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.

EdPsych 401 Blog Post 6: Constructivism

            If I could choose one application from the Constructivism chapter to implement in my high school English class, I think I would assign a project-based authentic activity to my students.  The project would be this: students would have to write and work together to produce a classroom “newspaper.”  Although the article is a little dated, Hanna (1923) provides a great structure for such a journalistic project.  For this authentic activity, students will have to pretend that they are part of a newspaper staff.  Some students will be assigned by me to be editors; there will be an editor-in-chief, a literary editor, a sports editor, a society editor, etc.  These editors will then have reporters working under them.  Literary reporters will have to find a news story going on in the school and write a 500-600 word article about it; sports reporters will have to attend a school sporting event and write a 500-600 word report about the event; a society reporter will have to write a 500-600 word article discussing social events going on in the school that week.  From this project, the “reporters” will be able to exercise the writing and grammar skills they have been learning in class while, at the same time, trying to write an interesting article targeted to a specific audience.  The “editors” will take up and read each article their reporters have written, decide which articles are the most interesting and well-written, and proofread and correct the articles for any grammar errors they may have.  Then, all of the chosen and corrected articles will be compiled into one class newspaper that all of the students will be able to read.  The goal of this project is not to teach journalistic behaviors (Hanna, 1923).  Rather, the goal is to get students to practice using the writing skills they’ve learned in class to write an effective informational article, and to get editors to learn to look for writing mistakes in pieces of work.  Hopefully, the students will also find the project enjoyable and fun.

            At first, my students appear extremely anxious about this project.  Many of the students are very nervous about writing an article that will be included in a “newspaper” that everyone in the class will be able to read.  I try to relieve some of this anxiety by telling them that there is no one correct way to go about doing this activity, and that, outside of doing a little research and writing a piece that is 500-600 words long, they are relatively free to do what they want; I will also let them know that I will be available any time that they need help brainstorming ideas or researching topics (Ormrod, 2011).

            A few obstacles arise:

            —Students get a little confused as to what their positions are and what they are supposed to do.  Therefore, after the positions are assigned to the students, I give each student a concept map in which their position and duty is labeled, and they are able to see how their position is tied to the positions of other students—in other words, a sports reporter will see who they are supposed to report to when their article is finished. 

            —Some reporters in the class don’t know what to write about for their article.  I work with these students and help them brainstorm ideas.  With some of the students, we develop a “wagon wheel organizer.”  In the middle of the organizer, the student writes inside a big circle what topic they are writing about.  Connected to this bigger circle will be smaller circles in which the student will identify possible aspects of the topic they think are important to the larger topic, and which might should be discussed in-depth.

Hanna, O. M. (1923). The class newspaper. The English journal, 12 (3), pp. 205-207.

Ormrod, J. (2011). Educational psychology: Developing learners (7^th ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson Education.

EdPsych Blog Post 5: A

a)         Perhaps the most obvious principle of behaviorist learning theory that would help inform me of whether or not my students are successfully mastering lesson objectives is instrumental conditioning.  In instrumental conditioning, a student will steadily increase behavior or decrease behavior depending on the reinforcement each behavior receives (Ormrod, 2011).  In a classroom setting, a child’s mastering a lesson objective can be seen as academic behavior.  Let’s say that on a particular day, my lesson objective is to get my students to understand the appropriate punctuation that needs to be used in writing dialogue.  Let’s say I lecture the students for a few minutes about the correct uses of punctuation in dialogue.  Then I write this sentence on the whiteboard: Marsha said “I want a new pair of shoes.”  I then ask for someone to raise their hand and tell me what punctuation mark to put between “said” and “I.”  One of my students raises his hand and says, “A period.”  The student answered the question incorrectly, an academic behavior that I do not want him to display, so I gently tell him that he did not answer the question correctly (a form of punishment), and that there is a different punctuation mark that should be used.  Another student then raises her hand and says, “You should use a comma.”  This student displayed the academic behavior I do want to see, so I reinforce her answer by saying “Good job” in hopes of increasing this behavior.  Next, I would pass out worksheets in which students will be provided various examples of dialogue that are missing the punctuations, and their job will be to insert the correct punctuation marks into each sentence.  The students will complete this task, I will take the worksheets up, and I will grade them either by providing gentle punishment in the form of X’s and corrections for each missed question, or reinforcement in the form of check marks and “Good jobs” for each correct answer given.  Slowly, through this steady process of reinforcing good academic behavior and punishing undesirable academic behavior, the students will eventually master the lesson objective, which is to understand the appropriate punctuation marks used in dialogue.

