Bruce Guest Reflective Journal EDAT 6115

  Direct Instruction vs Student-Centered Instruction.  In my classroom, I use only direct instruction as the only means of instruction.  I teach in a special education small group math class for grades 3-5.  While the ideas of student-centered learning are a nice idea and could be possible for older students, maybe middle or high school age students, that version of instruction would be very difficult for my students to the point of almost cruelty.   I have tried to implement student-centered learning in previous years but always felt that it led to students not understanding what they were supposed to do or simply not caring to put in the effort to try to learn or complete the challenge.  Again, since I teach elementary-age students as well as students with cognitive delays with IQs usually lower than their general education counterparts, student-centered instruction may not be the most appropriate form of instruction.   Using direct instruc...

  This chapter is all about people’s memories.  I didn’t know there were three parts of memory: Sensory Register, Short-term/working memory, and long-term memory.  I’ve heard of short and long-term memory but not sensory register before the readings.  From what I understand, Sensory Register is related to the short term but seems more connected to sensory inputs like smells and sounds.  The book connects this form of memory to perception.   Short-term memory and long-term memory are terms I’ve heard and understand.  In my field of special education, short-term memory, also known as working memory, is discussed a fair amount when looking at a child’s cognitive abilities when evaluating them for the special education program.   A common factor I see in my students in my small group math class is low working memory and low processing speeds.  To try to combat this, I use repetitive steps each day.  I use the same steps for differe...

Overall the concepts we read in Chapter 5 of the Educational Psychology book were ones that I’ve studied previously in undergrad classes (I say previously but it was over a decade ago) or have a vague remembering of the name of the theory or a dusty recollection of the concepts.   Bandura is right on the money with the idea that we must model desired behaviors.  Just today for a new student who is on the spectrum, I had to model my expectations of my classroom.  The student in previous classes would crawl under tables and scream to avoid work.  I explained to her that in Mr. Guest’s class, we only crawl under tables when we are rewarded with fun Friday reading times where I turn the lights of the classroom down and kids can read while lying under the tables.  I then modeled what sitting at the desk looked like, and showed the “wrong” way to do things.  I would stomp my foot and squeal, this surprised the little girl that I would do this but it gets the...