Reflection Journal 6

           It’s Timothy talking to you again.  We are at the conclusion of week 6 in our EDAT 6115 class.  The discussions and weekly readings were very interesting for our class this week.  The reading and discussions center on Chapter 9 from Robert E. Slavin’s (2012) book, Educational Psychology (10^th edition).  The topics that were covered in readings and discussion dealt with grouping, differentiation, and technology.

            Slavin (2012) began the chapter by discussing key factors that contribute to effective instruction that goes beyond a good lesson.  The chapter talks about Caroll’s Model of School Instruction, which emphasizes corresponding the  time needed for learning and the time spent learning as elements of effective instruction (Slavin, 2012).  Slavin’s QAIT model suggests that effective instruction will have four elements that teacher can control: quality of instruction, appropriate level of instruction, incentive, and amount of time (Slavin, 2012).  As an educator, I have found that the most difficult task of developing an effective lesson is making sure that I have provided lessons that are not a repeat of skills that the students have already learned, or lessons that require skills and knowledge that the students do not possess.  It is also challenging to create incentives that motivate my students to give their all with each lesson.

            Being able to create an effective lesson can be aided by grouping students.  Slavin (2012) mentions various types of grouping and how they can be used in the classroom.  Between-class grouping puts students together who are on the same level, and those students take their classes together throughout the day (Slavin, 2012).  My school uses a bit of between-class grouping with our students.  For the most part, our extremely high-performing students are grouped together, and our low-performing students are grouped together.  However, I teach a few classes that have mixed-abilities among students.  These students would fall under the practice of untracking.  Untracking is placing students in mixed-ability groups and holding all students to high standards (Slavin, 2012).  In these classes, I use a great deal of within-class ability grouping.  I may group high-performing readers in a group together, average-performing readers together, and low-performing students together.  By doing this, I am able to accelerate and remediate much easier. Slavin (2012) also discusses the idea of how retention factors into schools.  Slavin (2012) suggests that retention is not an effective means of helping students progress.  I have to say that I disagree with this notion.  Though I do not think retention should be used very often, I have found that social promotion is very ineffective means of helping students.  We have some students who give little effort, have below-grade reading and math skills, and do not seek or accept after-school assistance.  In these cases, I feel that retention could be used to motivate students to take advantage of assistance or give more effort in their studies.  In my opinion, retention could be beneficial for future students.  When students saw that students ahead of them had been retained because they of a lack of effort or attendance in tutoring programs, they might be more motivated to give effort and accept assistance in order to improve skills.

            If schools use differentiation to reach each child, they could try to reach each child through offering various activities for students of different levels (Slavin, 2012).  I use same-age peer tutoring a good bit with my students in mixed-ability classes.  This is an approach where classmates tutor one another (Slavin, 2012).  I find that this is beneficial to both the student tutor and the student being tutored.  Furthermore, my students seem to love this strategy. We do not use cross-age tutoring in my schools.  This is where students are tutored by another student who is a few years older (Slavin, 2012).   There is also the use of teacher-tutoring.  My school uses a good bit of teacher-tutoring through after-school sessions, individual sessions, and before-school activities.  Because I coach, I am only able to use before-school tutoring sessions for my students.  A few students take advantage of these sessions but not as many as I would like.  However, my students who need assistance often use my co-teacher as a chance to receive teacher-tutoring.

            After-school, Summer school, Head Start and Title I programs are tools that are used at my school to reach at-risk students.  I am not involved in these programs, but our school has been recognized by the state for our Head Start and Title I math programs.  All of these programs provide opportunities to either prevent or intervene with low-performing students.  As Slavin (2012) points out, research suggests that the use of prevention and intervention programs can be successful in reaching at-risk students. 

            Our class discussion also involved the topic developing a rapport with at-risk students.  The most common themes discussed were the need for teachers to show care to their students and find ways to connect with each child.  I have spent a good deal of my educational career working with at-risk students.  I have found that showing care, concern, and connections with my students is very important.  I make sure to speak individually with every one of my students.  I try to find out each student’s interests and hobbies.  Furthermore, I will try to talk with the kids about this so that a connection is developed.  I also show each student that I care for them.  As many of classmates pointed out, I believe it is impossible for teachers to fake care and concern for their students.  In my opinion, adults should not enter the education profession unless they truly care for children’s future goals and success.

