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Becoming a Teacher in
1. Active Learning – involve students in decision
making. It helps to shift some of the responsibility for learning from the
teacher to the student.
2. Constructivism – According to Kamii’s theory says that students construct meaning in their
heads while interacting with the environment rather than internalizing
information from the outside requires that the students accept more
responsibility for their behavior and learning.
3. Cooperative
Learning –
Teachers who collaborate with peers are more likely to encourage collaboration
among students in their classroom. McLaughlin found that teachers who
excel at encouraging students in cooperative learning opportunities tend to be
part of a collegial community of fellow educators.
4. KWL – A excellent strategy for
encouraging choice and ownership for all students. Teacher begins by
asking the students what they know (K) about the topic, second part of the
activity requires that students create a list of things they want (W) to know
and learn about the topic, the last part of this activity is having students
determine what they have learned (L).
5. Independent
Learner – A
student who takes responsibility for their own learning environment.
Teachers have the responsibility of teaching the students what they need to know
in order for the students to do their work on their own.
6. Learner-Centered
Community –
Asking students to identify their expectations for the teacher reinforces the
idea that the classroom is learning centered community. This is involving
the students by asking the questions that they could answer which might help you
(as a teacher) learn what they might want for your
classroom.
7. Metacognition – Active learners learn how to
monitor their cognitive activity. This ability to monitor and regulate
ones understanding and comprehension of a learning task or to actively think
about ones own thinking and learning.
8. Passive Learners – quiet, non-active
learners.
9. Risk
taker/taking –
try something new, if it does not work then do not be afraid to tell your
students your wrong let them know that everyone makes
mistakes.
10.
Routines – students become independent
learners momentum and pacing become maintained, dead time is
eliminated…
a.
Plan ahead
b. Begin
immediately
c.
Facilitate the handling of
materials
d. Make sure students know what they
are to do when work is finished
e. Reduce # of transitions and
interruptions that occur
f.
Have procedures for transition
periods
g. Time management before and after
activities
h.
Everyday
doings
11.
Schema – All learners store and organize
information in their minds in a way that makes sense to them. The results
of this organization are cognitive structures known as
schema
12.
Student
Ownership –
assuring that students are active rather than passive learners helps develop
this.
13.
Transitions – teachers want to reduce the # of
transitions. This means reduce the # of times a student will stop and
start another activity.
14.
Transition
Orientation –
teachers with this involves students in all areas of learning and
teaching
a.
Research and developmental
psychology
b. Learning begins with concepts or
meaning before incorporating skills
c.
The teachers role is that of
facilitator
15.
Transmission-orientation – teachers learning believe that
teachers have the major responsibility in making decisions about curriculum,
planning, instruction, and evaluation.
Assessment- appraisal process that is ongoing
and dynamic. Measures students' skill acquisition, fluency, maintenance, and
generalization on a specific set of objectives or lessons.
Evaluation- all means used in schools to
formally measure student performance. It includes formal, informal, and
observational data collected before, during, and after instruction. Usually used
to make curricular and program decisions such as referral for special education
or gifted education assessment.
Formal
Assessment-
norm or criterion-referenced, standardized tests
Informal
Assessment-
interviews, observations, alternative assessments, curriculum-based
assessment.
Validity- Truthfulness of the information. In
the case of a test, the test measures what it purports to measure.
Readability- relates to the dependability of
information.
Test bias- refers to the fairness of the
test.
Formative Data-
provides the
teacher with feedback about the students progress "along the way" to the end of
the instruction or intervention. It is collected before or during instruction
and can be used for planning instructional goals and objectives and /or
adaptations of instruction.
Summative Data- formal or informal and are
intended to be more or less judgments about the student's progress through the
curriculum or instructional activities. Its purpose is to summarize how well the
student, group of students, or a teacher has performed on a set of learning
goals or objectives.
norm-referenced
test- a
standardized test, that has been created on a clearly defined group called a
norm group. It is to see how close the test taker is to a "normal" test taker.
criterion-referenced
test- a
standardized measure that is used to provide information about a student's
mastery level for specific skills or content.
Standardized
test- usually
commercially generated and given to particular groups or individual students.
Standard Score and Percentile
Group- compare
an individual student's performance with that of his or her norm
group.
Age
or Grade Equivalent Scores- A type of scoring which compares
students to other students in their grade or age. This reporting that is
often misleading because it assumes that every student of a certain age has
developed skill levels or has received uniform
instruction.
Curriculum-based
assessment-
the process that determines a student's instructional needs within the classroom
curriculum.
Teacher-made
test: most
common way used to access student progress in a specific content area.
Domain- common area
Observational
Data- data
that is collected by simply observing. It is very important, but the reliability
and validity of such data should always be highly suspect. It should never be
used as the sole source for making decisions about students or instructional
techniques because such data typically have a high degree of bias.
Portfolio- informal alternative assessment
tool. A summative evaluation of student work over an extended period of time. It
tells a story of a student's effort, progress, or achievement for a certain time
period. A structured collection that demonstrates student progress.
Domain
I:
Understanding Learners
Competency
2:
The teacher considers environmental factors that may affect learning in
designing a supportive and responsive classroom community that promotes all
students’ learning and self-esteem.
