Closure

Throughout EDPY 200, I have learned a lot of things that not only will benefit me as a future teacher, but will also benefit my students. I really enjoyed this class and found that all the information gained has been interesting and helpful. I will be sure to use some of the information gained from this class in my future classrooms in order to make teaching a  positive experience . Every time I take a education class, I become much more excited to become a teacher and am positive that this is what I want to do in my future. Thank you for such a positive and interesting experience in your classroom.

Intrinsic vs. extrinsic

After watching Dan Pinks TED talk, “The surprising science of Motivation”, it got me thinking about motivation and how important motivation is in the classroom. I believe that having an intrinsic motivated classroom would be much more ideal then an extrinsic motivated classroom. With an intrinsic classroom, the students would be motivated because they want to do something not because they are receiving a reward. Having said this it is important to try and accomplish an intrinsic classroom by getting to know the interests and hobbies of the children so that I can relate the classroom work to something more interesting to them. It is also important to make the information that is being taught interesting and using different learning strategies in order to make the students want to learn and come to class everyday. Having an inartistic classroom would also benefit the students because they would be able to learn better because they actually want to learn the material. For instance it is just like when you are studying. If you are studying to cram and get a good grade you will probably not learn anything and right after the test all of the information would be lost. On the other hand, if you are studying because you want to learn the stuff and think that it is interesting you are much more likely to retain the information. Overall I believe that intrinsic motivation is very important within the classroom. 

SQ4R

The SQ4R is the most recent version of a strategy for reading. This strategy stands for

Survey

Question

Read

Recite

Relate

Review

The first time I have ever learned about this strategy was in class, and as a college student I wish I would have learned about this earlier because it seems like a very affective strategy for improving comprehension and grades. Using this strategy would not only be helpful when writing reading and comprehension tests but would also be very helpful when studying. 
Sometimes when I study I just read the text to finish it but at the end I don't even remember what I read. This strategy could help with that problem and enable me to actually understand and remember what I am reading. I will incorporate this reading strategy when I am studying but also be sure to incorporate this within my future classrooms. I think it is very important to help the children understand what they are reading and help them fully comprehend the material at a young age. 

Cooperative Learning

As discussed earlier, it is important to incorporate different learning and teaching strategies into classrooms in order to benefit every different kind of learner. A way to benefit the interpersonal learner is to do cooperative or group learning. Cooperative learning can include group projects, partner projects small groups and group presentations. I believe that cooperative learning has both benefits and negative aspects to it. Cooperative learning helps the interpersonal learner interact and learn in a comfortable environment but also allows students to learn from different students and gain a different perspective on learning a topic. In other words the children can learn from each other. I also think that group projects are important because it allows the children to interact in a situation that they will be dealing with in real life. The students have to deal with different members of the group either slacking off or taking over the project, just like situations that will happen in the real world. Having said this I also believe that there are negatives to cooperative learning as well. I know that some people including me are intrapersonal learners and therefore like to learn on their own and have there own space. Doing group work with these intrapersonal students can cause anxiety and stress within the student, so it is important to know the students in order to meet their needs. When doing group work, there is also always the problem on how to mark the children, or how to deal with students who may not participate in the project. All of these factors must be considered when trying to incorporate cooperative learning into the classroom.  

If cooperative learning is to take place in a classroom, I think a very important thing that must be done is self-evaluation and critical reflection. I think it is important for the children to look back and reflect on the finished project and the group work in order for them to learn from their mistakes and also to acknowledge the positive aspects that were done. If students sit back and reflect on the project at the end, it gives important feedback for the children and teachers and helps them learn to be able to achieve better next time.

Going into Elementary education, I believe that involving group work into classrooms is very important especially at this young age. At the elementary age many children are developing social skills and communication skills, which makes it very important for children to be able to work together and communicate in a school setting. I also believe that allowing the students to interact with each other creates bonds which allows the students to have a feeling of belonging which can decrease anxiety and confidence issues

Negotiation

 Today in class we watched a TED talk show by William Ury, who talked about difficult negotiation and how sometimes we need to step back and access the situation before reacting to it. He also said that the secret to peace is the 3rd side, and the 3rd side is us.

