My Last Step

My first step to learning starts in April 2013 when I enrolled in the Professional Teaching Certification at the University of the Philippines Open University (UPOU) through the Distance Education Mode. One of the 2 subjects I undertook is EDS 103 – Theories of Learning.

EDS 103 is a challenge since this is the first time that I have to learn the different theories, concepts, laws and principles to describe how individual learn. The subject became more difficult because I do not have any education subject before as I took Business Administration in college. The anticipation, excitement, anxiety and even fear interplayed while I browsed over the different modules and requirements in the Study Schedule. I did not know how to cope with the demands of the course because of the limited time I had to share between my two subjects.

The sequence of the module was indeed well prepared and integrated. The concepts, theories, principles and laws of learning were inherent in every module. The recommendations and instructional designs of every theory in learning and teaching were manifested in almost every page of the reading materials to accommodate every learning style of my classmates.

The first approach to learning began with the introduction and importance of metacognition and self-regulation in learning in addition to self-efficacy. These three terms were indeed new to me. They were not introduced or taught during my high school and college days. At first, I thought that our teacher or could I say facilitator, made this a part of our lesson so that if somebody failed in the course, it is he/she whom to blame. It was not the case though as I realized that these inherent, internal or personal attributes or awareness were necessary not only in this subject but also in other learning endeavor and in the real world. Self efficacy became a sort of motivation as I observed that I was not alone in this battle. My classmates and I shared the same challenge of limited time to read unlimited materials and hopefully to learn much out of it. As I understood and learned metacognition and self-regulation, I began to control my learning and allocate my time appropriately based on the aims of the modules and study schedule.



As different theories and styles of learning were unfolding one by one, I was beginning to describe the different methods I used before that remained nameless prior to this study. I came to realize that I am a Read/Write learner when I took the VARK (Visual, Auditory, Read/Write and Kinesthetic) Questionnaire of Neil Fleming.  My learning style that I used before did not change over time. I remained a Read/Write learner up to this day. This style is really time-consuming as I have to read the material and write afterwards. The problem was I tend to copy almost all of the modules. I tried so many times but I could not understand the lessons when I only read them. I had to transfer all the materials on my notebook and re-read them. This is the method I knew that remains to be so which describes best how I learn.



Realizing that individuals do not possess a single general ability but a multitude ways to express their thoughts and feelings, it is imperative on my part to provide my future learners means and ways to address individual differences in thinking and learning. I shall be fair in recognizing the talents of my students whether they are manifested mentally, logically, visually, musically, naturally and practically. These different expressions of knowledge shall have equal weight in students’ assessment.



I considered the behaviorist approach to learning the easiest to understand because It was somewhat introduced to me and I had prior experience to the application of rewards and punishment. Both Ivan Pavlov and B.F. Skinner, the proponents of behaviorism, underscore that learning is the consequence of conditioning and can be enhanced or eradicated by reward and punishment. Spanking was one of the punishments I received in childhood that I could not forget not because I was so horrible or frightening but it made me realized that it was the best method of stopping undesirable behavior. Nowadays because of the law against child abuse, disciplining children by spanking is a no-no. As a result, children are growing up to be hard-headed, disrespectful and very difficult to discipline. Words are not enough to guide them in the right direction. Having said this, I am against excessive or brutal punishment.



The lesson on reinforcement and punishment was manifested in our company here in the Middle East. The sad part was they were applied interchangeably. There were occasions that those who performed less were given more and vice versa. Instead of giving punishment to employee who did not do his job well, that job was taken away from that employee and was given to another employee (that’s me). The low performing worker was rewarded with fewer jobs while the high performer was punished with more jobs. Other people will surely take this scenario differently but the point was punishment was not applied to modify behavior.  Contrary to the principles of behaviorism, the reinforcement and punishment was applied inconsistently and unfairly. At any rate, the practical lesson and the theory learn on behaviorism was a good starting point in teaching. I learned when and how rewards and punishment be applied in classroom setting. Disciplinary actions must be the consensus of the school administrator, teachers, parents and students. Everyone has the say to their application to be more effective.



I could say that the social learning theory of learning encompasses all the other theories because it involves the continuous interplay of the cognitive, behavioral and environmental or social approach to learning. I realized that individual learns through observation, modeling or vicarious consequence, and by enacting the observed behavior to achieve the same goals of the model. In this part, my models and mentors are my parents, aunt, an adviser and two math teachers. They somewhat shaped by being. Because of this, I need to be an effective and appropriate role model and mentor to my future students. I shall master my craft and uphold the highest morality that one can possess and at the same time to be successful in all my undertakings so that my example can be emulated by others.



The main focus of the social cognitive theory of Albert Bandura is self-regulation –the capability of the learner to set his own learning goals, monitor, evaluate, and modify his/her approaches or strategies if the goals were not met in the first try. Coupled with this self-system, I shall also emphasize to my students self-efficacy, the belief that they can successful complete and achieve every learning task in any situation. This will be their motivational factor to address simple or challenging situations ahead.



The constructivist view of Jean Piaget and Lev Vygotsky although with slight difference in approach shall be one of my by guiding principles in teaching and learning. I shall prepare lessons and activities that will value individual effort as well as collaborative or cooperative creation of knowledge and skills. I shall do this by making sure that the students can relate and apply the concepts that I am teaching to their everyday life. Activities such as group research and report and individual project shall be given equal importance. I shall see to it that in some situations the students shall control the discussion and the pursuit of their own learning goals. However, in some instances that students do not have the instructional materials and gadgets to pursue their learning or the concepts are so difficult to comprehend, I have no choice but to mediate and lecture the necessary important information or steps for their immediate understanding especially in sciences.



The cognitive processing information theory of learning focuses on how environmental stimuli passes through the sensory memory,  processes in the working memory of the short-term memory (STM) and  recorded in the long-term memory (LTM) to become stored knowledge. There is no learning if the knowledge in the LTM cannot be retrieved. I am not immune to forgetting. Although view as common, it is still frustrating when the name of the person or an important word is only at the “tip-of-the-tongue” and yet you cannot get it. Critical thinking and creativity were also discussed as part of the cognitive approach because they reside in the human mind. Benjamin Bloom’s hierarchy of knowledge tries to explain this concept as the top of his ranking is creating. Critical thinking is very important for learners to acquire because of the numerous pieces of information that are available in



the mass media and internet that need to be judged and evaluated. Selecting what is true and what is not is a big challenge because even popular and high regard personalities occasionally give misleading information. In this regard, I see to it that the most important concepts shall be taught during the first few minutes of session and shall be repeated at the last part. I shall teach my students mnemonics devices and other tools to remember information and how to retrieve them when necessary. More importantly, I shall teach them how to source and identify credible knowledge and information as well as how to cultivate their creativity in thoughts and in deeds.



