Chapter 5- Individual differences and special educational needs

What?
Individual differences of intelligence varies from classroom to classroom and student to student. because each person is unique, they learn differently than their peers. some may have good social skills while others have strong logical skills. Gardner's multiple intelligences include the following as types of intelligences: linguistic, logial-mathematical, spatial, musical, bodily-kinesthetic, interpersonal, intrapersonal, and naturalist. To get a better understanding of this, check out the video below.



Each student in your classroom will have strong and weak compenents of their intelligence. measuring a person's intelligence is no longer based solely on a standardized test such as an ACT or IQ test but also with school acheivement. while some students may vary from their strengths and weakness of intelligences, you will also have students that will have disabilities that will set them back from others. ADD and autism has become increasingly seen in classrooms today and will effect the way you teach.

So What?
with so many different personalities and intelligences in the classroom it is important to be open to changing lesson plans and curriculiam to help the students. keeping in mind that it is both nature and nuture that creates the student is important. modifying a students schedule or work environment may be necessary, or have strategies that can teach attention-maintance. Teaching students how to manage their time and organize can help as well.

Now What?
I know that each of my students will be at different levels not just mentally but socially and emotionally. If there is are students that have a disability, it is important for me to reserach and do my part to help the student. the same goes with students that are highly advanced in their classes. I also believe that altering my lesson plans that cover all of the Gardner's multiple intelligences can help by giving each student the chance to learn with their strenghts but also strengthen their weaknesses and give variety to the lessons. it seems that when teachers use all the different intelligences, the lesson plans seem to vary and it becomes exciting to go to class because you just never know what is in store. That is my plan for students teaching. understanding and being aware of disabilities or differences and then planning lessons that reach and relate to everyone in the classroom.

Chapter 9 - Behaviorist Views of Learning

What?
Behaviorist focuses on how the environmental stimuli brings about change in people's behaviors. As teachers, these theories support the fact that how teachers teach and what they do can to acquire certain behaviors. One of the major theories that was brought up in class and in the book was the two conditioning: classical and operant.
Classical Conditioning is a form of learning in which a new response is acquired by two stimuli being presented at the same time. for example that they used in the book was of a kid who hurt himself last year playing baseball by a wild pitch from the pitcher. now every time he goes up to bat, he gets nervous. because of the on coming ball and the then the painful impact, the kid relates the bad experience with stepping up to the plate. The Stimuli equals a Response.

Operant Conditioning is the form on learning in which a response increased in frequency as a result of being followed by reinforcement. An example of this that the book gave was about a kid named mark who didn't get called on by the teacher till he waved his hand wildly in the air and around in circles. This brings the idea that when a response is strengthened and thus is more likely to occur again, when is it followed by the same reinforcement (or stimuli).

So What?
because we understand that certain behaviors can be developed by the way we teach, we can be sure to keep a consistent behavior in ourselves so the students can develop that desired behavior. by using each type of conditioning to our students, we can pattern our teaching so they are apt to learn at their highest ability. using the proper stimuli we can get the proper response.
when students understand and learn how we structure the classroom, they know what is expected of them and their behavior will changed to adapt to it.

Now What?
This chapter was great for me because i always thought that reinforcements were good things and never bad and that negative reinforcement was always bad. but after reading the chapter and discussing in class, it has more to do with how we act and what stimuli we offer the students which in turn changes their behavior. everyone knows that middle and high school is a difficult time and a lot teachers have more problems with classroom management than anything else while they are teaching. I think this can help with my classroom managament and that it is necessary to understand this and apply it to my class so that the students get the right type of behavior.

Chapter 7- Knowledge Construction

What?
Knowledge Construction is the theory that we construct meanings from the stimuli around us and some of the meanings that aren't obvious from the stimuli and means that may or may not be accurate. many times people will construct meaning from their experiences as well as from others around them. As learners, its natural for people to make connections among the things they learn and experience. With people learning by experience, they also develop misconceptions about certain events or facts. As teachers it is our responsibility to help students learn through knowledge construction and clear up any misconceptions.

So What?
As teachers, a way to promote this type of effective teaching, is by letting students experience first hand the curriculum. one way is to present experts perspectives, emphasize conceptual understanding, Promote Classroom dialogs and assign authentic activities. Through these types of lessons, students can create their own experiences, develop what they learn and clear any misconceptions.

Now What?
For me personally this is one of my favorite chapters in the book. Students always ask "well why do i need to know this" or "I don't care" about school and education. Because of this type of learning, we can show students how things relate. They can see and identify how the lesson relates to them personally as well as giving them experience to build their education on. when we can promote activities such as the ones listed above, the students can develop so much more than just "knowing" the information but applying it as well.