As a future teacher I think it is very important to learn about negotiation and how to get through situations as calm as possible to create and maintain peace within the classroom. Having said this I think that in order to maintain positive attitudes throughout the classroom it is important to deal with disagreements as calmly as possible. As soon as tempers start to flare that is when a disagreement becomes a conflict and a problem. I also think it is important to maintain good relationships not only with students but with coworkers parents and even the community. If strong and positive relationships are held with the people that you must deal with, a conflict is less likely to start and if it does it most likely can be solved in a reasonable manner. 

Overall I thought that Ury's message was very powerful and valuable. I don't think very many people can argue that a positive and calm environment isn't the ideal situation. In my future classroom I will diffidently think about how Ury stated that you must take walks when a conflict occurs, but don't walk face to face, walk side to side and really try to focus on how to resolve the situation in a positive manner. Personally I do not like getting in arguments with people or getting into conflicts with them. I like to be calm and carefree and make sure that everyone is happy and not being conflicted with the actions that I do. Knowing this I think that in the future it will be very important to me to maintain a peaceful classroom where relationships are good with everyone in the learning environment and community. I truly think that having a calm classroom and positive energy flowing throughout is the best setting for children to learn in. As learned by watching Shawn Achor on the positive psychology, he stated how it is important to be positive and happy because being happy can increase success rates. I will remember this video on negotiation and use it to help me to maintain a healthy classroom. 

Study Strategies

After watching the video on Andi Bell and The Super Memory Strategy, It made me think about memory and study strategy's and made me think about my own study strategies. Andi Bell used the location strategy, he placed objects or things that he has to remember in different places and that way when it came time to retrieve these memories he would think about the place and the information would come to him. I thought this was a very neat strategy and could work for some people but I do not think that I would ever be able to attempt this. 


Encoding its the way that you get information into your memory. When I study I tend to use the encoding strategy of rehearsal. I often re-wright my notes and then make flash cards and constantly rehears the information until it is in my memory and I can write it out without looking at my notes. I also often use deep processing and elaboration. While writing out my notes I often think of different cues or acronyms that will help me remember the information. I also tend to relate the information to my everyday life so that instead of just memorizing the info I actually make meaning of it and learn what it actually means. I think that my studying strategy works well but takes a lot of time and patience. I am a bodily kinaesthetic learner so I think It would be neat to try different studying strategies that will enable me to move around and use my body and see if there results are better. 


I often have a problem with retrieving the information, which is getting the information out after its been encoded. I think that I have a problem with it because I have problems with interference. It is very difficult for me to learn new information and still be able to keep the old information without constant rehearsal. This type of forgetting is very frustrating and hopefully I will be able to find a strategy that will help me over come this and do better on tests. 

Knowing about memory and different study strategies will be very helpful to me as a future teacher. Understanding the way the brain memorizes things and different strategies that I can give my students will help them score better on tests and remember the information that will be taught. It is also important as a teacher to understand how hard memory can be for different people. Knowing this it is important to have patience with children and help them find a strategy that enables them to use their specific learning skills  to benefit them. With me having a retrieval problem I think  that it will help me to understand how difficult it is for children to memorize things and allow me to empathize with them. 

Gardners multiple intelligence

"Different people have different minds, and we can be smart in many different ways."

"Everyone is A genius. But if you judge a fish on its ability to climb a tree,

 it will live it's whole life believing it's stupid". -Albert Einstein

Gardners multiple intelligence include: 
Mathematics- Good with numbers and equations, likes to IQ tests.
Verbal- Good with writing, language, and speaking. 
Musical-  People that are good at picking up harmonies, rhythm  and good at interpreting a tune. 
Spatial- Can see the world in 3D. (Architect) 
Bodily kinesthetics- Has to move to be able to learn, good at sports and knowing where the body is. 
Interpersonal- Good at talking to people and relating to other people.
Intrapersonal- Knows ones self well and can understand ones emotions.
Naturalistic- Has a natural love for science and nature. Can visualize patterns in nature. 
Spiritual- Ability to believe in and have someone that is of greater power.  Way that one interacts with something bigger then ones self.
Existential- Seeing the bigger picture of human kind and nature. Asking a larger question. Philosopher 

