Final Learning Log

After taking the learning rating quiz I came out being tied between cognitivism and humanism. After reading up on my blogs and also through the book a little more I came to see that the quiz was pretty accurate. I feel more like I could take a little from all learning theories to create my own theory. For my own learning theory I believe that children learn through hands on activities that they can see how it applies to their lives. Children need encouragement to learn. They need their teachers to acknowledge their work. When children learn they need to not be rushed to hurry and finish their work so that we can all move on to the next thing of the day. Let children see the beauty in learning and how fun it can be. When I say that children need to see what they are learning be applied to real life, I mean that when we teach them a concept apply it to something they can relate to. Let them participate in an activity that reinforces the concept. By participating in an activity they can physically apply it to a concrete thing and there for be more able to rememeber it in the future.
My own personal learning theory will impact my classroom by adding participation in to the classroom so that studetns can be actively involved in their learning. I hope that my classroom will be full of engaging concepts so that the children do not feel that school is a waste of time and from then on have an attitude of bordom towards learning. Learning will be fun and will bring in all domains of learning for all types of learners. I want my studetns to see the results from what they are learnign in some way. I know that if they see the results they will be more willing to learn new things.
Now that I have been able to reflect on my learnign theory and what it is I feel that there is always more to be adding and learning. I hope that I will be a constant learner, so that I might be able to have a better understanding of how my studetns learn I hope that I can bring the best postive learning experience to them. There is still plenty in educational psychology that I need to learn I want to learn in more detail about how students recall and remember what is being taught to them and I feelt that by understanding these things I will deliever information in new and exciting ways to my students.

Chapter 10

Social Cognitive Theory: This chapters main focus was on how people learn from observing others. By observing they see tasks that they are or are not capable of doing. social cognitive theory is in sense they way they you preseve yourself and your motivation to meet a goal. Goals need to be set that are attainable but not so that they do not make students grow. By reaching these goals students will see them selves in a postive way and will want to continue to do more either for them selves or for others approvoal. Students can self monitor so that they can step back and see where their strengths andweaknesses lie.
Understanding social cognitivisum we can help our students to see things in a more reachael way. students need reinforcemet and often times it is just they teachers approval that they need/want. We can help in developing the way our students preseve things. Let them reach goals and have a sense of self efficacy.
In my classroom I hope to model things in a good way so that my students will feel that they can do anything. I will apply motivation as well as reinforcement by them selves as well as from me. Students will do better if they have a sense of self in their road through their education.

Chapter 7

Knowledge construction: Students are always adding to their understanding of their physical and social worlds. They must create there own views on physical and social knowledge. Their understandings will not only impact them educationally knowledge but their knowledge of themselves, their interpersonal relationships and their views about morality.
Having an understanding of knowledge construction will lead to great higher levels of thinking. It will bring to the classroom essetial questions for the students so that they can form their own opinions so that they can construct their knowledge in a way that willl help them in their lives. Teachers often times present new material to studetnts in a class with the expectations that the information will replace all the wrong ideas that they might have about a concept. This is wrong by show of reserach, we as teachers need to help them in transitioning new information in to a positive out look to what is being taught to them now.
We as teachers need to help our students gain an understanding of the world around them so that they can have productive lives.

Chapter 3

Discussed in this chapter is development of self, social skills, and morality. Each age group has identified stages to there develpoment of self, social skills, and morality. Some of the main points covered in this chapter are standards of acceptable behavior, along with reasons why these standards must be up held are essential for optimal development. Interaction with others, especially peers, provides the impetus for many personal, social, and moral advancements. Development is best fostered within the context of a warm supportive environment. Students' personal, social, and moral understandings are self-constructed.
Having an understanding to how children develop in terms of self, social, and morally we can better teach them at the stage they are at. Chidlren need to advance in cognitive development in the particular order. It is critical that they meet stage in order to function in a they other stages.
As a teacher I will have the students interact with one another so that they are building upon there development towards self, social, and moral skills. We must give students the opportunities to have them build an understanding of their own personal, social, and moral understanding. These things are crucial in the development of our students.

