Running Head: COMPREHENSIVE PROJECT

Comprehensive Project

Amanda Thomas The University of Akron

Submitted to: Mr. Jason Dooley 5100:220-003

April 17, 2012

Running Head: COMPREHENSIVE PROJECT Introduction I attended Tallmadge City Schools from first grade all the way through twelfth grade. I enjoyed every year and if I could choose a school district that I would love to work for, it would be Tallmadge. Now, all of the schools in Tallmadge are great, but if I could choose my favorite it would be Dunbar Elementary. This school has grades two and three. In my report I will be describing my dream classroom in my dream school in my dream district. I will be describing information about Dunbar Elementary and also about the Tallmadge School District as a whole. I will discuss the building and district report cards and what is explained in all of its components. Lastly, I will tell you all about my classroom. Ill describe my students: their ages, grade, and gender. I will tell you about a special needs child that will be in my class and what I plan on doing to help him learn and adapt to my classroom. I will also depict in detail how my room will look and be arranged. First, I will start with describing Dunbar Elementary and Tallmadge City School District. District Profile The report cards front page displays information such at the address of the district building, the name of the superintendent, the list of the state indicators, and the districts designation. Tallmadge was designated Excellent (Dunbar Elementary School, p.1). The state assigns their designation based on four measures. These four measures include: State Indicators, Performance Index, Value Added, and Adequate Yearly Progress (Guide to Understanding, p.2). The Tallmadge City School District has five schools for grades kindergarten through twelfth. Overdale Primary School holds grades Kindergarten and first.

Running Head: COMPREHENSIVE PROJECT Dunbar Elementary holds grades second and third. Munroe Elementary is for grades fourth and fifth. Tallmadge Middle School holds grades sixth through eighth. Lastly, Tallmadge High School is for ninth grade through twelfth. Tallmadge City School District is a suburban district with the majority of students being White (non-Hispanic). The diversity of the students in the district are as follows: 2.3% Black (non-Hispanic), 1.2% Asian or Pacific Islander, 2% Hispanic, 4.8% MultiRacial, 89.5% White (non-Hispanic), 21.7% Economically Disadvantaged, 1.2% Limited English, and 12.7% Students with Disabilities (Tallmadge City School District, p.5). TCS (Tallmadge City Schools) met a 25 out of the total 26 state indicators. The only indicator not met was fifth grade math. The state requires that fifth grade mathematics should meet 75 percent proficient or above and Tallmadge is at 70.3% (Tallmadge City School District, p.1). In fact, the state requires districts and schools to meet (or exceed) 75% proficient in mathematics and reading for grades 3-8 and 10, in science for grades 5,8, and 10, and in writing and social studies in grade 10. Also, 85% proficient must be met on the OGT (11th grade) in math, reading, writing, science, and social studies. There is also a 90% requirement for graduation rate and a 93% requirement for attendance rate (Guide to Understanding, p.2). Next, the Performance Index measures the percentage of students at each one of the performance levels and then that percent is multiplied by the point value designated for that level. The five performance levels include: advanced, accelerated, proficient, basic and limited. Only students in grades 3-8 and 10 are included into the percentages (Guide to Understanding, p.2). Tallmadge ended up

Running Head: COMPREHENSIVE PROJECT with 103.1 points out of a possible 120. This is a sum of the points from each performance level. Advanced level had a percentage of 28.8 multiplied by a weight of 1.2, giving it 34.5 points. Accelerated had a percentage of 28.7 multiplied by a weight of 1.1 giving it 31.5 points. Proficient level got a percentage of 30.9 multiplied by a weight of 1.0, giving it 30.9 points. Basic got a percentage of 8.8 multiplied by a weight of .6, giving the level 5.3 points. Finally, limited level had a percentage of 2.8 multiplied by a weight of .3, giving it .9 points. Tallmadges performances index has improved from the previous school years score of 101.5 (Tallmadge City School District, p.3) The next measure is value-added and it measures the districts progress from year to year. The data only includes grades 4-8 in mathematics and reading. There are three possible ratings for the value-added measure. First, you can get a plus which means that the district achieved more than a year of expected growth over the time of that school year. The next rating down is a check. This means that the district achieved one year of expected growth. The last rating possible is the minus rating, which means that the district did not achieve a full year of expected growth for their students (Guide to Understanding, p.3). For Tallmadge City Schools, an overall composite rating of a check was given. This rating is a combination of ratings for each grade level and each subject. In reading, grade for received a minus, and grades 5-8 received a check. In mathematics, grades 4 and 6 were given a minus, grades 5 and 7 were awarded a plus, and grade 8 received a check (Tallmadge City School District, p.3).