Student vs. Teacher Based Instruction

In the classroom it is very Important to change up the way that material is being taught. A way that a teacher can do this includes, student centered direction, teacher direct, group work and individual work. In John Hunter's game "World peace" he strictly uses student-centered instruction to allow the children to solve the problem of world peace on their own. He built a board game that held different parts of the world which all had different problems. He told the students that his generation has left the earth in rough shape and that it is up to their generation to fix it. Hunter does this with his grade four classroom. I believe that this type of instruction can be very effective if done properly. Hunter did this game with a younger aged group and because of this I believe that guidelines must be given to the students and there also must be frequent stop times to stop and have the teacher involved because an activity like this can easily get out of control. 

Having said this, I believe that it is important to incorporate both student and teacher directed instruction. I think it is important to allow students to solve problems on their own because this will later help them in real life and show the children that they cannot always really on other people. The other thing that I really liked about the "World Peace Game” is that it gave the children a real life situation to deal with. It also incorporated every different subject such as: English because they had to write notes, Science because it included things like global warming, Social Studies because it dealt with political and geographical problems and math because the students had to calculate equations. I also liked how it made the students move around, which benefited the kinesthetic learner, Gave a visual for the visual learner and the board game was also hands on which helps the tactile learner. 

Overall I really liked the idea of Hunter's game and hope as a future teacher I can incorporate different activities like this that will benefit every different learner in my classroom.

A Functional Approach

After studying the Operant conditioning and the formal approach I believe that both of these are really important aspects in classroom management. I believe that Operant conditioning is useful to reward positive behaviour and is important to give credit for good behaviour but I also believe that Formal analysis is important to take into consideration when problems do arise in the classroom. It is important to look at why this problem is occurring and what things led up to the outburst or behavioural problem. Operant condition doesn't look at "why" or the antecedents of a situation, it just reinforces good behaviour and punishes what looks to be bad behaviour. There are 5 strategies that can be used as a teacher: 
1)Teach desirable behaviours/ teach child a better way
2) When you see good behaviour, consistently reinforce it. Know your class
3)Create predictable routines (reduce anxiety and structured environment
4)Provide frequent opportunities for choice
5) Provide adaptations to support academic success


For example: A student in class refuses to do desk work. three possible purpose or functions of this behaviour could be that he doesn't understand the material, he wants attention or he is a bodily kiesthetic learning
Some alternative behaviour he can learn or adopt to would be for the teacher to modify the lesson so that he can understand it, to make him more comfortable and stable environment or allow movement throughout the classroom.

Operant Conditioning

Operant conditioning is a powerful framework for classroom managment which was first introduced by B.F Skinner a famous behavioural psychologist (1904-1990). Operant conditioning is supposed to work on a system of reinforcement and punishment (i.e., reinforcement for behavior to be increased, punishment for behavior to be discouraged.)  Punishment should be used effectively. 

Learning about Operant Conditioning makes me reflect back on my personal experiences about when I have seen Operant conditioning in place for classroom management. In grade five I remember my teacher having a prize raffle table. Every time a student did something right or handed in homework on time or did well on an assignment he would give us a ticket worth different amounts. We would collect them and at the end of the month he would have a prize table with prizes that cost different amount of prices. This is an example of Operant conditioning because it rewards good behaviour with an award and influences children to do well to reach the goal  in order to receive the reward. Negative is also stressed in operant conditions, like threatening to send the child to the principal's office or threaten an detention on the child. It is known though that positive reinforcement is more powerful then negatives. Two common concerns about operant conditioning include: the concern of manipulation on the child or wondering what the child is actually learning from being rewarded. For example the child isn't doing something well because he or she realizes it is important to be a good citizen in society but rather doing the appropriate task for the reward.

