Elli Ockerman
Throughout school, I have always been considered a good and smart student. However, I knew that there were plenty of students in my grade who knew more than I did, but I always had higher grades because I was diligent with turning in homework. Imani Perry has summed up my observation when she said that "[i]n the public school a student is considered intelligent if he or she is well-behaved and hard working". In my experience, students who receive lower grades often think of themselves as less intelligent, and that self-perception decreases their motivation to learn. Part of my motivation to become a teacher comes from wanting to help all students see that they are capable of learning and achieving academic success no matter how smart they think they are. I believe that the way we think about our intelligence impacts our ability to learn.
This portfolio is a collection of evidence that supports the idea that teachers have the ability to impact how students think about their learning and therefore, their ability to learn. Each drop down bar includes textual evidence providing implications and things to consider for educators seeking to foster intellectual growth in their students. There are also listed eight deliverables that provide activities for teachers and students.
The first deliverable is a socratic seminar focused on culture in the classroom. A safe discussion about culture can lead to feelings of acceptance and confidence in all students. The second deliverable is scaffolding, which can be a teacher's method of helping students expand their understanding. Around the world is a deliverable that will help students rehearse information, develop learning strategies, and study as an entire class. The field project outlines ways that students can set meaningful goals and how teachers can effectively grade their progress. The reflective notebook is an application of goal setting because it helps students become aware of their progress, successes, and opportunities for growth. The case study outlines a lesson plan that considers the developmental stages of my students and provides assessments that seek to engage multiple areas of intelligence. The knowledge construction map represents how I can teach a generative topic while anticipating the needs of my students. Lastly, the school rules activity allows students to practice making moral decisions and working together towards a common goal.
By using these deliverables in my future teaching, I hope to highlight the intelligence and abilities of all of my students. My goal is to help each student feel confident and capable on their academic journey.
This document, created at the beginning of the semester, outlines the problem of practice I decided to focus on and guiding questions for each chapter in the textbook. I am passionate about learning and the belief that doing hard things enables us to become better. However, I realize that some students think they are not smart enough to learn or do challenging tasks. This semester I wanted to learn more about the connection between how we think about our ability to learn and how we actually learn and perform.
My goals in compiling this portfolio were to search for understanding or information that I had not considered before, to find implications that are relevant to teaching high schoolers, and to determine specific strategies I could implement into a future classroom. I was successful in reaching all of these goals as I learned more about physical, cognitive, and social development, practiced applying developmental and age considerations into lesson plans, and designed and presented a lesson plan with a group.
High schoolers are considered to be in the Late Adolescents developmental stage, which ranges from ages 14-18. While creating lesson plans to help students progress on their personal journeys, there are implications to consider that relate to students' physical, cognitive, and social-emotional developments. Special attention should be given to each developmental domain, because as "educators respect the entirety of psychological functions, they are taking a holistic perspective on child development. Wise educators realize that the child is greater than the sum of his or her separate parts" (p. 5).
Cultures vary in the skills they value and promote in their youth. Some cultures and families might encourage their children to become proficient in math and science while others might emphasize music or emotional awareness.
"Classrooms in the United States tend to be dominated by the traditions of European American backgrounds, and students from different backgrounds may bring talents and family assets that are not noticed or appreciated" (p. 71).
To help all students feel competent and able to succeed, teachers can utilise the strengths each student brings to the classroom from their unique family and culture backgrounds.
Socratic seminars allow students to discuss topics in a safe and academic environment. At the beginning of the school year, a socratic seminar can help encourage class discussion and participation as students feel more comfortable with their classmates.
The topic of a socratic seminar can change with the needs and focus of a class, but one option is to discuss the effects of having multiple cultures present in a school and classroom. This can help students understand the importance of accepting others viewpoints and learning strategies. Ideally, they would come to the conclusion that each student brings a unique perspective to the class and can contribute to the learning of the group.
An adolescent's brain is still in the process of developing its prefrontal cortex, the part of the brain responsible for critical thinking. Adolescents are able to think about their actions differently than they could before, but their reasoning is still far from perfect. Teenagers display different levels of intelligence in different contexts because "as adolescents are developing high-brow intellectual abilities, they also are gaining a taste for adventure" (p. 186).
It is reasonable for teachers to set high expectations for adolescents, because the students' brains are functioning and growing in important ways. However, students might feel they are not able to meet those expectations if they are usually in environments where they don't have to practice critical thinking. Not every high school student's brain develops at the same rate, so students who do not have as mature brain development as their peers may feel less intelligent and less motivated to expand their abilities.
With the understanding that all students will be developing at a different rate, teachers need to individually "guide children in sustaining attention and regulating impulses" (p. 188). Helping students focus and achieve goals will help them practice regulatory skills that can propel their learning.
