Teaching and Learning

Write a 3-page minimum, error free paper in APA style about your observation and interview. Must be typed.

Observe the activities and characteristics of the classroom.
Describe your observations in detail by using the guide below (write in paragraph form – not question/answer).
Include interview with teacher and media specialist/counselor if necessary to complete the assignment (write in paragraph form – not question/answer).
Include any additional comments that you want to make about your visit.
Describe how this assignment will affect you as a teacher in the future. What did you learn?
Submit the completed log and contact information from the teacher you observed with your report.
Report should be clear, detailed, error-free, at least 3 pages, written in paragraph form following the APA style guidelines.
The student will analyze specific psychological theories by examining teaching and learning processes. The student will assess classroom interactions and utilize the five educational psychology theories for each interaction to attempt to examine the dynamics of the interactions.

Information to include in your paper:

Introduction

School

Teacher’s name and characteristics

Grade level/subject

Type of class (inclusion, resource, regular education, etc.)

Student make-up of the class (ethnicity, gender, ethnicity, ELL, students with disabilities, and any other apparent attributes that are important to note)

Piaget

Identify the stage of cognitive development that the observed students are likely to be in.
Discuss an instance that demonstrates a child’s schema.
Discuss instances that demonstrate Piaget’s concept of assimilation and/or accommodation.
Discuss any instances that demonstrate egocentrism/ animism/ conservation/ centration/ seriation/ transitivity/ classification/ etc.
Judge whether the teacher understands his/her students’ cognitive development. Support your answer with examples.
Vygotsky

Discuss any instances of scaffolding.
Discuss any instances that involve the zone of proximal development.
Conclude whether the teacher is using Vygotsky’s theory effectively in her/his class. Support your answer with examples.
Behaviorism

Are there any factors that evidence that classical conditioning is taking place? Identify US, CS, UR, CR.
Discuss instances of generalization/ discrimination/ extinction.
Identify instances of operant conditioning.
What types of reinforcement/ punishment are used by a teacher? (negative/ positive reinforcement, punishment, time-out, response cost, token economy, extinction, contracting, Premack principle, prompts, shaping, etc)
Is the teacher using schedules of reinforcement?
Evaluate whether you think the teacher is using reinforcement/ punishment effectively.
Bandura

Identify any examples of modeling (live, symbolic,verbal).
Describe how vicarious reinforcement and punishment of behavior might be playing a role in the classroom.
Determine whether the teacher is using observational learning.
Describe any instances in which self-efficacy may be evident. What influences students’ efficacy?
Are there any examples of self-instructional models? (cognitive behavior techniques aimed at teaching individuals to modify their own behavior)
Is self-regulatory learning used in the classroom?
How would you characterize teacher’s attitude, personality, and emotional well-being? To what extent do the students in the classroom reflect the teacher’s behavior and traits? Do you think a teacher’s attitude influences student behaviors in the classroom? Why or why not?
Information-Processing Theory

Record how the teacher presents information to the students.
Does the teacher use a variety of methods or only one or two?
Why does the teacher make use of these methods?
Based on your observation, is the teacher effective at getting and holding the attention of the students throughout the lesson?
Does the teacher monitor or regularly check the amount of student learning throughout the lesson? How is this accomplished?
Conclusion – briefly answer the question: what have you learned from your field observations?