Assessment Case Study

In your blog, please answer the following:

1.       In addition to the criteria for what constitutes quality work and having student self-assess, list some additional guidelines for Miss Wren to remember when developing a rubric.

2.       Grades, a form of extrinsic reinforcement, can be a source of celebration for Miss Wren’s students or a punishment. In order to make the most of grades and increase her students’ chances for success, what should Miss Wren keep in mind when grading her students?

1)      Some additional guidelines for developing a rubric would be:

                Does this particular criterion fit the subject? (e.g. should you grade spelling or grammar on an oral report or should diction and projection matter more?)

                Are the criteria for the age/grade level appropriate?

                Are the criteria challenging and not seemingly impossible for the students to achieve?

2)      Effort and time spent on the project should count more than for the final piece for students who don’t have access to a broad array of tools with which to complete the assignment.

Knowledge of the subject in a question and answer section should count higher than the section on presentation for students who have a difficult time of presenting.

Keeping the final grades private can help the students who fear failure or ridicule by not letting the entire class know their grade.

Motivation

It is generally true that children lose interest in education as they get older. This is thankfully not true in all cases but unfortunately it has become the norm. As the years have progressed it has become "uncool" or "boring" to take school seriously and many students look to school as an escape from their parents to do what they want. Others want to be liked by the popular students and slowly lose interest to become more popular themselves. Even students who ignore societal rules can lose interest if the subject is repetitive or the teacher is droll. Still others might be interested in a subject but be to anxious (Amrein-Beardsley, 501-504) about any number of things to be able to focus on the information being provided. Teachers must be engaging and passionate about their own subject if they are to grab the attention of any student, either interested or not. If a teacher is amazed by what they are teaching, they are much more likely to get the cool students interested which will bring along their followers. Interested teachers also share that arousal (Amrein-Beardsley, 503) with the students who are already interested and the ones who are anxious can forget their anxiety if the atmosphere is high energy and excited.

References:
Amrein-Beardsley, Audrey. “Teacher Research Informing Policy: An Analysis of Research on Highly
    Qualified Teaching and NCLB.” Arizona State University.

Does hunger hurt learning?

According to Maslow's hierarchy of needs a student cannot learn until prior needs are met. He theorizes that a student must meet their needs for survival and safety before meeting their needs fore belonging and self esteem all before even touching on the need for intellectual achievement. In order for a student to feel motivated enough to learn anything in this situation they would first need to eat and feel safe. Otherwise, according to Maslow's theory they will be unable to move past their deficiency needs and move onto their being needs. There are some obvious criticisms in which people tend to move between differing needs with no rhyme or reason and some are motivated towards multiple needs at the same time. Some even skip certain deficiency needs altogether and focus on their being needs.

While it is true that it is difficult for people, let alone students, to focus on anything when they are hungry. This is an easy enough hurdle to overcome. If a student isn't getting enough nutrition at home most schools have systems in place where the student can eat there. If this isn't a viable option teacher's can provide snacks that are both cheap and nourishing for their students such as fruit and raw vegetables. If there is still a decline in the student's health, social services will likely need to be notified as the student might be being abused at home. As for safety, all student's should be aware of after school programs available to them. Teachers tend to stay after school and can provide a safe shelter for a short time as well as extra help to students who don't have time with their parents or guardians to go over homework. As with the hunger issue, it is important for teachers to pay attention to the students safety at home and report any suspected abuse.

I.Q. for U

http://www.funeducation.com/products/iqtest

Taking the test I was focused on choosing the correct answer so I suppose I that's the feeling I had. Taking an I.Q. test isn't as feeling inducing as the results are. I felt a bit of trepidation clicking on the results screen followed by both a feeling of relief and disappointment. I got an average score which is good, but I'm not a genius which is always a little disappointing for me at least. I.Q. tests are popular and even a bit fun because friends and family tend to do them at the same time in a sort of playful competition to see who can get the highest score, never mind the many stories of geniuses around the world making life changing discoveries. Everyone wants to be the next Einstein.

I did feel as though this test was accurate for my abilities.I scored perfect in the English section and got lower scores in the math. I am not very skilled when it comes to math and I have come to terms with that fact a long time ago. I also know that I am quite proficient at the English language, both written and spoken and I know to play to my strengths when choosing classes and career goals. That's not to say that while I am in school I won't take some ridiculously hard math and science classes for the fun of the challenge though!