Chapter 2

This chapter is on cognitive and linguistic development. In the chapter it covers piagets's theory of cognitive develop and how it takes place in a sequential stages. It also covers vygotsky's look at social factors and fostering cognitive development. Through out the chapter even though it is talking about two different theories there are alot of similarities. Such as; Children tend to think in qualitatively different ways at different ages. Children actively construct their knowledge, development builds upon prior acquisitions, Challenging situations and tasks promote development, and social interaction is critical for development.
By learning these theories we can see that children learn all different ways. We as teachers need to mold to our students needs so that they can have a rewarding learning experience. If we understand these theories we will be able to make our lessons appropriate for the needs of our students and their level of cognitive development.
As a teacher I will refer to these theories to see where my students are at as far as cognitive development is concerned. I will apply instructional strategies that will help my students to develop in their stage of cognitive development.

Chapter 1

This chapter was on educaitonal psychology and teacher decision making. As teachers we can ake decisions by using common sense, but sometimes that leads to unwanted outcomes. We need to make decisions based on our knowledge of theories and other methods. We need to base our decisions off of what the needs of the students are in our classroom. Good teachers base their decision making from reflective thinking, classroom strategies, and new information. We as teachers can gain new informations through research, collaboration with other teachers, and with parents.
By having these understandings we can be better teachers, by meeting the needs of our students. Our main focus as teachers is to our students, we need to make critical decisions based on ther needs not so much our needs. By being motivated we can have a safe and well rounded classroom with good decision making.
As a teacher I will try to implement these theories and methods to make good decisions for my classroom. I will have the students be involved in making decisions for the classroom so that they can develop those critical thinking skills that are needed in life.

Extra credit- Investigations Math

In an article that I read about investigations math this is how they explained the benefits for the students.

"Approaching the mathematics content through investigations helps students develop flexibility and confidence in approaching problems, fluency in using mathematical skills and tools to solve problems, and proficiency in evaluating their solutions. Computational fluency of basic number facts develops through understanding of number relationships and practice in games and activities. Students also use many ways to communicate about their mathematical thinking and their multiple strategies to solve problems while their enjoyment and application of mathematics grows."

A few facts that I found about investigation math.
1) Investigations Math removes teaching the times tables to children and all memorization of math facts.
2) There is no valid math study ever performed showing the effectiveness of Investigations Math.
3) California tried a program nearly identical to Investigations Math in the 90's and forced enrollment in college freshmen remedial math classes more than doubled over a seven-year period.
4) "Children tend not to learn what they are not taught." Dr. Ralph Raimi (article comparing TERC to Singapore Math) TERC doesn't teach.
5) Study performed where students graduating from a Core-Plus math program in Michigan (same teaching style as Investigations and Connected Math programs in Alpine School District) doubled the remedial math rate at MSU
6) Hundreds of leading university math professors and Nobel Laureates condemn Investigations Math
7) TERC recommends a text for teachers called "Beyond Arithmetic". In this book it says traditional elementary math must be discarded.

The argument that was made by alpins school district that the test scores of studetns would go down. Investigations math was being used in California who used to be the topic in math scores and who are now in teh second to the last for math scores. They were all claiming that investigations math was sentence to failure. It doesn't teach the children the basic math principles need in real life, A petition was started and ended up with a 1,000 names which helped the program to be eliminated from the school district.

Chapter 4

Group Differences: We all tend to use our own culture views when interacting with others. We often times are bias to thinking that our own culture is the best way of doing something. As teachers we need to work on overcoming that bias to our cultures. We need to have an understanding of group differences to understand why certain students behave the way that they do. From having this understanding we can adapt our teaching to those cultural needs of our students. We as teachers can create an environment in which we can learn from each other. We need to create a safe environment in which all students feel comfortable to share their ideas and feelings. We must always remember that individuals of a group are often times different from one another and not all share the same beliefs and values.

Chapter 9

It was really good to have lecture and the class discusion this last week on chapter 9. While reading through the chapter it was hard to differientiate the difference between negative reinforcement and punishment. Through the discussion I am now able to differientiate between the two. I liked Linda's example of the hot air balloon, it helped me to see how with one or the other the balloon still floats. I like the visual picture of thinking of it in that way. There is still some vocabulary in the chapter that I need to go over and make sure I am using it in the right way. Now looking back at my field experience I can connect these concepts to what was happening in the classroom. I think that all teachers need to review what negative reinforcement is as well as punishment. I think that we have been taught to use the words in the wrong context in the past and now its hard to see how it really works. It amazing hwo ixed up it can get in the classroom. I can see how the teachers have it though. When you are put on the spot to come up with a punishment or a negative reinforcemnet it is sometimes har to think logically. It was really good to make the terms clear to me.

