I think that motivation is very important to have in your classroom and that it can be helpful for both yourself as a teacher and for your students. Today in class we spoke about intrinsic rewards and extrinsic rewards. I think that these have different meanings for different grade levels; however, I believe that both of these types of rewards help to motivate your students.
For example, at an elementary level, extrinsic motivators work great. If you have a points system or a behavior chart, it will motivate your students to work hard so that they don't have to pull a card or so that they don't have to see their name on the board. Stickers are also great extrinsic motivators for young children, and so fun! An example of extrinsic rewards in higher grades would be social rewards. For instance, if you make a certain grade on your test you will get a longer recess or you will get to go to lunch earlier. Things such as those push students to strive to do their best so that they can get that extra little bit of social time.
Intrinsic motivators seen in elementary school for example would be when a child is so excited to tell you what they learned or did on their own. They aren't getting any tangible prize, they are just genuinely happy to share their accomplishments with you. In high school intrinsic motivators can be the students actual love and interest of the subject content. That can go a long way in helping them focus and put their all into their assignments.
Thursday, January 30, 2014
Tuesday, January 21, 2014
Educational Psychology Post #2: Chapter 14
On page 505 in our book, Ormrod shows us the five categories that assessments can fall under. The various forms that educational assessments can take are as follow: informal vs. formal, paper pencil vs. performance, traditional vs. authentic, standardized vs. teacher developed, and criterion-referenced vs. norm-referenced.
Informal assessments are spontaneous, unsystematic, day-to-day observations of how students perform in class. For example, if a child in your class asks you why it snows in the winter but not in the summer. Them saying this shows you as a teacher that they don't understand the seasons and the weather patterns very well. As a teacher, you can then focus on making sure that your students are all clear on what types of weather and temperature patterns are seen during the different seasons. Formal assessments on the other hand are preplanned, systematic, data gathering ways to see what your students know and what they can do. An example of a formal assessment would be giving you students a math test in order of operations. There will be a particular time set aside for the assessment, students can study or "prepare" for it ahead of time, and it is intended to yield information about particular instructional goals or content area standards.
Paper pencil assessments are assessments that involve the students giving written responses to written items. For example, a writing assessment. Students are given a written prompt and they must give a written response to that prompt. This helps you as a teacher see where your students are in terms of their writing skills and it helps you determine if they can portray their ideas in a written form. Performance assessments are assessments in which students show their knowledge and skills in a way that is not written. For example, an oral presentation in a speech class or identifying rocks in a geology course. If I wanted to assess my students' public speaking skills, performance assessments would work great!
Traditional assessments focus on measuring basic knowledge and skills separate from real world tasks. Spelling tests as an example of a traditional assessments. Authentic assessments assess the ability to apply learning to real world tasks. These assessments are based on non-written performance and closely integrated with instruction. Examples of an authentic assessment are baking a cake, or parallel parking a car. If you wanted to teach students how to bake a cake, they would have to purchase the supplies, measure the ingredients out, and then determine how to mix ingredients as well as bake the cake. Classes such as Home Ec. are great for authentic assessments.
Standardized tests are developed by experts for use in many schools. These types of tests are more broad. Examples include the TCAP test, Gateway tests. ACT/SAT type tests, and standardized writing assessments. These types of tests can be helpful in assessing students' general achievement and ability levels. Teacher-developed assessments are assessments that are developed by teachers for their own classrooms. Vocabulary tests are an example of this. Teachers use these types of assessments to make sure that their students can apply what they have been learning. They are tailored towards their students, and they can really help teachers to see what topics they should spend more time on and which topics their students are excelling in.
Criterion-referenced assessments indicate mastery or non-mastery of specific topics. For example if a spelling test was composed of 25 spelling words, a score of 25 would be a perfect score, a score of 20 would mean that the student got 20 words correct, and so on. In doing this, the teacher would know precisely which words each student does and does not know how to spell. I think this is great because teachers are able to see their students progress and see which words or types of words in this case they may need to spend some more time on. Norm-referenced assessments compare students' performance to that of their peers. For example, a 9th grade nationwide math test yielding percentile ranks that indicate how well each student has performed in comparison with other 9th graders around the country. There are some problems with this tactic. Such scores as these don't tell us specifically what students have or have not learned in math. What they will actually tell us is how well each student stacks up against students in their same age or grade level.