It is noteworthy that the focus of the current K to 12 Program of the Department of Education is on constructivist view of learning and the spiral method in achieving it. As such, the mother-tongue based multilingual education (MTB-MLE) in kindergarten up to third grade is being implemented. In the program, the role of the teacher has been changed from lecturer, instructor and teacher to facilitator or guidance of learning. From teacher-centered, K to 12 becomes student-centered. With this guiding principle, it is now easier for me to adopt some of my constructivist approaches to teaching based on the students' stages of development and Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD).

At this journey, I can say that I did not and could not change my perspective of learning because my learning style proved to be successful in my learning goals. Since I am not currently teaching, there is nothing to change in terms of my teaching methodology. However, I can say that I will implement some of the aspects of the different learning theories and adopt them to what is appropriate in a given situation. Any one of the theories has its pros and cons and applicable only to certain conditions. Some government restrictions might hinder the implementation of any aspect of any theory. Therefore, the main focus of my future teaching career is to utilize the best combination of the theories that fits the learning style, motivation and orientation of my students while emphasizing the importance of metacognition, self regulation and self efficacy, which I would gladly teach them as well, as you teach us Ma’am Malou!



This is not my last step because my journey has just began and  yet it is about time to say thank you to all my group mates and classmates that make this learning fruitful and enjoyable. Big thanks to my boss who is understanding and supportive and to my friends and colleagues who were sidelined once in a while. But most of all, I would like to give a happy heart to our facilitator-Ma’am Malou Juachon who guided me (us) in every step of my (our) journey.  Happy learning everyone!

Images from

(Metacognition) http://mailer.fsu.edu/~kiw05/metacognition/images/comix6.gif

(Learning styles) http://serc.carleton.edu/images/NAGTWorkshops/earlycareer/teaching/learning_styles.jpg

(Multiple Intelligences) http://www.thedish.org/TheDISHv14no51_files/image007.gif

(Behaviorism) https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFPtonhNr3Y7W5PGM-pdLYQl8XklxAItRzCZ_0FN4CiD2gK_OSdDprdoHZF2-eEVFgVI7vhWsVdmjA2aZu64du9ZxLQ41INJEgo2hEV6XCOzP9MPjvmtBNwLCMCGtLVvf2Tbdzjr4ZkxE0/s200/behaviorism-school.jpg

(Reinforcement and Punishment) http://classofmotivation.files.wordpress.com/2011/11/picture1.png

(Social Learning) http://talenttools.es/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/social-learning.png

(Self Regulation) http://origin-ars.els-cdn.com/content/image/1-s2.0-S0959475202000269-fx2.jpg

(Self Efficacy)http://www.gostrengths.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/selfefficacymatters-254x300.png

(Constructivism) http://fy11pd4ets.pbworks.com/f/1279771849/constructivism.png

(Forgetting) http://www.theinspiredday.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/joy-of-forgetting.jpg

(Creativity) https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxAoT4St24BfBEDwwLAsDKo-47zX-DDqQLZ56x6iQlSA54q_SITsnYrwEQdkJ1H55wmypUhPP9t9xpGUobB7ZZnx32QSoi7q2bKq5AY2v9RVOtZTjxr5dqaecqJ1-jNvQ4bQ9XhRraLJbJ/s1600/Creativity-2.1754358_std.jpg

(Step) http://www2.artflakes.com/artwork/products/224548/poster/224548.jpg

(Smiley) https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOIG90dMSpqnTP8bFtKiNrnsE9ojIPY08rQaA-sQx40AKYTzrZJGFx6ClyvoJyORv0RjIOvX6SgOEd8anKQmzKTCFHwSZ0fyTEsE5qx0_lYQ-wtjy6ZgvYUd3kMF3dNfBsbyytpvszKwQ/s320/smileys_001_01.png

Da duh!... Do I Know You?

Because of age, there are occasions in my life that I cannot remember the name of a person. It is so frustrating because you sometimes know the first letter of the name of the person and you have a mental picture of him or her. This phenomenon is referred to as tip-of-the-tongue or sometimes called presque vu, as Wikipedia puts it. This is normal for all people by become frequent when one ages, like me.



The condition of not knowing the name of the person becomes more disappointing when you are face-to-face to that person. It happens many times in our organization. When I call in to the room of the manager, he always introduces me to whoever visitor presents in his room. Because my mind is preoccupied with so many things when entering his room, I always do not quite recall the name of the visitor because I did not attend to him at all. The problem becomes worst when that visitor visits again and my boss will say, “Do you remember, Mr. So and So?” In this occasion I just nod my head and hand shakes the caller. After leaving my boss’s office, my mind says “Who’s that guy?”



The Information Processing Theory has an explanation for how information is perceived, attended to, stored and retrieved from the human brain. In the multi-store stage model suggested by Richard Atkinson and Richard Shiffrin, all sensory stimuli (visual, touch, smell, feeling or emotion) are first perceived in the sensory memory. Only those information that are attended to my the individual because of uniqueness or relevance will pass through the short-tem memory (STM) where the working memory resides. In there, these chosen information or items that George Miller coined as Magical Seven Plus or Minus or  the memory span of the individual, undergoes a process of elimination. However, Miller clarifies that this number does not correspond to a bit but rather a chunk – a portion of a whole – which differs from individual to individual. This memory span is still under controversy and no one exactly knows how many information an individual can retain at a given time.

Information in the working memory must be rehearsed or repeated several times before they can go into the long-term memory (LTM), where they reside there for a moment or a life time. Some researchers suggest that rehearsal should not be done immediately. Considerable time should pass before repetition takes place. The rehearsed information that entered the LTM shall then be organized in different ways and whether the existing schema or prior knowledge assimilate or accommodate the new information. The stored information becomes knowledge only when an individual is able to recall, access or retrieve them.

There are 2 types of organized memory in the LTM, the declarative (explicit)memory , which is composed of episodic  memory – personal experiences and events – and semantic memory – general facts and concepts of the world, and procedural (implicit) memory – sequential, logical, step by steps knowledge involving motor skill or the body.



