Metacognition TIPR

The teacher in the high school Life Skills class that I'm completing my field experience in helps his students to develop their self-regulatory or conditional metacognitive knowledge by putting them in charge of getting their own materials, figuring out where they are at in their workbooks and what they should do next, and by letting them be as independent as they can be before offering assistance to them. He helps them to monitor their learning by asking them, "What should you do next?" He also helps students to evaluate their own thinking by asking them, "Is there anything you don't understand?" By using metacognition techniques while teaching his students, the teacher is helping them to develop the parts of their brain that are in charge of those skills and they can benefit from them for the rest of their lives.

The students are all in great need of metacognitive skills because all of them have at least some significant deficits in their learning and processing skills. Several of the students have ADHD and so their biology is working against them. Teaching them to have and use metacognitive skills is a challenge because they don't naturally have the inclination to think that way. The procedural metacognitive knowledge is focused on the most often in the class because it is the most conducive to the class work they're required to complete. Declarative and conditional metacognitive knowledge are extremely important for the students to learn, so those skills taught are used as well.

When I taught my lesson, I was careful to help guide them through the procedural processes during my instruction and while they worked with their peer tutors to complete the worksheet I gave them. I asked them to read through the story I presented again and then answer the questions on the worksheet. They were encouraged to reread the story if they had questions they didn't know the answers to. Helping the students to develop their self-regulatory metacognitive knowledge is a goal that I plan to incorporate into my own instruction going forward.

Constructivism TIPR

The teacher in the high school Life Skills class that I'm completing my field experience in is very good at using different types of learning techniques to teach his students with disabilities. I believe that he has created a classroom using constructivism because most of the lessons he teaches are interactive with students coming up to the board to make choices, students use manipulatives, and the teacher is using dialogue with the students to help them make connections.

One example of the teacher using a constructivist classroom is that on Friday, we went to Cabela's and The Outlets in Lehi on a field trip. The purpose was to help the students to enhance their transition goals. At Cabela's the students worked in groups of four to complete a scavenger hunt about how to locate different places prices, and items in the store. They compared prices and selected preferred items. At The Outlets students went to a retail store and asked the staff there several questions regarding working at the store in preparation for getting a job in the future. After we got back to school, the students wrote a reflection about their experiences on the field trip.

Every student in the class has significant needs in most of the academic areas they're taught. Interactive, dynamic, negotiable, valued learning approaches are definitely what is needed in order for these students to learn and to learn well. Most of the students learn best with engaging, interactive lessons that keep their attention throughout the whole lesson because their attention spans aren't very long.

I incorporated a constructivist approach into the lesson that I taught to the students. I presented the material on the Smartboard and I asked students to come up to the board and choose the appropriate answer and then we discussed each scenario as a class. I gave each of the students a copy of the story we'd gone through on the Smartboard so they could review it with their peer tutors a second time, and a worksheet with questions for them to answer about what they had read.

Growth Mindset and Motivation TIPR

I am working in a Life Skills class in a high school with students ranging from 9th to 12th grades. The teacher in the class has a great rapport with the students and they really respect him. The classroom environment is relaxed and comfortable. The students seem to know that they are valued and important to the teacher, the staff, the school administration, and the peer tutors who work with them. 

I believe that the teacher helps to promote a growth mindset for his students by giving them opportunities to participate and he praises the students for their efforts, for both correct and incorrect responses. I was working with a student last week and after he answered a question he'd tell me how smart he was. I loved it!

The main extrinsic motivator that is used for the students in the class is a token economy using fake dollar bills. When the students return from their general education classes with a good behavior report, they earn a dollar bill and at the end of the week they can buy a prize from the class store. By earning the money for positive behavior, the students can learn to cultivate their  self-actualization skills by having a desire to consistently improve their performance and behavior. 

 All of the students in the class need extensive help in every area, but especially in academics. Teaching the students to have a growth mindset is imperative in helping them to feel confident in their abilities. The teacher uses a sense of relatedness in his classroom by showing them respect and by genuinely liking them. The students' need for competence is met by being told repeatedly that they are capable and intelligent. 

