Module 1: Learning, Teaching and Educational Psychology

In Chapter One, the concept of leave no child left behind is a powerful effort in keeping our youth aligned with one another. With the dramatic diversity today in our schools and society it's vital for our students to feel equal and understand it's our role to provide them with the knowledge to excel and move forward in life. At the beginning of the chapter it explains how in 2015, 25% of U.S. children under the age of 18 are living in immigrant families. By 2044, more than half of the U.S. population will be members of a minority group. Based on these statistics, Eric Turner concluded, "American society and schools are more diverse and more unequal than ever." I understand that the statistics of minorities increasing doesn't necessarily tie into the grades and percentages of tests regarding the NCLB, however, how can you not relate each other? Does a child's learning ability drop due to their ethnicity or race? No. Yet it can be argued that isolation of the minorities in our classrooms today can leave a child feeling left out, or left behind resulting in less interaction in class, test scores dropping, little to no engagement with other students. There's absolutely something there to relate between the two and I find it our responsibility as teachers and future teachers to implement plans/procedures to exemplify how we're providing for our students.
     In Chapter Two, we take a dive into how children develop and our approach to increase development over time. On page 33 it asks us if human development is a continuous process of increasing abilities or are there leaps to new stages when abilities change? I found this interesting as I've blogged in the past about how life itself is a learning process. It's like the saying goes, we live and we learn. I believe in both that we progress as we get older and that we can make leaps to new stages since as we grow our abilities change. Cognitive development, according to Piaget, is that our thinking processes change radically, though slowly, from birth to maturity because we constantly strive to make sense of the world. This can be relatable to what I mentioned earlier about how we live and we learn. We take in new occurrences daily and are constantly learning and evolving as we grow. Piaget is saying how we change frequently yet slowly due to everything that evolves around us.
     In Chapter Three we cover the self, social and moral development. As a child, we begin with our physical development. Over time, our bodies change and we become bigger and stronger, yet these times can become puzzling but also exciting. As preschoolers, they start to develop their motor skills as their brain starts to develop for the integration of information on movements, balance and center of gravity increasing their ability to run, jump, climb, and hop. In the adolescent years, their bodies begin to change as they go through puberty and this can be puzzling to some. Although it happens over time, confusion can occur as the child's body encounters these changes. Looking back on my adolescent years I can remember the time when friends' bodies were making changes. Voices started to change, muscle development kicked in, kids started growing facial hair. I find it a pivotal moment in a kid's life as they go through these changes and as a future educator we can help with the transition and provide an understanding of what is happening.

Tech Class Reflection

     Coming into technology in education, I wasn't sure what to expect but I was definitely looking forward to what if offered. As a potential teacher who will be molding the minds of our future, I feel it's very important for me to understand technology as our youth today is already far more advanced than when we were kids.
     I'm not a big social media guy; I don't post to Facebook, I add photos here and there on Instagram but I've never had a Twitter until taking this class. My immediate thoughts were great....another form of social media to distract me on my phone! However, after downloading Twitter and using it over the course of our class, I've come to learn that it's an extremely beneficial tool that I wish I jumped into sooner. The amount of information provided is amazing and I can proudly say I use it as an informative source for when I'm searching for certain criteria.
     Throughout the course of the class and through Kim's help, I'm absolutely positively far more advanced with the Google tools than I ever was before. And to be honest......if it wasn't for taking this class, I don't think, but I KNOW that I would be a lost cause once told to use a certain program, software, app, etc. This class has allowed me to now have the knowledge and tools to use technology outside of the classroom with my job and is a spectacular feeling knowing I can use what I've learned with my kids.

First Day Subbing

Last Friday I had the opportunity of subbing my first class.....WITH KINDERGARTNERS!! Let me just start off by saying what a bunch of savages!! These kids were ruthless! I've worked with 5-6yr olds before in the past and understand it's not the easiest of tasks to get them to listen, but last Friday was an eventful day to say the least lol. By the end of the day, I thought of myself as Arnold Schwarzenegger telling the kindergartners no bathroom! The number of times each kid asked me to go get a drink of water or to go to the bathroom was insane lol. At first I was like ya sure, go right ahead.......then these animals realized they were going to take advantage of me and so every kid started to ask! And it didn't stop!! I started calling these kids out saying didn't you just go five minutes ago!? They go well now I need a drink of water! They got me..... I was too kind and they took advantage of my weakness! Overall it was an outstanding experience and I enjoyed every single second of it. The support from the teachers who checked in throughout the day made me feel welcomed and I look forward to working with them again.