Right now, I can easily recall my personal experiences from my declarative/explicit/episodic memory in the LTM the time when I was in the first grade. I was already 7 ½ years old, being born in December, when I entered Grade 1 because the school did not accept me when I was 6 ½ years old. My first teacher was Mrs. Flerida Balajadia. I can still imagine her face and stature – fair-skinned, slim and authoritarian.  She was branded as “matapang” and “masungit”. The only time I remember her “kasungitan” when we were told to get out of the room, lined up and received a spank while re-entering the classroom.

I can also recall the big boy who was bullying us small kids. He was the brother of one of my girl classmates. I forgot his real name but I remembered his nickname – Apeng – because of his two big front teeth, just like Apeng Daldal.

I was second honor when I graduated from Grade 1. I remembered how the ranking was conducted. Five of us in the top of the class had to answer in our pad paper 20 questions written on the board. The first honor, Annabel  (I forgot the surname but it starts with M and she has a little brother named Arnold and they are Filipino-Americans) got 15 points and I got 14. We could be tie in the top honor if I did not misspell dilaw (yellow) as diliw, as one of the colors of the Philippine flag.

I can still remember our room and figured it out in my mind. It was a semi-concrete structure, second to the last of a 7 or 8 classrooms. The windows were of the jalousie type but made of wood. There were only three rows of seat and we were about 30 students. My entrepreneurial skill was already manifested in the first grade when I made “pabunot” where in I rolled 9 pieces of paper with the number 0 (4x), 1 (3x) and 2 (2X) on it. My classmate paid me 1 pad paper to draw. When they picked 1, I gave them back their paper. I doubled their paper when they chose 2 but I collected their pad paper when they selected 0. I did not know fraction and probability then but I know now that their chance of winning is only 22.23%. This game of luck provided me with lots of pad papers that I seldom buy.

By the way, I can still recall my school bag then. It was the plastic bag of a one-kilo sugar. One whole pad paper, 2 big black pencils, one ruler, one eraser and sharpener could be accommodated in that bag. I remember also our textbook entitled “Doon Po Sa Amin.” I can still recall some passages of that book: “Nanay! Tatay! Hinog na ang saging!”

Fast track, I can still remember the word that I misspelled that I lost my chance of being  the spelling bee representative of our elementary school. The word is DISCREPANCY. I will never forget this word.

Below is our elementary graduation song which I can recall by heart:

MGA LANDAS

Sa munti kong nayon inyong makikita,

Ang maraming landas na gawa ng paa.

Sa latag na damo na parang alpombra,

Daming landas doon kung saan papunta.

May patungo roon sa dakong taniman,

May patungo rine sa ilug-ilogan.

Mayroon ang tungo sa magulong bayan,

Na maraming tao at mga sasakyan.

Datapwa’t saan man ako makarating,

May iisang landas na mahal sa akin;

Kinasasabikang yapakan at tahakin,

Ang landas patungo sa tahanan namin.

Because of my age and inattentiveness, sorry I cannot remember your name. Don’t worry, however, because I have a mental picture of yourself and your name is still in the tip-of-my-tongue.

--oOo--

Images from

http://www.richardaluck.com/wp-content/uploads/forgetfulness.jpg

http://tucsonaudiology.files.wordpress.com/2012/11/tip-of-the-tongue.jpg?w=250

References

Atkinson–Shiffrin memory model. (2013, May 27). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 08:16, July 11, 2013, from http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Atkinson%E2%80%93Shiffrin_memory_model&oldid=557007232

How I Missed My Son

I envied Jean Piaget because he was able to observe the growing up of his children while developing his cognitive constructivist view of learning. I did not have that privilege because I was always overseas working during my son’s four stages of cognitive development.  However, I was present in almost all of his special occasions.

I was there during his sensorimotor stage – his first cry was like music in my ear, his first crawl was slow like a wagon but became like a bullet train when his muscles in the arms and knees were developing. It was during this stage that he was constantly experimenting with tasks such as shaking, throwing things and putting things in his mouth. He seemed like a zombie when he made his first step but you could not catch him when began to run. “Ma” was his first syllable and became my wife’s name when he combined the two. I was not “Papa” but a “Daddy”.  At this stage, he was already aware that things existed even if they could no longer be seen.  When we were playing “It! Bulaga!”, he knew that I was there inside the towel or the blanket. He was afraid of the “momo”, although he did not know how it looked like. Piaget referred this “important milestone” as object permanence indicating that my son’s memory begins to develop.



I was there during my son’s first birthday. The occasion was simple and yet full of memories. When he was about sixteen months old, I taught him the names of the different things that he saw and feel. He mimicked the sounds of the different animals in our barangay. One day, we went to his grandmother’s house and I shown him a mother pig and told him that it was a pig. I asked him what it said and he readily voiced out “oink! oink!” in Tagalog. In the adjoining corral, baby pigs were walking and licking and playing. I told my son that they were pigs. He looked at me with arched eyebrows and surprised in her eyes. Then he looked at the mother pig at the left pen and the baby pigs nearby. He was silent as if he was deeply thinking. Once again, I told him that the big pig is a pig and the little pigs were also pigs. Seeing my son’s bewilderment, I explained to him that they were both pigs. It was only when the baby pigs cried “oink! oink!” that my son accepted that the little ones were indeed pigs.

Remembering that instance now, Piaget suggests that babies already had a basic mental structure that was inherited and evolved. He describes this as schema or schemata, “on which all subsequent learning and knowledge is based.” When my son saw the mother pig and it grunted “oink! oink!” he developed a schema of a pig as I shown and told him. A disequilibrium took place when he saw the baby pigs and I told them that they were also pigs. It was only when the little pigs oinked that he assimilated the information to his prior knowledge and accepted that these little ones were indeed pigs. His expanded notion of a pig included big and little pig and they both grunted “oink! oink!”