For developing I.Q. tests for my own students. I would rely heavily on the education standards for my state. I would test my students on the expected level they should be at in a variety of ways and evaluate their over all knowledge off of several tests and not just one. Many students excel at writing, while others prefer to discuss what they know, and others still prefer to use a mixture of images and words to convey their acquisition of knowledge.

Snapshot Assignment

A) I hope to teach Graphic Design at both the high school and college level. The typical age of a college student has many of the same development challenges as a high school student does. Students who are returning to college after time away tend to be a bit more advanced and mature than their counterparts.

B) Erikson would place students at the high school and early college level somewhere between his Identity vs. Role Confusion stage and his Intimacy vs. Isolation stage (Woolfolk 100). Relationships amongst friends and love interests are the central development point for students at this age. Anyone that still remembers these school years knows that this is true. My friends and love interests most definitely helped shape who I became today. A student’s adult identity and self-concept are defined in these years and who students are surrounded by, both in and out of school, are vital to their development.

Marcia expanded on Erikson’s idea of identity formation by focusing on two essential processes in achieving a mature identity, exploration and commitment. Exploration is trying out different beliefs, values and behaviors until the individual finds one that suits them. Commitment is when an individual has made a decision in regards to politics or religious beliefs, etc (Woolfolk 103). When students get to high school they have the opportunity to meet a whole new group of people with varying beliefs and behaviors, this is repeated and exemplified when students get to college as there is an even broader range of people attending from all over the world at times. This melting pot of differing ideas allows teenagers and young adults to experience and learn from different cultures to decide for themselves what best suits their desired lifestyle. They take this time to decide that they either agree with their parents beliefs or choose their own set of values and ideals from their peers.

C. Students at the high school and early college age are all over the spectrum of morality in regards to Kohlberg’s stages. People mature and advance at different times and there can be a freshman in high school at the Obedience Orientation stage and even after going through high school and college still be at the Preconventional Level (Woolfolk 113). There are also students who mature very quickly and can go from the 1^st stage to the 6^th stage within a years’ time depending on individual circumstances. Circumstances involve individual experiences, family life and peer pressure. Everything teenagers and young adults experience is another notch in their maturing belt, whether it be a class or party they are invited to. A student’s home life is a major factor in how and when they mature emotionally (Woolfolk 87). If a student has a happy and safe home life, they are more likely to feel free to express themselves and be able to mature at a healthy rate. Similarly students are susceptible to the influence of their peers, if they are friends with someone who is more mature, they in turn will be more mature to fit in better with their friends.

Works Cited

Woolfolk, Anita. Educational Psychology: Active Learning Edition. Boston: Pearson, 2014. Print.

Teasing Vs. Bullying

There is a very real and important difference between teasing and bullying. Teasing is done between friends where both children are involved in the teasing of each and there is no ill intent on either side. It is often short lived, an inside joke or one just made a silly mistake. Teasing is something my friends and I do without hesitation and we all know that it is in fun and love. The fact that we know is what makes it teasing and not bullying. Bullying is when a child or (more often than it ever should be) an adult teases or physically harms another child or adult with ill intent. When something is done or said with the strict purpose of inflicting some kind of harm that is bullying.

If a teacher sees two students who are relaxed and laughing it should be obvious they are friends and getting along fine. If there is tension in their shoulders or one or both are frowning or most obvious if one is crying the teacher should investigate what is happening. Simply separating the children can provide a safe haven for the child to admit if he/she is being bullied or not.

The first instance of bullying should be brought to the attention of the child only. He or she may not know they are bullying and should be given a chance to learn and make the change themselves. If they continue to behave in the same way, especially towards the same child the parents should be told immediately and every effort should be taken to help the child and not just punish them as that rarely ever solves problems.

Family Life for your Viewing Pleasure

I chose the animated TV series, Hercules. For the purpose of this assignment, I am focusing only on his parents Zeus and Hera on Mount Olympus whose parenting style would best be described as Permissive Parents. They are very affectionate and encouraging to their son, however offer little to no assistance in his life, as he must face the trials of life on his own so that he can become a hero in order to achieve his place with them on Mount Olympus. Hercules is often called "Wonder-Boy" in the series and movie of the same name. This encompasses his personality quite nicely as he has a very positive attitude towards life despite the many setbacks and challenges he has had to face unjustly. He makes the same mistakes most teenagers make such as forgetting to think about a girls personality along with her looks when seeking a date for a dance as well as fighting with his best friend Pegasus. He always learns a valuable lesson which he holds onto well into his adult life and doesn't take a single day for granted.

