Educational psychology Essay

I am a big proponent of social cognition, and I am going to use it in my classroom. I believe that is a student puts their mind to something, and they really try to accomplish that goal it can be done. In order to elicit this response one must often use the operant condition when it comes to learning. People thrive on the words of others and their praise. â€Å"In operant conditioning the organism learns that a particular behavior produces a particular consequence. If the consequence is useful or pleasurable, the organism will tend to repeat the behavior to produce the consequence again. If the consequence is unpleasant, the organism will tend not to repeat the behavior. Pleasant consequences are sometimes called ‘rewards’, and unpleasant consequences are sometimes called ‘punishments’ (Berger p 42. )† This theory came about by the studies of B. F. Skinner. This is where I tend to move towards metacognition and self-efficacy. I believe that when a student does well on something it is quite satisfying, and they would like to see this result again. They noticed that when they studied hard the reward was the good grade. They receive their grade and self-gratification sets in. If they did not study they may fail the test and they are then negatively reinforced because they do not want to see this result again. I want to use this conditioning and encourage my students to do well. I know they can do it; they just have to have the right attitude and behavior about it. An example of this reinforcement is if I tell my student, â€Å"good job, I really enjoyed that†, when referring to a project they did; the student will most likely work harder and come up with and even more impressive project. My student wants the affirmation that he did a good job. The student want the positive reinforcement as it brings about a rewarding stimulus. This not only gets the student to do their work it also gets him thinking metacognitivly, which he will benefit from later on in life. He is looking at what he did to get my praise and analyzing what he did, and looking at how he can do better. This is exactly what I want from my students I want them to take an active role in their education. He does not know it, but my student through operant conditioning has arrived at a deep thought process. It is brilliant. As teachers I believe we use operant conditioning every day. We will prompt our students with cues helping them arrive at the answer. In giving the students positive reinforcement they do get a true yearning to learn. It may start out as just for the reward, but it is my hope that eventually they realize learning is the reward. Classical conditioning is useful, and thanks to Pavlov; we see that it works. I do want to condition somethings so that there is an automatic response. For example, when I ask my students quite down they will automatically respond to my voice, I know optimistic. In general though I prefer operate conditioning as it goes deeper into thinking. I again go with the cognitive approach when it comes to motivation. When someone internally processes something it becomes more real. It means more to them. When a student reflects on his work and looks at how he can improve upon it. This very closely reflects extrinsic motivation. Here someone does something to obtain something else. This could relate to the student who studies to obtain a good grade. I like this theory and will apply it to my classroom, because I really want to get my students gears turning. â€Å"They emphasize the importance of creating learning environments that encourage students to become cognitively engaged and take responsibility for their learning. This goal is to get students to become motivated to expend the effort to persist and mat ideas rather than simply doing good enough work to just get my and make passing grades (Perry, Turner, & Meyer, 2006, p 467. )† If my students can come to the point of realization that studying equals doing well in the class I am in a good spot. Many students know this but they do not fully believe it because they have never tried (Wigfield, 2006, p 463.) Even stronger than this is intrinsic motivation. This motivation becomes so real to the student when they realize they can self-determine their outcomes. I love this method so much. The student is growing and understanding how to truly learn, they are learning that what they learn truly effects them. â€Å"In this view, students want to believe that they are doing something because of their own will, not because of external success or rewards (Deci, Koestner, & Ryan, 2001, p 464. )† They have learned to stop relying on others; they have learned to push themselves through life. â€Å"Researchers have found that student’s internal motivation an intrinsic interest in school tasks increase when students have some choice and some opportunities to make personal responsibility for their learning (Grolnick, 2002, p 464. )† I want to motivate them by allowing them some freedom in my class. I will give my students choices because they then be more motivated to do the work with all their effort. The thing is, whatever choice they make they are still learning! Also they are processing it all through information processing to make sure that how they are acting now will be duplicated. They know their actions constituted a response from me, which was giving them more freedom. They enjoyed this stimulus and will want