            The chapter closes by discussing how technology can be used in education (Slavin, 2012).  Slavin (2012) suggests that technology usually serves three purposes in education: teachers use technology to plan and give lessons, students use technology to complete tasks with lessons, and schools use technology for administrative tasks.  My school uses technology a good bit.  All classes are equipped with Mimeo projectors that are used to allow student interaction with lessons.  Furthermore, we use the Mimeo to display web pages, presentations, and videos to students.  We also have several computer labs, laptops, and iPads that are used for instruction.   With today’s students, it is very important to use technology with instruction.  The students come to school with a good bit of technological skills, so it is imperative that we enhance their knowledge by including technology in the classroom.

            The concepts presented in this reading meant a great deal to my instructional practices.  As an educator, I must follow researched practices that include differentiation, grouping, and technology to best meet the needs of my students.  Also, I must guide my instruction so that I plan strategies that acknowledge and support the different learning needs of my students.  Furthermore, I must develop care, concern, and connections with at-risk learners so that I am able to connect with them and develop a good rapport.

            I feel that the concepts presented in this chapter are very valuable for educational practices.  I agree with ideas that it is essential for teachers to differentiate lessons so that all students are able to meet high standards.  Moreover, I feel that the ability to use within-class groupings and peer tutoring is a great way to maximize the performance of all students.  The one aspect of this chapter that I do not feel good about is the idea that retention is always a bad practice.  As I stated earlier, I believe that retention can be used to effectively stress the need for students to take advantage of assistance and diligently work to improve skills.

            The concepts of grouping and differentiation are pertinent to my classroom because we use them a good bit.  I could definitely work harder to be more effective to include quality differentiation into my lessons.  I feel that my instructional practices do well in differentiating assignments for on-level and below-level students.  However, I need to continue to improve the differentiated techniques for improving instruction for above-level students.  Furthermore, the concepts of grouping apply to my classroom.  Within-class grouping is used in my classes.  By reading that research supports the use of within-class grouping, I will include this method more into my teaching.

            Finally, all of the concepts confirm beliefs that I have held as a teacher.  I have always believed in using peer tutoring and mixed-ability grouping in my lessons.  I have simply assumed, from witnessing student enjoyment and positive outcomes, that peer tutoring and mixed-ability grouping were effective instructional practices.  After reading research that supports these practices, I will include them even more into my lessons. Also, I have always believed that it is important for teachers to offer incentives that motivate students to become actively involved in each lessons.  Slavin’s (2012) QAIT model confirmed my long-held beliefs.  Overall, besides the proposed negative aspects of retention, all of the concepts presented in this chapter confirm my ideas and theories that guide my planning and implementation of lessons.

 

 

 

Slavin, R.E. (2012). Educational psychology: Theory and practice (10th ed.). Boston, MA:
            Pearson Education

 

           

Reflection Journal 5

Hello, it’s Timothy Hunnicutt here again.  We have now completed week 6 in our class.  Once again, I am going to discuss the weekly readings and discussion for EDAT 6115.  This week, the reading and discussions came from Chapter 8 from Robert E. Slavin’s (2012) book, Educational Psychology (10^th edition).  The readings and discussions were focused on instruction that involve student-centered activities and constructivist approaches (Slavin, 2012).

            The chapter begins by explaining that “constructivist theory sees learners as constantly checking new information against old rule and then revising rules when they no longer work” (Slavin, 2012, p. 218).  Furthermore, the chapter teaches instructional practices where the students engage in “top-down processing” (Slavin, 2012, p. 243).  I really connected with this idea and try to use it my classroom.  When teaching persuasive writing, I will present a topic to students and have them discuss their viewpoint on the topic.  I will use questioning, a technique discussed in the text, to ask students to explain their view point.  After having the discussion, I will then begin to teach students the basic steps to creating a valid argument for a persuasive paper.  Another method that I use to teach top-down learning is with comprehending unknown vocabulary.  I may present an unknown vocabulary word to the students in context.  I will ask students if they can identify the definition of the word.  Afterwards, we will discuss how to use context clues to find the meanings of unknown words.  The top-down approach asks students to participate in trying to perform more difficult tasks while discovering basic skills and proper background knowledge while completing the task (Slavin, 2012).

