Whitney Justice

Midterm Essay Exam

Educ. 5302
Learning is vital inside every classroom. If it were not, why would we go to
school? There are things that can hinder or take away from our learning. Some of these
factors are things that we cannot control and others are things we can control. We must
learn how to handle and control those factors in order to excel in learning. The learner
and the teacher must adapt to the circumstances and learn how to excel despite the
challenged. The teacher and the students must work together to achieve this goal.
Micah is a first grader that is struggling in school. He has a hard time paying
attention in class and sitting still. Even though Micah is struggling academically, it is
obvious that he is a very smart student. According to the Stanford-Binet test, Micah
scored above average by one point. As explained in the text, about 68% of the general
population will earn IQ scores between 85 and 115. Only about 16% receive scores below
85, and only 16% will score above 115 (Woolfolk, 2015, p. 128). Since only 16% of the
general population scores higher than 85 on their IQ tests, Micahs high score is
impressive and means he is a very intelligent student. Therefore, the question at hand
isnt if Micah is an intelligent student, but since he is than why is he performing so poorly
academically?
Micah has a difficult time paying attention and sitting still. Even when he is in his
seat, he fidgets. Micah is showing all the classic signs of attention-deficit hyperactivity
disorder or ADHD. ADHD is defined through, () two kinds of problems that may or
may not occur together: attention disorders and impulsive-hyperactivity problems (p.
143). According to the definition, Micah is experiencing both of these problems. He

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struggles with paying attention and has to constantly move, which can easily take his
attention away from the lesson or the teacher. These symptoms can hinder his daily
activities and even get in the way of his social development. These () symptoms lead
to problems learning and getting along with others (p.143). If Micahs issue isnt
addressed, he could struggle through the rest of his schooling and life with learning
problems and getting along with other people. That could potentially affect future jobs
and careers as well as relationships he will encounter throughout life. Most jobs require
employees to work in groups and if Micah struggles with that and paying attention, that
could affect his ability to do his job.
With Micahs limited attention span and uncontrolled physical activity during
class, Micahs parents decided to take him to see a psychiatrist. The psychiatrist
suggested that Micahs ADHD could be medicated. The strength of medicating Micah for
his ADHD is that it could help improve his social behavior. According to Hutchinson
(2009), () about 70% to 80% of children with ADHD are more manageable and better
able to benefit from educational and social interventions when on medication (p. 144).
Since the medication has high strengths, it could be beneficial for Micah to begin taking
medicine for his ADHD. At this point, his ADHD is already distracting him and possibly
other children from learning in the classroom environment. If the medicine can help
improve his attention span and eliminate distractions, it could help him academically as
well as socially. As with any medication, there will always be side effects. Some side
effects that children with ADHD have experienced while on medication were, increased
heart rate and higher blood pressure, interference with growth rate, insomnia, weight loss,
and nausea (p. 144). Most of these side effects can be decreased with a dosage

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adjustment; however, sometimes these medicines dont work for everyone. The
medicines were created for a generalized population, not specific to every person. Even
with the limitations, Micah should at least try taking medicine to see how it affects him
and his body. The medicine could grant him the ability to pay attention and learn better
than he ever has.
Micahs teacher is well aware of his limited attention and high levels of fidgeting;
therefore she could aid Micah in a few things to help him with his disorder. His teacher
could give him fewer problems or paragraphs that have clear rewards or consequences
based on his completion. The teacher could also encourage Micah to, monitor [his] own
behavior () and to see [himself] as in control (Pfiffner, Barkley, & DuPaul, 2006, p.
145). The teacher could help Micah learn how to self-manage and control his attention. It
is important that the child conquers his own problems and learns how to control his
ADHD. One of the many jobs of a teacher is to study their students and know their
weaknesses and their strengths. Micahs teacher could study him and observe when he
controls himself and is focused and when he loses his attention. The teacher can relay her
observations to Micah to help him pay attention to when he loses focus and when he
controls himself to see if there is a pattern or a trigger. The teacher can also make changes
in her own teaching that would encourage and maybe even hold Micahs attention better
throughout a lesson. In these cases the teacher and student need to work together as a pair
to learn the best ways to encourage and maintain learning inside the classroom. If they
partner together, they can discover strategies that work and help the student become
better at concentrating and accomplishing the task. With the support of the teacher,

