Ch. 10 QTC

Which of the learning activities/skills can you think of that lend themselves to learning through modeling?

I think Teacher Projects is one of the activities we do in this classroom that is an extension of learning through modeling, especially when we discuss how they went after the project. The audience watches the presenters and can distinguish what is good and what is bad to do during a Teacher Project. Brian also models the correct way to present lessons to the class. So, through the modeling of students and Brian, we are able to see how Teacher Projects should be presented. Another activity that has learning through modeling is watching our teachers in our school placements. I have the pleasure of observing a teacher at Farragut while she teaches the classroom. I learn, through her modeling, the correct way to interact with students, the right questions to stimulate thinking, and even how to provide engaging activities. Modeling is important because people do it daily so they can behave better. What I mean by behaving better is contributing to society with behaviors that are deemed appropriate. 

How might self-efficacy and self-regulation contribute to the intervention plans you use in your case study?

Self-efficacy and self-regulation are needed in my case study for my students to be productive in the classroom and to exhibit appropriate behaviors. It is imperative for students to excel at both of these concepts, because the students that can self regulate are the students who are more engaged in the learning. We had a discussion in class today about the difference between the two of these concepts, and I agreed that I was a little behind on the difference of these concepts. Self-efficacy is a person’s judgement about being able to perform a certain activity and self-regulation is a person’s ability to regulate their behaviors in certain circumstances. So, the main difference is that self-efficacy is about people thinking if they can accomplish a task and self-regulation is the tools they will use to accomplish the task. Both of these concepts are going to be important with intervention plans for my students. 

Ch. 9 QTC

How would you define successful mastery of your lesson objectives from a behavioral view of learning? 

When thinking like a behavioralist, one must be constantly observing behaviors exhibited by the subject. I will make clear, for each lesson, the lesson objectives. The student needs to understand what is expected of him/her, so that the student can produce the results that correspond to the objective. As a behaviorist, I am purely concerned with the behaviors that my students produce. So, if I give an activity that involves using fractional wooden pieces to show equivalent fractions, I want to see how my student interacts with the objective, if the student can show the equivalent fractions, and how the student interacts with the environment during the lesson activity. One could argue that formative assessment is the main key in Behaviorism  because a behaviorist is constantly observing behaviors to assess the subject (which in this case is the student). To determine if the student has mastery of a concept, I would observe their behaviors and actions when they try to solve a problem. 

Consider your CSEL intervention case study.  Are there tools from a behaviorist view for either encouraging productive behaviors or discouraging undesirable behaviors that you could apply to the case?  What are they?

I feel like there are a good number of tools from a behaviorist view that can encourage or discourage behaviors. Influence of the environment is important, because the teacher must create a classroom that fosters desirable behaviors. If my student is in an environment that promotes constant thinking, my students will exhibit behaviors of constant thinking, which in return, will produce a great sense of learning. Another tool would be having my students focus on observable events. This is imperative for my student to learn, because the student needs to have the tools to identify specific stimuli that may be influencing their behavior. Learning as a behavior change is also important, because I will be able to conclude that learning has occurred when my students exhibit a change in classroom performance. The common theme in these tools is that behavior effects the student's learning, so I must use my knowledge of behaviorism to create the best learning environment to encourage behaviors that will foster thinking and learning. In a case study, one could also argue that conditioning is important for returning appropriate behaviors, but I think we, as teachers, shouldn't rely heavily on conditioning. 

Ch 8 QTC

Consider a lesson plan you might use.  Which metacognitive skills/abilities are involved as students gain facility/knowledge in this domain? Think of an activity or lesson component that explicitly teaches one or more metacognitive and one or more problem solving skills.

My favorite lessons are Math, so I would consider a math lesson plan. One metacognitive skill involved in students gaining math knowledge would be reflecting on the general nature of thinking and learning. When a student participates in reflecting on the information they have just been presented, the process of learning becomes easier because they are already consumed in thinking about that knowledge. Math is usually paired with time limits, for some odd reason, so a student knowing what learning tasks can be realistically accomplished within a certain time period is crucial. The student uses metacognitive skills when he/she thinks about which tasks can be accomplished in a certain time period, because the student is actively engaged in thinking about how they will act on a certain test. Another important metacognitive skill is knowing and applying effective strategies to complete the task. This is important because math can be challenging and thought-provoking, so for the student to be successful, he/she needs to apply different strategies to find the one that is effective. Students must also monitor their own knowledge and comprehension. This metacognitive ability is needed for the student to know when he/she doesn't understand a certain topic or concept. If a student just goes through a task without thinking about if they understand it or not, that student will fall behind the curve (especially in math, because the concepts build on each other!!). A lesson component crucial in teaching metacognitive and problem solving skills would be teaching time management. Especially when it comes to testing, time management is a persistant issue in schools daily. Time management teaches metacognitive skills such as knowing what learning tasks can be accomplished within a time frame and planning an appropriate and effective approach to a learning task. With time management skills, a student can recognize the time required for each step to solve a problem and also find the best, fastest, most accurate strategy to solve that problem.