Chart

I have tried several times to get the full chart to show up in the blog and no matter what I do it will not.  Since it will not post correctly the full chart will be in your e-mail.

Activity 2.1

Theory	Important Characteristics	Example from my classroom
·         Developmental Psychology o    Key notion is maturation of cognitive skills o    Psychologist is Piaget and Vygotsky ·         Behavioral psychology o    Helps us understand how behavior is learned o    Significantly impacts the way we teach o    B.F. Skinner is is considered the father of behavioral psychology ·         Cognitive Psychology o    Studies the human processes of learning, thinking, and knowing o    Cognitive abilities- clusters of mental skills which are essential to human functioning o    Cognitive processing- refers to the mental activities that an individual uses in learning.	·         Learning happens in stages from concrete to representational to abstract ·         Developmental variations- refers to differnces in the rates of specific components of development. ·         Developental differences implies that many students who have learning disabilities are not very different from their peers rather it is just a matter of timing. ·         Figure 5.1 on page 143-shows the stages of learning which are 4 stages. ·         Human behavior is shaped by behavior principles such as positive reinforcement and is a function of consequences. ·         Modifying behavior requires direct focus on the behavior of concern such as talking, reading, or paying attention. ·         Objective that is being taught should be clearly specified ·         Target behavior can be measured and observed ·         Effectiveness of intervention requires frequent measurement o     Is based on on three key events  called A, B, and C o    A= antecedent event, stimulus o    B= target behavior, response o    C= consequence event, reinforcement ·         Functional behavior assessment- student displays a challenging behavior, it serves the student’s purpose. This is the antecedent event that leads to the student’s observable behavior ·         Positive behavioral support is given once teacher understands reason for students antecedent behavior. ·         Teaching program designed to help disadvantaged students and has been considered a success with those at risk because of poverty. ·         Explicit teaching- similar to direct instruction and is based on behavioral orientation ·         Teachers are clear about specific skills that are taught and teach each step instead of leaving it up to the student to make inferences. ·         Behavioral analysis- another appilication of behavioral psychology ·         Requires that teachers analyze a specific task that students will learn so they know subskills needed to accomplish the task. ·         Information processing model- traces flow of information during the learning process.  See figure 5.3 on page 151 o    With instruction in learning strategies teachers can help students with retireval process of memory- rehearsal or repeating information, chunking or grouping the information o    Organizing the information o    Key words	·         When I teach math facts, I start with manipulatives, and then add in representational knowledge by the inclusion of written numerals.   The abstract knowledge is the ability to manipulate the concept or the math fact without the representation or the manipulative across multiple situations for multiple purposes.  ·         When I teach how to write a book report for the first time I break it down step by step and teach each subskill that is needed to successfully complete that step. We even do an example of what it should look like when their reports are done. ·         Teaching students vocabulary words for a subject and breaking it down to smaller parts for them and giving them words they understand and can relate to for the definitions.

page 165.

1.       I were the principal I would explain to those students that it was indeed fair.  The students in question knew they needed  help and went asked for that help so they would do well on the test.  What we can do to make it more fair for every student is review and use learning strategies like those students and study hard and you too will be very successful on the test.

2.       The motivation strategies that played a huge part was they liked their teacher and wanted to do well on the test.

3.       The strategies Ms. Weiss used were creating a graphic organizer for all parts of the data, apprenticeships, interactive dialogues, strategies intervention model, social interactions, classification, checking, evaluation, and metacognition.

Activity 2.3

A learning disability is a neurological disorder which means that people who have learning disabilities have their brain wired a different way than other people who do not have learning disabilities.   A learning disability cannot be cured.   All students with learning disabilities are just as or if not smarter than their peers but may have difficulties in reading, spelling, reasoning, recalling or organizing information if they are taught in conventional ways or by themselves.  With the right intervention, encouragement and support students who have learning disabilities can succeed and go on to be successful both in school and later in life.  

There are many different kinds of learning disabilities including dyslexia which is where people have trouble understanding words, dyscalculia is where people have trouble solving math problems and understanding math concepts, dysgraphia which is where people have trouble forming letters and writing in a certain space, auditory and visual processing disorders are where people have difficulties understanding language despite having normal hearing and vision, and nonverbal learning disabilities which causes issues with visual-spatial, intuitive organization, evaluative and holistic processing.

Learning disabilities impact a student’s learning and behavior in many ways.    In academics learning disabilities make learning difficult for those students.  Those students often get frustrated and may give up too easy but with help those students can succeed and do well.   The sooner a student gets help the better off they will be and the more successful they will be.  It is key to get students help early as possible because it is harder and harder for students to catch up as they get older.   When students have a learning disability they are often very frustrated and get discouraged.  Students who are discouraged and having trouble learning may act out, have trouble focusing on the task and working.

If students get help as early as possible they will be more likely to be successful in life.  For example if a child has a reading disability they are more likely to be successful in reading if they receive help by first grade.  If students do not receive help before the age of nine they are more likely to have difficulty throughout life with reading.

