Modules 18 and 27

These modules were about the challenges and problems of behavioral learning as well as social cognitive learning theory and its applications.

In module 18 I found it interesting where it was talking about the rewards and how a person can either be given rewards or sometimes in self-management they will reward themselves. I found it interesting that their is a debate about whether rewards really work or not but I can see both points of view. I could understand how they may feel that if a person is rewarded for something they enjoy doing, they may not enjoy it so much when they are no longer rewarded. However, I do not know if I really agree with this. I remember classes where we were rewarded for reading books but I already enjoyed reading so much that it was just an added bonus and now that I am not rewarded for reading, I still try to find time to read. I feel that the upside of rewards is that it may influence someone who does not enjoy doing something to actually do it.

Also, as far as coming up with goals and then rewarding yourself. I feel as if this can be really helpful. Sometimes, I think that once I get through a certain amount of homework I will take a break to chat with a friend, read a chapter of a book for enjoyment, or watch an episode of a show before returning to the work. Not only does this help me to break up the load of homework but it gives me something to look forward to in between.

In module 27, it talks about how we learn from observing others and their consequences. I know this to be true because growing up, if I saw my older siblings get in trouble for doing something, or rewarded for doing something than I try to avoid the actions that may get me punished while emulating the actions that received rewards.

Modules 24, 25, and 37

There was a lot of information presented here and I found quite a bit of it to be interesting and it raised many questions in my mind.

First, one of the things that I found to be interesting is that there is a difference between collaboration and cooperation. I feel that these two terms are often used so interchangeably when actually it seems that collaboration is a philosophy of practices that play into the actual act of cooperation.

Then the other thing that I found to be quite interesting and raise so many questions was module 37 on differentiated instruction. I believe that this is a really good thing as it helps the students who may struggle more to get the extra help that they need while also allowing the teacher to challenge some of the students who may have already had the material previously or just understood it more quickly. However, this seems like it would be a lot of work which is probably one of the reasons that more teachers do not do it. Then there is the fact that a teacher must be very careful when grouping students because they do not want to segregate students by socio-economic status or any other factors. However, it is hard to group students if some understand the ideas while others don't because it is quite likely that the ones who already understand will do all the work and those who don't understand will still not get the help they need in understanding.

Furthermore, in that module it talked about the Pygmalion Effect as well as self-fulfilling prophecies and sustaining expectation effects. I think that it is important for teachers to expect the very best from their students and hold them all to high standards, believing that they can achieve whatever they put their minds too. However, when you see their families, or here comments from other teachers I am sure it is hard not to formulate negative judgments about the abilities of a students and what you feel they are likely to achieve or not.

Modules 5 and 6

I found Vygotsky's idea of private speech to be very interesting. I know that I have often spoken to myself when trying to work through a difficult concept or problem. Also, when I am going through a process, such as trying to remember where I placed something. I found it interesting that he thought this was something that sent away in the teens when I feel that actually many adults do this as well.

The other thing that I found interesting was where it was talking about differentiated instruction and how things should be challenging but not too difficult. I feel that in this age, because of all the standardized tests, this is not happening so much. Students are not being challenged and the focus is being put on getting everyone to understand the same basic ideas. Some students find these principles very easy but they are not challenged to try more difficult work because the focus is placed on trying to get the students who do find these basic ideas a bit more challenging, to understand them. This is really disappointing as I feel that it is very important to know each of the students needs and then make accommodations in order to challenge them more or to not stress them out with something that is going to be too difficult because then they have trouble learning the material at all.

Module 4

Despite having studied Piaget in my Human Development class I found that rereading about his theories and digging a little deeper was quite interesting. It was funny because while reading the intro to the module where it talks about children's inabilities to conceptualize I had this thought of something my cousin used to say to me. He is about four months younger than me he always tried to tell me that he was older because he was taller and I tried to explain to him that really I was older because I was born before he was (I guess I just developed quicker than him!).

