MODULE ONE
Concept One: Expectations
Summary
Chapter one covers a lot about the role of the teacher in the classroom and what a major impact they can have on the lives of their students. Woolfolk goes into detail about some of the expectations that have been set for teachers over the years and talks about the high standards that they are held to. For example, on page six, she discusses at length the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB), and its successor, the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA). Both expect students to meet certain proficiency levels, although they have different outcomes if these are not met. According to page six, under NCLB, “if a school underperformed for 5 years, federal money could be taken away, teachers and principals could be fired, and schools could be converted to charter schools or closed”.
Reflection
This section had me thinking a lot about the role that testing plays. While history is not a subject that requires standardized testing, it still has a major impact on the curriculum. According to page seven in the textbook, students might not have as much time in the classroom because social studies is not something they have to test for. I cannot imagine what it might have been like to work when No Child Left Behind was in effect. Losing your job is one thing, but imagine if that school was closed? What kind of impact did that have on the students? They were clearly struggling to begin with, but to then make them go to a completely different school just seems like it would cause more problems. It feels like the child is being punished for something that isn’t their fault.
I also reflected more on my own K-12 experience, and the role that
standardized testing played. In high school we were only required to take
three years of social studies, and they were really picky about
electives. During one school year I didn’t have a lunch hour because I
wanted to take an elective course. In elementary school they would try
and make standardized testing fun, and I feel like it took off a lot of the
pressure that my peers and I might have felt otherwise. They would do an
“ISAT hat” contest every year, where the students could decorate hats with tips
on how to study better and avoid getting burnt out. I think my
experiences with standardized testing really show that I had good teachers
because none of us were ever aware of how big of an impact they could have on
our school. We knew the tests were going to be long and tedious, but they
encouraged us to get through them.
Concept Two: Language and Private Speech
Summary
Woolfolk spends chapter two discussing cognitive development and how it impacts learning. She discusses the brain, what functions the different parts of it do, and how it all comes together. Also included are different theories of cognitive development, as seen by two well-known psychologists, Jean Piaget, and Lev Vygotsky. They have slightly different theories on cognitive development, but both include the role of private speech. As seen on page sixty, Piaget felt that children are egocentric, and develop socialized speech by arguing their points with others. On the other hand, Vygotsky felt that private speech was a sign of immaturity, and that it would eventually lead toward self-regulation. Woolfolk provides the example of children doing puzzles, small children will talk out loud while they try and put it together, but older children will not. This can also help them with problem solving skills like if they lose something.
Reflection
This section made me reflect more about the way students might think. Not everyone’s mind works the same, and I think that is something that I will need to be aware of as an educator. All my students will have different thought processes, and the way I explain things will be important. It seems like a monumental task to discuss things in a way that all my students will be able to understand, but I hope that that is something that I will get better at as I have more experience. What works for one person might not work for another, and so I will have to figure out what works best for everyone.
I have also been reflecting more on the way that my thought process has influenced my learning. Woolfolk mentioned that students as old as seventeen might still mutter to themselves when solving difficult problems, and I can honestly say that I still do this at work when I have to calculate taxes for a customer (math has never been my strongest subject). This is also something that I should probably be aware of in the classroom. The point about finding lost objects was also interesting because it made me wonder if everyone has different experiences, and if that impacts them during their education. Woolfolk used the example of a parent having a child retrace their steps to find a toy, and then the girl uses that skill later to find a lost book. What if you never had that experience? It was interesting to learn that something as simple as retracing your steps needs to be learned. I don’t remember my parents guiding me on how to find something I lost, yet I know how to do it.
Concept Three: Peer Culture
Summary:
Chapter three covers social development, and a
big part of that is peer culture. Woolfolk mentions on page eighty-seven
that students have their own set of rules on how they should act.
