Take a few minutes to review your reading of Chapter 5 in Educational Psychology.
Develop ONE question (Yes/No questions are forbidden!) relevant to that chapter and direct it to the fellow classmate who follows your name in the listing below.
Garcia > Ladd > Fillingim > Prieto > Bayer > Guthrie > Najjar > Reeder > Lange > Holwerda > Garcia.
Each of you respond to the question that was directed to you.
Brandt - Do you think today's educators are more aware of their own gender biases in the classroom and what steps can be taken toward interacting with both genders equally?
ReplyDeleteIn chapter 5, there is a section about promoting language acquisition. Ana, I think I remember that you are working towards ESL certification or have already completed it. Have you found that your own experience with acquiring English has helped you in thinking of ways to incorporate a student’s primary language meaningfully?
ReplyDelete@Ellar Najjar: My question is related to poverty and school achievement (pg163). Do you think this correlation is due to the lack of experiences and resources that students of poverty face, or the fact that they believe they can not succeed because their environment tells them to believe that?
ReplyDeleteManuel, I did student teaching in a school that implemented single-sex classrooms at the middle school level. The book also discusses this idea. Do you agree or disagree with having all boy or all girl classes? Why? Please explain.
ReplyDeleteLange- Do you give value to acknowledging the gender differences? If not how do you make sure you are giving individualized instruction? If so, how do you avoid gender bias?
ReplyDeleteoops...my "Why?" and "please explain" is a little repetitive. Sorry.
ReplyDeleteLadd to Fillingim. Low SES students may become part of a restiance culture ie an African-American child trying to suceed in school. When their peers start calling them "too white" or trying to please the "man", how do you handle this situation and help this child?
ReplyDelete@Kim Bayer: I really do not believe gender bias is as evident today than in the past. Women are becomming more and more accepted in all aspects of society. I, personally, do not believe I have a gender bias or any other teachers in my school that I know of. I am not saying it does not exist, because there are examples all the time; but, I believe if we can taking the action that we are not with accepting women in all activities, I believe we can end gender bias all together.
ReplyDeleteTo Ladd: The statistics show that 1 in 5 Americans under age of 18 live in poverty. Do you have any suggestion/advice on how we can keep these students motivated to learn? Or how can we tell them that education is their priority knowing that their priority is food on their plate every day? I would appreciate you suggestions. Thanks, Ana.
ReplyDeleteMark, I believe I am to direct a question to you. This chapter covers a great deal regarding stereotyping, bias, and diversity. Mark, based on your experience in the classroom do you think there is a great deal stereotyping and bias within our classrooms? If yes, what are somethings you would or have done to avoid such things. If no, what is your basis?
ReplyDeleteReeder Consider any stereotypes that you might have, particularly while you are in a classroom. What can a teacher do to be prepared for dealing with their own stereotypes?
ReplyDeleteNick, I do give value in acknowledging the gender differences. There are studies outlined within our text that boys and girls generally learn differently, they even broke it down by ethnicity. This may be true, but ever CHILD is different too. Therefore, not only do we need to be mindful, not bias, of gender, but also of their individual learning styles as a student.
ReplyDeleteKim, sociologist theorize that a persons SES (socioeconomic status)is a determinant of his/her educational attainment. Do you agree or disagree with the statement? If so, why?
ReplyDeleteThanks for the question Bruce. I like to think that I don’t stereotype or have strong biases, but the reality is that in some ways I do. I think the nature of being human exceeds our capacity to relate to many different personalities and inputs at once, as a result we make judgments based on our own experiences and preferences. Some of my biases were positive in intent but could have had negative effects on other students. For example, I came to expect more out of high performing students because of their previous assignments. Negative bias or stereotyping is damaging, my next go round in the classroom I want to be equally aware of creating a perception of favoritism to students who work hard or are more naturally gifted than others.
ReplyDeleteAna, I am just interjecting on your question too. The poverty issue goes hand in hand with our biases and stereotypes maybe. This goes along with what I had posted on the previous prompt. We as teachers and the school maybe the only things that are meeting some or all of Maslow's defined needs for learning. Based on some experience, there are kids who's best days are spent in school, at lunch, and receiving praise from an attentive teacher.
