ECE 451

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Melissa's Self Assessment

Self Assessment

Overall Grade: A

Field work/field notes: movie critique

For this assignment we had to not only critique our classmates work, but we had to have our own work critiqued as well. This assignment was one of the more difficult ones because I had to be sure that the advice that I was giving to the behaviorist group was accurate, meaningful, but not offensive with the language that I used to describe the flaws. It also meant that I had to really know the content of behaviorism in order to give accurate advice. It was nice but also a little nerve racking to have our work reviewed by our peers and made me a little uncomfortable. After reflecting on this assignment I can see why Joe made us do this, because as a teacher we are going to have to be able to have our work reviewed by our colleagues and administrators to make sure what we are teaching the students is quality information and has a purpose in the classroom.

Reading responses: Tumblr

Throughout the course of the semester we had various readings that focused on different philosophies of teaching. We were encouraged to document our thoughts and findings on the different topics on our group’s Tumblr page. The reading responses allowed us to get a better understanding of the information and made it easier to process and also look back on. The Tumblr also helped out a great deal when writing our philosophy statements. I feel like our Tumblr really demonstrates all of the hard work our group did the whole semester, and allows a person to see all of the hard work and learning that went on when we were in the classroom. It documents how our learning has changed, allowed other classmates to see our work and use it as a resource, and it was just nice to be able to have all of our group’s work in once place.

Philosophy Statement:

For our philosophy statement we were supposed to write about our own personal teaching philosophy, how it has changed, and how we will use it in our future classroom. We had to write a rough draft before turning in the final product. I liked that we were able to have our peers review and have editing workshops in class to get our classmates thoughts and opinions on our to improve our statements. It really helped me out and I feel like my group mates were able to give me useful advice. It was nice to be able to see the change in my thinking of teaching from what I thought in the beginning of this class to the end. I feel like Joe really allowed us to understand the different philosophies and shaped us into forming our own opinions in how we would want to incorporate in our own classroom. When we go on job interviews in the future we will have to have to discuss our philosophy statements and it is nice to already have the groundwork laid out, and it will be interesting to see how my philosophy will change by the end of my time here at Penn State.

Multimedia Case Study: Final Project

For our final project my group decided to make a video of how the College of Education should make it mandatory that ECE 451 and CI 295a be taken during the same semester. We interviewed our group mates and shared our opinions on our personal experiences with taking the two classes. It was interesting because we had students who took them during different semesters, and also students who were taking them simultaneously. We discussed the benefits and disadvantages to having them in the same semester and also provided useful advice for the administration that could make great changes for the education program at Penn State. During the process of interviewing Joe really helped us dig deeper and encouraged us to really ask interesting questions and try to understand how the person feels. We had to start out with broad questions and just allow the person being interviewed express their opinions freely. I feel like this is an important skill to have as a teacher because you want to be able to understands your students and get an idea of what they are thinking, without having your questions influence their personal opinions. Our final product I feel will help the education program and will be of great benefit to future Penn State education students. 

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Melissa's Rough Draft Philosophy Statement

Melissa Keller

Philosophy Paper

ECE 451

              Learning is an ongoing process that is always changing as your grow older and learn more about the world and yourself. Before taking ECE 451 I was used to a typical college class where you would go in, listen to the professor lecture, take notes, and then study for the 2 exams that you have through out the semester. That was not the case in Joe’s class. He wanted this class to be interactive, and at times a little bit unpredictable because he was trying to show us what it is really like to be a teacher. He put us in situations where we were not always comfortable and allowed us to experience first hand all of the difficult tasks we will have to deal with as a teacher. At times it was a bit frustrating, but I am thankful for the experience because I can look back and see what I was learning, and the process that it took to allow me to fully understand what Joe was trying to teach.

