Group Differences Forum

My group chose to read the article "Kill Santa: Religious Diversity and the Winter Holiday Problem" by Özlem Sensoy for this assignment. The article discusses oppression and privilege in our society and how we deal with those issues. The first thing that it mentions is the "Christmas problem." Sensoy gives various examples of how Chritmas or Christmas-like celebrations are prevalent in Vancouver schools. Rarely, are there representations of other cultural winter holiday celebrations which is interesting because Vancouver has a high immigrant and minority population. The article also points out that even though these structures are in place in schools, they are adamant about not using the word "Christmas."

Sensoy also brings up the issue if discrimination in this article. Discrimination is "the preferential treatment of one/some over another/others."  The author also points out that our society is set up in a way that only accommodates "normal" individuals. Because of this, certain groups are automatically given privilege that others do not have. These groups include, but are not limited to: the able-bodied, men, and people who are right-handed.  The logic behind this is that the majority should be accommodated. However, if you take a look at the actual facts, there are more women in the world and more poor and working people who society does not always cater to. According to the article, the individuAls who have the most privilege in our society are White, male, and Christian. Theses individuals also have the most power.

The article also talks about the different levels of oppression. Individual/personal oppression can be discriminatory acts or belief such as considering non-Christian faiths to be inferior. The cultural/social level of oppression includes practices that have been normalized by the dominant group such as banning same-sex marriage. The institutional/structural level of oppression is seen through governmental, educational, and other policies. 

As far as a solution to the problems mentioned in the article, the author suggests that we "make things visible" as an act of resistance against our social structures. Those who are in privileged groups should take action. We must accept that religious oppression (as well as other types of oppression) is everywhere. We need to become comfortable enough to discuss these issues and develop the skills to cope with or change them.

Some questions that I have after reading this article are:

• Why do schools place such a high focus on Christmas during the winter holidays but neglect to equally portray other cultural celebrations?
• What can be done to change the present state of social power so that all people are accommodated for by the society in which we live?
• In what specific ways can individuals combat the winter holiday problem and other similar societal issues?

Barb Rentenbach

The presentation today was really informative and gave me a new perspective of Autism Spectrum Disorders. Barb Rentenbach and her book definitely changed my view of those with autism. She is very intelligent and had a lot of really great things to share with the audience. Barb believes that there are benefits to autism and that it adds to the diversity in our world. She also writes in her book that there is a flip side to every neurological coin and that autism is just a type of neurology.  I think that this is a very positive way to look at autism. Barb does not let her disability stop her from making a difference in our society. She believes that people should "find out who they are, and be that on purpose." I think that this is a great quote for everyone to live by.

After attending this presentation, I will take Barb's suggestion and focus on my students strengths. It is crucial for teachers to meet students where they are so that they can offer them an adequate education that will meet their needs. It is also important to keep in mind that there is no standard brain and that each student is unique in their own way. I will definitely work to get to know my students and how they learn.

Something else that I learned from Barb's SS, Lois,  was that she learns from the people that she serves. In order to help them, she finds out where there are comfortable and uses that information to reach out to them. I believe that this is another strategy that teachers need to take into consideration, not only when working with students who have autism, but for all of their students.

I acquired a lot of new information during the presentation and I believe that it was very relevant to the teaching profession. I am glad that I got to learn about Barb and her experiences and plan to learn more about autism and other disorders so that I can better serve my future students.

Self-Efficacy and Self-Regulation

How might self-efficacy and self-regulation contribute to the intervention plans you use in your case study?

I think that self-efficacy and self-regulation will contribute greatly to the intervention plans I use in my case study. 

Self-efficacy is important because it factors into a student's behavior. Lisa may have low self-efficacy, which could explain some of her behaviors. If a student doesn't feel that they are intelligent or have anything to contribute to classroom discussion, they won't try to do well, especially in group situations.  Addressing Lisa's potentially low self-efficacy may make all the difference in this case study. If Lisa begins to realize that her contributions to her cooperative learning group are meaningful and valued, a lot of her behavioral issues and lack of group involvement will probably decrease. 

Self-regulation can be effective in that it is an opportunity for the students to solve their own problems. In my previous PLE post, I mentioned that Lisa should set her own goals and that the cooperative group members can as well. In this way, the students take ownership of their learning and will be able to use self-regulation strategies to complete their assignments and meet their goals.

Behaviorism Applied

Consider your CSEL intervention case study.  Are there tools from a behaviorist view for either encouraging productive behaviors or discouraging undesirable behaviors that you could apply to the case?  What are they?

In my CSEL intervention case study, there are tools from a behaviorist view that can be applied to the case. In order to encourage productive behaviors, the educator could model good behavior for Lisa or have the other students serve as models for Lisa to imitate. This way, Lisa is introduced to alternative behaviors that can help her group stay on task and complete their assignments. The teacher could also reinforce Lisa’s behavior with praise, but also give praise to the whole group. Another way to encourage productive behavior would be to sit down with Lisa and help her come up with her own goals for the cooperative group activities. Setting her own goals may help Lisa because she then becomes personally invested in her behavior. Hopefully, this can motivate her to stop being a catalyst for the problems that arise in her cooperative learning group.

