Teaching Philosophy Statement helpful links

I attended the CELT presentation last week on Developing an Effective Teaching Philosophy Statement and thought I’d share two very helpful websites that were used:

The Ohio State University Center for the Advancement of Teaching

Writing a Philosophy of Teaching Statement

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The University of Michigan Center for Research on Learning and Teaching

The Teaching Philosophy/Teaching Statement

R7: Cognitive Constructivism

Quotes from the article “Constructivist cautions”

“The particular version of constructivism one adopts - developmental or social constructivist – has important implications for classroom practices, for the definition of knowledge, for the relative emphasis on individual versus social learning, for the role of the teacher, and for the definition of successful instruction” (p. 445).

“When context becomes an important aspect of knowledge construction, it is logical to conclude that involvement in different contexts will lead to the construction of different knowledge, even if the same set of ‘data’ is presented in the different contexts.  Given a problem or an issue, a context - which is often designated in social, economic, racial, and gender terms -  will influence the interpretations, conclusions, motives, and attitudes of individuals in that context” (p. 446).

“One's task is to find the right balance between the activities of constructing and receiving knowledge, given that not all aspects of a subject can or should be taught in the same way or be acquired solely through ‘hands-on’ or student-centered means” (p. 447).

Question:  Do you think constructivism is an educational theory that should be incorporated into every classroom?  Is this even possible with today’s assessments and schedule?  There are many tenants of constructivism that I agree with (although I do lean more towards the sociocultural side of constructivism, versus the developmental constructivism side) there are certainly limitations to its incorporation in today’s classrooms.  I believe this article did an excellent job at highlighting some of these limitations and considerations.  For any of the classroom teachers reading this – can you share an example of a successful incorporation of constructivism into your classroom?

For the direct experience and indirect experience tie-in to this week’s response, I’ll refer to my blog below which I posted last week after reading an excerpt from Daniel Pink’s book, Drive.  This excerpt really struck home with me with regard to my current work situation (direct experience), as well as the American fiscal situation as a whole (indirect experience).

References:

Airasian, P. W., & Walsh, M. E., (1997). Constructivist cautions. Phi Delta Kappan, 78, 444-449.

Pink & Work

Before this week's assignment, I had never heard of Daniel Pink.  I was not aware of him but am very thankful that his presence (and message) has been brought to my attention.  While we are studying portions of his book, Drive, in relation to motivation in the educational realm, I could not help but reflect on the applicability of many of his messages with relation to my work situation.

In my response for last week's class, I mentioned how my employer uses annual performance evaluations as a basis for employees' raises.  I also mentioned how we (the employees) have not been given a raise in three years, not even a cost of living adjustment in our salaries.  This past Friday was the due date for employee evaluations to be turned into HR (this deadline was posted on the HR website for everyone to see).  Well, my supervisor has been "too busy" to do evaluations for his employees.  Mind you, these are the same evaluations which will gauge how much of a raise I would receive (if raises are issued to employees which I don't think they will be since the new talk around the water-cooler is of a 5% reduction in all departments and therefore possible lay-offs).  However, on the off-chance raises would be issued, they are based on the performance evaluations.  So now there is a chance I wouldn't get a raise because this evaluation has not been done (I doubt my supervisor lives paycheck-to-paycheck like I do, he makes well over $100k a year, I make a fraction of that).  What does this due to my motivation ... well to be honest, it completely lowers it. Thus, Daniel Pink's assertion of using the carrot & the stick as motivators in the workplace connected with my current work situation.  The carrot (a raise) has been removed, even though this carrot has been the incentive put in place to entice employees into better work performance; once that carrot is removed, motivation is as well.

Another connection was made with regard to evaluations, raises (carrots) and motivation.  While employees have not been offered a raise in three years, one employee will be receiving a significant raise this summer.  At the end of this fiscal year, one employee will earn over a 51% increase on his base salary, as well as a bonus upon his retirement.  Wow, that's a pretty good deal for someone already earning over $460k a year.  But what message does this send to the thousands of employees who work for the same company, who have not received even a 1% raise for three years? Not a very good one.  Certainly not a very motivating one as it sends the message of who is important/valued in this organization and who is not.

