Week 14 post

I think it's week 14 anyway. We skipped Thanksgiving so I'm pretty sure I'm on track. This is my last post for this class but I have enjoyed being able to use my blog for my reflections. Makes things so much easier. I am thinking about my last post, only moments ago where I was griping about not knowing the new technology and I realized that before our motivation class I had never used a blog before, and now I'm relying on it for this class when this wasn't the prescribed method so I feel like I have come around a bit and have stepped into the 21st century with my tech knowledge, however minimal it may be. I would have never thought to use a blog for reflection purposes before our motivation class though so I am pretty proud of myself here.
So this week's questions. What were they again? What did we learn? Seems like that should have been one of them. What method or theory do we identify with? I will have to stake my claim in the social learning theory camp. I feel that that encompasses everything I believe in and it allows the environment and others to play a part in the learning process for each person. That is important to me. The whole idea that knowledge is constructed really resonates with me because I see a link to how I learn in there, and into how my daughter learns as well. Maybe because I've witnessed the power of knowledge being constructed in my own kid is what sells me on SLT but I feel like knowledge is more easily um saturated I will say, into our brains, when it's constructed based on things that are meaningful to us personally. I think that we each contribute to the learning of others in so many ways that it's difficult to ignore that influence. Yes, I know, learning is a social event!
When I took a learning class as an undergrad we focused on Piaget and his methods, Skinner and his, for most of the course so I am glad that we branched out in this class and included more of a variety. I didn't feel this way about learning after that previous class so it took this to get me to actually form an opinion about why I think the way I think.
So in closing I'd like to say thanks for teaching a great class. So much would have made more sense had I taken this class in the beginning as the sequence suggests but I'm glad I waited for you to teach it! I like your style of teaching and i feel like it suits my learning style well. Onward and upward!

Week 12 post

So I am a little behind on my posts here, only by 2 weeks though so I will get right to it. Let's see, the week before Thanksgiving we went over everyone's front page of their KB and I liked everyone's work but I think I will keep mine the way it is. I may attempt to add some outside links but that would be all I would change. If I was more versed in prezi I would definitely use that but time is of the essence here and since i am so technologically stunted, I will go with what I know, my old standby, PowerPoint. I know, it's lame but what is a girl to do this late in the game? I need a course on all these new tools! Seriously, I could really use such a thing. I love what all these new tools can do, how they can make a presentation come alive, but what good are they to me if I can't figure out how to even use them? And this is the thing that really irks me actually. Our department is all about instructional design, which includes but is not limited to technology and the latest advances in technology for use in instruction, yet we do not have the resources to teach it to our current students even! Doesn't make sense to me at all. How are we supposed to be at the forefront of our field if we cant even teach our students to use the technology we promote? Maybe it's just me but whenever someone uses a new technology in a class, I am not the only one who is awed by what can be done. In this class even, there are a number of students who have asked what certain websites are for creating new presentations. And this class is full of younger students so if they don't know it, who does?
So back to my lame old presentation...I was thinking in class that I would like to make the whole presentation into a google pages thing but then I don't know how to convert my interactive front page for that so I will stick with what I have for now. I was very impressed with the other front pages though and would like to use some of their ideas for future projects. Until next time...which is in a few minutes...

Week 11 reflection

So now that I've bashed behaviorism I am back on track with my posting! So for this reflection I will get back to the actual assignment and discuss the week's work. I thought the in-class exam was fun and enlightening. It was the nice way to go through what we've learned, or in my case what I think I've learned! I felt like I had the opportunity to elaborate on parts one and two which allowed me to show in better form how and what I understand about the theories. The first part I actually found a bit daunting because I didn't remember certain quotes and I wasn't reading into what they were actually saying like I should have been. It was so simple yet I was over thinking it, as is usually the case with me. I was stuck on trying to remember which theorist said that, when that was, and so on. It's the process they were speaking of that I should have been concentrating on, which I was not. Parts 2 & 3 were much easier for me because they each gave me the chance to write down my thoughts and answer questions in my own words. That way I could gauge for myself what I actually knew and did not know. Much more helpful to my learning style. It's funny actually because sometimes I think I don't know the answer to something but then as I start to write things out on paper it comes to me and I realize that I do know what I'm talking about! I feel like sometimes it takes me a minute to parse things out but once I get through that process, I'm on the road to recovery.
So I'm currently working on my kb title page and I've decided to use my slides as a guide to make a chart. From the chart one can navigate to the corresponding pages through hyperlinks. I know, I'm living in the dark ages with PowerPoint! It suits me for now though. Kerry Edmonds told me last year that he used to teach one week summer classes that showed students how to use technology effectively. I think it's too bad that's no longer the case because I could certainly use that! We learned how to use some of the tools in project management but that was things like flash and scratch. Not anything I find will be useful to me in my disaster response work of the future. Anyway, the semester ticks on and we are almost done. I'm happy with my project so far and excited to finally finish it! I've learned so much from it and I love the kb assignment. It really helped me to put the learning in perspective through my own lens. I also like the idea of a group kb where everyone contributes to the same one, sort of like editing the wiki in our motivation class. There are so many different opinions and various learning styles, different schemas, varying prior knowledge, that it would be interesting to have the whole class work on a kb together and try their luck and coming to a consensus. Similar to our class exercise 2 weeks ago but that was only in groups of three and that proved a bit difficult at times, depending on the scenario. Onward and upward...