·
Environmental
factors –
these include factors within the classroom (e.g., teaching methods, equipment
and supplies, teacher-student interactions, etc.) and what students bring with
them (e.g., attitudes, beliefs, experiences, clothing choices, etc.). By understanding environmental factors
that affect students, the teacher can create a classroom environment that helps
counter the negative influences that students may have experienced or may be
presently experiencing.
·
Classroom
environment – a
setting in which classroom members (teacher and students) reside for the purpose
of learning. This environment
includes all the factors or influences that impact the classroom members and all
the interactions of members of the classroom and how these interactions affect
the students. An examination of
some of these environmental factors will help the teacher become more
knowledgeable on how to create a classroom environment that is supportive, fun,
motivating, and full of learning.
·
Perception
– “how
the world is seen through each individual’s eyes.” A student’s individual perception
certainly impacts the learning experience in numerous ways. This individual perception is often
refereed to as selective perception.
We see selectively as individuals because each of us has had hundred of
difference experiences that have brought us to this moment in time, as have our
students. Teachers must remember
that a student’s perception is reality to that student. To be an effective teacher, one must
understand that each student comes to the classroom with a different set of
perceptions and that many of these perceptions can be
distorted.
·
Culture
–
consists of behaviors absorbed or learned from a group. In education, we often refer to culture
as students’ behaviors learned in their lives outside of school. Cultural experiences affect the way
students behave, how they think, how they treat others, and how they treat
themselves. A teacher cannot
understand his or her classroom without making reference to the cultural and
personal backgrounds of all the students and examining his or her own cultural
baggage as well.
·
Stereotypes
–
preconceived notions of how individuals from certain groups think, feel, and
act. As classroom members, students
rapidly turn for support to other students they believe share their own
stereotypes. Stereotypes can be
based on family background, race, ethnic background, religion, parental
occupation, grades, athleticism, hobbies, economic status, or any number of
other factors. Teachers must keep
in mind that students are complex, unique individuals – no two are the
same! It is the teacher’s job to
not only enjoy this uniqueness, but to teach students to do the
same.
·
Transactional
analysis –
According to transactional analysis, all of our experiences in life, starting as
infants, contribute to the development of our concept of self-worth and assist
us in formulating a sense of worth of others. Napier and Gershenfeld (1999) describe our development of self-worth
this way:
We
did this by crystallizing our experiences and making decisions about the kind of
life we would have (sad, happy); what parts we would play (strong hero, loner);
and how we would act out the parts of our life scripts (adventurously, in fear,
slowly, with permission). (p.6)
·
Life
Position – For
example, a person who is continuously praised as a child begins to see him or
herself as worthy of praise. A
person who is ridiculed frequently as a child may see him or herself as
unintelligent, with little to offer.
It is through these experiences that we form a life script or a life
position. As we grow older, we
become a self-fulfilling prophecy – continuing to reinforce what we learned
about ourselves as children. The
students who enter the classroom will have life positions already
established. Some students, based
on the way they have been treated in life, will already feel they are gong to
fail at school. A teacher’s job is
to help such students find a way to overcome and redefine that life
position. It is clear how a life
position can impact learning in the classroom and it is also evident that, as a
part of the many experiences that students will have in the classroom, the
teacher can make a difference – positively or negatively.
·
Individual
security – When
students enter a new classroom group, they often experience a lack of individual
security that results in anxiety.
These may be mild to extreme.
When experiencing anxiety, students feel insecure about themselves. In this state of anxiety, students
experience self-doubt about the way others perceive them. As a result, their behavior is based on
these feelings. Some students may
withdraw while others may become loud and rambunctious. Other students may lash out (as if
cornered). When individuals join a
group, they change. A student’s
in-group behavior may differ from his or her out-of-group behavior; peer
pressure and group membership can impact students. A teacher should consider the classroom
to be a group that students join and, as the leader of that group, create an
environment that makes students want to have membership.
·
Conflict
–
Effective teachers must understand conflict and its role in the classroom and
school. Most people see conflict as
purely negative, which is not always the case. What is always true, however, is that
conflict does not manage itself.
Students will bring conflict into the classroom that originated outside
the classroom. Some conflict will
originate within the classroom.
Wherever it originates, conflict has the potential to negatively or
positively impact classroom learning, depending on how it is dealt with. In order for a teacher to effectively
deal with conflict and to teach students to do the same the teacher must have
skills in managing conflict.
Teachers develop these skills by (1) understanding conflict contaminants,
(2) identifying types of conflict, and (3) implementing appropriate conflict
resolution strategies.
·
Conflict
contaminants –
conditions in which negative conflict grows and thrives. These are conditions that have a
negative effect on classroom learning.
o
Negativism
Students
get into more conflict when negativity is predominant in the classroom. Teachers
must promote a positive classroom environment with students. They achieve this by being accepting,
welcoming, and encouraging to students.
A positive classroom environment is one in which the teacher has made
allowances for different personalities and learning styles and does not play
favorites. Teachers should leave
sarcasm out of the school environment.
o
Unrealistic
Expectations If
teachers have unrealistic expectations of students, they are likely to
experience failure. A teacher’s job
is to help students find success in academic, social, and mental ways. Teachers need to provide opportunities
for each student to succeed at small tasks before moving him or her to more
complex tasks. In addition,
teachers should build in opportunities for success throughout longer projects to
encourage students to continue working and learning. Effective teachers stop and celebrate
successes because they know that success breeds success.
o
Poor
Communication Skills When
poor communication exists between students, between the teacher and students, or
between the teacher and parents or administration, conflict will likely
occur. Without effective
communication, teachers leave their classrooms open to rumors, incorrect
information, and missed information.