And finally, all of this led me to think upwards of the business models used in this country with regard to rewards and motivation.  I started this blog thinking of my personal situation but the problem is so much larger than the one establishment where I work.  I feel like it is so ingrained in the American work culture, that it can seem almost hopeless to the people at the bottom.  As I read Daniel Pink's chapter in Drive titled "Seven Reasons Carrots and Sticks (Often) Don't Work . . ." and the following chapter ". . . and the Special Circumstances When They Do," I could not help but think of the documentary Inside Job.  This documentary examines the financial crises of the last few years in the American economy.  Over and over in this documentary, examples are provided of people who took risks and were rewarded, even when doing something they knew was wrong.  Several passages in these chapters echoed facts from the documentary.  This leads me to wonder if the American capitalist culture of greed - of more, more, more - can ever be replaced with the model of autonomy, mastery and purpose. Here's to hoping it can!

Link to Inside Job trailer

Pink, D. (2009). Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us. Riverhead.

R6: Reinforcement and Rewards

Quotes:

“Possibly no goal of education is more important - or more neglected - than self-understanding. . . . Unexamined lives may well be valuable and worth living, but an education that does not invite such examination may not be worthy of the label education” (Noddings, 2006, p. 10).

“We need to ask not only what we believe but why we believe it” (Noddings, 2006, p. 10).

“This is, of course, self-discipline, but what is self-discipline other than discovering and employing one's own motivation?” (Noddings, 2006, p. 20).

“I am convinced that one of the primary obligations of educators and parents who want to promote a lasting commitment to learning is to do everything in their power to help students forget that grades exist” (Kohn, 1993, p. 124).

Question: My question comes from this quote from Noddings, “Students today need help in working through the meaning of achievement” (p. 17).  What do you deem as achievement in school?  Is earning an “A” achievement?  Is passing the class achievement?  Is earning a scholarship achievement?  Or is learning a new concept, a new way of thinking about something achievement?  Is the ability to think critically and examine all sides of an argument achievement?  I would venture, that for me, achievement is the latter of these questions.  Achievement deals more with learning and critical thinking, than it does grades and scores.  Achievement, for me personally, is more about interest in a topic, introspection and reflection however achieving these things in each course can be impossible.  I think though that for many people, including parents, achievement is measured by the grade earned at the end of a course.

Direct Experience: Reading the Chance & Kohn articles concerning rewards in the classroom as a way to advance (or inhibit) learning made me think about our annual performance evaluations which were due at work last week.  The annual performance evaluation is an example of performance-contingent rewards as they are directly linked to the raise an employee expects to receive annually.  I would not classify it as a success-contingent reward as the employee does not have to reach a certain goal or show a certain amount of progress to earn the monetary raise which is based on the performance evaluation.  In reading these two author’s differing viewpoints in the power of rewards I could not help but think about the long-term effect of tying performance evaluations to employee’s raises since I have not received a raise in three years.  Not receiving a raise has had nothing to do with my work performance, but rather the fiscal status of the university.  In fact, my annual performance evaluations are always excellent and indicate motivation for doing my job well.  This motivation to continuing doing well in my job is internal; it has nothing to do with the prospect of a raise.  I state this since the reinforcement/reward of a raise has been lacking for a long time, the prospect for one this year is slim and yet I continue to be motivated to do my job well.  This lack of motivation based on the prospect of an external reward aligns with Kohn’s argument that using rewards as an incentive to learn (or in my case to work harder) is faulty.

Indirect Experience: All the readings this week focused on questions of motivation and outside influences (rewards) for motivating learning.  Noddings encouraged teachers to reflect upon which theory of motivation they prescribe to, how it influences their teaching style and to ask themselves if they are motivated by test scores.  Motivation from test scores seems to be an all-too-prevalent theme in today’s American education system.  Teachers’ abilities are directly linked to their students’ test scores.  It has even gotten to the point where test scores are the only item analyzed when rating teachers’ effectivity or ineffectivity as noted in Ravitch’s editorial on CNN.com.  Chance (1993) concludes the article, “Sticking up for rewards,” with the quote, “This view of education places responsibility for learning squarely on the teacher's shoulders. Perhaps that is why there is so much opposition to it” (p. 128).  However I believe this narrow approach to gauging teachers’ effectiveness in the classroom is unfair to teachers.  I believe responsibility for learning begins before the student enters the classroom; the responsibility for learning must begin with the student (and therefore the parents of the student).  Ravitch states, “There are many reasons why students do well or poorly on tests, and teachers felt they were being unfairly blamed when students got low scores, while the crucial role of families and the students themselves was overlooked” (2011).  The students and their families do play crucial roles in learning; it is not solely up to the teacher to have responsibility for learning in the classroom.

