Post #5 - Mandy Hyde

Elementary Education Case Study

You engage your third grade students in cooperative learning activities at least twice a day, changing heterogeneous group members once every four weeks. You have agreed upon routine procedures that your classroom community uses within their small groups, including the roles and responsibilities of group members. Lately you have noticed that one small group always seems to have difficulty grasping material and completing their project in an acceptable manner.  You observe this group carefully and find that Lisa seems to be the catalyst for their problems.  She gets angry with others if she does not get the job she wants and refuses to do her part in contributing to the group’s learning.  She constantly interrupts others in her group.  She does not pay attention when her group prepares for class presentations.

Yes, I definitely believe there are tools from a behaviorist view for both encouraging productive behaviors and discouraging undesirable behaviors that can be applied to this case. Some of these tools can be inclusive and based on the whole third grade class, such as a class bingo. Evert time students do what they are told in a timely fashion, like washing their hands, getting their lunches, and lining up at the door, they will receive a number pulled from the bingo board. When they connect enough numbers to get a bingo, they get a small celebration, like ice cream at lunch. This influences them to work for an end goal, and when they reach it, they feel they have accomplished something. This could also work for just small groups in the case study, if they grasp the material and complete their project they could receive an end goal, like a treat at lunch or another thing that interests them. As an individual, Lisa is bringing down her group, so this needs to be addressed. I would talk with Lisa about her actions and reactions in her group, and see if she realizes what she is doing and how she is effecting her group. Addressing the problem is a primary concern, and then I would implement a clip system for that student that only she knew about. It is easy to just say clip down, if she is acting out and distracting her group, but you can also have her clip up if she is demonstrating positive behavior, like paying attention and being on task. Having her parents involved with the clip system will also help Lisa learn how to monitor and control herself. You could send home a report every day that gives parents an idea of how she did that day. This can teach Lisa how to hold herself to a higher standard and work on regulating her own emotions.    

  

Self Evaluation #1

At this point in the semester, I believe I would give myself a 93 out of 100. I have arrived to all of our meetings early and prepared to engage and work. I have always been more of a listener than a talker, but I have tried to give more feedback in our class periods, especially lately. I believe that as the semester goes by I will become even more comfortable with giving my input, as I have in the last few meetings. Our tickets out the door are a great way to sum up what we have learned by the end of a lesson and I will say, I learn more than I think I do, and this system helps me to realize that. I definitely think that this system is one I could take into the classroom with me. The readings are also helpful to learn from as well as a to use as a reference. It is nice to be able to refer back to something I am unclear of, especially if I am still wondering about it after we meet.

I feel like the thing I would dock myself on would be the Questions To Consider. I am not sure why, but I feel like I answer the questions, but I do not ever have enough. I always feel incomplete when I do them, and I need to go back and add to the ones I have already done. Oh, and QTC #4...I really need to add on to you. The week that was due was the pit of my existence. I had so many things due that week that I did not know the CSEL guidelines and all the information was up already so in my mind I put that on the back burner. I am going to make a promise to myself that my QTCs will become much better. Not that I completely put no thought into them, because I do, but I feel like I can do better work.

As I stated above, I have never missed class or been late to any of our meetings, and more importantly I am mentally checked in at all of our classes. Speaking of check in's, I really like them. I like to hear about everyone's weekends and I believe it helps to lighten the mood and get everyone talking. I also enjoyed working on and presenting my teaching project with Holly. I think the class responded well to our teaching project and it offered something different for them. Overall, I believe that class is going really well for me, and I am excited about my next teaching project, coming up this week!

Group Differences Forum Reflection

I think that Holly, Kelly and I came in very prepared to facilitate a discussion on racial stereotyping and how to handle it in positive healthy ways in the classroom, but I feel like the class was either not feeling discussion that day or were uncomfortable with our topic. Racial stereotyping can definitely be an awkward and uncomfortable topic, but as a group we talked about how to stay respectful towards everyone. However, there was little input on opinion on how our peers stereotype, or were ever a victim of stereotyping during our discussion so it was a little difficult. Overall, I think that our group differences project went well, but I know we were relying on more class participation to fuel our discussion than just talking at the class as much as we did.