it to continue, so they will work really hard. This loops them all the way back to operant conditioning and positive reinforcement! It is all connected. Another big thing with this idea is interest. â€Å"Interest is especially linked to measure of deep learning, such as recall of main ideas and responses to more difficult comprehension questions, than to surface learning, such as responses to simple questions and verbatim recall of text (Wigfield, 2006, p 466. )† This is where I hope my passion for history comes in. I want to get my students excited about history. If I do get my students excited they will show interest and if they show interest they will understand the history at a deeper level than they normally would. My management plan also fits in with these ideas. I am going to run my classroom according to the authoritative perspective. I will be the teacher and the students will follow my rules, but they will be integrated into the classroom. My students will have a say as to what goes on in my classroom, in our classroom (Baumrind, 1971, p 513.I will manage my classroom with effect rules that can be up for change depending if the students do not agree with the rules. â€Å"To function smoothly, classrooms need clearly defined rules and procedures. Students need to know specifically how you want them to behave. Without clearly defined classroom rules and procedures, the inevitable misunderstandings can breed chaos (Evertson & Emmer, 2009, p 515. )† I will have my procedures laid out at the beginning of the year so that the kids will have excuse when they do not follow the rules. I will be integrating William Glassers management plan. He suggested that there be a classroom meeting every once and while. This is just a chance for the students to say yes or no regarding structures of the classroom. I will also manage my classroom by listening to what my students have to say. I want them to know that I do care. I want them to trust me. If there is mutual peace between us, there will be far less conflicts that arise. â€Å"When most of us think of your favorite teacher, we think of someone who cared about whether or not we learned. Showing that you genuinely care about student as individuals apart from their academic work helps gain their cooperation (Pianata, 2006. )† Students feel safe and secure when the teacher shows that he cares. The classroom atmosphere if much more relaxed. It is not up tight and tense. If I teach like this a lot of anxiety and stress will be avoided. Target Group I am getting my teacher degree in secondary education. I will be teaching at the high school level. I would like to, at least some point in my career, teach in the Christian school system. I grew up in it, and I love what their mission is. I also would not mind teaching in a public school. It would be good experience for me and help me grow as a teacher. I would like to teach in traditional public schools and in Christian schools. I would like the experience of both. Public schools would allow me to reach out to those who are really in need and to those who thirst for knowledge and cannot get it anywhere except through free public education. This would be especially true if I were in an inner city situations. I would not mind this at all as I volunteer now helping with inner city children. I have a heart for them and would love to serve as a teacher there someday. I want to offer them knowledge and help them meet their full potential. I also would like to teach at a charter school. I observed a classroom at a charter school and I really liked. It is a good system and is run well and I would like to be a part of it, at least for a time. So, I am happy at any school; I will go where God sends me. The ages that I will be teaching will be ranging from the age of thirteen to nineteen. It is my hope that I will be teaching history. There is a scarcity of history teaching jobs right now, and I hope that will be able to find one. I absolutely love history and I really want to teach it. The other subjects I would be teaching would be biology or just a general science class, and depending on where I teach, bible class. I would also like to teach at a smaller high school, about six-hundred to seven-hundred students. A big high school with two thousand people, I believe, is too impersonal. A smaller high school, like my own, is just the right size and encourages kids to get to know one another. Also, in a big school I could not be as relational to the students as I would want to because there would be so many in all my classes. Environment and Routines If things are not explained clearly, or if things are not put in a well thought out manner; a teacher may run into behavior problems. In order to create good student behavior I plan to take the three-step approach that the Wongs developed. I need to teach my students how to follow procedures, or else I will run into problems. I must first explain the classroom procedure as clearly as I possibly can, and if there are questions I will answer them. Also it is a good idea to distribute my procedures at the beginning of the semester or at the beginning of a certain activity so the students know what is expected. After I explain what is going on I should practice or rehearse the procedure until it becomes routine. â€Å"Behaviors must be taught, modeled, practiced, and retaught (Wong p 175. )† In going over the procedures repeatedly the students then