I did not mind this incident for a month or two. One Sunday morning, we were just leaving the church and passing some small shops lining in the vicinity when my son pointed somewhere and blurted out “baboy!” My wife and I directed our attention to the object and realized that it was indeed a pig, a plastic toy pig. To make the story short, we bought the toy. We were inside the jeepney going home when I noticed that my son kept on hitting the mouth of the toy pig. After a while he handed me the plastic toy and disappointingly said that it was not a pig in his own two- syllable phrase. Surprised, I asked him why. Without blinking an eye, he said “’di oink! oink!” Some passengers laughed for his innocence. I told him that the toy was a pig although it did not grunted “oink! oink!” He looked at me amazed. His schema of a pig that oinked was under attacked. He was again in a state of disequilibrium. I explained to him further that the object that he was holding was only a toy that’s why it was not grunting like a real pig, but it was still called a pig, a plastic toy pig to be exact. Silence. Silence. After a while, he said “ba-boy!” This is what Piaget now describes as accommodation. My son was once again in equilibration when he accepted the fact that there were also some objects which were called pig because they looked like pig but did not grunted.

My son was about 2 years old, just entering his preoperational stage as Piaget called it, when I had to leave overseas to provide him a “better life.” My wife often sent me pictures of him as he entered nursery school and rode his tricycle. My wife wrote that he talked fast and very talkative. He began to imagine things and engage in make-believe. However, his thinking was often based on intuition and not at all logical. It was only when he entered the first grade when he demonstrated logical and concrete reasoning.



I was with my son when he celebrated his 7^th birthday. All his classmates and teachers, relatives and neighbors were there to celebrate his special occasion. There were three birthday cakes, spaghetti, pancit bihon, fried chicken, ice cream, balloons and parlor games for the kids. It was indeed a happy occasion. During this period, I noticed that he already understood some kind of rules of addition and subtraction. But this logical thought was only for physical objects. Piaget describes this as concrete operational stage. He knew that when I gave him two bottles of soda and he poured them into 2 glasses, one tall and one short, the amount of the liquid in the two glasses were the same although the tall glass seemed more. Piaget called this conservation – the appearance of the matter changed but not the quantity. In this case it was specifically called  conservation of liquid. My son also understood that if he sliced the cake into 6 equal pieces, the whole was the same as the 6 pieces. This is conservation of number.

I also attended the elementary graduation of my son. I walked up the stage and pinned to his shirt his medal for being in the top 10 of the graduating class. The day after, while collecting all his textbooks to be put in the box, I browsed through his math books. I was surprised because the lessons were advanced compared to our lessons way, way back. I noticed that they were already introduced to abstract concepts in algebra. His science textbooks were also advanced in scope with such concepts as matter, motion, mass, energy and force – combination of things that could and could not be seen or touched. He could do some simple scientific experiments and investigations. This beginning of his adolescence stage is referred to as formal operational stage by Piaget.



I was out again when my son was growing into his adult life. Nonetheless, I was there when he finished his Year 10 and Year 12 in Australia. I do not know if my son understood and understand the way it was and it is. I feel guilty knowing that I was not at my wife and his side when he was growing. As a father, I failed to teach him many things. I missed his innocence. I did not know how he grew up. There was no father to son talk, not so many conversations for that matter. He is going to be 21 years old in October but I was only with him for about 5 years of his life. I missed by son. He was just a baby when I left him and now he is a man. I hope he forgives me for my shortcomings.

 References

McLeod, S. A. (2009). Jean Piaget | Cognitive Theory - Simply Psychology. Retrieved fromhttp://www.simplypsychology.org/piaget.html

McLeod, S. A. (2010). Concrete Operational Stage - Simply Psychology. Retrieved from http://www.simplypsychology.org/concrete-operational.html

Piaget Stages of Development. In WebMD. Retrieved from http://children.webmd.com/piaget-stages-of-development

My Role Models and Mentors

During my elementary days, there were teachers that became my inspiration because of the good behavior that they have shown. One was Miss Zenaida Echon. She was only a substitute teacher when our adviser delivered a child. Since we were in the highest section of Grade V, she saw to it that no other students in other sections got ahead of us in periodical or achievement tests. Because I was considered the cream of our section, she gave me all the help and assistance in my study. Since textbooks were scarce during the 1960s, she lent me the only book that the class was using. She also gave us practice tests and reviewer before the tests.



Another teacher to remember was Mr. Famisan. He was my Math teacher in Grade VI. Many of the students were afraid of him because he was very strict. However, I viewed him as authoritative and not authoritarian. He knew his materials well. He explained the lessons very clearly with lots of examples. I admired his mastery of the subject that I became very much interested in Mathematics.

Miss Mercedes Yandoc was my favorite teacher in high school. She was my Math teacher in 3 of my 4 years in the secondary. Like Mr. Famisan, she was been labeled as authoritarian. However, the label was wrong because she was more disciplinarian and authoritative. She possessed the mastery of her major subject. She did not bring any lesson plans in the classroom, just index cards. She had poised and inner charm that captivated me to study more under her realm.

The above teachers became my role models because they possessed competence that can be emulated. They exhibited attitudes that can be looked up to. But most of all, in spite of their perceived authorities, they still possessed the human touch that many of my classmates who feared them missed.

My Nanang Ores

My perseverance and hard work can be traced to my liking of my aunt’s way of life. My Nanang Ores, who was the only girl in a brood of five and still young, became the mother and father of her 4 brothers when they became orphans at an early age. She saw to it that they were being taken cared of. She did a lot of menial works just to stay alive. Even when she already got married, she continued to help her brothers who already have families of their own. She sent to school some of my cousins, although she was never been to one herself. Her perseverance and hard work were rewarded when all of her 7 children became successful and living overseas. In spite of this, my aunt who is now in her late 80s is still thrifty.

Having mentioned all my role models and mentors who somewhat shaped my self, my ultimate mentors are my parents who gave me and all my siblings all the supports, understanding, love, and care in spite of their humble beginnings. Our family is not very religious and yet the goodness of humans is within us. We are not very vocal of our love to one another but we can feel it even from far apart. We seldom say "I love you!" to each other but our hearts are one. We learned more from our parents although they taught us less knowledge but much of values. And now, it is our turn to teach them to our children.

My Mother

The Type of Role Model I Want to Be for My Students

My teachers, aunt and parents inspired me to be what I am today. I copied the good characteristics that they have shown me throughout my life. If I were a teacher someday, I want my students to imitate some of my characteristics and behaviors I considered important.

1. Self-efficacy – As described by Albert Bandura, it is the belief that an individual is capable of overcoming problems or successfully performing given tasks in any situation. If my students believe that they are capable of doing any task, they will have the confidence and the motivation to act upon any activity that is presented to them.