Overal I believe that operant conditioning is effectively when used properly and will be helpful as a future teacher. Having said this I want to make sure that I reward students and concentrate more on the positive behaviour rather then the negative or bad behaviours that the children are displaying.

Learning Disables

In the movie by Rick Lavoie, "How Difficult Can This Be? (The FAT city Workshop)", they gathered a range of professionals coming from social work to teachers to discuss and see how it would be to be a learning disabled child. This movie was very eye opening, because you get to see and feel how difficult it is to have a learning disable. I think that all teachers should have to go threw a workshop like this so that they understand how it feels to have a learning disable. 

FAT stands for Frustration Anxiety and Tension. These three words express the emotions that learning disabled children often feel when learning. I also thought it was interesting how LD students often don't know why they are getting in trouble or what they are doing wrong and when they say "I didn't do anything wrong", they actually mean it. This video showed its not that LD students don't want to succeed but rather they have troubles focusing. Overall this video was a huge eye opener and gave teachers tips to handle certain situations with these students. 

As a future teacher I am nervous to have these children in my classroom because I won't always no how to handle certain situations, but thats the job of a teacher and practise will help. At the same time I am also excited to be able to teach these students to help them succeed and show that they can and do have a bright future ahead of them.

Science Of Happiness

In Shawn Achor's video "The Science Of Happiness", he talks about how important happiness is in ours lives. He analyses students at Harvard university and how the high expectations placed on them from the inside and out leads to 80% of the students becoming depressed. He stated that these are some of the smartest students in the world but most of them lack the ability to be happy. I thought it was interesting and surprising that the depression rates are 10x higher today then they were during the great depression, because over time humans have evolved to be more productive and smart but lack the important aspect of happiness.  I agree with Shawn on how happiness is more important than intellectual success because in order to succeed at a task you need to be happy first.


As a future teacher these statistics about happiness affecting the success rate of a task being performed is really important. It is important as a teacher to not put extra stress on children to make them frustrated or increase their anxiety. It is more important to concentrate on the students happiness and positive behaviour then constantly drilling the students with expectations and marks.


Shawn Achor gave interesting ways to achieve happiness which include:
Journaling  one positive experience a day
Exercise
Meditation
Finding your strengths
Not multitasking
Writing 5 things you are thankful for every morning


As a future teacher it would be important  too incorporating some of these techniques into the classroom to  improve the overall happiness and success within the students. Knowing the hardships that children face these days I think it is important to incorporate activities like these to make children feel happiness and to encourage positive attitudes throughout life.

Learners who are Exceptional

In our world there is a full continuum of different kinds of kids, sadly in our school system, we only teach one way and if the child isn't capable of learning that way you are said to have a disability. 


Difference of Learners:  Differ in the way they actually learn, Capacity of attention, differ in terms of emotions and behaviours( some kids can't identify their emotions until they can actually see them (outburst), capacity for language and sight/hearing and giftedness.


Special Ed. have been driven through coding, a child goes through a screening process to see if student fits a special ed code. I believe that coding is important to identify special needs students and to identify which students need more attention or a different learning environment to succeed. Having said this, I do not believe that students should be judged or categorized completely by that code, they are still children who have different needs and wants and should be treated as regular children. 


In our world today we are moving towards inclusive education which is described as "all children learn together well." I believe that an inclusive classroom will be harder for teachers but in the end will benefit the children. Children need to see the diversity in our world and know that there are different types up people around us. It is important for the Special needs children or ESL children to fit in and feel incorporated with all children their age and is also import for the rest of the students to be able to adapt to different cultures and people who have different needs, just like they will have to in the real world. 

Gender roles

Gender Roles- Expectations -to think to act and to feel. expected modes of cognition,behaviour and affect.

Views on Gender Development: 

Biology:Hormones, physiological aspects. 

Social- Learning, gender being learned through observation and modelling.

Cognitive Development Theory- How child thinks about gender development 

Gender Schema development- Information processing, main thought in psych, see brain as being a computer.