Week 10 reflection

Time is ticking away on the semester here and I am behind 2 posts! My trip to California put me about behind but I am back up to speed now so I will be posting weeks 10 & 11 back to back. I don't remember what the exact questions were for this reflection butiwould like to discuss my social learning kb so I'm sure that's somewhat in sync with some of the questions. I felt that the social learning kb tied together all of what I think about learning. Serving an apprenticeship in my younger years has made me see the value in the social aspect of learning and how it's much more than simply behavioral or cognitive. That was an important part of my life and I see now that it helped me to better understand this learning theory. Observation and modeling are integral to the learning process of becoming a steamfitter and also a welder. There is really no other way to learn than throu observation and modeling for either of those. But the social aspect really comes into light here as well because you learn what is accepted based on the social cues that you learn while you're not the job. That's actually a really important part of it all too, especially in a trade such as that because one wrong move could get you into trouble.
I think that social learning theory encompasses so much of behaviorism and cognitivism and I wonder how the behaviorists make sense of that. Because we are human beings and we are all social beings as well, how do the behaviorists justify the belief that cognitive processes are not involved? I know the Smith & Ragan book states that behaviorism really isn't even used in instructional design anymore and for that I'm thankful because I feel that its shelf life is used up what with all the technology and differences in learning styles these days. It just doesnt seem to offer the practicality that it once did. Behaviorism seems to be stuck in the dark ages a bit. And it's hard to believe that the only way to learn is to see a behavior change. I guess my post about social learning was just a cover to bash behaviorism!

Week 9 reflection

I figured I'd get this weeks reflection out of the way since I'm getting ready to attend the conference and won't have extra time this week. There are original questions for these reflections that I've been blowing off in favor of writing about topics of my choice but I think this week I will stick to protocol. So, what did I learn this week? I learned that each time we do the same exercise where we have to design a lesson plan for the given scenario, it gets easier because each theory plays off the other in some way. We are learning in the same way we are being taught to design instruction and that is having an impact on me for sure. I like social learning theory because it feels like a combination of behaviorism and cognitivism that I can relate to. I was feeling like I could use aspects of both theories so combining the two into social learning really appeals to me. My learning scenario seemed to go a lot smoother this time around though, with the cognitivism kb. So I am looking forward to putting together the social learning kb as well now. I felt that my learning scenario was tailored more to cognitivism and it felt like I was forcing it to fit into the behaviorism theory, only because of the map making process and the idea that I have that there's a thought process that goes into how we make meaning of mapping. There's that qualitative bit again! What else...I like that we are actually working with the same groups each time because I know what to expect from my team members and it makes it easier to do the work. We have each other figured out, we know our own limitations and can put a design together better now that we have familiarized ourselves with each other's work habits, ethics, styles, etc. That's all for now.

Week 8 reflection

I almost forgot to submit a reflection this week! I feel like missing a class really put me behind the eight ball in that I think I missed some great conversations about cognitive learning. I can get the just from the notes but it's more useful to me to learn by interacting with a group because I get to hear different opinions of how others perceive things and that helps me to see the same thing in many different ways. I got a lot out of the readings on cognitive behavior though so that will certainly help in putting my cognitive kb together. I also think the cognitive kb will be easier for me in the learning scenario I have chosen because all the while I was writing the learning scenario out for the behaviorist kb, I felt like I was grabbing at straws a bit. What I mean by that is that each time I came up with something I would think to myself how it really fit more with cognitivism instead of behaviorism. For each aspect of the behaviorism kb I was thinking okay, how can I turn this into a behaviorist kb because right now it looks like a cognitivist kb? I guess I am more of a fan of the cognitivist aspect of learning because I can see that there needs to be a mindset involved in learning and hat it's not as simply as just see it, repeat it, learn in. I think it's more about how we perceive things, how we are taking in the information and how we are making sense of that information in our minds. Then how do we translate that into meaning to show that we actually have learned something? It's just a process that makes more sense to me. I think that because we learn so differently, the cognitive process almost has to take precedence over the behaviorist process. In looking st my project I think I will have to tweak my learning scenario a bit to meet the needs of both aspects though. I was thinking I would have to do that but I really wasn't sure until I got involved in the cognitive piece a bit more. I was almost wishing we had started it with the cognitive piece, then molded that somehow into a behaviorist scenario after. It seems more difficult going the opposite direction. I think that's because the cognitive piece seems a bit less challenging so if we started out on the simpler side, adding a more difficult plan to the lesson wouldn't be as challenging. Needless to say, it will get done! Thankfully, this is only a draft so I will be looking forward to feedback!