Everything from how they style their hair to what music they listen to can have
an impact. According to the text “peer cultures encourage conformity”,
and anything that does not follow the rules leaves a child at risk of being ostracized
from their peers. There are even subgroups for where a student might be
on the social ladder including popular, rejected, controversial, and neglected
children. Some of these, like popular and rejected, even have subgroups
within them.
Reflection
This portion of the text made me think more deeply about what group I might have fit into during my school years. I think by looking at table 3.1 on page eighty-eight, I think I would have aligned most with the neglected children group. I was quiet and didn’t have much of a social life, but that never really bothered me. I also wasn’t a big follower of the peer culture either, but I never felt like the world was going to end because I chose not to do the same things as everyone else. However, I can see how students might feel this way. A person goes through a lot of changes in middle and high school, and it takes a while to find out who you are. Having friends who are in the same situation makes the process a little easier.
To some kids, being like everyone else in their age group is important. When I was a freshman in high school, I really wanted to go to the homecoming dance. My mom was for whatever reason hesitant to let me go, and I remember being really upset that I wasn’t going to get to be like all the other kids and that my friends would have all this fun without me (I did go, it wasn’t that exciting). Kids can also be mean when someone does not fit into the group. In middle school we had a new boy on our bus, and the other guys bullied this kid every day for a year. They would make fun of the way he talked, his clothes, his family, everything. There was nothing different about him, and they all ended up being friends, but for quite a while it seemed like they picked on him just because he wasn’t originally from our neighborhood. This has also led me to reflect more on how I will recognize this once I get into the classroom. I don’t want any of my students to pick on each other, but there does not appear to be a way I can prevent it from happening outside the classroom.
Your reflection concerning testing was insightful. Testing is a sensitive subject. On one hand, testing needs to occur to evaluate a student’s learning and progress. On the other hand, some students have anxiety and anxious about testing which is a barrier to learning therefore causes students not to test well. Then some tests are intrinsically discriminatory. I think it is great that your teachers were able to shield you from the negative impacts of No Child Left Behind as well other standardized test. I hope to do this with my students. However, other students were not as fortunate. I remember test taking skills being stressed and my teachers saying, “Answer the question how the book would answer the question.” Later in life I understood this to mean, my experiences and learning were invalid, and I needed to respond from another person’s perspective. Still today, I struggle with testing. I believe the trend today, especially for colleges, to remove standardized testing results from their admissions process is the right thing to do. Moving toward evaluating the whole person, contributions to society, writing skills, and work ethic removes some the discriminatory barriers. Now, we need to ensure that every child has the same opportunities to express themselves.
ReplyDeleteYou are correct, as a child I also never saw how serious testing was. I do remember prepping for it with my teachers but I did not feel a lot of pressure. I think onw they are more serious and there is also a lot more testing that is done. I understand how this can help a school but I do not think that kids should have to stress out about it. My oldest kid is 17 and I feel like he has taken so many tests and they last so long. As a parent I would just tell him to do his best and make sure he had a good breakfast. He never mentioned being stressed out about it but I feel like teachers would always be sending messages and reminders of what kids can do at home to prepare for the testing. I don't think kids should have to feel stressed out about it.
ReplyDeleteHello Erin,
ReplyDeleteWhile reading your last concept under Peer Culture, it can be a very sensitive topic to talk about when categorizing yourself in a group. I saw this a lot in highschool where students always had their own social groups and it depends on your own interests, which I found that can be okay in terms of where you fit in but it can also be very intimidating and and destroy someone's self-esteem just because if the categories are based off of popularity then it can ruin some of those social norms. After reading your blog, it made me wonder what I was in, and it's sad to think that kids were categorized and it was a main focus on what students thought about it. Thank you for making me think about this a little more and realize that students shoudn't be put in groups just based on who they are and being judged for it.
I love the way you described every aspect and picked apart what Woolfolk was describing along the way and how eye opening it was for readers. This discussion was very intriguing to me because it really shows what stood out to you the most.
ReplyDelete