2. Self-Regulation – Aside from positive belief about one’s capabilities, to be self-regulated learners are what I wish for my students. I want them to take control of their learning – setting realistic goals, planning and monitoring their strategies, gaining feedbacks and modifying what strategies need improvements.

3. Perseverance and Hard work – These are the two traits that my students should emulate from me. Success and failure come hand in hand but if they persevere and work hand, they can eventually diminish frustrations and enhance triumphs. They should be aware that poverty is not a hindrance to success as long as you are not afraid to roll up your sleeves and acquire knowledge and skills for the betterment of your self and that of other members of the community.

4. Empathy – With this attitude, my students will refrain or do something that is hurtful to their colleagues and other people in the community, especially those who have special needs and those who belong to the poorest of the poor.

5. Honesty - If they are honest with themselves and other people, my students can be expected to engage only in legal activities and undertakings.



How to Incorporate Models and Mentors in My Classroom

If I become a Math (or Filipino) teacher someday, it is very likely that at least one of my students might enlist me as a role model and/or a mentor. Aware of this possibility, I will make sure that I provide each one of them the opportunity to know me better as a person and their teacher as I know them as my students and human beings with different motivations, learning styles, intelligences, needs and goals. To achieve these ends, I shall execute the following strategies:

A. At the first day of class

1.  After I introduce my self and the subject that I will teach, I will request my students to arrange their seats in a semi-circle facing me.

2. From my left side, I will ask each student to know the name of the person on his/her left.

3. A name game will follow.

4. After the game, I will tell them the purpose of the game, which is to familiarize themselves with everybody and to eliminate any anxiety/fear in the future especially during board work and recitation.

5. When the class is already at ease, I will ask several students what are their expectations from the subject and from me as a teacher.

6. After their expectations, I will ask another group of students why this subject is important and how it will be applied in their future specialization or work.

7. After the students’ insights on the subject matter, I will discuss to them the contents of the subject, its importance and applications.

8. Then, I will tell my students the aims of the subject and my expectations from them as a teacher.

9. I will also tell them my consultation hours.

10. Before the bell rings, I will tell them that there is a diagnostic test in the next meeting.

B. On the second day of class

1. I shall announce the purpose of the diagnostic test which is to know their level of understanding of their previous study, to correct any misconception and to align my instruction materials and methods with the outcome of the test.

2. I shall give the test paper to my students and collect them before the bell rings.

C. On the third day of class

1. I shall tell the students the results of the diagnostic test without giving them their paper and announcing who got the highest or the lowest.

2. I shall then group them according to the outcome of the test; each group comprises at least one student who got better and lower in the test. This is for their group work or collaborative learning.

3.  I shall answer on the board the question/s in the test which nobody got it/them right (if any) or the item which was answered correctly by very few students.

D. On the next succeeding sessions

1. I shall announce the aims of the new lesson, its importance and applications.

2. I shall describes the steps involve in solving the problem.

3. I shall demonstrate orally and visually the steps or strategies in solving the problem.

4. I shall ask the student (who got the highest score in the diagnostic test) to demonstrate the steps and/or provide other strategies in solving the given problem.

5.  Several students shall be called to the board to display the skills and strategies they learned.

6. I shall continue to guide the students until they got the correct steps and skills and understand the concepts behind each step.

7. A discussion shall follow between me and my students on the concepts and the steps and strategies in solving the problem to understand them better and to erase any misconception.

8. I will call the most popular and the brightest student  to discuss further the lesson and how he/she tackle the problem.

9. I shall discuss the immediate application of the concepts and how they can be used in their other subjects or in other situations outside of school.

10. A quiz or an assignment shall be given before the bell rings to assess whether the concepts are learned or not.

11. Students who still did not understand the concepts shall be referred to the brightest of their group for tutoring/mentoring or to me for assistance.

12. I will frequently advise my students to focus on their study, make the necessary efforts and to remind them to believe in their capabilities.



My Education Mentor

I do not have a specific education mentor in mind right now but it is sufficient to say that this person possesses the hearts of my parents – supportive, undying love, and caring – and the minds of my Math teachers – competent, intelligent, and yet passionate for teaching.

My Ideal Education Mentor

Aside from my attributes as a mentor and role model and those of my education mentor above, my ideal education mentor should also possess the following characteristics:

1. Creative – innovative in instructional design and approach

2. Critical Thinker - aware and discuss issues of great importance

3. Expert – can transfer knowledge effectively and efficiently

4. Humane – can relate to others and sensible to their needs

5. Open-minded – listen to others and accept criticism

--oOo--

Image from

http://www.tcnj.edu/~gevertz/algebra-cartoon.gif (teacher 1)

http://salesactivities.com/images/sized/images/uploads/Mentoring_Cartoon-300x250.jpg (mentor)

http://www.teachability.com/servlet/JiveServlet/showImage/38-1539-1741/accelerated+pacing+cartoon.jpg (teacher 2)

Reference

How to Effectively Observe Best Practices in the Classroom. In Benchmark Education Company. Retrieved on 25 June 2013, from http://benchmarkeducation.com/educational-leader/literacy-coaches-and-mentors/how-to-effectively-observe-best-practices-in-the-classroom.html

Is this Reinforcement or Punishment?

Reinforcement is simply something that increases the occurrence of desired behavior while punishment decreases it. Reinforcers in the form of praise, material things and other source of enjoyment are given to increase the occurrence and repetition of desirable behaviors. Punishers in the form of reprimand, criticism or “sermon” are given to modify or eliminate undesirable behaviors. Reinforcement and punishment are two important concepts of B.F. Skinner’s operant conditioning theory.

I have experienced the introduction of reinforcement or reward and punishment in my life to enhance, modify and eliminate my behavior. Growing up, I was given money or anything of value whenever I did “good” things like running an errand, being well-behaved or getting high grades. For misbehaving, my father gave two kinds of punishment. One is spanking whenever my younger brother and I quarreled. The other was giving the object of our fight but in excess. For example, if I did not share my brother a food, let say banana, and he hit me and I hit him back, as a punishment my father will buy a bunch of bananas and let me eat them all. At first glance, it might be perceived as a reward but since the object of the action is to stop my selfishness, it was really a punishment since you could not stop eating until you choked and in front of your other siblings. What if the object of your fight is a watermelon?