Week of Thanksgiving break

It is tough getting back into the flow of school just to go on thanksgiving break. This week I am hoping to catch up on my homework so I can not stress and do everything last minute. I am working on my journal for this class mainly. It has been great for me to put what we have learned in class into practice. It has also been difficult to put into words what I saw in the classroom and relate it to ed. psych. with the learning journal. I am trying my best to have it all make sense. The end of the semester is upon us and soon it will be time for the final. I hope to do better on the final than I did my last test. It can be so frusturating that in class I understand it and in my reading I understand it but when it comes to a test a freeze. Hopefully for the final i will do okay! :) Over all this semester has been good for me and the field work took me out of my bubble. Field was a good to see how a teachers day goes and what is required of me as teacher. It was an eye opening experience.

Week 3 of Field Work

WOW! I did it. I made it through the 3 weeks of 6th grade. I learned so much while I was at Salem elementary school in the 6th grade. I am so excited to keep going and to one day have my own classroom. Teachers are busy people I can't believe how much they have to get done in one day. Organization is key to alot of what takes place in a classroom. This experience was a huge eye opener to what I need to do as a teacher as well as how what I am learning at UVU applies in the classroom. The cooperating teacher was great! He gave great feedback to my lesson plans and gave me great resources to use as a teacher. He was great to work with and helped me to get out of my bubble and try new things that I might not had normally done. The students in the class were great kids they were patient with me and made it a really good time. I learned a lot from them as well . To see how 6th graders are again was good for me. It put me down to there level to plan lessons on what was interesting to them so they can learn and grow. I had a great partner she was great to work with and kept on top of things. When I messed up or lost what I was doing next she picked up the slack and it all worked out. I am glad that I had the opportunity to be in the classroom now rather than be thrown into a classroom for my student teaching. I hope that when i get back to classes at UVU I will be able to relate it back to some eperience I had in the classroom with the students I worked with.

Week 2 of Field Experience

WOW! This week was great we taught for our first time on Monday and on Tuesday. The lessons went great the students really enjoyed it. We taught geography for our lessons. Our advisor was there and gave us great feed back on how we could improve as well as what she saw that was going well. We showed up on Tuesday and Wednesday and there was a substitute teacher that we weren't expecting. It was actually really good for us, the sub handed the class over to us. We taught math and corrected homework and taught our lesson. The students were so good for us the students are really good kids. Like I said last week in my blog it is great to see the things we are learning in classes at UVU apply to the real classroom. In one of our lessons we talked about walls around the world and how we have walls in our own lives. I took pictures with my ditgital camera and put them on a power point to show to the students walls around Utah County. I posed the questions of why is it important that we have these walls and what purpose will it serve for us. The studetns loved to see the waslls and how they have walls around here so close. It really made it concrete for the students. The students then made a brick and we built a wall to show how we live in Utah and what our civilization is like. I am really enjoying my field experience. The teacher we are working with shares so many great ideas and resources for us and has taught so much to us. I am so glad that I am having this experience.

FIRST WEEK IN FIELD EXPERIENCE

This week has been CRAZY!!! I have been trying to get everthing organized and getting things done. I have really enjoyed my self so far in field experience. At first i was kind of agianst teaching the older grades but know that I have been in the 6th grade class I like it alot more than what I though I would. It had been interesting to see how a 6th grade class is ran in an elementary school. When I was in 6th grade I was at the middle school. We had different class periods, lockers, gym, etc. It was alot different. I have loved being in teh classroom adn seeing teh things we ahve learned apply to what I am seeing. My partner and I are always talking about the stages the students are in and comparing the various theories to each other. It is great to really see that what I am learning applys in the classroom. The teacehr I am working with has been great in letting us interact with the kids and pull them aside to help them and see where they are at. Field so far has been a really good experience it has helped me to get more comfortable infront of the students and be confident in what I am teaching. It is a whole new world when you are infront of a class teaching. I look forward to the next couple weeks fo field!