         The main principle of the social cognitive theory of learning that I would help inform me of my students’ mastery of lesson objectives is modeling.  Let’s continue to use the lesson in which my objective is to get my students to understand how to correctly use punctuation in sentences with dialogue.  If I am abiding by the social cognitive theory, the first thing I do is lecture for a minute about the different ways to punctuate sentences with dialogue.  Next, I write this example sentence on the white board: Tom asked, “Can I ride the bicycle after you” This time, instead of asking students what punctuation mark should be used and where, I am going to model the correct academic skills I want to see from my students by inserting a question mark between “you” and the final quotation mark myself.  By seeing me model this behavior, the students will know that this is the correct answer and they will be more likely to imitate it on their own.  I would not have to stop there, though.  I could go on to provide cognitive modeling.  After inserting the question mark between “you” and the final quotation mark, I could explain the cognitive process I went through to determine what the correct answer was.  “Well,” I could say out loud, “first we know that this is a sentence with dialogue, so really there are two people speaking in this sentence: the narrator, and Tom.  Now, I tell myself that it sounds like Tom is asking a question, as signaled by the question-marker word ‘Can.’  So, since Tom is asking the question, the question mark should go inside the final quotation mark, because if it was outside the final quotation mark it would be like the narrator was asking a question, when we know that the narrator is actually simply telling us what Tom asked.”  Hopefully, as I do this, my students will pay attention, retain the information and demonstration I am providing, and, after I have passed out the worksheets with the sentences that need punctuation, reproduce the correct behavior I modeled on their own worksheet.  Perhaps on their worksheet I could require my students, as they complete the worksheet, to elaborate on each answer by explaining the cognitive process they went through to determine the correct answer, as I did in front of the class.  In abiding by the social cognitive theory of learning, I will know that the students have mastered my lesson objective when they are able to observe my modeling of the academic skill and successfully demonstrate these academic skills themselves, possibly providing an explanation of the cognitive process they went through to get to their answer as well.

         Another way to make sure my students master my lesson objectives when using the social cognitive theory is teaching them self-monitoring techniques.  In self-monitoring, a student is able to observe oneself in terms of how well they are progressing toward a certain goal (Ormrod, 2011).  As Friend and Bursuck (2012) posit, teaching self-monitoring is especially important when dealing with children with special needs, as it fosters a sense of independent learning and self-reliance in the student.  Friend and Bursuck lay down a clear, three-step process educators can take when teaching students with disabilities self-monitoring.  The authors suggest educators discuss with the student an effective strategy the student can take in order to display an appropriate behavior or academic skill, model for the student what behaviors you expect him or her to display, and reward the student when he or she successfully displays the desired behavior or academic skill (Friend and Bursuck, 2012, p. 400-401).  So, taking my punctuation lesson as an example, I could foster self-monitoring in a student with disabilities (or any student, really) by discussing what strategies they can take to determine which punctuation mark to use and where, modeling for the student the correct use of punctuation marks, and rewarding the student when they correctly imitate the behavior and demonstrate an understanding of the academic skill.

Ormrod, J. (2011). Educational psychology: Developing learners (7^th ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson Education.

Friend, M, & Bursuck, W. (2012). Including students with special needs: A practical guide for classroom teachers (6^th ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson Education.

            

Producing a Productive Learning Environment

#1:        

         I believe that a classroom environment that is conducive to learning is an environment in which 1) students feel comfortable, and 2) students are motivated to do work.  In my class, I want my students to feel as comfortable as possible.  I want to provide “a loving and supportive home environment,” allow students to help make decisions as to what we do, and provide students with the opportunity to work on age appropriate activities either on their own or with a group (Omrod claims that these practices fit into the model of authoritative parenting).  Students can also feel more comfortable in my class if I maintain “good working relationships with students,” create an environment in which students feel they belong, and “set reasonable limits for behavior” (Omrod, 2011).  Omrod (2011) mentions that one general management strategy is to take “student diversity into account in making classroom management decisions” (p.461).  I believe this strategy could also do much to helping create a comfortable, non-threatening classroom environment, especially if a teacher has an English Language Learner as a student.  Often, when ELLs are tossed into an English-speaking classroom they can become highly intimidated and uncomfortable.  To help alleviate this discomfort, if I have an ELL student I will engage in what Almaguer and Esquierdo (2013) call culturally relevant teaching “in which students are able to see their culture in the context of the classroom” (p.8).  In this way, ELL students are better able to connect the English instruction they are receiving in the classroom to the culture they already understand and are comfortable with.  These are all methods I would like to exercise that will make my classroom environment more comfortable for my students.

