Can Schools Close the Acievement Gap Between Students from Different Ethnic and Racial Backgrounds

Burris, C., Weiner, K.G., and Mathis, W. J. Issue 5: Can Schools close the achievement gap between students from different ethnic backgrounds? Taking sides. p. 108-114.

Question 1: Read the side you're supporting. Of the points made by the author, which one do you feel can be argued the most strongly? Explain your reasons. Which point do you feel is the weakest?

The point that I believe can be argued most strongly is that is all students are given the enriched curriculum that high-achieving students receive, achievement will rise. I agree with this statement because I believe that if you give students challenging work that they will want challenge themselves to accomplish the task in front of them. Even if the student is in a lower class because they do not try hard, this work will get them to work to their fullest potential. By having all students take challenging courses it gives all students the same equal opportunity to succeed and there will be no questions because every student is learning the same material.

The point that I feel is the weakest is having students that have learning disabilities take the same classes, but have a different grading system. This could make school not enjoyable for students with disabilities. Also, you could never know if the students are actually learning the material or not because they are being graded differently.

Explain.Question 2: Read the side you're arguing against. Of the points made by the author, which one do you feel can be argued against the most strongly? Explain your reasons. Which of the opposing points do you feel is the strongest? Explain.

The point that I can argue against the strongest is that to bridge the gap we need to deal with the underlying problems of society first. This argument can be argued because school are supposed to give students equal opportunities. So if the school is offering to have all the students take the same challenging course then the problems in society will not have anything to do with it.

The point that I feel is the strongest is how more affluent schools have more money to be able to provide for their students whereas lower income school will have difficulty providing for their students. This is very true in all cases. Schools get money according to how many students and where the school is located. In a more wealthy area the schools are going to get more money then school in lower income areas.

Theory of Multiple Intelligences

Gardner, H. (1993). Frames of Mind. Tenth Anniversary edition. Introduction.

Theory of Multiple Intelligences. Wikipedia entry.


The first reading by Gardner discusses how some people believe that intelligence is inborn and each person has to a certain degree. They believe that this intelligence can be measure through linguistic short answer, pencil and paper test. Other believe that intelligence is not just one thing but a variety of different things and cannot be measure through pen and paper test. These different intelligences include spacial intelligence, musical intelligence, kinesthetic intelligence, mathematical and linguistic intelligence, spiritual intelligence and intelligence of other people and intelligence of ones' self. Gardner continues to discuss how is MI theory believes that there are different domains in which the culture of the environment and the artifacts present effect the type of intelligence individuals develop. This theory also supports the opinion that just because one student does better in math than other students it does not make the low achieving student any less intelligent than the high achieving student. It may just mean that the low achieving math student is intelligent in another area and domain. The second reading from wikipedia give a general definition of multiple intelligence.

In my opinion intelligence can not be categorized into one subject. I believe in multiple intelligence. I believe in the different areas of intelligence and I don't think anyone has the right to say which of these areas is more significant than the others. I also support the idea that the type of living environment and culture has an affect on what we learn and how we learn. To say that there is no such thing as musical intelligence would deny respect and recognition of great artist. To say there is no kinesthetic intelligence would ignore the achievements of great athletes. To say there is no spiritual intelligence would degrade the work of powerful religious leaders. There may not be anyway to test the theory of multiple intelligence but I don't think the theory calls for testing. Perhaps we should accept the theory and work towards creating curriculum and learning environments that allow students to experiment and all areas of intelligence.

Piagetian Structures and Psychological Constructivism

Soltis, J.F. & Philips, D.C. (2009). Perspectives on Learning. Piagetian structures and psychological constructivism. Chapter 5, p. 41-51.

This reading discusses Piaget idea of learning through the function of thinking and learning in terms of structure. He did not study chimpanzees but humans, his children. He believed that the growing child was always busy creating cognitive structures. The child passes through different stages and creates a schema for each of the complex activities until finally its mental structure is close to that of an adult. Despite the criticism, Piaget's theory provided a new approach to understanding learners in the classroom.

According to Piaget structures are real and unobservable schemas of collected and organized information. Functions are carried out through different structures like the heart and lungs, so learning is carried out in the same way, through cognitive structures. Piaget's theory is related to learning because he describes three stages that children go through and it is important as educators to know what stage students are at to make expectations that will best fit their capabilities. His theory made educators aware of stages of development, importance of experience, important role of principles and the significance of organization.