            Discovery learning and scaffolding are other instructional styles the fall under constructivist learning methods (Slavin, 2012).  Discovery learning asks students to work individually to try and figure out difficult learning concepts.  I agree with Slavin (2012) in that it is important for students to become self-regulated learners.  By using the discovery method, students are forced to develop self-questioning and personal creativity to figure out methods of comprehending and applying new skills (Slavin, 2012).  I use this approach a great deal when having students write essays or find the different meanings and literary elements of literature.  In combination with discovery methods, Slavin (2012) also suggests the use of scaffolding in the classroom.  This approach permits more instructor involvement with lessons.  The instructor might assist the learners during the course of the assignment and release responsibility to the students in carefully planned increments (Slavin, 2012).  I use this approach a great deal with individual or group projects.  I may begin by helping students get started on projects, but I will turn over responsibility to the students as the assignment progresses.

            The chapter also discusses cooperative learning techniques.  This is where students assist one another in groups discovering new concepts (Slavin, 2012).  This is a practice that I use a good bit in my classroom.  I like to have students of varying learning levels engage in group work.  This allows lower-level learners with the opportunity to receive assistance from peers in learning new concepts.  It also allows higher-level learners the opportunity to teach and model learning styles for peers.  Furthermore, this concept teaches group members to be responsible for one another (Slavin, 2012).  I believe this is a valuable tool in teaching the students social responsibility.

            The chapter closes by discussing problem-solving and thinking skills.  Slavin (2012) discusses the IDEAL approach to problem-solving: “identify problems and opportunities, define goals and represent the problem, explore possible strategies, anticipate outcomes and act, and look back and learn” (Slavin, 2012, p. 236).  I use this approach in many areas of classroom, but it mainly used with identifying literary elements of a text.  I may also use the creative problem-solving approach when having students create an essay, especially persuasive essays.  The creative problem-solving approach involves incubation (having students think about problem), suspension of judgment, appropriate climates (encourage students to be comfortable with their ideas), analysis, engaging problems (this can include the concept of counter-arguments to a viewpoint, and instructor feedback (Slavin, 2012).  Thinking skills are essential to students becoming active learners.  I use thinking skill strategies in my instruction.  I use a good deal of questioning with my students so that they have to think deeper about a concept.  Also, I incorporate thinking skills like the identification of assumptions and distinguish deceptive information, especially when teaching argumentative essays and author’s purpose.

            The weekly discussions for the class revolved around student-centered instruction.  I agreed with many of classmates’ views that the hardest part of student-centered instruction was relinquishing control of the assignment.  Many of my peers discussed the inherent fear in having behavior problems or inadequate comprehension of concepts.  Furthermore, the discussions seem to be centered on the necessity for effective planning as it pertains to student-centered instruction.  The idea of the instructor carefully preparing the lesson’s objectives and picking effective groups was a common thread in the discussion on how student-centered instruction should be conducted.  Most everyone agreed that student-centered instruction was a valuable instructional tool.

            In my opinion, the concept of student-centered instruction means that students learn best when they are asked to find their own ways of learning new material.  The students can use constructivist approach to figuring out complex problems and learn the basic skills of the problem as they initiate their own learning styles.  This is an approach that demands student participation and requires students to become actively involved in the educational process.

            I am very much in favor with the ideas of student-centered instruction and constructivist approaches.  I feel that these instructional practices are valuable in preparing students for life after school.  I believe that one of the problems of educations is that it has depended on the teacher to deliver knowledge and taken away ownership of learning from the students.  I feel that the most proper way to reform education is for students to accept responsibility as self-regulated learners.  I am pleased that educational philosophy is shifting more towards the student taking ownership of his/her educational progress.

            As mentioned earlier, I believe that student-centered learning and constructivist approaches have many positive aspects.  For one, teachers move into the role of facilitator and take on less of a role as lecturer.  This will help to enhance students’ problem-solving skills, which will be helpful throughout their adult lives.  Also, student-centered instruction and involves a good bit of cooperative learning.  As citizens, students should become engaged in practices that require that they work with others.  It is important for students to learn and teach peers how to properly complete a task.  Once again, these are lessons that will serve the students well throughout their lives.  Although student-centered instruction is beneficial, it has some possible negative outcomes.  If an instructor does not plan well or lacks control of the classroom, student-centered instruction could lead to a lack of student participation or behavioral problems.  Without proper supervision, some students may use student-centered instruction or cooperative learning lessons as a chance to “take a break” from learning or “goof-off” with peers.  It is important that the teacher properly supervises and plans effective grouping to avoid these problems.  Another possible negative outcome of student-centered instruction is a sense of confusion or frustration by students.  If students are not properly prepared with prior background knowledge of concepts, they may feel that they do not know how to complete an assignment.  It is essential that students are properly prepared so that they can effectively conduct student-centered lessons.  This may call for some forms of direct instruction where the teacher controls and directs the delivery and acquisition of learning concepts.  Thought these negative outcomes are worth noticing, I believe that the positives of student-centered instruction outweighs the negatives.

