Information Processing TIPR

Current Teacher Behavior

1. (one paragraph) What evidence do you see in your field experience of specific teacher behaviors that are related to Information Processing Theory? How does the teacher work with the students' information processing systems to promote learning? For example, how does the teacher focus students' attention, help them rehearse new information, and encourage them to encode and retrieve/reconstruct information? Evaluate the teacher's use of wait time as part of this process. Cite specific examples.

My cooperating teacher constantly uses Information Processing Theory daily in his teachings. Physical education can be extremely overwhelming at times, especially for students who have disabilities. My teacher does a great job at breaking things down to make the information easier to process. To start, he does a great job at gaining the students attention. This is something that was developed earlier in the semester, but he continued to work on throughout the semester. He would blow the whistle a a cue to signal that he was ready to explain what they were going to do in class that day. As soon as he would blow the whistle, all of the students would stop talking and listen to him--it was really amazing to watch. He would also review the previous days lesson and connect it to the one that he was teaching that day. Sometimes, he would ask for a discussion, but other times, he would go straight into what they were going to do for that day. When the students started a new unit, usually a new sport to focus it on, he did a great job at relating the sport or the skills of the sport to more common things that all the students know. For example, they started a new unit on flag football. When he was discussing flag football, he related it to soccer--the sport they just finished--by saying that there are still offense and defensive players and the end goal is to reach the goal and score. When asking the students questions for a discussion, he did a great job at giving them that "awkward" amount of time. He really would wait to say anything until at least one student made a comment. It was kinda awkward for me to witness at first, but I think it helped the students really think about what he was asking them and give them time to respond to the question. 

edTPA Prep

Also, answer these questions:

1. (one paragraph) What does the teacher do to link students' prior academic knowledge with new learning?

The teacher would always relate information from either the previous day or the previous unit to that particular lesson. I think that the students really enjoyed this because it gave them something to relate it to. Physical education can be really overwhelming for some students, especially students who have never played or heard of the sports before, but he does a great job at connecting skills from different sports and showing the relationship between the two. He would also review skills that the students were supposed to learn in middle school.

1. (one paragraph) What does the teacher do to link students' personal, cultural, and community assets with new learning?

The teacher honestly did not do a super great job at this. I asked him if he has ever done a student interests/assets survey before, and he seemed to not really understand what I was referring to. Sometimes during roll call, he would ask the students specific questions to connect to them, but that does not necessarily work for this question. He would sometimes have the students who were more athletic than others demonstrate specific skills or exercises to the class. By doing this, the teacher linked the students personal assets to new learning. 

1. (one paragraph) What does the teacher do to elicit and build on students' responses to further understanding?

The teacher does a great job at going into detail and almost overdoing answering questions. He always wants to make sure that all of the students are always on the same page so that no student will have an advantage over another. He also does a great job at making sure that no answer that a student gives is wrong. He does a great job at somehow relating the answer back to the topic. 

Student Needs

2. (one paragraph) What are the students' needs with regard to information processing in this class? What more could or should be done?

I think that overall, the students needs are being met really well when it comes to information processing. My teacher does a great job at doing this in every single day and making it seem easy and natural. I think that the students would love more trivia/facts games during class as a review/over-learning of a concept. I think that this would help the students process the information in a more competitive way. I also think that this could be a good opportunity for some students to see if there is a topic that they need to work on or gain more knowledge about. 

Plans for your Lesson

3. How will you address these needs when you teach your mini-lesson in this class?

I plan to address these needs when I teach my mini-lesson by continuing the practice that my teacher already implements. I do not have time to do a trivia round or game, but if I had more time this is something that I would implement into my lesson. 