Behaviorism

Soltis, J. F., & Philips, D. C. (2009). Perspectives on Learning. Chapter 3, Behaviorism, p. 21-32.

Ullucci, K. (2005). Picking battles, finding joy: Creating community in the "uncontrolled" classroom. Multicultural Education, 12(3), 41-44.

When reading Skinner's behaviorist teaching practices I realized that this is the method most teachers live by. Praising a student for good work, or giving a gold star or some such reward, is very effective. Teachers are well aware of this and I saw it going on all the time when I was working in my classroom for service learning. I think it is an okay thing to do but then again I think sometimes that is the only thing the students are working for is that reward and not the information they are actually learning. If I was a teacher right now I would probably have some kind of reward system because this is how I always have known a classroom to be. Also all of my teachers had reward systems and they told me it is the only way to get the students to do the work. Form a behaviorist perspective I would treat the students like with respect and treat them like I wold treat my own child. If I was a parent I would not want to be sending my child off to a school where the teacher does not even care about them. As a teacher I will care for my students like they are my own and hopefully gain their trust and respect by doing so, which in the long run will help everyone in the class out because we will get along and be able to take care of problems without causing battles.

Perspectives on Learning and Educational Psychology

Soltis, J.F., & Philips, D.C. (2009). Perspectives on leaning. Chapter 1 Introducion. New York: Teachers College Press. p. 1-8.

Santrock, J.W. (2009). educational Psychology. Chapter 1, Educational Psychology: A tool for effective teaching, p. 1-27.


These readings were introduction into different perspectives of learning and educational psychology. The frist reading by Soltis and Philips discussed how there are mant different ideas on how students learn and researcher, educators and psychologist differ greatly in their views on learning. Some feel that learning happens when a person takes all of the information and reviews it until it all comes together in their head, this theory is sometimes called the "Aha!" theory. Another theory suggest that the brain is like a computer views learning in more technilogical terms. What seems to be evident among all of these different theories is they all seem to focus on individuals and do not take into account the effects that parents, siblings, teachers, friends, movie characters and the enviornment have on how students learn and what they learn. The second reading provided interesting background information about educational psychology. It discussed the people who had large impacts on the development of the educational psychology field and how each of thier ideas and beliefs shaped the course of action of the field throughout the twenty first society and the contributions their work has made for educators and students. This introduction breifly describes insturctional strategies, teaching practices, and the importance for teachers to remain committed and motivated.

Inner city African-Americann parental involvement in elementary schools and Invisible Inequality.

Abul-Alil, J.K. & Farmer, A.D. Inner city African American parental involvement in elementary schools: Getting beyond urban legends of apathy. School Psychology Quarterly, 21, 1-12.

Laureau, A. (2002). Invisible inequality: Social class and childrearing in black families and white families. American Sociological Review, 67, 747=776.

This first reading discussed the myth that inner city African American parents were hostile and apathetic to their child's academic success. In actuality the lack of school involvement and participation amongst inner city African American parents is because these parents often do not have the time to attend in school meeting because of long work hours, some lack English proficiency and have younger children to take care of. Three strategies were identified that proved to increase parental involvement and interest in school and the success of children, these were empowerment of parents through training parents for school readiness and providing integrated school-based mental health services that support family needs, outreach that related at home activities with classroom activities, and lastly indigenous resources that allow parents to meet in more comfortable setting outside of classrooms that are accessible through transportation and free. When these three strategies are emphasized inner city African American parent involvement increases.

The second reading was on Invisible Inequity across social class and childrearing in Black and White families. The study compared an African American boy from a middle class family with an African American boy from a poor family. The middle class child has many adult ran activities that focused on developing his personal interest and talents, he was offered many opportunities to speak his opinion and did not spend much time with relatives or neighborhood children. The working class child had much more free time playing outside and watching t.v. with children in the neighborhood of different ages, cousins and relatives often spend the night and communication with parents was short and direct. Working class parents were less trustful of school administrators and less comfortable with professionals, such as doctors. The overall result of this study emphasized that class played a more significant role in childrearing then race.