I bee live that a persons biological hormones and the modelling from around our society are the biggest factors in our gender development. An example of a strong male figure is david Beckham, as he is fit, supports a family, plays sports. An example of a strong female figure is Princess Diana, because she is kind caring and a role model for many people. 

Multiple Intelligence

 In the TED talk -"How Schools Kill creativity" Sir Ken Robinson talks about how creativity in schools os just as important as literature. He believes that children are educated out of creativity. He also talked about Gillian Lynne who  is a British ballerina, dancer, actor, theatre Director, television director and choreographer noted for her popular theatre choreography associated with the musical Cats and the current longest running show in broadway history, The Phantom of the Opera. He talked about how when she was younger she couldn't sit still in school, and instead of the therapist putting her on medicine and telling her to calm down, noticed her bodily movement for dance, and in rolled her into a dance school. The therapist noticed her Bodily kinesthetics and realize that she needs to move in order to be able to learn. 


Gardners multiple intelligence include: Mathematics, Verbal, Musical, Spatial, Bodily kinesthetics,Interpersonal, Interpersonal, naturalistic,spiritual and existential.


Out of the multiple Intelligence I believe that I am Bodily Kinaesthetic, because I need to be moving and enjoy doing sports and learn better after I have done a physical activity, I also believe that I am interpersonal because I can empathize with others and feel for people, and want to help people. Multiple intelligence are important to recognize with people, because they can depict how different people learn.

Kohlberg's Stages

In Kohlbergs stages and levels of moral development there are 3 levels and 6 stages. 
Level 1: Pre-conventional- Individual doesn't reason through moral principles; consequences. 
-Stage 1: Punishment- wanting to avoid punishment 
-Stage 2: Hedonism- Motivated by personal pleasure, decisions move you to a desired consequences. 
Level 2: Conventional- Reasoning correlations to conventions
-Stage 3: "Nice boy/girl":Social approval 
-Stage 4: Law and Order- follow law, not necessarily moral laws.
Level 3: Post-Conventional-
-Stage 5: Social contract: great each other with respect because thats the deal
-Stage 6: Universal ethical: Few people read it, human life more precious than profit, thinking is not at all selfish, only your beliefs, regardless of individuals. 


Looking at these stages I believe that I am in between Conventional and Post-Conventional. I believe this because I follow societies laws and sociality norms but I also have my own morals and laws in which I follow and proceed.

IQ Myths and truths.

IQ Test Definition: A simple way to describe intelligence by assigning it a number that represents the ratio of mental to chronological age, multiplied by 100. Average IQ is therefor 100 and is based on a comparison between an individuals performance and that of other comparable people. 
Mental Age: Whatever score you get on the test determines what age you are at. 
Chronological Age: Age in years. 
IQ Formula: IQ= MA/QA x100 ex) A ten year old performs at the level of an eight year old is IQ is 10/80x100=80. 


Normal Deviations: 
34% of the population will get a IQ of 100-115
68% of population will have an IQ of 85-115 

Myths of IQ tests:
a) IQ tests measure intelligence
b) IQ tests measure the only important thing worth measuring
c) IQ score doesn't change
Truth of IQ tests:
a) IQ score predicts academic success


Looking at these myths I believe that IQ tests should not be used in schools because what it is, is a measurement of the performance on the test at that day, not overall. A IQ test also doesn't incorporate important things like social interactions, emotions and things like common sense knowledge. Therefor I believe that IQ tests are to standardized to be used in classrooms. 

IQ Tests

A lot of people in our society today have concerns and doubts about IQ testing children. I believe that children should be IQ tested but only if a problem or learning disability may be a factor. For example, I went to school with a girl who was born n December so she was older and got put in the grade above. Around first grade, teachers were noticing that she was behind the students in the class, so they tested her and realized that she was a whole grade level behind in reading and writing. They ended up putting her back in the lower grade so that she could catch up with reading and writing. I believe that this was a good way to IQ test someone because they knew something was wrong and searched for a problem, and caught the problem just in time. Having said this though, I do not believe that children should be IQ tested just on a regular basis, because it is a standardized test and does fit everyones learning styles. Also in our world today, there is so much extra stressed put on children and i feel like these IQ tests just add to that unneeded stress. 