            The concepts of this week’s readings and discussions confirmed my beliefs that it is essential for educators to put more of an onus on student involvement to properly learn new education concepts.  I am currently involved in trying to set up a career academy within our school.  The principles discussed in this chapter are the very arguments that my colleagues and I have presented to administration.  I believe that educators must give students control of their own learning so that they are properly prepared to enter post-secondary education or the business world.  Furthermore, the weekly discussion helped reassure me that my fears and concerns about how to properly conduct student-centered lessons are shared by my peers.  It is always helpful to know that one is not alone in their fears and concerns as an instructor.

            Overall, I greatly enjoyed this week’s readings and discussions.  The material that was covered applies to ideas that I have been trying to present in the creation of our school’s career academy.  It was nice to read about researched methods and educational ideas that could be used to support our goals.  Thank you for reading my thoughts and I will share with you again next week.

 

Slavin, R.E. (2012). Educational psychology: Theory and practice (10th ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson Education

 

Reflection Journal 4

Hello again, it’s Timothy Hunnicutt.  We have just completed the lessons for Week 5 in our class.  Let’s talk about the weekly readings and discussion for my EDAT 6115 class.  The reading and discussions came from Chapter 7 from Robert E. Slavin’s (2012) book, Educational Psychology (10^th edition).  The weekly readings focus on effective teaching as it pertains to direct instruction, how students learn, and the use of discussion in class.

Chapter 7 begins with introducing direct instruction and giving its definition.  Slavin (2012) talks about direct instruction as “lessons in which you transmit information directly to students, structuring class time to reach a clearly defined set of objectives as efficiently as possible” (p. 185).  Furthermore, there are seven parts of a direct instruction lesson: “state learning objectives and orient students to the lesson, review prerequisites, present new material, conduct learning probes, provide independent practice, assess performance and provide feedback, and provide distributed practice and review” (Slavin, 2012, p. 185). 

As a teacher, I feel like I perform most of these parts when I conduct a direct instruction lesson.  I always verbally express to the students what we will be learning, and I post the daily plans on the board.  I agree with Slavin’s (2012) ideas that it is important for students to start a lesson with knowledge of what they are going to learn for the day.  Furthermore, I try to provide an interesting anecdote or provide relevance of the lesson to the students’ lives.  Secondly, I make sure to give the students information that provides them with the skills that they will use to complete the lesson.  When implementing the lesson, I am sure to follow planning and notify the students of moments when changing topics, just as Slavin (2012) suggests.  I also try to include humor into my lessons so that the students stay entertained and remain attentive.  My direct instruction lessons include a couple of Slavin’s (2012) suggestions to check students for understanding.  I try to include formative assessments throughout my lessons.  These can take the form of verbally questioning students or asking the students to perform small tasks that prove comprehension. After ensuring that all students understand the content, independent practice, a part of Slavin’s (2012) idea of direct instruction, is included with almost all of my lessons.  I find that independent practice is one of the most important objectives that I want my students meet.  Many students can seem to understand content in the context of classroom discussion or formative assessments.  However, I find that independent practice is a key to proving mastery of the content.  Also, I agree with Slavin (2012) that independent practice assignments need to be assessed so that students take the assignments seriously and provides feedback.  Often, we will grade these assignments as a class or with partners.  Finally, I agree with text’s premise that it is crucial for teachers to provide practice and review of assignments (Slavin, 2012).  On most occasions, I will begin a class by having students review previously learned lessons from the unit.  This may take the form of practice assignments or a discussion review.  However, despite Slavin’s (2012) recommendation, I do not include homework into many of my lessons.  In my school, each subject, except for math, is discouraged from giving homework on a regular basis.  I believe that this idea is based on the fact that many of our students come from low-income families.  However, I often wish that I was allowed to assign more homework so that students could receive more practice.  As Slavin (2012) points out, direct instruction allows the teacher to have command over the classroom and guide students’ learning.  Research seems to show that direct instruction is constructive to student learning, but the research on effects is inconclusive (Slavin, 2012).

