Connie

** Student Presentations  ** ** INTASC Standard #1: Content  ** – The teacher understands the central concepts, tools of inquiry, and structures of the discipline he or she teaches and can create learning experiences that make these aspects of subject matter meaningful for students. ** INTASC Standard #4: Multiple Instructional Strategies –  ** The teacher understands and uses a variety of instructional strategies to encourage student development of critical thinking, problem-solving, and performance skills. ** Bandura Presentation by Kimberly  **  · Bandura studied social cognitive theory. He studied how behavior changed based on interactions with and watching others. He studied the effect of modeling on human behavior and learning.  · Kimberly did a great job with explaining Bandura’s focus and theory. Great use of video – one was really informative and the other was really funny but also was an excellent way to portray modeling in a simple form that we can all relate to. ** Memorization by Ryan and Chris  ** ** Film Clip – Conrack  ** ** INTASC Standard #5:  ** ** Motivation and Management – ** The teacher uses an understanding of individual and group motivation and behavior to create a learning environment that encourages positive social interaction, active engagement in learning, and self-motivation. ** INTASC Standard #3: Diverse Learners –  ** The teacher understands how students differ in their approaches to learning and creates instructional opportunities that are adapted to diverse learners.
 * Week 12 Constructivist Conversation**
 * Tools to help with memorization include: mnemonic devises, rhyming, image links, story method, roman room (somethingin the room will help you to remember something else), journey system (key structures/elements of a walk will help you remember certain things), and categorization.
 * Nice use of the brainstorming activity to show how categorization works. Got us all involved and really made the point very clear. Nice use of the KWL to assess the classes knowledge and where we should focus our time.
 * Principal called them babies and told them they were lazy.
 * Pat Conroy used humor to soften the mood in the room.
 * The first thing that he did was to assess their prior knowledge.
 * Used the rule of 3, asked the question 3 times and then moved on.
 * Changed the configuration of the room to make the students feel more comfortable.
 * Gave them plenty of time to answer his questions.

** Granny Goose  ** ** INTASC Standard #2: Student Development –  ** The teacher understands how children learn and develop, and can provide learning opportunities that support a child’s intellectual, social and personal development. Week 10 Constructivist Conversation ** Student Mid-Term Presentations – Ideas I will steal ** ** INTASC Standard #2: Student Development – ** The teacher understands how children learn and develop, and can provide learning opportunities that support a child’s intellectual, social and personal development.
 * This is an exercise where the teacher says that Granny Goose likes….all things with double letters: books, doors, swimming, trees, etc. Students have to figure out what all these things have in common. Give them a chance to write down the words to see if they can visualize the common thread.
 * Uses the 5 stages of creative thinking: Preparation, Frustration, Incubuation, Illumination, Elaboration.
 * Also called Miss Anne Tillie Williams
 * INTASC Standard #7: Planning – ** The teacher plans instruction based upon knowledge of subject matter, students, the community, and curriculum goals.
 * Cana – Painting: this was a great hands-on approach.
 * Chris - Collage that played music when you opened it. Liked the surprise/humor element of the music.
 * Sabrina - Wrote a story about "Our Class" - children love to be portrayed in books so write stories about your class- very colorful, eye-catching book.
 * Chelsea – this was a great story and told really well. I’ll try to tell stories well as she did.
 * Kimberly – Loved the 3D element of the box, would be great to hang in a classroom with classroom rules.
 * Ryan – Great use of symbolism with us as “mountain climbers” – made it more fun and liked the yodeling and his use of humor and sarcasm “are you cramping up yet?”

** Week 9 Constructivist Conversation **

** INTASC Standard #1: Content ** – The teacher understands the central concepts, tools of inquiry, and structures of the discipline he or she teaches and can create learning experiences that make these aspects of subject matter meaningful for students.
 * Theorist Presentations **
 * INTASC Standard #4: Multiple Instructional Strategies – ** The teacher understands and uses a variety of instructional strategies to encourage student development of critical thinking, problem-solving, and performance skills.

