melissa

Melissa Alaimo EDUN 105 Dr. Williams November 27, 2010 Motivation for Learning My philosophy of education starts with the premise, every student should be motivated to learn. As a prospective teacher, keeping students motivated to learn will lead to great endeavors in the classroom. Motivation helps students discover hidden talents and gifts and builds self-confidence and focus. My paper will discuss how motivation helps with learning, keeping students motivated and the positive effects of motivation. How does motivation help with learning? Motivation directs behavior toward a particular goal. Motivation increases effort and persistence in activities. Motivation affects cognitive processes. Motivation determines what consequences are reinforcing and punishing. Motivation often leads to improved performance (Ormrod, 2009).We know that not every student learns at the same speed and we know that students from different ethnic backgrounds learn differently. By first becoming aware of the different levels of learning, we can use motivation as a tool for successful learning in the classroom. There are different theoretical approaches on students and their cognitive abilities and motivations. Abraham Maslow is known to have been influential in Educational Psychology. Maslow states, humans have a basic need for arousal. This means human beings feel the need for stimulation. They also have a need for control or self-determination (Ormrod, 2009). For example, when students are given an assignment or task they want to put their own creative ideas into it as opposed to a list of instructional objectives to complete. As a teacher, becoming knowledgeable on the intricacies of our cognitive abilities and desire to learn, we can start putting motivation to the test. How can we keep students motivated? There are many ideas we can come up with but I will list some that I think may be especially important. Relate assignments to student’s personal interest and values. This is good for students from different backgrounds. Form and communicate optimistic expectations and attributions. Keep competition low. Evaluate performance in ways that communicate information rather than control. Give students control over some aspects of classroom life (Ormrod, 2009). Martin Covington writes a book called, __The Will to Learn: A Guide for Motivating Young People.__ The ARCS model of motivational design by John Keller consists of four steps for promoting and sustaining motivation in the learning process. They are attention, relevance, confidence and satisfaction. Attention can be gained in two ways, perceptual arousal and inquiry arousal. Some examples are active participation, variability and humor. Relevance uses language and examples to which the learner is familiar. Confidence allows feedback and growth for learners. Satisfaction consists of rewards and praise (Learning Theories Knowledge Base, 2010). Lastly, what are the positive effects of motivation? Motivation directs behavior toward particular goals. Motivation leads to increased energy and effort. Motivation increases initiation of and persistence in activities. For example, if you give a student an assignment that they are interested in, they are more likely to complete it without any trouble. Motivation affects cognitive processes. For example, learners take the time to understand material and learn it and often relate it to their own lives. Finally, motivation often enhances performance. (How Motivation Affects Learning and Behavior, 2006-2010). In conclusion, motivation is important for a child to gain the self-confidence that they can achieve anything in life and to become secure in their learning experiences. Students who enjoy learning and who stay focused on learning will have positive results, not only in the classroom but also in life. Every student has something to offer. //How Motivation Affects Learning and Behavior//. (2006-2010). Retrieved November 30, 2010, from www.education.com: http://www.education.com/reference/article/motivation-affects-learning-behavior/ //Learning Theories Knowledge Base//. (2010, November). Retrieved November 30, 2010, from www.learning-theories.com: http://www.learning-theories.com/kellers-arcs-model-of-motivational-design.html#more-5 (2009). In J. E. Ormrod, //Essentials of Educational Psychology// (p. 187). New Jersey: Pearson Education, Inc.

Melissa Alaimo EDUN 105 Oct. 1 2010 Ch. 4

Reflections on “Coming of Age: Education in the Twentieth Century”

This Chapter gives us a short timeline of our evolving educational system in the United States. The changes really started to take place during and after WW1. There were a lot of changes happening that were favoring Euro-centered Americans. Immigrants, African Americans and Native Americans were not much thought of when improving the qualities of teaching children and improving instructional methods in schools. Our country was, very much, at that time culturally biased. In 1901, Congress granted American indigenous people US citizenship but only in Oklahoma. It wasn’t until 1924 that all Am. Indigenous people received citizenships. In 1928, the Meriam report concluded that the removal of American Indigenous children from their families was destructive. All schools segregated African Americans until 1954. During the 1970’s children with disabilities were recognized as being segregated or hidden from classrooms. Although there was a lot of exclusion with non white Americans, It’s encouraging to see different movements throughout history that were concerned about improving education and building strong educational foundations for students. Through strong individual leaders, reforms and funding from the government improvements were slowly being made. The truth is we need educated people to function in society especially in our new technologically advanced society. Giving everyone a fair education will create harmony and not chaos. Some of the great advantages for children such as Brown vs. Board, ESAE and Education for all Handicapped Children Act 1975 made an impact on teaching as well. With these movements, we must become better prepared for a more diverse and multicultural classroom. From this chapter we see how unfortunate it was to be a non white American in society and the disadvantaged they had as students. Inclusion is a fair advantage and teaching diverse cultures can be a learning experience for teachers, as well. I am glad we brought the reality of a multicultural society into our educational system. I am sure as a prospective teacher there will be many challenges ahead but knowing the history of education will help facilitate ideas and the concern for teaching.