The next part of the chapter deals with student learning and teaching concepts.  “A concept is an abstract idea that is generalized from specific examples” (Slavin, 2012, p. 203).  The chapter discusses the means of how teachers should deliver content so that students are able to transfer concepts to different contexts (Slavin, 2012).  Slavin suggests that “students learn concepts through observation and definition” (Slavin, 2012, p. 214).  Teachers have several different ways that they need to teach concepts so that students can successfully transfer them to meaningful situations.  A teacher must clearly define and teach a new concept, using explicit examples to help the students (Slavin, 2012).  Then, instructors must allow students to apply the knowledge of the concept to examples that are not recognizable (Slavin, 2012).  This will allow students to be able to transfer concepts to a variety of situations, which is one of the main purposes of school (Slavin, 2012).  I found this section of the chapter very useful for teachers.  Later in this blog, I am going to talk more extensively about my thoughts on teaching students to transfer concepts to different contexts.

 The last part of the chapter deals with discussion in the classroom (Slavin, 2012).  This idea was also a focal point of our weekly discussion.  The class was expected to discuss the differences in instructional preparation and participation that takes place in whole-group lectures and small-group discussions.  Slavin (2012) discusses how whole-group discussion allows the teacher to take less control of the classroom.  In small-group discussions, the teacher plans the focus of the discussion and should choose a leader to guide each group (Slavin, 2012).  All forms of discussion require an appropriate amount of knowledge to be obtained by students before the activity begins (Slavin, 2012).  Most of my peers discussed how much preparation time is spent with small-group discussions.  I agreed with my peers in the premise that successful planning is an important aspect of successful small-group discussions.  Also, the majority of the class agreed that small-group discussion was an ideal method of teaching students to develop their own ideas.  Furthermore, most classmates spoke of the lack of teacher participation that is necessary for successful small-group discussions.  As for whole-group lectures, I disagreed with the premise of many of my classmates.  I noticed in discussion that many of my peers discussed whole-group discussions rather than whole-group lectures.  Many discussion posts spoke of the lack of instructor participation that is required with whole-group discussions.  While this premise is true, I did not think that was the idea that was posed in the discussion prompt.  In my view, the class was supposed to compare whole-group lectures to small group discussions.  Unlike whole-group discussions, whole-group lectures require a large amount of teacher participation and possibly less student participation.  In this manner, whole-group lectures and small-group discussions are vastly different.  I may have been wrong in my assumptions about the class discussions, but I found the confusion between whole-group discussions and whole-group lectures interesting.

The concept of direct instruction meant a great deal to me.  I feel as if direct instruction has been criticized more often the last few years.  The idea of direct instruction is that the teacher has control of the lesson and must have a clearly organized lesson that contains the effective use of example (Slavin, 2012).  This means that difficult material or new concepts are best left in the hands of the teacher.  Initially, it may be beneficial for students to have direct instruction for new concepts so that they can receive clear definitions and examples of how to apply the material.  After properly learning new concepts under direct instruction, the instructor can move to more indirect methods of instruction.

I completely agree with the idea of direct instruction being a valuable method of teaching students.  Having a background in the social sciences, I found direct instruction to be a valuable method of learning.  Although I know that the solely using direct instruction can have negative consequences, I believe it still possesses valuable methods for the classroom.  In fact, I feel that teachers are trusted to be masters of our content, so we are the best resources to use when teaching new concepts.  I have seen a few teachers who wanted to keep students entertained, so there were minimal amounts of direct instruction. More often than not, I did not see positive student outcomes when direct instruction was completely absent.  Though I believe that direct instruction should not be the solitary method of instruction, it serves as a valuable tool in instructing students.

The concept of this lesson that I will use in my classroom is the idea of properly teaching students to transfer learning concepts to real-life situations.  I believe that Slavin (2012) is correct in his assumption that learning may be useless unless students are able to apply knowledge and skills to other contexts and situations.  I need to use a more varied approach to providing examples and practices of learning that can be applied to different contexts.  A possible method of completing this task is having students read a phone bill in order to study informational texts.  I could also have students practice writing cover letters for job resumes.  This activity could help supplement lessons about informational and persuasive writing.  The idea of teaching students to transfer learning concepts is a valuable instructional tool that I plan to use more in my classroom.

The section of the chapter that deals with how direct instruction should be taught was very reinforcing for me as a teacher.  As mentioned earlier, I already use the steps that Slavin (2012) mentions for conducting and effective direct instruction lesson.  I was happy to see that my instructional methods are on par with the approved pedagogical techniques.  I am a firm believer in clearly stating what students will learn and the required skills that needed.  While delivering instruction, I am sure to check that students are properly comprehended the material.  Furthermore, I strongly encourage and accept independent practice as the best way of allowing children to learn new concepts. After completing independent practice, my students receive assessments and immediate feedback.  Finally, each lesson contains review to further emphasize the learned concepts.  Seeing that my methods of instruction are accepted and recommended practices confirmed my instructional ideologies.  I was quite happy to read this section, and it was reaffirming for me as an educator.