· Worked in special education · Wanted to improve the population by discouraging the reproduction of people with undesirable traits. Said that intelligence was determined by chromosomes, little affected by the environment. · I liked the words in yellow that the students read – great way to keep us on our toes. Another strength was having us debate the “pros and cons” of Goddard’s theory.
 * Goddard presentation by Erin – **

** Dweck presentation by Marjori – **
 * Said that a student’s belief if their own intelligence affects how they learn. Entity theory – students think they are either smart or not
 * Praise students for their efforts, not results. Said Motivation was the #1 component in achieving genius
 * Marjori was great – nice use of hand gestures, great enthusiasm. The “role play” at the beginning was a great way to illustrate the point.

** Creative MidTerm Presentations – Ideas to steal ** ** INTASC Standard #5: Motivation and Management – The teacher uses an understanding of individual and group motivation and behavior to create a learning environment that encourages positive social interaction, active engagement in learning, and self-motivation. ** ** INTASC Standard #6: Communication and Technology – The teacher uses knowledge of effective verbal, nonverbal, and media communication techniques to foster active inquiry, collaboration, and supportive interaction in the classroom. ** **Marjori -** Use a stuffed animal to let students throw to other students to determine whose turn is next. **Bryan** **-** Have students read a lesson and then draw what they learned either on paper or on the board. **Erin** **–** Use symbols to explain concepts – have students create symbolic figures with play-doh **AnnaLaura –** use photos of the students to illustrate concepts

** Marva Collins Video: ** ** INTASC Standard #5: Motivation and Management – The teacher uses an understanding of individual and group motivation and behavior to create a learning environment that encourages positive social interaction, active engagement in learning, and self-motivation. ** ** INTASC Standard #7: Planning – The teacher plans instruction based upon knowledge of subject matter, students, the community, and curriculum goals. **  ** Week 8 Constructivist Conversation **
 * Looks students in the eye
 * Walks around all the time, no desk
 * Very hands-on, lean over students to help with their work
 * Marva Collins creed: []
 * Positive reinforcement – repetitively tells them they are brilliant

** INTASC Standard #1: Content ** – The teacher understands the central concepts, tools of inquiry, and structures of the discipline he or she teaches and can create learning experiences that make these aspects of subject matter meaningful for students.
 * Student Presentations **
 * INTASC Standard #4: Multiple Instructional Strategies – ** The teacher understands and uses a variety of instructional strategies to encourage student development of critical thinking, problem-solving, and performance skills.

· English, 1st systematic psychometrician · Discovered the General Factor, or G Factor · Good use of Power Teaching and having us teach each other
 * Spearman presentation by Ryan – **

** Binet presentation by Chelsea – **
 * French, self taught lawyer who worked with Simon to create a test for children that was task oriented.
 * Chelsea did a great job – loved the costume and she called us all “thinkers” instead of students. “That’s cool” was a good power teaching tool.

** Galton presentation by Kimberly – **
 * African explorer who studied the environment, recorded info on the land and weather, studied heredity and evolution, discovered the use of the fingerprint as an identifier
 * Coined the term and studies “nature vs. nurture”
 * Kimberly’s use of drawings to illustrate what we were learning was great. I remember more from her presentation because I can picture it. Great idea.

** Anastasi presentation by Cana – **
 * NYC, home schooled, went to Barnard College at 15
 * Studied test construction, test misuse, misinterpretation and cultural bias in tests. Thought that intelligence tests should not label students for life but rather should be used occasionally over time to assess where the student is right now – to assess their current learning needs.
 * Cana did a nice job of making the information apply to our lives. She gave us each a question and asked us to determine if it had a cultural bias. This helped us to understand where Anastasi was coming from. She also seemed very excited about the topic which always helps the atmosphere in a classroom.

** Thurstone by Sabrina – **
 * Thurstone said that there were 7 characteristics within the g-factor, including: word fluency, verbal comprehension, spatial visualization, # facility, associate memory, reasoning, perceptual speed.
 * Sabrina used Power Teaching and got us all involved by reading slides, reviewing the 7 characteristics together and teaching them to one another.

