Case Study- Cognitive Development

1. Describe an episode in the case study that demonstrates disequilibrium. Justify your response.
When Amy says, "But...But... when my grandpa died last summer, he went away to heaven and didn't come back. Ringo's still here. If he's dead, he should be going to heaven." Amy wasn't able to connect the death of the fish with the fish's body still there. The new information didn't match up because she didn't have the prior knowledge to make that connection.

Describe an episode that demonstrates assimilation. Justify your response.
When Lucy says, "Do you have to eat in heaven?" Amy responds, "I suppose so, or else you'd be hungry all the time. Lucy then says, "Oh, that makes sense." Amy was able use prior knowledge to make the connection that when you don't eat, you're hungry. She continued the connection to another place-heaven. Lucy understands because of that same consequencial sequence of not eating and then becoming hungry. They were able to make sense of the events in the world, by relating something new to prior knowledge.

2. Identify a possible instance of preoperational egocentrism in the case. Justify your response.
Lucy asks, "Well, do you have to go to potty in heaven?" Amy rolls her eyes, indignantly puts her hands on her hips, and replies, "Of course not, silly! You know our mommies and Ms. Bowman make us go potty before we go anywhere!" Amy showed the inability to consider the world from a different perspective than her own. She assumed Lucy would share her same feelings, and Lucy added to her ego with her "Oh, yeah, I forgot" response.

3. How might a Vygotskian theorist suggest Ms. Bowman address the death of the class pet?
They might have suggested that Ms. Bowman ask Amy and Lucy questions about what they thought had happened and where the fish would go now instead of just assuming the role of telling them how it would be done with a 'proper burial'. A Vygotskian theorist may not have been impressed with the easy response given to Amy's question/thought by telling her that Ringo would go to heaven as soon as she wanted it to. Rather, a Vygotskian theorist would have tried ways in which to assert the social opportunity to create their own(the students) understandings of the world, schemas, and thinking processes. Mediation could have also been a good recommendation for how Ms. Bowman could have handled the situation.

4. How might taking care of pets in the classroom promote students' cognitive development?
They are given responsibility, new social experiences, opportunities to create new schemas, a greater understanding of action and consequence events, and providing a discovery-based learning activity where they combine all their knowledge about the fish as a class and find new discoveries about what they observe prior to any teacher instruction.

Course Contract Review

Review your course contract from the beginning of the semester. Answer the following questions:

1. What are you doing well?I have completed all my assignments by the scheduled due date. I spent adequate time on all the assignments, reading, and studying for and taking the exam.
   
2. What are you not doing well?I did not stick with the 30 minutes of reading a day that I originally thought would be a good idea. I completed the reading, but it was all in one sitting. I did not complete all the homework by the Monday before class, but once I did an assignment the day before.
   
3. Are you making sufficient progress on your goals?I think my goals to become an intrinsic learner are developing more than they have in the past, but my main sight of mind is getting a good grade. I kind of like having the grading system to keep me in check. I like knowing what I have to do to learn the material in the best way and setting a goal of getting an A in the class helps with that.
   
4. List specific things you need to change in order to meet your goals. In order to meet my goals, I need to modify my self-expectations. Some of the things I wrote down to achieve my goals were out of reach for me. They were kind of like me saying on a Tuesday, 'Oh, I'll start my diet Monday and work out every day starting Monday, and I'll start doing everything perfect then.' It's got to be a progressive process towards better organization and intrinsic learning. So, these are the modifications I need to make: Physical goals-7 hours of sleep is just fine. Working out at least once or twice a week will be a big stride for me, so I'll set that as my starting goal. My weekly preparation plan: I should do the reading all in one sitting, not by increments. I just work better that way. I should try to complete the homework assigned by my classes on the day they are assigned, with group projects and reading assignments being exceptions. I'll have to do double work for a little while, but I think it will help me stay better organized having just had the class and then doing the work for it while my ideas and organization are fresh. Those are my modifications to my plan. I also may start a Google calendar if I can get comfortable with it.
   
5. How is your motivation? Are you focusing on mastery or performance goals? Does anything need to change? My motivation is fine. I think I am focusing on mastery and performance goals. I am constantly thinking about my future and worrying about how to prepare to be an awesome teacher, so when I do the assignments to reach performance goals, I am thinking in an 'improve-myself' mode that will help me reach my life mastery goal of becoming an awesome teacher. I don't think anything needs to change with my motivation. I just need to get more organized so I can be totally confident in all my classes.
   

Educational Neuroscience

What? - What is the individual you chose currently researching?

Marilee Sprenger. She is an expert who internationally provides professional advice about educational neuroscience(Educational neuroscience consultant). She has taught at all levels from pre-kindergarten to graduate school. She is an assistant professor at Aurora University, and she teaches courses on brain compatible strategies and memory. For the past fifteen years, she has been involved in raising student achievement using brain based teaching strategies, differentiation, and memory research. She assists schools, teachers, and regions internationally to develop skills that will promote higher achievement.