Before this class I knew little about the actual philosophies behind how I was taught in school. Starting early in elementary school it seemed to be mainly behaviorist and constructivist. In elementary school and going on into later schooling we were constantly reinforced in our learning, a main component of the behaviorist theory. MacNaughton stated, “When a child’s behavior is reinforced they are made stronger or more likely to occur through the use of rewards (or reinforcers)” (MacNaughton, 2003).  In one of my elementary school classes, if we preformed well on quizzes and homework’s we would receive stickers, then after a certain amount of stickers we were able to trade them in for a prize like a bouncy ball or candy. In this aspect of behaviorism I enjoyed it and was successful at it. I did what was needed to get the good grade and then get the reward. For many students this type of learning works. Behaviorism learning is organized and orderly, and seeks to encourage and motivate learners.  We learned about behaviorism through project based learning when we had to do the claymation. By acting out how behaviorism would play out in a classroom it allowed my understanding of the concept to be stronger.  MacNaughton (2003) says, “adjust reinforcement to each child's learning so that they can understand comprehend reinforcement from teacher for different types of behavior” (p. 21). However there also was the part of behaviorism that many find boring and unsuccessful, skill and drill. Almost everyday during my formative years, the schedule was the same in each class. We would come in, listen to the teacher lecture by either power point or examples on the board and then do practice problems. We would then have quizzes, tests, and papers to assess our learning. This was the part of behaviorist style learning in which I did not like, however I was successful at it. I would memorize the information taught and that we were being tested on and do well on the tests. Still, right after the test was over I didn’t remember or use any of the previous information. This type of learning helped me do well in school but is it really worth it if I didn’t remember the information the day after it ended?

 In my future classroom I plan to incorporate behaviorism but in some different ways. I like how MacNaughton’s book it says, “Set clear goals for child's learning: structure clear step by step program to reach those goals; Encourage children to stay on task; Reinforcers; Design learning" (Slee, 1998). This quote incorporates some of the key aspects I would use in my classroom. By working together with the children to set classroom and individual goals it will help everyone have something to accomplish and work towards. Also I do like being organized and orderly so by encouraging to stay on task I can work individually and in groups with students to help them if they are falling behind. As well, I do believe in the power of reinforcement and think that if a child is successful at something they deserve to be celebrated and feel good about it. I will incoroporate all the theories that we learned throughout the semester and not just soley focus on one theory to bring into my classroom.

In the beginning of Joe’s class the classroom environment was based on the theories of behaviorism and maturationism then we moved into the reform stage of our class. We were able to choose what we wanted to do and assess how it would affect our learning. Joe gave the option of whether or not we wanted to continue using the Tumblr and he really gave us the option of what we wanted to do using the constructivism theory. As MacNaughton says, “The goal is to support the child in his or her need to actively interact with his or her environment in order to make sense of it” (MacNaughton, 2003). This style of teaching is very child centered and emphasizes self-discovery. Constructivism seems to take the completely opposite approach as behaviorism when stated, “Teachers should guide, stimulate and challenge thinking, rather than using rote learning to teach new thinking” (Henniger, 1999).  I like the idea of self-discovery and allowing the child to think on their own and I will use this in my classroom to promote critical thinking and problem solving skills. 

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Melissa's Philosophy Statement

Melissa Keller

Philosophy Paper

ECE 451

              Learning is an ongoing process that is always changing as your grow older and learn more about the world and yourself. Before taking ECE 451 I was used to a typical college class where you would go in, listen to the professor lecture, take notes, and then study for the 2 exams that you have through out the semester. That was not the case in Joe’s class. He wanted this class to be interactive, and at times a little bit unpredictable because he was trying to show us what it is really like to be a teacher. He put us in situations where we were not always comfortable and allowed us to experience first hand all of the difficult tasks we will have to deal with as a teacher. At times it was a bit frustrating, but I am thankful for the experience because I can look back and see what I was learning, and the process that it took to allow me to fully understand what Joe was trying to teach.

Before this class I knew little about the actual philosophies behind how I was taught in school. Starting early in elementary school it seemed to be mainly behaviorist and constructivist. In elementary school and going on into later schooling we were constantly reinforced in our learning, a main component of the behaviorist theory. MacNaughton stated, “When a child’s behavior is reinforced they are made stronger or more likely to occur through the use of rewards (or reinforcers)” (MacNaughton, 2003).  In one of my elementary school classes, if we preformed well on quizzes and homework’s we would receive stickers, then after a certain amount of stickers we were able to trade them in for a prize like a bouncy ball or candy. In this aspect of behaviorism I enjoyed it and was successful at it. I did what was needed to get the good grade and then get the reward. For many students this type of learning works. Behaviorism learning is organized and orderly, and seeks to encourage and motivate learners.  We learned about behaviorism through project based learning when we had to do the claymation. By acting out how behaviorism would play out in a classroom it allowed my understanding of the concept to be stronger.  MacNaughton (2003) says, “adjust reinforcement to each child's learning so that they can understand comprehend reinforcement from teacher for different types of behavior” (p. 21). However there also was the part of behaviorism that many find boring and unsuccessful, skill and drill. Almost everyday during my formative years, the schedule was the same in each class. We would come in, listen to the teacher lecture by either power point or examples on the board and then do practice problems. We would then have quizzes, tests, and papers to assess our learning. This was the part of behaviorist style learning in which I did not like, however I was successful at it. I would memorize the information taught and that we were being tested on and do well on the tests. Still, right after the test was over I didn’t remember or use any of the previous information. This type of learning helped me do well in school but is it really worth it if I didn’t remember the information the day after it ended?