understand what is expected of them. Finally I must reinforce this procedure and I also must reinforce what is the wrong procedure. After going about this my students will know exactly how to act and what is expected of them, and there should be very few behavioral problems. A positive classroom environment involves both the teacher and the student. The students must respect the teacher and his authority. They must listen to what the teacher has to say, and they must be disciplined when they do not. The teacher also must respect the students. He must listen to what the students have to say, and he must not make it a dictatorship where the classroom is harsh and rigid in structure. The kids are only human. â€Å"A positive classroom environment encourages participation and risk-taking because students know they will not be harassed or belittled by the teacher. Students do not have to shrink within themselves to survive the forty-five minutes, ninety minutes, or full day with teacher who yells, throws things, or makes hurtful comments. In a positive classroom environment students can make jokes, engage in their learning, banter with the teacher, and feel comfortable with the tasks given. † (Kendrick) In a classroom a teacher should be encouraging to his students. He should let the students know that he believes in them. Students do not do well in class when their teacher does not believe in them. They stop trying, viewing themselves as failures, and it carries on later into life. I want to have a positive classroom environment. In order to achieve this I am going to teach from an authoritative classroom management style. I will encourage my students to think for themselves, if I think for them no real learning is accomplished. I will engage my students and show that I do care about them. I will listen to what they have to say and if things need to be changed I will. I will allow them freedom within their education and learning in my classroom; but I will still clarify the rules and establish the standards with some student input. I am not there to be their friend, but I do want them to understand that I care about them and to have some say in their education. I care whether or not I learn, and if I am doing something wrong I want them to feel comfortable telling me. To achieve a connection with the students I must be a good oral communicator. I must clearly communicate the information I am presenting. I will use words and ideas that meet the level of understanding of my class. I do not want them getting lost in my rhetoric. They will automatically tune me out if they think I am teaching above them; I have even done this myself without realizing it. Also many teachers speak way too fast and the students cannot keep up, or the teacher talks way too slow and the students are lost to boredom. I must teach at an appropriate pace so that my students learn and remain interested. When I teach, especially in history, I must be precise. I am going to avoid being vague. My students will fail or do below their academic level if I am vague. I also will not just teach the facts; facts are what lose classes when it comes to history. History is so much more than just dates and it is still relevant today, even though they are just a bunch of, â€Å"old dead guys. † Also I will have what I am going to do for class planned out. I do not want to be disorganized, and I am not going to wing it through my teaching. I will have my lesson ready for each class so that I am ready to teach. The students will then have confidence in me as their teacher and I will not lose time to senseless things. (Florez, 1999) Each class period I am going to start with a couple of facts of history that happened on that day. This would just be a fun way to start off the class period. It is always to cool to see what happened in the past. I will begin each class with the objectives for the day so that the students know what we will be covering. I will not always give out note sheets for my lesson, but sometimes I will hand out fill in the blank notes so that they can keep up and still learn. I will have them ready before hand each period. Also I do plan to have some group projects. At the beginning of the year I will number them off as to create groups of four; I believe more than this can be counter-productive. As the year goes on I will let them choose their own groups; this being because I now know the dynamics of my classroom much better, and I can switch people if I know work will not be done. Every week I will allow the students to choose from a list of events in history relating to the period we are covering in class. I will have them explain what happened and how it relates to us today, and what we can learn from it. This project will consist of a one to two page paper and a one to two minute presentation. All history is relevant history and I want my students to understand that. As a history teacher, I would like major historical events to be represented on my walls. I am going to be going to be teaching secondary education. I will not have the cute and cuddly decorations, but I will still have things that will bring the classroom to life. One thing I must have in my classroom no matter what, is a copy of the Declaration of Independence. I will also have the students add to the classroom with their projects and other things they do so that they feel a part of the classroom. I want to have a classroom where the