Chapter 3- Personal and Soical Development

What?
Personal and Social Development is the process in which children develop behaviors and self-understanding as well as learning how to socialize. Social development can also include children understanding their peers and how process society's standards for behavior.

Several environmental factors influence the development of this. A child's personality is developed by parent's, culture expectations and temperament. As these take place in a child's life, they began to develop a sense of self. one of the major points we focused on was that of Erik Erikson. He described the process in which a child develops this through eight stages, they are as follows: Trust vs. Mistrust, Autonomy vs. Shame and doubt, Initiative vs. Guilt, Industry vs. inferiority, identity vs. role confusion, Intimacy vs. Isolation, Generatively vs. Stagnation and Integrity vs. despair.

So What?
Each stage is different and focuses on what the individual is most influenced by when developing this sense of self. this is important as teachers because it can help us understand where the the student is coming from and having struggles with. It also helps with teaching the students the curriculum because as we understand what they are capably of doing and where you can help them stretch. This sense of self is just as important as helping the students learn their curriculum because it is such a large influence in their lives. knowing the stages and help you identify certain behaviors and reasoning behind them.

Now What?
So I just found out that I'll be doing my student teaching at a middle school and this has a huge effect on me especially when it comes to the development of the students self and social skills. The students will be at an entirely different level than that of students from a high school. I know now that some of my students will still be figuring out who they are and experiencing some role of confusion and other behaviors. As i identify these behaviors, I can personalize my lesson plans to fit the needs of the the class, students and peers. Understanding that they are still in the development stage, i can help them achieve their identity and its foundation so that as they continue to develop, they can be successful and feel like they know who they are.

Chapter 15- Classroom Assessment Strategies

WHAT?
Chapter 15 focuses it's major points concerning classroom assessment strategies and the various ways we can assess our students. There are two major forms of assessments- Informal and Formal assessment. Informal is the day to day observation that you will make as a teacher- watching your students participate in a discussion or in group projects, etc are some examples.
Within in those two categories there are several ways to assess. Some of the examples are paper-pencil, performance, traditional, authentic and standardized. Each of these are distinctively different and can be a powerful tool but they need to be used with the right curriculum and process.
Qualities that need to be in a good assessment include: Reliability, Standardization, Validity and Practicality. Once the assessment has been put into place, it is also important to know how to correctly evaluate an assessment, depending on the type of assessment. Some time Rubics are involved while others might have the students create the evaluation.

SO WHAT?
With this information and knowledge of how to properly assess students, we can apply it to our own classroom. The next time an assessment is given out, before just writing it up- we can create an outline and go through the four qualities to see if it meets them and why or why not. Also, not just inspecting the assessment but also picking the TYPE of assessment to match the curriculum and students. Because each person learns differently, it'll be important to have various types so that you can meet your students needs.

NOW WHAT?
Assessments to me compares to the boogy man and a child. I am scared of them and they always seem like big, dark, scary, mean things that can't be tackled. Part of that being was no one has yet gone through step by step process for making an assessment. I knew it had to be aligned with the lessons but how to create that was the scary part. With the material that we learned in class and from the book, I have an outline of questions that i can use when i create an assessment. I know what to look for and when i do my student teaching next semester, I can use the material that i have to help me create assessments that are not only aligned but is best for my students and the curriculiam that we are learning.

Chapter 10- Social Cognitivism

What
Social Cognitivism is the theoretical perspective that focuses on how people learn by observing others and how they eventually assume control over their own behavior. In other words, it's the study on how people learn by watching those around them and how they themselves learn behaviors and learn to control themselves.

Some basic assumptions to this theoretical perspective is that people can learn by watching others and that learning is an internal process that may or may not lead to behavior change. Also that people and environment effect each other.

This theory also focuses on self- behaviors such as self-efficacy, self-regulation, self-instructions, self-monitoring and self-evaluation.


So What
This is one of my favorite theories. There is an idea called experiential education that people can get masters in and i would really like to do that. the idea behind the theory is that it is through experiences and how you interact with people that gives you more meaningful learning.
behavior plays a key part in educating and especially in youth. Depending how we handle behavior or try to change it, will fall on how we react to others around us.
Modeling was also emphasized in this chapter and if anyone has been around kids, they know how essential this is to learning. It is how children learn basic tasks such as how to say "Thank You", learning how to put their toys away or even learning how swear- they watch their parents. the parents are models
Now What
As i am preparing to do my student teaching next semester, this chapter has made me realize the impact that behavior has on education and not just the environment. also that when i go into teach i need to have an understanding and plan on how I'm going to change behavior so that it complies with learning. by using modeling as well as self tasks, i can be able to mold the students behavior where they can learn.

Behaviorism

Self-reinforcement
Social reinforcers
Grades and recognition
Home-based reinforcement
Privileges
Activity Reinforcement (Premack Principle)
Tangible reinforcers and/or token economy
Food