Answer to question 1: Hercules admittedly faces many more odd challenges than the average teenager, such as fighting monsters and rescuing people from floods and earthquakes. However, he also faces the same challenges and makes the same mistakes most teenagers make, such as forgetting to think about a girls personality along with her looks when seeking a date for a dance as well as fighting with his best friend Pegasus. Whether fighting monsters or apologizing to friends he always learns a valuable lesson and doesn't let a single moment go to waste in his quest to becoming a hero.

Answer to question 2: Hercules' parents face similar issues to the average parent, with godly differences. Their child is stolen away from them, and while they know where he is, they cannot retrieve him since his godhood has been nearly drained away. This has happened many times in many variations to every day parents. It is never easy to lose a child and Zeus and Hera do their best to be there for their child in spite of not being able to bring him back home. They try to look at the positive parts of life and this view of life greatly inspires their son Hercules.

Answer to question 3: Hercules is a spitting image of Zeus and Hera's parenting. They have taught him to look at the positives in life and to work hard at everything you do and to never give up on ones dreams. They listen to him and care for him even though they can't always be with him. This has caused him to grow into a helpful and caring teenager who is always willing to help his classmates, even the ones who constantly tease and torment him. He works and goes to school and while things don't always go smoothly for him, he always does his best and tries to fix any damage he might have caused along the way. Hercules the show as well as the movie are great images of an extended and blended family structures and serve as examples to what all of us can be in our own families.

Efficacy in the Zone

When a child is in the zone of proximal development they are, for their age range, primed for learning. Given proper guidance and attention their is almost no limit to what a child at any age can achieve. Children at young ages can learn multiple languages that can benefit them their entire lives. Middle aged children can jump grades and enter high school and even college at earlier ages, allowing them to start working early and even retire earlier in life. High schoolers can attend college at the same time they finish out high school and achieve a similar jump in life. The only thing that limits ZPD students are their own fears and our own limitations.

Emotional Baggage?

Teenage bodies are bereft with emotions and their bodies are enduring intense changes that most definitely have an effect on their learning and interactions with peers and faculty. It can be hard to concentrate on homework or even in class if your body is uncomfortable or your mind wanders to what Timmy thinks of your new haircut. Just the same if a student gets a bad grade, they are much more likely to be emotionally devastated and give up on the subject at an adolescent age as compared with young children and adult learners. Interactions with ones peers and faculty are also subject to the intense emotional baggage every teenager carries. There are many fights both physical and emotional that happen during adolescence that can dampen a students ability to do well in their studies. Also, if a student doesn't like a  teacher or a teacher is mean to them or strict the student is liable to tune out the professor in future lessons.