I enjoyed this week’s readings and instruction.  As I mentioned earlier, I am quite upset that direct instruction has taken such a bad rap with some teachers.  I firmly believe that direct instruction is invaluable if conducted by competent, organized, and enthusiastic teachers.  If more teachers were able to read Slavin’s (2012) ideas about direct instruction, this educational practice would receive more positive reaction from the educational community.

 

 

 

 

 

 

   Slavin, R.E. (2012). Educational psychology: Theory and practice (10th ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson Education

 

 

 

 

Reflection Journal 3

Hello, it’s Timothy again.  Once again, I am going to talk about the weekly readings and discussions from my EDAT 6115 class.  This week’s blog is centered on week 4 readings and discussions for EDAT 6115.  Our weekly readings focused on information processing and cognitive theories of learning..  The thoughts and discussions were in response to Chapter 6 from Robert E. Slavin’s (2012) book, Educational Psychology (10^th edition). This week’s readings focused on the biological and behavioral factors that  affect how students process information and learn new materials.

Chapter six began by discussing the information-processing model, which is “a dominate theory of learning and memory since the mid-1970’s” (Slavin, 2012, p. 144).  The model is made up from several components.  The first piece of the model is sensory registers. “Sensory registers receive large amounts of information from each of the senses (sight, hearing, touch, smell, taste) and hold it for a very short time” (Slavin, 2012, p. 144).  These elements are important to education on a couple of fronts.  First, students need to pay close attention to new acquired information if they want to retain it (Slavin, 2012).  Next, teachers must emphasis which pieces of information that they want students to learn, and they must limit the amount of information given to students at one time (Slavin, 2012).  This premise holds great importance with our discussion question.  In our weekly discussion, we were asked why it was important for teachers to vary instructional methods.  One reason to vary strategies is to pay attention to students’ sensory registers.  By transitioning strategies, teacher can introduce or re-emphasize  information that they want their students to learn. 

The second component of the information-processing model was short-term or working memory (Slavin, 2012).  Short-term memory is information that is held for a very short time period and is actively being included in thought (Slavin, 2012).  This kind of memory requires education practices, such as rehearsal, that aids in allowing students to hold information.  This was also pertains to our weekly discussion.  I try to use instructional practices that have the students repeat, recite, and practice applying new information. 

The third part of the information-processing model is long-term memory (Slavin, 2012).  Long-term memory is just what it sounds like. This is information that has the capability of being stored for a long time (Slavin, 2012).  Long-term memory is broken into three sections: episodic memory, semantic memory, and procedural memory (Slavin, 2012).  This concept probably held the most attention among classmates when discussing varieties of teaching strategies.  Differing instructional methods can attempt to trigger all three categories of long-term memory.  Slavin (2012) mentioned how high-quality instruction and student-involved instruction can help a child deposit new information into their long-term memory.  This idea contributed to many of the posts for our discussions.  As many classmates pointed out, students have different learning styles.  Therefore, it is necessary for instructors to vary instruction in the hopes that one aspect of the lesson may contribute to the information being put into long-term memory.  If the assignment was fun and had memorable activities, the information might be entered into some students’ episodic memories.  Furthermore, if the lesson builds upon previously learned ideas, the information may be stored in students’ semantic memory.  This can attempt to explain why teachers must vary instructional strategies.

The chapter also discussed how the brain operates.  “Findings have shown how specific parts of the brain process specific types of information in concert with other specific brain sites” (Slavin, 2012, p. 178).  This thought could be applied to the classroom, and more importantly, to national measures of student outcomes.  Slavin (2012) talked about how “some types of learning are easier than others” (p. 157).  Learning language is much easier than learning complicated mathematic principles (Slavin, 2012).  This should be remembered by states when creating standardized tests and accountability measures.