1. I felt that this studied focused more on the inequities between socioeconomic status not race but inequities can include black families have to deal with stereotypes, prejudice in the work force and from school administration. Black families are generally lower income because of past discrimination and face institutional discrimination in the future. Black students have more of a chance to feel excluded in the classroom.
2. As a teacher I would personally make it my responsibility to get to know my African American students and learn their situations. I would become involved in the community I teach in and make their interest and needs my own. Hopefully this will help me see students beyond stereotypes.

3 different Preschools

My first observation was that the Chinese preschool students were sent to boarding schools during the whole week, except Wednesday and the weekends. As we watched in the video there were kids who had many issues leaving their parents, and questioned their memories as to picking them up on Wednesday. As the one child at Don-feng Preschool could no let her father leave. This lead me to question the children's current relationship with the parents, as well as what their future relationship would look like. Especially if it would suffer when reaching an older age. I also began to wonder about the children's relationship with other children. School can be a large growing ground for the expansion of social skills. Due to this environment did students have better social skills? I think as an older child a boarding school is appropriate but at such a young age children still need to be taken care of by their parents, the Chinese however feel that this is not an important factor. I really value the beginning relationship at a young age that children can begin to have while living at home with their parents.

Another observation I made was the difference in discipline within the schools. In the preschool in Japan the teacher did nothing when a student continued to act out and distract the class but in a preschool in America the teacher gave the student a warning and then puts them in a "time outs" if they continue to act out. This gives me the idea that Japanese schools focus on teaching their students self control and make the behavior of an individual the responsibility of the entire group and in America, schools focus on verbally expressing frustrations and desires and taking time to develop a plan that will best handle the situation. I feel that this is then reflected into the culture, Americans seem to be more outspoken and proud of expressing our personal beliefs. Americans are taught to work hard to stand out and be different while China and Japan promote the well being of the nation over the advancement of an individual.

Preschoolers

Leach, P. (1989). Making little citizens. Book Review of PTC in the New York Times.

I feel that this article is very valuable to all teachers. Although not all teachers will teach Chinese or Japanese students, it is likely that they will come in contact with students who are different than them. Reading this article helps future teachers begin to understand just how different the beliefs of different cultures are and they way they can effect education. In order to successfully educate students teachers must have an understanding of their students backgrounds and beliefs. Once teachers have this understanding, it will be much easier to figure out the best way possible to teach their students in a way that they can relate to.

I think the differences between U.S, China, and Japan are "bigger" because, in my opinion, they go beyond educational differences, and relate to different life beliefs due to culture. The U.S focuses on a more one-on-one setting, while the Japanese feel this is sad. Also, the Japanese feel that the way that the U.S teachers constantly talk to students about feelings is too deep and intrusive. To me this seems like a societal difference. Generally, Japanese people are less open about their feelings than Americans are, which changes the way that teachers should approach them in given situations. I feel that the differences between countries are big, but neither are wrong.

Urban Prep Academy, Lansing Charter, Holmes Foundation Academy

Urban Prep Academy, Lansing Charter Academy, Holmes Foundation Academy

Summary: These schools provided general information about the type of programs they offered and the quality of teachers. Urban Prep Academy is an African American Academy for boys in Chicago, Illinois. Their goal is to increase the graduation rate of African American boys in urban areas and overcome stereotypes. The programs at the Urban Prep Academy are specifically tailored for the boys' style of learning and the challenges present in an urban environment. Lansing Charter Academy is an elementary school in Lansing. Their programs focus on academic excellence, morals and values, parent involvement and student responsibility in the school and community. Lastly, Holmes Foundation Academy is a school in Flint that offers highly-qualified teachers, core classes, tutoring and mentoring programs like Big Brothers/Big Sisters.

Response: These programs could be responses to many problems in urban environments. Many youth, especially minority males, get into trouble and distance themselves as far as they can from school and everything associated with succeeding academically because they don't feel like they belong or that anyone believes in them. Urban Prep Academy is a place where everyone believes in the future and abilities of minority students. Urban communities are usually home to many low income families, this means the parents spend a great amount of time working and less time involved in school. When parents aren't involved in schools then they don't have a voice in the different programs and policies that effect their child's learning experience. Lansing Charter Academy is a school where parent participation is encouraged and integrated into the classrooms. Being a minority student in an urban school can mean that people of their ethnicity aren't represented in textbooks or class discussions, leaving nobody for students to model after. Holmes Foundation Academy provides mentor programs where students find someone who has been through what they are going through and can relate to their struggles. I think these schools are doing a nice job of coming up with creative ways of dealing with the same old problems.

