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.