They also miss opportunities to get to know their students. Teachers who do not get to know their
students cannot effectively meet students’ individual needs. Use of various types of delivery systems
(e.g., written and oral) and frequent feedback (e.g., oral, written, and/or
nonverbal) will help to ensure that students interpret the teacher’s messages in
the way he or she intends for the messages to be
interpreted.
o
Personal
Stressors Personal
stressors are personal conditions that teachers and students experience, such as
health problems, lack of sleep, financial difficulties, improper nutrition,
pregnancy, or lack of organizational or social skills. All these stressors have the potential
to affect student learning and the classroom climate as well as promoting
conditions for conflict. A teacher
may be limited on what he or she can do with many of these stressors; however,
seeking the help of school administration, community services, or counselors can
assist teachers in getting help for students. The classroom teacher is generally the
first personal to note and report these stressors because of his or her daily
contact with students.
o
Savior
Syndrome Some
teachers have a condition known as the savior syndrome. These are teachers who, though
well-meaning, try to fix every student problem. This often gets teachers into conflict
situations. Teachers who make
choices for students – who give them the answers to all their questions and
problems – become accountable for the consequences of those choices. A good rule of thumb to bear in mind is
that teachers want students to depend on them, not to become dependent upon
them.
o
Jumping
to Conclusions Students,
parents, and teachers alike are guilty of jumping to conclusions before getting
all the necessary information to make a judgment or decision. Teachers must try to avoid jumping to
conclusions by always getting the facts before saying or doing anything.
o
Lack
of Support and Trust Students
need to feel supported in the classroom.
Students who feel supported show signs of increased creativity,
communication, and personal growth.
Teachers can attend school activities in which their students are
involved and, at the first opportunity, praise the involved students and
acknowledge their efforts in the activities. Teachers can engage students in
conversations about topics that interest them, be available to answer questions
when students need it, gear classroom teaching to include all the learning
styles of the students, and use a tremendous amount of positive reinforcement
and encouragement.
o
Preference
Protection This
is the protection of one’s preferred way of doing something. It is often exemplified by the
statement, “It is my way or the highway.”
Teachers must spend more time thinking about where they want their
students to go academically, and less time demanding that there is only one way
to get there. Tunnel vision occurs
when a teacher feels that his or her way is the only way. This will limit student creativity and
success. The goal is for students
to learn – not for all of them to learn in the same way.
·
Types
of Conflict –
Teachers must accept the fact that conflict is a necessary and inevitable part
of life in the classroom. They must
also be able to identify the types of conflict that occur in the classroom so
that they can properly manage them.
By managing the conflict, we become stronger people. Whether or not we want to acknowledge
it, we all need conflict to challenge and enrich our
lives.
o
Value
Conflict Value
conflict is the most difficult type of conflict to resolve because it deals with
a person’s individual beliefs, values, or convictions (deep-seated religious,
moral, or political beliefs that a student has carried over
time)
o
Tangible
Conflict Tangible
conflict is conflict over resources.
These may include time, money, supplies, parking spaces, and classroom
space and location. For students,
these resources can also be the type of car they drive and the clothes they wear
(or want to drive or wear). When
resources decline, tangible conflict increases.
o
Interpersonal
Conflict This
is often seen in the conflict between student “cliques” based on academics,
sports, music, or other common interests.
Interpersonal conflict results when an individual or group has feeling of
dislike toward another individual or group.
o
Territorial
Conflict This
occurs as the result of territorial invasions, or as the result of someone
expecting another to expand his or her present territory or responsibility. (sharing supplies, not pulling your
weight in group work)
o
Perceptual
Conflict Teachers
and students often jump to conclusions about the motives and goals of
others. Most perceptual conflicts
occur because the conflicting parties do not have the
facts.
·
Conflict
Resolution Strategies –
After identifying one or more of the five types of conflict (value, tangible,
interpersonal, territorial, or perceptual), the teacher must next know what
strategies to utilize to resolve the conflict.
o
Using
Conciliatory Gestures This
can be as simple as a smile or kind word, or it can be as complex as a
concession. Conciliation is the
process whereby one side of the conflict initiates a gesture of good faith in
the hope that the other party will reciprocate with a similar type of
gesture.
o
Avoidance
This
strategy is overused by students and adults. Ignored conflict often mushrooms into
deeper conflict or other types of conflict.
o
Altering
the Group Structure This
may mean changing the physical space in order to separate two conflicting
students, changing a student’s schedule, or even changing a teacher’s job
responsibilities.
o
Appealing
to a Higher Belief or Value Sometimes
focusing on an overarching value, belief, or goal will help resolve conflict.
