Barb Retenbach

write a blog entry about the presentation. There are no questions that you should answer but some prompts to help you:

a. How did this presentation change your view of those with Autism?

b. How will you consider autistic children in your classroom in light of this presentation?

c. How does the information you’ve learned affect your future teaching practice?

d. Was this information new, and how do you feel about it

I was really curious as to see what the presentation would be like. I have never been to a presentation like this one before. I thought it was incredible. Before this presentation I really didn't know a whole lot about Autistic individuals. Growing up one of my best friends cousins was autistic and all I remember from that was that she was a really great artist and did not talk much. Other than that I have only studied Autism in my Special Ed class briefly this semester. Barb and Lois opened my eyes to so much. Autistic individuals are brilliant, or at least Barb is and they are capable of so much more than what I had believed to be true. She has so many great ideas and such a wonderful sense of humor. I think a lot of people tend to assume Autistic individuals do not have much going on in their minds or are trapped in their bodies. This is not the case at all. Barb talked about how she is happy and enjoys her life and loves history and thinking. I will consider autistic children the same way I consider those who are not autistic. An individual with likes and dislikes, and knowledge. Just a different way of interacting and conversing. I learned that autistic students sometimes tend to relate to objects more than words. In my classroom if this is the case I will be sure to allow students to keep an object at their desk, or near them that comforts them. Also, I will be sure to find out something they are genuinely interested in and use that as a tool of discussion and learning. I think in my future teaching practice I will be more aware, and will embrace the diverse neurology in my classroom. All students are brilliant in different ways and different aspects. I won't have low expectations for any student. So much information from the presentation was new to me. I really feel like I see things from an entirely new perspective. One that I will carry with me into classroom settings and the outside world. 

Group Differences Forum

Write a brief reflection (1-2 paragraphs) on the group differences forum that you just participated in. Use the following questions to guide your reflection but you do not have to answer them.

• o What did you learn during our forum that you didn’t know before?
• o What would you have liked to learn more about?
• o How do you think the information presented in the forum will help you in your classroom?
• o What could have been done to help you learn more?
• o What suggestions do you have about the forum (changes I should make, articles to pitch or to keep, topics that should be discussed that we did not cover?)

I really liked the group differences forum. There were a lot of points and perspectives that opened my eyes to different sides I have never thought about before. I really enjoyed listening to other individuals perspectives on religion in schools and the classroom because I know my experiences with it are very different from my peers experiences. Also, I didn't know about the 100 Black Men of America group. I really found that discussion to be interesting. I am at Mooreland Heights Elementary right now for my rotation and I have witnessed African American students (Kindergarteners) say they don't like school because their siblings, parents, or other friends do not like school and thus it becomes "trendy" to hate school. I think I would have liked to learned more about poverty and school, and even more on the topic Disablities which was the group that I was in. Even just reading the article for my group I learned so much. I have nevr thought about individuals with disabilities being considered oppressed people, but in certain ways they really are. This forum made me want to know more, and do more research on specific topics. I think we decide we want to be teachers with out thinking about these hard parts of it. Diversity can be a huge hurdle in some schools or states, and learning about ways to create a positive environment will really help me in the future. I learned that we need to reject all stereotypes and assumptions and leave them at the door. To me this seemed obvious, but the group forum opened up my eyes to different types of stereotypes and assumptions that may not be so blatant. I think it was great how there were different groups, and how we got to pick the group that we wanted to be in. I chose disablities because it is something that I am interested in learning about that I haven't had a lot of experience with. I think this group forum was a great way to wrap up the semester as well. A lot of us have so many different experiences that we bring to the table and to use our experiences and knowledge from the course and combine it all in this group differences forum was very interesting. I really like that groups that are there, but I wish we could have covered gender as well. I think next time gender needs to be included, and students are asked if they would mind switching into that group I think it would be ok. All in all I really enjoyed the group differences forum. It is one of my favorite parts of the class because we really get to express how we feel about certain ideas, or what we have experienced through the eyes of a teacher or a student. I think we all learned a lot from eachother today!

PLE 10

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.

Language plays a critical role in cognitive development that can be detrimental to a students academic success. The idea that children's language is very limited at a young age and develops over time can be seen throught through an example using animals. When a younger child is asked to describe an animal they are more likely to descrive an animal that has the characteristics of a dog or a cat because they have seen or been around this animal in their everyday life. Once a student has developed more cognitively, and has been exposed to more language and different language they are more likely to describe characteristics of exotic and different animals. Thus, the trend continues the older they become. It is important to remember that a big amount of the words students come into school knowing come from what they have heard and picked up at home. If a student is coming from a professional home where both parents are professionals, they have dinner together, and story time this child is more likely to know more words and to have been exposed to more language. For a student who has a difficult home life, or lower class family the child is less likely to have heard the same amount or types of words as children from the professional home. In my classroom I am really going to try and make a huge effort to find time to read aloud to my students everyday. It is so important to have that reading time for students. I also want to incorporate some individual reading time for my students. This way for the students that are not getting a lot of language support at home, my classroom can help them develop their language skills. For those who have the language support at home it will help them practice. I will also have different reading and language centers in my classroom. I think to have my students surrounded by language will help them develop cognitively with their language skills. I will also use academic language in my classroom, and introduce new words in everyday converstations that can help increase language support. I will also have a word wall in my classroom where words will be added throughout the year. I hope to have a classroom that supports all students in their language development, so that they will develop the appropriate skills to succeed.

PLE 9

How might self-efficacy and self-regulation contribute to the intervention plans you use in your case study?