Reflection about Qualified Teaching

    To be a qualified teacher, simply put, you need to know what you are teaching. A teacher can have a masters or doctorate in science and be the most engaging instructor but if they are assigned to teach an English class they will just not be effective. At the same time a qualified teacher must be interactive with the classroom, a teacher who knows more about a subject than anyone else on the planet, won't be able to share that knowledge if they just drone on and on about it with a power point. A college education is important, but experience in a field is more so to be a qualified teacher. I have had teachers who had no education in teaching who were much more effective than teachers with masters in education. Amrein-Beardsley summarizes this beautifully by writing “The only master’s degrees which made a difference in student achievement were master’s degrees in the content areas taught.” and “Acquiring master’s degrees, particularly if they were not related to the content area(s) teachers taught, did not raise student achievement levels.” Both of these statements exemplify exactly how I feel about our education system. The level of education is not as important as the teacher’s ability to connect with students. Another requirement of a qualified teacher most are actually in agreement on is that regardless of education level it is important that teacher’s are properly certified. There is a huge difference in the quality of teaching when certificates are temporary or emergency compared with those who are properly certified through a program. The article Teacher Research Informing Policy: An Analysis of Research on Highly Qualified Teaching and NCLB mentions salary as a significant factor in the quality of teaching. This just goes to show that as a society we need to put our teachers at the top of our priority lists. When teachers make enough to live on and not have to worry about monthly bills, they are freed up to focus entirely on their students and the results speak for themselves.
    How do you assess qualifications? Or are qualifications even the most important thing? Is a teacher who looks perfect on paper and meets every criteria guaranteed to be an effective teacher? No one can predict the future, as evident by our wonderful meteorologists. As such assessing qualifications seems less important to me as assessing actual interactions between a teacher and their students. Many professors with doctorates and years of experience can lose sight of how to communicate with young minds who don't know everything that their professors do. What the article focuses on for assessing teacher qualifications is whether or not their students are successful. If students scored well on standardized tests then teachers were effective, this seems to be a very limited way of assessing the qualifications of teachers.
    Many of these questions have no true definitive answer. There is a majority answer and a minority one. Teachers who have a college education and a few years experience who are interactive and students focused are better at teaching than those with the opposite qualifications. Qualified teachers will likely have the upper hand as far as psychology goes, but under qualified teachers are just like their students and on more equal ground which allows for a more comfortable setting in which learning can be enriched. College educated and experienced doesn't mean effective and teachers who just found there way into education are sometimes the best out there. I have had teachers that met both sets of criteria on either sides of the spectrum and sometimes the rule is correct, but other times the opposite is true. The best example I can give of either is two web design teachers I had at my previous school. One was college educated with a masters and was tenured with a decade plus of experience and he continuously produced inadequate results in his students, I had him for one class and he couldn’t answer a question about the content he was teaching, I had to figure it out myself and tell him what I did. While the other was educated at the local community college only, asked to come in and teach a couple classes because she had experienced the working world and was able to give insight into what to expect when we graduated. She took students of all ability levels and continuously produced students who were able to leave the college and start working. Both are examples of the extreme opposites on the spectrum of qualified teaching and have really inspired my own educational journey.
    In order for schools to meet the standards of having qualified teachers for all their students, they should take the under qualified yet supremely effectual teachers they already have and provide them the means to become qualified. They should offer incentives for their current teachers to return to school and meet out any qualifications they don't quite have yet. Just because your Algebra teacher doesn't have a masters doesn't mean they didn't want one. Many of the teachers in rural and suburban areas have the same issues as their students, low income and few opportunities to improve themselves. If our current teachers would be offered the chance to advance their studies, I can guarantee you most of them would jump at the chance. If they don't then you likely don't want them in your schools anyway.

References:
Amrein-Beardsley, Audrey. “Teacher Research Informing Policy: An Analysis of Research on Highly
    Qualified Teaching and NCLB.” Arizona State University.

Educational Research

Because research is conducted continuously, teachers are able to adjust their styles and programs on a regular basis to get the most out of their subjects for their students. At the same time research can say one thing but in practice certain techniques just don't work all the time. It is helpful to know the research that is being done and it is good to know alternatives for any kind of lesson plan.
As far as researchers and teachers collaborating in the classroom goes, it can work really well so long as there is flexibility for the teacher. If they are trying to test out a technique or lesson plan on a group of students that simply isn't working, it's imperative that the teacher be allowed to change it up to make sure the students are actually learning the material and not just being used as test subjects. So long as there is communication between researchers, teachers. administrators and parents I see no reason why most classrooms couldn't participate in some form of research. It might even be a good way to help supplement income for schools.
Teachers already are researchers. They test out a way of teaching, see if it works and then repeat or discard the process depending on the results. The only thing teachers might be leaving out is the sharing of information that researchers do. If teachers aren't paying attention to what works and what doesn't with their students then they are just failing themselves and their students. Teachers are researchers and they all need to share the wisdom they gain from both students and other teachers as well as the researchers doing major leg work.

Does good teaching make a difference?

Good teaching couldn't make more of a difference! It still astounds me how much of an impact the teaching style and just the teacher himself/herself has on my learning experience. Having an amazing teacher isn't just about having someone who is funny or takes you on field trips every other day. An amazing teacher is someone who is so passionate about what they have to say that you feel that passion and share it with them, even if you have never had a passion for that subject before. I took a history class last semester and let me tell you I have always dislike history, but that class nearly convinced me to change my major. The teacher I had was engaging and listened to the students and was obviously passionate about what he was talking about. I wanted to be in class every day and often walked with the teacher after class just talking about what we had discussed as a class that day. I crave that one on one connection with my teachers because I want to soak up as much knowledge as I can while in school. Especially at the college level, I am paying a lot of money to be here, I will get my monies worth! Haha. I have had many teachers from high school as well as at college who have inspired me to continue my journey towards becoming a teacher. I have also had many awful teachers who have inspired me so that I can be one of those amazing teachers in the future, because there will unfortunately always be less effective ones as well. The teachers who connected with me didn't always connect with other students and the same is true for the reverse so it is rather hard to assess just how effective any particular teacher is. We need a diverse array of teachers so that if one student doesn't connect with their current teacher, they can always try again with the next one and hopefully learn more than they had even intended.