For example, two teachers involved
in an interpersonal conflict may decide to put their differences aside in order
to do what is best for students.
o
“I
Need You and You Need Me” Strategy This
strategy helps individuals to understand how two conflicting students or student
groups may have resources that, when shared, will help each side to achieve its
own goals and interests. In the
classroom this strategy helps students to realize the value of
others.
o
Role
Clarification A
teacher can use role clarification as a resolution strategy by having each
student define his or her responsibilities in the group, then having the
students define the responsibilities of others in the groups, comparing all the
responses. The teacher will be able
to see where role confusion is occurring.
o
Direct
Order With
a direct order, there is no input sought from the conflicting students. And we know that without input, most
conflicts will not be completely resolved and will
reappear.
o
Communication
To
determine if a message has been received and interpreted in the manner intended,
one must have feedback from the receiver or receivers of one’s message. (have
receiver restate the message verbally or in written form)
o
Seeking
Additional Information Many
students have become angry or upset over something that they thought was said or
done, but when the truth was known, the perceived event never occurred or
occurred under conditions that were acceptable.
o
Outside
Intervention This
means involving a third party who can help negotiate, arbitrate, or just offer
wise council with regard to the conflict.
o
Group
Dynamics Interventions A
group dynamics intervention is a strategy that includes a wide variety of
programs and events, for example, multicultural awareness projects, personality
inventories, challenge courses, retreats, trust-building exercises,
team-building exercises, and cooperative learning experiences.
o
Compromise
This
is a strategy that allows the conflicting students or groups of students to meet
halfway. Each side gives up part of
what he or she wants in order to resolve the issue.
o
Expanding
or Developing New Resources Resources can
be defined as materials, time, territory, personnel, information, or
influence. This issue can be
resolved by expanding the current resources or by developing new resources.
o
Democratic
Vote With
this strategy, a vote is taken of all the students or members of the
conflict. The vote can be a written
vote, a raised-hand vote, or verbal vote.
o
Other
Conflict Resolution Strategies An
effective teacher develops additional strategies to deal with each individual in
the class. For example, humor, when
used appropriately, can be used to calm a stressful or highly emotional
situation. Teachers should think
back to situations of conflict in their own lives.
·
Needs
– A
need is a requirement for the well-being of an individual We can best understand these needs
by looking at Maslow’s hierarch of needs (1954). According to Maslow, individuals pass through certain developmental
stages.
A key aspect of the model is the
hierarchical nature of the needs. The lower the needs in the hierarchy, the more
fundamental they are and the more a person will tend to abandon the higher needs
in order to pay attention to sufficiently meeting the lower needs. For example,
when we are ill, we care little for what others think about us: all we want is
to get better.
·
Physiological needs are to do with
the maintenance of the human body. If we are unwell, then little else matters
until we recover.
·
Safety needs
are about putting a
roof over our heads and keeping us from harm. If we are rich, strong and
powerful, or have good friends, we can make ourselves safe.
·
Belonging
needs introduce
our tribal nature. If we are helpful and kind to others they will want us as
friends.
·
Esteem
needs are for a
higher position within a group. If people respect us, we have greater
power. Self-esteem is a condition in which one
has confidence and satisfactory with oneself.
·
Self-actualization
needs are to
'become what we are capable of becoming', which would our greatest achievement.
A
major implication of Maslow’s hierarchy applied to the
classroom is that teachers must make sure that the lower-level needs of students
are satisfied so that they are more likely to function at higher levels. Students will be better learners if they
are physically comfortable, feel safe, feel like they belong and are loved, and,
as a result, experience self-esteem.
Based
on Maslow’s work, Biehler
provided the following suggestions for meeting student
needs:
1) Do
everything possible to satisfy the deficiency needs – physiological, safety,
belongingness, and esteem.
2) Enhance
the attractions and minimize the dangers of growth choices (if you establish
situations in which students feel pressure, tension, or anxiety, students will
choose safety and do their best to remain uninvolved; if you minimize the risks
and make learning seem exciting, even the less secure student will want to join
in)
3) Direct
learning experiences toward feelings of success in an effort to encourage a
realistic level of aspiration, an orientation toward achievement, and a positive
self-concept.
4) Be
alert to the damaging impact of excessive competition.
5) For
students who need it, encourage the development of a desire to
achieve.
6) Take
advantage of natural interest, try to create new one, and encourage learning for
its own sake.
7) When
appropriate, permit and encourage students to direct their own
learning.
·
Bullying –
often thought of as violent behavior, but in reality, it certainly can consist
of or become a precursor to violent behaviors. Bullying can have negative consequences
for the general school climate and the right of students to learn in a safe
environment without far. It
consists of such behaviors as hitting, threatening, teasing, taunting, spreading
rumors, enforcing social isolation, and stealing. Bullies tend to be students who desire
to feel powerful and in control.
They often come from homes where physical punishment is used and where
parental involvement and warmth are lacking. Students who are victims of bullying are
typically anxious, insecure, cautious, and suffer from low self-esteem, rarely
defending themselves or retaliating when confronted by students who bully
them. Teachers should watch for
symptoms of bullying, such as withdrawal, evidence of physical abuse, a drop in
grades, torn clothes, or needing extra money or supplies. And, most importantly, teachers must
make sure they do not bully students themselves – physically or verbally.
Characteristics
found in youth who have caused school-associated violent
deaths:
1. Has a history of tantrums and
uncontrollable angry outbursts.
2. Characteristically resorts to name
calling, cursing or abusive language.
3. Habitually makes violent threats when
angry.
4. Has previously brought a weapon to school
5. Has a background of serious disciplinary
problems at school and in the community.
6. Has a background of drug, alcohol or
other substance abuse or dependency.
