Maslow's Motivational Hierarchy of Needs

                I found Maslow’s pyramid of needs was fairly correct. Basic needs for obvious reasons are the most basic level of our needs, where as contributing to the world is the highest need.  I think that logically this should be the order of our needs however it is not always the case. For example watching extreme home makeover on the home and garden network there are individuals who barely have a suitable home, and yet they have adopted many abused/ disabled children because they believe family, and love can be more important than living conditions.

Extreme Makeover Home Edition Episode 6 - Montgomery Family 

             I hope to be so selfless to give so much of my life for other individuals, even if I may have not reached my own self-actualization.

Video Digital Nation

             I have grown up in the age of technology, we are called the computer generation. I have never been without a television, VCR or some type of gaming system. When I was seven years old I had beaten the game SPYRO on my sega. I find it very funny that students in school that think they are very good at multitasking when they perform even lower than those students that do not multitask. This was due to the fact that their attention spans were lower than students who don’t multitask.

 I also found it shocking that on opposite sides of the world the technology problems are so different. In South Korea they are trying to reduce the amount of time children use on computers by teaching computer etiquette in younger grades. Also they have venues where people can go just to play on the computer, and some people died from excessive gaming. Far away from South Korea in North America they are introducing computers in the classroom to fix troubled students. Also every college is filled with students walking around texting, carrying laptops, and talking on the phone.

I tried being a super multitasked my first year of college, this caused more failures than benefits, and I often left class not knowing what was discussed. I agree that as teachers going into this new age of students we need to prepare ourselves for students with lowered attention spans due to over stimulation from technology. I disagree that laptops should be allowed in the classroom, due to the tendency of young minds to wander in class. Being a college student I have first hand witnessed students surfing the web, and barely paying attention to the teacher. When I hear that those students that multitask are not benefitting from multitasking if confirms my beliefs about not wanting laptops in my classrooms.

Andi Bell

I learned through this video that we have many different neuropath ways to information, and some of those path ways can be destroyed by use of alcohol, or just by not revisiting that pathway for long periods of time. I also learned that by associating words or phrases to a very well known place it can open up more pathways. I think it is amazing that Andi Bell can use this technique to remember multiple decks of cards.

I often have trouble remembering people’s names, often I have to repeat them in my head or write them down and point to where they sit in reference to me. If I attempted to use Andi’s technique I might be able to remember name’s by associating those people to rooms in my house, or places around Red Deer. When I become a teacher I will definitely try to use this to remember student’s names in my class.

I do not think this technique would work in all situations, such as remembering long phrases or terms for a science class.
                                  

A Functional Approach

I have learned that there is a more person friendly method to approaching students "bad behaviour". We can take this approach and examine the student based on more than just the behavior. I also learned that there are ABC’s. By using positive behaviour support to fix student’s behaviour can be obtained by providing alternate ways for students to achieve positive behaviour. Strategies that are in the functional approach include teachings desired behaviours, reinforcing good behaviours, Setting up predictable routines, providing frequent opportunities for choice and providing adaptations for academic success.

I much rather prefer this functional method as opposed to operational conditioning. This is a more student friendly method, and will in the long run help the student through their problems. However I find myself using the operational conditioning approach while teaching swimming lessons. This is only due to the fact that I have limited time in my lessons at the most 40 minutes, and I don’t have time to assess the student and prevent these behaviours. I also don’t have time to work with the student after class to talk about the behaviour.

When I am a teacher I will definitely use the functional approach with my students to observe antecedents before they become behaviours, and I have to deal with them in a serious manner. I would like to learn more about student’s behaviours and if there are small actions that can tell me if a child is about to have an outburst, or is internally conflicted. If I was able to know these small verbal or physical cues I could help more kids.

Multicultural Education

Socioeconomic status-

                I do not agree with this opinion, theory on student’s success, no matter how many cases that it is true in. I think that if a parent does not have enough money to send their child to school then of course that child might not succeed because of lack of opportunity. My parents are middle class, my mom finished a year of college and my dad barely finished high school. Yet here I am in my second year of college planning to go off to university in the next couple years.               

Cultural capital-

                I think cultural capital is awesome to have in school; it can show the other students a new culture and also provide great style ideas. Cultural capital helps students bring to schools their personality and part of where they grew up.

Reducing barriers-

                I think all kids should have an opportunity to showcase who they are and where they came from.  Teachers should have a positive attitude and help those students show not only their cultures but also their attitudes on aspects of society. Some ideas that I would incorporate would include show and tell, and also ancestor day where all kids brought to school different things to show their ancestry.