Effective Study Strategy

This week while I was studying chapter 7 and making the study guide to go along with it I tried one of the effective study methods that was mentioned in class. I used the reflective strategy. I would read a section then sit back and think about what I just read. By doing this I stayed focused on what I was reading and didn't get done and wonder what I just read. It also helped in making the study guide. By reading and than reflecting on what I just read I was able to put into words on paper what I just read. It also helped to pick out the important parts that I needed to pick out for the study guide as well. I hope to try some of the other strategies in the future.

Cognitive Psychology

I like the analogy of the brain as a circuit board. The brain has storage, memory, encoding and retrieval. I like how we went over the model of the memory and used the signs and had different things we need to remember and people go through and decide where that information would be stored. I have enjoyed chapter 6 and learning about the brain. All the terms are hard for me to remember but the activities done in class really help to remember the information. I have enjoyed learning about the brain it is facinating to me to see how we keeps so much information in how heads and decide when to use it and when not. I think of myself and how sometimes the smallest thing will spark a memory that I haven't thought of in years. Its amazing!

Piagetian Tasks

For the piagetian tasks I performed them on my nephew who is 7 years old. I did the water in the cups (which one has more) I also did the playdough (which pile has more), and the pennies (which one has more.) It was really fun and he enjoyed it as well, helping me do my college homework. He was mostly in the concrete (mature) area. He new that the cups had the same amount of water. He new the playdough had the same amount, even after being smashed. He new that the rows of pennies had different amounts without counting them. He is a genius He he he! It was a lot of fun to see how he would respond and to be able to see what area he fit into. I would do it again to see how different ages end up in different areas.

Google-Brain Researcher

http://radteach.com/page5/page5.html

Judy Willis is a neurologist and teacher. She went to medical school and practicted neurology for 15 years. From there she went back to school to obtain her teaching degree and masters. She is currently a middle school teacher. Her studies consist of Research-Based Strategies To Ignite Student Learning: Insights from a Neurologist/Classroom Teacher (2006), Brain-Friendly Strategies for the Inclusion Classroom (2007), and Teaching the Brain to Read: Strategies for Improving Fluency, Vocabulary, and Comprehension (2008) ASCD. She is completing a fourth book ASCD book about research-based strategies for math instruction. She lectures around the US on her research studies.
Judy is renowned for her research in helping students in the classroom learn. Her research can be benificial to help the students in our classroom learn in a way that is easy for the brain to do so. We as teachers can read up on her reasearch and apply it to our teaching methods.
I would love to read one of her books. I think it would be great to see how the brain can work in different ways to help the students understand various sujects. I think it would be great to be able to help parents understand her research as well to get them involved in helping their children learn.

Fertile Minds-TIME

WOW! This article is so great. It is so amazing to read about how the brain works. The article helped me realize how the brain develops and how the brain is at a constant change. I like how the article brought out the point of working mothers putting their children in dare care and if that is really what should be happening with the federal government giving them money for that. Children need to play, touch, and see to develop the brain. Those children who do not get the chance to do so their brain could end up 20%-30% smaller than normal for their age. As the article says we need to provide rich experiences to end up with rich minds. there is a urgent need for preschool programs in underprivelaged areas where children are not getting the proper interaction with people. There are windows of opportunities for childrens brains to develop and those windows need to be used to help the children to grow. By age three a child who is neglected or abused will have that mark and is is more than likely not able to be removed. It is amazing how by the age of two children's brains contain twice as many synapses and consumes twice as much energy as the brain of a normal adult. Childrens brain reach the highest point at age two and remain that way until age eleven. Parents are greats source to help childrens brains develop. This article was great it really helped me think about how the brain functions and how we make it the way it is. Human brains are amazing!

Intelligance

Today in class really opened up my thinking as to what is intelligance? When we discussed it I was really suprised to see all the different views of those in the room towards what they thought about intelligance. My have the discussio I am now able to have a broader view of intelligance and how many different kinds there are. I liked the debate on giving labels, it was good to see the different sides state their points and begin to form my own opinion on the subject. I am both sided on this issue because there are so many pros and cons.

