Educational Psychology Reflection paper

As teachers, we will all be using a variety of strategies to assist us with instruction in the classroom. No longer can we rely simply on our perceived “intuition” to teaching, going in with blinders on and totally unprepared. The commander who goes into battle roughshod with no plans is surely doomed, as are all the unfortunate souls “privileged” to be serving under him. It’s important to note that many first year educators will be more concerned with the look of their teaching methods rather than whether or not the children are actually learning. Those students may be a useful stepping stone of experience for this teacher, but the disservice done to them later in life may be irreparable. In reality, the world of education is continually changing and we must be up to the challenge.
Part of being prepared, for me, has been the insights and lessons gained through Educational Psychology. These are important strategies that all teachers must be armed with long before entering the classroom doors that first fall. One strategy that I found particularly important is the fact that teachers must have an extensive grasp of students’ inclinations, behaviors and characteristics when developing and planning lessons. We must know where these young learners have come from to even begin to know where we can take them. This is where more informal assessment and formative evaluations can be the most helpful, identifying the students’ existing strengths and interests and the possibility of mastering new and challenging skills before a unit has even begun. Another positive assessment strategy is the use of portfolios, which is a collection of a student’s work systematically over a lengthy period of time. Writing samples, specific projects, audio and video tapes, art pieces, or combinations of all of these can be a great way of determining a learner’s improvement over time. This is particularly useful for students who learn differently and excel in areas other than the sometimes dreaded standardized test. In my own classroom, I would not hesitate to use these tools in an attempt to reach every single child. It also could be a much more accurate reflection for next year’s teacher to study over and see progresses that a student has made. This can be much more informative than a simple letter grade. The fact that Susan got a “C” in Reading last year doesn’t tell me much, nor does it give me any clue what interests she has that I might capitalize on in future lessons. Sometimes it is the landmarks that tell us more of where we are going than a confusing map, no matter how detailed it is. When it comes to educating, can we really risk losing even one on the battlefield due to poor planning practices? The article on “Grades That Sabotage Good Teaching” was particularly fascinating. I had never thought of the fact that some teachers might see a classroom full of “A’s” as failure, because it meant that their class work was just too easy or that they were teaching a “skate course”. While no educator wants to hand out excellent grades like they’re handing out candy or stickers, surely we should never strive to fail some students who are struggling just to make our classes look challenging. “Only the strongest survive” should never be an over reaching motto for teachers. It is our destiny to make them as strong and capable as they can possibly be. We are, after all, preparing them for battles all their own. When they are lost and without a map, we should have made sure we taught them about road signs. I believe we should set high expectations so that the students reach further than they ever thought possible, but never so far that they fall and never make the attempt to get up again. Then they have given up, and we have lost them forever. This is the definition of tragedy. At that point it may not be they who have lost, but we as the teachers. Loser lose all.
These lessons relate very well to the teacher characteristics outlined for students in the College of Education’s conceptual framework. Teacher candidates are to be proactive, meaning that they make decisions prior to a problem escalating or causing further damage. This can be seen in the lesson of teachers first considering students’ behaviors and characteristics before lesson planning, and using this information when designing curriculum for a particular class. By gaining an in-depth knowledge of the individual skills and needs of those learners entering the classroom, the educator has not only proactively enhanced learning and mastery, but has shown empathy for each child’s particular circumstance. The teacher has also entered the school year as an adaptive advocate for learning, which is really what we should always be. The lesson and planning time was not simply an innocuous “cookie cutter” format for whatever class might come in to learn, but was specifically tailored for the needs of these specific young minds. There may also come a time, later in the year or even earlier, when it becomes apparent that the class is not moving as fast as the teacher had hoped for in a particular lesson. This would surely be another instance when the wise teacher, in spite of having a set time and plan to finish a unit, would pull back and allow them to catch up, adapting material for that particular circumstance. This may pay off in dividends later, and the child who at that one moment would have turned wrong and never came back, might just have been saved. The wise axiom “none should be lost” will be written upon every true teacher’s heart, always. The descriptor of leader would be in the forefront of the lesson on grades sabotaging good teaching. A true leader, which is at the heart of the best of teachers, knows that it is best to put the interests of others first. In this case, we must not worry about how an all “A” class makes our ego look to others in the school. Clearly if the material is too elementary we must change it, but if they all excel it is our duty to rejoice, for we can know that our job was well done. We are to be advocates for our students, leading them to better things- but we should never take the role of an adversary. This was not put in our job description, and it was never intended to be.
The goals of education should be to make students strive to do their best, and to give them the best tools to do so. Those in class today will be voting and politically involved tomorrow, so it behooves us to turn our country’s future over to the best and the brightest. It also makes sense to prepare learners for the very real notion that in rough economies, the more educated a person is the better their life will be. The playing field is slanted, but it can be slanted in their favor. It’s simply not enough to go out into the world of today with just a high school diploma or a GED. Struggling job markets demand greater education, sometimes in any field. Teachers can be role models of excellence for these young minds, but it will also be up to the community and to parents to point them on the right path. Every choice, every wrong turn, every missed opportunity will have a consequence- some so much so that they will never get that chance ever again. The key is to supply students with an internal compass- always pointing in the right direction. They may turn wrong occasionally, but with the foundations that we have laid out for them, they should always be able to turn back again. Sadly, some just will not be saved, no matter what we have done, because of individual choices. As teachers, however, we must go in every day with the knowledge that all can be saved, and we must never rest until every tool has been given, every strategy tried, every last hope has been exhausted. Sometimes even when there is no compass, no map, and no way back from where these children have gone, there may just be something we have taught them once that will lead them up and out. The commander going into battle will one day find in wonderful surprise that so many of his unit have returned to him, not because they instinctively knew the way or because they had a map in hand, or even because they knew all the answers to every test he had given them, but because he had taught them to look for the road signs. In the end, it made all the difference.

