Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs

Maslow's hierarchy of needs is made up of eight stages beginning with physiological and moving up too self-transcendence. It can then be separated into two categories; deficiency needs and growth needs. deficiency needs are the first four, physiological, safety, love & acceptance, and self esteem & respect of others. If these needs are not met it will get in the way of the person moving through the rest of stages as well as our ability to learn. Growth needs are knowledge & understanding, aesthetics/beauty, self-actualization and self-transcendence. These stages help us to move towards self-fulfillment.

Maslow's hierarchy of needs is as follows:





I would describe my self as being in multiple stages at this time in my life.

• "Knowledge & Understanding" - because I am currently in college gaining the knowledge I need for my future career, and to move on in life
• "Aesthetics & Beauty" - because I do care about the way I look, and because style is always changing, this is always something that will need to be worked on
• "Self-actualization" - I may not be fully at this stage, but definitely at the point where I am striving to "be all that I can be." I am working towards this, and I feel I have begun to touch upon it.

Cooperative Learning

In today's classrooms teachers include and rely in cooperative learning on one of the ways to get a lesson across. All students have different views on this including me. For the most part I enjoy cooperative learning especially when I end up in a group in which we all work well together. However, this is not always the case and sometimes cooperative learning can add so much extra stress and frustration that it would be easier to just do all the work yourself. So there are definite pros and cons to cooperative learning.

                

Pros.	Cons.
Get exposed to new ideas and people	Need to split up work evenly, so it’s not just one person doing all the work. So everyone pitches in.
Allows for construction of knowledge through social interactions	Hard for everyone to get together, especially in post-secondary due to varying class schedules and work.
Everybody’s success depends on others - “all the boats need to rise and fall together”	Creates stress

Five factors that follow with the ideas of pros and cons of cooperative learning and guide you to a better cooperative learning experience are the:

Five Components of Cooperative Learning

1. Positive Interdependence
• Everybodys success depends on others
• Everyone needs to have something invested
2. Positive face-to-face Interactions
• Positive Motivator
• The group should be a kind of community
3. Interpersonal and small group interactions
• Different roles to create interactions. i.e.
• Encourager
• Praiser
• Gatekeeper
• Coach
• Question Commander
• Checker
• Taskmaster
• Recorder
• Reflector
• Quiet Captain
• Materials Monitor
4. Individual Accountability
• One may do most pf the work, other may not show up. Yet all receive the same mark
• Everyone needs to be accountable, and encouraged to work together and do their share of the work
5. Critical Reflection
• When we reflect upon what happened or what we did, and construct knowledge
• how we evaluate
• why?

The Cognitive Information - Processing Approach

The cognitive information approach can be looked at in a sense that our cognitive abilities are similar to that of a computer:

 Robert Siegler also describes the cognitive information processing approach through three things; Thinking, Changing Mechanisms and self modification.

Changing mechanisms is then also broken down into four parts

1. Encoding: which is the process of storage and getting info into the system. This is similar to the Input stage as referenced above
2. Automaticity: which is when something becomes automatic, we can perform it without really having to think about it. Again similar to the way in which a computer functions, it just performs the task that is being asked
3. Strategy Construction: this involves making ourselves consciously aware of how we do things. This allows us to learn to perform tasks more effectively.
4. Transfer: Involves taking something new and applying it to something we already know or to another situation. Allowing more passage ways to the knowledge.

Finally, self modification which is when we can change our own programming, what we know and how we learned it on our own. this involves meta cognition which is basically thinking about thinking as well as cognitive self awareness.


=> prior to learning about the processing approach of cognitive information, I didn't really think about how I was learning, or what I was doing with information once I learned it.  However, I now try to make more ties to the information, whether its to what Ive learned before or through different situations in my life. This now helps me remember information, whether its for an exam or just for my general life, because I have created those extra ties and created better ways for retrieving the information.  

Reciprocal Determinism model of Learning

Albert Bandura created the Reciprocal determinism model of learning which states that learning is determined through the reciprocal or back and forth relationship between behavior, personal factors and environmental factors. The general look of the model is:

I have created an example model which shows how the three interact and where the reciprocity comes in.

The "Golden Circle of Teaching"

In a video Simon Sinek describes his theory of "The Golden Circle" which is set up as:

And, he states that normally people work from the outside in, they start with the what and work themselves in. However, in order to make an impact and to get the real point of something, you need to start with the inside and work your way in.

So to look at this from the point of view of teaching, the what and how are pretty simple; What - We want to be teachers, How - We are learning processes, techniques and models of teaching.