         I also believe that any classroom environment that is conducive to learning must be one in which students are intrinsically motivated to complete assigned work.  Encouraging students to intrinsically value their instruction can be much more challenging than making a classroom comfortable, but I believe it can be done.  I believe that my students are more likely to be intrinsically motivated if I set realistic goals for them to strive for, offer them frequent encouragement, and somehow find a way to tie classroom material back to their extracurricular interests and any mastery goals they may have.  This latter strategy may be the most important, because I believe that no student will be intrinsically motivated to understand the material presented if they cannot find a way in which the material relates to their personal lives and goals.  It would be extremely difficult to relate all class material to each student’s life and goals, but if it can be done I believe it should be.

#2:

         As I plan to teach high school English, I have used the “High School Case Study” as my study for which I have developed my following responses.

         It is obvious that most of the students in my music class are no longer intrinsically motivated, and I can somehow sympathize with them.  Many seniors develop a case of “senioritis” in their final year and especially during the final weeks; they no longer want to do assigned work in classes, because they cannot see how such work so near the end of their high school careers can negatively affect them and prevent them from graduating.  To make matters worse, my class takes place during fifth period, near the end of the day.  I believe this lack of intrinsic motivation has led to student’s passing notes to one another once my back is turned. 

         I can no longer ignore this misbehavior because it is not a rare occurrence, is has spread to other students, and it is interfering with classroom learning (Omrod, 2011).  Therefore, to target this misbehavior in my students, I have planned the following interventions that may help reestablish a productive learning community in my classroom.

         —1.  First, I will simply engage in conversation with those that are passing the most notes.  If I notice two students passing notes during class time, I may pass by them and tap on their desks without saying anything.  Perhaps this physical cue will let them know that I have noticed their misbehavior, and that they should stop.  If students do not stop passing notes after my tapping on their desk, I will call each student individually to my desk or office so that I can privately discuss their misbehavior with them, and let them know that I will not stand for it.

         —2.  If engaging in conversation with students about their behavior does not work, I may decide to arrange the furniture in ways that encourage certain student interaction while, at the same time, discouraging others (Omrod, 2011).  For example, since I am aware that there are certain various cliques among students, I could divide the room into four or five groups of about four or five students each.  Students will not be arranged into any group with any other student from their clique.  I will assign each group an activity (composing a short musical piece, transcribing music onto sheets, etc.) that they must work together to accomplish.  Hopefully, this will quench students’ desires to interact with others, but they will stay on task as they may not have any real personal topics to discuss with these students they rarely talk to.  With this new desk arrangement, I will display withitness by addressing each group from an angle from which I can see the rest of the class.

         The biggest threats to my productive, comfortable classroom environment are the three boys who continually make fun of the other students and who roughhouse and refuse to follow classroom behavioral procedures.  The reason these three boys are so dangerous to my classroom environment is because they are harming the classroom climate.  A classroom climate is the “general psychological environment that permeates classroom interactions” (Omrod, 2011).  In any good classroom climate students will feel safe and secure from threats (Omrod, 2011).  However, with the three boys frequently making fun of other students, especially the tenors and sopranos, the students in my class cannot feel safe and secure.  Therefore, the misbehavior of these three boys must be handled immediately and effectively.

         —1.  Again, the first step I should take is to converse with these students, first publicly but subtly (perhaps through stern eye contact), and then, if the problem progresses, through private conversations.  In these private conversations, I will try to inform the boys on how their behavior is not only disrespectful to me but, more importantly, it is disrespectful and threatening to the other students.

         —2.  I have a feeling, though, that simply talking to these students will not alleviate the problem.  Therefore, more serious measures may need to be taken.  I liked the idea that Brian presented this week about requiring a student to write ten positive things for each negative thing they say about a student.  I might try to do that with these boys.

         —3.  If that doesn’t work, I would rearrange the seating of these three boys.  I would require that two boys sit on the front row on opposite ends, while the third boy sits in the middle row in the middle seat.  Hopefully, this distance will reduce the amount of talking the boys can engage in with one another.

         —4.  If this does not work, I could require that the boys sit at desks that are completely isolated in each corner of the room.  At their desks, I would require that they complete some rote activity, such as filling an entire music sheet with quarter notes, then half notes, etc.  I would require that each of the three boys turn in a specific amount of filled-in sheets before they leave the class.  If they do not, I would give them detention.

         —5.  If none of these efforts succeed in deterring the misbehavior and reestablishing a productive learning environment in my classroom, I would contact each of the boys’ parents and, if need be, the principal. 