Week 7 reflection

Since I wasn't in class this week I will comment on the readings. I'm sorry I missed the class though because I really enjoy this stuff! This is actually where I think it gets interesting. Behaviorism is one thing, I mean who can't train a monkey to do tricks?? But the cognitive stuff is where it's at for me. I read something in one of the chapters that mentioned that learning can take place without a specific change in behavior and I tend to agree with that. I think the behavior change can be noticed over time but it owlud seem that behaviorists are looking for instant gratification and I don't necessarily believe it always has to work out like that. I think back to my training as a steamfitter. There was a lot of repition on the job and in the classes but there were certain things I learned that I didn't apply for years. We never drilled certain things (I mean skill drilling, not actual machine drilling...hard to know which one I'm speaking of due to the nature of the trade!) and we never got the chance to practice certain things either so it was just the idea that we learned the information then when we needed it we would be expected to recall it for future use. Granted, we always had a journeyman with us in the beginning to help refresh our memories but the point is that there was no immediate behavior change when we were initially taught the information. It seems that behaviorism is more tuned in with the elementary tasks and while I think many cognitive skills can be reduced to such elementary tasks, I think that in order to fully grasp it for use and significance at a later time, cognitive learning had to be present. I think the cognitivist point is much more imrtant when we study things like learning disabilities because we need to attempt to understand what the person is thinking and how that person learns. The behaviorist ideal would suppose that everyone, regardless of disability, can learn by doing. we all know that some people simply are not wired to learn that way so we need to better understand how they think.
I took a learning class as an undergrad and I remember the professor giving us this cognitive test in every class. She would say 15 items slowly while we listened, then she would go about her lesson for the next 15 minutes. Then we would be asked to recall and write down what words she said. The catch though is that some of the words would be used again in her lesson in such a way that themes were built around the word, or including the word. So for instance if one of her words was "social" she would use that word a few times related to her lesson. In each class we were encouraged to not simply concentrate on the word we heard so we could recall it easier, we were encouraged to formulate groupings of the words. To categorize them if you will. After our recalls it was always so interesting to see how each person grouped things together so differently based on their own schema. I always loved that class because we were able to see on a weekly basis how different people learn simply based on what attributes they bring into the mix or based on what existing knowledge they already had.
So alas, I'm glad we're on to the fun stuff!

Week 5 reflection

Sorry I forgot to post my reflection! We didn't have any readings for the week so I will just comment on what we learned in class last week. Nothing really surprised me but it was fun to work in groups again, to design instruction for the sundaes and poetry. It's refreshing to work with such different learning styles and to see who naturally gravitates to which style or design. I tend to gravitate toward the written word whereas as one of my usual teammates who is a proponent of online instruction is always advocating for visual tools. This works well together with my ideas because I feel like we cover a lot of ground. I always love to hear when we go around the room though because I gain so much insight into what other styles people are thinking of. It's always interesting to me to hear what other people coke up with from the same initial concept. Sometimes that's what's surprising! At times I wonder why I didn't think if that! I think the whole aspect of behaviorism is quite interesting and I can't wait to see what the cognitive theorists have to say. I have to admit I was a bit disappointed to peruse back through my Smith & Ragan book from 631 and to read that behaviorist theories, specifically classical and operant conditioning, do not really serve a purpose in instructional design today. I like the idea of knowing learning has occurred due to measurable and observable changes in behavior and I wonder how the cognitivists make sense of that. I am excited about cognitivism though because I think my two favorite topics in learning (motivation and change) will be addressed in greater detail (if at all) within that framework. Both of those have a lot to do with how things are perceived so how the mind works is of greater importance that in behaviorism. Until next week....