students are excited to be there, in good measure of course, so that it is not so distracting that they do not learn. Twice a week I am going to hold a classroom meeting. This is a meeting to make sure that my students are understanding the material, and that I am teaching to their needs. This is where the students really get to give their input on the class and what is going on. This idea was set forth by William Glasser. It follows my method of teaching, authoritative, and fits how I would like to relate to my students. This would take up to ten or fifteen minutes, but I do not believe it is wasted time. I will start off the meeting to see if anyone has any questions about the subject/time period we are on. I will establish if they are understanding it enough or not. Then I will ask for suggestions on things I can improve upon, and also ask for things that they like. I will then change some things and keeps some things according to how I think the classroom would best fit the current needs of the students. I will make sure to always hand my students test within a week of the test date. I also appreciated it when the teacher had a set time that they would get my test and assignments back to me. I believe it is important for them to see how they did and then gage how they can improve for the next time. At the beginning of the year I will establish things like this with them. They will then know what to expect from the class. I will set up my rules and regulations and procedures so that they will know how to act in my class. Also, every class period at the end I will have them write a few sentences on how what we learned in class effects us today. I want them to understand how the history we are learning relates to their own live and their interactions with others. Motivational Strategies Motivation focuses on mainly two categories, behavioral and cognitive. One of the big pushes in motivation is rewards or incentives. These are positive or negative stimuli that drive the student to succeed. This can be allowing the student to do something special, such as playing computer games or going on a field trip. The other big approach is internal motivation. The student’s thoughts are what guide their motivation. Motivation is what pushes students forward towards their objective. The cognitive perspective encourages giving students should be given more chances to do things of their own desire and to give them more responsibility. They are then taking their education into their own hands. They will have much more incentive to do well and strive for perfection; they are of course still monitored and rules still do apply. This strategy focuses on â€Å"goal setting, planning, and monitoring progress toward a goal (Shunk, 2008, p 462. † If a student has a goal before them they will want to achieve it. This strategy has the student look at how their actions determine the outcome of their school work. They take responsibility and gain more incentive to do well. There are another two main types of motivation associated with behavioral and cognitive motivation : internal and external motivation. Internal motivation is formed by our own wants, needs, and what we like to do. â€Å" It is determined by your personal values and goals. The drive to do something because it is interesting, challenging, and absorbing is essential for high levels of creativity. Enjoyment based internal motivation is the strongest and most pervasive driver as is a belief that it is a good or right thing to do. Often it is something we pursue even without a tangible result. † (Weisner) External motivation is the second kind of motivation. External motivation focuses much more on rewards than on one’s likes or goals. â€Å"Your motivation to attain your goal comes from a source outside yourself. It reflects the desire to do something because of external rewards such as awards, money, and praise. † (Weisner) This motivation tool is much less satisfactory than internal. In my classroom I will use this motivation, but I will try to use internal motivation when I can. If a student is doing something because he is motivated by rewards it is not near as gratifying if done for self interest. I will use both in my classroom as, unfortunately; sometimes rewards and external motivators are the only ones to get them to do their work. Some kids need incentives to be motivated to achieve their best, or to even try. They add interest or excitement to a classroom and in turn motivate them to do well. This is especially true of those who seem to not even care about the class (Emmer & Evertson, 2009, p 460. ) If I see that there is somewhat of a lack of interest in what I am teaching I could implement a game. The more they know the better they will be at the game. Most people are competitive by nature, especially those who do not care it seems. So , a game in my class would motivate them to pay attention and learn the material. We could play history hot potato. A ball would be thrown around as history questions would be asked, if they took too long the student would have to sit down. The winner would then get maybe some extra credit points, or if I feel generous maybe some candy. In reaching the kids who do not care, I believe this is the best method. If they get something for learning they will start paying attention. This is not the most desirable, but this is sometimes the route that must be taken. (Skinner, p 236) There are also