th, dr, sl, and str
• occasional use of regular word endings with irregular words
• basic etiquette in conversations
• reluctance to initiate conversations with adults

One of the strategies mentioned is to read age-appropriate storybooks as a way of enhancing vocabulary.  Additionally, the teacher should select quality literature. The NEA has compiled a list of "Teacher's Top 100 Books for Children."  This would be a great resource to refer to when choosing literature for children as either a parent or teacher.  According to Lukens, we read for pleasure and understanding (2). Additionally, quality literature should introduce the reader to new vocabulary and offer insight into life.  A read aloud is a great way to introduce children to new vocabulary.

Another method is to ask students to construct narratives about recent events. For instance, the teacher could have students share what they did over the weekend or spring break. Having students share their experiences orally helps students gain basic conversation etiquette such as taking turns and answering questions.  Additionally, students can practice listening to others by sitting quietly and paying attention while other students talk. 

Finally, asking students follow-up questions helps the teacher asses whether or not students are accurately understanding important messages.  A teacher could place sticky notes with questions throughout a book for the student to ask himself or herself as he or she reads.


http://www.nea.org/grants/13154.htm

Lukens, Rebecca J. "Literature: What is it?." Critical Handbook of Children's Literature. Pearson: 2013.     

PLE 9: Self-efficacy and Self-regulation

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

Elementary Education Case Study

You engage your third grade students in cooperative learning activities at least twice a day, changing heterogeneous group members once every four weeks. You have agreed upon routine procedures that your classroom community uses within their small groups, including the roles and responsibilities of group members. Lately you have noticed that one small group always seems to have difficulty grasping material and completing their project in an acceptable manner.  You observe this group carefully and find that Lisa seems to be the catalyst for their problems.  She gets angry with others if she does not get the job she wants and refuses to do her part in contributing to the group’s learning.  She constantly interrupts others in her group.  She does not pay attention when her group prepares for class presentations. 

 

Lisa refusing to participate in group work when she does not get the job she wants is an indicator of low self-efficacy.  Usually, people with high self-efficacy put forth more effort on new tasks to develop new skills and abilities.  However, Lisa only agrees to perform one role.  Perhaps Lisa's low self-efficacy is the product of previous successes or failures.  According to the case study, the teacher changes heterogeneous group members every four weeks.  If Lisa has been engaging in cooperative learning activities at least twice a day throughout the school year, it is highly likely that she has experienced success with a specific job or failure with another during previous group activities.  She has adapted a certain thinking of her ability to carry out certain behaviors in order to reach a goal. 

In order to help Lisa increase her self-efficacy, I would strategically place her in a cooperative learning group with students who often exhibited helpful and caring behavior towards their peers.  Additionally, I would have the students designate an encourager as one of the jobs for their cooperative learning group.  Lisa would highly benefit from hearing encouraging words and praise for her work.      

Typically, students experience an increase in self-regulation with age.  As a third grade student, Lisa should be able to easily make sure she is self-regulating, or at least be moving towards this goal.  However, she repeatedly causes conflict in her cooperative learning group.  As Lisa's teacher, I would set explicit goals, offer ways for her to monitor her behavior, and clearly state consequences for her successes and failures.  For instance, Lisa might set a goal of trying one new job a week.  This would be simple to monitor based on whether or not she accomplished this goal.  If she successfully completes this task, the teacher could allow her to choose her next cooperative learning group.  On the other hand, if she fails to perform this task, Lisa might lose free time or recess.  Self-regulation is an excellent tool for classroom management, and would work well in an intervention plan for Lisa.    

PLE 8

Elementary Education Case Study

You engage your third grade students in cooperative learning activities at least twice a day, changing heterogeneous group members once every four weeks. You have agreed upon routine procedures that your classroom community uses within their small groups, including the roles and responsibilities of group members. Lately you have noticed that one small group always seems to have difficulty grasping material and completing their project in an acceptable manner.  You observe this group carefully and find that Lisa seems to be the catalyst for their problems.  She gets angry with others if she does not get the job she wants and refuses to do her part in contributing to the group’s learning.  She constantly interrupts others in her group.  She does not pay attention when her group prepares for class presentations.