**Guilford** **presentation by Bryan –**
 * From Nebraska. Said that IQ tests don’t measure creativity. Was the gifted and talented guru. Studied false negatives in IQ tests.
 * Said that there were 150 abilities within the structure of intellect.
 * Really liked Bryan’s 3x “Class-Yes” followed by a 3D check mark. Children would love that and it could be expanded upon pretty easily where they could actually look forward to what type of check mark he would do.

** Goodenough presented by Chris – **
 * Goodenough developed the Minnesota pre-school scale.
 * He was one of the 1st to test IQ tests. Had young students draw men and women to assess cognitive ability, mental maturity and to see what was important to the children. He revised IQ tests to incorporate a better assessment tool for young children.
 * Chris’ “classity-class-class” was really funny and got us all engaged from the beginning. Good use of peer teaching.

** Terman presentation by AnnaLaura – ** **Week 7 Constructivist Conversation**
 * Thought that intelligence was genetic and measurable. Set out to dispel the “early to ripe early to rot” theory.
 * “Terman’s termites” – followed a group of young gifted and talented students for 35 years and found that they measured taller, healthier and more socially adept than those with lower IQs.
 * Problem was that all of his test subjects were shite, male and from upper middle class SEC so there were a lot of environmental factors that contributed to his findings. In addition, he mentored many of these students throughout the years and that needs to be accounted for.
 * Anna Laura seemed really comfortable in front of the class, which put us all at ease. She started out with a question for the class “Were any of you labeled as gifted at a young age?” – which got us all engaged right away.


 * Film clip with Kristin C from Wicked: People come into our lives for a reason. Some influence us so much that their influence becomes part of the fabric of who we are
 * Harry Stack Sullivan coined the term “significant other” – someone so significant that you would not be who you are without them
 * Contact 3 people who are “significant others” and tell them a few things we respect, cherish, celebrate and appreciate about them.

**Student Presentations** ** Week 6 Constructivist Conversation ** ** Student Presentations ** ** INTASC Standard #1: Content ** – The teacher understands the central concepts, tools of inquiry, and structures of the discipline he or she teaches and can create learning experiences that make these aspects of subject matter meaningful for students. ** INTASC Standard #6: Communication and Technology – ** The teacher uses knowledge of effective verbal, nonverbal, and media communication techniques to foster active inquiry, collaboration, and supportive interaction in the classroom.
 * INTASC Standard #1: Content** – The teacher understands the central concepts, tools of inquiry, and structures of the discipline he or she teaches and can create learning experiences that make these aspects of subject matter meaningful for students.
 * INTASC Standard #4: Multiple Instructional Strategies –** The teacher understands and uses a variety of instructional strategies to encourage student development of critical thinking, problem-solving, and performance skills.
 * Kimberly – Space Buttons Brain Gym presentation: good use of “Class-Yes”, good Power Point, nice anecdotal story about how this was successful for one class.
 * Sabrina – Gardner: 8 types of intelligence. Nice job with the cards, good incorporating students in the teaching. Great examples of careers associated with various types of intelligence – made it seem applicable to real life. Great song.
 * AnnaLaura – Sternberg: 3 types of intellegence. Nice job calling on students to participate and using their names, good peer teaching opportunities, nice Power Point.
 * Ryan’s presentation on Carol Gilligan – nice use of Power Point. Very well organized and nice aesthetic design. He did a good job of getting the students engaged by having them read not only some of the slides, but also the background behind some of the slide information. His video clips were entertaining (Dukes of Hazzard) and really enlightening (Carol Gilligan at NYU).
 * Chelsea’s presentation on Horney – this was very thorough. It was clear that Chelsea knew her subject very well and did a lot of research. Great background information and a nice handout to supplement her presentation. Chelsea also had good energy and her obvious interest in the subject matter made the students interested as well.