Classroom management

I have seen classroom management done in many different ways. I have teachers who would shut off the lights to gain classroom silence, teachers who would just stand quietly until the class was silent, and those that would just start doing notes forcing us to take out our books and be silent. When a student would act out most teachers would ask them to wait in the hallways and talk to us either after class or halfway through class. Other teachers would send the students directly to the principal which in most cases the student would leave the school and go home.

When I am a teacher I plan to have competitions where the first person with their books out and open gets a star, or a prize, this way every student has the opportunity to succeed. When the children are being rowdy or loud I will ask the ring leader to stand up in class and tell everyone the story they were telling with their friends.

Inclusive Education

I have learned that within the next years ahead inclusive education will become more and more relevant. Our job as teachers will be not only to teach the subject matter but also to transform the way we teach and put in extra time and patience to help teach children with learning disabilities. Included in inclusive education are I.P.P’s which may or may not be abolished by the time I am a teacher, as well funding for the student is required. I will have to make a long term, and short term goals plan for the student with a group of people directly involved with the student.

I come away from this scared and unsure if it is something I will be able to come to terms with in my teaching career. I am strongly hoping that by the end of the teaching program I will be comfortable and able to teach these students effectively.

I am very much so on the fence with inclusive education. Although I agree that every student no matter what there race, ethnicity, gender, or disability should be included in a normal classroom setting. However I feel strongly that these children with learning disabilities should have as much attention and assistance that they need, and depending on the severity of the learning disability they should have as much one on one help as they need. In a public classroom in Alberta every class averages 12-25 students, and if 5 of those students have a learning disability it will be very unlikely that the teacher will be able to give those students extra individual attention to help them through the subject. I think these children need to have an aid either in class or after class to assist them to understand the technology.

I would like to learn how I can teach these children as effectively as possible, in the areas of teaching subject matter as well as discipline techniques, and also as to how to get them the help they need to be successful.

I had a fellow student in middle school with a learning disability; I often got frustrated with that student because she took so long to answer what I thought were simple questions. The teacher would give her extra time and she would leave in the middle of class with other students to go into another room to get extra help. She always bragged about how the helper teacher would give her all the answers to her homework, and they also got to write tests in that other room. She would brag about how the teachers even answered questions on the test for her. But the bragging didn’t last long, eventually she wanted to get out of that special class to prove she wasn’t different. Now she is learning disability free and is attending an arts school for art and design.

Once I have all the techniques I need for dealing with people with learning disabilities I will do my best to be an effective helpful teacher.

Reflection on Ted Leroy's video

I think the video by Ted Leroy was quite insightful. I know working with people with disabilities can be a handful sometimes and this video helped me understand. For example now knowing how they process information I will start to give more time for them to answer my questions. Also that they are processing so much information at one time that it may be hard for them to focus in the classroom.

I learned that they need positive reinforcement to do better, not punishments. The video made me sad when the individuals were asked to read from a passage that was scrambled and on different levels, and hearing them read showed me exactly how disabled people must feel. I take away from this being more respectable of individuals with disabilities, and also more patient. I agree that it is great to have these individuals in class if they are not so disabled that they cannot follow with any concepts or materials in the classroom setting.

I would like to learn more about how to treat people with learning disabilities so that when I am in the classroom I can teach them in a positive and effective manner. At the Roland Michener center where I lifeguard I am involved with guarding the Special Olympics. This is very fun to observe and it is great interacting with the people involved in it. There was an incident a while ago at the pool during Special Olympics where a boy with autism was going over into the fast swimmers lane. This boy could not swim and I had to yell to try and get him to move. The next week my work had brought in a girl that was very experienced in helping people with disabilities and she informed me that loud noises distracted the boy even more, and she offered a alternative way of getting children with that disabilities attention.

If I am to teach a child with a learning disability I will tell him the question before I ask it and let him process the question before I ask for an answer. Also I will go slower in the classroom and give positive reinforcement to those students who get the questions correct. By doing this I will hope to achieve confidence in the learning disabled child.

Multiple Intelligences

With regards to the 3 perspectives on multiple intelligences, I find myself agreeing mostly with Howard Garner’s perspective of the 9 divisions of intelligences. Within these intelligences I find myself a bodily kinaesthetic, interpersonal and intrapersonal learner. I find myself most intensely interested in material that involves gross motor movements, as well as learning that involves getting to know myself or anyone else. I do not think an individual can have only one specific type of intelligence, but many types of intelligence depending on the situation or stage in a person’s life. 