Melissa Alaimo EDUN 105 Ch. 6

** Reflections: ** Putting Philosophy to Work in Culturally Diverse Classrooms

The chapter discusses different educational philosophies and educational theories. I think the main purpose of this chapter is to prepare us as teachers, to understand what is to be expected in our future classrooms in a diverse society. We do not have the life experience of being from another culture other than our own. We need to inform and educate ourselves on the traditions and philosophies of other worldly cultures to know the different ethnicities of students in our classrooms. If we know this, we can understand how the student is apt to learning and what best suits him within his capabilities. The benefits can be appreciated by both teacher and student. I think it is especially important to know African American culture and Indigenous Americans. Their history in our country was very oppressive and made inferior. It is very important to include their history or heritage long before their roles in US history. Ensuring children are not looked at as a spectacle in the classroom. The book even states, “Euro-American domination has made it impossible to comprehend the total impact of the social, political, and geographical dislocations endured by African Americans…for us to understand African American philosophy, we need to first discuss Africans before they were transported to the United States.” Not only will this create a sense of justice in the classroom, it gives other students knowledge on a background other than their own. Indigenous Americans were forced to adapt to new environments within the US educational system. Discussed earlier in chapter 4, they were not allowed to practice any of their own traditions and were forced into boarding schools to learn Euro-centered values. The Educational Philosophies give us some ideas on how to teach in an inclusive classroom. When reading them, I realized certain subtle characteristics overlap in different philosophies. For example, Eastern philosophy in China and American Indigenous people focuses on the importance of community and family. Western African society focused on ancestors and kinship. I like different ideas in each philosophy. I am not partial to one but I think each one has a unique quality. I like the idea of Idealism teaching in a holistic approach and that ideas can change lives. Idealism mentions using dialogue in their teaching method to engage students into a discussion about a topic. I think that is a great idea because it allows everybody a voice and opinion and helps explore ideas and knowledge in depth. This is good for students of different backgrounds to become part of a whole. It is an opportunity for students to feel included and share what they know. Pragmatism is another philosophy seen as open ended and flexible. It focuses on helping students in their capacity to think and intelligently analyze situations and solve problems. Reality is based on physical, emotional and cognitive experience. Pragmatists believe the social world cannot be separated but are interrelated. Our participation in social groups and our ideas about morality influence how we act with one another. John Dewey paved ways for student’s classroom freedom and exploration. I like his ideas and his breaking of the uniform classroom monotony. John Dewey wrote, __My Pedagogic Creed,__ which you can find on Google books. Eastern Philosophies focus more on the inner being and quality of life. I love the short story, __Chinese Perspective__, they gave in the book. If you view life as something meaningful and connected to your soul, you have a better understanding on the big picture rather than a small idea being observed. I think the perfect philosophy would be the combination and balance of inner harmony and learning and problem solving in a social environment, such as in Pragmatism. Eastern Philosophies focus a lot around religion or some spirituality. There is rich and abundant history behind Eastern Philosophies. Their culture is very different from ours. I volunteered in my son’s first grade classroom and the teacher introduced Chinese eating. She gave the student’s chopsticks and had them practice and learn how to use them. She gave a brief illustrated history on them. I thought that was a good idea and fun for the students. There are many lessons that can be used to introduce children to Multiculturism. This is a useful resource for new and continuing teachers. It has different links on Multiculturalism in the classroom. []. Educational Theories such as Perennialism use writing, reading, and arithmetic in Elementary grades. Their goal is to mold a student’s intellect through grammar, rhetoric and logic. They teach students through the study of Western books and their style is authoritarian. I am not a big fan of Perennialism because I had an experience a long time ago when I was at Community College of Philadelphia. I was in the honors program and the professors taught in this exact way. They were molding our intellect through western literature and then we would have seminars where we would give a rhetoric speech. The professor would test our knowledge buy asking us a series of questions that we would have to know the answer to. It was not a comfortable setting. It felt a little like an interrogation rather than an academic setting. Essentialism did not appeal to me either. Their approach is boring and leaves little room for expression and creativity. It reminds me of the traditional way of teaching before the Progressive education. The book states, ‘Progressivism is based on pragmatism and is counterpoint to both essentialism and perennialism.” By understanding how I learn and identify with different philosophies, I can do further research into each philosophy and use what I learn, in my classroom. Living and teaching in a diverse society will teach me to be an influential teacher in shari