So What? How does this person's research have to do with education?- Professor Sprenger is able to get teachers to gain an in-depth understanding of the brain structures that influence memory so that the students can have better recall for daily classroom instruction, tests, and overall learning. Sprenger gives a seven-step approach on how to gain this kind of deep memory learning skill. On her list, one of the main keys to implementing learning into long-term memory is by teaching to pathways in the brain that are already connected. By connecting the students' prior knowledge with the new knowledge being taught, teachers can facilitate a greater attention span in their students and a better overall recall. Also listed, by having reviews and assessments, the students' can have the information organized in a way that will assure greater recollection. Education is all about teachers and students. The ideal relationship between them would be to have the teachers be able to explain and relate new information to students in a way that makes sense and is processed deeper than short term memory for completion of performance goals. Sprenger has researched, like many others, ways to be more effective in this relationship.

Now What? - How might you use this person's research in your future classroom?

Based on Marilee Sprenger's research, namely the seven step approach to better memory recall, I could take into consideration many of her insights to improve the outcome of my future classroom. I can take her expertly researched advice into my teaching philosophy to fulfill my role in becoming a great teacher. Part of becoming a great teacher is researching methods and techniques to allow students the opportunity to grow and learn the very most. I especially like these few of her seven steps and would like to understand better how to incorporate them into my teaching style: Structure a framework to show students what is important to remember, connect new content to students' prior knowledge, and use multiple rehearsal strategies that provide students with ways to retrieve stored material. Already, I have begun to see similar ideas come into my teaching philosophy like the ones mentioned in Sprenger's suggested teaching approach. As I continue to focus on these ideas and come up with more ways of how I can create a positive learning environment for my future students, I will better be able to improve, as educators must continually do.

Motivational Blog

Motivation Blog

Why are you here (in the teacher education program, in this class, at UVU)?

I am here to become a teacher. I ended up at UVU because I couldn't get into BYU. I am in this class as a part of fulfilling the requirements of the elementary education program. But much more than all of that, I am here, at this time in my life, in this place- Utah-, at this University - in this Education program to make something great of my life by learning to give the gift of knowledge.

For the first 3 years of college, I couldn't decide what I wanted 'to be or not to be'. At first, becoming a writer sounded like it would be perfect for me. After traveling down that road for a brief time, I realized I was too intimidated by all the other English majors and writers that were a lot more experienced and just all around better than me. So, I started a blog to fulfill that passion. I love art and I love making creative gifts for people. So, I took a sculpting class, but I just couldn't get the dimensions of the 'head' project exactly right, so after passing the class, I vowed to stay away from sculpting. Besides, my hands smelled like clay for weeks after the semester had finished. I loved math all through Jr. High and High School. I understood Algebra really well and loved doing the homework for it. Then I took Math 1050, not once, or twice, but three times. I guess 3rd time's the charm because I finally passed, but it scarred me for life, and I knew math was in no way the major for me.

I took a break from school because I was so frustrated with not finding the 'perfect major' for me. I found a job at an elementary school working for a sixth grade teacher as a teacher assistant. I absolutely loved it and I loved how much the kids seemed to appreciate me and need my help. For every child's birthday in the class, I painted a banner with their name on it to display for the day in the room. In that way, I fulfilled my art passion. I was able to teach creative writing every Wednesday and I brought in tons of examples of my own writing. I also had the students brainstorm with me and we came up with a creative short story on the spot. I was in heaven. For my math passion, I was able to tutor some students in math and I also took up some more reading and math tutoring at the Lehi Literacy center. I was falling in love with teaching one subject, one student, one day at a time. I then went to Spain on a study abroad and as I took classes on learning to speak Spanish, I realized how much I really loved to learn new things. And to be a teacher, you must be a learner. By the time I got back from Spain, I was more than ready to start full throttle into the Elementary field.

What motivates you?

When I can look back in my life on the most shaping moments of my 'mold'/character, I can see the people and places that most positively effected me, and I want to be apart of that for someone else. I like to think of every child as a mound of beautiful and individualized unique clay. They all have their own color and their own initial shape and that shape will harden after time and become the inner core of their mold. While they are young and fragile, their little molds are precious while they are still adjusting and shaping themselves into the most comfortable them. The shape can be added onto with colorful play dough and other materials as their life goes on. Their starting mound, once it hardens, is their foundation for their character.

My 'Allyson-mound' has been added onto with bright and vibrant colors of play dough from teachers, mentors, and leaders. It has been shaped by experiences, and it has been refined by self-discipline learned extrinsically from my parents and learned intrinsically from personal experiences and natural consequences. It has been polished and painted by dreams and goals. But the foundation remains deep within-unchanging- in the ever growing beautiful mess of my mold.

This is the case for every student. The younger they are, the more susceptible they are to having their inner core of their mold squandered and squashed by the leaders they look up to for guidance and knowledge. Or their characters are helped and aided to become sturdy foundations with no cracks or crevices unfilled, unreached, or unrecognized. Every human has innate psychological needs, and the needs that are met help shape the core in the best way for that individual. This clay model analogy goes along with Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs by demonstrating the importance of satisfying the basic needs in humans before attempting to satisfy more sophisticated needs.

