Educational Psychology

1. Educational Psychology Name and define the stages of mastery an individual is likely to pass through on the way to becoming an expert professional educator. Discuss the major influences and give examples of appropriate activities or goals for each stage. Define and differentiate critical thinking and self-regulated learning as they apply to classroom teachers. Last revised by W. Huitt (2005)

2. Trotter (1986)* discusses 5 stages of mastery one goes through in the process of achieving mastery of any field: * Trotter, R. (1986). The mystery of mastery. Psychology Today, 20(7), 32-38. Stages of Mastery • Novice • Advanced Beginner • Competence • Proficiency • Expertise

3. Stages of Mastery The following provides some examples of how these stages can be applied to your development as a professional educator.

4. Stages of Mastery 1. Novice Learns to recognize various objective facts, initial concepts, and specific rules This stage is the beginning of the preparation of becoming a professional educator.

5. PSYC 2700: Human Growth and Development* • * PSYC 2500: Fundamentals of Psychology (Highly Recommended) Stages of Mastery 1. Novice There are five courses associated with this stage of your development • MSED 2000: Survey of Educational Concepts • BVED 2400: Comp Tech for the Workplace • PSYC 3110: Educational Psychology • SPEC 2000: Serving Students With Diverse Needs

6. Stages of Mastery 2. Advanced Beginner Learns to recognize facts and elements not defined in the Novice Stage and learns more sophisticated rules This stage continues your development in your undergraduate program and involves 300- and 400-level courses in your major. Your undergraduate training ends with a student teaching experience.

7. Stages of Mastery 3. Competence Begins to recognize more context-free and situational elements; simplifies and improves performance; begins to “problem-solve” Begins as you accept full-time employment as a professional educator. It generally takes 2-5 years of on-the-job training (and, in my opinion, a master's degree) for a person to become a competent professional educator.

8. Many teachers never achieve this level because they do not gain enough experience. Stages of Mastery

9. Stages of Mastery 4. Proficiency Learns to identify quickly the important elements of the task; develops rapid fluid style based on intuitive understandings Only a small percentage of professional educators ever reach this stage. These are the teachers one normally thinks about when we remember the teachers who had the most influence on us.

10. Stages of Mastery 4. Proficiency Learns to identify quickly the important elements of the task; develops rapid fluid style based on intuitive understandings Individual's style begins to be expressed and experience (rather than school training) begins to be a major factor in performance. Most people have acquired a mentor who can guide them beyond the general education available through coursework.

11. Stages of Mastery 5. Expertise Experience-based holistic recognition of similarity leads to natural, fluid performance that almost always works We may only interact with a handful in our entire education experience. These educators are widely recognized as superior. They are also likely to be mentors for educators who desire to become like them.

12. Stages of Mastery At your stage of development it is important to remember that it takes years of training and experience to become a competent, let alone a proficient or expert, teacher. All we ask at this point is that you work hard and try to learn from your mistakes. However, you need not feel guilty when you make mistakes; it comes with being in your stage of development.

13. Critical Thinking Critical thinking is the disciplined mental activity of evaluating arguments or propositions and making judgments that can guide the development of beliefs and taking action. Important components: • Disciplined mental activity • Evaluate arguments or propositions • Making judgments • Guide beliefs and actions

14. Self-regulation is a style of engaging with tasks in which students exercise a suite of powerful skills:* * Butler, D., & Winne, P. (1995). Feedback and self-regulated learning: A theoretical synthesis. Review of Educational Research, 65(3), 245-281. Self-Regulation • setting goals for upgrading knowledge; • deliberating about strategies to select those that balance progress toward goals against unwanted costs; and, • as steps are taken and the task evolves, monitoring the accumulating effects of their engagement.

15. Self-Regulation Critical thinking is a necessary, but not sufficient, condition for self-regulation. Three additional factors are included: • Goals must be set • Action must be taken • Feedback must be considered and corrections taken

16. Becoming a Master Teacher Both critical thinking and self-regulation are necessary to attain the level of competence. As these activities become habitual, movement to the proficiency and expertise levels becomes possible.