1. An episode in the case study that demonstrates disequilibrium: When the fish dies and thet teacher tells the girls that she will give him a good burial. The definition of disequilibrium is the state of being unable to address new events with existing schemes; typically accompanied by some mental discomfort. Amy was confused because she went back to when her grandpa died and went to heaven. She thought that because her grandpa didn't come back he was really gone in heaven. She didn't understand how the fish could go to heaven because she was still physically seeing it. Describe and episode that demonstrates assimilation: Well I think that it was when Amy rembers her grandpa going to heaven and her wanting the fish to go to heaven too. But the more I think about it and read through the case study I want to say that it's when the girls are walking home and Lucy asks if you have to go potty in heaven and Amy replies back by saying "Of course not, silly! You know our mommies and Ms. Bowman make us go potty before we go anywhere!" Amy is conecting the schema with not having to go potty in heaven because in real life, she knows that people make her go potty before they go anywhere, and the definition of assimilation is: process of dealing with a new event in a way that is consistent with an existing scheme. The new event is the fish dieing and heaven which is going somewhere to her and the fact that anytime they travel she has to go potty.
2. Identify a possible instance of preoperational egocentrism in the case. I would say that an instance when this happened would be when it's Amy's turn to feed the fish and she thinks that because the fish isn't eating the food and laying on it's side that it's just sleeping. Lucy then says that she thinks something is wrong and goes to get the teacher. Although, i'm really not sure because the definition of preoperational egocentrism is the inability of children in Piaget's preoperational stage to view situations from another person's perspective... I'm still a little cloudy in what part of the story that this applies to... I guess with my answer Amy is having a hard time understanding Lucy's perspective, because Amy just thinks that the fishy is sleeping and Lucy thinks that something is wrong with the fish.
3. How might a Vygotskian theorist suggest Ms. Bowman address the death of the class pet? Some of the children in the class may not understand what death is. So she may have to ask them if they have ever had something that went to heaven. That way she can use assimilation by allowing the students to connect something they know with what has happened to the classroom pet.
4. How might taking care of pets in the classroom promote students' cognitive development? Having a pet within the classroom would allow the students to get an understanding of why you have to take care of a pet or something that isn't able to feed itself or clean it's own cage. They probably can feed themselves and clean their rooms so they may not understand why other things can't do that. Also, if something happens to happen to the classroom pet, the teacher may talk to them and explain what has happened so they will be able to reason why it happened...
Saturday, September 26, 2009
Sunday, September 20, 2009
Course Contract #1
1. What am I doing well: I think that i'm doing in well in keeping up on assignments, doing the reading that we need to. I also think that I did ok on studying for the test.
2. What am I not doing well: I think that I still could work on doing the reading in timed incriments... because although i'm staying up on the reading, sometimes I don't remember ALL that I do read.
3. Am I makin sufficient progress on my goals: I think that I am making progress on my goals. They are goals so I will still be improving on them throughout the semester...
4. List specific things you need to change in order to meet your goals: I need to change how I read still. I need to work on reading for certain amounts of time instead of just trying to read it all just to say that I read it. I also need to try working on different ways of studying... Just because I have never had very good studying habits.
2. What am I not doing well: I think that I still could work on doing the reading in timed incriments... because although i'm staying up on the reading, sometimes I don't remember ALL that I do read.
3. Am I makin sufficient progress on my goals: I think that I am making progress on my goals. They are goals so I will still be improving on them throughout the semester...
4. List specific things you need to change in order to meet your goals: I need to change how I read still. I need to work on reading for certain amounts of time instead of just trying to read it all just to say that I read it. I also need to try working on different ways of studying... Just because I have never had very good studying habits.
Monday, September 14, 2009
Cool Brain Research
What?
I chose to read about Dr. Judy Willis. She is a neurologist who decided to get a degree in education as well. She now teaches, writes books, articles, and give presentations. Judy is currently researching the RAD teaching strategy. The R in RAD stands for Rectangular activating system, the A in RAD stands for Amygdala, and the D stands for Dopamine.
So What?
Her research has to deal with how the brain works and how we can better teach things in the core curriculum/in general to bring all test scores up, keep the students interested and yet have them get a better understanding of all the information that is being taught. It also talks about ways that we can make our classroom very low stress/non-threatening.
In order for students to learn, they must be engaged in a relaxed and enjoyable way. The reasons that most students don't learn is because they have a fear of failure and they become bored.
Now What?
In reading about RAD, I can try to do my best to make the environment/classroom a low stress/non-threatening place. I am going to try to make learning and what I teach as fun as I can and still teach the curriculum/information that I need to be teaching. I always learned better when it was a hands-on or interesting activity. I know that you can't always teach that way but you can do something more fun in everyway that you teach, you just need to be creative...
I chose to read about Dr. Judy Willis. She is a neurologist who decided to get a degree in education as well. She now teaches, writes books, articles, and give presentations. Judy is currently researching the RAD teaching strategy. The R in RAD stands for Rectangular activating system, the A in RAD stands for Amygdala, and the D stands for Dopamine.
So What?
Her research has to deal with how the brain works and how we can better teach things in the core curriculum/in general to bring all test scores up, keep the students interested and yet have them get a better understanding of all the information that is being taught. It also talks about ways that we can make our classroom very low stress/non-threatening.
In order for students to learn, they must be engaged in a relaxed and enjoyable way. The reasons that most students don't learn is because they have a fear of failure and they become bored.
Now What?