Running Head: COMPREHENSIVE PROJECT The last measure that goes in to determining the districts designation is AYP or Adequate Yearly Progress. Every school and District must meet AYP goals for math and reading proficiency, attendance rate, graduation rate, and test participation. As long as AYP goals are met, you cannot get a lower rating than Continuous Improvement. If AYP goals are not met for 3 consecutive years and not for more than one student group in that school year, the Continuous Improvement rating is the highest rating that can be received. The AYP Goals for 2010-2011 are shown in the table below taken from the Ohio Department of Educations document: Guide to Understanding Ohios Accountability System: Subject Grade and Test AYP GOAL 2010-2011 Reading 3rd-Grade Achievement 82.7% Mathematics 3rd-Grade Achievement 76.4% Reading 4th-Grade Achievement 81.0% Mathematics 4th-Grade Achievement 80.3% Reading 5th-Grade Achievement 81.0% Mathematics 5th-Grade Achievement 69.8% Reading 6th-Grade Achievement 85.5% Mathematics 6th-Grade Achievement 73.1% Reading 7th-Grade Achievement 81.2% Mathematics 7th-Grade Achievement 68.4% Reading 8th-Grade Achievement 84.3% Mathematics 8th-Grade Achievement 68.5% Reading 10th-Grade OGT 83.1% Mathematics 10th-Grade OGT 76.0% (Guide to Understanding, p.4) Tallmadge City Schools met AYP in every category (Tallmadge City School District, p.4). School Profile Dunbar Elementary School is tucked back into a neighborhood of suburban Tallmadge, Ohio. It is a school for grades 2 and 3. The diversity of the building is as follows: 3.5% Hispanic, 6.3% Multi-Racial, 86.3% White (non-Hispanic), 26.4%

Running Head: COMPREHENSIVE PROJECT Economically Disadvantaged, and 14.7% Students with Disabilities (Dunbar Elementary School, p.5). The 2010-2011 School Year Report Card shows the address of the school, the name of the principle and superintendent, and all the ratings for the school including the state indicators, performance index, AYP and value-added measure. The schools designation is also on the front page of the building report card. Dunbar Elementary School is rated Excellent for the 2010-2011 school year (Dunbar Elementary School, p.1). Dunbar Elementary met 3 of 3 total state indicators including third grade math (93.3%), reading (93.3%), and Attendance-All Grades (96.2%) (Dunbar Elementary School, p.1) Dunbar Scored a 107.6 on the performance index for the 2010-2011 school year. Advanced level has a percentage of 37.1 multiplied by a weight of 1.2 gives it 44.5 points. Accelerated has a percentage of 32.9 multiplied by a weight of 1.1 gives the level 36.2 points. Proficient level is at 23.2% multiplied by a weight of 1, giving it 23.3 points. Basic is at 5.3% multiplied by a weight of .6, which gives the level 3.2 points. And lastly, limited has a percentage of 1.4 multiplied by a weight of .3 gives it .4 points. All of those points summed together gives the total performance index score of 107.6 (Dunbar Elementary School, p.3). Value-added measure is not applicable for Dunbar Elementary because it only has up to the third grade. When student get to fourth grade, they will move up to Munroe Elementary where Value-added measure will come in to play for mathematics and reading. The measure will tell the school whether they went above

Running Head: COMPREHENSIVE PROJECT expected growth, just met expected growth, or did not meet expected growth (Guide to Understanding, p.3). AYP was met in all required groups and subjects. Reading and math proficiency and participation were met, as well as the attendance rate in all groups including Economically Disadvantaged and White (non-Hispanic) (Dunbar Elementary School, p.4). Classroom Profile When I teach at Dunbar Elementary School in the Tallmadge City School District, I will be a 2nd grade teacher. Most of my students will be 7 or 8 years of age. I will have more boys than girls in my classroom and I will make sure to make my lesson plans so that the boys can have many hands-on choices to learning that will better suite them. I will cover all content and subject areas but I will try to make them all tie together so that children and pull the information together. For example, I could focus on animals for a week during the semester. I could make a science activity where we compare the skeletons of different animals. Next, I could make a history lesson where we look at famous animals throughout time. I could then make an English lesson where we will read many fictional and non-fictional stories abut animals. I could lastly make a math lesson where we measure the length of different animals tails. This way, students get a very well rounded lesson on animals or whatever the topic may be. I will also have a diverse classroom with all different cultures. I will a student with ADHD in my classroom that I will help on an individual basis whenever necessary. I will keep my lessons interesting and fun to keep his attention and I will give him many tasks to keep him moving. I will show special