** Film clips ** ** INTASC Standard #3: Diverse Learners – ** The teacher understands how students differ in their approaches to learning and creates instructional opportunities that are adapted to diverse learners. ** INTASC Standard #8: Assessment – ** The teacher understands and uses formal and informal assessment strategies to evaluate and ensure the continuous intellectual, social, and physical development of the learner.
 * Differentiation clip – the students were all sitting in different directions, some on the floor, some in chairs – this was a new presentation of differentiation, allowing the physical environment to be differentiated. The teacher did a good job of checking to see if there were any questions before they began the task. He also told them they had 4 minutes to complete the task, which gave them a sense of time and added a sense of urgency….and excitement….to the exercise.
 * Character Education – great example of how good storytelling can engage students.
 * Valedictorian speech – interesting speech. In some regards, I have to question how this student seems to blame everyone but herself for her poor educational experience. When a student is that smart, I’d hope that they’d have the curiosity and motivation to find areas of interest that they can dive into that would make their four years worthwhile. I do think that a lot of what she says has merit, but to square the blame solely on every teacher (except for 1) and the system seems to ignore her role in her own education. At the same time, I admire her candidness think that too often those speeches focus on platitudes that gloss over real issues that should be discussed, debated and acted upon so I give her credit for being brave enough to speak what she believes to be the truth.
 * Gender clips – The Disney clip helped to expose trends in what children are watching and learning at a very young age. Pretty eye opening. The clip about whether teaching was a woman’s domain was an interesting one. My perspective is that it is important for children to see both men and women in the roles of teacher so that they can better learn how to relate to both sexes as they make their way through life. More gender equality in teachers in elementary and middle school would likely help to shape children’s views about the sexes in a more equal way as they become adults.

** Week 5 Constructivist Conversation **

**INTASC Standard #1: Content** – The teacher understands the central concepts, tools of inquiry, and structures of the discipline he or she teaches and can create learning experiences that make these aspects of subject matter meaningful for students.
 * Student Presentations **
 * INTASC Standard #4: Multiple Instructional Strategies –** The teacher understands and uses a variety of instructional strategies to encourage student development of critical thinking, problem-solving, and performance skills.
 * Marjori had wonderful enthusiasm and a great voice that really grabbed our attention. She did a great job at explaining what we were working on and how it can help us. Power teaching was exhibited with the use of having us teach our peers what we just learned, using hand symbols for ideas and offering “extra or dextra” credit. She was very encouraging to the students and called out specific students by name. She used a great variety of applications (large paper, small paper, rice, markers, etc) to get us to learn the technique in a few different ways. This made the exercise very fun, engaging and interesting. The concept of “stations” is a great one and she applied it very well.
 * Chris presented the Gravity Glider. He used Power Teaching through getting our attention with “Claaaass” and having us teach each other in pairs. He did an excellent job of walking us through the agenda for his teaching segment and was very organized on the white board. He put homework in the upper right hand corner “where it always is” – this was a nice touch – offering consistency on an important aspect of teaching – homework. Prior to the video he explained that he’d call on one student afterwards to demonstrate. This encouraged us all to really pay attention. He also pointed out what we should focus on when watching the video – offering a type of scaffolding for us.
 * Cana presented an overview of Freud. She began with having the students read a line from the power point. This was a great idea that got us all involved. She played an amusing song about Freud that was entertaining and funny but also informative. She presented a great You Tube clip with cartoons explaining the ID, Ego and Superego. This was a great way to describe these concepts and she did an excellent job of finding this great resource. She also provided a number of resources at the end of her presentation to help us know how to learn more about Freud.