Week 4 reflection

This week's readings were a bit challenging in that I was getting easily confused between operant and classical, when it came down to the letters. I am okay with explaining it when it comes to the behavior but then when I have to put it into the contact of letter symbols I found that I was sEcond guessing myself and wondering if I really knew at the information or not. I guess it just takes practice. I am thinking about my learning environment and since I am not a teacher, and have no desire to be such either, I think I will have to make something up instead of having the ability to use an example from my own experience. Or I could choose to use something from my steamfitting days. That work was all practical application but you had to know it, and know it properly. One mistake could cost someone their life. And I went through an apprenticeship with my union so maybe I will use something surrounding that form of education. I would like to use something related to disaster education but I don't think I'm confident enough in my knowledge abilities in that area to make any scenarios up. We'll see. I'm not going to see out about it, which I felt like the whole class was doing in class Monday night. I was getting more confused with each question! I understand the assignment but with others throwing out so many questions I was again, second guessing myself and wondering why I didn't have those questions as well. I think perhaps the questions were causing me to think I hast put enough thought into the project, but alas, I should have trusted my gut because I was correct, everyone else was just confused! I hope no one is reading this but you!!

So let's see...what surprised me this week? I guess it was my inability to fully grasp the differences between operant and classical as mentioned above. I really liked the in-class activity though, that helped a great deal. It also showed me what I didn't know though too so that was a bonus. Admittedly I struggles with the whole negative reinforcement vs punishment issue. Still not sure if I have it down yet but I will keep working on it.

621 week 3 reflection

I almost forgot to post this week! Reflecting on this week's class I would have to say that nothing really surprised me but it was fun to do the sundae-making exercise and to see how other people came up with ideas that would help others learn. It's always so interesting to me to see groupwork in action and to hear the ideas that others have with respect to learning. While all of our ideas shared similarities, they were also all quite different in their own way which tells me that we all have preferences for how we learn best too, not just how we expect to teach differently. The definitions were interesting too because I know how I think of certain terms, based on what I have learned and it was good to learn how others view the same terms. I know there are textbook definitions of these terms but it's all in how people interpret what they hear and learn so it was interesting to see that in action. The readings for last week were also interesting. My BA is in psychology so I got a lot of that information during my undergrad work. This was like a refresher for me in a sense. I had to take Brain and Behavior, and a Learning class as well while at Le Moyne so I know a bit about what the chapter was touching on. I guess I did retain something from my undergrad because I remembered most of what the book said! Who'd have thought?? I guess I don't have much else to say on this week's class. It went by so quickly and while I feel like we covered alot of information, it was more or less a recap. Until next week...

IDE 621 week 1 reflection

This week's class was basically a get to know you type thing so there was not alot that really surprised me, or confused me for that matter. I find the topic of learning interesting though so I am sure I am in for some great knowledge gaining! I took a learning class as an undergrad psyche major and it was really interesting to learn the ways people learn that are not the same ways one generally thinks of. By this I mean, out of the mainstream. I generally like to think of creative ways to learn and teach others, but only because I have had that course and because I know that for myself, it is easier to learn certain things certain ways. For instance, I am very visual so it helps me a great deal to see something on paper. I don't necessarily need a picture although many times that has helped. That being said, sometimes words laone do the trick and the addition of a picture in the form of a model (boxes and charts perhaps) make it all the more confusing! There is a delicate balance and it is onew that is constantly changing for me. I suppose it depends on the content and the context. I can't really relate any of my knowledge to my teaching because I do not teach. I have helped out in classrooms but have never taught so when I talked about teaching earlier, I was mainly thinking about my own child, and perhaps her friends who struggled in a subject when they came home from school together and we worked on different strategies to get them through it. So my hopes for this class are that we get into the nitty gritty of all the behaviorists and such and learn what they think, how they classify learning, and whether or not their style and explanations mesh with mine. I know that I am going backwards in my courses and I really feel it when it comes to this course because I feel that this is a necessary foundation on which to build. Hopefully some grey areas will begin to fall into place after taking this course.

week 5 reflection

Another great week of readings! I thought the P&S chapter 7 article (Role of Interest and Affect in Achievement Motivation) was especially interesting because it shows that we need to look deeper into what is motivating our students, or not motivating them. There is an entirely different side that needs to be delved into for a complete understanding. I thought the discussion about emotions and moods was important for teachers to understand because motivation has more legs than originally thought and any attempts to motivate students should take their affect and interest into account. I also thought the Fiedler suggestions regarding positive and negative affect and the impact they both have. It goes hand in hand with learning-goal and performance-goal orientations. Negative affect = more stimulus-bound, less willing to make mistakes and positive affect = generative, creative processes, novelty-seeking.
The discussion on flow was interesting to me as well and I can remember a number of times when I personally experienced flow of my own and how wonderful it felt to be so engaged in something that you couldn't even hear a phone ring, a door shut, other voices in the room. Interesting! Applications 7.1 and 7.2 of that same article were especially helpful and I can remember examples of being in classes that I loved and having some of those same applications used on the students. That made such a difference in my experience in the classroom. Even today, in some classes at SU I have experienced some of these applications and can fondly recall how enthusiastic I was while in class.

more on last week's reflection...