I addressed the students' needs when I taught my lesson by showing each student a sense of relatedness by valuing each students' response to the questions that I asked. I felt like I touched upon the students' need for competence by giving lots of positive praise to each student and their comments and answers to the questions I asked during my lesson.  

Identity TIPR

The children that I observed in the elementary school resource classroom were in the Industry v. Inferiority: fourth stage of Erikson's psychosocial development. The students in the class had some level of a learning difficulty that led them to be behind their peers in the general curriculum classroom. The students all exhibited signs of a feeling of inferiority at times probably due to a lack of success during this stage of development, and likely due to a lack of success in previous stages of development, as well. Some of the children put the assignments they were given down, others put themselves down. One boy avoided the work as much as possible by putting his head down, getting up to get a drink, wanting to give the teacher a hug, or complaining that his stomach hurt. He had the most difficulty with each subject than any of her other students.
I believe that Marcia's theories of Identity diffusion and Identity foreclosure were shown by the students in the class. The student who avoided his work the most was exhibiting Identity diffusion. There were a few students who were the class clowns and made jokes about the assignments and in so doing, exhibited Identity foreclosure. The teacher was very patient with the students and made positive, encouraging comments that helped them to refocus and to try again when something was difficult for the students. When T wanted to avoid his work by getting a drink, she let him get one after he had done a problem and then she asked him to do more problems after he sat back down in his seat.

The students all needed to gain some level of competence and confidence in their abilities to perform the tasks that were asked of them. I believe that with more time, effort, and a lot of patience, the majority of the students will be able to feel some level of Industry, rather than inferiority. There were at least two students with an Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) that may not catch up to their peers, but they can continue to progress in their knowledge of the core subjects that they are taught. I believe that the teacher helped the students to successfully navigate toward Industry by encouraging them when they struggled, reteaching tricky concepts with more clarity, and giving positive praise to them when the were successful.

I was aware of the student's particular needs when I taught my mini-lesson and I did my best to accommodate them. I spoke loudly and clearly, checking the students' reactions for understanding. I differentiated my lesson for T by writing single digit multiplication problems with 1, 5, and 0 while I taught the other students The Box Method with 2 by 2 digit multiplication problems on the board. I checked each student's work and helped those who needed more instruction and I gave positive praise to each student as they worked.

Information Processing TIPR

The teacher that I observed in the resource classroom gave each student the same book to follow along with, which helped to strengthen their iconic memory, and she had each student take turns reading the book, which helped to strengthen their echoic memory in their sensory memory. Both of these techniques worked together to build each student's perception and helped with dual-coding by allowing them to experience both audio and visual images. The book that they read took several sessions to complete, so the teacher used distributed practice by spacing their study of the book throughout a few days. She helped the students to encode the information the students learned to working memory through elaborative rehearsal by asking the students to relate things the already knew to the text they were reading. 

The students in the resource classroom were there for reading instruction. When a student struggled to read a word, another student would jump in and help read the word. It was nice to see them help each other, but I would have liked to see how a wait time would benefit the struggling student. By being 'rescued,' the student didn't need to sound the word out, or even look at the word for any significant amount of time, so there was less of an opportunity to use dual-coding, chunking, or iconic memory, to help encode the information into their working memory.

When I taught mu mini lesson, I was aware of the problems that each student struggled with, and I did my best to incorporate a wait time into the students' reading opportunities. It was difficult to change a pattern that had already been set by the teacher, but I gently asked the other students not to respond as quickly as they were used to. Then the struggling student had a better chance to use chunking to read the word, which allowed for more focused attention on the word being read. I believe that by utilizing a wait time, the students were better able to encode the information into their working memory.