 In my future classroom I plan to incorporate behaviorism but in some different ways. I like how MacNaughton’s book it says, “Set clear goals for child's learning: structure clear step by step program to reach those goals; Encourage children to stay on task; Reinforcers; Design learning" (Slee, 1998). This quote incorporates some of the key aspects I would use in my classroom. By working together with the children to set classroom and individual goals it will help everyone have something to accomplish and work towards. Also I do like being organized and orderly so by encouraging to stay on task I can work individually and in groups with students to help them if they are falling behind. As well, I do believe in the power of reinforcement and think that if a child is successful at something they deserve to be celebrated and feel good about it. I will incoroporate all the theories that we learned throughout the semester and not just soley focus on one theory to bring into my classroom.

In the beginning of Joe’s class the classroom environment was based on the theories of behaviorism and maturationism then we moved into the reform stage of our class. We were able to choose what we wanted to do and assess how it would affect our learning. Joe gave the option of whether or not we wanted to continue using the Tumblr and he really gave us the option of what we wanted to do using the constructivism theory. As MacNaughton says, “The goal is to support the child in his or her need to actively interact with his or her environment in order to make sense of it” (MacNaughton, 2003). This style of teaching is very child centered and emphasizes self-discovery. Constructivism seems to take the completely opposite approach as behaviorism when stated, “Teachers should guide, stimulate and challenge thinking, rather than using rote learning to teach new thinking” (Henniger, 1999).  I like the idea of self-discovery and allowing the child to think on their own and I will use this in my classroom to promote critical thinking and problem solving skills.

            Joe was trying to transform our thinking, and for the most part I feel like it was a success. Project based learning was a big part of our class and I now can see the benefits that it has on students and their learning. I will use project based learning in my class because I feel like it can assess the learner, without the major pressure of an exam or presentation. The students are able to experience their learning, and as a teacher I will ask the student how they are experiencing their learning and why it is important to that individual.  “Educators can choose to be actively involved in transformation of inequalities in their work or implicitly involved in reproducing inequalities. As teachers we are cultural workers, whether we are aware of it or not. If teachers don’t question the culture and values being promoted in the classroom, we socialize our students to accept the inequalities of our society along lines of race, class, gender, and ability”(Jungck and Marshall, 1992).  I feel like this is important because as an educator you need to be sure you are recognizing all the different types of cultures that are being brought into your classroom.  

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John Dewey Notes

John Dewey believed strongly that education could best contribute to society by producing self-governing individuals capable of independent thought and able to question the social world of which they are a part.

He believed that education played its part in social change by preparing the child to participate in it. 

Education should arise in and through the everyday events of life, it should be based on the interests of the child and that child should be actively involved in their own learning. 

Children’s interests should drive their education.

“Children learn by doing.” -John Dewey

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Melissa's reaction to ASL performance

The ASL performance was very interesting to watch. The poems that she wrote were so deep and filled with emotion and she really got that message across with all of her facial expressions  It amazed me how I could understand what she was saying just by the expressions on her face. I feel like she is very passionate about what she does and it making a huge difference in the ASL world.  I also liked how she got the class involved and had some students perform the riddles we all knew growing up as a child. It was funny to see the students get up there and try to act it out. The students struggled a bit to act out the words and that allowed me to see how difficult it truly is. I think the points she brought up about using ASL in the classroom with children who are not deaf was a great point. If more people knew the language everyone would be able to interact and it would also just be an alternative form of communication for everyone. I really enjoyed watching this performance and it was a great experience that I will remember. 