But That's Just Good Teaching

Lason-Billings, G. (1995). But That's Just Good Teaching! The Case for Culturally Relevant Pedagogy. Theory into Practice, Vol. 34, No. 3, Culturally Relevant Teaching, pp. 159-165.

This articles discussing the need for Culturally Relevant Pedagogy. It begins with linking schooling and culture, specifically with African American students. Culturally relevant pedagogy rests on three criteria, students must experience academic success, students must develop and maintain cultural competence and students must develop a critical consciousness through which they challenge the status quo of the current social order. In one example the teacher focused on displaying African American males in a positive and productive way. By challenging the boys to be academic leaders they became examples for their peers to follow. Next, the article discusses cultural competence among African American students. Teachers utilized African American culture to motivate learning by integrating their music into poetry lessons, inviting family members to teach the class and by allowing them to speak their home language in class and translate it to Standard English. Lastly, the article discussed critical consciousness. It is important for students to be able to critique the very mores and values that make social inequalities in the classroom. One way a teacher handled this was by critiquing textbooks and class material with students, informing the community and providing newspapers with alternative and different perspectives.

1. what does cultural competence look like for my culture? This question is hard for me to answer and I'm not sure why. I guess that I don't really have culture competence. I don't really know what I would consider my culture or race. I am African American, white and Native American. I was raised by my white mother in Clarkston, an affluent suburb. I see myself as multi-racial and a part of multiple cultures, not completely defined by one. I want to be educated in a system that teachers awareness and appreciation for my roots and history, all of them. So cultural competence to me is integrating different parts of my many cultures into curriculum. Above being African American and Native American, I see myself as a minority fighting the same fight as Latin Americans and Asian Americans. A gain for one minority group isn't enough until every minority group shares the same rights and opportunities.

2. Clarkston High School teaches tolerance of other cultures but not acceptance. Going to school where segregation amongst students is as common as acts of prejudice inhibited the cultural competence of the African American aspect of my identity. Clarkston High School and the Clarkston community are predominately white and middle class. The minority members and white members of the community are segregated. This inhibits cultural competence because minorities are alienated and can't be themselves without becoming outsiders and doesn't allow for students to become aware of/appreciate other cultures.

2 Million Minutes

USA Today Article

Yong Zhao Article

In my opinion, most American students look at Asian students to be incredibly intelligent and hard working. American students have many preconceived notions regarding Asian schooling, and many of them are actually positive. I know American students who fear Asian students and consider them to be “smarter” than them and worry about competing with them for grades or for class rank. American students also assume that all Asian students are very good at math and are often antisocial and to be “nerdy,” Although these are not true stereotypes, American students also have a basic understanding of how American school culture can differ from Asian school culture. It was also discussed in the article that American schooling is very focused on being well rounded, about getting good grades, being on a sports team, volunteering, as well as having a part-time job. Asian schooling culture focuses mainly on the academia and progressing further and faster within school.

American’s impressions of Asian students directly relates to their impression of Asian culture. Americans view Asians to be extremely proper and to focus on certain virtues like obedience and competitiveness. This is true within American’s stereotypes of Asians in schools, as they continue to be the best in schools and not focus on much else outside of it. American students also assume that Asians are that is very traditional, and this stereotype would explain why Asian students may not be interested in sports like football or soccer when they could be focusing on their studies. Asian cultural stereotypes also include Asians within school, like that Asians are all gifted in math and are “nerdy.”

Ecological Models of Human Development

Brofenbrenner, U. (1994). Ecological Models of Human Development. In International Encyclopedia of Education, Vol. 2, 2nd Edition. Oxford: Elsevier.

The evolution of ecological models- is that much of developmental psychology is the science of the strange behavior of children in strange situations with strange adults for the briefest possible periods of time. The general ecological model- human development takes place through processes of progressively more complex reciprocal interaction between an active, evolving biopschological human organism and the persons, objects, and symbols in its immediate environment. Also, it says that the form, power, content, and direction of the proximal processes effecting development vary systematically as a joint function of the characteristics of the developing person. Environments as contexts of development- the ecological environment is conceived as a set of nested structures, set inside one another. There is microsystems, mesosystems, exosystems, macrosystems, and last chronosystems. Genetic inheritance in ecological perspective- involves a reconceptualization of the role ofgenteics on human development.