those who are just plain hard to reach; most of the time this stems from no confidence in themselves. I will most often use the cognitive approach when it comes to this. I will encourage them to set goals. I will encourage them and I will make sure they understand that they as a student can effectively control their environment. (Shunk) I will constantly encourage them and remind them that they are smart and that they can do it. I will also use Skinner’s operant conditioning in this situation. I will use positive reinforcement. I will reinforce their work with a smile, or a â€Å"good job†. Students feed off the praise of their teachers; we as humans naturally want to please others. Problem Behaviors The behaviors of students are not always conducive to the classroom and can cause disruptions. I will implement some rules so that they know exactly what is expected and I will have less problems. One rule that I think should be followed in my classroom is that the kids must be in their desks when the bell rings. This is a really good rule, because so much time can be lost on a class period just by making people sit down at the beginning. Another rule I would have for my classroom would be my students would have to bring all their books and materials to class. This rule is good as it is a distraction to people when someone leaves the room. A third rule I would have in my room would be ‘hands to yourself. ’ This rule prevents not only distraction between a couple people, but it also helps prevent distraction for others in the class. Another big rule I will have is no swearing, cursing, profanity, coarse jokes, or vulgar of any kind will be allowed in my classroom. They are not called for and should not be used, let alone in my classroom. A fifth and final rule I would implement would be that my kids would have to raise their hands to answer a question. If the kids just blurt out answers it will be chaos and I will not be able hear what people are trying to say. These five rules will help run my class smoothly. Rules however are not a safety net against behavioral problems. When dealing with behavioral problems I am not going to send my student to the principal’s office right away. The most desirable action when dealing with behavior problems is to work it out with the student first; after trying hard to work it out if the student still refuses to listen then more drastic measures must be taken. I would at first use minor interventions. (Evertson and Emmer, 2009, p 528. ) Nonverbal communication can be very useful when dealing with disruptions. One thing I could do is when a student is acting up is take make eye contact with them. I could give them the look, and convey with my eyes that what they are doing is not appropriate or I could make signs such as shaking my head, hand signal, or put my finger to my lips. This simple action lets the student know that they must get back on task. Another thing I could do is to keep the activity going. When there is not time in between things a student no longer has time to be disruptive. This way one does not even have to address the behavior issue; it is eliminated by procedure. Placement can even change the behavior. I can move the spot where I am teaching from. If a student is acting up I can move over by them and usually they will quite down and get back to work. Sometimes the student just needs to be reminded what they are supposed to be doing, I could address the class reminding them what they are supposed to be doing; in doing so the distracted student gets back on task. Also, a student may just need to be told no. I would need to keep eye contact and keep my voice down. I would address them with assertiveness and tell them that their actions are not accepted. I could also give the student a choice. He can either behave or accept the consequences. This makes him think and he will most likely choose to be good as to avoid a negative consequence. These strategies most often work as the student just gets off task and needs a little nudge in the right direction. The strategies above stem from positive and negative reinforcement and correlate with Skinner’s operant conditioning. The student, however, will not always respond to these strategies and more drastic measures. The students will not always cooperate and sometimes more moderate action must take place. Some students will abuse privileges, be disruptive, or interfere with my work with individual students. There are always the students who completely abuse the privileges they have been given, when this happen the teacher can take it away. This takes away an activity that the students use to enjoy and the next time they will think about their actions twice. They will not want to lose their freedom again. Also if a student acts up I could remove the student from positive reinforcement. If the student is removed from his element the gratification of his actions is taken away. I could take the student into the hall and talk to him one on one. This is never a pleasant experience and should stop the student from repeating the action; no one likes to hear, â€Å"can I see you in the hallway please. † Also I could impose a penalty such as extra homework; this needs to be done with care so as to not stem more annoyance with the class. (Evertson, Emmet, Worsham, 2009, p 528. ) Also I could have my student attend detention for their inappropriate behavior. This enforces that their actions