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Philosophy statement instructions/notes

The first paper will be a 3 to 5 double-spaced typewritten or word-processed page using Times New Roman and a 12 point font.  The second paper will be 5 to 8 pages. For due dates see the course schedule. These papers will be a summary of the students’ curriculum Philosophy Statement in relation to the major philosophical and curricular schools of thought encountered in the course. The papers should also document any changes or refinements of the student’s philosophy that occurred as a result of courserelated experiences. A grading rubric will be provided in advance and directions will be elaborated upon during class

4 pages each page about each class

first half about where we are what point of class how far have we come things started to change started very traditional and from what we came into the class with of how we have been schooled/how we learned or what typical college class was like. We were not used to his different type of teaching approach and did not know what to expect

            Learning is an ongoing process that is always changing as your grow older and learn more about the world and yourself. Before taking ECE 451 I was used to a typical college class where you would go in, listen to the professor lecture, take notes, and then study for the 2 exams that you have through out the semester. That was not the case in Joe’s class. He wanted this class to be interactive, and at times a little bit unpredictable because he was trying to show us what is really is like to be a teacher. He put us in situations where we were not always comfortable and allowed us to experience first hand all of the difficult tasks we will have to deal with as a teacher. At times it was a bit frustrating, but I am thankful for the experience because I can look back and see what I was learning, and the process that it took to allow me to fully understand what Joe was trying to teach.

now we like project based learning and different tasks and goals and like that Joe is telling us how to assess how students are experience their learning. Good teacher asks us how we experience stuff and how it is important to us and how it drives what we are doing. Write about how we imagine we are gong to incorporate it into our classroom and what type of teacher we are going to use. Go to mac naughton project based inquiry based learning—learn about what it is how we will use to. Look at the similarities between different types of learning

adventure, cooperative, outdoor, service learning, cooperative education, active learning, integrative, problem based, discovery ,constructivism, democratic education, Sudbury (higher a specialist in art history to learn about what they are interested in) experiential learning

read chapter 4 9 and look at the resources TUMBLR

project based and inquiry based

1.     video that tracks “affect” tracks how you experience learning

2.     philosophy paper draft #1

3.     exerperiental learning + chapter 4 & 9

4.     major project—imagine using in classroom

WEDNESDAY 11/28/12

class+readings+ what this mean about your philosophy

write a page for next class about philosophy and wil workshop papers in class

conforming:

had a syllabus, followed what it said, and listened to directions of what he told us to do. Behaviorism had ot make box classroom claymation and the PSA on what a good teacher/caring teacher checklist. Movie critique of claymation. Revise critique. Directors cut.

Reforming: Dewey research/science lesson plan. Dewey comic strip/talk show interview with Jamie/

            Tumblr stopped using the book but our group still chose to use it.

Reforming we had choices of what we wanted to do

Meeting with Joe:

Convince peoipel using both rational argument forwhy we are doing and emotional message for why we are doing it.

Interviewing students on what would benefit of having ci and ece together.

Ece students wishes for future 7 min video

Incorporate leanring theories into argument

Message of future teachers to university

Have to connect it readings

They are already doing that in the 295 class (read syllabus of ci)

12/5/12

what are the core features of assessment curriculum etc… 

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Melissa's notes on dewey

that young people in traditional schools do have experiences; and, secondly, that the trouble is not

the absence of experiences, but their defective and wrong character-- wrong and defective

from the standpoint of connection with further experience.

  It sets a problem to the educator. It is his

business to arrange for the kind of experiences which, while they do not repel the student,

but rather engage his activities are, nevertheless, more than immediately enjoyable since

they promote having desirable future experiences

    Can we find any reason that does not ultimately come down to the belief that

democratic social arrangements promote a better quality of human experience, one which

is more widely accessible and enjoyed, than do non-democratic and anti-democratic

forms of social life? Does not the principle of regard for individual freedom and for

decency and kindliness of human relations come back in the end to the conviction that

these things are tributary to a higher quality of experience on the part of a greater number

than are methods of repression and coercion or force? Is it not the reason for our

preference that we believe that mutual consultation and convictions reached through

persuasion, make possible a better quality of experience than can otherwise be provided

on any wide scale?