Running Head: COMPREHENSIVE PROJECT attention to each and every student and I will listen to everything they have to say. I will arrange my classroom so that the students are sitting in groups of two. This way, they always have someone next to them if they need help from a peer. I will a plethora of colorful decorations on the walls to keep the vibe exciting and not boring. I will do my best to motivate every student so that they are excited to continue ahead in their education. Characteristics of Learners Cognitive Development In my class, the range of cognitive development and capabilities will be at both ends of the spectrum. I will have gifted students that will be reading and writing at the 7th grade level, while some of my learners will need specialized instruction and extra attention because their development is still at a kindergarten level. The student in my classroom with ADHD will need extra attention from myself to ensure that he is in line with where he is expected to be cognitively. Attention and perception will be factors that will need to continually addressed in the classroom, not only for my student with ADHD but with all of my students. I will need to ensure that my instruction is appropriate and that my students perceive the information in the way that it needs to be I will assess my students, formally and informally to guarantee that I am aware of their progress and understanding of the material. I will provide real-world examples of the material and I will tie it back to existing knowledge that the students already have. I will need to make sure that I promote an adequate learning environment so that all my

Running Head: COMPREHENSIVE PROJECT students can focus on the task at hand and that their attention is on the material. I will work towards automaticity in skills such as addition and subtraction. If I have any children that have English as a second language, I will meet with them constantly during the school day to ensure that they are not behind and to answer any questions they make have for me. I will make group activities and hands-on activities so that students have the opportunity to learn from their peers. Also, this will give students time to address any problem or questions with me and we can discuss them one-on-one. When making my lesson plans I will incorporate all the types of learning styles so that students can learn how they learn best and explore other ways of learning. I will make lessons and activities to build the students long-term memories rather than just their sensory memory. When I am making my lesson plans and coming up with new activities for my classroom, I will need to have my students cognitive development in mind. Jean Piaget wrote his Theory of Cognitive Development to explain the process by which people collect, understand, and manage information (Woolfolk, p.31). In his theory, Piaget lists 4 stages of cognitive development. The stages are as follows: sensorimotor stage, preoperational stage, concrete-operational stage, and formal operations (Woolfolk, p. 33-37). The sensorimotor stage begins at infancy, which goes from about 0-2 years of age. This stage is all about the child learning from their senses (sight, touch, taste, hearing, smell). During this stage, infants develop object permanence. They learn that an object still exists even when it cannot be seen (Woolfolk, p.33). Another

Running Head: COMPREHENSIVE PROJECT thing that is learned during infancy is goal-directed actions. This is developed as the infant gets older and is able to take actions toward a specific goal (Woolfolk, p.34). An example of a goal-directed action is if an infant opens a container to get a toy out of it. The infants goal is to get the toy and the action taken to achieve the goal was opening the container. The second stage of Piagets theory is the preoperational stage. This stage takes place from early childhood to the early elementary years, which is from about 2-4 years old (Woolfolk, p.34). During this stage, Piaget says that the child has not yet mastered mental operations but can perform many physical operations. A step towards mental operations is relating physical operations to symbol like signs, gestures, and images (Woolfolk, p.34). Semiotic function is developing in this stage. This is where the child relates symbols to objects using mental operations (Woolfolk, p.34). Another concept learned during the preoperational stage is conservation. This is when a child can grasp the fact the same amount of water can be in two different sized and shaped cups (Woolfolk, p.35). Piaget says that there are 3 steps taken towards solving a conservation problem. The first step is identity. This principle states that something or someone can stay the same over time (Woolfolk, p.35). The next step is called compensation. This involves the thinking that changes in one way can be compensated by changes in another way (Woolfolk, p.35). The last sep toward solving a conservation problem is reversibility. This principle says that a series of steps can be thought through and then reversed to get back to the starting point. An example of reversibility is when a child knows that their dog is a

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Running Head: COMPREHENSIVE PROJECT Golden Retriever, that their Golden Retriever is a dog, and that their dog is an animal. Another concept that starts to develop during this stage is decentering. Children can only focus their attention on one aspect of something at a time, which is known as centering. Up until this stage of their development, their focus is solely on one aspect of an object or task. Another thing that happens during the preoperation stage is that children begin to grow out of their egocentric ways of being and start to see that everyone does not see all things the way they see them. An example of this is when you ask a child what their favorite color is and they respond with blue. When a child nearby hears this they argue that blue is not the childs favorite color, it is red. The child does not understand that other people do not have the same likes and dislike as himself (Woolfolk, p.36). The next step in cognitive development spans from the later elementary years to the middle school years and it is called the concrete-operational stage. This stage ranges from the ages of 7-11. Reversible thinking is understood by this stage. This involves a child thinking from the end to the beginning. This helps them understand that things can change and be altered while keeping is original components. Compensation is also mastered by this stage, and like I already mentioned, compensation is when a child understands that changes in one aspect can be counteract changes in another. Another concept that is finally mastered at this stage is Classification. The development of this concept starts early but isnt fully mastered until the concrete-operational stage. Classification is when a child can look at a single characteristic of an object and put it in a specific category based on