Then there is the why;

I would like to be a teacher to make a difference in children's lives and to help them to succeed. Obviously I know it'll be tough but that moment when a student finally grasps a concept is priceless, and makes it all worth while. That's why I want to be a teacher.

I've also attached an assignment I had for another class where we had to write a two page paper on why I want to be a teacher. So it just adds a little more to my why, of the Golden circle.

Operant Conditioning

There are important concepts to operant conditioning, and within the four concepts lies two types of stimulus; the first where something is introduced or added and the second is when something is taken away. Also, with the two types of stimulus follows a response or directional behavior change. For instance an upward direction is where something is reinforced and a downward or decrease in behavior is when there is a punishment. Now that we know the different stimulus and responses, we can move into the actual concepts:

1. Positive Reinforcement
• is when you increase a behavior by introducing something
2. Negative Reinforcement
• is when you increase a behavior by removing something
3. Positive Punishment
• Is when you decrease a behavior by adding something
4. Negative Punishment
• Is when you decrease a behavior by removing something

Now, in order to make this more clear, I have created some examples or scenarios that out line each along with the desired behavior change.

1. Positive Reinforcement
• If a child is doing a great job concentrating and working on their assignment, rather than fooling around and being distracted, you may offer praise to the student
• The behavior you want is for the student to continue to work hard so the addition of praise will make the student want to work just as hard the next day to continue receiving that praise
2. Negative Reinforcement
• A child may constantly be late handing in assignments, and so if you are constantly nagging the student to hand it on time, the student is bound to hand it on time. Then when they do this, you will stop nagging them
• With the removal of the nagging the student will continue to hand in their assignments on time to avoid the nagging.
3. Positive Punishment
• If a student is continually being disruptive and bugging students in class, you may give them a detention
• The addition of detention will hopefully make the student stop being disruptive in class so they don't receive another detention
4. Negative Punishment
• If a student is continually not doing their homework, you may take away their recess and make them finish their homework in that time
• The removal of recess will hopefully make the student do their homework on time, so they don't lose their recess again.

So, as you can see these concepts of operant conditioning can be found in many classrooms, and will also be very useful as new teachers.

Understanding Learning Disablities

In the Video, "Understanding Learning Disabilities: How difficult can this be? The F.A.T city workshop." Richard D. Lavoie shows both what it is like to have a learning disability as well as certain things you can do to help the student.

I found this video to be very helpful because as new teachers we will run into situations with children who have learning disabilities and may not know why the student is acting how they do, or why they are having trouble with certain tasks. For instance, when we ask a question and receive an answer, then quickly move onto another, the child may still be processing the first question and may not be on the new question yet. for this Lavoie mentions to ask the question, maybe erase the chalkboard to give time, then ask the child with a learning disability first because they now have had time to process the question as well as an answer.

Another thing Lavoie mentioned that I feel may be very useful when I begin teaching, is if I have student who has trouble following along with what I am saying, and gets nervous that I may call on them. I can create a system with that student where as long as I am not in front of that student I won't call on them. This way, they won't constantly be in fear that I may call on them, allowing them to focus on what I am saying rather. Then when I move in front of the student, they then know I will call on them, allowing time to process a response.

This video has shown me many things about children with learning disabilities such as how they process information, and the different problems a student may have to conquer before being able to process the information. So, with this new knowledge and the different techniques Lavoie mentioned in the video, I am definitely more confident for when I begin teaching in an Inclusive classroom.

Inclusive Education in Alberta

There are three different ways that children with special needs are taught through; special education classes, resource room and inclusive classrooms.
Special Education classes, consists of a complete separation from the classroom, where there is a congregation of children with similar special needs grouped together in one class.
A resource room, where for certain subject a student may move from the classroom, to a resource room for specific help or a different curriculum for a certain subject such as math. The student Will then return to the classroom once that subject is done.
Inclusive Classrooms, are where students with special needs stay in the classroom for all subjects through out the day. "Educating all children, together, well."

As a new teacher, there are different things that I may need in order to take my place in an inclusive classroom. Such things may be:

• Knowledge of the students, their backgrounds and in depth knowledge of a child's learning disability
• What may have worked and what has not worked in previous years. Possibly meeting with teachers who have taught the students prior.
• Practice working with children who have learning disabilities
• A support System

I believe, with these things and maybe a few others, working in an inclusive classroom may be easier than without them. It may also allow me to be more comfortable with my position, as well as the possibility to overcome challenges through out the year.