** Film clips ** **Chapter 1 Reflection** (posted 9/20) The types of knowledge and skills that educators should possess fall into these categories: Knowledge of Content – Simply put, this means that the teacher knows his/her subject matter. They are knowledgeable about the content they are teaching. Pedagogical Content Knowledge – this describes the knowledge of how to teach a concept. It is different from actual content knowledge – knowing the facts – this describes knowing how to convey an idea in an understandable way and also being able to understand what concepts are difficult or easy to comprehend. General Pedagogical Knowledge - this describes “understanding the the principals of instruction and classroom management” (Eggen, 2010, p. 10). This is not content specific, but includes an understanding of instructional strategies and classroom management. Knowledge of Learners and Learning – this includes understanding cognitive development, how children typically learn how/why children are motivated to learn. Professional Knowledge: Reform and Accountability – Education reform has been and continues to be an issue at the forefront of our society both locally and nationally. Education continues to change (personal note: I’m very interested in seeing //Waiting for Superman// and wonder how it might affect the conversation around reform). Understanding where educational policy is and where it is going are essential to ensure success. . Eggen, P., & Kauchak, D. (2010). //Educational Psychology: Windows on Classrooms.// Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education, Inc. **Week 4 Observations and Constructivist Conversation**
 * Searching for Bobby Fisher – In this movie we saw examples of a child “in the flow” – so focused, interested and curious about a topic that the rest of the world just melted away. Teachers need to find a way to get children into “flow” as much as possible. This can be achieved by basing lesson plans on childrens’ interests (i.e. teaching math with baseball scores). We saw examples of Piaget’s concrete ops thinking – the dad who says they need a baseball to hold the gloves shape, and Piaget’s formal ops thinking – the child who finds another round object to do the job. The dad tells the child to smell the glove – smell helps to reinforce memory.
 * You Tube Clip on Emergent Curriculum – in this video the teachers served as “guides” or “partners in learning” and typically stayed with the children for a 3 year cycle. This allowed them to really get to know the children – their interests, strengths and weaknesses, and to design the curriculum around that. Assessment was conducted via a portfolio of each child’s artwork, photos of the children at play and transcripts of conversations.
 * You Tube Clip on Gender Bias - a very interesting clip showing how many older books, such as fairy tales, paint woman as helpless and their lives as only worthy via a man’s love. The men tend to be strong and “saviors” in these stories. The video warned that there are still subtle – and sometimes not to subtle - messages in current literature and films. It is important for teachers to select literature and films that represent men and women as equals in order to avoid perpetuating these outdated stereotypes, to build self-esteem in young girls and to teach young boys respect for girls.
 * You Tube Clip on Guided Reading/Differentiated Instruction – see my CC from week three.

Student Presentations **INTASC Standard #1: Content** – The teacher understands the central concepts, tools of inquiry, and structures of the discipline he or she teaches and can create learning experiences that make these aspects of subject matter meaningful for students.
 * INTASC Standard #7: Planning –** The teacher plans instruction based upon knowledge of subject matter, students, the community, and curriculum goals.


 * Bryan really engaged us in the topic by using humor. That kept us all interested and on our toes. The interaction among the students during his presentation was great as well. It helped us to remember each fact, but felt a little bit like a game. His visual examples were great – he showed us how much water we lose each day by lining up 10 cups of water. The video at the end was hilarious and I think everyone was really paying attention because it was fun. He used a wide variety of techniques that kept the presentation lively, exciting and fun.
 * Erin’s presentation was very good as well. She did a great job of not just spending the whole time showing us how to do the exercise but engaging us right away by having us try it out. She gave us clear instructions and then let guided us through trying it ourselves. She provided a clear objective for teaching the material (to relax the shoulder muscles).

** Film clips ** **INTASC Standard #5:** **Motivation and Management –** The teacher uses an understanding of individual and group motivation and behavior to create a learning environment that encourages positive social interaction, active engagement in learning, and self-motivation.
 * INTASC Standard #2: Student Development –** The teacher understands how children learn and develop, and can provide learning opportunities that support a child’s intellectual, social and personal development.

In the movie Billy Elliot is in Erikson’s stage 2 – autonomy vs. shame. He was taking ballet lessons without the approval of his dad. He was a bit embarrassed and would not let his father know, but he still took control of his own life – this is a good sign. He followed EL Thorndike’s theory that we lerned in class: 1. People learn when they are interested. 2. They get better if they practice. 3. They will sustain their studies when they are reinforced. Billy was interested in ballet, he practiced a lot and his teacher, after much drilling, gave him positive reinforcement for his achievements (all the more special because she didn’t seem to dole it out liberally).
 * Billy Elliot **