will not be tolerated. â€Å"The teacher is given command over the student, who is expected to be respectful, submissive, and willingly obedient. When the pupil does not readily conform to the request made on him, discipline becomes necessary. By this is meant the use of coercive measures to bring about the desired behavior. †(Phenix p 41) If these actions still do not work a trip to the principal’s office or a phone call may be in order. Assessment Assessment is a big part of education, and helps a teacher gage how their students are doing. There are two main types of assessment in education, informal and formal. â€Å" ‘Informal’ is used here to indicate techniques that can easily be incorporated into classroom routines and learning activities. Informal assessment techniques can be used at anytime without interfering with instructional time. Their results are indicative of the student’s performance on the skill or subject of interest. Unlike standardized tests, they are not intended to provide a comparison to a broader group beyond the students in the local project (Navarete. )† I will use a variety of informal assessment to tools to gage how my students are doing. One tool I will be using is regular homework. This will tell me if they can grasp the subject enough that when asked to dive into the book and the content that they can give back to me a fair understanding of what is presented. Another tool I could use would be journaling. I would have my students journal about something they find interesting in what we are studying and then check how good their understanding of it is. When my class plays a game I can also check to see how well they know the material; if they are struggling for the answers something must done. Also general observation of my students is informal assessment. I would look for participation and understanding in class, and also as I would walk around I would observe their work. (Navarete. ) â€Å"Formative assessment is utilized to immediately determine whether students have learned what the instructor intended. This type of assessment is intended to help instructors identify material which needs to be clarified or re-taught and should not be used to evaluate or grade students. Results of formative assessment can assist instructors to ascertain whether curriculum or learning activities need to be modified during a class session or before the next class meets (Formative. )† I would quizzes mainly to judge this assessment. This is a quick way of assessing how much they know. It gages their current progress, not their progress as a whole. Other things would be reading quizzes to see if they get the material I have asked them to go over. It could also be something like a minute write where I have them write down something that tells me they understood what I thought during class that day. These tools give me a fast analysis or where they are at. Another assessment like this is the summative assessment. This assessment documents the students performance. This assessment uses a lot of standardized tests and things related to that format. This allows the tester to understand where the students are at as a whole. In the classroom I would use this when administering unit end tests. I can see how they have progressed and I can assess what to do better for the next unit. A Measure I would measure my students how they are doing on my tests and assignments, if they are failing I am doing something wrong. This, however, is not the only way that I would measure if my management plan was working. I would, as stated above, have classroom meetings. This would give me an opportunity to discuss with my students how the class is going. This would be my chance to get input on them on what I am doing right and what needs to be changed. I would hope that they would be mostly satisfied with the way things are going, but if they are not I will change my plan so they can learn better. This of course goes back to William Glasser and it also goes back to the authoritative management style. Glasser is very keen on having students involved in the classroom and the teaching process. I very much agree with him. The opinion of my students is very important to me. The authoritative plan also focuses in on the student’s role. They need to have a hand in their education. If their voice is not heard, the students will just continue to fail and the teacher will not know why. So, if my plan is working well my students will do well on their tests, quizzes, and assignments and they will have positive things to say at our classroom meetings. Our relationship will be a cordial one and not one of animosity. Completed Rubric 1. I believe that I have a very compelling argument for my planned proposal. It fits to the rest of my paper and sets a precedent for how I will go about running my classroom. I have many cited supports and they were all knowledgeable on the subjects I discussed. 2. I described all five of the target groups at a satisfactory level. I let the reader know exactly what my future looks like for teaching. The reader can look at any one of the components and know what I want to achieve in my vocation. 3. I believe that I very effectively communicated my rules policies and management ideas in such a way that is very understandable to students and teachers. This letter home is in a very nice format with great colors, and it is pleasing to the eye. It is attractive and professional.