Informal assessments are spontaneous, unsystematic, day-to-day observations of how students perform in class. For example, if a child in your class asks you why it snows in the winter but not in the summer. Them saying this shows you as a teacher that they don't understand the seasons and the weather patterns very well. As a teacher, you can then focus on making sure that your students are all clear on what types of weather and temperature patterns are seen during the different seasons. Formal assessments on the other hand are preplanned, systematic, data gathering ways to see what your students know and what they can do. An example of a formal assessment would be giving you students a math test in order of operations. There will be a particular time set aside for the assessment, students can study or "prepare" for it ahead of time, and it is intended to yield information about particular instructional goals or content area standards.
Paper pencil assessments are assessments that involve the students giving written responses to written items. For example, a writing assessment. Students are given a written prompt and they must give a written response to that prompt. This helps you as a teacher see where your students are in terms of their writing skills and it helps you determine if they can portray their ideas in a written form. Performance assessments are assessments in which students show their knowledge and skills in a way that is not written. For example, an oral presentation in a speech class or identifying rocks in a geology course. If I wanted to assess my students' public speaking skills, performance assessments would work great!
Traditional assessments focus on measuring basic knowledge and skills separate from real world tasks. Spelling tests as an example of a traditional assessments. Authentic assessments assess the ability to apply learning to real world tasks. These assessments are based on non-written performance and closely integrated with instruction. Examples of an authentic assessment are baking a cake, or parallel parking a car. If you wanted to teach students how to bake a cake, they would have to purchase the supplies, measure the ingredients out, and then determine how to mix ingredients as well as bake the cake. Classes such as Home Ec. are great for authentic assessments.
Standardized tests are developed by experts for use in many schools. These types of tests are more broad. Examples include the TCAP test, Gateway tests. ACT/SAT type tests, and standardized writing assessments. These types of tests can be helpful in assessing students' general achievement and ability levels. Teacher-developed assessments are assessments that are developed by teachers for their own classrooms. Vocabulary tests are an example of this. Teachers use these types of assessments to make sure that their students can apply what they have been learning. They are tailored towards their students, and they can really help teachers to see what topics they should spend more time on and which topics their students are excelling in.
Criterion-referenced assessments indicate mastery or non-mastery of specific topics. For example if a spelling test was composed of 25 spelling words, a score of 25 would be a perfect score, a score of 20 would mean that the student got 20 words correct, and so on. In doing this, the teacher would know precisely which words each student does and does not know how to spell. I think this is great because teachers are able to see their students progress and see which words or types of words in this case they may need to spend some more time on. Norm-referenced assessments compare students' performance to that of their peers. For example, a 9th grade nationwide math test yielding percentile ranks that indicate how well each student has performed in comparison with other 9th graders around the country. There are some problems with this tactic. Such scores as these don't tell us specifically what students have or have not learned in math. What they will actually tell us is how well each student stacks up against students in their same age or grade level.
Sunday, January 12, 2014
Educational Psychology Post #1: Introduction
I really enjoyed our first class session. I liked the fact that we took the time to really get to know one another. I am very interested in learning more about educational psychology in terms of urban/multicultural types of schools as well as schools with lower poverty levels and how you go about being an effective teacher in school systems such as those. Since I am in the urban multicultural cohort this is something very near and dear to me. I think it is important to learn how to work in those types of classrooms so that you can be the positive light that those children need in their lives. Also, I am interested in learning more about learner diversity. I think that can be a huge issue for teachers today. How do you deal with that and what are the most effective ways to give all of your students the best education possible?
I would like to get a sense of confidence for when I go into the classroom. I feel that looking at research and being able to really understand that research will help me to be a more effective, confident teacher. I would also like to get new knowledge that will help me be successful in taking my PRAXIS exam next year. I feel that after this course and after I take each exam I will have a better understanding of what will be on the PRAXIS test, and therefore I will make a better score on it.
I think this class will definitely help me in my future profession. As I mentioned above I want to gain more confidence about teaching and having my own classroom. I think that since I am in the urban cohort this course will be very beneficial to me and I will learn so much about how to incorporate certain aspects into my teaching and what the best teaching style would be for me to use with the students that I am working with. I am so excited to start learning more and can't wait to see what my future in education holds!
I would like to get a sense of confidence for when I go into the classroom. I feel that looking at research and being able to really understand that research will help me to be a more effective, confident teacher. I would also like to get new knowledge that will help me be successful in taking my PRAXIS exam next year. I feel that after this course and after I take each exam I will have a better understanding of what will be on the PRAXIS test, and therefore I will make a better score on it.
I think this class will definitely help me in my future profession. As I mentioned above I want to gain more confidence about teaching and having my own classroom. I think that since I am in the urban cohort this course will be very beneficial to me and I will learn so much about how to incorporate certain aspects into my teaching and what the best teaching style would be for me to use with the students that I am working with. I am so excited to start learning more and can't wait to see what my future in education holds!
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