Brooke Moore

1. Brooke Moore ID# 917385302 CEPD 4101 01D- Spring 2013 Dr. Yan Yang

2. Description of the Learning Context • 5th grade mathematics resource classroom • Rural elementary school (20% minority and 70% Caucasian) • Students are between the ages of 9 and 10 years. • Class is 70% female and 30% male. • Ratio of student to teacher: 10:2

3. INTASC Standard # 1Learner Development Cognitive Influences Biological Influences Due to this class being a resource class, several students lag behind with regard to biological influences because they are struggling with cognitive learning issues and suffer from various disabilities. Most of the students in the class have fully developed their fine motor skills. They are able to perform independent work daily using all parts of their bodies. Students are well aware of surroundings and are accustomed to classroom management and teaching strategies. • The thinking process of these students can be categorized as being in Piaget’s concrete operational stage of development. Their thoughts demonstrate logical and concrete reasoning. The students are less egocentric and begin to notice that their thoughts and personalities are unique. Children in this stage are still unable to effectively solve problems that contain several variables. • There are some students who try to decenter and move to a concrete operational thought process, but others cannot grasp the concept that they must be able to see things from other’s point of view. • The students that are emerging to the next stage of thought are growing stronger in understanding conservation tasks. They are able to understand that no matter what you do to an object, it has not lost any of its value or mass. :

4. INTASC Standard # 1Learner Development Social Influences • Fifth grade resource students are striving to become popular and accepted in the clique-based society of many elementary school environments. • These students are independent and they are aware that they are not considered to be special education students, but remain insecure in some ways. • In most instances, fifth grade students lack motivation which directly relates to their lack of self-esteem and self-worth.

5. INTASC Standard # 3Learning Environments • Motivation is defined incorrectly in education today for two reasons. Some teachers describe the behavior of their students as “unmotivated”. This is inaccurate. Students are considered to be motivated, by definition, when they put forth the least bit of effort. The level of motivation is the varying factor in the success of students. • First, teachers often have high expectations of their students. Because many students do not meet the lofty expectations of their teachers, they are defined as being unmotivated. • Secondly, some teachers believe that they have the ability to motivate their students; however, motivation initiates from within an individual and is self-propelling. Teachers have the opportunity to encourage students to be motivated. They do not possess the innate ability to automatically motivate a student to succeed. • Teachers have the ability to offer positive reinforcement and/or redirection, encourage short and long term goals for the student, and design their teaching strategies and classroom design to appeal to the desires and interests of the students to increase motivation and success.

6. INTASC Standard # 3Learning Environments • Students often need encouragement from the teacher to generate the drive and enthusiasm necessary to have a successful and productive day in the classroom. It is the responsibility of the teacher to instill in the student the ideal of learning as a positive aspect of life. • Success is simply having a great attitude daily, which encourages and motivates most students. Smiling, giving compliments, and praising students for their accomplishments are great ways to ignite motivation every day. Students at this age want to please their teacher. • Several activities per week will be incorporated in my classroom to encourage motivation and enforce positive self-perception. • Because the approval of peers is of extreme importance to students, a positive group activity is to have students write and read aloud a paragraph complimenting a classmate during a lesson on basic grammatical elements.

7. INTASC Standard # 6Assessment • Assessment will vary among students depending on their cognitive level of learning. Records will be maintained to identify which students require extra help and/or different materials for each lesson. • Assessment in my classroom will be managed using checklists that I maintain throughout lessons and activities. • I will keep an organized portfolio for each student that documents their individual progress to ascertain the strengths and weaknesses of the student throughout the year. • I will plan mostly hands-on activities that integrate the arts, so written assessment will be included , but infrequent.

8. INTASC Standard # 6Assessment • Demonstrating to students what they are expected to do is necessary, but it can be limiting. Students need to be allowed to use their creativity and imagination in as many activities as possible. The ability to successfully complete the task while gaining knowledge is the true measurement of the success of the leason. Success is not measured by the beauty of the finished product alone. • Due to the time constraints that teachers face in covering the minimum required standards before the standardized tests are administered, individualized assessment is often absent or lacking. This leads to the failure of the teacher to adequately assess the level of understanding of each student, which contradicts the main purpose for education. • Assessment should not center around the teacher asking questions while students answer individually within a group setting, especially in the younger elementary grades. The attention span of the student is lost when not directly engaged leading to distraction allowing for response from only few of the students.

9. Project Overview Learning Observation • Give specifics of your project. • Heard County Elementary School • 5th grade resource class • 10 students • The students are between the ages of 9 and 10. • The classroom has mostly Caucasian students and a few minority students. • The socioeconomic status of the students is middle to low SES. • The geographic area of Heard County Elementary is mostly rural . • Length of service learning: 15 hours

10. Theory Guidance • Theoretical Background • The Need For Achievement is a theory proposed by John Atkinson. He believes that those with a high level of achievement have “a stronger expectation of success” while those who have a low achievement level will experience a weaker expectation of success. • Chapter 11: Motivation & Perception of Self • Link between the theory and the clinical experience • While considering this theory when teaching my lesson in the classroom, I observed that the students who expect more of themselves do achieve higher because they approach the things that they do with a positive attitude. • The Need For Achievement theory and research reinforced to me that teachers have many important responsibilities to uphold and that teaching is a difficult profession. • The theory also reminded me of how rewarding it will be when my students comprehend for the first time and experience those “aha” moments that motive them to strive harder.

11. Overall Highlights • Major Findings • #1: Students are not unmotivated but lethargic and discouraged. • #2: Achievement is underestimated by students and teachers. • Major Arguments and supporting evidence • #1: The attitude of teachers and students affect every aspect of the educational experience of the student. • #2: Success is determined by the individualized level of perceived achievement capability. • #3: Students who have low self-esteem due to unfortunate home environments and negative social experiences, etc., are more likely to have a propensity for low achievement.

12. Overall Highlights • Instructional/Clinical Implications • Initially, students were not very responsive to my teaching strategies because they were accustomed to a different way of instruction. • Students were cognitively low, and I am familiar with working with gifted learners. It was a struggle to keep them on task and learning. • Project Reflection • Having Mrs. Parmer support me throughout the teaching experience encouraged me and allowed me to remain enthusiastic. • Additional preparation for my service learning experience would have allowed me to be more adequately prepared for the classroom each time I went to observe and teach. • I will not use the lecture technique of instruction as often as my observing teacher, especially in the elementary school arena. The short attention span of this age group is not conducive to the lecture technique and valuable instruction time is wasted.

13. References • Benaroch, R. (November 6, 2012). Piaget Stages of Development . WebMD. Retrieved from http://children.webmd.com/piaget-stages-of-development • Edwards, L.C. (2009). The Creative Arts: a Process Approach for Teachers and Children. Prentice Hall. • Snowmann, J., McCown, R., & et al, R. (2009). Psychology applied to teaching. (13 ed.). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Cengage Learning. • Schwartz, S.G. (2011). An Examination of the Eligibility Process of Third, Fourth, and Fifth Graders Identified under the Special Education Category of Specific Learning Disabilities. ProQuest, LLC. http://ehis.ebscohost.com/eds/detail?vid=3&sid=e5c5313f-a79a-4836-916c-552b611e6e35%40sessionmgr111&hid=102&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWRzLWxpdmUmc2NvcGU9c2l0ZQ%3d%3d#db=eric&AN=ED534633 • Wong, H. K. (1991). The First Days Of School: How To Be An Effective Teacher. Sunnyvale, California: Harry K. Wong.