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parents, and school systems, the student with ADHD can learn to control his attention and
that will help him become a better student and learner.
John Butler is a chemistry teacher. His teaching style includes constructivist, and
certain elements of social cognitive views of learning. The constructivist view of learning
is built off of two central ideas, Learners are active in constructing their own knowledge
[and] social interactions [is] important in this knowledge construction process (p. 373).
The social cognitive view of learning retains an emphasis on the role of other people
serving as models and teachers () It is a dynamic system that explains human
adaptation, learning, and motivation (p. 413). In Mr. Butlers class, half of his students
have a strong background of science, while the other half has a weak background. With
such diversity in his classroom, Mr. Butler will have to figure out strategies to optimize
learning.
One option Mr. Butler could use for the diversity in his class is social negotiation.
It enables students to, establish or defend their own positions while respecting the
positions of others and working together to negotiate or co-construct meaning (p. 378).
Social negotiation encourages the students to develop their higher mental processing. If
the students shared the responsibility for their learning, and worked together with their
classmates through social negotiation, the class would become united in their learning.
Since some of the students have a strong background in science and others have a
relatively weak background in science, the best way to ensure that everyone will be
learning would be through creating cohesive groups. The students with the stronger
background in science could help negotiate and co-construct meaning with the students
with weak backgrounds in science. Along with the students helping one another, the

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weaker students would develop higher mental processes which would help them excel in
other areas of life and learning. When students take responsibility for their own learning
and learn to establish and defend their position on a topic, the learner really begins to
excel. Each student, regardless of their science background, is going to have a position on
a topic, what the teacher has to do is encourage the students to put their heads together to
help each other construct more meaning out of their positions. Therefore, all students start
with a lower mental process and then work together to negotiate or co-construct meaning,
which leads them to a higher state of mental processing. Social negotiation and shared
responsibility could be a huge benefit to the students in Mr. Butlers classroom.
Cooperative learning is a very useful tool inside a classroom. Cooperative
learning is defined as, students working together, for one class period to several weeks,
to achieve shared learning goals and complete jointly specific tasks and assignments (p.
373). There is diversity in the backgrounds of the students in Mr. Butlers science class;
however, using cooperative learning groups could be a positive tool and aid the class in
challenging the diversity. The cooperative learning groups will help the students
overcome the diversity in the classroom through working with one another to achieve
their goals. The students with strong science backgrounds will help the weaker students.
All the members of the group have to believe they can only achieve their goals if the
other group members achieve theirs as well. They do this by supporting and guiding one
another. The students also have to encourage and facilitate each others efforts in the
group. Even though facilitating each others efforts is positive for the group, there has to
be individual accountability within the group. No one can force someone to learn, even if
it is in the groups best interest, therefore the students have to be accountable to their own

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learning instead of relying on other group members for all the right answers. Cooperative
learning groups are designed differently than other groups because they eliminate the
student with the strongest background in science from doing all the work in the group.
Instead, the group members have to work together to obtain knowledge and they are
accountable for their own individual learning as well. Not only do cooperative learning
groups promote group and individual learning, but they encourage social interactions and
collaboration skills. The group has to be able to reflect to see if everyone is doing their
part. Through cooperative learning groups, the students can overcome their diverseness
and every student can learn and excel in science despite their backgrounds.
Any time group work is involved in the classroom, it runs the risk of getting too
loud. It can get too loud due to the amount of students working together to solve
problems and achieve goals. During Mr. Butlers class, his cooperative learning groups
are getting a little too loud and Ms. Beck, a teacher across the hall, is complaining that it
is distracting for her students. As a fellow educator, Mr. Butler understands that classes
can get too loud and it distracts other learning going on in close proximity classrooms. It
is exciting to see the students understanding each other and working together to obtain
their goals, but they should be able to do all that at a quieter level. Mr. Butler should rein
his students back down to a quieter level. The students should be able to still do what
they need to within their groups. Mr. Butler may have to use many reminders when the
class begins to reach louder levels, but the class should be able to maintain a good level
to be able to cooperate in their group and not distract other classes from their learning.
As we saw through the examples, there are many factors that we can and cannot
control within a classroom. However, learning to adapt to these circumstances and excel

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in them is the key to success. Micah and the teacher were working together to help Micah
excel despite his ADHD. They adapted to the challenges and discovered how to best work
within them to improve Micahs learning. Mr. Butlers class learned how to adapt and
excel despite the huge gap in knowledge between his students. The students worked
together to help one another achieve higher levels of mental processing. Challenges are
going to happen in learning, but when the teacher and students work together, they can
achieve their goals.

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Appendix A

Categories

Points
Possible

SelfEvaluation

APA formatting / Grammar / Punctuation /

Usage / Spelling

15

13

Quality, depth, and support for the first response

35

34

Quality, depth, and support for the second

response

35

33

Introduction, conclusion and evidence of

personal insight and/or learning

15

14

Total Points

100

94

Average of the two scores:

Instrutor
Evaluation

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Reference:
Woolfolk, Anita (2016, 2013, 2010). Educational Psychology (Ed. 13th).
Columbus, OH: Pearson.