References

Chance, P. (1992). The rewards of learning. Phi Delta Kappan, 74, 200-207.

Chance, P. (1993). Sticking up for rewards. Phi Delta Kappan, 75, 787-790.

Kohn, A. (1993). Rewards versus learning: A response to Paul Chance. Phi Delta Kappan, 75, 783-787.

Ravitch, D. (2011). Why America's teachers are enraged. CNN.com at http://www.cnn.com/2011/OPINION/02/20/ravitch.teachers.blamed/index.html?hpt=P1&iref=NS1

Noddings, N. (2006). Critical lessons: What our schools should teach. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press, pp. 10-35.

Technologies in the Classroom

Thanks everyone for the feedback on my comments regarding incorporating multimedia technologies (specifically video games) into the classroom as a way to align students’ native interests with course material.  I’m certainly not advocating for World of Warcraft or Black Ops to become part of the classroom structure, but rather I am advocating for the incorporation of multimedia technologies that have a specific learning purpose.  While students may be more interested in the video games mentioned above versus learning-centered games, I believe overall they would have a native interest in interactive learning games which could supplement traditional learning structure of lectures and lessons.

However, as a student within the Instructional Systems Design program, I am very aware of the limitations and problems with incorporating technologies into the classroom.  First and foremost, there must be support for the incorporation of technologies; teachers must support the use (and therefore understand the technologies, be comfortable with them and be able to troubleshoot when necessary), the school administration must be supportive as well.  Is there IT help available?  Are teachers responsible for finding their own technology lessons and incorporating them (who then judges if the games are appropriate)?  Another support concern is who will pay for the technologies?  These are questions that should be addressed before the incorporation of technologies into the classroom.

In addition, there is the issue of access to consider.  Can all students use/access the technologies?  What about students with different abilities and learning styles?  Will students be able to access/use the technologies at home?  Not all households have gaming systems or Internet connections (economic issues to consider).  Not all students are comfortable with computers or games (gender issues to consider).

Finally, I definitely do not advocate using multimedia technologies or games to completely replace more traditional teaching methods and classroom structures.  I do not think that is possible in today’s educational system nor desirable.  Children must learn to work together, to interact with others, and to learn in ways that do not involve staring at a screen.  The world is changing and I just believe that educators (both on a personal, classroom level and at the administrative levels) must begin to look at the possibilities which exist with new technologies, all while being aware of the limitations of these same technologies.

Module 2: Behaviorism Videos

This first video is a bit dry but informative in explaining operant conditioning, as well as positive and negative reinforcement.  It does not delve into positive and negative punishment.  And it turns a bit odd when "GG" comes out, but I'm sure for some it was a good example of negative reinforcement.

Negative Reinforcement in Operant Conditioning 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q3_Nk09mNCE

This video was definitely made by someone who is not enamored with behaviorism.  I thought the song & video were pretty funny. 

Folom High School Behaviorism Blues

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R-Ez5YXezxE

R5: Behaviorism

be·hav·ior·ism:

a school of psychology that takes the objective evidence of behavior (as measured responses to stimuli) as the only concern of its research and the only basis of its theory without reference to conscious experience. 

Quotes:  

I liked both of these quotes from Skinner’s 1984 article, "The Shame of American Education":

“There is a conspiracy of silence about teaching as a skill. . . . Pedagogy is a dirty word” (p. 947).

“Among the ultimate but useless goals of education is excellence” (p. 951).

I thought this quote from Skinner’s 1987 article, "Whatever Happened to Psychology as the Science of Behavior?", summed up his views on behavior:

“Perhaps what is wrong is that behavior has seldom been thought of as a subject matter in its own right, but rather has been viewed as the mere expression or symptom of more important happenings inside the behaving person” (p. 780).