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Running Head: COMPREHENSIVE PROJECT that characteristic. One concept that goes along with classification is seriation. This is when a child can put objects in sequential order by things like height, weight, size, etc. An example of seriation is when a child puts boxes in order by their volume (Woolfolk, p.35). The last step of Piagets theory is formal operations, which goes form age 11 to adulthood. Hypo-deductive reasoning is mastered at this stage. This concept is a problem-solving strategy where the child (or adult) lists factors that could be causing the problem and then evaluates them as they go along (Woolfolk, p.38). One other thing that is involved in this stage of cognitive development is adolescent egocentrism. This involves an adolescents being focused on their own ideas rather than others ideas. It is unlike egocentrism seen in young children because adolescents do understand that other people have different likes and idea then them (Woolfolk, p.39). It is thought that some people do not ever reach this stage, but in fact stay at the concrete-operational stage for their entire life. Formal operations are necessary when reasoning about hypotheses and abstract problems (Woolfolk, p.37). Schools nowadays present problems for their students that push them along to the formal operations stage because they cannot be solved using concreteoperations. In my classroom full of second graders, I expect most of them to be in the pre-operational stage. At this stage I can expect my students to be developing their mental operations. I can make my lessons to help them progress towards more advanced mental operations and push them into the concrete-operational stage. I can incorporate concepts like conservation and reversible thinking into my lesson

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Running Head: COMPREHENSIVE PROJECT plans. I can use a lot of pictures and symbols in my lessons and on my classrooms walls to develop the childrens semiotic function. Another thing that I could do to develop semiotic function is to have a classroom game of charades. This will help them see that an object can be represented in other ways than just a word. Information processing theory is another theory that I will need to be aware of when making my plans for my classroom. This theory refers to types of cognitive learning including attention, perception, memory, and types of knowledge (Woolfolk, p.17). Attention takes an important role in the classroom. It is only possible to pay attention to one cognitively taxing thing at a time (Woolfolk, p.239) and it is important for teachers to understand that, especially when it comes to special needs children. Perception also plays a key part in the classroom. This is where students assign meaning to the material theyve learned. Students need plenty of real-world examples and connections to their existing knowledge in order to perceive information correctly (Woolfolk, p.238). Another component of the information processing theory is memory. When information is first heard, it becomes part of their sensory memory. The sensory memory has a very large capacity, which means it can handle a lot of information at once. The duration of the sensory memory is extremely short, lasting only 1-3 seconds. A part of the sensory memory is when a stimulus is detected, interpreted, and then given a meaning. This part of the memory is referred to as perception (Woolfolk, p.238). Another part of the sensory memory is attention. Attention plays an important role the sensory memory because we could not possible handle all the information we would build if we paid attention to

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Running Head: COMPREHENSIVE PROJECT everything around us. By ignoring some things and paying attention to others, we are able to be selective on what goes into our memory (Woolfolk, p.239). After the child perceives the information it become a working memory. The working memory is where new information is held and used with information in the long-term memory to solve problems or help better comprehend something. The capacity of the working memory is limited and the duration is 5-20 seconds. The working memory has many components. The first is called the central executive and its job is to decide what information to pay attention to and to monitor other mental resources. The next component is the phonological loop. This is the part of the working memory where words and sounds are rehearsed and practiced. Next comes the part of the working memory that is responsible for holding visual and special information. This part of the memory can become easily overburdened because we can see many things in a short amount of time and it is know as the visuospacial sketchpad (Woolfolk, p.241). Another aspect of the working memory is the cognitive load. The cognitive load is the amount of resources needed to do a specific task. There are three types of cognitive loads. The first is intrinsic, which are the resources that are needed by the task itself. The second is extraneous, which are the resources needed to process stimuli unrelated to the task. The third and final cognitive load is germane. Germane cognitive load is the deep processing of information that is related to the task by applying prior knowledge to the task or problem at hand. One thing that must be done in the working memory is retaining the information. This is done be paying close attention to the information being processed because if attention drifts off,

