Group Diferences Forum

For the group differences forum, each group was required to read 2 articles.

The article that the whole class was asked to read was titled "From the Achievement Gap to the Education Debt: Understanding Achievement in U.S. Schools" by Gloria Ladson-Billings and seemed to be written for researchers. It seems to me that the article is written for researchers because it talks about a popular, significant topic in educational research and why it exists. This article was also published in the Educational Researcher, a journal for researchers.

The article our gender group chose to read was "The Myth of Pink & Blue Brains" by Lise Eliot. I think that the Eliot article seemed more geared towards educators and parents because it provided background information for why the gender gap exists and gave suggestions for closing the gap.

The assumption that Ladson-Billings makes is that the achievement gap is caused by overall inequality. She discusses the historical ,economic, sociopolitical, and moral debts that all add up to the educational debt. She states that, while it may seem impossible, it is necessary for us as a country to look at all of the factors that affect the achievement gap and work hard to close it.

I found it surprising that Ladson-Billings says that slavery, something that happened so long ago, could affect the education of African Americans today. I just don't think about the past having such a strong effect on children's current educational success.

The assumption that Eliot makes is that the gender gap can be closed by treating boys and girls more equally from birth. We tend to treat boys and girls very differently and this behavior is what creates the gender gap.

I know that boys and girls engage in different types of play, mostly conditioned by the adults in their lives, but I had never thought about the effect that could have on their future educational success. The thing I found most surprising was the fact that playing catch and racing games are the types of activities that increase boys spatial awareness skills. This tells me that taking girls outside to play catch on a regular basis instead of encouraging them to play with dolls all of the time could help them score better in math.

 

Resources

Eliot, L. (2010). The Myth of Pink & Blue Brains. Educational Leadership.



Ladson-Billings. G. (2006). From the Achievement Gap to the Education Debt: Understanding   Achievement in U.S. Schools. Educational Researcher.

Chapter 3 Questions

Evaluate

Critique the effectiveness of the "Big Five" personality traits when determining children's personalities.

Apply

Use the suggestions for encouraging moral and pro-social development in the classroom (p. 97-99) to address the misbehavior in your case study.

Reference

Ormrod, J. E. (2011). Educational psychology: Developing learners. Boston, MA: Pearson.

Chapter 2 Questions

Creating

Use Piaget and Vygotsky's basic assumptions and your previous knowledge to create your own basic assumptions about the child in your case study.

Applying

In the future, how will you go about teaching children who are in different stages of Piaget's cognitive development? For example, if you work in a 1st grade classroom, you may have children in the preoperational stage while others have reached the concrete operations stage.

 

Reference

Ormrod, J. E. (2011). Educational psychology: Developing learners. Boston, MA: Pearson.

Chapter 5 Questions

Understanding

Ormrod (2011) talks about the influence that nature and nurture have on intelligence. Can you, in your own words, summarize the influence that nature and nurture have on the development of intelligence?

Synthesizing

Ormrod (2011) provides specific ways to adapt instruction for children with special needs. Use these adaptations in combination with your previous knowledge of lesson planning and disabilities to create a simple lesson plan for a child with a learning disability.

Reference

Ormrod, J. E. (2011). Educational psychology: Developing learners. Boston, MA: Pearson.





Field Trip: Screening of Girl Rising

Recently, I attended a showing of the film Girl Rising at the University Center. This documentary takes viewers into the lives of nine girls in various parts of the world. These girls live very difficult lives and do not always have the opportunity for education or even choice.