Collateral learning in the way of formation of enduring attitudes, of

likes and dislikes, may be and often is much more important than the spelling lesson or

lesson in geography or history that is learned.

  The most important attitude that can be formed is that of desire to go

on learning.

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Melissa's Movie Critique

Behaviorism Movie Critique 

            I feel like this group did an excellent job at portraying what a behaviorist classroom would be like. They really showed the positive reinforcement part by having the children listen to the rules and instructions that the teacher said. I felt like they might have been a little strict with the rules, but in order to get the point across that it was a behaviorist classroom they might have over exaggerated that aspect.  In the book it describes the classroom management and learning to be orderly, and the materials must be chosen and carefully organized from most simple to increasingly complex. I feel like in this group’s movie they could have showed the progression from simple tasks to more complex tasks to make it more like a behaviorist classroom. They could have started out the day reading a few pages from a book, and then adding more to that task maybe by having them right a report or something along those lines.  They hit the main point that the teacher is in control and that the children must conform to the teacher’s standards.

              Another main point that behaviorists focus on in the classroom is how students should work independently and at their own pace. The teacher told the class to read a certain amount of pages, which was good because she did not give them a time limit on when it had to be done. Reading a book is an independent activity and was an excellent selection by the group.  Throughout the movie one could tell that the goals were clearly set for the child’s learning. That is a very big aspect in a behaviorist classroom curriculum and structure.  The classroom structuring is a clear, step-by-step program to reach those goals encouraging children to stay on task. The teacher made sure in the video that the children were doing their work, and if a child was misbehaving she made sure to reinforce him by putting him in the time out chair. The teacher reinforced the children with the star chart and provided other materials that acted as rewards for the children.

              I think they could have done a better job with introducing the characters in the movie so the viewer had a clearer idea of why each child was behaving they way that they did. If the viewer knew each character’s role in the classroom the set up and structure of how a behaviorist classroom environment looks like would have came across easier.  

              This group did a great job with the movie and clearly understood the concepts of what a behaviorist classroom would look like. There obviously are some critiques and changes as listed above that would only enhance the groups movie and add more to the script. The behaviorist classroom had clear rules and goals that allowed the children to work independently and go at their own pace, and used the concept of reinforcers and rewards to change the child’s behavior. The children also conformed to the culture of the classroom that was planed out by the teacher. This group made really captured the essence of what a behaviorist classroom environment is like. 

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Melissa's 3 golden rules

We know that for teachers to make meaningful changes in pedagogical beliefs and accompanying practices, they themselves will need to try out and reflect on new approaches in the context of their own classrooms  

  Student self-assessment serves cognitive purposes, then, but it also promises to increase students’ responsibility for their own learning and to make the relationship between teachers and students more collaborative

  In addition to using assessment to monitor and promote individual students’ learning, classroom assessment should also be used to examine and improve teaching practices. This includes both ongoing, informal assessments of students’ understandings to adjust lessons and teaching plans as well as more formal and critical action-research studies.

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In class notes and sketches

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Golden Lines

The content of assessments should match challenging subject matter standards and serve to instantiate what it means to know and learn in each of the disciplines. Therefore, a broader range of assessment tools is needed to capture important learning goals and processes and to more directly connect assessment to ongoing instruction.

Our aim should be to change our cultural practices so that students and teachers look to assessment as a source of insight and help instead of an occasion for meting out rewards and punishments.

There is a close relationship between truly understanding a concept and being able to transfer knowledge and use it in new situations. In contrast to memorization-and in contrast to the behaviorist assumption that each application must be taught as a separate learning objective-true understanding is flexible, connected, and generalizable.

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Self-assessment

Kaitlyn Loeffler

ECE 451

  Overall Grade: A

            I believe my progression from the beginning of the semester in ECE 451 to the end of the semester has been a progression of learning, growing, and developing as a future education teacher.  Through the projects and activities that I have worked on, my understanding of many topics and concepts has flourished.