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Running Head: COMPREHENSIVE PROJECT information can be lost very quickly (Woolfolk, p.242). Losing attention is not the only was that information can be forgotten, though. Inference of old information can make you forget new information. As negative a connotation forgetfulness has, forgetting can be a good thing because without it, our minds would become overloaded (Woolfolk, p. 243). Once the information is practiced and learned, it becomes a long-term memory (Woolfolk, p.237). A childs long-term memory has a practically unlimited capacity and duration. Long-term memory consists of three contents: declarative knowledge, procedural knowledge, and self-regulatory knowledge (Woolfolk, p.244). Declarative knowledge is strictly facts or verbal information. It can consist of specific facts or personal preferences and it referred to as the knowing that (Woolfolk, p.244). Procedural knowledge is the knowing how. It is the knowledge of how to demonstrate a task (Woolfolk, p.244). And lastly, Self-regulatory knowledge is all about management. It tells you when use you declarative or procedural knowledge (Woolfolk, p.244). Other aspects of the long-term memory are explicit and implicit memories. Explicit memories are consciously recalled, while implicit memories influence our thoughts or actions but we are not consciously aware of it (Woolfolk, p.245). The most important part of the memory process, though, is the storing and receiving. Without this part, we would have nowhere to put the information and no way to receive it. The best way to make sure information will be easily recalled is by elaboration. Elaboration is when you tie new information in with old information. By putting all the information together, you will more easily be able to find and receive when necessary (Woolfolk, p. 250).

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Running Head: COMPREHENSIVE PROJECT Information processing will be important to me when I am making my lesson plans. I will teach my students memory exercises to help them learn important facts. I will provide them with an appropriate learning environment so that all of my students are provided with their best possible environment for learning and developing. When it comes to learning strategies, I will use a ton of elaboration because the best way for my students to learn and perceive information is to compare it to some of their existing knowledge. Whenever I start a new lesson on something, I will assess my students to find out their previous knowledge on the topic. This way, their memories will be refreshed and I will gain a better understanding of what information needs to be expanded on. Personal Development Erik Erikson worked along side with famous psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud as Freud developed his theory on psychosexual development. Erikson then went on to develop his own alternative theory called the Stages of Psychosocial Development. There are 8 stages in Eriksons theory that describes the persons development within their own self and self-identity and within their relationships with others. Each stage confronts a developmental crisis, which is a conflict between a positive and negative trait that will affect the person later in life (Woolfolk, p.83). The first stage of Eriksons theory is the infancy stage, which ranges from birth to about 18 months. The developmental crisis at this stage is trust vs. mistrust. Basic needs of the infant must be met like feeding and loving care for the infant to develop basic trust. If the infants needs are not met and a loving relationship with a caregiver is not formed, then the infant will develop mistrust (Woolfolk, p.83).

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Running Head: COMPREHENSIVE PROJECT The next stage of psychosocial development occurs during the toddler years from about 18 months to 3. It is during this stage when a person will develop Autonomy or shame and doubt. Autonomy is another word for independence and toddlers will develop this when they learn how to do different things on their own like feeding themselves and potty training. If a child is not developing at the rate that they want, they could develop a feeling or shame and doubt (Woolfolk, p.83). If a child develops shame and doubt, Erikson believes that they could suffer from a lack of confidence throughout their life (Woolfolk, p.84). The next developmental crisis that a person will face is initiative vs. guilt. This stage is the last stage of the preschool years and occurs between the ages of 3 and 6. During this stage a person needs to develop initiative and how to act on thoughts of their own. They also need to understand that not all thoughts and ideas should be acted on. It is important for an adult to not interfere but supervise at this stage. If children are not allowed to do things by themselves, they might start to develop a feeling of guilt and that they cannot do things right on their own (Woolfolk, p.83-84). The next stage of psychosocial development is from ages 6 to 12 and this begins the elementary and middle school years. The crisis of this stage is industry vs. inferiority. When a child is going to school and learning new skills they are learning the feeling of accomplishment. But if a child is not feeling accomplished in school and are not learning the new skills that their peers are learning, they can develop a feeling of inferiority. In order for a person to feel competent, they must set goals and be able to reach them (Woolfolk, p.83-85).

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Running Head: COMPREHENSIVE PROJECT The next stage raps up the elementary and middle school years and begins the adolescent years. During this time a person will face identity vs. role confusion. This is where a person begins to learn who they are and are working to achieve their identity in their gender and other aspects like occupation, religion, and politics. A teenager starts to put all of these aspects together in order to form their identity. If the teenager cannot put all their beliefs and feelings together, they will face role confusion and may feel like they do not know who they are as a person in society (Woolfolk, p.86). The next crisis that a person will face during development is intimacy vs. isolation. A young adult is at the time in their life that is it appropriate for them to develop intimate relationships with others and if they do not, they will be left feeling isolated. If a person never developed their identity, it will be difficult for them to enter a deeper relationship with someone and make flee into isolation (Woolfolk, p.87). As a person moves on into adulthood, they will face two more developmental crises: generativity vs. stagnation and ego integrity vs. despair. When a person is facing the crisis of generativity vs. stagnation, they are faced with the challenge of supporting and preparing the next generation. Most adult do this by having children and teaching them necessary skills to succeed in life. Then a person will face their final developmental crisis, which is ego integrity vs. despair. During this time a person reflects on their life and gets a sense of fulfillment and acceptance. They should look back and accept their unchangeable history, and if they do not, they will feel despair (Woolfolk, p. 87).