To answer some of the questions I have been asked regarding my week 4 reflection...Mary, the agreement between the Oneida Nation and the school has been about 8 years running now and only ONE student has graduated, just this year (and it was the success story I mentioned~the student who now lives with another non-Native American family from the school). So while it should have had some other successes by now, at least 4 of the students who should have graduated have since been asked to leave the school within the past 8 years. So bottom line...no role models to speak of.
Aja, student to student interactions are plenty in the school, among the same peer group and others as well. Group work is required of all students and the teachers frequently pair students up so that not all students from the same neighborhoods, same ethnicities, etc., group themselves together. I think I mentioned in my first posting about these students that they frequently self-select and the teachers do not see a problem with this socially but in the classroom they do work to integrate all the students. I don't know what the magic answer is here but we have tried to do several interventions of sorts, some one at a time, others all at once.

More in the Native American issue from week 4 reflection

Hello All,

Thanks for the comments! Aja, you asked for a couple of details regarding what the school is currently doing...they have set up an after-school program for the Native American students but many of them cannot take advantage of it (school offered a late bus but it puts the kids home around 6pm, long day! And some of them have to get home to care for younger siblings), they have incorporated storytelling into many classroom lessons, even having a representative from the Nation come in to teach the lower school teachers how to effectively "storytell". That rep also spends time in each classroom to oversee the storytelling in action. Since there were no role models in the school, they hired a Native American TA to work fulltime in the lower school while she was in college. After obtaining her degree, she is now a substitute in the lower school and recently took over for one of the 5th grade teachers who went out on maternity leave.

All that being said, the issues remain to some degree. There are several studies that relate to this ongoing problem (Bower, 1993; Dehyle, 1992; Perry, 2002; Tierney, 1992). They have all found that the cultural differences were simply too great to overcome but the majority of these studies were conducted with high school or college students. Also, Schmidtke (2009) conducted a study and found that Native American students were the least likely of all ethnic groups to enter and complete college. That is pretty alarming to me!
So despite the efforts of this particular school I am discussing, they are still plagued with the problem of the NA students not performing up to the academic standards that the school has in place.
Aja, you also mentioned high stakes testing...the school is a private school so they do NOT participate in the whole standardized testing mess. The basic requirements are taken into account but the students are not tested on their grade level ability in any way that gets reported to the state. Each student is individually assessed by the teachers.

So what does all this mean? Of course there are differences in the culture and that needs to be somehow overcome, if possible. There are also differences in the expectations between what they are used to (for the older kids) and what is now expected so the school is trying to get them extra help. I think I said this before but some of the kids feel like their parents decided this and now they're paying the price by having to work extra hard to do the work so there is an issue with this related to attitude.
Here is my disclaimer...I am not a teacher there, only a parent...well, it goes a bit further. My daughter was there for 13 years, just graduated. During that time I was the Parents' Association president and a board trustee. I also spent one day a week reading to a Native American student and doing the occasional math problem her if needed. I met her because I was volunteering there one day a few years back and she just came up and started talking to me. She seemed to be alone and I felt she just needed someone to hang with. We formed a relationship and started having regular conversations about her family life, school, etc. Sometimes when we talk, her other Native American friends joined us and we would just sit and discuss the events of the day. So a lot of this information about how they are feeling comes directly from the students. The board of trustees is quite concerned, sees it as a personal failure on their/our part because we brought these kids here, now we're letting them down. We know they need something but there are so many variables that we keep trying one thing at a time in the hopes that something will begin to work, then we can move on to the other issues plaguing them. It really is frustrating, especially for the teachers because they aren't making any headway.
The one success story is a Native American student who just graduated, got in to a great college, and wants to go to med school. The downside to this (only from the school track record with NA students is concerned because there is no downside to a kid making it into med school one day!) is that this particular student had problems at home at a young age and a family from the school took her in and became her legal guardians. My point being that she left the atmosphere long ago that the remainer of these kids come from now. So does that even count as a success story for the NA students? I don't know. I supposee if we're talking about NA students in general, sure, but if we're talking about kids who currently live on Reservation land, no.