Fieldwork/Fieldnotes

            To begin, the field notes that began my continuous chain of growing was the movie critique.  After beginning the critique I realized what I was most focused on was not that of the content of what behaviorism was, but I was looking at more of the technical aspect of it.  Clearly that was not the most important part of what we were doing, however, I did not understand behaviorism fully enough to give my feedback about the ideas that went along with the claymation.  After understanding what was really expected of our critiques, I began to realize I cannot just rely on knowledge that I think I have.  I have to be sure and I need to go back to the information that I read, pull out important points, and apply them.  Therefore, I went back into MacNaughton and tried to understand how behaviorism is shown in every aspect of the classroom.  I was then able to watch the behaviorist movie again and understand what was demonstrated correctly and what was over exaggerated or underrepresented.  I made my final draft of the critique and instead of commenting on hand placement while moving the clay pieces; I was able to comment on the theory and application of that theory.

Reading Responses

            As one of the reading responses, we had to do a group comic on the reforming theories, constructivism, psychodynamics, neuroscience, and John Dewey’s beliefs.  For this instead of focusing in on the topic that we were supposed to be mastering, for my group it was John Dewey, we had to revisit our readings as well as look at other groups Tumblrs to gain as much information as we could about each section.  It was definitely harder to completely understand psychodynamics and neuroscience because those were two of the theories that my group did not really focus on throughout the semester.  However, it did require us to go back into MacNaughton as well as use other resources on the computer to be able to understand how a classroom would be set up and how teachers go about the school day within these theories.  For the comic we decided to use the same activity in all of the parts of the comic so we would be able to understand what is seen in some theories, but not in others.  With this being said, since we did not really reflect on the comic like we did with other activities, it was sort of up in the air whether we completely understood all of the theories.  However, I did believe I understood more about psychodynamics and neuroscience than I did before I completed this activity.

Philosophy Paper

            My progression from the first draft of the philosophy paper to the final draft showed growth even within that short amount of time of one week.  I began out sort of hitting the surface points of what I was learning in the classroom.  However, once I started to really delve in to how I viewed education and seeing which theories I connected most to, I found out a lot about myself as an educator.  The paper required me to reflect on the whole semester which really put into perspective of my thinking starting out in the class and how it progressed to when I left the class.  The connection that I began to understand was how there was such a close link between myself as a student and myself as a teacher which then in turn would connect directly to how other students, in elementary school, understand and perceive things.  I now understand myself more fully as a future teacher and I understand how I can provide my students with the most meaningful experience to further their knowledge.

Multimedia Case Study

            My groups’ final video was a “plea” to teachers and administration here at Penn State explaining why we think it is a good idea to have CI 295A and ECE 451 be mandatory to take within the same semester.  Before being told about this idea by Dr. Joe, we had absolutely no idea of what we wanted to do for our final project.  After this proposal was introduced we definitely knew that we wanted to keep exploring it.  In the beginning stages of ideas we knew it would be beneficial to make our point stronger by interviewing ourselves or others about their experiences within the education program at Penn State.  We began planning the questions we were going to ask, and when meeting with Dr. Joe, we finally understood exactly how he wanted us to ask the questions.  We needed to start off broad and then narrow them down based on what the interviewee was saying.  The fact that we understood what was expected of us before the other groups understood and even Dr. Joe’s graduate students, as he said, definitely gave my group and me motivation to make a PSA asking the administration and teachers at Penn State to consider the benefits of taking ECE 451 and CI 295A during the same semester.  Our starts out broadly asking how has our own experiences in the education program and Penn State been and then narrows it down based on our responses to how would we benefit as future teachers taking ECE 451 and CI 295A simultaneously.  Although our video is in its rough stages, we definitely introduced the main points in a way that is engaging.  By making this our final project, the reoccurring theme of education is experience definitely is shown here.  By having field experience along with learning about theories is experience because we would be able to directly apply what we know inside a classroom.  That would give us the best experience.  In addition, having to work together with my group definitely allowed us to introduce ideas, whether used or not used, to make our project even better.  Hearing other people’s ideas allows me to understand things better.

              I believe my growth in ECE 451 was tremendous.  By putting in as much effort as possible, I definitely gained as much as I could through that.  I have changed as a student, as a learner, and as a future teacher.  My views about education have altered and completely changed altogether.  I also now know the benefits I gain from interacting with my fellow future teachers and how a combined effort can definitely create ideas and viewpoints that would have otherwise not been seen.  My experience in ECE 451 has definitely changed me for the better.