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Running Head: COMPREHENSIVE PROJECT In my classroom, I expect my students to be challenged with the developmental crisis of industry vs. inferiority, which occurs between the ages of 6 and 12. During this time my students will be developing new skills and learning a lot of new information. I will use scaffolding to push them further into development of their new skills. I will use a reward system in my classroom so that my students can develop the sense of accomplishment and learn that when they do a job well done, they feel good about it. In order to not let any of my students feel inferior, I will make sure I include every student in an activity that Im doing. Assigning class jobs is also another way of including everyone and giving them a sense of responsibility. One thing that I will have to consider when I am evaluating a childs personal development is what kind a parenting style their parents use. Diane Baumrind studied parenting styles of middle-class, European American families and came up with 4 different kinds of parenting styles and she describes how they influence their childs personal development. The first style is Authoritative and this is when a parent offers a high level of both warmth and control. Children with authoritative parents often do well in school, are happy with themselves, and can easily relate to others. Authoritarian is different from authoritative because it offers high control but with low warmth. Children that have authoritarian parents are more like to feel depressed and guilty. Children of permissive parents, who offer high warmth with low control, are used to having things their way and because of that, they often have a hard time interacting with their peers. The last type of parent style is rejecting/neglecting/uninvolved and these parents offer their children low control and low warmth. This type of parent has very negative affects on their childs

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Running Head: COMPREHENSIVE PROJECT personal development and their children are more likely to become partiers or druggies than children of any other type of parenting style (Woolfolk, p.68-69). I may not be able to tell what kind of parenting style the parents of my students use but if I can tell what type their using at home, it will help me better understand the level of personal development the student is at. Field Comparison I did my field experience for this report at a local suburban middle school. I was placed in an 8th grade math classroom. The teacher in this classroom, well call her Mrs. A, taught two different classes while I was present. She taught an 8th grade Pre-Algebra class and an 8th grade Algebra 1 class. Mrs. As class was full of 8th grade girls and boys, so their ages would be either 13 or 14 years old. At this age, I would expect her students to be in Piagets formal operations stage of cognitive development. These students are using their hypo-deductive reasoning skills while solving math problems. As I mentioned previously in this report, some people never reach the formal operations stage, but schools today make their lessons to push students along into that stage (Woolfolk, p.38). While I was observing these students in both of Mrs. As classes, I thought about Eriksons theory of personal development. At their age, I would assume that these students are dealing with the crisis of identity vs. role confusion. They are in the midst of teenager-hood and are now responsible for deciding who they want to be. I was not able to see any examples of students showing any signs of role confusion or identity problems, but this is something they are all dealing with

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Running Head: COMPREHENSIVE PROJECT inside. For Mrs. A being a Math teacher, it must be hard to find a way to increase our students personal development. Mrs. A came up with a really good way to do this by showing the students a video at the start of each class. The videos are always about an interesting career choice that she thought her students might be interested in. She showed the student one video about car designers and another about aquarium designers (Field Notebook, 2/16/12, p.1). Mrs. A motivated her class by using extrinsic motivation. Extrinsic motivation is motivation that comes form an outside force, like a gift or prize. There is something outside of yourself that is giving you the motivation to do something (Woolfolk, p.337). What Mrs. A did was she passed out two tickets to each student at the beginning of the period. If the student misbehaved, they would get a warning and if they did it again she would take one of their tickets away. At the end of the period, the remaining tickets would be collected into a ticket bin. On Friday of that week, Mrs. A would pick a ticket out of the bin for a special surprise (Field Notebook, 2/16/12, p.2). This kind of motivation would work well in a classroom where the teacher had better control of the students. In Mrs. As classroom, her way of motivating her students with the tickets did not impact them as much as it could have if she would have followed through. She is a very easygoing teacher and I found it quite obvious that her students took advantage of that. On several occasions, Mrs. A had to tell her students to quite down, and yet every time they just got louder and louder. She finally told them that they were to be silent until the end of the period, but then the students just proceeded to whisper with no repercussions (Field Notebook,