Forever Young

If I am unable to remain youthful in body, may my spirit be always eternally young. The world will be my playground, the days will have no end. I shall never again meet a stranger. My sun will be optimism, by which all day long I will search and play and see, never growing tired or disheartened or untrusting. It's a secret that few will ever discover, but a quality more precious than gold. When we were told to grow up so long ago, we made the terrible mistake of thinking it meant to grow old. The best books are the ones we read as a child and can come back to as an adult to enjoy again. Some books just get better with age, much like spirits. Others can be enjoyed for a lifetime. And then there are a few of the very best ones that may just last forever.

The Boy and the Lion

The Great Lion, answering the boy's question about why we must die, responded: "There is a small pinhole of light from this world to the next one. Can you see it?"

The boy squinted. "Barely. It's so small."

"Imagine trying to fit through it- trying to get through." the Lion replied.

The boy was puzzled. "No one could fit through that."

Lion sighed. “I have. Only I have the power to go all the way through and come back again. And it was even a struggle for Me.” The Great Lion spoke with a kind of low growl that made the boy take a few steps back. He wasn't exactly afraid of the Lion, but he was a smart enough boy to know that only a fool would be completely UNafraid. The Lion continued: "Even I was not spared, my boy. I had to first taste Death to get through. But that was long ago. Now on this large wall that separates the two worlds, on this most sturdy wall- there is but one hole through. And it's a mighty small hole, indeed."

"But, why not just knock the wall down? Why do we have to go through this?" he asked.

The Lion shook His head. "One day, this might happen- but only when Time is done. That is for another age. You do not yet understand. Don't feel bad, my son. Even grown-ups could not comprehend this. It would be like trying to teach Advanced Physics to a 4 year old child. The words would be there, but the heart could not fathom."

"Is there any other way through but to die?" The boy asked sadly.

"None," the Lion replied. "I will never lie to you, and if you ask a question, I will answer truthfully in as much as you can understand. Be thankful that there is a way through at all. But the light grows dim, and with time this hole gets smaller and smaller all the while. One day, there will not even be a hole. In that time, in that glorious (and for some most terrible) time, the wall will in fact finally come down."

The boy sighed. "Surely it will be much easier to get through THEN."

"No", the Great Lion replied with a most serious tone. "Then it will be the most difficult of all."

For Pete's Sake

The Teacher's Desk was a Sacred Place
The Teacher's Desk was an untouchable Place
If You touched One thing at the Teacher's Place
The Teacher there would Make a Bad Face
All the Children would Sit In Their Seat
All The Children, that is, Except Pete.
For Pete, You See, was the Worst of the Bunch
And Pete was always His Worst Before Lunch
In the Afternoon the Teacher Who Made a Bad Face
Saw Pete was Standing On top of the Case
So She Grabbed Him Up and Took Him Away
All the Others Didn't Know What to Say
He never came Back and Never went Home
And Never Again in the Hallways Did Roam
But Even Today, Be They Sara, Mark, Jane or Jake
No One Acts Up, All For Pete's Sake

Directions to the Party

One wrong turn will not keep you from heaven, any more than a wrong turn made on a trip will prevent you from forever getting to your ultimate destination- in spite of the horrors of mapquest. It is the pattern of the turns that He cares about. Wrong choices, self-destructive behaviors, and sinful actions will all take us down the wrong road, and we're all guilty of them. But just as the driver must realize he can go no further on his wrong path, that he must actually stop and either turn around or ask for directions (a difficulty for most of us men), so too must we repent and turn to Him when we have gone wrong. Don't listen to any of the nonsense some might try to tell you (even yourself) that it's too late- that you've gone too far and there's no point now in turning around. It might be an inconvenience or a tad embarrasing asking for directions back to the right road, but we must do it to get to where we are going. There's a party going on in that faraway land called destiny, and it's one we don't dare want to miss.