In reading about RAD, I can try to do my best to make the environment/classroom a low stress/non-threatening place. I am going to try to make learning and what I teach as fun as I can and still teach the curriculum/information that I need to be teaching. I always learned better when it was a hands-on or interesting activity. I know that you can't always teach that way but you can do something more fun in everyway that you teach, you just need to be creative...
Thursday, September 10, 2009
WebQuest Step 3
What?
I really didn't know or remember anything about these types of research until we discussed them in class. It was a very nice refresher for me... I learned that the Action Research uses any of the other types of research. In descriptive and correlational research, there isn't any change or it will become experimental because you would be changing one of the variables. We also talked about that if you were to do some type of research with your class that part of the class would feel left out or that you would have parents that didn't appreciate that their child got the not so pleasant side of the research study. This really made me think because i never thought of things like that. I guess I have never really had to think of ways that would be fair for the whole class or that students wouldn't feel left out. This was very important because now I can be thinking about it and be thinking of ways that I could incorporate diffrent things but still have every student not feel left out.
So What?
I'm still not way sure of why we had to learn the different types of research. I know that it will be useful knowledge one day but I'm still not 100% sure of what I can use this information for. I'm sure i'll have to use it in the science section of my teaching, hence why i'm learning in Psychology(science class), but I can't think of a way that i would be able to describe the processes or what they are to elementary students. I know that there is a way, I just can't think of it at the moment. There are going to be ways that i'll probably have to do one of these types of research my class without them knowing it. That way I can get more accurate answeres because the students won't be trying to do what they think I want them to do.
Now What?
1) I'm not exactly sure what I still need to learn about educational research. I'm sure, well I know, that there is a lot that I need to learn because I really can't think of what I don't know or that I do know. I do know that there is a lot of information out there and i'm not sure if i'll be able to learn or comprehend everything but i'm going to try!
2) Well sometime in my teaching career i'm pretty sure that i'm going to have to do some type of research, which will be the Action research and Action research can involve any of the types of research. So it's very good to know all 4 types and what they involve or how to go about doing them. I'm sure that i'll be doing the other types of research with my students as well. That's really all that I can think of right now...
I really didn't know or remember anything about these types of research until we discussed them in class. It was a very nice refresher for me... I learned that the Action Research uses any of the other types of research. In descriptive and correlational research, there isn't any change or it will become experimental because you would be changing one of the variables. We also talked about that if you were to do some type of research with your class that part of the class would feel left out or that you would have parents that didn't appreciate that their child got the not so pleasant side of the research study. This really made me think because i never thought of things like that. I guess I have never really had to think of ways that would be fair for the whole class or that students wouldn't feel left out. This was very important because now I can be thinking about it and be thinking of ways that I could incorporate diffrent things but still have every student not feel left out.
So What?
I'm still not way sure of why we had to learn the different types of research. I know that it will be useful knowledge one day but I'm still not 100% sure of what I can use this information for. I'm sure i'll have to use it in the science section of my teaching, hence why i'm learning in Psychology(science class), but I can't think of a way that i would be able to describe the processes or what they are to elementary students. I know that there is a way, I just can't think of it at the moment. There are going to be ways that i'll probably have to do one of these types of research my class without them knowing it. That way I can get more accurate answeres because the students won't be trying to do what they think I want them to do.
Now What?
1) I'm not exactly sure what I still need to learn about educational research. I'm sure, well I know, that there is a lot that I need to learn because I really can't think of what I don't know or that I do know. I do know that there is a lot of information out there and i'm not sure if i'll be able to learn or comprehend everything but i'm going to try!
2) Well sometime in my teaching career i'm pretty sure that i'm going to have to do some type of research, which will be the Action research and Action research can involve any of the types of research. So it's very good to know all 4 types and what they involve or how to go about doing them. I'm sure that i'll be doing the other types of research with my students as well. That's really all that I can think of right now...
Wednesday, September 2, 2009
Course Contract-First Assignment
- 2-3 specific goals for this course: I want to get a better understanding of how children learn. I also want to pass this course but still retain some of the information that is discussed during class.
- Describe weekly preparation plan: I would really like to read for a half hour each day so that i comprehend what I read; and i'm not just hurrying to read the chapters and get the study guide done. I will aslo work on all of the assignments that are due and get them done early so that the day before class I can skim over the everything and refresh my memory.
- I'm going to try to study in a group, I have a crazy schedule so it will be hard to meet with people when it's time to study for a test or something. I'll also just read for certain amounts of time instead of trying to read so many pages; I'm hoping this will help my brain understand what I have just read.
- If i don't understand a topic, i'll try to research the topic. If that doesn't help then i'll ask a classmate what they think of the topic and maybe i'll get a better understanding of it listening to them. If talking to a classmate doesn't help, then i'll talk with the instructor and see if she has any ideas to help me understand the basics of the topic.
- I will reach my goals in this course by...Trying my hardest to stay on top of the homework, reading, and study guides. Hopefully by doing these things, I will stay on task and not stress. Not stressing will help me to pay attention during class time and retain most of the information that i'll need to pass the tests.
Tuesday, September 1, 2009
About me...
My name is Brandee Behling... I grew up in Heber until i was 10 years old and then moved with my dad until i was 15. I then moved back from Ferron and finished High School here in Heber.
I have 6 brothers, 4 half brothers and 2 step-brothers. I love to be outdoors and I especially love to rodeo and ride my horses.
I also have a 2 year old son that is the love of my life and he loves to help me with homework!
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