Like my father, I also gave my only son reward and punishment, although my wife gave them more than I did because I was always working overseas. My wife would give my small son a mild hit on his palm immediately if he misbehaved. Sometimes, she would tell him to sleep as a punishment. To prevent him from asking my wife buy a toy and crying when not granted whenever they went to the market, my wife would go alternative passage so that they would not pass the toy stores.

The incident that struck me was when my son’s grade one teacher gave him a certificate for best in writing. My wife and I gave him praise and even framed the certificate and hung it on the wall. However, instead of pride, my son did not like the idea of giving him much attention. As a result, his penmanship becomes worst up to this day. I remembered also when we praised him for getting all the academic certificates during his Year 8. In the years that follow, not a single certificate until he graduated from Year 12 was presented to us. This illustrates that not all reinforcements are good to everyone, that we should also consider how the recipient views the attention. As a lesson, my wife and I refrain from giving much positive response to his desirable behaviors and attitudes because it might backfire in the future.

In my present job, reinforcement in the form of salary increase and bonuses, and punishment in the form of reprimand and warning letter are parts of our organization. Lately, however, I do not know if what my boss has given me is a reward or punishment.

This happens whenever the work of co-workers do not correspond or satisfy to his liking. Instead of reprimanding the staff for poor performance, he gave the job to me. In total, I have three duties that originally do not form part of my responsibilities. It can be conceived as a reward because my boss recognized my capabilities to handle these jobs. It can be both a reward and a punishment to my co-workers: reinforcement because their job is lessened and they feel happy about it and punishment because my boss treated them as incapable of handling simple jobs and therefore poor performers.

How about on my part, is it a reward or a punishment? Initially, I did not mind it at all when my boss gave me the first additional task. But at this point, I view it as a punishment because he is punishing me for being a good performer while my colleagues are enjoying their fewer responsibilities. In addition, these so called additional jobs give me stress. Moreover, the removal of their works does not elicit a favorable attitudes and work ethics on the part of my co-workers. They still receive salary increases and bonuses as before.

I have talked about my concern to my boss lately. However, he insisted that I continue to perform such jobs because it is only me that he trusts to do them well. What a positive reinforcement? Should I get my reward? How about a salary increase and a bonus in the next talk? I definitely deserve those, don’t you think so?

Images from

1)http://www.innovativelearning.com/educational_psychology/behaviorism/Reinforce_Punish.jpg

2) http://www.wpclipart.com/cartoon/animals/monkey_chimp/monkey_w_banana.png

3) http://talismanacademy.crchealth.com/files/2011/12/researchers-found-that-among-students-with-asds-their-results-on-the-intelligence-test-predicted-their-level-of-motor-skills-and-hand-eye-coordination_16000184_800401165_0_0_7008504_300.jpg

4) https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiS-3Scyq1CtyewVGwf1nMucM2uv4WiFWDTnqdkO8vBQzxnTdB-mDNGfmL2oG7CNjfBoJ3Ueri0Ioz9h0nGrXN3u7NnmVcSQ6qm4n-QNnWzABP1YDvQ8hqqs7geqL2kdzdM6lILgD3lJfet/s1600/0511-1009-1319-0462_Black_and_White_Cartoon_of_a_Stressed_Out_Guy_with_the_Word_Overload_clipart_image.jpg

Cherry, K.  In About.com

http://psychology.about.com/od/operantconditioning/f/positive-reinforcement.htm

http://psychology.about.com/od/operantconditioning/f/positive-punishment.htm

http://psychology.about.com/od/operantconditioning/f/negative-punishment.htm

How Pacman Gave Me the Flu…err.. “Flow”

The are moments in our lives that we feel that we do not exist at all, that we are in another dimension looking in but not a part of it. It is an unexplainable feeling of happiness, contentment, bliss and achievement. Well, Pacman gave me that. Oh no, it’s not Manny Pacquiao or the “kamao ng bayan” who gave me the“flow”.  It's Pac-Man. Before I introduce him, let us first understand flow.
What is the concept of flow?

That state of consciousness when your self is somewhat detached from your task because of deep concentration, immersion or absorption is referred to as flow by Mihali Csikszentmihalyi as cited by Tom Butler-Bowdown (2003). Csikszentmihalyi further suggested that when the activities are of the highest value and if undertaken, worry and thoughts of other things suddenly banished then optimal experience or flow is happening. He described this state of being as what athletes called “being in the zone”, in “ecstacy” for mystics and “rupture” for artists.

Who is Pac-Man and how did he gave me this “key to happiness?”

Pac-Man is a very popular game in the 1980s and the first interactive and non-violent arcade game developed by Toru Iwatani of Namco in 1977. The mechanics of the game is very simple – the player or Pac-Man needs to consume all the glowing dots inside a maze to advance to the next level. He does this with the navigation keys (up, down, left and right) in a computer’s keyboard. The task becomes difficult with the introduction of four ghosts who are chasing Pac-Man. The player loses a life when any of the ghosts touches Pac-Man. The four larger yellow dots or “energizers” at the corners of the maze when eaten by Pac-Man make the ghosts invisible, retreated to the “ghost house” and they can also be eaten. The scores of the player increases when he consumes fruits appearing randomly in the maze.

While playing this game on a PC during those days made me unaware of anything and anybody around me as if they did not exist at all. Advancing from level to level, eating dots, chasing and avoiding ghosts gave me an invigorating energy and happiness. I was so absorbed in my pursuit of eating those dots and fruits that I forgot the passing of time, the hurting of my fingers keying those controls, the sweating of my right palm and growling of my stomach. In the end, I was relieved of my worry as if I conquered all those ghosts who were trying to destroy my being.

Although I did not come close to the score of Billy Mitchell of Hollywood, Florida with 3,333,360 points without losing a life, I felt that Pac-Man gave me the feeling of flow that I will cherish and pursue for the rest of my life.
Images from
http://technetcrew.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/pacman-2.jpg
http://www.sl-designs.com/wp/quotes-happiness-hug_wallpaper.htm

References

Birch, C. (2010). Understanding Pac-Man Ghost Behavior. [Web log comment]. Retrieved from http://gameinternals.com/post/2072558330/understanding-pac-man-ghost-behavior
Bowdown, T.B. (2003). Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience. In 50 Self-Help Classics: 50 Inspirational Book To Transform Your Life (London & Boston: Nicolas Brealey). Retrieved from http://www.butler-bowdon.com/flow
Pittman, J. (2011). The Pac-Man Dossier. Retrieved fromhttp://home.comcast.net/~jpittman2/pacman/pacmandossier.html#Introduction

Can You Motivate Me?