The chapter also talked about why people remember or forget information. Practicing is thought to help students remember information (Slavin, 2012). This is a very important part of instructional strategies.  In contrast, Slavin (2012) mentioned that people may forget new information when it is confused with other pieces of information or moved to make room for new information.  This is very important for classroom teachers with being aware of making sure that students properly retain information before they move onto new information.  There are many strategies that can be taught to help students remember information.  Slavin (2012) mentioned that teachers can use “mnemonics…paired-associate learning, serial learning and free-recall learning” (Slavin, 2012, p. 178)  Moreover, Slavin (2012) spoke to the importance for instructors making use of  information that is meaningful to students.  Teachers should also use a variety of instructional strategies (note-taking, summarizing, outlining, analogies, questioning techniques, use of background knowledge, and metacognition) to help students to process information into long-term memory.

The readings from this week offered theories and ideas that are not often presented to teachers.  The discussions from the week mainly focused on students’ learning styles, but they did not rely on the ideas presented in the book.  Most of my classmates, much like myself, seemed to have a hard time applying these scientific theories as to why instructional strategies should be varied.

This concept has a couple of meanings for me.  First of all, I have learned more about the biological and physiological reasons that students retain information.  So often, teachers are instructed as to the attention that needs to be paid to students’ learning styles.  However, this chapter focused a great deal on understanding that instructional methods help direct information to different sections of the brain.  Secondly, I have learned that the brain will can process information through many different experiences.  The delivery of my instruction can help direct the information that I present to students’ memory banks.

I felt that this concept was very important.  However, I found studying this chapter to be very laborious.  The information was relevant, but the manner of delivery was very mundane.  Slavin (2012) spoke of the problems with overloading the brain with too much information.  I definitely felt that my brain was overloaded after reading the chapter.  In spite of this, I feel that I will retain a good bit of the information because of its meaningfulness to my profession.  These concepts are very important in helping me guide my future instruction.  In my early years of teaching, I tended to base lessons on my perceptions of what was best for the student rather than researched theories on how students learned best.  I feel that the concepts presented in this chapter are very important to my future plans.  In fact, I feel that it would be beneficial for educational programs and conferences to focus on information-processing theories and models.  Teachers, especially young teachers, need to understand how the brain works so that they can plan instruction accordingly.

This idea of how to process information and  how memory is retained is very important to my classroom.  I need to make my information meaningful.  I also need to make sure and include more metacognition, hands-on activities, and lessons that offer memorable episodes. An important lesson that I can apply is to be aware of what makes my students forget information.  In the past, I have had several students tell me that I have “overloaded” them with information.  As Slavin (2012) pointed out, information can be easily forgotten if it is mixed with other information or replaced by new information.  This idea should guide me in having my lessons organized in a manner that isolates important pieces of information. 

I found it very refreshing to learn that some of the instructional practices that I use have been proven to be effective methods of helping students retain information.  I have used the PQ4R method in my classrooms though I did not refer to them by this name.  The method involves: previewing the material, questioning the material, reading the material, reflecting on the material, reciting the information learned, and reviewing the material (Slavin, 2012).  I have found this method to be very effective in helping struggling readers.  Furthermore, I am a big believer in students rehearsing information.  When I present new information, I try to make students repeatedly rehearse how to apply the information.  I also include summarizing as a big part of my instructional plans.  It was very helpful for me to learn that these methods were thought to be beneficial in helping students retain information.

I can much of the material presented in this chapter to improve my teaching.  As stated before, I have realized that I need to be more organized with my lessons.  I do not use advanced organizers a great deal.  After reading about these organizers positive effects on students, I will use them more with my lessons.  This would be a good way to prepare students for upcoming material.

Overall, I learned a great deal from this week’s readings and discussions.  This was information that I have not had presented to me since my enrollment in my bachelor’s degree (over ten years ago).  However, the information was lengthy and very verbose.  I feel like my brain is soup after processing all of this information.  Now, I am reminded of what my students feel like when I am introducing types of dependent clauses or the various grammatical rules of writing.

 

 

Slavin, R.E. (2012). Educational psychology: Theory and practice (10th ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson

      Education.

Reflection 2 EDAT 6115

Hello, it’s Timothy again.  I am going to reflect on the weekly readings from my EDAT 6115 class.  This week’s blog is centered on week 3 readings and assignment for EDAT 6115.  During this week, the class read and discussed behavioral theories of learning.  The thoughts and discussions were in response to chapter five from Robert E. Slavin’s (2012) book, Educational Psychology (10^th edition). The issues presented in this week’s discussion post brought about some interesting viewpoints for teachers to consider.