Now, compare the interventions that you have identified above with what you think might work from a cognitive or constructivist viewpoint (you may need to Google for ideas but it's okay to just speculate based on your prior knowledge).  How do they compare to behaviorist tools?  What are the benefits of each theory, and what are the deficits? Which theory might play a larger role in how you determine classroom management?

From a cognitive viewpoint, I think that it may be beneficial to make the cooperative learning activities more meaningful to Lisa and to the class as a whole. If Lisa can relate more to the activities and understands that her group is dependent on her to succeed, her behavior might improve. Also, with more meaningfulness, the group will be more likely to hold each other accountable in order to accomplish their assignments and tasks.

From a constructivist viewpoint, it may be beneficial to allow the students in the cooperative learning group to come up with their own solution to solve the issues they are having working together with Lisa. The students could explore various options, such as assigning specific tasks to group members or checking each other’s work. This intervention would be more student-centered with less teacher involvement.

In comparison to the behaviorist tools, I think that all of these interventions involve some type of action from the student. There is no way that a teacher can fix this issue, the students all have to be willing to cooperate in order to achieve their goals. I think that the benefits of behaviorism, cognitive learning, and constructivism are that the strategies are all motivating for the student in some form or fashion. The deficits are that one theory may work best for some students but not so well for others so the teacher might have difficulty finding a common ground or trying to pick the best technique for the situation.

Personally, I think that behaviorism will play a larger role in how I determine classroom management. I have seen behaviorism in action and the results were always positive. I also can see myself using more behaviorist techniques than any other learning theory.

Metacognition

This picture is a great way for elementary students to learn about metacognition. It's thinking about their thinking!

Consider a lesson plan you might use.  Which metacognitive skills/abilities are involved as students gain facility/knowledge in this domain?

A lesson plan that I might use would be a reading lesson that focused on comprehension and critical thinking. Students would read a story in a textbook and then summarize the main events and answer questions about the story to check for understanding. 

The metacognitive skills/abilities that are involved are  summarizing, comprehension monitoring, self-evaluation, and self-questioning. Students will have to be aware of if they can pinpoint the main ideas of the story. A student can assess this by making sure that their summary includes something from all of the major points in the story (beginning, middle, and end). Students will also develop awareness of if they comprehend the story when they answer the questions about the story correctly or incorrectly. Students can spend time answering the questions on their own, and then answers can be shared with the whole group. This way students can compare and contrast their responses and the instructor can emphasize the correct answers. Lastly, students will use problem-solving and their critical thinking skills to dig deeper and assess the responses they came up with and what prior knowledge they had that influenced those answers.

Constructivist Lesson Approach

Make a list of the sequence of skills necessary for ultimate mastery of the content of your lesson through a constructivist approach. Which of these learning activities/skills lend themselves to student’s individual or group construction? How might you structure learning activities that lead students to discover these skills/these principles?

The constructive lesson that my group came up with in class last week is about shapes. The teacher would introduce the different shapes to the students and explain their similarities and differences. The objective for the students would be to correctly identify shapes and to use the shapes to create different objects and structures. 

1^st – Students will need understand what a shape is and how objects that we use every day are made up of different shapes.

2^nd – Students will learn to identify specific shapes. (square, circle, rectangle, triangle, diamond, heart, etc.)

3^rd – Students will cut out shapes and match them up to objects in the classroom,

4^th – Students will use shape cut outs to create different objects and structures. (for example, two triangles can make a square when put together).

5^th – Students will use a chart with different shape categories to place objects in the correct category.

The activities in this lesson that lend themselves to a student’s individual construction are the hands on exploration of shapes in the classroom and the use of cut out shapes to create different objects.
I would structure other learning activities that lead students to discover this skill and shape principles in a similar way as the lesson that my group came up with. Students will be given opportunities to apply the concept that they have learned and I would check for understanding by monitoring them while doing an activity or with a post assessment.

Here is a sample constructivist lesson that also deals with objects and shapes:

 

Memory

How might your knowledge of the memory processes guide your instructional decisions?

My knowledge of the memory process will most likely guide the techniques and methods that I use to teach my future students. In class, one of the things we talked about concerning long term memory was that when you have an emotional connection to a subject, you tend to remember more about it. I think that teachers can definitely use this to their advantage. It all boils down to knowing your students and maintaining their interest. If you can find creative ways to relate topics and concepts in your curriculum to the students’ lives, they will have an easier time retaining the information they have learned. Another way to use my knowledge of memory to guide my instructional decisions would be to focus on distinctiveness. I would try to make the lessons unique and present material in an interesting way so that students will have something that stands out to them to refer to when trying to remember what they have learned.

I found this video kind of cool because it was done by a student for an Educational Psychology course!