I know that motivation comes from within – that the self more than anything else directs him to move. However, there are times that the same individual suddenly loses the drive to go forward. He becomes an organism with unclear purpose or no purpose at all albeit alive. He is in the crossword of nowhere. That person could be you or somebody you knew. He is me now.



I am working in this organization for so many years now, a total of 17 years, so to speak. I stay because I feel appreciated as I share my knowledge and skills. I love my work and I do not consider it as an activity but a sort of relaxation or hobby. At the same time, the experience gives me financial freedom, security and fulfillment.

This week, the same drive, force, power, inspiration, aspiration, stimulus or whatever you call it that keep me going through the years suddenly wanes. Waking up and going to work becomes an ordeal. The tasks seem routine and boring. The clock ticks slowly while it was unnoticed a week ago. The reasons?

The Accounting Department is the most love and hate section in an organization. Accounting staff are admired and loved during payroll and bonus distribution. They become monsters when implementing measures that save resources or reduce costs. The direct targets of course are the employees who bring stationery home, sleeping employees while on overtime, erring workers who get penalties, etc. The immediate effects of these measures are reduced salaries, benefits and freedom.

I am working in the Accounting Department but at the same time, I am also carrying out some of the functions of the Personnel Department. The scheduling and travel arrangement of our workers was given to me by my boss because the one in charge could not do it efficiently. Even the issuance of medical referrals rests on my shoulder because, again, the one responsible could not handle it properly. Adding to this extra work is the occasional request from my boss of preparing memos. Memos are usually used to inform or explain. In our company, most of the memos posted on the board or given to the employees are cost-reduction memos, penalty and warning letters.

Because our employees knew that I was the one preparing the memos and at the same time I am from the Accounting Department, it is more often than not, they concluded that I was the originator of that memos and not my boss. They came to this conclusion because of the many things that had happened in the past. The culprit?

My boss is one of the partners of the Company. The problem with him is that he could not stand firm with his memos. When he declared that nobody can get a loan, in a day or two, he would ring me and tell me to give such employee a loan. He signed time sheets without overtime authorization although he ordered a day before that no overtime shall be considered without approval. He approved a 120 day vacation leave when the Company policy specified a maximum of 100 days. All these “small favors” that my boss thought he gave to our employees backfired to me. All of these proved that I was indeed the one giving “hardships” to my co-workers.

Because of this misconception, I gain enemies instead of friends in the rank and file. However, the problem did not stop there. Instead of helping the boss or me in defending the memos, some of the junior and senior staff are pinning me down and they are in harmony with the workers. This is because most of these staff envied me or were jealous of me because of the many benefits my boss gave me for being a loyal, industrious, effective & efficient worker. I calculated that a great number of our employees hate me in some degree. This troubles me as I cannot function as efficiently as before. I also realized that a situation and other persons’ perception towards you can shape the way you act or react. Because I feel threatened, or away from the second level of Abraham Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, my performance or behavior was somewhat affected.



I am now a less motivated organism with low morale and less enthusiasm surrounded by jealous and indifferent staff, misinformed workers and irresolute superior. How I can get out from this mess depends of my reevaluation of my purpose, my goal, my aspiration and level of sacrifices.

Can you motivate me?



Image from

http://www.esubulletin.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/handss-300x215.jpg

My Learning Style - How to Learn to Know

Aside from metacognition and self-regulation, another aspect of learning and teaching is the ability to recognize one’s strategy or strategies to approach the sets of information that are  continuously pouring in. Different people at different level of maturation employ different set of approaches to learn something in different situations for different reasons. Philosophers, psychologists and other scientists and researchers labeled these preferences as learning styles.



Learning styles have been described, researched, analyzed and interpreted by many but no specific definition has been agreed upon among them. Different personalities in different disciplines and from among themselves employ different definition. One such meaning that encompasses almost all of the different aspects of how we prefer to learn is the definition of James W. Keefe, an educational writer and consultant (Eye on Education, 2013). Keefe described these learners’ preferences or learning styles as the “composite of characteristics cognitive, affective, and physiological factors that serve as relatively stable indicators of how a learner perceives, interacts with, and responds to the learning environment,” (as cited in Clark, 2012).

Many of us, like me, do not know our learning styles. We were doing them when we were still young and while we were still adolescents. We keep doing them until now and yet we do not know what to call them. To know my learning style, I did the free online assessment of Neil Fleming’s VARK Learning Styles. Fleming described my learning styles as Read and Write, the R in the VARK which stands for Visual, Auditory or Aural, Read & Write and Kinesthetic or Tactile (as cited in Cherry, n.d.).

As a Read & Write learner, Kendra Cherry suggested that most of my information or knowledge come from dictionaries, definitions, handouts, textbooks, readings, notes, manuals and other printed materials.  She further suggested that to “study without tears or SWOT“, I have to convert my “‘notes’ into a learnable package by reducing them.” To do that, the following suggestions have been presented:

• Repeatedly write out new words that I encountered


• Read my notes several times


• Rephrase ideas and principles as much as possible


• Convert diagrams, charts and visual models into statements


• Compare and contrast ideas and concepts

Aside from advising a Read & Write learner how to study, the author provided some tips on how to achieve good result in an examination.  One advice is to practice with multiple choice questions; write complete paragraphs; outline my list of facts or ideas; and write exam papers.

Based on Fleming’s VARK assessment, I could say that I am really a Read & Write learner. I highlighted new words that I encountered in my readings and immediately consulted an online dictionary. Many students do not do what I did saying that it was a waste of time and it interrupted their immersion. What is the point of continue reading when you do not understand a particular new word that might be significant in the entire paragraph or topic?

As a Read and Write learner, I found it challenging as a distance education student. Because I learnt from reading and writing, I need to write what I read. This is very problematic since I do have very limited time reading for my 2 subjects this trimester. It is often than not, since I need to write what I read, I felt I was lagging behind. I sensed that I could not comprehend what I read without writing them. Highlighting texts while reading did not do well either. It only pointed out what I need to transfer on my notes.