IQ Test

WOW! This test was interesting to see just how an IQ test is taken. I scored a 107, which I guess is okay it mean that I am an averge person. Many of the test questions were difficult for me to come up with an answer for. I enjoyed reading about the IQ scores in the book and what it means when it comes to placement of students. The book clarified alot of misconceptions about an IQ test for me. Again I feel that this particular one wasn't the greatest test but it was interesting to see where I scored and what my strengths were.

Extra Credit

The extra credit was interesting to me to see where I fall when it comes to males and females in their careers and family life. I was put into the moderate association of male with career and female with family compared to female with career and male with family. Believe it or not I really am this way. I believe that alot of it has to do with the way I rasied my mom was a stay at home mom my whole life and still is. My dad was a hard working accountant providing for his family. I take a look at my siblings and each of their families are a little different. My oldest sister is a stay at home mom with her three kids while her husband provides for the family. My brother and his wife both work he works at stoffers and she is a teacher they do not have any kids. My sister works and goes to school and her husband works at the airport and they do not have any kids. Then there is me, both my husband and I work and go school. I have been able to see many view of career and family, men and women. Even though I am getting an education and will some day use it I hope to me a stay at home mom and raise my family. Everyone is different all people and all situations you have to do what is best for you!

The other extra credit assignment of bias toward European Americans comparedto African Americans was interesting as well. I was placed in the moderate automatic prefernece for European American compared to African American. I would not say was bias to one race over another, although I have grown up in Utah Valley my whole life where I was not subject to other races very often. My family grew up learning how to treat everyone with fairness and not put anyone stereo type with one person. I feel that I grew up understanding the importants of equality among races and feel that I have an understanding of what bias can do to people and our country.

Over all I feel that these test are pretty generalized for a broad range of people. It does make you think how you really feel towards these subjects and which way you tend to lean towards.

Research methods

Today was very useful in understanding each method a whole lot better. It was great to see examples used on our class to see how that method might be used in the classroom. Knowing these methods will help us in our classrooms to conduct research studies on our own. They may not be to intense of studies but they will help in seeing how are classroom is doing and what needs to me changed. When I am a teacher I hope to beable to use these methods to my advantage to help my classroom for the better my seeing where my students are at and where they need to be.

Research Study

The article I have choose to read is called: Movement and Learning a Valuable Connection. by Debroah Stevens-Smith. The article covers how the brain makes connections and the greater the simulation the greater number of connections the brain will make. The connections mostly happen between the ages of two and eleven. When a child approaches puberty the connections the brain finds useful becomes permanent and the other connections not used are gone. All of these connections take place through movement. The article asks, "So what does all this mean? The greater the movement and stimulations the greter number of connections, therefore a greater capacity to learn." Students need to be more physically active and spend less time sitting at both home and school. It has been found that there is a link between physical activity and learning. Physical activity increases energy, promotes clearer thinking and affects grade scores of students. Without movement and physical activity the learning is weakened, but by introducing activities that srengthen both mind and body the students will gain a greater knowledge of what is being taught.
I feel that this study is very valid when is comes to teaching students. By stimulating the brain you are making more connections, therefore giving the child a greater area of learning experiences. In the article one of the professors stated, "If learning is not in your body, you haven't learned it." I feel the same way that as teachers we need to get the students up and moving, creating stumlus activites that will benefit the students in there learning for now and in the future.

Motivation

Why are you here? I am at UVU so that I can get a good education so that one day I will be able to teach and help provid for my family.

What motivates you? I have many motivations, 1.) The fact that I can accomplish school makes me feel GREAT! 2.) My family motivates me and helps me to see why I am here and helps me to see the light at the end of the tunnel! 3.) It is my goal to finish and be able to educate children in a way that will help them succeed.

Why do yo succeed? I succeed because I love what I am going into. I succeed because this is a goal I have set and want to accomplish.

Why do you fail? Most of my failures are because of me being right down lazy. Leaving things until the last minute. Even some times not believing that I can succeed.

How do your motivations and perspectives need to change for you to succeed in this program? I need to realize that I am here, I have made it this far because of my succees in the past. I hope that I will re-evaluate the way that I plan and organize things so that I will stay on top of my work and be able to succeed. Always remember why I am here, keep the end result in mind.