EdPsych 401 Group Differences Blog Post

            I apologize in advance.  This is my absolute last assignment for this semester and, as so, may not be as involved or as detailed as any of my previous work.  But I’m going to give it a shot.

            Ladson-Billings article: This article was a very interesting read.  There were a lot of shocking facts and information presented, such as the fact that “Chicago public schools spend about $8,482 annually per pupil, while nearby Highland Park spends $17,291 per pupil” (Ladson-Billings, 2009, p. 6).  When looking at such spending rifts between white and black student populations, the question has to be asked if spending should come from somewhere else other than property tax.  I have worked a short time at an urban school here in Knoxville, and I have seen how such poverty-stricken areas can provide such little funding for local schools, and how such little funding can adversely affect student academic achievement.  And it still kills me how, if a school performs low in overall academic achievement, funds are taken away, rather than given to them in order to get new technology and highly-qualified teachers into the school.  No doubt, we do have an educational “debt” that we owe to the minority groups of our country.  (Downside of this article: the “debt/deficit” metaphor.  Not an easily accessible metaphor that people can understand a new concept through, especially an economically-ignorant person like me.)

            My multiculturalism group read and presented the article “Improving Race Relations in Schools: From Theory and Research to Practice” by James A. Banks.  In a way similar to the Ladson-Billings article, this article deals with race and the need for racial equality and acceptance in schools between majority and minority groups.  Banks offers some valuable strategies whereby educators can get their racially diverse students working together, talking about issues of prejudice together, and, ultimately, appreciating and accepting one another more.  One strategy that Banks presents which I believe every teacher (especially English teachers) should follow is to present students with multiethnic readers.  In multiethnic readers, the protagonist of the book is typically of a minority racial group, or hails from a cultural group outside of the mainstream culture.  It is important for teachers to assign these books to their students and allow their students to read these multiethnic readers because such books can offer majority group members a peek into the lifestyle and experience of someone, in a way, different from themselves.  And hopefully, by allowing students to see read about the life experiences of minority group members, majority group members will realize that they really aren’t that different from each other, that they both experience similar struggles/pains/happinesses, that they are both, essentially, human.  (Downside of this article: the “do-ability” of these strategies.  Are teachers really expected to take time out of their already hectic and structured schedules to conduct in-class “simulations” and “role plays” in which majority group students can experience and better understand racial prejudice.  Even Banks (2006) himself acknowledges that “it is often challenging to create these kinds of conditions for interventions within the context of courses,” and that “teachers and diversity workshop leaders often use didactic lectures and other kinds of informational presentations…because they are more convenient and practical” (p. 610-611).  And they do, to me, seem more practical and ideal for the reality of a classroom schedule.)

My 3 Take-Away's from EdPsych 401

1.  The first and most obvious aspect of this class that I will take away with me is the fact that there are five distinct theories of learning: behaviorism, social cognitive, cognitive, constructivism, and cognitive-constructivism.  The knowledge of these various learning theories will benefit me in the future, not only when I am in charge of my own class and my own students' learning, but also when I am interacting with colleagues who may have a different outlook and learning theory from me.

2.  My second take-away is related to the first: my personal learning theory is in line with constructivism, in that I believe individuals learn by constructing their own knowledge base through the development of concepts, schemas, scripts, theories, and, if need be, conceptual change.

3. Finally, I now realize the importance of creating a comfortable, low-risk learning environment for my students.  By creating such a low-risk environment, I can decrease the likelihood that my students will experience debilitating anxiety and increase the likelihood that they will be motivated to participate in my classroom, a motivation any good classroom needs since motivation "affects cognitive processes, such as what learners pay attention to and how much they think about and elaborate on it" (Ormrod, 2011, p. 362).

EdPsych 401 Blog Post 10: Student Generated Questions for Chapter 3

1.  Briefly analyze the difference between authoritative parenting and authoritarian parenting. [p. 63] (Analyze)

2. What is an "imaginary audience"? [p. 71] (Remember)

EdPsych 401 Blog Post 9: Student Generated Questions for Chapter 2

1. Briefly evaluate your own life in the terms of Bronfenbrenner's Theory of Environmental to Influences.  For example, what do you believe are your "family" influences, "neighborhood and community" influences, and "state/province and country" influences? [p. 22] (Evaluate)