ReplyDeleteDavid, that's an intense question, but sadly it's a reality for some kids. Depending on the situation, if it is one or two kids, I would want to speak directly with those students to address their reasons for taunting. For the child receiving the criticism, I would also want to address the situation and encourage him in his drive to learn. If it is a growing issue in the class as a whole, I would want to express that academic success is not a "white" thing. Possibly introducing different successful, intelligent people of different cultural backgrounds.
ReplyDeleteLadd to Ana. A very good ? Ana. I think one of the main problems with our ed. system is that we think every American should go to college. Not true! Nearly every other society directs kids to their given talents by the time they are 12. The world does indeed need Drs., Educators, lawyers and such. However, we also need plumbers, construction workers and in general blue collar workers. There is no shame in those endeavors and they are needed. My father was a cotton ginner and reared six children whom are all well educated. No child left behind was the WORST piece of legislation ever passed as far as public ed. is concerned, in my opinion. We are forcing kids to pursue learning they are neither capable of or desire.
ReplyDeleteMark those were exactly my thoughts. I know that I have biases, I may not know what they all are, but I feel that as a teacher you have to concious/aware and weed them out for their betterment.
ReplyDeleteMark I don’t know if I completely understood your question, but here you go…
ReplyDeleteI think it is very important for students to learn basic concepts in their own languages. It will avoid them to constantly waste time translating meaningful concepts, or perhaps not understand it at all. I think the transition to another language needs to be done gradually. I still have a hard time reading novels in English, New York Times Newspaper, and Times magazine. Sometimes I even quit reading because I don’t want to look in dictionary for every single word. Other times, I know all the words, but I don’t get the message. Then, I quit. I think if this happens to me it will happen to many students being taught in another language other than their mother language. That’s why many international students end up dropping out from high school.
Ellah, that's a good self-reflective question. Obviously stereotyping students is something to be avoided but it can be difficult. Especially when teaching high school kids, there are so many clicks (emo, punk, rednecks, etc.) and there are stereotypes that go with those clicks. The hard part is kids are trying so hard to fit in somewhere that they emulate these stereotypes associated with that click therefore self perpetuating the stereotype. So I guess honestly I stereotype all groups, but as a teacher you have to recognize that you are doing that and treat all students as individuals often despite their desire to be so.
ReplyDeleteOK Brant I believe that 'Poverty correlates with school achievement primarily because of the environment that surrounds them that doesn't believe in them. The student takes on the 'Poverty Conscience', which makes him believe that he will stay in poverty. Resulting in failing out of high school and working for little pay. Finally, I believe that the same student that would fail out of school could also have become a Doctor if just one person believed that he could and if the student could share the same belief
ReplyDeleteManuel, I do not believe that a person's socioeconomic status can always be a determinant of his/her educational attainment. If a child has been raised to believe they are not worthy or capable of higher education many times they do not seek a way out. Today opportunities are abundant through grants and scholarships and once they become enlightened the "road to success" lies in their hands.
ReplyDeletePrompt #4 coming up.
ReplyDeleteAsking non-Yes/No questions is pretty difficult, huh? (Oops!)
Ana, you answered exactly what I was looking for! I appreciate that you make such an effort to read, understand, and apply a new language.
ReplyDeleteGood answer David. I do agree with you. When I was a kid my mom used to tell that I had to go to school, or I would clean the streets. My answer was... If everyone goes to school, who is going to clean the streets? Ana
ReplyDeleteManuel, I looked at your question and I'm going to chime in here too. I think that education is a FACTOR in achieving a certain SES in that education does open up more possibilities or potential for people, but they still have to make strides outside academics to achieve a higher SES.
ReplyDeleteI am just ramblin' on tonight!
ReplyDeleteNick thanks helpful and honest answer
ReplyDeleteI didn't realize that we probably stereotype all groups, but I think you are right.
You make an excellent point Kim. A big part of our job is to identify those kiddos and pick'em up. Most times their parents aren't aware of those programs.
ReplyDeleteI agree with the statement. Some researchers believe that having single sex classrooms benefit both boys and girls because there is no peer pressure to impress. Teaching techniques should not be gender biased. This will help the boys because it will give them an opportunity to learn at their own pace without comparision to girls who tend to learn faster. I think it would be a good idea at the elementary up to middle school level.
ReplyDelete