Lesson Description and Reflection

Lesson Description and Reflection 

I taught a lesson in a Fitness for Life high school class. I taught the workout portion of the class. A large basis of my lesson was based on the ideas of Vygotsky Theory of Cognitive Development. Vygtosky is one of my favorite theorists that we learned about this semester because he discusses the importance of the fundamental role of social interaction in the development of cognition. In physical education, social interactions happen every single day. Peers are constantly collaborating with one another to learn new concepts, skills, sports, etc... In my particular lesson, I embodied Vygotsky's importance of social interaction. I paired up the students together with a new partner so they could accomplish a goal (finishing the workout) together. This was a huge social interaction because at first, the pairs seemed to be a little uncomfortable and shy with one another. This is most likely because my cooperating teacher always allows them to choose their partner. By the end of my lesson, the students were motivating and encouraging one another. It was really cool to see this different interaction between the students that I did not notice all semester. Motivation is HUGE in physical education. Providing both extrinsic and intrinsic motivation should be worked together in order to see the best results. The motivation theory that I based my lesson off of was Deci and Ryan Self-Determination Theory. This theory discusses that people are motivated by three innate needs. The first is competence. This is where people need to gain a mastery level when learning new and different skills. Once they feel like they have learned these skills they are more likely to achieve their goals and take a step in their actions. I used this in my lesson because since I had been observing this class for many weeks, I knew the basic skills that they were capable of doing. I encompassed these skills that they have already mastered, while also providing differentiation examples of more challenging exercises. The second part of the self-motivation theory is connection or relatedness. This is where people must feel a sense of belonging and attachment to other people. These relationships have already been formed over the course of this class, but I helped to challenge this by pairing them with someone who they usually do not pair up with. The third part of this theory is autonomy. Autonomy is that people need to feel like they are in control of their own goals as well as their behaviors. This is where self-determination comes into play heavily. I incorporated the use of heart rate monitors in my lesson which would track the students heart rate. By doing this, it allowed the students to keep track of their heart rate and see if they were in the intended target heart rate zone. This seemed to really motivate the students since they were able to see their progress. I also incorporated the Social Cognitive Theory (SCT) developed by Albert Bandura into my lesson. This theory discusses the idea that when people observe a behavior or a task by someone who is doing it correctly, they are more likely to remember the sequence of events and use this information to further guide behavior. I implemented this theory into my lesson by providing a physical demonstration of each exercise in the order in which is was to be completed. The students were also using this theory when observing their peers, especially their partner.

1. My lesson went well because I definitely think that I helped the students master the learning topics for that lesson. I wanted the students to learn different ways to do the basic exercises that they have been learning all semester. I could tell by observing this class for many weeks, that they do the same exercises very often. I wanted to show the students different, more challenging ways to do the same exercise in order to grab their attention and differentiate for students who find the basic way too easy. I was pleasantly surprised when the majority of the students at least tried to do the exercise the way that I had taught them. A lot of them were able to do it successfully, which really shocked my cooperating teacher.
2. I think that there is always room for improvement in each and every lesson. I think that looking back on my lesson, I wish I would have had all of the students follow along with me as I showed them the new and different exercises. When I was showing them, they were all standing around me in a circle and I think it would have been more effective if they would have done it with me.
3. I think all of the students are really engaged to begin with, which made it really easy for me as I taught my lesson. Pairing the students up with someone they usually don't pair up with really helped with student engagement. It held the students more accountable since many of them were not as comfortable as they are used to. Also, the use of the heart rate monitors really motivated the students. The students would often look at their heart rate monitor to see where they were at. I noticed a few times the students would look at their monitor and then seem discouraged for a moment. Then, all of a sudden, they would workout harder than they did before.
4. I think that I could have increased student motivation by providing some sort of extrinsic motivation. For example, if the whole class in in their target heart rate zone for the majority of the class then they can have 3 extra minutes to change, etc...

Final Goals Reflection

In the beginning of the semester I set three goals that I had for EDSC 3250. They were:

1. I want to learn more about Canvas, Skyward, and other various online grading websites in order to stay connected with my students and their parents. I want to learn more about how to use these tools because I think students are more motivated to stay up with their grades when they are aware of how they are doing in the class. This goal is aligned to ISTE Standard for Educators 7a which states, "Use assessment data to guide progress and communicate with students, parents, and education stakeholders to build student self-direction," because it discusses using a way to provide and guide progress and communication with parents and students.