There was a lot of tactile working going on in this video. Kids had their hands on everything. There was also a lot of noise because children were communicating with each other and even out loud to themselves. The kids seemed to have so much freedom, but they did not take advantage of it. For example, one girl pulled out a “setting the table kit” all by herself, set it all out, cut the flowers herself, and then cleaned up after herself. The cleaning up was very surprising but likely because her teacher had modeled this previously.
 * Montessori School Film **

This video shows differentiation and emerging curriculum. Students are grouped into one of three groups based on their reading skill levels. The teacher meets with the students for 15 minutes each. Lowest readers meet every day, mid-level meet 2-3 times per week and advance readers meet with the teacher once a week.
 * You Tube Clip on Guided Reading: **[|**http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=txC-Qo_8GiU&feature=related**]

The children are grouped based on specific needs: long and short vowel sounds, comprehension, etc. The groups are constantly changing – kids don’t know what group they are in (she keeps track of the “red group” but calls them each to the table individually so that they don’t think “ I’m in the red group.”). While the children in one group are doing guided reading with their teacher the other students all work independently at “centers” where they work on a variety of literacy activities. The teacher explains each of the “centers” and the rules of working independently at the beginning of the year – this particular teacher said it took her about 8 weeks to ensure everyone knew the rules and how each center worked. The centers sound similar to a Montessori school in that she is allowing the children to work on their own. Each class has a “superstar” that is in charge of ensuring everyone cleans up after themselves in the centers.

**Week Three** **Mr. Chips Observations:** ** INTASC Standard #5: ** **Motivation and Management –** The teacher uses an understanding of individual and group motivation and behavior to create a learning environment that encourages positive social interaction, active engagement in learning, and self-motivation. ** INTASC Standard #6: Communication and Technology – ** The teacher uses knowledge of effective verbal, nonverbal, and media communication techniques to foster active inquiry, collaboration, and supportive interaction in the classroom. ** INTASC Standard #9: Reflective Practice: Professional Growth – ** The teacher is a reflective practitioner who continually evaluates the effects of his or her choices and actions on others (students, parents, and other professionals in the learning community) and who actively seeks out opportunities to grow professionally.
 * His relationship with the students changed completely once he let them see some of his true personality - his sense of humor. They began to like him more and want to please him. They began to build relationships with him, which in turned helped them to take more active roles in his class.
 * His wife gave him confidence which he clearly needed as a teacher - his confidence in himself made him a more effective teacher, a more commanding teacher.
 * After marrying, he spent more time with the students socially. They got to know him as a person and began to relate better to him in class.
 * His use of humor reminds me of a few of my favorite all time teacher. Most recently, my Italian teacher used humor constantly....and those 2.5 hour classes flew by. She didn't wait to make sure that we got the jokes, she was just herself with her own unique sense of humor, and we all began to love it and it made the class so much more interesting. We all also wanted her to like us, so worked very hard to show that we had completed our assignments.
 * Mr. Chips comforted the new student who was uncomfortable at school. He gave the child some of the confidence that he too needed so many years earlier.
 * Lastly, Mr. Chips comment as he was dying was extremely touching. My grandmother, who had just 1 daughter, taught 1st grade for 30 years and always talked about her hundred and hundreds of children, as if they were her own.

** INTASC Standard #5: ** **Motivation and Management –** The teacher uses an understanding of individual and group motivation and behavior to create a learning environment that encourages positive social interaction, active engagement in learning, and self-motivation.
 * Seabiscuit Observations:**
 * Punishment was not a good motivator for Seabiscuit. I think he was in (if horses have moral development?) stage 2 of Kohlberg's stages of moral development. He produced better results with reward than punishment.
 * Look them in they eyes. This gives students a sense of self-worth, that you care about their growth and development.
 * Seabiscuits new owners and trainer didn't care about what other people said about him, they judge him purely on his own merit and with the faith that with an investment of love, time and effort they could turn him around.


 * Fly Away Home Observations:**
 * Talk softly to very young (kindergarten, 1st grade) students at first.
 * Bonding with animals is called imprinting. Teh first 18 hours are critical for imprinting. LIkewise, it is important to bond with your class right away.
 * Use phrases frequently to give children a sense of routine and comfort and to make things clear in terms of what you expect of them. In the movie her "hey, hey, hey" was a good example of this.
 * Use the resources of those who know more than you. In the movie, the father asked the "expert" for his assistance in helping them learn how to work with the animals.