Bronfenbrenner's Ecological Theory.

- Learning occurs in a nest of five systems.


 1st- Microsystem:  System in which the individual most directly participates
My microsystem: Jasper Alberta, Red Deer College, female,Student, English and French, mom & dad and two brothers and nineteen years old. 


2nd- Meso system:  Intermediate or between system that is between systems and connects what happens in the Microsystems. 
My Meso system: The roads in-between Jasper and Red Deer, and roads to the college. 


3rd- Exo system:  External or outside, we cannot have activate participation in it,  but it does impact us. 
My Exo system: Government, healthcare, mass media, school board,laws and weather 


4th- Macro system:  Less social and nature, more about intellectual and cultural sphere. Beliefs and ideas in our society. 
My Macro system: Christian, Canadian and anti-slavery. 


5th- Chrono system:  Time- System that comes to us from the socio historic conditions of our life course.The way our life is based on the history or time we live in. 
My Chrono system: Freedom and equality in Canada, iPods/ Blackberrys, Laptops and internet. 

Erik Erikson

Erik Erikson (15 June 1902 – 24 May 1994) was a Danish-German-American developmental psychologist and psychoanilist known for his theory on social development of human beings.

Erik believed in eight different steps that cover the entire life span. Each stage is characterized by a developmental task which means each level is a new opportunity for growth. Here are the eight steps:


Step One: Trust vs. Mistrust (birth-1) 
-A child is born into this stage
-The child must build trust for the outside world in the stage
-It is important for the infant to experience warmth,love and care in order to learn to trust the people around them.
Step Two: Autonomy vs. Shame and Doubt (1-2)
-Sense of being independent 
-Worthy of being their own person
Step Three: Initiative vs. Guilt (3-5)
-Preschool years
-Feel initiative to take care of self ex) wants to brush their own teeth or put away toys.
Step Four: Industry vs. Inferiority (6-puberty)
-Want to do work and put themselves out in the world
-Elementary school stage
Step Five: Identity vs. Identity confusion (adolescence 10-20)
-Who am I?
-Trying different things to figure out who they are.
-Figuring out who or what they want to become
Step Six: Intimacy vs. Isolation (Adulthood 20's and 30's)
-Finding significant other
-Getting married
-Looking for a partner who is going to meet the needs of love and intimacy 
Step Seven: Generatively vs. Self absorption ( Middle Adulthood 40's and 50's)
-More then meeting personal needs
-The need to leave some sort of contribution to the world
Step Eight: Integrity vs. Despair (60-)
-Can Look back on life and be happy/ proud of it.
-No regrets 


 Looking at these steps, I believe that I am in-between step five and six. I believe this because I know what I want to do with my life, and who i want to become but I am not ready yet to get married or start a family. I hope that one day I will reach step eight and look back on my life with integrity not despair, with no regrets and know that I tried my hardest to be the best person that I could be. 

The Importance of Technology

Living in the 21st century, I realize how important technology is and how big it will affect me as a future teacher and my future students. I believe that It is important to not only incorporate technology into the classroom, but also as a teacher understand how to use and be up to date with the newest technology. I believe this because children these days are highly impacted and surrounded by the latest technology such as laptops, iPhones and Blackberrys so it is important to know how to incorporate these into the learning environment so that the children will be more engaged about learning. It is also important to incorporate technology into the classroom because being around technology is the environment that the children grow up in, and so it is important to make the school setting feel just as natural to them as their home environment.

In fact, my own life and learning as been affected by technology. For instance now days research is really easy compared to the past, instead of looking in the library or encyclopaedia we have google, which saves a lot of time and energy. I also have the opportunity to follow the slide shows presented in lectures through my computer which helps to keep engaged and follow along. My learning was also shaped by technology in high school, where my high school was too small to have a lot of extra classes and therefor to get extra credit I had taken a lot of 3V classes. A negative way that technology has affected my life and learning is that it is very distracting. I am connected to my blackberry which causes distraction in class or during study times, also there are so many things on the internet that it is easy to get distracted when listening to a lecture. 