 Almaguer, I., Esquierdo, J. (2013). Cultivating bilingual learners’ language arts knowledge: A framework for successful teaching.  International Journal of Instruction, 6 (2), 3-18.

Motivation

If a teacher wishes to conduct a successful class, he or she must take student motivation into account.  If a student is not motivated to participate in in-class discussions and activities, as well as outside projects, the work will not get done and the classroom environment will suffer for it.  Also, motivation is not only necessary to engage students and to have an enjoyable class time, but it can also play a key role in the efficient assessment of a student’s academic progress; if a student is consistently unmotivated, and either does not complete his or her school work or, if it is completed, does not try their best on an assignment, then an instructor cannot accurately evaluate what a student is and isn’t learning and if the student is showing any real progress.

         

The two theories of motivation that appeal to me are social cognitive theories and cognitive theories.  As Omrod (2011) points out, these two theoretical approaches to the study of motivation “have dominated theory and research in motivation” for the past two or three decades, and for good reason.  Many aspects of social cognitive and cognitive theories Omrod discusses in the text make a lot of sense to me, and explain why a student may or may not be motivated in the class. 

        

There are a few aspects of these theories that I believe could successfully motivate students in the classroom.  One, of course, is extrinsic motivation, the idea that students become motivated if they are promised a reward for carrying out a task or taking part in an in-class activity.  I believe self-handicapping, self-worth, and learned helplessness can also play a significant role in getting students motivated to do assigned work.  In my Education 100 class last fall, I did my service learning in a sophomore English class at Austin-East High School.  When a task was assigned to the class, I witnessed some students reducing their effort on the task as time progressed, procrastinating, and cheating off others, all forms of self-handicapping.  Other students seemed to have little self-worth and a sense of learned helplessness.  When I would try to help some students with a task, they would follow along with me for about half a minute, and then promptly set their pencil down, shrug their shoulders, and say, “I can’t do this.”

         

In my personal belief, the most important factor of motivation is interest.  I think that if a teacher really wants to get his or her students engaged in the material being covered, then that teacher should take the time to learn what each student finds interesting and, somehow, find a way to incorporate these various interests into the classroom. 

         

Here are examples of how I could incorporate my students’ interests into the class: At the beginning of the school year, I could handout a survey to each of my students.  In this survey, the student could describe his or her hobbies, what he or she likes to do after class to unwind, what he or she finds enjoyment in.  I could gather this information, study it, and try to somehow, at least once, adapt a lesson plan to each student’s interest.  For instance, if David writes that he enjoys rap music, I could teach a lesson on the elements of poetry, find an example of a (appropriate and edited) rap song that also incorporates these elements (such as rhythm and rhyme) and play the song for the class or project the lyrics on the board.  If Samantha says she enjoys horseback riding, I could teach a grammar lesson in which all of the incorrect sentences presented deal in some way with horseback riding.  As a general way to garner student interest in my classroom, I will try to assign readings to my students that they are more likely to find interesting and/or relatable.  For example, I think The Hunger Games could be a great book to teach to a high school English class, because many students are already familiar with and like the books and movies, and because I believe the book could still have some literary merits worth discussing (I know, though, that the state sometimes dictates what books teachers can and cannot teach, and that I may only be able to teach only one of these more “fun” texts).  In these ways, I can bring students’ interests into the classroom and get them motivated to do work.

EdPsych Blog Post 2: The Various Forms of Educational Assessment

Informal vs. formal assessment:

Informal assessmentàInformal assessments are assessments that are not formally conducted in the classroom, but that are conducted daily and continually through observances of students regular behaviors.  For example, if I were to assign my high school students vocabulary problems in their vocabulary workbooks, and if I noticed one student sitting quietly at his desk, staring at a section in the workbook, I could discern that he or she may be having trouble understanding the directions for a particular set of problems, and could therefore offer assistance in helping him or her realize exactly what they’re supposed to do.

Formal assessmentàA formal assessment differs from an informal assessment in that it is announced to the class days or even weeks before the assessment is given.  In my class, I could announce that the following week we would be having a short, one-page test over the elements of character, conflict, and plot in fiction.  The students could then study ahead of time, and I would, through the formal assessment, be able to gauge each student’s understanding of the elements of fiction I have taught.

Traditional Asessment vs. Authentic Assessment:

Traditional AssessmentàAny paper-pencil assessment I give in my class could be called a traditional assessment, as the questions addressed and answers are probably questions that the students would not be asked in real-world experiences.  For instance, I could ask my students to answer fill-in-the-blank questions with a correct vocabulary word from that specific week.  Or, I could ask my students, during the first week of class, to write a personal essay that they would turn in to me at the end of class; I could then read these personal essays and determine which students already have a good grasp on grammatical principles and writing and which students do

not, and what specific aspects of writing we should focus on first in the class.