Teaching Project Reflection

                                                                                               

Your Name:  Mandy Hyde                  Instructional Strategy: Discovery and Inquiry Learning

Partner’s Name: Holly Ford                                                 Topic: Aggression and Violence

Take a few minutes to reflect on your experience preparing for your presentation.

1)   Provide rationales for your choice of activities. Why did you choose your activities? Did you consider other possibilities before deciding?

We chose the line activity because we believe that it makes you visualize how often violence occurs in many different schools. It is also a good icebreaker activity that people can relate to and it gets them talking. I also really like the Mean Girls video we used because mostly everyone has seen or heard of the movie and it shows girls being the bullies not just boys.

2)   Describe how you chose what role each presenter would play in the development and delivery of your presentation. What personal strengths did you consider in the process?

We wanted to each be represented equally when talking so we split everything up into two halves, but we switched off during the presentation to avoid it looking like we only did each half ourselves instead of working on it all together, which we did. Luckily, I have known Holly for long enough to be comfortable telling her if I think something else would work better than what we have and vice versa. We worked really well together making up activities, deciding on what clip to play, and giving our presentation.

Take a few minutes to reflect on your presentation experience.

3)   Describe how your presentation most accurately reflected the instructional strategy you used. What criteria of your teaching style did you address?  How might you have improved your presentation? 

I believe our presentation reflected our instructional strategy very well because we used feedback given from our peers to formulate discussion on what aggression and bullying could look like in the classroom, and how or what they would do about it if it were going on in their school or classroom. I think our topic was best done through discovery and inquiry learning because we used what our peers responded with to formulate our discussion.

4)   Reflect on your learners’ responses to your presentation. Use professional language to say why your project was received well by your audience. Then pick out at least three specific areas participants said you might consider changing for your next presentation and respond to each. Keep in mind that this is constructive feedback and you need not agree. What would you change, and why? 

According to our learners’ responses our peers really liked our line activity, our video clip, and our handout. I believe our project was received well by our peers because it was relatable and interactive. I feel like so often these kinds of projects can be a little boring and Holly and I did not want ours to come off that way, which is why we included the Mean Girls hook in the beginning.  Some of the things our peers critiqued us on are our pace and they would want some more real life examples to help them picture or learn how to handle more. I think I would change our pace also. I feel like I always get worried that I will not have enough information and be standing up in the front with nothing else to say and still have 5 minutes left, but I feel like this understanding will come more with time. 

Group Differences Forum Article Response

Mandy Hyde

Group Differences Forum

Multiculturism

2/10/14

Racial Stereotypes

            I believe this article really brings to light how far we have come and also how far we have to go before racism is completely stripped of the education field. Some of the quotes this article used from real educators made me sick like this one John McWhorter said, “The sad and simple fact is that while there are some excellent black students ... on average, black students do not try as hard as other students.” This quote was part of the realization of how far we have come since the desegregation of schools. I could not imagine not going to school with peers from different cultures because I learned so much from them, and I believe it helps our students become more well rounded.

            I also believe that we still have a long way to go because of the need to write articles such as this one. This article talked about how educators have preconceived notions about how their students will perform. White students will perform good, Asian students will perform great because they are all geniuses, and my black students, well they are always lazy so they underperform. This is something that still goes on in our schools today, and can and should be abolished because we know this is wrong. This article also talks about the media’s influence on keeping racism alive. TV shows and other media use racial stereotypes to make fun of and categorize minority groups such as saying all black people are violent, lazy or dumb, which is not so often the case. Without media influence we could be making even bigger strides toward racial equality, and I believe we are getting there it will just take more time.  

Post #4 - Mandy Hyde

CSEL case study?

(1)  Based on our readings and class discussion, how will you create a learning environment that is conducive to learning?

-We know that a positive learning environment can effect our students attitude and learning, so it is vital to create a successful environment. Whether that means playing quiet music and having lights slightly dimmed when students come in in the morning or when students return to the classroom from lunch, recess, art or music programs it sets them up to be ready to learn when they come into a peaceful environment. Maybe having everyone sit down and take a minute to gather themselves together and enter the 'ready to learn' state of mind.

-Also, climate and goals also are conductive for a successful learning environment. Having students' work hung around the room and doing gallery walks can help create a feeling of community for the whole class. Holding students accountable to do their own 'jobs' in the classroom for everything to run smoothly also helps create a sense of community and responsibility.