When children reach Piaget's formal operational stage, "[t]hey can think logically about abstract concepts, hypothetical ideas, and statements that contradict what they know to be true." (p. 201). With the ability to comprehend abstract ideas, students in this stage are cognitively able to understand much more than they could have before; however, adolescents often cannot understand difficult concepts right away.
Vygotsky theorizes that "children’s ability to benefit from subtle guidance from an adult indicates that an ability is in formation: 'proximal development' means that a new facility is emerging" (p. 215). Even though most adolescents are developmentally capable of higher thinking, they still need adequate adult support and guidance.
The problem is then raised that some students do not receive enough cognitive support from teachers to perform well academically, and thus they do not have the same opportunity to learn challenging tasks. This is why scaffolding information becomes critical in the classroom.
Scaffolding is the process of supporting students as they learn new skills and concepts. Instead of answering all their questions right away, a teacher might answer a question with a question to help engage the student in higher thinking.
In a math class, a teacher scaffolds the students' understanding as she allows them to learn new concepts through group work. For example, the class could be broken up into groups of three to four students, and they would each receive a worksheet that asked them conceptual, computational, and guiding questions to bring them to a knowledge of a new mathematical principle. As students work, the teacher would walk around the classroom and give hints and assistance where needed.
This process would allow students to make connections that are meaningful to them and their prior understanding. It would also help the teacher see what learning strategies her students use and what areas they need further instruction.
Students need to learn how to effectively store and recall information to succeed in school. There are three learning strategies that help improve those skills: rehearsal, organization, and elaboration. Rehearsal is a familiar strategy which can involve studying with flashcards to remember pieces of information. Organization is the process of grouping information together in ways that make sense to the student. Elaboration requires that a student takes the new information they are learning and connects it to concepts and facts they already know (p. 256-7). Elaboration is the most effective learning strategy, and among high schoolers, "it is primarily students with high academic achievement who use existing knowledge to help them learn and remember new information" (p. 257).
When teachers encourage students to elaborate on what they have learned, they are not just asking them to stuff more information into their brains. Instead, elaboration provides a way for students to strengthen their schemas, or "tightly integrated ideas about specific objects or situations" (p. 245). When students are able to make connections in their learning, they can become confident in their ability to remember and perform well academically.
Although elaboration is the best learning strategy to learn new information, rehearsal strategies can be helpful to use to remember information after it has been processed. For example, in Calculus, students must first understand slopes and limits before they can learn about derivatives. Once they understand where derivatives come from, it is helpful to have basic derivatives memorized. Around the World is an interactive game that uses the rehearsal learning strategy as an entire class.
This game uses flashcards, and the entire class stands in a circle. The teacher would stand in the middle and present a flash card to two students at a time. Whichever of the two students says the correct answer first then competes with the next person in the circle. The goal is to answer as many correct as possible, but the whole class gets practice in memorizing useful formulas.
Below is a link to a Quizlet with examples of what kind of flash cards could be used in a Calculus class.
Our textbook defines intelligence as "the ability to apply past knowledge and experiences flexibly and in a culturally appropriate manner while accomplishing challenging new tasks" (p. 274). In my experience, intelligence is not something that public schools attempt to measure, and in a survey I conducted, I learned that many people did not think their intelligence was accurately reflected in high school. Still, I think that intelligence is something students think about and use to compare themselves with others, and I think that educators can learn from different methods of intelligence tests, and in particular, from dynamic assessments.
Dynamic assessments involve testing a student on what they are able to accomplish with help and direction from a teacher. Instead of measuring what they are capable of doing in the moment, they attempt to measure what they will be able to do in the future (p. 290). Even if teachers do not give students official dynamic assessments, they can help their students set goals and focus on progression.
This presentation is a culmination of primary and secondary research focused on discovering methods of assessment that will accurately reflect intelligence and increase motivation. I learned that teachers can grade students on their goal setting and that mastery oriented goals are the most effective in developing lasting motivation. In my teaching, I will emphasize the importance of creating mastery oriented goals that are not dependent on the progress of others. I can help students reach their academic goals by allowing them to revise and resubmit homework as they continuously learn and refine new skills. This will increase their motivation to ask questions and to be persistent in their learning.
The emotions children feel can be influenced by their temperament, defined as "a child’s typical and somewhat stable ways of responding to events, novel stimulation, and personal impulses" (p. 430). A child's temperament can determine how they react to learning complex material at school or how they deal with changes to their circumstances. Mary Rothbart introduces three types of temperament children embody that help explain their reactions and emotions. The types are extraversion, negative affectivity, and effortful control (p. 431).
Looking deeper into negative affectivity, a student who embodies this temperament might be shy and not comfortable speaking in front of the class or asking questions. This could decrease the student's motivation to learn if he/she feels that nothing makes sense and there is no way of getting help. As teachers are watchful for signs of different temperaments, they can detect when students need more encouragement or support. They can also adjust their lessons and assignments to fit the needs of their students, from the ones who are excited about group work to the ones who do best on their own.