Week 4 reflection

Aother interesting week of readings. I was particularly struct by the locus of control and the self-efficacy articles because it frames what an ideal situation looks like in motivation and learning. Bandura's discussion of mastery left me thinking that if a child grows up in a supportive environment where he/she is encouraged to try new things and failure is part of learning, encouraged to take risks as part of that learning, and is praised for the effort, not necessarily the outcome, then you end up with a model student. Of course I am a realist though and I know this does not happen very often! The problem is that there are so many other variables that can contribute to the learning. I do believe that if a child has had that type of supportive environment that they do have a better chance (because of their toolkit) of shrugging off whatever negative messages they receive later on but if the positive reinforcement isn't consistent, then I also believe that a child can easily come undone, or the work that has been done can come undone. This scenario does not seem to work so well backwards though. There is a group of students in my daughter's school who, as a whole, are struggling and this whole motivation issue has me thinking about ways to undo what has, for years, been done. The students are Native Americans from the Oneida reservation and they are in an independent school through an agreement between the school and the Oneida Chiefs. The students can easily attend their home school on the reservation but if their parents choose, they can attend the independent school tuition-free (the Nation pays the bill so meaning tuition-free for the parents). The school has roughly 35 Native American students in preK-12 currently. The problem is that the majority of the students are struggling academically, such that a few have been asked to leave because of it. Socially, they are faring little better. They keep to themselves much of the time which doesn't seem to be alarming to some who see it as self-selection but to others (like me), we see it as a problem of alientation. They are not feeling welcomed within the school community and are seen as the outsiders, which is strange to me because we also have large population of international students who would be thought of as the outsiders, generally speaking. Anyway, some of these Native American students have other issues surrounding their lack of success as well. Some have less than supportive parents in the way that the independent school expects parents to be very involved and the parents think they should be minimally involved. This could be a cultural difference, remains to be determined. Some NA parents have said that it is the school's job to educate their child, not the parents. Some of the NA students also receive their fair share of criticism from their NA peers who attend their home school on the reservation (you think you're better than us, we're not good enough for you, etc). There is also the fact that the students spend an hour on the bus each way which does not leave a lot of time to spend doing the expected 2 hours of homework per class each day. So there are several issues plaguing these students at some point or another. My issue is that the students come in to the school able to pass the entrance exam (otherwise they would not be allowed in) and somewhere along the way, they get lost. Generally, they have all come in in lower school (preK-5) so the test is very basic for the age groups but that still means that they have the basic knowledge for their grade. It's as if all their enthusiasm leaves them once they get there. Like I said, there are numerous variables contributing to the problem but  think one major factor is the motivation. In reading about the Locus of Control, I can visibly see in these students that they feel they have no control over what happens to them. They are waiting for  others to make the decisions about their lives. Obviously I am not talking about the younger ones but the middle and upper school kids have actually said thngs like "it's out of my hands" and "we don't make those decisions". It just seems like such a waste. Here is the offering of a perfectly good education and the majority of the NA kids don't make it to graduation. There have been countless meetings between the board of trustees, teachers, Chiefs to discuss the issues and attempt to come up with solutions. We have made learning about their culture a part of the curriculum, having NA Chiefs and others from the reservation come in for lessons on the culture, including storytelling as a way of learning, field trips to their Native land, essay contests for all students about NA topics, etc. Nothing seems to work, or it only works in small increments, and temporarily. So I am wondering what is going on in the classrooms and if the teachers are sending positive messages and how they can "convince" these students that they are worthy of doiing the work and worthy of this education. It is a college prep school so the expectation is that one graduates and goes to college. There is never discussion of there being any other option actually, which may seem daunting to some who aren't taught that from the very beginning but the majority of the kids come in in lower school so they are hearing it steadily from a young age.
Basically I am using this week's blog to think outloud and I don't have any answers, only more questions. I am thinking about the low sense of efficacy we read about this week, the LOC, expectancy-value theory, learning vs performance goals, all of it applies here. I am tinking abut what Bandura says about self-efficacy and peer influences (p. 9). The issue here is that if the peers you hang around with (whether through self-selection or alientation) all see the world through the same lens as you, what prompts change? Is change even possible? Do we split the kids up from each other when that may certainly be their comfort zone? Work on them all together in a group? It's really frustrating to see a whole group of kids fail and when you can almost put your finger on some of the issues contributing to it but can't lick the problem, it's even more worrisome.