2. Say that you are sitting across from a young child.  Between you two, on the table, are three different beakers.  Two of the beakers are the same size, with the same amount of water in them; the third beaker is much taller than the other two, and empty.  You ask the child, "Do both of these glasses have the same amount of water in them?" and you point to the two same-sized beakers with the same amount of water.  The child answers yes.  Then, you pour all of the water from one beaker into the third, tallest beaker, and then ask the child, "Which container has the most water now?"  The child points to the tallest beaker.  What stage of Piaget's cognitive development would you say this child is in? [p. 29-34] (Remember)

EdPsych 401 Blog Post 8: Student Generated Questions for Chapter 5

1. Review the information regarding cognitive styles and dispositions Ormrod provides on pp. 147-149 and identify at least one way in which cognitive styles and dispositions are similar and one way they are different. (Evaluate)

2. In 1975, Congress passed a law that guarantees certain educational rights to students with disabilities, including the right to (1) a free and appropriate education, (2) fair and nondiscriminatory evaluation, (3) education in the least restrictive environment as possible, (4) an individualized education program, and (5) due process.  What is the name of this law? (Remembering)

EdPsych 401 Blog Post 7: Student Generated Questions

1. Apply your knowledge of problem-solving strategies to create an algorithm for getting dressed in the morning. (Apply)

2. Create an ill-defined word problem and describe why it is ill-defined. (Create)

EdPsych 401 Field Trip Blog: "Girl Rising" Film

Tonight, I went to the viewing of Girl Rising at the UC Auditorium.  The film is a documentary chronicling the lives of nine young girls from various countries around the world, and each girl’s struggle to receive a decent education and chance at success.  The film was touching at moments, brutal at others, and inspirational throughout.  Following are three points from the film that I found interesting and which stood out to me.

            1.  The film served to remind me that school is not free for children in every country.  One girl in the film, Wadley from Haiti, had been enrolled in a local elementary school but, following the major earthquake that devastated the country in 2010, was turned away from the school when her mother could not afford the tuition.  Keep in mind, this was no college or university, but an elementary school with a tuition many citizens like Wadley could not afford.  Wadley would not stand for this, however, and she returned again and again to the school, and was turned away again and again until finally the teacher, realizing Wadley’s persistence to receive an education, allowed her to stay.  Wadley’s desire for an education was inspiring, especially when compared to the millions of children in America that take their education for granted, and that express hatred toward school and learning.

            2.  I was surprised by the threat of violence many young girls in other countries receive when they express a desire to learn.  For instance, during one act of the film, a girl from Afghanistan had to hide her true identity because, she claimed, if her husband, father, brother, or any of her fellow countrymen learned about her desire to receive an education, they would kill her without remorse.  Why do some men in other nations feel so threatened by the idea of a woman receiving an education?  Perhaps, in my last question, I should not have left out our own country.  Even in America, many men still hold ideas regarding where women “belong” in society.  American men don’t necessarily feel threatened by women going to school, but they do feel threatened when women try to advance in their careers, possibly eclipsing their male co-workers.  What is so threatening about a woman wishing to better herself?

            3.  The one aspect of this film that I want to talk about in-depth is a reaction a teacher had toward an inattentive student in her classroom, as I think this moment may have been the most pertinent to our Educational Psychology class.  During one scene in the film, a young girl from India was shown doodling in a notebook while her teacher instructed a math lesson.  When the teacher discovered what the young girl was doing, I was shocked by the educator’s response.  The teacher, in a scolding tone, called the girl to the front of the room and made her confess what she was doing.  After the girl confessed, the teacher verbally humiliated her, then dismissed her from the school for the remainder of the day.  I believe this teacher, based on her actions, subscribed to an aggressive behaviorist learning theory.  When she noticed that the young girl was exhibiting an undesired behavior (not paying attention to the math lesson), she introduced extremely humiliating and, in my opinion, inappropriate positive punishment (public verbal castigation) and negative punishment (asking the girl to leave the school for the rest of the day).  I suppose teaching theories in other countries are different from those many educators in America subscribe to, but I believe the educator’s response to the inattentive girl was disgusting.  How can an educator believe that he or she is doing right by a student when they humiliate them and send them away from the classroom?  The last thing an educator should do when wishing to instill knowledge in a student is to exile them from the one place where they can attain such knowledge.  Perhaps, when I become an educator, I should keep such cultural differences in mind when teaching students from different cultures and backgrounds; I will try to foster an accepting an inclusive learning atmosphere.