Module 4

Concept 1: Learning Strategies

Summary:

Each student has their own way of learning, taking notes, and remembering tasks. In chapter 9 of Woolfolk, it talks about learning strategies and how they are beneficial for students in education. On page 336, it says, “effective learning strategies should help students focus attention, invest effort so they process information deeply, and monitor their understanding.” There are many learning strategies that can be implemented in a classroom that are appropriate for each student, so they may see they can “get smarter” in a sense of reaching higher achievements and know they can succeed in school.

Reflection:

In many classes I have taken, we are always told how using different learning strategies for students is crucial because each student learns differently and uses distinct ways of helping them learn, retain knowledge, and take notes. After reading this chapter, I found useful information about the what kinds of learning strategies there are: cognitive, metacognitive, or behavioral. Each of these learning strategies need to be present in a classroom. Students shouldn’t be exposed to only one area since each subject might require a different learning strategy that fits more than another. For example, memorizing might be great in some areas but in others, it might not be the best if the concept taught will work in a variety of real life situation.

In my field experience, I have seen memorizing being used for almost everything. The students have trouble remembering everything they learn because of having to try and memorize the concepts that were taught in class. They tend to ask for help if they couldn’t remember what a math problem equaled to try and see if I could tell them the answer. I wouldn’t and instead would try to get the students to use their number line on their desk or using their fingers. After they realized the could use the number line, many stopped asking for help because they knew if they couldn’t remember what a specific problem equaled, they could figure it out a different way.

I knew the benefits of using different learning strategies but after reading the chapter, I was able to find more reasons to use learning strategies and some that were pointed out. As a future educator, it will be my job to expose my students to different learning strategies, so they may use them in the future. While teaching them, I need to remember to be consistent or the students might not apply the strategy they learned properly or won’t use it. I need to show my students they could care and understand the strategies to help them see how beneficial they are. Learning strategies, in the end, significantly help students especially students who have a learning difficulty or are struggling to learn. Once students find a strategy that fits their needs, they will succeed in areas of life by applying it to different situations.

Concept 2: Roles and Jigsaw

Summary:

In chapter 10, Woolfolk discusses the aspects of cooperative learning in a classroom. Each student needs to cooperate in a class for the best learning to happen where each student is involved in discussion, they are accountable, and collaborate with one another. Roles can show up in a classroom to have each student be in a discussion to ensure no one is left out and no one is over speaking. On page 390, Woolfolk goes into more detail about which roles work best in groups that focus on social skills, practice and review, and high-order problem solving or complex learning. In a jigsaw classroom, roles are easily used. Each student is given the role and responsibility of becoming an “expert” of something they were told to research and understand. Then they will talk with other “experts” in the same area and later teach their peers about what they learned.

Reflection:

I see roles and the jigsaw classroom working hand in hand. Students have a role to teach their classmates about what they learned, and this can get students who are shy to be in a discussion and collaborate with their peers. Roles can be an important aspect to a classroom in giving students a responsibility when it comes to class discussion. They can be given a role of encouraging their classmates to talk, recording information, answering questions, and many more. It can help students understand they belong and can help create a community in the classroom. I have been a part of jigsaw in some of my previous classes and it is a great way for students to learn. At times, I have even learned more about a subject when I had to become an “expert” and listened to my classmates teach us about the parts I didn’t learn. Sometimes, it is easier to learn and understand something when a classmate teaches it rather than a teacher because of a different perspective and teaching method.

I haven’t seen the jigsaw method been used in any of my field experiences. Hopefully I will see jigsaw used in my future experiences because I think it could help all the students understand what the are learning and understand one another while having a voice. I have seen roles being used in the classroom I’m currently in. Each week six students are given a role in the classroom. There is a boy and girl bathroom monitor, mailbox person, teacher assistant, and front and caboose of the line. The students love having a role in the class because they feel useful and have a responsibility. Even though these roles are not involved in discussion, the students get to help the teacher and help their classmates at times.

In my future classroom, I would like to implement roles for my students when we discuss many subjects and topics. It is important to have roles in elementary because it can help the students get out of their shadows if they are shy or help those who what to be a leader. Roles can help with socialization, review, and complex learning as I read about in this chapter. It can help my class become a small community where students understand one another and see how each has the capacity to do more. I also want to use the jigsaw method because I believe my students can teach one another and it best for all to learn from a different point of view and different learning strategy.

Concept 3: Self-efficacy

Summary:

Self-efficacy is “people’s beliefs about their capabilities to produce designated levels of performance that exercise influence over events that affect their lives (418).” As I read about self-efficacy, I saw the importance of it in chapter 11 where it can change how a student is persistent, positive, and their stress level. I learned how it can vary depending on a task that a student is given and how it doesn’t have a direct relationship with self-esteem. Having high self-efficacy can increase how a student preforms in different areas and can lead to students making effort and trying new strategies if previous ones have failed.

Reflection:

I found self-efficacy to be interesting because it was never directly talked about in any of my previous classes. In this chapter I learned how students can have higher stress levels and anxiety if they do not have a higher self-efficacy in knowing they can achieve in areas even if they aren’t the best at. Students can raise their self-efficacy by making short-term goals, having specific learning strategies to help with focusing, and receiving rewards based on achievements (420-421). When students and teachers have high sense of efficacy, they continue to grow in what they learn and do. In the text it tells how if a teacher has high self-efficacy, the students learn even more.

As I learned more about self-efficacy, I was able to connect to mine when I was in high school. I had strong self-efficacy mainly in my math courses, Spanish, and any extra curricular classes and activities I was. I had low self-efficacy in my English classes and from that, I didn’t do well or tried as hard as I could. In my field experience, I was able to notice the self-efficacy some students had when I would work with them. One student would work their hardest in math and would work on problems then have the teacher look it over to find errors before finishing the rest. The student enjoyed the math even if it was difficult at times and wouldn’t stress terrible about it. With that same student, they had low self-efficacy when it came to reading and spelling. The student struggled to read the vocabulary words and write them correctly. Eventually the student would give up and didn’t have any small goals set to help with reading and spelling.

In my future class, I want to try and lift my student’s self-efficacy in all the subjects as I possibly can. I can try to help them make small goals for themselves in the subjects they struggle the most in, so they could increase their personal competence. Of course, it will be difficult to work with each student and help them see they can do everything, but they should all see they can do more than they thought. To start out, I need to make sure I have high self-efficacy in everything I do. Many students will view teachers as a role model and will do similar things the teacher does whether its having a great attitude, knowing to push themselves, and use similar learning strategies. By having high self-efficacy, my students will learn more and have a better attitude about learning different subjects, which is what I want to achieve.