Ever since I can remember I have loved being outside and moving around. When I was younger I was involved in dance class where I took hip hop, jazz, and ballet. Also I was involved in indoor and outdoor soccer for five years. I took karate and swimming lessons and now I am a lifeguard at a pool in Red Deer.

Ever since I was in middle school my interests have been in listening to other people, in grade 8 I called my self the shrink of the school. I love listening and giving feedback on individual’s dilemmas and problems, and now that I am in college I find myself being a matchmaker/relationship therapist. My best friend at the moment, her last 2 boyfriends of over a year were introduced to her by me!

Erik Erickson's Stages of Human Development

      According to Erik Erikson’s stages of human development I am in the intimacy vs. isolation stage. I find myself exploring different relationships, trying to establish the kind of man I want to settle down with. It’s all about discovery and trial and error at this point, and I’m not planning to ground myself until I reach about 23. I do agree with Erikson’s stages although if I were Erikson I would have added a stage that overlaps the intimacy stage. I would call this stage success vs. Despair. In this stage an individual from the ages 18-30 would either find happiness in a career, or become lost in a sea of hopelessness and failures. I do understand that Erik made these stages a long time ago and therefore he couldn’t foresee how the world works today. I think there is a desire for kids to be successful very young, not only to be working but to be comfortable in a career early in life.

Video: Richard St. John on academic success

     I think Richard St. John's talk on what leads to academic success was very accurate. I find it almost impossible to focus on a task if I have no passion for the task or what it stands for. In high school I found it hard to push through many seemingly pointless homework assignments, and reading assignments. However now that I have entered Red Deer college my determination and push has shot through the roof, because I feel that every task and grade will go towards the career I want to pursue. I also have firsthand experience with pushing and persisting through tough times in college. This is why on top of Richard’s 8 characteristics that lead to success I would like to add optimism. Just imagining a silver lining behind those daunting clouds gave me hope to continue on in my journey to success. Without this optimistic view that I tend to hold to in life, I think the path I took to where I am now might not of happened, or would have taken a whole lot longer to travel.

Vygotsky vs Piaget

                I agree with both Piaget and Vygotsky’s theories of child development. I agree that all children go through Piaget’s stages, although the rate that this happens varies based on Vygotsky’s theory of social interaction. Vygotsky explains different factors that affect development such as social relations and the need for mentorship, where Piaget outlines the specified stages of cognitive development as well as the ways we organize information. Both theories are correct however I tend to see myself siding with Vygotsky’s theory of child development. In my future career as a teacher as well as my current job as a lifeguard instructor I use Vygotsky’s scaffolding and assessment approach, as well as his zone of proximal development theory. I think learning should be done collaboratively and that mentoring and scaffolding assistance is required for a child to fully grasp a new concept. I also agree that the advanced knowledge we have today was once originated from a very basic step that had to be built upon and practiced. I think the connections we make to friends and the support we get from parents, aids in cognitive development. We can have a superb amount of mental capacity but without adequate social interaction skills it can be under mined and underappreciated. Therefore I find social interaction a very important factor in not only aiding cognitive development but also in progressing as a valued member of society.

Film: Shyness

I think the film on shyness was very insightful, and I found it interesting how parents affect children’s lives so drastically.  I personally have had experiences with shy children in the swimming lessons I teach, and now realize how it is not just the children who are shy; it is the adult figures in their lives that produce shyness. I found that after watching the video I began interacting with the shy children in my classes more carefully with lots of support and encouragement.  This brought the children slightly out of their comfort zone which made them more comfortable with their skills in the water. I definitely agree that social interaction is an important factor in children’s lives, and by having positive and encouraging people in children’s lives, shyness can be lessened.

Stage of Cognitive Development

        When I was first presented with the stages of Piaget's cognitive development, I used my existing knowledge of the words to figure out what the stages meant before I actually knew what the stages were. For example: when I read sensorimotor, I split the word into two words: sensory and motor. By splitting the word I assumed that learning in this stage was done through our senses and movement. When I learned that this was what this stage entailed, it fit right into my existing schema of what this stage was.

Wise consumer's of information

I think the talk about wise consumers was very helpful. After I had learned about general tendencies people have when they watch documentaries, I re-evaluated my opinion on the Allison Cameron video seen in class. At first I was certain that I would try and integrate some of Allison’s techniques into my teaching. After the speech I realized that although I agree with Allison’s techniques, more studies have to be further made in order to establish greater results. Immediately after watching the video I generalized these techniques to work in all schools, and now I know this is a common mistake of consumers of information.