Barb

         I am so thankful to have had the privilege of attending Barb's lecture this week. I am still thinking about her words several days later. First of all, I am amazed by Barb and all of her accomplishments. Her perseverance in working hard to express her brilliant mind is inspiring. Barb's attitude is inspiring as well. She typed in the beginning of the lecture "...autism is my prism, not my prison".
         There are a couple of things that I will take from Barb's words that will shape the teacher that I become. One important piece of advice to us was to enjoy our lunch. Do not be like a businessman juggling chainsaws frantically running around, but rather be like a native sitting in the grass enjoying nature. I have to admit that I have been much like the businessman these past couple of weeks. I have been running around like crazy trying to keep my head above water and finishing all of my final assignments. Barb's reminder to be more like Mary rather than busy Martha was so refreshing. I know that when I have my own class I will be tempted to be the chainsaw juggling businessman. However, I believe that it is so important to take a pause and delight in the world that surrounds us. Children need to see adults doing this. Children need to know that life is to be experienced and enjoyed, not rushed through. I hope to set this example when I am a teacher.
         Another word of wisdom I will take away is that the world need autism. I need autism. I need those around me who think, act, and experience the world differently that I do. It is really easy for me to think that students I will have with special needs will need me. The truth is I will need them just as much. Barb also encouraged us to help students find out who they are and to help them be that on purpose. We must meet students where they are to connect with them. If students are mute or do not speak, join them in their silence until they are comfortable enough to express themselves.

Unit 3 QTC Chapter 3

Chapter 3

(3.1) Personal and social development can have a major influence on both individual student learning and the learning environment as a whole.  Identify a case from the CSEL guidelines* that you would like to address in your paper.  Then, examine the possible developmental factors that could be influencing your target student(s) or classroom in the case study.  Consider all dimensions of personal and social development, including cognitive, language, social, emotional, and moral development. *CSEL guidelines can be found under CSEL Artifact. Cases are included at the end of the document. Choose the case that best suits your desired grade level.

         I will analyze the elementary education case study concerning Lisa’s disruptive group behavior. Lisa seems to not have the ability to put herself in someone else’s shoes or concern herself with the needs of her group members. This makes it difficult for her to understand that everyone will take turns at having different roles. She has difficulty seeing past what she wants in order to contribute to her group. Also, Lisa may not have developed the emotions and morals associated with sharing and contributing to a team. Another developmental issue could be self-efficacy. Lisa may not want to contribute because she feels that she would not be good at any other role other than the one she wants.

(3.22) Check out tables 3.1 (p. 75), 3.2 (p. 83) and 3.3 (p. 91) with particular attention to the age ranges you are interested in teaching.  Identify your personal favorite ways that an educator can promote a child’s sense of self, perspective taking, and moral reasoning skills.

The first suggestion for kindergarten through 2^nd grade would be highly effective. The suggestion is to encourage students to tackle challenging tasks that they think they can accomplish. Teachers should also provide sufficient scaffolding to make this happen. Teachers and students should agree upon achievable goals and work together to meet those goals. 

Unit 3 QTC Chapter 2

Chapter 2

(2.1) One of the most cited theories of human development is that of Swiss biologist Jean Piaget.  After reading about Piaget’s basic assumptions (p. 27-32) look with particular attention at the stage of child development you would like to teach.  The other most cited theory of human development belongs to Russian developmentalist Lev Vygotsky.  Vygotsky’s theory of cognitive development leads us to expect greater diversity among our same-aged students than Piaget.  Given these two influential theorists’ ideas on cognitive development, how might you accommodate students who are not yet working at the level of their peers?

         I would take a combination of Piaget and Vgotsky’s theories to accommodate a student who is not yet working at the level of his or her peers. Piaget believes that children are naturally motivated to learn. They learn actively. According to Piaget, children construct their own knowledge rather than absorb it.  Piaget also believes that students move through a set of cognitive development stages. Vgoytsky’s, on the other hand, believes that adults systematically impart knowledge, culture, and cognitive tools to children. Also, cognitive activities begin socially and eventually move towards the internal.

         I think that is important to consider both perspectives in the classroom. It is difficult for me to say how I would accommodate students who are not yet working at the level of their peers without knowing my students personally. However, I would try to harness a student’s already existing interest in a subject matter and incorporate that interest into an area where they struggle. Additionally, I think that social interaction is key in learning. So, I would pair struggling students with students who are working at one level higher than they are.

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

I would love to follow the first suggestion for my age range that I am interested in which is to read age-appropriate storybooks as a way of enhancing vocabulary. This is the age where they are most engaged in being read aloud to. The next suggestion is to give corrective feedback when students’ use of words indicates inaccurate understanding. I feel that this suggestion should be used with caution. It is important to make sure that the student receives a healthy balance of praise and corrections. The next suggestion is to promote listening skills. This is a challenging task for kindergarten to second graders. I will incorporate this suggestion through teaching listening skills during reading, centers, and other activities. I will ask follow-up questions to make sure students understand important content. I will be careful when choosing my questions so as to not feed the answer to my students. The last suggestion is to ask students to construct narratives about recent events. I plan on asking students to write in their class journals on Mondays about their weekend and Fridays about their week. 

Case Study #1

One of your 4th grade female students is very well developed physically and looks as if she is 15 instead of 9 years of age. Today you heard a group of 5th grade boys commenting on her body in a lewd and humiliating manner. Two other teachers also heard these comments but blew them off as "boys will be boys," and "she needs to get used to it."