7. Is on the fringe of his/her peer group
with few or no close friends.
8. Is preoccupied with weapons, explosives
or other incendiary devices.
9. Has previously been truant, suspended or
expelled from school.
10.
Displays cruelty to animals.
11.
Has little or no supervision and support
from parents or a caring adult.
12.
Has witnessed or been a victim of abuse
or neglect in the home.
13.
Has been bullied and/or bullies or
intimidates peers or younger children.
14.
Tends to blame others for difficulties
and problems s/he causes her/himself.
15.
Consistently prefers TV shows, movies or
music expressing violent themes and acts.
16.
Prefers reading materials dealing with
violent themes, rituals and abuse.
17.
Reflects anger, frustration and the dark
side of life in school essays or writing projects.
18.
Is involved with a gang or an antisocial
group on the fringe of peer acceptance.
19.
Is often depressed and/or has significant
mood swings.
20.
Has threatened or attempted suicide.
Warning Signs of Suicidal
Behavior
·
Metacognitive, metacognition - refers to thinking about
cognition (memory, perception, calculation, association, etc.) itself. Metacognition can be divided into two types of knowledge:
explicit, conscious, factual knowledge; and implicit, unconscious, procedural
knowledge. The ability to think about thinking is unique to sentient species and
indeed is one of the definitions of sentience.
·
Rote learning - Learning or memorization by
repetition, often without an understanding of the reasoning or relationships
involved in the material that is learned.
Development – refers to
systematic, lasting changes that take place over the course of the human life
span.
Physical
Development – changes in the
human body, which depend largely on genes
Cognitive Development –
changes in mental processes
Personal
Development – development in
areas of self-concept and emotions
Social Development – This
occurs as humans interact with others.
Moral Development –
development in the sense of right and wrong
Developmentally
Appropriate –
Developmentally appropriate instruction exists if the teacher is aware of the
range of possible developmental levels and the characteristics that students
exhibit in these levels. The
teacher must also provide instruction in a way that learning experiences lead to
optimal development for each child.
Readiness – Assessing
student readiness for various learning experiences is important. Readiness occurs when the student is
capable.
Maturation – development
that takes place as a result of internally determined
change
Piaget’s stages
of development – Piaget
suggests specific differences in the way children’s thinking evolves as they
develop. Piaget’s focus is on the
individual’s construction of meaning through activity.
Sensorimotor (birth – 2
years) – Humans form
initial schema from physical interactions with the objects and people around
them. Their primary accomplishments
during this stage include the following: understanding that objects exist even
when not in sight or sound range, imitation of the actions of others,
combination of simple actions into more complex routines, the ability to reverse
an action, and evidence of goal-directed or intentional behaviors tied to
physical actions.
Preoperational (2
years – 7 years) – Students move
from the development of schemata that are tied to physical actions to actions
that are carried out mentally by thinking them through. When these students are confronted with
a problem, they tend to focus on a single aspect of the situation and ignore
other aspects. They may be able to
think operations through in one direction but cannot mentally reverse the
operations. These students are
considered egocentric in that they are unable to view situations from the
perspectives of others. These
students also tend to play side-by-side in groups.
Concrete
Operational (7 years – 11 years) – Students
exhibit characteristics of a concrete operational stage of cognitive
development. They can now perform
mental experiments, but their operations are constrained by what they have
actually experienced. When
confronted with a task or problem, they can consider more than one aspect of the
task simultaneously and solve hands-on problems logically. They can group objects according to
characteristics that the objects have in common as well as arrange objects in an
orderly fashion using a quantitative dimension such as size. The students possess the realization
that a change in appearance of an object does not necessarily change the
characteristics of the object.
Development of conservation requires three other reasoning skills
acquired during this stage: (1)
identity – when nothing is added or subtracted, the material is not changed; (2)
compensation – a change in one dimension or direction can be balanced by a
change in another dimension or direction; and (3) reversibility – the ability to
conjecture what would happen if an action were reversed or
“undone.”
Formal
Operational (11 years – adult) – These students
have the ability to deal with abstract concepts. They acquire the ability to move beyond
concrete operations and solve abstract problems containing a number of variables
logically. They develop hypothetico-deductive reasoning – the ability to consider a
hypothetical situation and hypothesize implications through use of logical
reasoning. These students tend to
focus on their own beliefs and ideas and assume that everyone else is as
interested in them as they are.
However, unlike the egocentrism characteristic of preoperational
thinkers, these students are capable of perceiving situations from different
viewpoints.
Organization – This is the
constant combination and arrangement of actions and thoughts into systems or
structures.
Disequilibrium – This is
dissonance that occurs when we perceive that the information we receive from
interaction with the environment is not consistent with our prior representation
of events or objects.
Equilibration – This is the
constant search for a balance between what we know and what we are learning
through activity or social experiences.
Adaptation – the adjustment
of existing knowledge structures through the two processes of assimilation and
accommodation
Accommodation – This is when
we change our existing structure to accommodate new information. We do this in order to alleviate the
incongruity between what we know and conflicting new
information.
Assimilation – This is when
we incorporate new knowledge into our existing knowledge.
Schema – Piaget said
that humans innately engage in the constant combination and arrangement of
actions and thoughts into systems or structures. He called these systems and structures
schemata. (Schemata is the plural
form of schema.)