This chapter discussed learning, behavioral learning theories and their principles, and social learning theory.  Slavin (2012) comments that learning can be intentional or unintentional.  What I really enjoyed was Slavin’s closing remarks in the introduction to learning.  “How do we present students with right stimuli on which to focus their attention and mental effort so that they will acquire skills” (Slavin, 2012, p. 117)?  Behavioral learning theories and social learning theory are tools that can help teachers answer the question listed above.

The first behavioral learning theory discussed was Ivan Pavlov’s classical conditioning.  Pavlov conducted a well-known theory with the salivation of a dog.  The dog would salivate when meat was presented.  Furthermore, a bell would be rung when the meat was presented to the dog.  Consequently, the dog would begin to salivate when a bell started ringing.  The dog would become conditioned to associate the bell with meat being provided.  “Pavlov and his colleagues showed how learning could affect what were once thought to be involuntary, reflexive behaviors, such as salivating” (Slavin, 2012, p. 117).

The second behavioral learning theory discussed was B.F. Skinner’s operant conditioning.  Skinner’s theory proposes that different types of reinforcers (actions that support behaviors) and punishments (actions that reduce behaviors) aid in determining behaviors (Slavin, 2012).  The central question of our class’s weekly discussions dealt with a how sending the student to the office could be a positive reinforcer.  Much of the class agreed that the most common way of this being a positive reinforce was allowing a child to miss class time when the child’s intended outcome was to escape classroom responsibilities or gain attention.  I have witnessed this type of circumstance occur with different students.  A child may feel that going to the office is an “escape” from class.  I also agreed with my classmates in determining that sending a child to the office should be a last resort.  This should serve to weaken the child’s negative behavior, rather than endorse or reinforce negative behaviors.

The weekly readings went on to discuss the need for consequences to immediately follow behaviors to be affective (Slavin, 2012).  We also learned about shaping a child’s learning.  Shaping involves added reinforcers in increment that ultimately aid in the child reaching a goal (Slavin, 2012).  Eventually, the goal is to remove reinforcers from teaching a student to learn to stop certain behaviors.  Slavin (2012) called this process extinction.  The text also discussed having a schedule of reinforcement (Slavin, 2012).  This schedule is “used to increase the probability, frequency, or persistence of desired behavior” (Slavin, 2012, p. 138).  The final principle of behavioral learning theories was discussing how antecedents could be used to determine behaviors. 

The chapter closed with discussing social learning theory.  The main premise of this theory is based on the idea that learning is more often based on the observations of others, modeling (Slavin, 2012).  The theory was developed by Albert Bandura.  He felt that “observational learning involves four phases: attentional, retention, reproduction, and motivational phases” (Slavin, 2012, p. 132).  The idea is that teachers should encourage students to develop self-regulation of their own behaviors and develop personal reinforcers (Slavin, 2012).  Finally, Slavin (2012) says that behavioral learning theories are central in explaining most human actions.  The limitations to these theories are that they are restricted to “observable behaviors” (Slavin, 2012, p. 137).

The theories in the text apply to me greatly as a classroom teacher.  I need to understand whether the actions that I take towards my students’ behaviors weaken or strengthen my students’ behaviors.  The theories mean that they are actions that cause behaviors, and the manners in which the actions are received help determine the persistence or reduction of the behaviors.  These theories confirmed previous held beliefs that I had about dealing with my students’ behaviors.  If I want a child’s behavior to strengthen, I need to find methods that promote and encourage the behaviors.  Similarly, if I wish to reduce or abolish a student’s behaviors, I need to find punishments that discourage the behaviors.  Furthermore, reinforcement or punishment for behavior must come immediately following the behavior if I wish to influence future behaviors.  I might change some ways that I deal with my students’ behaviors after reading the text.  I will try to include a variable-ration schedule to my students’ activities.  Perhaps, this can be used when I teaching writing essays.  Instead of waiting until students finish a particular section (prewrite, rough draft, editing, final draft, or revision), I might have the students partake in an assignment and check their process at random intervals.  This may cause students to focus more on each section of the assignment.  I thoroughly enjoyed reading more about behavioral learning theories in this chapter.  It is always insightful for me to study the research and ideas that have been presented about instructional techniques.  I will attempt to use the ideas presented to inform my future instruction.

Wow, that was a long reflection.  In my opinion, the ideas presented this week are of the utmost importance to good teaching.  Too much of educational instruction learning focuses solely on the curriculum.  I have seen teachers who knew their curriculum well, but they were ineffective because of a failure to properly reinforce or punish their students’ actions and behaviors. 

Slavin, R.E. (2012). Educational psychology: Theory and practice (10th ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson Education