1. Wadley, a little girl in Haiti, absolutely loved attending school and learning with her peers. Then, one day, an earthquake ripped apart Wadley's life. The school that she loved so much was gone and she had to take on the responsibility of fetching water for her family, who was now living in a tent. One day, as she was walking to get the water, Wadley noticed that her former teacher was teaching a group of children in a tent. Excited at the thought of going back to school, Wadley ran home to tell her mother that the school was re-opened. Wadley's heart broke when her mother told her that she could not afford to send her back to school, but she did not give up. Wadley went back to the tent school and stood up for herself, telling the teacher that she would keep coming back until she was allowed to stay. The teacher must have admired Wadley's passion because she told Wadley to sit down and continued to teach. I was amazed by the persistence this young girl showed in the name of her education. She showed a great deal of strength and inspired several people, including me.
2. Two of the girls in this documentary were portrayed by other people because they were afraid to show their faces in the film. They said that their lives may be at stake if anyone saw them. This was a surprise to me. Girls could lose their lives for sharing their story? In the United States, people share their entire lives on social media on a daily basis, but these girls cannot share theirs. Another thing that shocked me was their willingness to still share their story in spite of the threat. That shows a great deal of courage and strength.
3. My favorite story from the documentary was about a little girl who lived in India. She and her family were living in a tent on the sidewalk in the slums if the city. They moved to the city from the country in order for the children to get an education. Ruksana was getting into trouble at school for doodling during class. One day, she was kicked out of math class for drawing and was afraid to face her father because she had promised him that she wouldn't get into anymore trouble at school. Her father looked at the drawings in the notebook, looked at Ruksana, took her hand and silently led her down the street. They ended up in an art store where her father bought her a sketchbook and some colored pens. I thought about where this family lived and how little they had and had to fight back tears. This family was living on the street, yet the father managed to find some money to support his daughter in what she enjoyed doing.

After watching Wadley's story, I started to reflect on my own life. I have always taken school for granted. I never really thought about how lucky I am to even be able to go to school. It never occurred to me that some people do not ever get that chance. In the United States, children are required by law to go to school. I couldn't fathom a place where children did not go to school, but there are places like this all over the world. What made this even worse is the fact that Wadley was allowed to go to school, but a lack of money was holding her back. In the United States, education is free until college, unless you go to private school. Maybe this is the teacher in me talking, but money should never be the deciding factor when it comes to educating a child. I was very happy to see that Wadley's teacher, impressed by her courage , persistence, and passion, allowed Wadley to stay and be educated without paying the necessary fees. I think that this movie was very eye-opening and I would recommend that everyone, especially those in the field of education, watch it. Here is a link to the trailer. I hope more people watch this movie, reflect on their own lives, and decide to be advocates for children, especially girls, around the world.

I thought I posted this last week, but I only saved it as a draft. Sorry.

Chapter 8 Questions

Remembering:
According to Ormrod (2011), what are the six ways to foster creativity and why is creativity important?

Analyzing:
Outline ways in which you can accommodate for students with special needs using the categories listed in the table on page 280.

Project-Based Learning: A Constructivist Concept

Alexander (2006) describes constructivism as a theory of learning that suggests that "knowledge is created, or constructed, by individuals or groups and not simply acquired" (p. 68). Hatch (2005) says that teachers that implement constructivist principles "set up environments and activities that support children's development" (p. 8). One way to do that is to engage children in a project-based learning activity. This is a type of relevant, authentic learning activity, a very important aspect of constructivist teaching.
 
Ormrod (2011) defines project-based learning activities as "activities in which students acquire new knowledge and skills while working on a complex, multifaceted project that yields a concrete end product" (p. 231). Children will be spending a large amount of time working on these projects, so it is of great importance to incorporate it into all content areas.

Here is an example of a project-based activity that I could implement in my classroom. This is a webquest that asks children to research the possibility of designing a garden that would produce enough vegetables to use in their school cafeteria. The children locate a place for their garden, choose what to plant, and care for their gardens over the course of the project. This project incorporates math, science, writing, research and social skills. It is a very in-depth project in which the children will be engaged in a real-world activity and produce an end product.

I think that children would enjoy this activity because it gives them responsibility and choice. They would also be working in groups and learning from one another. One obstacle might be time, because this project would probably take a couple of months to complete. Another obstacle might be child interest. Because this activity would take place over a long period of time, the children may become bored with the topic.

References

Alexander, P. A. (2006). Psychology in learning and instruction. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson.

Hatch, J. A. (2005). Teaching in the new kindergarten. Canada: Thomson Delmar Learning

Ormrod, J.E. (2011). Educational Psychology: Developing Learners. Boston, MA: Pearson.