 * Week Two Observations (updated 9/13)**

** Vygotsky Clips Annotation: ** Vygotsky was Russian. He studied cognitive development. His mentors were Freud, Piaget, Montessori. His main question was - how do children obtain knowledge. He believed that social development is just as important as any type of intellectual development and, in fact, social interaction develops children’s knowledge and intellect. The adults and children that surround a child in their every day life are critical to their development. Talking about what you just learned with a peer is a key Vygostky principal that we’ve been using in class. This incorporate’s Vygostky’s theory that social interaction breeds learning. Having children talk about what they just learned with their peers enables them to be independent learners. The zone of proximal development is the distance between what a child can do on their own and what they can do with assistance. The idea is to support children through this zone so that they can get to the next level. Don’t give them the answers….just give them support and gentle assistance. Scaffolding is external support, but not hand holding. One type of scaffolding is offering a student the steps needed to achieve the answer, similar to a ladder in concept. The child needs to internalize those steps before moving on to the next, more difficult, level. Give the student the time and space to practice on their own with their scaffolding. // Side note: I’ve been thinking about the concept of scaffolding in my personal life as well. I often try to “support” my sister by telling her what to do when she calls perplexed with life decisions. Since reading about this I’ve vowed to use scaffolding instead. I even used it on a hike with my dog. Typically I’m constantly trying to rein him in to keep him close to me. The last time we hiked I decided to give him a bit more leeway, since we’ve done this hike multiple times and I knew he was in his ZDP. He ended up staying close to me regardless with just a bit of scaffolding (reminders) needed along the way, rather than pro-active commands. //  Construction of knowledge is the result of a child’s interaction with a physical environment. Teach using physical objects. “If you aren’t prepared to be wrong you’ll never come up with anything original.” (Ken Robinson) – loved this. His clip was great – we all have unique talents and just because a person isn’t good in one particular arena doesn’t mean they are not smart and won’t be successful. Encourage those areas in which they excel and adapt instruction to kids’ differences.

** Kohlberg Annotation: ** There are 6 stages to Kohlberg’s development. Children at the 1st stage will often only react based on avoiding punishment. The 2nd stage is the stage of offering a carrot, or bribery. Children learn the market exchange and will do nice things to get something good in return. Many adults remain in this stage – “what’s in it for me?” “what will I get out of this?” Stage 3, the Interpersonal Harmony stage can also be called the “peer pressure” stage. If an employee is urged to skip steps in product safety testing and still does it, though he knows it is wrong, he is in stage 3. His decision was based on peer pressure. Stage 4 is Law and Order – decisions are determined by the law. If you obey the law, you are good. If not, you are bad. In stage 5, people have their own principals but they aren’t 100% certain about them and think that other people have good principals too (even if they are different from theirs). People in this stage are committed to the idea of social harmony and order - and can be swayed to other principals to reach this goal. Stage 6 – in this stage people are guided by strong principals regardless of the outcome and/or if they are against the law. They’ll go to jail to stand by their principals.

** Glasser Clips: ** William Glasser is the originator of the ideas of Choice Theory and Reality Therapy. Reality therapy is based on personal responsibility, self evaluation, and planning for change. Never give up on the belief that change is possible. What do you want? What are you doing? Is it helping? What else can you do? These are the 4 critical questions to assess our life choices and goals. We all have 4 psychological needs: need for love and belonging, need for power (accomplishment, achievement, recognition, etc), need for freedom (expression, creativity) and the need for fun. Fun is the physiological payoff of learning. When you’ve achieved something hard, you look back and say “that was fun.” The more people that you connect with the more all 4 of your needs will be met, typically.

** Paiget Annotations: ** [] (Piaget), This video showed Piaget’s pre-operational stage – a child not understanding that the volume is the same though the container is different, and not understanding that a smaller piece of chocolate broken into two is still smaller than the larger piece broken in two.

