Course Contract Review #3

1. Over the course of this semester I have maintained a good grasp on the information as well as staying up and along with the pace of the class. I feel I have understood the concepts and am beginning to see how when using theories and information I've gained in class I can apply this in my teaching and creating an educational environment for my future students that is positive and efficient.

2. I feel I have not fully invested in the material. I always say to myself how I wish I could only take one class a semester to really enjoy, read and gain as much as I can from one subject. I realize that Education Physchology could consume that much time; time which I wish I had to invest. I didn't always real every and all parts of the chapters from the text. I think in doing so I could have gained more understanding of how to apply terms and concepts.

3. This semester I had a goal to put in the effort to understand the material. I wanted this class to progress my teaching training and in doing so wanted to information from this class to be retained. I feel I have been able to understand the material, and if I didn't the first time have asked for assistance during discussion and lecture to clarify what I am not fully understanding. I also have done well at retaining information, mostly because of the way information has been presented. Participating in class activities and the individual presentations has helped me to associate those events into my long term memory and recall it latter when I've needed the information in working memory.

4. Specific things I can do in the future to meat my educational goals:
-to prioritize my time and set study higher in priority
-completely study text before class to have class lecture as a review verses a learning experience

5.My motivation honestly is dwindling at the close of this semester. I always bight off more than I can chew. I feel I am intrinsically motivated most of the time to have self mastery, however must admit at this point I just want to do decent on the final to receive an appropriate grade. Oh and something I need to change, allowing myself to have free time! I have big plans for the next three weeks to do nothing:)

Course Contract Review #2 (following test #2)

1. One thing I feel I am doing well in this class is staying interested and involved with the material. Having worked with students in the past I see how important this information is, and how vital student emotion, behaviors, and learning abilities can affect students progression in your classroom. I feel like I've maintained a good attitude through out the course of what feels like a hectic semester. I also feel I have remained caught up on the material and been successful in the project/assignment which have been given.

2. I can improve on my continual dedication to this class. I know what is most effective is to visit this new material and concepts from class often. However, I tend to do one class at a time. I work on ed phsych each week, but do not always work on it progressively and think if I did I would be more prepared for class discussion, test, and assignments I'm working on.

3.I feel I have been doing well on my goals. I more often than not am a perfectionist and always have a suggestion for myself to be better in many areas, but do understand only so many things in my life can be focused on at once. I would like to see myself progressing further, but admit I must be realistic and complement myself on my successes thus far.

4. I need to utilize the time I do have, and study in the best ways which work for me. I work best visually. When taking notes I often write many definitions, even when knowing this doesn't always work for me. I can spend 30 minutes the day of class when I'm home at night reviewing my notes and formatting them in a way I will attain the information best.

5. With the assessment inventory I was intrinsically motivated because I could see my need for practicing and learning the information and discovery within the project. However, at the end of the semester I find myself anxious to study enough for this class to be able to do well on the final exam and score well. I think to some extent this is okay to expect high performance from myself, but need to perform at my best level because I want to succeed.

Field Response Draft Examples of my Responses

4. At which of Kohlberg's levels of moral development are the students in your class functioning? Cite specific evidence and explain your reasoning for selecting these levels. What might be done to help the students advance to higher levels? 

While teaching Mrs. Newsome’s class of twenty one students for my teacher work sample experience, I often had to remind students to stop talking as I offering instruction.  A handful of these students in this class seemed to be in level 1 obedience and punishment stage.  If they were to misbehave according to the established rules for the class, I was to punish them by docking their participation points.  Those students who were particularly good at following the flow of the class remained within Kohlberg’s level 3 social contract.  I observed this while teaching when one student in particular continued to have a conversational with another student while I was speaking myself.  When I walked near her and asked her to stop interrupting, she informed me that she was only trying to help the girl next to her who hadn’t fully understood what was previously explored.  Even though this girl was in fact breaking the rules of the classroom, while talking when I was talking, she had taken upon herself the responsibility to catch up another student even though I hadn’t assigned her to do so.  This action for this particular student seemed to be the right thing at the time.  She intended to avoid having a classmate fall behind when I continued instruction and felt it was ethical or best to ignore the rule and take what action she did.

1. What evidence do you see of specific teacher behaviors that are geared toward Piaget's theories about the developmental levels of children at particular ages? Cite specific examples and make clear connection to Piaget's work.

When observing the Dance 2 class at Timpanogos High School, I assumed the students would have some previous dance experience and a foundation of dance concepts.  However, I have noticed multiple times when observing Mrs. Newsome’s class; she has used assimilation to help students grasp information that is new or unfamiliar.  Kristi has done this particularly during the class warm up when shapes and stretches are related to physical images they’ve previously learned and can picture in their minds as they move.  Examples of this included imagining the curvature of a snake and allowing the curvy spine of a human body to move in this same way.  Doing this helped student’s associate new information with information that was known.  It also helped students retain movement they saw and have previously experienced before, like when a little baby and squirming around.  The teacher recognized these learned movements, even when the students hadn’t kept this information past working memory.  

Making this connection for the students didn’t necessarily occur successfully in the beginning.  Some students in this class were at lower levels than others.  A particular group with minimal to no dance experience was unable to grasp the information given to them, and were unable to replicate the movement assimilated.  This required Kristi to accommodate instruction for these students and create a completely new mental pathway for these students to understand the incoming information.  Most students in this class were, according to our class text, in Piaget’s stage 2 with others in stage 3 of development.  They were unable to interpret logic and have adult like responses while still remaining within concrete reality.  At this level I didn’t observe students working in the formal stage or taking the information given and attributing abstract ideas.