What motivates me as a future teacher is thinking about students each having this fragile character that they need help shaping. This mold will be permanent. The excess play dough can be removed and reapplied with different material colors and accessories more appropriate for maturing age, but their core character and self efficacy will be the foundation upon which everything else builds- upon which their future builds. Facilitating a positive environment and attributing basic needs like: safety, acceptance, competence, and autonomy, will in great part be upon the shoulders of the teachers. This motivation and realization goes beyond learning facts and lessons, but it is learning those while learning the things that will allow each child to build their own life in the most positive, confident, and successful way.

Why do you succeed?

I suppose I succeed because I want to. I learned early on in school that I didn't want to be the 'stupid kid in class'. That goes along with innate psychological need to be competent. I liked how it felt when I did well, so I try to succeed, and I often do. I have been lucky enough to have been born with ability. I can use all my senses and I can access all my physical abilities to learn. I succeed because I choose things I know or at least believe I can do well at. I use effort to succeed. I wasn't born very athletic, so I hung a quote on my bedroom wall that said, "Hard work beats talent when talent doesn't work hard." I hung that on my wall so I could remember that I wasn't born with incredible athletic talent; therefore, I needed to put in an immense amount of effort into training and practicing in order to keep up with the rest of my sports team.

Why do you fail?

I fail when I don't believe I can succeed. When I feel like others look down upon me or find me inept, I shut down mentally, and though I may be capable, I make myself be incapable. Maybe not enough effort was put in to the task and the task may have even been quite difficult, so I started to struggle and fall behind. Maybe then my confidence was sabotaged, and I was left feeling like I was luckless. Finally, maybe I felt so low that I thought whatever 'it' was wasn't worth the effort to try because someone wouldn't notice my efforts or my efforts wouldn't equate to anything of worth to anyone else. My personal failures tend to be based on if I receive the proper praise and confidence from others. It is something I have worked on all my life but still struggle with.

Do the goals in your course contract reflect mastery or performance goals?

The goals in my course contract are performance goals to reach ultimate success in my future classroom. The assignments given by the professor are mastery goals for the students, else why would we have assignments as part of the course curriculum-it's to help each student master the skills needed in the real world/career. So, by setting personal performance goals to succeed at the assignments given by the course expectancies, I will reach the mastery goal of becoming a more knowledgeable and a better teacher.

What does this say about you?

I trust my teachers and that the work I am doing to pass the class is helping me become what I am being educated to become- an educated and GREAT teacher.

How do you need to change your motivations and mindset for this class in order to become a great teacher?
In order to become a great teacher, I must put the effort into my classwork that supports the belief that this class will genuinely be helpful for me in my future classrooms. I need to put the work into my assignments to come out with things that will be valuable to me in my future profession as a teacher. More than just the assigned work, I must see opportunities to improve on my personal weaknesses or struggles and read extra or work on something extra in order to improve. Instead of capitalizing on what I'm already confident in, I want to focus on what I am unsure about so that I can make my overall teaching capabilities all powerful tools.

Hidden Assignment

Educational Psychology

Course Contract

Goals for this course:

1. I would like to improve the perception I have of my role as a student. (The ah-ha moment where I start to learn intrinsically.)

2. I would like to really read the textbook.

3. I want to come out with pieces of work that I am really proud of and excited to put in my portfolio.

Weekly Preparation Plan:

I won a planner at the Elementary Ed Orientation that I plan on using to keep track of assignments and due dates.

I'll also make a copy of the class assignments chart to put in the front of my binder.

I plan on completing my homework no later than the Monday before each class. Whether at 7 Pm after work or during a break at work.

I have a work study position at the school, so every other day, I'll plan on reading for 30 minutes from the assigned reading while at work. I'll revise my reading plan to fit each reading assignment length.

Another place I can complete my reading assignments is at the gym on the treadmill while I walk.

I will prepare to understand the material and succeed by doing the following:

I. Physical Health

a. 8 hours of sleep each night or a nap if necessary

b. Maintaining a clean environment for studying

c. Eating healthy and eating breakfast

d. Working out at the gym at least 3 times a week

II. Mental health

a. Keeping an organized planner to keep my mentality of school focused and very clear

b. At least 5 hours of service a week to allow my focus to reach outside of my own little realm.

c. Visualize success

d. Positive thoughts about all aspects of my life

III. Studying Tools

a. Organization

1. Flash Cards

2. Acronyms

b. Notes

1. Use pictures on the sides

2. Use lots of VISUAL learning approaches to notes

If/When I don't understand any topic:

I will review any topic I don't understand through the pod cast and the text book. I can also understand the topic more thoroughly through search engines on the internet, classmates, group study sessions, and meetings with the professor.

I will reach my goals in this course by staying on top of the assignments listed in my planner and doing my reading at the times in which I have set aside to complete it. I will reach my goals by starting today, which is the first day of class. I will maintain a positive vision of my future successful outcome in the class from beginning to end. I will think of this class as more than a grade, but I will aim for an A to motivate me to complete all my work well and on time. I will try to do each assignment with a the end goal in mind - not the grade- but the day I have my own classroom. I will try to implement the new strategies I learn into my Teaching Philosophy and readjust and improve upon what I already have learned.