[] This video walked through Piaget’s 4 stages of understanding and thinking. At the first stage, the child hears the sirens but has no concept of what the sound represents, at the 2nd the child hears the sirens and thinks they are all about her, at the 3rd stage she tells her mom to stop because her teacher told her that drivers should stop when they hear sirens (though she doesn’t understand why), at the 4th stage she is able to understand why the siren is sounding and why her mother should stop.

[] (Montessori) At Montessori schools children select the activities that interest them. There is lots of sensory engagement (music, art) and peer teaching. There is a focus on children’s self-esteem, spiritual and emotional needs. Children take more of a lead/decision-maker role in their education in a Montessori school.

[] Maria Montessori was the first woman in Italy to study medicine. She advocated on behalf of women in education and the workforce in her adult life. She founded a new type of school. Montessori believed that education is a natural process that develops spontaneously in human beings, not developed solely by formal instruction, but by children following their natural curiosity and experiencing the world. A unification of physical and mental energies is “normalization.” At Montessori schools, children use physical tools to learn concepts – such as using blocks for math.

[] This video shows Vygotsky’s zone of proximal development and shows how his scaffolding approach of “adapting instructional materials” can be used to help a child who has trouble counting toy bears in one set-up by reconfiguring the set-up and giving tips on how to count to ensure accuracy. It also shows an example of assisted performance as a tool to get a child to the zone of proximal development. The reading teacher shows examples of “prompts and cues” and “think-aloud” to help teach the children to read “Mr. White.”

Week Two - 9/1 Constructivist Conversation

Soldier - We saw examples of conditioning and brain washing in this clip. This applied to what we learned about brain-based teaching. The recruiters took the children at a very young age and taught them negative traits and habits while their brains were still developing new synapses - a critical learning time which can develop life-long habits and traits. The clip followed the children through critical stages addressed by both Piaget and Vygotsky - stages where children's minds and even their tactile skills are easily molded and configured for the rest of their lives.

Clips on Hoosiers to add later Clips from Goodby Mr. Chips to add later

Power Teaching Observation Task 1

College - Philosophy class and power teaching (whole brain teaching) [] What tools for engagement do you observe? Asking the students to recap and explain to the rest of the class. Using hands/motions to engage, such as the “10 finger woo.” What strategy for encoding does he use most? I’m not sure I understand “encoding.” College – Aristotle’s Four Causes [] What do you perceive to be one of the essentials of power teaching from observing this clip? The students have to explain what they’ve learned to each other, therefore they are constantly engaged. High School Math on Slope [] Make two more observations about the “essentials of power teaching” Lots of use of the hands, and visual effect. Mirroring. 6th Grade Math Class Operations [] How long does she talk before she expects the Ss to review? Less than a minute. What role does positive reinforcement play here? The whole class gets excited to “oh yeah” themselves and therefore participate. 4/5th Grade Teacher is 11 years old here [] How does she outline “expectations” or “standards” for participation? She tells them up front what will give them extra credit and “dextra credit.” How does she keep the discussion open ended? She asks the students to comment on the story and doesn’t seem to have a “correct” or “incorrect” response to their comments. Critical Thinking Skills in 4th Grade [] What impact would this style of teaching make in the schools you have seen? It seems to engage every single student so that all of the students pay attention and they have peer encouragement to do so. College instruction on the Basics of Power Teaching [] What role do these elements play in this lesson? Humor – keeps it fun. Gestures – keeps students engaged……and awake Refocusing – keeps them focused. What is the most unique thing you see in this clip? The students seem to really relate to one another, none seem isolated. Classroom Rules [] Compare and contrast the ways he presents the rules. What do you see? He uses strong visual pictures for children and text only for teens. He also offers a wide variety of ways to present the rules. Smart Board and Mr. Howard [] Where can you find one of the boards to learn how to use them? Not sure about this one……. Another lesson on Power Teaching [] Variety….is part of this method’s appeal. What does this method do for his “enthusiasm” and “creativity”? It keeps him thinking about new methods which forces him to be creative and keeps him enthusiastic about the concept since it isn’t the same thing over and over again.