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Running Head: COMPREHENSIVE PROJECT 3/29/12, p.8). If Mrs. A would have followed through on her threat to take tickets away, her motivation technique may have worked better. When it came to instruction in Mrs. As classroom, I was unfortunate enough not to see much of Mrs. As actual teaching. While I was observing in her class, Mrs. A only instructed her students one time and a substitute instructed once also. The first time I visited, Mrs. A passed out two sheets of seat work and let the students pair up and work on them together for the entire class (Field Notebook, 2/16/12, p.2). Although Mrs. A did not give any verbal instruction, there is a hands-on approach taking place because the students are using their social interactions to help expand their learning (Dooley, Personal Communication, 2/14/12). The next time I visited, Mrs. A was absent and a sub was covering for her. The sub attempted to give a lesson on the overhead on how to un-foil. His mini-lesson was a type of expository teaching, which means that the teacher gives information verbally in an organized way from the broadest information to more specific details (Woolfolk, p.462). He started out by telling the student what he means by un-foiling and then he went on to show them how to do it (Field Notebook, 3/11/12, p.5). This kind of teaching is common with Mathematics because direct instruction is often necessary to introduce a new topic. On my last visit to Mrs. As classroom, she only gave instruction as help to students that didnt understand a homework question, she did not teach about a new concept or idea. She simply stood at her overhead and showed the students how to work through the homework questions that they had trouble with (Field Notebook, 3/29/12, p.9). This is verbal instruction with no hands-on or collaborative aspects to it, so I would categorize this as expository

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Running Head: COMPREHENSIVE PROJECT teaching. After she went through all the students questions, she gave the students a worksheet to complete individually (Field Notebook, 3/29/12, p.9). The effectiveness of the substitutes instruction was not very great. The students had never been instructed on the concept that he was trying to introduce and they seemed very confused. The students made a lot of comments like, What? and Can you repeat that? I think that the students were confused because the substitute probably doesnt teach in the same way that Mrs. A does and they were confused by his instruction technique. Because the students did not understand, it seemed like they were becoming overwhelmed and so they began to stop listening and shut down. After the substitute realized that they were not catching on, he just gave them their homework questions from the book and gave up on trying to teach them (Field Notebook, 3/11/12, p.5). When Mrs. A was giving her instruction on the homework problems, the students were responding much better than they did with the substitute. They remained quiet throughout the session and seemed very engaged. Mrs. A explained things by doing them rather than telling them. I think that the majority of her students are visual learners rather than auditory, and that is why they seemed to benefit more form Mrs. As instruction. This is an example of teaching to the students ways of learning. Mrs. A knows her students in a way the substitute doesnt, so she was more able to plan her instruction to accommodate her students. Assessment In the Classroom, teachers have many different options when it comes to assessing their students. Some of these options include essays, projects, unit tests,

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Running Head: COMPREHENSIVE PROJECT performances, portfolios, presentations, etc. (Woolfolk, 2007, p. 494). These ways are considered more formal assessments. Teachers can also assess their students in much more of an informal way as well. One way of informally assessing a student is to simply verbally ask them a question. These types of informal assessments are not usually a measurement assessment. Measurement-type assessments are not always appropriate in your classroom. Measurement is when a teacher gives a score, grade or rating based on the assessment (Woolfolk, 2007, p.494). Although measurement is important to give students and parents an idea of where the student stands, assessments are also for teachers to find out where their students stand in learning the material and how well they understand it and can use it. Assessments let teachers know how much more instruction their students need on the material and which student may need some differentiated instruction. Diagnostic Diagnostic assessments are given before instruction and are referred to as preassessments. They help the teacher gain knowledge about their students prior knowledge on a certain topic. Teachers often use them when they are moving on to a related topic to the one just previously covered. For example, if a teacher is teaching a lesson on rainforests, she may teach her next lesson on animals that live in the rainforest. If she wants to be sure that her students know what is needed about the previous lesson on rainforests, she may give them a diagnostic pre-assessment before she starts on her animals of the rainforest lesson. Diagnostic assessments are also considered summative assessments of the previous lesson (Fox, 2010).

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Running Head: COMPREHENSIVE PROJECT Formative Formative assessments are given during instruction and sometimes before in the form of a pre-test. These types of assessments are to benefit the teacher. They will tell him/her what type of instruction is necessary for teaching these students this material. By looking at the formative assessment given, a teacher can plan their lessons for what the students need (Woolfolk, 2007, p. 495). I plan on using formative assessments in my classroom quite often. One thing I will use them with will be spelling test. In order for me to see where my students are beginning and how much they already know, I will give them a pretest with all that week or months words. This will guide me to what type of instruction I will need and how much instruction my students will need. I will also be able to see if I think my test set-up is sufficiently or not based on if the students understood what was asked of them. I will give them the same test during the instruction as well so that I am able to see their level of improvement and what they still need instruction on. Summative A summative assessment will be given after instruction is given. An example of this is a unit test or final exam. The purpose of this type of assessment is to see how much knowledge and information was attained and how much was accomplished. It is beneficial for the teacher, student and parent to look at the students summative assessments to see if any more instruction is necessary (Woolfolk, 2007, p. 495). In my classroom when Im giving my spelling tests, I will give a summative assessment at the end of the unit to see the students levels of accomplishment. I will give the same test that I gave as a pretest before I gave the instruction on the material. This