So, I also was able to think about some of the things that my nephews do and how they relate to Piaget's stages of development. For example, I was home last summer and my nephew who at the time was two would watch the television Avatar. However, he called it Sokka because that is the name of the character that he likes so he would tell me that he wanted to watch Sokka. Now, he has come to know that actually Sokka is just the character and that if he wants to ask to watch the show it is Avatar. Also, he sits on his younger brother and when we tell him that he needs to get off his brother because he is going to hurt him he tells us that it doesn't hurt. Maybe this is an example of egocentrism. I don't know...what are your thoughts?

Module 39

This module was all about assessment. The different types as well as the advantages and the disadvantages to them. I thought that the most interesting things about reading this module was to think back to some of the assessments that I have had.

For example, when reading about the multiple choice tests being multiple guess or the questions being written well I thought about the AP exams where the questions are extremely well written and how they actually penalize for guessing. I would not want to penalize my students for guessing on tests, however, I do feel that it is important for the questions to be written well and clearly in order to truly assess what a student knows without trying to trick them. When reading the section about the essay tests I had to laugh to myself a bit. It talks about how you want to make sure that the questions are phrased clearly and that there are not too many essay questions on a test. This is something that I would try to never do to students because I know how I am when I take essay tests or even just really long with multiple choice tests. I have the tendency to get sick of the test and so I do well on the first one hundred or so multiple choice questions or on the first essay but questions after that point I just want to get over with so I will be done with the test.

I also liked where it talked about alternate forms of assessment. Specifically, portfolios. I think that portfolios are a great form of assessment because it is easy to see progress. I was able to look back at some of my portfolios and see how I had grown and truly feel as if I had learned something. It is hard to get this same satisfaction from a test because even if you do well on it, sometimes you look back at it and wonder if you could still answer half of the questions.

Finally, I also thought a lot about rubrics. I thought about how, though it isn't mentioned here that I remember, it is good to have a clear idea of what you are trying to assess before you start assessing. Rubrics can give you, and your students a clear idea of what you are looking for and how they will be graded. I have had experiences when there was no rubric for an assignment and I had no idea what the instructor wanted from me or how they were going to grade whatever I gave them. I have also tried to assess things without a rubric and it is hard to be fair because there is not a clear idea of what is really exceptional or what needs improvement because you don't actually know what you are looking for until maybe you come across it in someones paper. And then it is hard to compare between papers.

Modules 38 and 40

I found the readings about assessment and testing to be pretty interesting because I have written numerous papers on how standardized testing is hurting the American School System. It was interesting to learn about what makes a test valid and I really liked reading how there is formative assessment which I think is great. I think it is great to know what the students know already or how well they are understanding as the instruction goes on. I agree with Popham saying, "any teacher who uses tests dominantly to determine whether students get high or low grades should receive a solid F in classroom assessment" because I think that tests should be used to see what a student knows and then be able to adjust lessons in order to make them easier to understand or know if that subject can be covered quickly due to an entire class understanding it already. It was also interesting to read about how the tests can be referenced in different ways. They can be compared to scores of other students or they can be compared to pre-set standards of performance and it depends on the test and what is trying to be assessed to know what type of reference should be used.

Reading about the reliability I had to laugh to myself a bit because I have never felt that standardized tests were all that reliable. I know that during my time in school there were many students who were extremely bright but they did not care about the standardized tests since it didn't mean anything for their grade, graduation, or college admission. They would just make designs in the bubble sheet or draw happy faces all over the test. However, the book also points out different reasons for why the tests may not be reliable that I found very interesting. It talks about how questions may be presented in a way that is biased and I had never thought of this before. It makes sense that some questions may be worded in a way that would be familiar to the majority of the students but may not be comprehensible for students who come from a culturally or socio-economically different background.

I was slightly disappointed to see a chapter that was primarily about statistics as it is my least favorite subject in the world, however, I found it interesting the way that it shows how to interpret the standardized test reports. I know that I received many of those as a student and I knew the basis of what they meant but I never new exactly how to read them. What I really liked in this chapter though was the ten ways for using high-stakes testing well. Primarily I liked number ten which was "Use test results for children, not against them"! To me this is again what I was talking about in my first paragraph where it was talking about using formative assessment to find out how well they already know the material or how they are understanding it! I believe that standardized test scores should not be used to punish schools, teachers, and students. Rather they should be used to find out where more assistance is needed and in what subjects more focus is required!