Week 3 Reflection

LOVED this week's readings! The article that stood out the most for me was Covington's (Goal Theory, Motivation, and School Achievement: An Integrative Review). This article hit home for me because I saw so many similarities between this and Jewish education. This idea that students learn "for the sake of curiosity, exploration, and self-improvement" (p. 173) is one that is ingrained in Jewish kids from the time they begin in Hebrew school (Hebrew school is all-emcompassing elementary school, not just the language) and it continues into adulthood. It becomes all we know because everyone we go through school with is the same way. We are taught to question everything, even authority, to argue our point if we truly believe it to be valid, and that everything can be turned into a lesson. Inquiry is life. (There's a joke that Jews will beat something to death, then resurrect it just so we can beat it to death again!). Covington states that these conditions were thought to be almost "trait-like" and for the Jews, that is certainly the point of instilling it in us while we are young. It is a trait but not one that we are born with (at least most of us I would gather), rather one that has been drilled into us repeatedly throughout our youngest years, soon becoming part of our everyday lives as if it were borne to us. This need for knowledge causes us to learn about things in a way that requires us to examine everything. We are aso taught that just because a teacher says it is so, does not mean it is true so it is our responsibility to investigate it from other angles. The whole point to learnng is not to one-up your fellow man but instead, as Covington suggests, to increase "one's competency, understanding, and appreciation for what is being learned" (p. 174). It's about your personal best and when you fail, you have failed yourself, not as a comparison to others. A lot of this teaching comes from our parents and Rabbi but most of it comes directly from our teachers. I have seen it undone though once kids get to public school. Not that I am against public school (well, let's just say I am not for it) but with standardized testing and traking, it is difficult to allow students to be self-directed in their learning. Granted, if teachers are willing, and able, to allow students to take charge of their learning by allowing them to lead a class or work in groups and learn from each other, most often times, the students flourish. Comraderie in the classroom is key I think. Covington mentions this key concept as well: "the willingness of students to form a consensus around the goals of doing well and helping peers academically depends on their perceptions that teachers care about them bot as persons and students" (p. 180). So if teachers treat students with respect and show them that their opinions count for something, again, students can flourish. I guess the big question is: how is this balance of teacher/student learning/teaching/comraderie achieved when there are 30 kids in a class period for 40 minutes, all working at different levels?
Covington also discusses Self-Worth Theory and states that there are "individuals who tie their sense of worth to grades and as a result are dominated by performance goals" (p. 181). Hw can they not tie their sense of worth to their grades? That is the American school sytem in a nutshell! It is all about the grades for us. That is the society we live in here. Good grades means being tracked in better classes, means getting into better colleges, means getting the better jobs, means being more successful than the next guy. Am I a little cynical? Yep. I know there are dedicated teachers out there. I believe those teachers taking this course are dedicated just by the sheer fact that they are taking this course, meaning they care about their students. But that's a handful in an overwhelming sea of bad education. So I will move on out of frustration. All this being said...the goal for this week's reflection was to discuss how the theories we read about would help to influence our instruction. For me personally, I think I will continue to do what I know (the 'Jewish way' I will call it for lack of a better word or explanation) because that is what makes sense to me. Not that it is the right way or the only way but it is my way. Much of what we read this week goes hand in hand with what is already being done in independent and private schools and although I do not believe this statement is possible, I would like public schools to adapt independent school mentality. I know, dreamer, right. I understand the education system in our country is seriously flawed and everyone thinks they have the magic bullet so who am I to propose such preposterous ideas? I don't know, I'm just saying...

On another note...Dweck was mentioned in the articles several times so I wanted to mention that she has a book called Mindset that is very helpful in identifying why some students think/act/behave the way they do in classes. There are two mindsets, fixed and growth. The person with the fixed mindset believes that their "qualities are carved in stone". The owner of the growth mindset believes that their "basic qualities are things they can cultivate through their efforts, that everyone can change and grow through application and experience". There is a chapter for teachers as well (What makes a great teacher?) and a chapter dedicatedd to changing mindsets (not just your own but your children's/student's as well).

Dweck, C. S. (2008). Mindset: The new psychology of success: How we can learn to fulfill our potential. New York: Ballantine.
Enjoy!