Things that I can personally see better with this model are that a developing child in different situations has an affect on that child. If its not the people he is growing up around it could be the environment, and if I could just understand how the environment is affecting the child I can help the child. I can learn how to teach them as a teacher and understand what they are going through in their lives. As a teacher, you have to have a feel of what outside thoughts your students may be thinking about while you are teaching a lesson and have a way to help them put those thoughts aside while you teach.

Model of Child Development

Ecology is the study of the environment, in a scientific sense. Knowing that ecology is based on the environment, Coll & Szalacha's model of child development is ecological because they studied and inquired how the environment effects the development of children. They discussed how environments van influence both positively and negatively. They also address the same topic that all teachers cannot forget, and that is that all the students are different. Just because they are in the same classroom, school, or school district does not mean that they are all share the experiences. If students do share experiences, does not mean that their views at the end of the experience will be the same. There are 8 main topics that they use to discuss these topics; Social position, Racism, Segregation, promoting/inhabiting environments,Adaptive Culture, Child Characteristics, Development Competencies, and Family.

My middle school experience fits best with the Family element. My parents were going through a rough time, later to get divorced. In middle school was when my father began to treat me in the horrible way that he would treat my mom. My father controlled the amount of money that my mom, sister and i were allowed to have. Most of the time that meant $20 for an average of 3 weeks. Even though with what my father made we were considered upper middle class, i lived like i was in poverty. This affected my academics in a negative way because i was more concerned with whether we were going to eat that night rather than doing my homework.

Overcoming Obstacles

Sanders, M. (1997). Overcoming obstacles: Academic achievement as a response to racism and discrimination. Journal of Negro Education, 66(1), 83-93.

The articles suggests that there is a correlation between the level of awareness of racism and the obstacles it presents and the academic performance of African American students. The article suggest that students who have a high level of awareness don't disengage in school but use their awareness to fuel their motivation. They did a study using 28 African American male and female students whose academic performance is evenly distributed from high achieving (3.0 or higher), mid-achieving (2.0-2.9 GPA), and low-achieving (less than 2.0 GPA). Each group had students from two parent households and single parent homes. Some students in each group are below the poverty and others are above. Each student was interviewed by the author of the article. The results found that students who had the lowest level of awareness felt that racism and discrimination was a thing of the past and that any failure was from a lack of effort not lack of opportunity. These students happened to be have lower GPA's. The students who had moderate to low awareness were aware that racism could make obstacle in education and occupation but their awareness was abstract and none had given an example of when they or anyone else had overcome these obstacles. These student had mid-achieving GPA's. Lastly the students with most racial awareness were mostly high achievers. These students stressed the need to do better than their white counterparts just to get half as far as them. These students saw racism as a challenged and came from families that stressed positive/ethnic socialization. So it is suggested that students who are more aware of racism and its barriers and have a healthy sense of racial socialization will perform better academically than students who have low awareness.

Strangely, the thing that caught my eye most in these interviews was the use of the term "the white man". This made me, a multi-racial female, extremely uncomfortable. I feel like by referring to the white race as "the white man" not only takes away their individuality but excludes women. I know that if this article were discussing the African Americans race they would not have referred to it as "the Black man". I just think it is ironic that while discussing the barriers that racism and discrimination presents for one group they are stereotyping another group. Besides that I thought this article was very beneficial. I consider myself to be highly aware of racism and discrimination in the education and everyday life and like the other high awareness students in this study, I use this awareness to fuel my motivation. I know not only will it be harder for me to succeed and achieve my goals because of obstacles but once I do achieve them it wont seem as significant as it would if I were white.

I Won't Learn From You!

