A Practical Application of Educational Psychology Theory
Writing Prompt:
From what I have learned this quarter about Education Psychology, which one or two applications will I seek to incorporate into my teaching career?
Behaviorism
My general knowledge of behaviorism, especially of punishment and reward, informs my approach to students who are performance based. Because some of my students may be motivated by extrinsic rewards, I will help them discover their need for internal motivation and discover the joy of self-satisfaction in learning.
Often, the learning process will frustrate students when they face an obstacle. Shaping and Task Analysis use the behavioral approach in a positive way to break down specified learning goals for students into manageable steps and encourage the process rather than stress the final outcome. These methods demonstrate behaviorism because they aim to accomplish a specific learning goal by adding reinforcement to assist the student in a learning task. The key to Task Analysis is to clearly define the goal and the steps required to reach the goal. I will incorporate shaping and task analysis into my writing instruction by providing clearly defined writing goals with a step by step example for students to follow as they engage the writing task. I will emphasize the writing process as being as important as the final product. I will instruct students to consciously think through their writing task before they begin.
Cognition
One of the most helpful realizations for me in the study cognition was the concept of cognitive load. As an educator, I will need to be constantly evaluating the load I am placing on my students as well as help students to manage the extraneous load that may be hindering their ability to learn. I will seek to determine and balance the optimal amount of information input with appropriate application so that students will maximize their learning potential.
Mnemonics are powerful tools that assist in improving memory and learning material. By modeling and teaching mnemonics, I can explicitly teach my students how to use and access their memory potential.
Decision Making
I do not believe that bias can be eliminated, but I do believe that it can be tempered. I will seek to understand my biases so that I will not make unbalanced decisions. I will also seek the council of other educators, those who are both more and less experienced than myself, so that I may gain from their perspectives. This will help me to make responsible decisions.
People always say that hindsight is 20-20. I will overcome the tendency to waste energy by dwelling on the past and instead use hindsight for making future decisions. I will seek to implement this by keeping a journal for each class that I teach. This will allow me to revisit situations and experiments and learn from my mistakes.
Modeling
Because humans are both cognitive and cultural, modeling is one of the most powerful tools the teacher has at their disposal. It is important that teachers not only model behavior, but also the cognitive process. Teachers are more than modes of transferring knowledge, they are influencers, guides that lead others to learn how to cultivate their own individual gifts, talents, and cognitive abilities. I will begin each class by modeling silence and rest, allowing my students to center themselves. I will often incorporate think-alouds while I am demonstrating a skill to reveal the cognitive process. I will also be ware of my life outside of school, knowing that others are watching me for cues.
Creative thinking
Reframing a problem is an effective problem solving tool. I will seek to implement this technique when working with challenging students. Instead of blaming the student for their negative behavior, I will ask as many questions as I can of myself, the students, and other parties involved to figure out a solution. I will first analyze my methods and approaches to see if there is anything that I need to change. I will also talk to the student one on one to try and discover a solution to the problem. I will also collaborate with other teachers (while maintaining confidentiality) to try and develop the best results.
I also will continue to study education and psychology on my own to develop a wide knowledge base from which to grow in my creative abilities. I will seek to gain as much input as I can so that I will make informed decisions based upon sound research.
Motivation
Giving clear and realistic expectations at the beginning of a course is foundational in properly motivating students. Making learning tasks student centered and interesting is also important. These strategies combined with using the proper medium for the content being taught will assist in providing a desired learning environment. I will seek to incorporate choice into my curriculum by allowing students to select one or two novels to read a quarter. I will also offer an alternative option to writing traditional essays. By allowing the students to have choice, they are able to personally invest in the course, thus building motivation. I also purpose to poll my students regarding my course and implement their advice into my teaching strategies.
Assessment
Writing teachers don’t have to correct every mistake. Doing so can do more to frustrate students rather than instruct them. When grading papers I will make sure to choose two or three areas to focus on, correct them and then hand the paper back to the students for them to practice, apply, and rewrite, correcting their mistakes.
Timing –it is important to return writing as promptly as possible so that students will still care about the task. I will be strategic in my approach to grading so that I do not spend more time on the first few papers and less time on the second half.
Receiving student feedback about their writing before they turn it in may provide clarity for the teacher when giving feedback. Also, this allows student to consider their work before it is evaluated by the teacher. This process will allow students to take responsibility for their work as well as create an open dialogue between students and teachers about the writing process. I will incorporate this into my writing curriculum as a way of making the writing process more collaborative and lower stakes.
Blogging
I have greatly enjoyed and benefited from the experience of blogging my responses to each chapter. I will continue to use this medium both for personal use and as an educational tool. I will allow students to blog their literary journals online as a means of creating a collaborative and creative writing atmosphere in my classroom. I no longer see blogging as an inferior means of communication, but one that is highly relevant to today’s classroom. I aim to implement it as an academic tool to help students discover their writing voice.
1 comment:
First, thank you for your reflective thinking. This is something that is hard to teach, but you definitely have acquired the skill somewhere in your education.
I'm going to touch on each of your themes.
Behaviorism
While the articles we read were quite critical of behaviorism, you found some elements of behaviorism that are more beneficial than not. Task analysis are a fundamental component of instructional design because they allow you to determine what prerequisite skills students will need to complete a task. Also, in doing this, you can think about behavioral objectives. These are often effective because they are clear, understandable, and observable.
With regard to cognition, I think your emphasis on cognitive load is critical. Sometimes it's difficult to accept that by assigning less doesn't mean you're an "easy" teacher, but perhaps that students will remember more than they just wrote a lot or read a lot. Unless we help students to elaborate and make connections or encourage them to make connections between new and long term memories, we have to accept that they won't remember much.
Seeking awareness of biases is a great place to start in decision making. Again, it takes a self-aware person to do this, but you are clearly cognizant of your biases.
You mentioned that modeling could take place in the form of think alouds. This is a great application. You might think about how you can incorporate different types of models of different races, ages, sexuality, careers, etc. Bring in men who write romance lyrics and women who write raps (or opposite of whatever stereotypes might exist in your class).
Creativity.
The use of reframing a problem can take you far in solving behavioral problems or academic problems.
Motivation
Yes! Choice. We love choice, but why as teachers do we limit choice. And, we like clear expectations with some room for creativity. Excellent ideas.
Assessment
Student input on assessment will be highly valued by some. What often is a struggle is getting those students who don't see the value in it to understand why self-assessment and honest reflection is important. But, I do think students will appreciate this opportunity, by and large.
Finally, hearing that you see the value in blogging brought a smile to my face. Not only does it allow for reflection, but also it allows for sharing and open critiques by authentic audiences much more readily than a journal or the like.
I hope you learned a lot this quarter, remember what you've learned, and can transfer this knowledge to your future teaching.
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