Information
processing capacity – The
development of cognitive processes occurs through more gradual processes
involving increasing capability and capacity of attention, learning strategies,
knowledge, and metacognition. This theory states that children use
more complex strategies as they increase in age and knowledge, and they use them
more effectively. This theory also
states that younger children are more distractible than older children and less
purposive in their goals of learning.
Vygotsky’s sociocultural theory – Vygotsky emphasizes the role of social interaction and the
development of language in cognitive development.
Guided
participation – This term
describes the process a teacher might use when providing scaffolding within a
student’s zone of proximal development.
For example, a child may not be able to generate the causes of the Civil
War on her own after reading a chapter in a book, but if the teacher provided a
concept map with some of the causes, the child may be able to fill in the
remainder.
Zone of proximal
development – This is the
difference between the intellectual tasks that students can perform alone and
those that they can perform with the assistance of an adult or a more skilled
peer.
Scaffolding – This is the
appropriate guidance and support from adults or peers that is gradually
withdrawn as student competence improves.
Private
Speech – self-talk that
is a critical factor in guiding and monitoring the thinking and problem solving
of young children
Stages of
Psychosocial Development – the sum of
personal development, social development, and moral
development
Initiative (3
years – 6 years) – Children test
their independence and explore their environment as they master language,
cognitive, and social skills. If
children are provided with opportunities to try out new behaviors and are
successful, they develop initiative.
If these attempts are limited or punished too frequently, children may
develop a sense of guilt and become overly dependent on
adults.
Industry (6 years
– 12 years) – Children
engage in attempts to develop the academic and social skills and abilities
needed for successful societal and social interaction. When they see themselves as incompetent
in dealing with social situations and with their peers, a sense of inferiority
or worthlessness may emerge.
Identity (12
years – 18 years) – Students are
searching for self-identity, and students are trying out different roles. Students’ self-esteem may drop during
the onset of this stage, particularly for females. Students who encounter nonsupportive environments may develop a poor definition of
their occupational, sexual, or moral identities. Four identity statuses can result from
this stage. Identity achievement describes those
students who have successfully resolved their identity. Identity diffusion is characterized by
a lack of direction. Identity foreclosure suggests that
adolescents have committed to an identity but have not given it much
thought. Moratorium describes the status
characterized by the active search for identity by students who are currently
undergoing identity crisis.
Kohlberg’s stage
theory of moral reasoning – Kohlberg’s
theory had three levels of moral reasoning.
Preconventional
Stage – Students
choose a course of action because they will receive certain rewards or
punishments for doing so.
Conventional
Stage – Students focus
on gaining approval of others as a result of a particular course of
action.
Postconventional Stage
– This level
reflects moral decisions in light of the interests of the majority and the
rights of the individual and moves in its last stage to establishment of a
personal code of ethics.
Family
Diversity – (a)
diversity of cultural background, (b) differences in family characteristics and
structure, (c) circumstances or situational differences. Which result in diverse languages,
customs, attitudes, behaviors, and values.
Home-school
relationships – All
interactions between school and home that support student achievement. Some
benefits include:
§
Improved
grades
§
Improved test
scores
§
Improved attitudes improved
behavior
§
More completed
homework
§
More engagement in classroom
learning activities
§
Higher attendance
rates
§
Reduced suspension
rates
§
Lower dropout
rates
Parent-teacher
partnerships –
Synonymous to home-school relationships.
All interactions between teacher and parent that support student
achievement.
Technical jargon – terms and acronyms unfamiliar to
those outside a profession (teaching profession in this case). Avoid using when
in conferences with parents.
Types
of involvement:
Aids a school expand its focus to an integrated view of
involvement.
Basic
Obligations of Parenting – Schools offer workshops on this
topic such as guidance and discipline, parent education courses, or family
support relative to health and nutrition issues.
Communications – Open and effective two-way
communication between families and schools such as focus groups, surveys,
telephone calls, and personalized notes to parents.
Volunteering – Family participation in
assemblies or functions as well as provide classroom or school
assistance.
Learning
Activities at Home
– Families are involved in curriculum decisions or participate in interactive
homework assignments. They can also
be provided information and ideas on how to motivate, encourage and monitor
school related activities. Families can also be offered refresher courses to
help them assist with homework.
Decision
Making and Advocacy
– Families are included in school decisions through activities such as
committees, site-based management teams, and district task forces.
Community
Collaboration –
Resources and services from the community are identified to strengthen the
school program, family practices, and student growth. Families are given information on
community programs and opportunities to serve in the community.
At-risk
factors –
Characteristics of school aged children that produce underachievement in
academics.
School-community
relationships – In
Competency 14 it explains how the teacher understands how the school relates to
the larger community and knows strategies for making interactions between school
and community mutually supportive and beneficial. The five basic skills in understanding
the school -community relationship are as follows:
·
Recognizing challenges facing
today’s communities
·
Learning about the school’s
community
·
Effectively communicating with the
school’s community
·
Connecting with the community in
learning experiences
·
Developing children’s sense of
responsibility for improving their communities.
Demographic characteristics
– Teachers need to
know about the community they serve such as their demographic characteristics
such as educational attainment, age, gender occupational patterns, race,
ethnicity, and community groups.
Community information
sources – These are
sources new teachers need to know in order to get to know the
community.
·
City directories and telephone books
contain the names of organized groups.