I would be appalled if I heard another teacher say "she needs to get used to it" in reference to a nine year old girl or if another teacher excused the boys' behavior by saying "boys will be boys". These are examples of things we cannot say as educators or as models for young children. We must not enforce objectification of women by saying that it is just the way things are and everyone needs to adjust. The first step I would take in addressing this issue is to immediately talk to the boys as soon as I heard this conversation. I would arrange a meeting in the principal's office as soon as possible. I would discuss this issue with the principal as privately as possible as to not embarrass the girl further. I would have this discussion with the principal over the phone as well as over an email so I would have a written document of the situation. During the meeting, the principal and I would decide on an appropriate punishment. My suggestion would be that the boys would have to submit a one page single-spaced paper to both the principal and I with an apology and explanation of why his behavior was inappropriate. In the classroom, I would incorporate a character lesson on respect and specifically address the impact of lewd comments. 

Chapter 10 QTC Kegan Butler

Chapter 10 QTC

10.1 List and describe the five essential conditions for successful modeling.

10.2 Think about the three behaviors and skills that can be learned through modeling. Give an example of how you will model a specific behavior or task that falls under each category in your own classroom. 

Chapter 9 QTC Kegan Butler

Chapter 9 QTC

9.1 When is it appropriate to use extrinsic motivation?

9.2 Do you think that the process of shaping would work just as well in a high school classroom as it would for behaviors in an elementary classroom? Explain why or why not. 

Chapter 8 QTC

8.1

Define creativity, convergent thinking, and divergent thinking.

8.2

Do you think it is more important to promote convergent or divergent thinking? Give examples of ways that you will help your students develop both ways of thinking in your classroom.

QTC Chapter 7 Kegan Butler

1. The reason you remember a party differently than a friend who attended the same event could be attributed to _________________.

2.   Give a specific example of an authentic activity for problem-based learning and project-based learning that you would use in your future classroom. 

Chapter 6 QTC Kegan Butler

Lower-Order Thinking (Knowledge, Understanding, Application):

What is working memory? How an we as teachers use our knowledge of working memory to benefit our students and influnece our instruction?

Higher-Order Thinking (Analysis, Evaluation):

The text provides five reasons why students forget important information. Give a brief description of each and come up with a ways a teacher could combat these issues to benefit their students. 

Kegan Butler QTC 15

(15.1) Turn to p. 559 in Ormrod’s text.  Now, imagine that you are meeting with Ingrid’s grandmother today to explain her scores on the recent standardized achievement test pictured at the bottom of p. 559. What will you tell her about Ingrid’s performance? Her strengths? Her weaknesses? Even though this is not a criterion-referenced test, if Ingrid’s grandmother asks you what she could be doing at home to help strengthen Ingrid’s skills, what will you suggest? 

            First of all, I would thank Ingrid’s grandmother for coming to meet me and for taking an interest in her granddaughter’s education. I would praise her for her involvement and encourage future involvement by telling her how important she is to Ingrid’s success in school. Next I would share why I enjoy having Ingrid in my class and give specific examples of ways that she is doing well. Then I would begin to explain Ingrid’s test scores. I would first explain the “National Percentile Bands” or confidence intervals, and how they reflect the amount of error that could affect Ingrid’s percentile scores. Then I would discuss reading comprehension, science and social studies because these are the subjects where Ingrid scored the highest. I would say how impressive it is that Ingrid scored well above average in these three subjects. Then I would discuss math concepts, spelling, and math computation. These are the subjects that Ingrid scored average to below average on. I would remind Ingrid’s grandmother that there is a margin for error on these tests. These scores are not a reason to worry, but I would like to take precautionary measures so that Ingrid does not fall behind. I would then offer resources for Ingrid to work on at home in order to improve in spelling and math computation, which are her weakest subjects. Then I would thank Ingrid’s grandmother again for meeting with me and encourage her to contact me if she has any questions. 

Kegan Butler 14.1 and 14.2

14.1

In the classroom that I am observing in, the fourth grade students are currently learning how to sequence events in a story in the order in which they happened.  If I were giving a lesson on sequencing, I would first discuss with my students the meaning and process of sequencing. Next I would give my students a fictional story to read within a small group. As the students are reading, I would first perform an informal assessment and ask the students questions about the order of events in the story up to the point that they had read. After all the students had finished reading, I would have them individually write about the story and the sequence of events in their journal. Then I would have the students return to their groups where I would give them several “events” from the story on colored pieces of paper and have them lay the pieces of paper out in the order in which they happened together. Lastly, I would have them individually sequence the events in the story on a formal assessment such as a worksheet. 

14.2

My first instinct is to say that norm-referenced assessments are superior. Assessing students based off of the performance of their peers seems more reasonable than holding students accountable to a specific standard. Norm-referenced assessments can measure how students compare to one another not only in the local school but at a national level as well. One reason I like this type of assessment is because I do not think that it is necessarily fair to hold all students to one set criteria. The advantage of a norm-referenced assessment is that using this assessment makes clear how students compare with their peers. This helps teachers to know where their students are in comparison with one another so that they can better instruct their students. Teachers are better able to identify those students who are exceptionally gifted and those with disabilities. Another advantage is that this assessment can better account for test questions that are not appropriate for the student’s level. If all of the students miss that question, they are not penalized. Also, norm-referenced assessments help to account for questions that some students from a different cultural or socioeconomic background might not know the answer to. However, the disadvantage to norm-referenced assessment is that it does not show specifically what students have learned. Therefore, norm-referenced assessment would not be an accurate way to measure a students’ progress over a long period of time. Criterion-referenced assessments reveal exactly what students have learned. This type of assessment most accurately tracks students’ progress over time. Another advantage of the criterion-referenced assessment is that it best measures students’ mastery of the curriculum instead of their mastery in comparison with one another. I think that it would be helpful as a teacher to have both types of assessment so that you could benefit from both of their advantages while covering the gaps of their disadvantages.