Chapter 12 starts with motivation. That is something that we deal with not only as teachers, but as students, friends, parents, children, etc. Reasons for motivation are what changes its definition. We see things like intrinsic or extrinsic or amotivation. I think a lot of motivation, for children, is extrinsic. They complete a task so they can go finish their center time, or they know they will get a sticker on their page or something like that. I find it in my classroom I try to avoid giving children rewards for doing certain things. I think that doing the actual work in the process of doing the work and then seeing the complete project should be their reward. Most of the time I don’t even give out stickers because then they will come to expect that doing this certain thing will get them the sticker and then there motivation will be ‘sticker….sticker’ not the behavior. I want them to want to act the right way because it will make them happy. I think that is a harder concept for children though. The point could be made that the motivation to get the sticker or whatever reward could be part of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. They are searching for an esteem need or even a love and belongingness need. It is a tough position to be in because we do not necessarily know why the student does something. Usually it is to reach some sort of goal. That could be in their education or in their personal life. That usually motivates someone. Different types of goals cause different motivations and actions. Performance goals are all about the show and how someone presents themselves to others. They are motivated to look and act and show their best selves. I think we need to do our best to help the children achieve their goals, so long as they are not harmful to themselves or others.
Chapter 14 goes on to discuss effective teaching. This is the hardest part of teaching: how to reach every student. Many teachers have the experience of many years being inside the classrooms. New teachers like us have to rely on learning from these teachers, and field experience. I think you need to learn all you can about your students because then it will be easier to figure out the way to approach them. Planning is essential. Knowing the standards and goals you need to reach is imperative, as well as knowing what you want to achieve in your own classroom. There are also better ways to present the material so that the children will understand it; citing specific examples of the topic, etc. Rosenshine’s 6 Teaching Functions resonates with me because we do a lot of similar things in the preschool. We talk about what we did yesterday, and then we do something today, and we constantly talk about the major lesson we have throughout the week. We do some work independently and work out some things together as a group. I think since the children I teach are so young, and our lessons may not be as specific, I may not use many of these methods. That does not mean that I will not in the future though.
Chapter 15’s title had every teacher’s favorite phrase in it: standardized testing. It just conjure a feeling of annoyance and despair. That being said, assessments are very important to not only the teacher, but the school. It shows a faculty what type of work needs to be done for future classes, and it shows subject teachers what types of skills they need to work a little more on. Both formative and summative assessments are important each school year because it gives the teachers feedback at key points during the year. I think as teachers we also need to keep in mind that standardized testing is not the exact measure of a child’s knowledge. Many of these tests cause children to struggle. I think writing tests will be the hardest part of becoming a teacher. I want the assessment not only to be on the material at text book level, but to have a deep understanding of it. As I’m going to teach elementary aged children, essay questions will be difficult, and occasionally short answer ones are difficult. An assessment does not necessarily have to be so formal though, it can be verbal with a student during class as well. I think overall testing is an important part of teaching and understanding what the children know. In the classroom we get immediate results because we are the test graders, and we can see where the students struggle. Standardized tests are mid to late in the year and the results often do not come back until that school year has ended. I think that is one aspect that still needs to be worked out.
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