CCR #4

I feel pretty good about the outcome of this semester. I didn't enter into the B range in any of my classes. I stayed above the B line, which was way exciting. So, whatever I did worked in that regard, but I could have made things easier on myself by studying with more than two or three people. I really enjoyed studying with 6-8 girls at the psychology study review. It helped me a ton. I have learned how to change my rote memorization comfort of studying into a deeper study that allows me to apply the information so that it actually makes sense in an application scenario. I have never been able to do that before. I was way happy when I only missed one on the multiple choice of the final exam. I need to keep studying that way, really trying to get the depth of the material, so that I can have greater enduring understanding.
I need to work out more. I was extremely tired on most occasions just because of  lack of exercise. I know if I can do that, I'll feel much better and be able to function at a high-order thinking level instead of the zombie mode I sometimes slip into. Eating healthier is also a huge part of feeling well mentally, emotionally, and physically, so that is something tangible I can improve on for next semester.
Another thing I can work on for the next semester of the teaching program will be to maintain regular study habits, rather than massive cram/study sessions that wipe me out.
Overall, I am burnt out, but I feel great about the semester. I made really good friends from psychology study groups that will probably remain some of my closest friends for a long time. I was able to have good experiences this semester that I believe have conditioned my belief even further that the teaching program is the program for me, the elementary education is the profession for me, and UVU is the University where I can achieve the positive future I see ahead of me.