·
·
Chamber of Commerce has information
readily available.
·
City, county, and state historical
societies and planning commissions have documentary materials that provide
insight into the growth of the community.
·
A review of newspaper files,
including letters to the editor, will help the teacher to chronicle the events,
traditional observances, community efforts, tension and conflicts, and
perspectives on schools in the community.
·
Minutes of school board meetings are
rich sources of information on leaders, programs, tensions, conflicts, and
relations between the schools and the community.
·
Schools and school districts keep
their own records and reports, some develop their own public relations
information in the form of brochures, videos, handbooks, newsletters, program
reports, websites, and so on.
·
The Academic Indicator System (AEIS)
in
·
Beginning teachers need to get out
into the community of the students they serve: walking/driving through the
community talking with people they meet, stop in local businesses and attend
community group meetings, attending festivals, volunteering in the community,
and making home visits to students.
·
There is much information in the
form of records but there is no substitute for firsthand
experience.
Community groups – a number of these groups
generally show concern for education and often sponsor programs with education
connections. Rotary, Kiwanis, and
Lions clubs often sponsor projects that focus on the welfare of school
children. There are national
organizations with local branches that promote better citizenship and community
development.
Community-curriculum
connections –
Schools and teachers of all kinds are using these connections to link classroom
learning experiences to resources and concerns of students’ communities. Some
examples:
·
·
·
Bluebonnet Applied
·
·
Skyline Elementary School, Ferndale,
Washington. K-1 students in a multi-age class frequently apply academic skills
to real-life problems. Morehouse
described her students’ in depth study of airplanes that resulted in designing
and constructing their own student-sized, four-seat, high-wing air-plane. From their experience, students learned
about tools, materials, management, and safety; collecting, sorting, and
classifying; estimating and plan drawing; hammering, sanding, priming, and
painting; cooperative decision making; safety inspection; supervision of
materials; quality control; inventing, asking questions, and finding answers;
and negotiating with the contractor of Boeing Company for “spare parts” for the
airplane’s interior.
Service learning – a concept developed in the 1990’s
when an interest emerged in developing students’ sense of responsibility toward
their communities. Service learning
combines the active participation of students in service projects aimed at
responding to the needs of the school’s community with the development of
academic and social skills. Central
to service learning are the goals of promoting students’ self-esteem, developing
higher-order thinking skills and problem solving, making use of students’
multiple talents and abilities, and providing authentic learning
experiences.
Code of ethics – Standards and expectations for
the Texas Teacher. This Code of Ethics and Standard Practices provides the
framework for ethical conduct on the part of Texas
teachers.
Site-based decision
making – With the
principal as the instruction leader for the campus, it is the responsibility of
the principal to ensure that the state-mandated site-based decision making
committee and procedures instituted.
The committee is made up of a prescribed number of teachers, parents, and
community members. Teacher
representatives are elected by their colleagues, but all teachers have the
opportunity and professional responsibility to provide input or feedback for the
committee’s consideration. The
committee’s major tasks include: identification of goals for the school year,
development of plans for accomplishing those goals including staff development,
input on scheduling and student assignment, and evaluation of the results of any
actions that may be taken. This
committee often meets outside the regular school day, as do other campus and
district committees to which teachers may be assigned or
elected.
Teachers in Texas have opportunity
and the obligation for input on the important decisions that impact the local
campus through the site-based decision-making process. The purpose of this process is to allow
shared decision making at the campus level for decisions that impact the
campus.
Compensatory education programs
- Program for
students with special needs. These
programs provide services for academic assistance and are designed to meet the
needs of at-risk students. At-risk
students are those who are performing well below their grade level or meet any
one of several criteria, usually associated with below-average academic
performance that places the student at risk of dropping out of school. Additional funding, normally from the federal level
is provided for these programs, and eligible students may be served in a wide
variety of settings dependent upon the district’s or school’s program
design.
State Board of Education (SBOE)
– is a statewide
policy board that has the responsibility of overseeing the TEA, among other
duties. The board is a 15 member
body elected for six-year terms, and each member represents one of fifteen
geographic regions of the state.
The chair of the board is appointed from the membership of the SBOE by
the governor.
State Board for Educator
Certification (SBEC) – a state agency with a 15 member
board responsible for the oversight of all aspects of public school educator
certification, continuing education, and standards of conduct. The overall guiding principle of the
board is set out in its vision statement found on the SBEC website, which
states, “The board is guided by the philosophy that educators will create higher
standards for preparation, practice, and conduct than others outside the
profession, and that educators will rigorously uphold these standards.” The board oversees the implementation of
certification rules and is the agency to which a teacher applies for
certification. The SBEC also
governs all aspects of the ExCET and sets rules for
teacher education programs in the state.
Commissioner of
Education-The
management of the TEA rests with this person, who is appointed by the governor
and confirmed by the Texas Senate.
Texas Education Agency
(TEA)-The state
legislature has established school districts and a central education authority,
TEA, to organize and administer the educational programs in the
state.
Local school board-They are responsible for the
oversight of the operations of the schools in the community in Texas. They are elected and the 3-9 members
depending on the size of the school district are called trustees.
Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills
(TEKS)-The
state-mandated curriculum, the TEKS, is for each grade level and content
area. This is a statewide content
guide of essential information that all students should achieve.