Consider your CSEL intervention case study.  Are there tools from a behaviorist view for either encouraging productive behaviors or discouraging undesirable behaviors that you could apply to the case?  What are they?


In order to discourage getting angry with others when she does not get the job she wants perhaps you could implement delaying gratification.  For instance, Lisa is immediately gratified if her classmates respond to her angry outbursts and give her the job she wants.  Instead, offer Lisa a larger reinforcer such as selecting her group job first on the next group project if she does not interrupt the group, pays attention, and does not respond in anger.  Perhaps this might be hard to monitor; however, I think the concept of delaying gratification could be beneficial in this situation.

Additionally, the teacher should utilize positive reinforcement in order to increase positive behaviors.  Because it would be impossible to simultaneously monitor the rest of the class and reinforce every correct response Lisa exhibits, the teacher should consider an intermittent schedule to reinforce as many correct responses as possible, but not every correct response.

Now, compare the interventions that you have identified above with what you think might work from a cognitive or constructivist viewpoint.  How do they compare to behaviorist tools?  What are the benefits of each theory, and what are the deficits? Which theory might play a larger role in how you determine classroom management? 

From a cognitive learning viewpoint, the teacher should recognize that meanings and understandings are constructed by the learner rather than derived from the environment. Perhaps the teacher could help Lisa reach her Zone of Proximal development by scaffolding Lisa and modeling appropriate responses to adversity.  Furthermore, the teacher might adapt materials to guide Lisa in making correct decisions.  For instance, the teacher could place Lisa in a group with students who could model appropriate group behavior.

While a cognitive viewpoint involves the learner adjusting behavior, in behaviorism, the expected behavior is very clear and either reinforced or punished.  I think that in a classroom environment, cognitive theory should always be used.  The teacher should always model appropriate behavior and scaffold students.  However, I think behaviorism methods can be more effective in special circumstances of classroom management.   

 

PLE 7: Metacognition

In my cohort class, we discussed the significance of communication in helping students understand, value, and apply mathematics.  One strategy that our teacher introduced was Math Talk.  Essentially, this program helps students verbalize their thought process in order to reveal understanding and misunderstanding.  Additionally, it facilitates communication in the classroom as students are encouraged to agree and disagree with their peers.  This allows students to consider other processes of solving a problem, which can boost confidence and increase understanding in problem solving.  By having students verbally explain their thought process and ask questions, teachers avoid reinforcing misconceptions and tap into a student's metacognitive thinking.

This video, developed my Marilyn Burns, demonstrates how Math Talk can be implemented into a first grade math lesson on combining three numbers.  Given three numbers, each child solves the problem and explains her thought process to the class.  Then, the teacher selects another student to repeat how the first child solved the problem.  If the students does not understand how the student arrived at her answer, he or she may ask her to repeat her thought process.  I like this lesson because it encourages students to be aware of their thought process.  On thing that I noticed about this lesson was that it was not rushed.  Students were entitled to disagree or ask questions.  Clearly, the teacher's focus was on having each student fully understand the material.   

PLE 6- Constructivist Theory of Learning

The following discussion describes a Second grade constructivist lesson plan on the Presidents of the United States according to the following state standards.

TN State Standards: 
History
Second Grade
Content Standard: 5.0
History involves people, events, and issues. Students will evaluate evidence to develop comparative and casual analyses, and to interpret primary sources. They will construct sound historical arguments and perspectives on which informed decisions in contemporary life can be based.

List of the sequence of skills necessary for ultimate mastery of the content through a constructivist approach:

• Place students into groups.

• Allow students to choose a President to research.

• Teacher should discuss the current President in order to activate prior knowledge.

• Students will individually research the President. 

• Groups will designate specific roles (i.e. researcher, reporter, artist, etc.)

• Groups will create a campaign brochure, poster, and speech to present each President.  

The student's individual constructivism is evident through individual research and assigning roles specific to each individual's talents and interests.  For the most part, this lesson plan lends itself to group construction. Working together as a group to research, collaborate, and present qualifies this activity as group constructivism.  

In order to lead students to discover these principles, I would provide clear instructions and frequently observe group and individual progress. Ultimately, learning will be assessed by grading group presentations according to a rubric.