Personal Learning Theory

• Piaget's Cognitive Development: Environment. schemas, assimilation(use old info to understand new), accommodation(change old to understand new), equilibrium, and disequilibrium. Object Permanence. Sensorimotor: child eats and feels and touches and smells everything. 0-2 years. Depend solely on sensory and motor for thinking skills. Preoperational: 2-7 years. Rely solely on perception more than logic. Tall glass appears appears to have more liquid than when it is poured into a short glass. Concrete operational: 7-11 years. Concrete Operational: 7-11 years. Classification. Animism and egocentrism. Use mental operations to solve concrete problems. Formal operational: 11+ years. Ability to judge inconsistency. All fish live in a tree. A molish lives in the ocean. Therefore a molish is not a fish. Individual constructivist view of learning. Exploration of their environment and others constructs their knowledge of the world. Questioning of the validity of the way he conducted his experiments and what tools he used and how many to test the children. Underestimated young children and overestimated older students'--challenged the validity of the stages. Interaction with peers. Derived from observation. 
• Vygotsky's Cognitive Development: (social constructivism)Culture and experience have a role in cognitive development because it creates their individual schemas. The role of social interaction-- social interactions do not just influence cognitive development, but rather they create individual schemas and thinking processes. Internalizations. Role of Language. Zone of Proximal Development(doing it WITH someone else). Scaffolding. Guided Participation. Apprenticeship. Mediation. Inner Speech and Self Talk.  Big into language and verbal interactions. Interaction with adults. Derived from observation
• Erikson's Psychosocial Development: 1. Trust vs. Mistrust. Birth - 1 year 2. Autonomy vs. Shame/Doubt. 1-3  years 3. Initiative vs. Guilt. 3-6 years 4. Industry vs. Inferiority. 6-12 years. 5. Identity vs. Role Confusion. Adolescence. 6. Intimacy vs Isolation. Early adulthood. 7. Generativity vs. Stagnation. Middle adulthood.  8. Integrity vs. Despair. Late Adulthood. Failed to consider the role of culture in shaping individuals personal development. 
• Kohlberg's Moral Development: Move from one stage to the next only after having experienced disequilibrium. Moral internalization. Preconventional Reasoning Stage(7-10)- show no internalization of moral values. Stage 1/Obedience and punishment - rules are followed because of the threat of punishment. Stage 2/ Individualism and Exchange- Best interest of the individual. Conventional Reasoning Stage(10-16)- Stage 3/Interpersonal Conformity- Rules are followed because individuals try to do what is expected of them. Stage 4/ Law and Order- Rules are followed because they are necessary to keep society's order. Postconventional Reasoning Stage- Stage 5/ Social contract- Rules are followed because individuals are bound by a social contract. Stage 6/ Universal Principles- Rules are followed when they are consistent with individuals' own ethical principles.  
• Goleman's Emotional Intelligence- 5 aspects. Marshmallow boy. Delay of gratification is correlated with success and happiness in life. 1. Recognizing one's own emotions. 2. Regulating one's own emotions 3. recognizing others emotions. 4. handling interpersonal relationships 5. motivating one's self. 
• Information Processing- It focuses on the capabilities and composition of human memory. Model: Input goes into sensory register and is either lost or if it is given attention, it goes to the working short-term memory. Then it is either lost or with storing and encoding goes into long-term memory. Then it is either lost or it is retrieved back into working memory again. Semantic/Declaritive=facts, Episodic= personal experience, Procedural= how to or steps. Metacognition- knowing about knowing. Chunking, dual processing(doing visual and auditory), mnemonics, advanced organizers. 
• Knowledge Construction and Higher-order thinking- Bloom's Taxonomy- Knowledge, comprehension, application, analysis, synthesis, evaluation. Critical thinking skills, being able to take the info and concepts and apply it. 
• Behaviorism- Theory of animal and human learning that only focuses on objectively observable behaviors and discounts mental activities. Consists only of acquiring new behaviors. Classic Conditioning- occurs when a natural reflex responds to a stimulus. Dog salivating for food and bell. Operant Conditioning- Response to a stimulus is reinforced. // 1. learning only occurs if there is a change in observable behavior resulting from a person's experience. 2. Behavioral principles are very effective for promoting classroom management, behavior, skills, or self-regulation or for reducing inappropriate behaviors. 3. Students' behaviors can be shaped through the use of various types of reinforcement and maintained through reinforcement and cueing. 4. Certain behaviorist techniques, such as Applied Behavior Analysis, are particularly effective for children with autism and other disorders that impact behavior. 
• Social Cognitivism- Focuses on learning that is the result of observing others or observing the consequences of the behaviors of others. Reciprocal Causation Model: (Bandura) the interrelationship between students' environment, their personal beliefs, and their behavior. 
• Group and Individual Differences- Culture- knowledge, attitudes, values, and behaviors that characterize a group of people. Schema or blueprint that guides the thinking and behavior of a group. Cultural mismatch, IRE cycle(initiate, respond, evaluate), Wait time, Worldview, cultural lens, socioeconomic status, resilience-to not only survive but thrive- Students at risk, gender, and gender differences. 
• Motivation- The psychological process that directs and sustains students behavior towards learning. Extrinsic and Intrinsic. Interest theory: the key to motivating students is doing activities aligned with their personal interests. Dispositional interest: stable. Situational interest: spontaneous and activated by the environment. 
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What? The results of the quiz were the following: B=47, C=48, H=45. I favored the C theory. I found this to be right on because when I was studying Vygotsky this time around, I realized that I supported the constructivist theory most and that it was the social constructivism that I most closely felt like I aligned well with. My review of each of the theories was done above. 


So What? I believe strongly that people learn from experience. They use prior experience to learn ,and when making positive transfers, prior experience is the foundation of a successful learning process. I also believe culture has a great deal to do with the outcomes of learning and the styles in which enduring understanding is achieved. I believe that the physical environment adds to their experience, and as they gain a positive experience through their environment of learning, they are able to make correct learning patterns that send information to the long term memory, ready for recall. 