Week 2 reflection

Sorry for the delay in posting! I am in New Jersey at my daughter's college orientation. Exciting.
On to the reflection...so much to say! First off, I was glad to see that in Chapter 2 (Expectancy-Value Models of Motivation), the relation of race and value constructs was mentioned. I was thinking of the same thing while reading Chapters2 and 3. I have done a bit of research on stereotype threat (Claude Steele is the pioneer in that field) and the issues that arise when students are asked to identify as a specific race or ethnicity (such as questions on a fill-in-the-bubble type test). The actual definition: "The experience of anxiety or concern in a situation where a person has to potential to confirm a negative stereotype about their social group" (Steele, 2003). Once they are identified, many students automatically revert to the common stereotype for that race/ethnicity and a self-defeatest attitude takes hold. So for example, a student who identifies as black/African American may have some knowledge of the statistics showing that, in general, African American students perform well below that of their white peers. Possessing this information, then identifying as such, brings forth feelings of inadequacy before the testing even begins, oftentimes leading the student to confirm that stereotype. Stereotype threat came readily to mind in Chapter 3 (Attribution Theory) as well, page 100, second paragraph, that states "teachers are more likely to make attributions for a student's behavior that are consistent with prior beliefs about that individual student". So what is interesting to me is that the teacher forms an opinion and if the student is aware on that on some level, the student may act to confirm that attribution made by the teacher. This is where that brown-eye/blue-eye classroom study comes into play as well. I find it so interesting how they are all intertwined and lead to student performance issues. So again, in chapter 3 when the authors discuss 'effort'. While it is always easy to change the behavior and say "study harder", as in Roy's case, it is not always easy to change the mindset and the way of thinking. I wonder how many students attempt to turn over a new leaf but are put right back in their place by teachers passing judgments on them based on old information? As usual, these articles bring forth many questions for me!

On another note...I have this ongoing disagreement with my daughter who insists that I compare her to myself when it comes to grades. I tell her constantly that I hold myself to a different standard than she does. She is satisfied with an 85, whereas I am not. My point here is that the Expectancy-Value Models really resonated with me personally (low level of aspiration). It's as if a student goes in to a test or an assignment with a negative attitude that he/she may fail or do poorly on, and they confirm that attitude by not doing well. It's a vicious cycle.
My daughter (Ally) has this self-defeatest attitude with certain subjects, like math. She is "not a math person", "sucks at math", etc, which seems to justify her doing poorly on tests. Attribution Theory abound here! So here I sit, at Ally's college orientation, lecturing her on turning over a new leaf! Stay tuned!

On yet another note...I thought the study on the effects of test anxiety was informative but I wish Hancock would have asked personal questions of the participants (or if he did ask questions, I wish he would have published the results and compared them to the results of the TAI). I also wonder if one can accurately measure test anxiety through a questionnaire. One can claim to not suffer from test anxiety when there is no threat of testing. There are also issues that arise about the accuracy and validity of self-reporting by participants. I understand that validity and reliability for the TAI have both been established but there are still issues that arise when not conducting an actual test to check for test anxiety.

Week 1 reflection

I thought each one of the articles was interesting and informative in its own way but the two that stuck out the most for me were Strategies for Stimulating the Motivation to Learn (SSMtL) (Keller, 1987) because it was like a prescription of sorts, and Motivational Design of Instruction (MDoI) (Keller, 1983) because the Concept of Interest really resonated with me personally. Many times in my own life I have trouble being motivated because I am simply not interested in the content and that's where I begin to stray. Maw & Maw's (p, 399; MDoI) definitions of the qualities of a curious person were interesting to me because I think that is what motivation is all about. Keeping people interested is the key and understanding what peaks others' curiosity seems to be the defining factor in how to keep the interest flowing when designing instruction. I think the instruction can seem interesting to the designer when in fact, the audience finds it entirely boring. Having a deep understanding of your audience but also how to peak their curiosities is important. So I don't really know if motivation is the actual problem, or if a facet of motivation is the problem (curiosity). It would seem to me that the concept of interest Keller describes would be the main objective here. I know from my own personal situation in watching my daughter perform in school that when she is bored, forget it! Not much learning is taking place there. When she is interested, she learns. BUT, even when she is not interested in the beginning, if she receives a nugget that peaks her curiosity, she's hooked. The curiosity leads to the interest, which leads to the motivation.
In the SSMtL article, I was grateful for the tables and the major process questions. I was very interested in the Components of Attention and it seems that using this article for guidance may make it easier to better facilitate instruction that motivates. This article seems to provide the WOW! factor for me. The idea of motive matching made me think back to 6th grade when we were learning about the Greeks and Romans and we had to do some kind of project that reflected life in the particular era. The teacher let us choose the projects with final approval from her, and my partner and I chose to build an Olympic arena using Barbie Dolls (WE WERE LIKE 12 OKAY!). The teacher allowed us to be creative and we learned. She set limits but we were able to follow them easily because we were also allowed to create the project using things that interested us. I think that experience also ties in to Keller's familiarity component as well. I think this article should be required reading for instructional designers and teachers alike!

Day one

Well here we are. Day one of class and I am already blogging!! You have to understand this is quite exciting for me! I am technologically stunted so this is a real accomplishment as far as I am concerned.