2. I want to learn more about various websites that can help all students expand their learning on various topics. I want my students be able to use technology to be able to study, work on projects and assignments, as well as learn about new technology that they can also use in their future learning experience and careers. This goal is aligned with ISTE Standard for Educators 6b which states, "manage the use of technology and student learning strategies in digital platforms, virtual environments, hands-on maker spaces or in the field." My goal and standard are aligned because they both have the intention of helping students learn and discover new learning strategies through technology.

3. I want to learn more about how and why technology is so important for the future of education. Growing up, technology was not used every day in my classrooms. My senior year of high school, all the students were given iPads to take tests, complete homework, and study. This was a hard transition for me because I was so used to taking tests and quizzes on paper, not on iPads. Since I was not introduced to a lot of technology when I was in school, I do not know as much about it as I think I should. This goal is lined up with ISTE Standard for Educators 1a which states, "Set professional learning goals to explore and apply pedagogical approaches made possible by technology and reflect on their effectiveness." My goal and standard are aligned because they both demonstrate a way to explore and apply the possibility of technology being used in education and how it can be beneficial.

Was I able to reach these goals?

1. My first goal was to learn more about Canvas, Skyward, and other various online grading tools. This is a goal that I definitely met and exceeded. I met this goal because I made a Canvas Instructor classroom in this class where I learned how to make a Canvas Instructor page as well as grade assignments, and make assignments, quizzes, and discussions. Now, I definitely feel confident in using Canvas. I also learned how to make a Google Classroom, which is something that I am definitely wanted to implement into my future teaching. I think it is a good way for students, teachers, and parents to all be on the same page. Since I will most likely be teaching in Utah, and a lot of schools in Utah use Canvas, I am so happy that I learned more about it now so I have an overall good idea of what it is all about instead of going in blind.

2. My second goal was to learn more about various websites that can help all students expand their learning on various topics. I also think that I met and exceeded this goal because there were multiple times that we would do assignments (posted on our google website) where I would have to do research and investigate tools for students and parents to have. Some websites that I became familiar with are: uen.org, wasatchadaptativesports.org, healthychildren.org, canva.com, khanacademy, pecentral, etc... All of these websites will help give students and parents more information on physical education, health, tips and tricks, as well as standards.

3. My third goal was to learn more about how and why technology is so important for the future of education. This is also a goal that I definitely met because this is a topic that came up almost every day we had this class. I was able to discover tools that can actually be used in PE without them feeling forced or like they are a distraction. For example, some tools that I learned more about that will be beneficial for physical education are flipgrid, canva, google doc applications, screencastify, heart rate monitors, and various computer programming tools/widgets. Since technology is in the hands of almost every teenager, it is something that they are comfortable with. Using technology in physical education can give students the opportunity to learn how to use technology as a way to stay physically fit. Using various apps such as the SWEAT app, Nike app, and others can give students an idea of how to be physically fit outside of school.

Goals for the Future 
For my future, I have many goals. The current goal that I am working towards right now is to focus on my student teaching and graduate. For my student teaching, my goal is to incorporate technology into every unit. Whether that be using heart rate monitors, chromebooks, hyperdoc assignments, etc... I also want to implement Canvas/Google classroom into every unit. My current cooperating teacher that I have for student teaching uses google classroom, but she asked me if I could teach her how to use Canvas--which I thought was really awesome! After my student teaching, I have a few other goals that I want to accomplish. Once I start teaching in my own classroom, one goal that I have is to also use some form of technology into every unit. Because I want to use technology, my goal is to provide Chromebooks for students to use in class (during review/game play days) to complete assignments that will be given on Canvas. I do not want these students to feel at a disadvantage if they are unable to do homework with technology at home. Another goal that I have is to continue to learn more about technology in the classroom. I plan on taking additional college courses to learn more about the new and improving technology in order to keep up with my students and to continue to make my curriculum better for students.