Question:  In his article, “The Shame of American Education,” author B.F. Skinner makes note of America falling behind other countries in the areas of mathematics and sciences, using the example of Sputnik in the 1950’s.  Currently, our President is making a push for American’s to excel in mathematics and sciences.  He recently stated that winners of science fairs should be celebrated just as much as Super Bowl winners (Harmon, 2011). It seems as though America is still falling behind other countries in these disciplines/areas, over 50-years since Sputnik.  Why is this happening?  What American educational reforms have been implemented in the past 50-years which have helped close this gap?  It seems to me that educational standards do not match the everyday classroom reality in ways which have helped close this gap.  The New York Times article mentioned above addresses this concern and offers examples of this disconnect in interviewing science teachers.  It is a complex problem that needs a better solution.

Direct Experience:  While I do not believe that behaviorism can be the sole answer to better teaching, education and learning; I believe it completely discounts the socio-cultural issues affecting these areas, I do think Skinner made an interesting point when discussing children’s attention and focus when it comes to video games.  While his discussions of behaviorism as a solution to education can seem somewhat simplified (reinforcement and operant conditioning can only do so much), his comparison to video games was interesting to me.  What I find interesting is that he makes note of a child’s willingness to play video games for hours in order to obtain access to the next level (or to win).  I’ve experienced this personally and think there is a message in this relationship which would prove very useful in incorporating gaming technologies into education.  Gaming can be used in conjunction with teaching goals as a way to engage children in learning.  While it cannot be the sole teaching module, gaming can be incorporated into lessons as a way to maintain students’ attention on a subject matter.

Indirect Experience:

Skinner (1984) states, “A good program of instruction guarantees a great deal of successful action. Students do not need to have a natural interest in what they are doing, and subject matters do not need to be dressed up to attract attention. . . . Students do not have to be made to study. Abundant reinforcement is enough, and good programming provides it” (p. 952).

This quote is in direct contrast to William James’ assertions that students learn more when they have a natural interest in the subject-at-hand.  James was a strong supporter of engaging students by tying subject matters to natively interesting issues/topics for the students.  If a lesson drew upon already interesting areas, then students would be more likely to be interested in the (new) topic/lesson being presented.  In direct contrast is Skinner’s assertion that students only require reinforcement and programming in order to learn.

References:

Harmon, A. (2011). It May Be a Sputnik Moment, but Science Fairs Are Lagging. New York Times. February 4, 2011. http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/05/us/05science.html?_r=1   

Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary. (2011). http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/behaviorism

Skinner, B.F. (1984). The Shame of American Education. American Psychologist 39 (9), 947-954.

Skinner, B.F. (1987). Whatever Happened to Psychology as the Science of Behavior? American Psychologist, 42 (8), 780-786.

Gladwell's Blink

I enjoyed listening to Malcolm Gladwell’s excerpt from his book, Blink.  The excerpt covered the adaptive unconscious in our brains, priming, different experiments and finally the IAT.  The descriptions of priming and the experiments which demonstrated it were very interesting.  I do not know if I would have picked up on the fact I was walking more slowly out of an office if I was not aware that I had just been “primed.”  In addition, hearing about the card experiments where participants’ hands began sweating before they could verbally tell a difference in the deck of cards was very fascinating.  For me, I made a connection to William James’ and his assertion that physical changes in the brain occur with learning.  The card experiment seemed to demonstrate this as physical cues were noticeable before the participants could explain what was happening with the different card decks.  However I think the most interesting part of the excerpt for me was the in-depth examination and explanation of the IAT.  This explanation helped me to understand the IAT much better than I did simply by reading the information on the Harvard website.  Gladwell’s explanation helped me to understand the aims of the IAT and how the differences are measured.  The end of the excerpt was a call for us to understand that our first impressions are “generated by our experiences and environment.”  And that we have the power to “alter the way we ‘thin slice’ by changing the experiences that comprises those impressions.” 

R4: William James

Quote: “The interesting thing to note is the extreme delicacy of the inhibitive machinery.  A strong and urgent motor idea in the focus may be neutralized and made inoperative by the presence of the very faintest contradictory idea in the margin” (p. 86).