Texas Assessment of Academic Skills
(TAAS)-The
statewide assessment program, TAAS, is aligned with the TEKS and is used to
ensure district and campus accountability based on student performance on the
test. The TAAS is a
criterion-referenced evaluation instrument that assesses competencies in
reading, writing, mathematics, science, and social
studies.
Public Law 94-142-The Education for All Handicapped
Children Act passed in 1975.
Section 504-(of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973)
This law is a civil rights law that prohibits discrimination on the basis of
disability and requires public entities that receive federal funds to provide
qualified individuals with disabilities special program
services.
Buckley Amendment
(confidentiality)-This gives students and their
parents access to student records and restricts disclosure of record
content.
Inclusion/mainstreaming-A philosophy and practice that
allows special education students to be included, as much as possible, in the
regular educational environment.
Admission, Review, and Dismissal
(ARD) Committee-This is a meeting which must be held
within 30 days after the assessment results are available to review the
assessment data, determine the eligibility of the student, determine the
appropriate placement and services to be provided, and develop an Individualized
Education Program (IEP) for the student.
Individualized Education Program
(IEP)-A
comprehensive plan for the special education student that includes the
instructional objectives, the identification of services needed to achieve the
objectives, any modifications required, and other legally required components.
P, 381
Least Restrictive Environment
(LRE)-Students
eligible for special education services should be educated in the least
restrictive environment possible.
The placement of students is determined by the ARD committee, and
inclusion or mainstreaming is encouraged whenever deemed appropriate. P.
381
Professional Development Appraisal
System (PDAS)-The
teacher’s skill and knowledge that contributes to student achievement is the
primary component for the teacher appraisal system currently in place. The Professional Development Appraisal
System (PDAS), involves assessing teachers in a variety of areas, such as
successful student participation in the learning process, evaluation of student
progress, management of student discipline, and professional development. The PDAS focus on the teacher’s
reflective practice, goal setting, and professional development. The local district is required to
provide an orientation to the system for teachers new to the district. P.
375
Active
learning
learners are actively engaged in the
learning process through reading, writing, discussing, and problem solving
rather than listening to lectures
Age
appropriate
activities are appropriate for a
student’s age rather than academic developmental level
only
Agent
(agency)
ability to control thought content and thinking
processes
At-risk
describes students in danger of failure
Autonomy
independence
Cognitive
motivation theory
the idea that learned self-beliefs, goals, expectations, and feelings are
factors that influence motivation and performance
Conceptual
understanding
understanding deeper than rote
memorization, understanding the rationale behind a concept
Extracurricular
activities
activities that are not graded and do not provide extrinsic
motivation
Facilitate,
facilitator, facilitation
guides learning through realness or
genuineness, valuing the learners, and empathetic
understanding
High
interest
something that students don’t have to be motivated to find
appealing
Higher-order
thinking
requires active engagement in the
thought process, thinking at deeper
levels than memorizing and regurgitating
Learner-centered
curricula focused on students (learners) and their accomplishments not
the teacher
Lifelong
learning
continuing to pursue knowledge after formal education is
complete
Locus of
control
internal— one has a sense of
self-worth and feels responsible for one’s own actions
external— a belief that one has not
control over one’s own life
Behaviorist
Theory: learning consists of stimulus-response events. The learners response is either
strengthened or weakened through a positive or negative
reward.
Cognitive
interactive theory: emphasizes the
construction of meaning through both information gained from print and prior
knowledge and prior learning experiences.
Constructive theory: a learner builds his or her own learning
through interaction with the environment.
The learner is actively constructing, rather than passively receiving,
knowledge.
Social
Cognitive theory: social
interactions are a key part of the learning process. A responsive classroom environment that
supports active learning depends upon the strong interactions and transactions
among teacher, student, and materials.
Prior
learning experiences: What students
have learned at a previous time.
Schemata: background knowledge about their
world and about how it works.
Modality
preferences: The way in which a
student prefers to receive input.
Modality
adeptness: The modality (sensory
input) in which a student learns the best, despite his or her sensory reception
preference.
Interpsychological: this term represents cultural
development of children that appears between people. This category of cultural
development is first to occur.
Intrapsychological: this category of cultural development
follows the interpsychological category, and appears
within the child, which is the second plane.
Learning
styles: how, when, where, and with
what a person learns best.
Teaching
styles; a teachers choice of emphasis, instruction, interactions/ways of
communicating, and classroom mannerisms make up a style of
teaching.
Multiple
intelligences: capacities that reside inside a person; these include verbal—linguistic,
logical—mathematical, intrapersonal, visual—spatial, musical—rhythmic,
bodily—kinesthetic, interpersonal, and naturalist.
Scaffolding: help given to learners from adults or
more advanced peers through structure, clues, reminders, help remembering
details or steps, encouragement to keep trying, and so
forth.
Transactional theory: comprehension is a powerful relationship
between the reader and the text whereby the reader constructs a highly personal
or idiosyncratic meaning.
Metacognition: an important cognitive operation that
includes the understanding and monitoring of ones own
thinking.
Self-monitoring: independent learning where learners can,
on their own, select those strategies that will help them go
forward.
Strategies:
a careful plan or method.
Zone of
proximal development: the time in a
learners development when a task can be mastered—if the learner is provided with
the help and support from adults and more advanced peers.