Kohl, H. (1992) I won't learn from you! Thoughts on the role of assent in learning, Rethinking School 7(1): 16-17,19

This articles discusses how some stupid don't lack the abilities to learn and succeed and haven't failed to learn, but actively choose not to learn. The first example in the article discusses how a grandparent refuses to learn English because then the native language of his family may be lost forever. So he refuses to learn to keep an aspect of his identity. The next example was an African American student who never learned to read because his past teachers feared him and let him not do work. Every time the author would ask him to read he would throw a tantrum. Finally she took a risk and fed him the correct words to read and he chose to repeat them aloud to her and continued to read with her. This strategy worked because he was able to save face in front of other students and still learn how to read. Another example was of a student you refused to learn and also disrupted the classroom so no other students could benefit. This student was refusing to learn because of the racist and stigmatizing texts they were given to read. The last example was of a class of Mexican and African American students in San Antonio. They all just sat and stared while their helpless teacher asked questions and tried to teach. These students were refusing to learn because they felt that the school was racist and insulting to their culture. They chose not to learn to defend their cultural identities.

This article can really help all educators "see" better in their classrooms. I can really understand not wanting to learn something because it degrades your race, religion, or ethnicity. In fact in my 9Th grade biology class I refused to learn about evolution because as a christian I was very offended. Instead I wrote a paper stating my reasons why I refused to participate during that section of the course. In this case I was able to respect my religion and still work on a task in class. I think teachers should take more time to ask a student why exactly they refuse to do the work and look at their past experiences for an explanation.

Ryan, R.M., & Deci, E.L. (2000). Intrinsic and extrinsic motivations: Classic definitions and new directions. Contemporary Educational Psychology 25, 54-67.

This article mainly described the specifics of intrinsic and extrinsic motivations, but unlike the other articles, it discussed the impact of teachers and how these motives are prevalent in education today. It also discusses the differences in performance and how extrinsic and intrinsic motivations differ. Cognitive Evaluation Theory was also discussed in the article, how the importance of competence can increase intrinsic motivation. They must also experience a sense of autonomy to increase their sense of self-competence so that intrinsic motivation is completely based on their internal motivation. Positive feedback also increased intrinsic motivation, as long as it didn’t have rewards. Extrinsic motivation included a chart, which described the different types of extrinsic motivation, as well as the idea of amotivation, the idea that a person’s behavior completely lacks a state of intention.

The most interesting thing in the article was the statement that intrinsic motivation will decrease as time goes on within school due to social responsibilities. As each grade passes, students are more likely to enjoy completing the tasks for the task itself, not for the rewards or alterior motives. I would like to know why this occurs, and what can be done to curtail this “epidemic”. How can we encourage students in higher grades to encourage tasks for themselves, if they are struggling to be accepted into college or have varying motivations for completing tasks? This is especially prominent in elementary school, where I remember being as young as four or five and receiving stickers and rewards for completing my tasks. How can we teach our students to love to learn without tangible rewards?

Brophy, J. (2010). Motivating students to learn. New York: Routledge. Chapter 5. Rebuilding Discouraged Students' Confidence and Willingness to Learn.

The main points of this article is to show that not all students learn at the same rate/speed. Also students who don't put forth much effort or find school very meaningful need special motivational attention. For low achievers you need to work with them regularly so they don't become frustrated or humiliated that they can't keep up with the other students. Strategies for helping low achievers according to McIntyre are: individualizing activities and assignments, providing directions to structure tasks, providing task assistance or tutoring, and maintain motivation. According to Abbott they are: keep directions simple, seat student toward the front of class, extra credit opportunities to raise grades, and tutoring. Now "failure syndrome" students often fail because they do not invest their best efforts. If these students do not question their ability they will be able to handle challenging activities calmly and successfully. But if they do fail it is down hill from there. Strategies to help these students would be to guarantee success regularly, give them recognition for real effort, emphasize personal causation in learning, and use group process methods to enhance positive self-concepts. These students take time to "cure" and require patience. Students don't need to be stressing themselves out with goals that are unlikely to be reached. They need to be concentrated on themselves and how they are able to perform and work with that and be comfortable.

An idea I had when I was reading was when I get my classroom and notice the kids who "crunch down in their seats and avoid eye contact" so they do not have to answer a question, I am going to make mental notes of who those students are and little by little work with them on getting them out of their shell. I do not want my students to be afraid to speak up in class, therefore, I will take the time to notice the little details and movements that the students make.

Motivation to Learn: Integrating Theory and Practice

Stipek, D. (2002). Motivation to Learn: Integrating Theory and Practice. Allyn and Bacon: Boston. Chapter 1, Profiles of Motivation Problems.