 Misunderstood Minds Website

My thoughts about Misunderstood Minds website were mixed.   I really contemplated whether I should read this or just record what I have to go through on a daily basis in my life living with ADD and learning disabilities.  In the end I decided that I would miss out on something and I might learn something new.   I really did learn a few things such as talking to students about attention in the classroom and talking about the emotional well being of students.  The activities were especially interesting because I got at least 2 out of 3 correct on them.  I was trying to figure out why and then realized I have learned over many years to look quickly when my mind is focused on the information that I may need and then fill in the missing pieces with my background knowledge with what I do know.  Reading this part I also saw one of my students in everything that was said. 

 In reading all about the reading section what I found most interesting were the following statistics.  Reading is one of the most important things in life and about 85% of students who are diagnosed with learning difficulties have a primary problem reading and language skills.  Most children with reading difficulties can be taught reading and strategies for success in the school and when children’s reading problems are identified early, they are identified early are more likely to learn strategies that will raise reading to grade level.  

I found the writing section to be very interesting.  I had no idea they were so many difficulties that could attribute to problems in writing.  After reading and stopping to think about it though it does make sense.  For instance one has to be able to pay attention in order to think about what they are writing. One of the other things that I have never thought about with the age I am teaching is that some of them may still have graphomotor problems and because of that have a lot of difficulties forming letters which may be a cause for the poor writing skills.  Many of my students this year have difficulty with writing paragraphs; it takes them forever so I am going to look further into this to see if any of the difficulties here may be a cause.

The basic math section was one of the most interesting of all the sections for me to read because I always had difficulty with math.  I remember my mother always telling me how great I was in math and how it was one of my best subjects but I always struggled and had a ton of difficulty.  When working with math there are many brain functions need to be working together including recalling things such as formulas; using language to understand the vocabulary, instructions, and how to explain your thinking; and  using sequential ordering to solve multi-step problems and procedures.  Students also need to know spatial ordering to recognize symbols and recognize geometric shapes, and they need higher order thinking skills to solve problems, monitor their thinking, to assess how reasonable an answer is, and to transfer learned skills to new problems.   Another thing that I have often thought about that was in the website is that the early the intervention occurs for a student having a difficulty the less likely they are to fear math and be more successful.  I always knew it was important for students to develop a great knowledge of the basic concepts so that students can succeed and build upon them.  I am already starting to see students falling further and further behind in because they are having trouble with those basic concepts.   One of my goals in Math this year is to help them become more confident in math.

Activity 2.2

1.       Three ways that strategies help students in the classroom are reducing disruptive problems in the classroom, empower students by allowing them to reinforce their own behavior, and students can become more active and responsible learners.

2.       Strategic learners are able to analyze a problem and develop a plan, they are ablem to organize multiple goals and switch from simple ones to more complicated one, they can access their background knowledge and apply it to different tasks, using self- regulative strategies while finishing a task, attribute their grades to hard work work and great sudy habits and review task-ioriented goals and deterimine whether they have been met or not.    Non-strategic learners are unorganized, impulsive, unaware of where to begin with an assignment, they are unaware of possible steps to break down the problem into steps that are manageable, have problems with memory, they are unable to focus on tasks, they can experience frustration, failure and anxiety, and attribute their failure to uncontrollable factors.

3.       The six stages of SRSD are develop background knowledge, discuss it, model it, memorize it, support it, and establish independent practice. The most important aspects of devloping background knowledge is identifying the skills will need to use a particular strategy, assessing whether the students posssess those skills, and helping the students develop those skills if they do not have them.   Important aspects of discuss it are helping  students understand the benefits of using a strategy, teaching students how and when to use the strategy, emphasizing to sudents that once they learn a strategy they can use it different ways in activities, show students ways to self- monitor.   The most important aspects of modeling it are exposing students to the thoughts processes that are used by skilled learners, showing students how to perform the steps of the strategy, and demonstrating to students the reasons why the steps are necessary.  Important aspects of memorizing it are learn both the steps of the strategy and what action is done at each step, become fluent in the steps of the strategy so students can use without having to stop and think about  what comes next.   Important aspects of support it are collaborating with students about the strategies, use strategy charts and graphic organizers, make sure they work towards goals, offer constructive feedback, discuss with students ways to maintain strategy, support students so they are able to use strategy in other areas as well.   Important aspects of establish independent practice are monitoring and supporting students during final stage of independent work, incorporate ways in your lessons to have students use their new strategy skills, and keep an eye on students  to see how they are using the learned strategy.

4.       I would keep working with Mary Ann in varied settings with the strategy until she is ready to use it independently.  I may also have her work in small group settings with other students who know how to use the strategy independently.

5.       Like Mr. Carter I would introduce the self-regulation with the needs of my classroom.  I would try to find information to relate to it that they are comfortable and knowledgeable with such as having to clean their room or doing chores around the house for Mom and Dad.  I could even discuss the strategies they use for homework planning.  My students are in third grade so all of this would be appropriate to their level and easy for them to relate to.