As a future teacher I will incorporate technology into the classroom through many different ways. Such things like texting polls, smart boards and blogs will whelp to incorporate modern day technology. I also think it is important to allow the children to bring there laptops to school for note taking etc... I also think it would be neat to incorporate E-books into the classroom, so that instead of the students having a hard copy of the book they would have a electronic version. Overall I believe that technology plays a huge role in our society and it is important to incorporate it into everyday life. 

Piaget vs. Vygotsky

Lev Vygotsky - was a Soviet psychologist, he is the founder of cultural-historicl psychology, and the leader of the Vygotsky Circle.

Vygotsky assumed that learning is rooted in a developmental process, and that learning is not a snapshot but rather  like a movie, it is a on going process from day to day. He also assumed that cognitive skills are processed through language and the better language skills that one has, the rich the cognitive skills they will have as well. Vygotsky also stressed the importance of social relationships and culture. 

He believed in the Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD)- which means that it is the role of the teacher to challenge the students. A Level of personal achievement that takes us beyond what we already know and where guidance is needed.  His theory is also based around scaffolding which means to provide guidance and support as a teacher to the students, to literally build support under a student to help them build and grow.  Some examples of scaffolding are- asking questions, direct teaching and guided practise. 

After learning about both Piaget and Vygotsky, I think I side more with Piaget and his levels of the developing child. I believe with him because many of what he says about the different thinking processes at different levels will help me teach my students in the future.  Also because many of his points like collaborative learning, is now days incorporated in elementary math and science. Having said this I also believe in what Vygotsky says about the importance of social interactions, because younger kids need that interaction and support from others. 

Jean Piaget

Cognitive Processes-
1) Schema- Concept or framework or structure/ things that we know.
2) Assimilation- Learn something new but does not contradict what we already know.
3) Accommodation- New information does not fit in with the old information. Challenges our assumptions.


Jean Piaget was aFrench-speaking Swiss developmental psychologist and philosipher known for his epistemological studies with children. His theory of cognitive development and epistemological view are together called "genetic epistemology".


Piagets stages:

Sensorimotor- Interacts with the world through senses and movement
Preoperational- Beginning of symbolic thinking, intuition to make predictions. Child goes there egocentrism (she thinks that the way she is experiencing something is the way everyone experiences it) Has not yet obtained conservation and does not think rationally.
Concrete Operational- Operational thinking, can think logically but not purely through his mind.Seriation-Ability to take physical objects and arrange them in a serious (longest to shortest). Transitivity- Logicall thinking (rational thinking).
Formal Operational- Hypothetical deductive reasoning (problem solving skill.


Knowing these steps that Piaget has examined it is possible to observe a child at each different stage. At the sensorimotor stage, you would see a child who crawls, puts things in their mouths and uses their senses to examine the world around them. At the pre operational stage you would see a toddler who is starting to understand the world around them but is still learning many things. They would not display the cognitive skill of conservation.During the concrete operational stage, the child will start to think rationally and will us the conservation skill and be able to learn skills using materials such as sticks,cups, etc... During the formal operational skill the child will start to use deductive reasoning and will be able to count with out using objects or fingers.

The "why" factor of teaching.

During the TED talk show today, Simon Sinek talked about the golden circle and the levels of it, which are: how, why and what. With why being the most important factor because it states the purpose, call or belief. Sinek stated that "people don't buy what you do but why you do it". This statement reflects on teaching a great deal because students don't care about what your going to teach but rather care about why your teaching certain things. Students pay attention more when they find out the purpose of learning the material rather then what is going to be taught because what is in the curriculum truly means nothing to them. Also if you teach the material sternly to what you believe and show that you believe in the stuff that your teaching, it puts motivation behind the material and encourages students to learn.