In this article there are five different students with five different types of motivational problems. Defensive Dick, has poor performance and puts off doing any kind of work so that others don't see that he doesn't know how to do the work. He is self-defeating. He is likely to cheat and during a test takes the time to sharpen his pencil, pick up an eraser and draw on his paper. Hopeless Hannah, has convinced herself that she cannot do the work before she has even tried it. She doesn't ask questions because she doesn't expect to understand the material. One day this type of student may become the class clown or bully or tease. As they approach adolescence, they may engage in more serious antisocial behavior to gain respect. Safe Sally, has done nothing but take classes that she knew she could get A's in. She has never challenged herself and dropped out of classes once she earned a "bad grade" in it. She lacks self-confidence in her academic skills. Satisfied Sam, he knows that he is smart but doesn't like to show it off and doesn't feel like he has to prove it. If he is interested in the subject he is more likely to get involved, otherwise he just is happy with staying out of trouble and passing by with his C+. Anxious Amy, has a hard time performing in the classroom. She can do the homework at home and get the majority of the questions correct but when she is taking a test she turns it in with half the test not filled in.

Something that I was thinking about was when Amy is when she is taking a test to put her out in the hallway so she doesn't feel so nervous or rushed when other students start turning their tests in. I know when I take tests and other students start to turn their tests in I feel that I should be turning my test in to so I start to rush the rest of my work. When I would rush I would get those last few questions wrong or not even do them because I couldn't think clear enough because I was all flustered with being nervous that I wasn't going to finish or be the last to finish but there is nothing wrong with that.

Steele, C.M., & Aronson, J. (1995). Stereotype threat and the intellectual test performance of African-Americans. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 69, 797-811.

Over all this article was very detailed and i found myself getting lost a lot. I found all the studies to be very interesting in both how they tested the people and what the results were. the article was very detailed about the 3 studies . They used different versions of the SAT to gather their information.

I enjoyed this article as far as understanding their overall results. While reading this article i found myself getting lost while reading about all the ways that they did the studies. I did like how they broke down every part of the study as far as the overall goal, method, procedure, and results. sometimes this was helpful in understanding the study and other times it made the study more confusing.

Dweck, C. (1999). Caution: Praise can be dangerous. American Educator, 23(1), 4-9

This article was about deciding if motivation is a good thing or a bad thing? or When motivation is a positive thing and when it can be negative. It gave us examples that we could relate to as students and see how these same types of movtivation affected others. It allowed us to good and bad ways to motivate my students through examples.

After reading this i have learned ways that can be very motivational compared to ways that are the exact opposite than what everyone might think. this article has allowed me to see motivation from both the point of view of a teacher and that of the students. i have also thought of other ways that might motivate students that are not the exact same as the examples in the article but they may have the same effect.

Brophy, J. (2010). Motivating students to learn. New York: Routledge. Chapter 1. Students motivation: The teachers' perspective.

This chapter covers the theories of human motivation. With an emphasis on reactive responses to pressures as well as on intrinsically motativated, Self-determined actions. Along with this we learn about Martin Ford's taxonomy of 24 goals arranged within six categories: Affective goals, Cognitive goals, Subjective organization goals, Self-assertive social relationship goals, Integrative social relationship goals, and Task goals.

While reading this passage I would look back on my schooling experence and point out which teachers helped with my learning motivation and which one didn't. I noticed that those that didn't help with my motivation where those teachers that had the boring lessons. The lessons that were boring were the ones where we had to sit at our desks all day compared to the other teachers lessons were we were more hands on and moving.

Mayer, R. E. (2001). What good is educational psychology? The case of cognition and instruction. Educational Psychology, 36(2), 83-88.



In general this article talked about the history of both education in relation to psychology and psychology in relation education. Mayer talked about the previous theorys about how students learn based on studies done through psychology and how they have affected education and visa versa. He also talked about different learning strategies. For example, rehearsal strategies to learn letter and what they sound like.

Before i read this article i wasn't sure how psychology and education could relate and benefit each other. After reading this article i see exactly how they fit together. I feel that some of the stratrgies that he talks about could really have that effect on students. It got me thinking about other programs that could be started to help with other struggles that students have.