Piaget TIPR

In my field experience in an elementary school classroom, I have seen the teacher use adaptation when teaching writing to her students. She taught them the writing process by drawing on the information they'd attained from the outside word, specifically Lagoon. She assimilated their prior knowledge into a current, collaborative assignment about their experiences at Lagoon. One of the ways she accommodated the assignment for one of her students who hadn't been to Lagoon was to help him to recall experiences at another amusement park so that he felt like he could participate in helping with an assignment about a place he hadn't been to before. In a resource class, the students are already in a state of disequilibrium, not being able to understand and assimilate new information. The teacher was so good at bridging the gaps in the student's learning by teaching with bringing in pertinent prior knowledge and concepts with new content.

The students all had needs in these areas to varying degrees because it was a resource classroom. I believe that the teacher should continue to teach the students who struggle with disequilibrium and assimilation with the content they are being taught. Equilibration should be a common goal among teachers so that all students can find balance and can keep developing and growing within the world around them.

When I taught a mini lesson to the students in the class,  I was very aware of the challenges that each student struggled with and I did my best to tailor my instruction to their academic needs. I adapted the content of the math lesson and I tried to use equilibration to help each student  understand the multiplication problems we were working on. I assimilated previous content the students had been taught to the new content I was focusing on. I believe the lesson was a success and that the students were able to increase their knowledge of the math curriculum that I taught them.

Vygotski TIPR

1. What evidence do you see in your field experience of specific teacher behaviors that are related to Vygotsky's theory of sociocultural cognitive development? Specifically address the use of More Knowledgeable Other(s), how the teacher determines the students' Zones of Proximal Development, the types of scaffolding/assisted learning provided, how the teacher helps students internalize the information, the types of cultural and technological tools used, etc.

The teacher that I observed in my field experience exhibited incredible proficiency as the MKO in her resource classroom. She knew when to use the ZPD while teaching math and reading lessons to her students. She seemed to have a great grasp on the importance of the language that she chose to use in her teaching. She scaffolded the text very effectively, giving the students assistance with their learning objectives that were slightly above their area of comfort and then gradually letting the students take more control of their own learning as they felt more comfortable with the task they were given. 

2. What are the students' needs in this area? What more could or should be done?

The students in the elementary resource class that I observed were in grades fourth through sixth grades. The students needed varying degrees of help in math, reading, and writing. There were a few students that only needed assistance with one subject and a few who needed a "double dose" of one subject. The teacher was so organized and she knew each student so well that I'm not sure what more she could have, or should have done.

3. How will you address these needs when you teach your mini-lesson?

When I taught my math lesson to the students, I was careful to take each student's needs into account. I used differentiation for one student was farther behind the others in the class by writing single digit math problems in his journal for him to solve. I wrote 2 digit by 2 digit multiplication problems on the white board and I taught the students the "box method" for solving the problems. As the MKO, I used appropriate language and I was conscious of the students and their individual needs as they solved the problems. I made sure to use the ZPD in my lesson so the students got the most out of the lesson. I believe that the students were able to learn from the lesson I taught them and the feedback I received from the teacher was positive.

Cite specific examples from your observations as evidence to support your claims and make clear connection to Vygotsky's work. Be thorough in your coverage of the theory, addressing multiple concepts to demonstrate your understanding and use the vocabulary to support your response.

My Personal Theory of Learning

My personal theory of learning is that  learning is the acquisition and use of knowledge attained by instruction and life experiences. Knowing that the brain is still developing for the students that I will teach, I know that the way they learn can help to develop their brains. I will be sure to incorporate many different methods into my teaching.

Piaget believed that the brain develops over time and that active play and learning by receiving information through multiple ways. 

Vygotsky believed that collaborative play assisted in language development in children while they engage in self-talk.

I believe that we need to make learning as fun as we can so that multiple areas of our students brains are stimulated as they learn.

Jess Gifford Ed Psych 2018

1. My definition of learning is: Learning is the acquisition and use of knowledge attained by instruction and life experiences.

2. How do I believe people learn? I believe that most people are visual learners. Being engaged and interested in the subject being taught can enhance each person's learning. 

3. What will learning look like in my classes? I would like learning to look like fun in my class. I want my students to feel safe and comfortable and to be able to learn in the ways that are unique for each student.