Authentic AssessmentàAn authentic assessment is one that takes what concepts and skills students have learned in class and applies it to real-world situations they may experience outside of class.  As an authentic assessment, I could require my students to each write a faux-newspaper article and compiling it with other students’ articles to form one class newspaper.  This authentic assessment would give the students the opportunity to demonstrate their learned writing skills, and could inspire students to maybe one day pursue writing as a career.

Criterion-referenced assessment vs. Norm-referenced assessment:

Criterion-referenced assessmentàIn a criterion-referenced assessment, students are tested on material and concepts they have learned in class; the point of a criterion-referenced assessment is to see if students have met predetermined standards or criteria, i.e. if they have successfully grasped the taught concepts and material which they should, at this point, be able to understand.  An example of a criterion-referenced assessment I may give in my class is a paper-pencil test regarding books we have read as a class in order to see if the students have fully understood who the main characters and plot of the story are.

Norm-referenced assessmentàIn a norm-referenced assessment, students’ test scores are compared to the test scores of other similarly aged students across the nation.  This sort of test is useful in telling us if a student’s performance is above average, average, or below average than other students.  One example of a norm-referenced assessment that my high school students may have to take would be the TCAP writing assessment.  This test takes students’ writing abilities and, I believe, compares them to how other students their age or in their grade are writing.  This sort of norm-referenced assessment is extremely important to high schoolers because many of them will be writing application essays to colleges they wish to attend, and if they see that their writing abilities are average or below average, then they may be motivated to hone their writing skills in order to better impress college admissions offices and beat out other applicants.

Standardized test vs. Teacher-developed test:

Standardized testàStandardized tests may be the most commonly used tests in classrooms because each test is the same and students are asked the same questions, questions that may effectively measure a student’s performance or ability so far.  I’m sure the vocabulary tests I administer to my students will be standardized, which is fine because vocabulary questions aren’t that abstract and can be reliably assessed and graded.

Teacher-developed testàIn order to assess students’ understanding of specific concepts taught in my class, I would most likely use a teacher-developed test.  A grammar test dealing with dangling modifiers and comma splices (errors many of my students make) would have to be teacher-developed.  A test over The Catcher in the Rye and the meanings of its various symbols, symbols that I may have discussed in-class, may also need to be teacher-developed, because the writer of a standardized test and I may not agree on an interpretation of one of the book’s symbols.

Paper-pencil assessment vs. Performance assessment:

Paper-pencil assessmentàA paper-pencil assessment is simply an assessment that is written on paper, and which students must answer on paper as well.  Many of my assessments will probably be paper-pencil assessments, such as vocabulary quizzes, grammar tests, and tests over assigned readings.  These types of assessments are important in gauging a student’s understanding of the material, but they cannot really be performed and must simply be addressed on paper.

Performance assessmentàIn a performance assessment, a student demonstrates what they have learned through a type of performance.  I could see myself asking my students to memorize a poem and recite it in front of the class.  In this way, I can assess whether or not a student has really gotten engaged with his or her reading, because if not then they will not be able to recite the poem aloud.

Blog for 08/27: Reflecting Upon the First Class

I must say, I came into this semester extremely nervous about my classes, as I have not taken many serious Education courses before.  I am an English major and feel that my Education courses will vary drastically from the English courses I have taken (I don't even know how to write using the APA format!).  And the first day in our EdPsych 401 class did not really help me feel anymore comfortable.  Don't get me wrong, Brian seems like a great and personable guy, and, by reading my classmates' blogs, most everyone else in the class seems equally nervous about their futures in the class and beyond.

There are two things that I hope this class will help me with: my nervousness about getting in front of a class and teaching, as well as my apprehensions I have for my first-year of teaching, particularly regarding my responsibility as a teacher to my students.  The first of these two worries is obvious, and I stated it in class the other day; I get rather nervous speaking in front of groups.  One on one I am fine, but it is when I step up to give presentations and the like that I struggle with articulation and my confidence as a speaker.  I know, however, that I will be a teacher, and that the bulk of a teacher's day is standing in front of others, giving lectures and instructing classwork.  The second of my worries is the one that is just beginning to hit me as I enter the teaching program.  Will I be a successful teacher?  How will I ensure that I am successfully teaching my students what they need to learn?  How can I best  instill in my students ideas they may have never run across before?  Hopefully, this class will present information to me regarding a child's learning processes that will help me better understand how students learn.

Well, that's all for now I guess.  See you all tomorrow.