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Hayleigh Lawrence - Multimedia Case Study

Hayleigh Lawrence                                                  ECE 451 Fall 2012

Self-Assessment

The grade I would give myself is an A. Not only have I changed as a future teacher, I have also changed as a student. I have learned how to experience learning in new and creative ways that I have never encountered before. This class has opened my mind to new modes of learning and teaching and I strongly believe that it will influence how I teach children in the future.

Fieldwork/Field notes

Critique of Behaviorism Video

            When I first wrote the critique of the other group’s video I thought that I was giving them reasonable advice. I thought that by going very in depth in my critique of their video it would better help them improve the quality of it. After we gave them our critiques to read, they said our observations were too critical. As I was reading over my critique again I realized how little I knew about how to critique other’s work. I was picking at the minimal and directorial flaws in the movie instead of looking at the theory and critiquing them on their knowledge of that theory. I realized how little I knew about Behaviorism and I then had to go back and read even more about the theory so I could better critique the group. After I made corrections on my critique I felt that it was a much better assessment of the other group’s work. This task not only taught me how to critique others, but also to critique myself at the same time and to assess my own knowledge of a particular topic.

Philosophy Paper

            This philosophy paper was a very different experience for me. I rarely write my own emotions and experiences in a paper, so it was something very new to me. I immediately knew what philosophy I was going to say that I most agreed with: Behaviorism. I was always taught that Behaviorism is the most common way of instructing one’s classroom. It wasn’t until I began thinking about the second half of the semester, when we studied John Dewey, that I realized that my thinking about the educational philosophies had changed. I agreed with some of John Dewey’s philosophy and also some of Constructivist’s philosophy. This change of mind was very shocking to me. I discovered what kind of teacher I will be in the future and how I will be guiding my students. Not only did this project assist me in better understanding my future, it also helped my future students by me providing the best education and experience possible for them.

Reading Responses

Tumblr

            In the beginning of the semester our Tumblr was very organized. Dr. Joe instructed us by saying that we have internal subtopics for each teaching philosophy theory and we had to provide information for each subtopic on our Tumblr. As we moved from the beginning of the semester, where we were conforming to Dr. Joe’s teach, to the end of the semester, where we were reforming, we began to design our Tumblr in a way that was more personal to our group. I was nervous at first because I felt as though we wouldn’t understand the philosophy if we didn’t research each subtopic. I then realized that our understanding grew stronger with the second half of the semester because we were then transforming into new ways of communication our learned knowledge. Through this experience I learned how to be more innovative and creative and how to design a website that is easy to read for others.

Multimedia Case Study

Final Project

            I wasn’t sure what our group was going to for our final project. I imagined we would compile all of our raw video footage together to create an, “overview” of what Dr. Joe’s class is like. It wasn't until Dr. Joe came into class one day talking about a meeting he was just at and how frustrated he was by the meeting. He took a vote from us to see if we agreed with him that ECE 451 and CI 295a should be taken in the same semester. I began to think of an idea for our group to create a syllabus for the two classes to be combined for future elementary education students. I couldn’t wait to tell the rest of the group and Dr. Joe. When we explained the idea to him he began to steer us in a new direction of creating more of a PSA for teachers and administration at Penn State. Our group was so inspired by the idea and we could not wait to create the video. Although the video is a little rough, I believe that if Dr. Joe wanted to use it to persuade the administration to combine the two classes that it would have an extremely positive outcome. I would be more than happy to continue working on the video to perfect it so it would be ready to show teachers and administration at Penn State. 

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Hayleigh Lawrence - In-class notes, writing, sketches, photographs, etc.

In-class notes, writing, sketches, photographs, etc.

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Hayleigh Lawrence - Final Project

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TOWCmmEElQg&feature=youtu.be

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Hayleigh Lawrence - "Famous Theorist Talk Show" and Direct link to Tumblr

Talk Show

http://mjk5432.tumblr.com/post/37850467600/john-dewey-talk-show

Link to Tumblr

http://mjk5432.tumblr.com/

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Hayleigh Lawrence - 3 Golden Lines

Distortions in what and how students are taught may actually decrease students’ conceptual understanding.

We have to not only make assessment more informative, more insightfully tied to learning steps, but at the same time we must change the social meaning of evaluation.

"The whole process of becoming competent in any field must be divided into a very large number of very small steps, and reinforcement must be contingent upon the accomplishment of each step." -Skinner