Another "why" factor that teachers have to look at is why you want to become a teacher. Nietzsche states that why is the most important because when you no why you want to do something everything else fits in place after that. So if you know why you want to become a teacher, it is easier to figure out how your going to teach and what your going to teach.


After watching the TED talk show and thinking about the thought attribute that Nietzsche believes, I got thinking of why I wanted to become a teacher. I want to be a teacher because I like children and enjoy being around them. Also, watching children grow, learn and accomplish different skills is very rewarding and gives me a sense of fulfilment. I also think that education is very important in our society and that children must enjoy and appreciate school or they will grow up disliking it which sets them up for failure. Knowing this I want to be a caring, approachable teacher who makes school a safe and enjoyable environment for children and who makes learning fun and rewarding and not stressful. The last reason I want to become a teacher is because a I want to make an impact on children's lives and help change them for the better. I want to light the way for children who may not have a bright future right now, and there is no better way to do that then be in the education stream and start effecting their lives at a early age.

Being a wise consumer of info. about educational psychology.

There are five important facts to think about when learning information about educational psychology, these include:
1) Be cautious of what is reported in the popular media
2) Avoid drawing conclusions about individual needs based on a group research.- Remember that you have to meet individual needs of the students but don't just assume that they have certain needs because of research done for a group. ex) If there is research done that children who play video games tend to be more violent, don't assume that just because a individual plays video games means he or she is violent.
3) Recognize  how easy it is too overgeneralize about a small or clinical sample.- Be careful about drawing generalizations from an individual to a group.
4) Be aware that a single study is usually not the defining word.
5) Always consider the source of information and evaluate its credibility.

Considering these points, after watching the video on  Allison Cameron and her classroom, it gives present and future teachers a lot to think about. Allison shows how incorporating physical education into her classroom full of struggling teenagers helps to improve their focus and skills in school. As a future teacher I believe that it is important to take this research into consideration.I do believe that physical education is important to improve brain activity certain factors of this research need to be taken into consideration. Certain aspects like disabilities, money for equipment and support from the school's staff may come into affect. It is important to realize that not ever student in future classrooms will be able to physically do exercise and that certain changes may have to take place if this is the case. Also it is important to see that Allison had the support and money to do this kind of activity, it may be harder for other teachers to obtain the money and support. Teachers must also realize that not all students will benefit from this type of activity because every individual learns differently. Overall I believe that incorporating physical activity into classrooms will help students learn and achieve but certain situations must be taken into consideration.

Effective teaching

To become a effective teacher, there are many different aspects that one must keep in mind. Effective teaching involves social and ethical matters and also involves working with multicultural students.Effective teachers must reach the needs of every student in his or her classroom no matter what culture or ethnic group the students come from. Teachers cannot expect students with different background to just adapt to our society. Teachers must master the subject matter that has to be taught, and have a firm grasp and be comfortable with the content.An effective teacher must use a range of different instructional strategies to capture the attention of their students. They must also have a structured classroom management with an authority voice and use goal setting/ lesson design to stay organized.  Motivation and communication skills are also needed throughout the classroom in order to be able to interact in a proper manner and be able to  keep the students engaged. In order for teachers to be effective they must inhibit these qualities along with many other qualities such as being a life long learner. It is important that teachers have the ability to learn and keep learning. They must want to learn and grow and respect the teaching profession.


Having said this, effective teaching can often be observed and praised. For example, I had never been good at math, but knowing that I wanted to become a teacher I knew I had to take math 30 pure. In grade twelve I was having a lot of trouble with math because of the heavy course load. I had told my teacher what I wanted to become in the future and that I needed math 30 but did not think I could pass . She took this into consideration and pushed me to succeed. She showed effective teaching by never letting me get negative and having faith in me. She spent some of her own time to make sure that I understood the learnt material which showed that she cared. She also gave me extra resources and support which helped to fit my needs.  She displayed all of these qualities of effective teaching and in the end she supported my future goals and helped me get to where I am today. She is an example of an effective teacher who cares and supports her students and in the future I strive to be an effective teacher and display qualities like she did with my students.