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Running Head: COMPREHENSIVE PROJECT way, I will be able to easily compare each students test to their tests they took at the beginning of the lesson. Authentic An authentic assessment will ask the students to apply a skill that they have learned in the classroom to the way in which they would use it in real life. Authentic tests will often require group work or collaboration. They will require the students to do research and be actively engaged in their learning and are usually not very structured assessments (Woolfolk, 2007, p.505-506). In my classroom, I would like to use an authentic assessment as a summative assessment. I would give it after I have completed my instruction on the topic. These kinds of tests provide so much room for creativity and expression so I think that they are important to give to your students at least once a semester. Accommodations In my classroom, I want each individual student to feel comfortable in my classroom. This could be challenging at times. For example, one student may work better with some soft music playing in the classroom while another student may need complete and total silence to concentrate. I will need to take all of my students into consideration when Im trying to create a good test-taking environment. One thing I could do in the case of the music example is to ask the school to provide me with music players that I can give to my students that work better with soft background noise. This way, the silent workers get their silence while the music listeners get their music. Another thing that I will do to find out what my students are going to need is to give pretests. I will then have the opportunity to evaluate my

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Running Head: COMPREHENSIVE PROJECT assessments based on how well the students understood the questions and I will change the assessments if necessary so that all students may be successful. I will try my hardest to make any accommodations I can so that my students are set up to succeed. Value Added I plan on using creative approaches to measuring value added in my classroom. I will use diagnostic, formative, and summative assessments so that I am able to evaluate each student during their entire learning process. I think that portfolios are an excellent way to measure value added in a classroom. It will allow you as a teacher the opportunity to look at all the students work throughout the school year (or semester-which ever one you chose) and see their improvement level from the beginning through the end. I will use an assessment in mathematics to show a students value added for the year. I will make a test that will have the same types of questions each time it is given. I will give it multiple times throughout the school year and then I will compare the students test to their previous tests and I will be able to clearly see their level of improvement. Self-Assessment/Goal Setting I think that reviewing grades is the best way to self-assess, but for a 2nd grader, those letters written on their report cards might not tell them much. I think that it very important for teachers to have conferences with all their students on a regular basis. This way, the teacher can tell the student where they stand and what they need to work on. By meeting with their teacher and talking about the grades they have been earning they will gain more insight on how they receive that grade and

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Running Head: COMPREHENSIVE PROJECT what is expected out of them. During these teacher-student conferences, both the student and teacher should set goals that will list what the students will strive for before their next conference. The goals should not all be performance goals, though. Many, if not most, of the goals should be mastery goals because that will help the student focus on actually learning to gain knowledge, not just to get a certain grade (Woolfolk, 2007, p.385). Conclusion Throughout this report, I have learned a great deal of information regarding education. I have learned how to read and understand each section of a district report card. I have learned about the cognitive development of children by studying Piagets theory on cognitive development. By studying Piaget, I now know what to expect at each level and when a child should learn certain skills. I also learned about the information processing theory which helped me understand how children learn and store information in their minds. Next, I studied the personal development of children. While studying this, I learned about Eriksons theory and how there is a developmental crisis at each stage of personal development. Another thing that was beneficial about this report was having the opportunity to do a field experience at a local middle school. While in the classroom, I observed different instructional strategies and motivational strategies used by the teacher. Lastly, I learned an ample amount of information on how to assess students. I studied each type of assessment and I explored examples of how they could be used in my future classroom. While learning all this information and studying all these different aspects of education, I began to see how I would use my knowledge in my classroom. I learned that I want

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Running Head: COMPREHENSIVE PROJECT to be a very motivational teacher and be very supportive to my students. While I studied Eriksons theory, I knew that I wanted to do my very best to help each child through their developmental crises. I want to be a positive teacher, like the teacher that I observed during my field experience. I also decided that I want to use each type of assessment in my classroom so that the students will have variety. Overall, I have used this information to build knowledge about myself as a future educator and how I want my future classroom to be.

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Running Head: COMPREHENSIVE PROJECT References Fox, C. (2012, February 24). Starting point. Retrieved from http://serc.carleton.edu/introgeo/assessment/formative.html Ohio Department of Education. (2011). Dunbar Elementary School: 2010-2011 School Year Report Card. Ohio Department of Education. (2011). Guide to Understanding Ohios Accountability System 2010-2011. Ohio Department of Education. (2011). Tallmadge City School District: 2010-2011 School Year Report Card. Woolfolk, A. (2009). Educational psychology. (11 ed. ed.). Merrill.

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