Question: My question this week stems from James’ chapter on The Will and his assertion that, “Voluntary action, then, is at all times a resultant of the compounding of our impulsions with our inhibitions” (p. 87).  Is this what free will/voluntary action is?  I can see where both impulsions and inhibitions come into play with regard to voluntary action after reading this chapter which is different than what I thought about free will just a few days ago.  I believe a few days ago I would not have even thought about inhibitions when thinking about free will; I would have thought solely about impulsions.  However James’ makes a strong case as to why inhibitions play an important role in free will/voluntary action.

Direct experience: In reading William James’ chapter on Will, I couldn’t help but think of when I quit smoking cigarettes.  I started smoking in high school (please remember I was born and raised in Kentucky) and smoked throughout college.  I had about a pack-a-day habit with Camel Lights but knew it was something I did not want to continue my entire life.  By the spring of 2001 I was ready to quit and enrolled in the Cooper-Clayton Smoking Cessation program at our local health department.  This program focuses on using choice in stopping smoking.  The participants of the program learned to ask ourselves when we had a craving for a cigarette “do I really want this cigarette?” and if the answer was no, we learned to tell ourselves “I am choosing to not smoke a cigarette right now.”  We learned that just allowing ourselves this choice and making this decision could help a moment of cravings pass without lighting up again.  I was reminded of the power of this choice, and the free will it took, while I was reading the passage at the end of page 91 where he discusses the drunkard.  The passage ends with James’ declaring, “He saves himself by thinking rightly” (p. 91).  I know that thinking rightly helped me choose to no longer smoke cigarettes.  In addition, this type of learning goes along with James' assertion to choose the good, instead of not choosing the bad.

Other experience:  James’ begins a passage at the end of page 88 which discusses the ‘balky will’ of some students and then offers suggestions on how teachers can address this in the classroom on page 89.  His suggestion is for the teacher to divert the child’s attention away from the issue and then redirect it at a later time.  This suggestion seemed intriguing but I wondered how possible it would be in today’s classrooms.  It seems as though “disruptive” students often times command quite a bit of attention and therefore would this tactic be another way for these students to garner more attention?  Is this suggestion really possible in a room of 30 students when perhaps only one or two students are struggling? 

Article about college

I came across this article today and thought it was really interesting based on some of the ideas we've been talking about in class.  While I don't necessarily agree with the idea of kids beginning to choose their career paths in middle school, I do think we need to reexamine the push to attend college.  From my personal experience, having a BA hasn't done much for my career path at all except to lead me to graduate school since the jobs I am interested in require an advanced degree (I also often times wonder if I'd be better off learning a trade - i.e. - electrician, plumber, instead of more academia). 

Here is the link to the article: Study says college isn't for everyone

Here is the link to the actual Harvard study: Pathways to Prosperity

Any and all comments appreciated.

 

Module 1: IAT

I took the Gender/Science IAT which examines the link between liberal arts and women with science and males.  I was not surprised with the results of this IAT as much of my academic background is in Gender & Women’s Studies; so therefore I went into this IAT being very aware of the biases surrounding women in the sciences.  I was ultra-aware of these issues as I took the IAT and I think that influenced my results.  The same type of thing happened when I took the 2^nd IAT, Fat/Thin.  I was very aware of the biases surrounding obese people and I think my awareness of this influenced my answers.  So I was not too surprised at all about the results of either IAT.  I do not know how I feel about the IAT and at this time would not consider it a life-changing/revolutionary test for myself.  Perhaps I need to take some of the other ones, or try not to let my previous experiences influence my answers so much.  

I can see where the relationship between associations and memory can influence the IAT.  As the IAT relies on rapid responses to pictures and words, associations and memories must come into play.  The person taking the IAT is instructed to answer quickly, without spending time thinking about the image/word and answer.  With these instructions, the test-taker is relying on not only quickness, but also memory and associations to complete the IAT.  I think associations also play a role in determining future behavior, just as they did when completing the IAT.

            Two distinct passages from William James which deal with associations and learning, and which I think relate to the IAT are:

            “The ‘nature,’ the ‘character,’ of an individual means really nothing but the habitual form of his associations.  To break up bad associations or wrong ones, to build others in, to guide the associative tendencies into the most fruitful channels, is the educator’s principal task.  But here, as with all other simple principles, the difficulty lies in the application.” (p. 42)

“An educated memory depends on an organized system of associations; and its goodness depends on two of their peculiarities: first, on the persistency of the associations; and, second, on their number.” (p. 60)