Lisa has been acting up when put into small groups. I would talk with Lisa and ask her questions like why she thinks she is acting out? and where she thinks her behavior is coming from. Lisa may have a low self efficacy when it comes to working in groups, which could possibly be the reason for lack of effort. The case study states that Lisa gets angry when she does not get the part in the group that she wants. Lisa may have a high self-efficacy for one part of the small group, and may have a low self-efficacy for the others causing her to get angry when she does not get the part she is most confident in. After talking with Lisa, I would figure out why she gets mad whens he has certain roles as opposed to others, and then help build Lisa's self-efficacy for those other roles, and for working in small groups. I would tell Lisa I know you can do this, and I have seen you do this before and give her an example. Maybe building up Lisa's self-efficacy will help her make the right decisions, and participate more in the small groups regardless of the role she is given. Self-regulation would be a good way for Lisa to keep track of her behavior, and for her to be accountable of acting out, getting angry, or not putting effort in. I would sit with Lisa and show her a self-regulation chart, and ask her to fill it out after she is done with her small group. She will rate herself on her performance and improvements. Self-regulation will help Lisa really face the problems she is having, and get a grasp of how her attitudes and behaviors are relating to her performance in the small group. I would let Lisa know I will be chekcing her self regulation chart, and if she improved give her positive feedback and praise. Hopefully, the self-regulation, positive feedback and praise, and positive reactions from her peers in small group will help raise her self-efficacy in small groups and situations with peers.

PLE 8

Consider your CSEL intervention case study. Are there tools from a behaviorist view for either encouraging productive behaviors or discouraging undesirable behaviors that you could apply to the case? What are they?

Now, compare the interventions that you have identified above with what you think might work from a cognitive or constructivist viewpoint (you may need to Google for ideas but it's okay to just speculate based on your prior knowledge). How do they compare to behaviorist tools? What are the benefits of each theory, and what are the deficits? Which theory might play a larger role in how you determine classroom management?

For behaviorists, the teacher could set up an award system for Lisa. Every time she is on task and doing what she is supposed to be doing she gets points, rewards, or a sticker. This can be tricky though because it would have to be done in a way where other students get upset because they are not being rewarded. Also, the teacher can set up a system where if Lisa is not doing what she is supposed to then she has to take homework problems home and do them. When she does stay on task and do what she is supposed to do then the teacher can begin to take away the homework problems as an award. For cognitive theroy the teacher can model behavior that Lisa should have with in her group. The teacher can also model self regulation and self monitoring to help Lisa understand how to keep tabs on herself. I personally think that certain points from both behaviorist theory and cognitive theroy can be used in this case study with Lisa. I think modeling can play a major role with Lisa, and then rewarding Lisa for her performace can help her too. I am not positive but I think that for construtivist the teacher would ask Lisa what she thinks she can do to make better decisions, and let her explore her options based on what the teacher has asked of her previouisly. Behaviorist tools differ because behaviorist tools deal with response and reinforcement of behavior while cognitive is model based and constructivism is student based. I think though that when using behaviorist theories teachers must be careful with using rewards. Lisa might take advantage of her rewards, or only perform well when given a reward. If this is the case, what will the teacher do when Lisa stops performing well when the rewards stop? For me, I think cognitive theory plays a major role for classroom management because if a teacher is modeling appropriate actions and management from the start students are more likely to pick up on such things and keep it alive in the classroom!

PLE 7

Think of an activity or lesson component that explicitly teaches one or more metacognitive and one or more problem solving skills.

An activity that I have done with a class before that I absolutely love is based off a lesson about inventions. I would start off with talking about inventions with my students, and asking them if they knew what it means to invent something. This would be used to activate prior knowledge. Then I would read a story called "Incredible Inventions". After this I would begin the activity. I would give students different supplies to work with such as paper, glue, glitter, tape, paper clips, buttons, paper towel tubes etc. and as them to make their own invention. In doing this, students are working with metacognitive skills and problem solving skills. Students are thinking about using materials they are farmilar with to create something no one else has ever created before. This gives students a chance to be creative why building knowledge on what they already know with the given materials. Students will have to critcally think and use problem solving skills to create their own invention. Students will have to use problem solving skills like breaking the problem into two or more subproblems. Since I will provied them with tools they are farmilar with they will have to look at all of the materials activate prior knowledge and recognize what they are normally used for, and then brainstorm different ways to use the materials in a way that has never been done before. An acitivity that involves problem solving and thinking outside of the box like this allows students to think divergently and creatively. This activity provides students with a great deal of metacognition or thinking about thinking. Since students are inventing something new they will have to be thinking about what they are thinking about inventing!

Chapter 7

Make a list of the sequence of skills necessary for ultimate mastery of the content of your lesson through a constructivist approach.

Which of these learning activities/skills lend themselves to student’s individual or group construction? How might you structure learning activities that lead students to discover these skills/these principles?

 

The lesson that my group and I created in class involved Reading Comprehension for first graders. We said we would have students read a certain short story and follow up with an activity to assess comprehension. Before reading the story, the teacher will introduce the text with the aid of visuals, props, or videos with closed captioning (that relate to the story). Next the teacher will do a picture walk and ask students if any of the pictures look farmilar thus, activating student prior knowledge. Activating students prior knowledge will allow students to construct their understanding of the text and build on their existing knowledge.

 

Students will collaborate in groups to talk about the story, and give different view points and ideas about the text. This group construction will help other students construct more knowledge based on their peers views and understandings of the story. The students will then do an activity where they create a comic strip about the story they just read, illustrating main points and ideas.

 

 Making this comic strip will allow the teacher to see if students are really comprehending the story, and understanding what a main point vs background point is within texts. After collaborating, the students will work individually on their comic strips which will allow them to construct their own knowledge and answers based on their prior knowledge, the text, and group construction.