While preparing my Field Project, I learned that the best types of goals are ones that focus on personal progress and not relative comparison to peers. However, it is nearly impossible for students to go through high school without comparing themselves to others. This comparison affects the way students perceive their own academic ability, whether it boosts their self esteem or lowers it.
As children develop and learn new skills, it makes sense that they "base their self-perceptions on a growing record of performance . . . In the minds of children, their ability to meet standards and their impressions of how classmates judge their abilities become intertwined" (p. 448). A student might perceive they are smart if they consistently earn good grades. Their self confidence might increase if they are usually the first person in class to answer a teacher's question. Conversely, a student who is always receiving low grades and who usually takes the longest on tests might have a low perception about their ability.
To counteract comparison in the classroom, teachers should give constructive feedback to all of their students. The feedback should include praise for what the student is good at as well as direction in areas where growth is needed. Recognizing successes and opportunities to grow in all students, teachers can cultivate a positive learning environment where each student is held to a standard of improvement.
Students benefit from constructive feedback from their teacher, but I think it is equally beneficial for students to keep track of their own progress and reflect on what they are learning and how they are progressing.
Throughout ED 304, we created a personal reflective notebook. At the beginning of the semester we captured our goals, and each day we recorded our celebrations, notes, and plans for moving forward.
In a math class, a reflective notebook would help students review what they have learned, record the questions they have, and capture the connections they make between concepts.
The more students write learning reflections, the less they will be comparing themselves to others. This activity will help students focus on their own goals, routinely evaluate their progress, and become more motivated to succeed.
There are two different kinds of motivation: intrinsic and extrinsic. Intrinsic motivation is fueled by the desire to learn or accomplish something for the sake of becoming better or more capable to act. Extrinsic motivation is fueled by rewards or material incentives that are achieved through success.
Although extrinsic motivation is an easy way to get students engaged in material early on,"intrinsically motivated children are eager to learn classroom material, tackle assigned tasks, use effective learning strategies, and achieve at high levels", which means it should be the target motivation for classrooms. (p. 496).
If students can become intrinsically motivated to learn in school, they can develop habits and strategies that will help them be successful in any area later in life. Helping students look at the bigger picture can help them persevere through challenging goals, even if they are not proficient at first.
This is an example of a lesson plan designed for a 9th grade Algebra class. It focuses on learning how to graph parent functions with translations. Included is a summative assessment consisting of a final exam and final project. The purpose of including a project in the summative assessment was to incorporate different types of intelligences. Of course, students are graded on how well they can correctly answer questions related to the unit, but they also need to create a project that is relevant to their method of learning.
Creating this case study allowed me to begin considering the developmental trends in the students I will be teaching. Not only do I need to consider the level of prior understanding, but I also need to remember their cognitive, physical, and social developmental levels.
Parents and teachers strive to teach young children the difference between right and wrong, and Lawrence Kohlberg constructed six stages of moral reasoning: punishment avoidance and obedience, exchange of favors, good boy/good girl, law and order, social contract, and universal ethical principles. People generally go through those stages in that order, but the "ranges in moral reasoning at a given age can be significant, especially among older students. In the high school classroom, each of the [six stages] of reasoning may be evident" (p. 529).
Each student will have a different idea of what is morally right and why. As a teacher, my job will not be to enforce a certain moral code on my students, but to give them opportunities to explore moral dilemmas, have conversations about morality, and make plans to spread moral actions.
I will not plan to focus very much of my time teaching high schoolers the difference between right and wrong. Most high schoolers already have ideas about what they think is morally right, so I will strive to give them opportunities to work together to come up with moral solutions to the problems they face in school and the community.
At the beginning of the year, I will ask my students what problems they see in the school and they can brainstorm a list. Then I will ask them what they can do to become part of the solution, even if it is something small. They will be given materials to make posters that will be hung up on the wall, and throughout the year, we will discuss our efforts and what has changed because of our actions.
This activity will help the classroom be more unified and will help students gain practice making moral decisions.
This is a mind map that outlines key considerations when planning a lesson. An important aspect of this map is the generative topic that relates to multiple cross-curricular ties. While learning about algebraic rules, the overarching generative topic could be equality, and the map outlines how that relates to other subjects.
By strategically planning to teach generative topics instead of just lessons, teachers have a greater chance at generating interest and engagement in their students. It will also help students make connections between subjects and perhaps become more intrinsically motivated to learn and make more connections.
This map also illustrates possible misconceptions students might have about a topic. When teachers anticipate the misconceptions students might have about a topic, they are able to help students avoid them.
McDevitt T. M., & Ormond J. E. (2020) Child Development and Education, 7th Edition. Pearson.