Now What? 
(1) My theory can transfer into the following teaching strategies: Call each student by their name in order to add to the positive and personal experience in the classroom. Have an organized and welcoming classroom set up to create a positive atmosphere. Understand how different cultures, genders, and types of students learn best. Use discovery learning and RAD teaching to draw new conclusions from new experiences that can be run by the students' prior knowledge and schemas. (2) The next steps I need to take in learning how to better run my personal learning theory in the classroom is to make a list and sort of cheat sheet for myself to glance at while running the classroom so that I can remember the things I haven't had as much practice with. I will need to study many more strategies to allow students the opportunity of learning through apprenticeship and guidance. I need to remember how to scaffold and allow them opportunities to develop a working capability in their ZPD with other students. As there is a social, emotional, and physical unity in the classroom, there will be synergy and high efficacy of many tasks in the classroom. As the students exercise many different methods of learning, they will have a greater chance of finding high self-efficacy and be able to share their competency with their peers. Through positive experience and an all-welcoming cultural classroom, the students should be able to really progress throughout the year. 

Study: Students more stressed now than in depression

Psychology Extra Credit

What?

Based off of a survey done in 2007 to 77576 high school and college students, the comparison was made to the depression, anxiety, and stress in today's young adults to the depression, anxiety, and stress with young adults during the depression. Studies showed that the psychological symptoms the survey prompted answers for proved that in most cases, those psychological disorders that contain high stress were five times worse than those cases in the late 1930's. There were some disorders, including hypomania, depressioin, and psychopathic deviation that were six times worse than in 1938. 

Hypomania is a disorder related to high anxiety and unrealistic optimism. The average for young adults to have this disorder in 1938 was 5% and now it is 31%. 

Experts have concluded from this 2007 survey that psychological stresses, anxieties, depressions, and tensions may be based off of several factors. Some reasons that were mentioned in the article included the following: living in a very fast paced world, the focus of popular culture on impossible external features, heightened awareness of mental services, growing interest in being rich, overprotective parents not letting their children problem solve, increased materialism, and rising divorce rates.

So What?

So, what do we do with the information of all these rising factors in the world that are adding to the percentage of those who suffer from depression, anxiety, or high stress? One other reason given in the article for the increase in these psychological states was that children in this generation have grown up with the mindset, "You can do anything!", and it has created false expectations. The way must be there for the child to accomplish what they wish to succeed at. Unless the opportunity is provided for the child to find his/her passions, then they will not be able to do the 'anything' that was meant by this statement. The other half of the statement I often heard growing up was that you could do anything.... that you put your mind to. I always wanted to be a tight rope walker. From the time I was 3 until I was 10 and realized that I was neither skinny enough or in a situation where I could become a part of a circus. I could not do 'anything.' I could not break the laws of gravity and fly. I could not turn my bike into Rumplestiltzkin's spinning wheel of gold. There were plenty of 'anythings' I found out early on that I could not do. Luckily for me, I did not become depressed or discouraged, but I just moved on. Other cases, 6 times the cases than in the time of the great depression, are not so lucky. Some of it may just be for attention or because the ability to diagnose psychological disorders has improved. What ever the case may be, teachers can play a role in improving this sad statistic in their own classroom by being aware and learning ways to demote this kind of unreal optimism that promotes false expectations. 

Now What?

Teachers play a large role in introducing the kind of motivation that children stick with as they grow throughout their lives. If their motivation to be well behaved is internal, than they will have better chances of controlling their success and personal mental wellness. If, on the other hand, the student learns motivation only through avoiding punishment or seeking rewards, the motivation will be external and not lasting. Besides just the motivation that is introduced to the students in the classroom, there are a plethora of other ideals taught/facilitated in the classroom that allow a person to live without these psychological downers. Some of these principles are the following: realistic career opportunities with realistic ways to achieve the education needed, planning goals and accomplishing them, taking pride and joy in personal success and individuality, social and moral reasoning skills, facilitation of activities that promote problem solving skills and in turn promote confidence, help with passing through Kohlberg's stages, and creatively designed lesson plans that encourage students to discover talents and develop passions. A successful teacher will be able to provide a safety in her class that may or may not exist in the home. It is true that a teacher cannot change what goes on at home, but it is true that the teacher can create multiple opportunities for the success of the individual so that they are better emotionally, physically, and mentally equipped to handle the stresses at home or in the world in general.