Besides writing what I read, the second challenge is citing the source or authors of my readings. While reflecting to write what I have learnt, I always caught on whether what I was writing was my own idea or somebody else. This is true whenever I jot down notes after reading so many articles by so many authors explaining the same concept with different terminologies. In essence, I find it difficult to draw a line between my own knowledge and that of others. For example, if I have to define learning as I understood it based on the ideas of many authors who proposed this new concept, is my definition mine or from them, recognizing that I did not know such idea in the first place? This dilemma is very prominent especially when you cannot recall the persons and yet you know the idea.

I have written my concern on our discussion forum and I would like to add my classmates’ suggestions  here before I finally write mine. As of this writing -May 24, 2013 -nobody give any advice yet. I wish to provide mine in a couple of days.

Images from

1) http://customessaywriting.ca/blog/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/readWrite-cartoon.jpg

2) https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKJDG3VucNVRZILbUZaY32DrUSTj5bjmWbCd5ctijXKxIassdtqrAHUKgUDlt7bQXWvzgABf3PEnDs9nJZJu3f97UoGH6Q0okZwgf-gKvNVkLt-WrK6GIVM-QAPJEIkcnECxZrqyaksVxS/s1600/cartoon_picture_of_girl_writing.jpg

3) http://sportsarock.hu/2012/04/02/hetvegeim-kronikaja-7-megint-vegyesfelvagott/confused-cartoon-face/

References

Cherry, K. (n.d.). VARK Learning Styles.  Retrieved from        http://psychology.about.com/od/educationalpsychology/a/vark-learning-styles.htm

Clark,D. R. (2012). Learning Styles & Preferences. Retrieved on May 12, 2013 from http://www.nwlink.com/~donclark/hrd/styles.html

Eye on Education (2013). James W . Keefe. Retrieve on May 24,2013 from http://www.eyeoneducation.com/Authors/James-Keefe

How Kindergarten Students Learn and How I Teach Them - 1/3

Part 1

Before migrating to Australia in 2005, I was requested by the school principal in our barangay’s elementary school in San Antonio, Quezon, to temporarily teach students in the kindergarten class., I was hesitant at first because I have no prior experience formally teaching youngsters, especially in that age group – 5 to 7 years old - although I used to tutor some of my wife’s nephews, nieces and neighbors. I love children and I want to share my knowledge (in contradiction to Huitt’s view on teaching) the prospect of teaching them scared me primarily because they are always referred to as “little devils”. Nonetheless, I accepted the challenge after the principal assured me that it was only temporary and from persuasion from my relatives and neighbors whose children were entering kindergarten. Bear in mind that I did not study psychology in college nor had education units.



On the first day, after the usual flag ceremony, my 32 kindergarten students, some of whom were accompanied by their mother, quietly entered the room. I could see the surprise on some of these youngsters’ faces when they found out who was in front of the class. After the greeting and while they were sitting on their chairs, I introduced myself. I told them my full name, my nickname and my parents’ name. Afterwards, I told them to introduce themselves. Without telling them what to say about themselves, 84.4% of them stated their name, nickname and parents’ name, just exactly what I said a while ago. Three just voiced out their names and nicknames and were ashamed to tell the names of their parents. Two did not stand at all - one was teary-eyed constantly looking outside for her mother and the other just quietly sitting still.

After the introduction, I told these “kinders” (I do not know if this word is already entered in the English dictionary as we always heard this line in our vernacular: “Napasok na si  Totoy, kinder na siya!) to stand up which they quietly obliged. My aim was to arrange their sitting arrangement. Instead of the usual grouping of boy and boy, girl and girl, according to height or grades in some grade level as instructed by teacher, I told them to personally choose their seatmate. I saw a glow in their faces when I said that. Immediately, they chose their own “partners”.  I paired those few pupils who could not choose their seatmates according to their sexes. After that, I arrange them according to height and told them to sit. I did this task so that my students shall be comfortable with their study and eliminated some barriers.

Just after the sitting arrangement, I told them to get their pad paper and pencil and write their names. I told them to write their names repeatedly until they reached the last line of the paper. Sitting on my chair in front of them, I unconsciously observed them. I noticed a student who was restless and kept on standing. Most were busy and quietly writing. The one who kept on looking outside for her mother did nothing. Few were talking to their seatmates while writing. After 10 minutes, I collected the papers for evaluation. I noticed that some had good penmanship I found out later that they had entered nursery class or attended daycare center before. This observation suggests that these pupils learned because they were exhibiting a relatively permanent change in behavior or skill as a consequence of previous experience or practice as  suggested by William G. Huitt (2011). Few were struggling to write their full name; especially those who had three to four given names (Blame it to their parents!). Two or three needed some improvement: the names were written too big or too small and/or not properly spaced. Watching these papers suggested that I might have daily headache ahead of me.

Just before dismissal, I returned the papers to my students with remarks as “Very Good” or “Good”. To those who did not write well, I gave them a nicely written penmanship of their names and told them to copy them on 2 sheets of paper. For the one who did not do anything, I approached her mother and asked them both what seemed to be the problem. It turned out that this was the first time that the daughter was with other children and she was a bit scared. I told the mother to continually accompany her child until such time that she overcame her fear and had harmonious relationship with other kids.

Image from http://www.brightschool.com/www/docs/100

How Kindergarten Students Learn and How I Teach Them - 3/3

Part 3

 Because of limited time as I was bound to Australia, I was not able to teach these children the whole alphabet or to count more than 10. I did not teach them how to add or how to read. For one and half month, my method was more on conceptualization or learning the why and the how rather than the what. In understanding the concept of number, aside from telling them to write the number “1” for example, on the blackboard or on their pad paper, I also told them the concept of that number. I relayed the story when numbers are not yet invented. Shepherds, in order to count their flocks of sheep, had to use sticks or stones. One stick or stone corresponded to one sheep. The numbers or symbols were invented when there were so many sheep and there were less sticks or stones in the vicinity. To retain what they have learned about numbers, I told my students to close their eyes and write in the air whatever number I told them. In this way, they not only imagined it but they learned it. They knew that the number “1” represents a single sheep or object and not merely a symbol.



The method I used in knowing numbers was also the method I used for recognizing the letters of the alphabet. Aside from pronouncing the letter “A” for example repeatedly until they recognized the sound for the symbol, I told them to imagine and write it in the air. For reinforcement, I told my pupils to bring cut-outs of the letter “A”, capital or small letter, to class and show them to class. In this way, my kindergarten students learned that the letter “A” has many forms and shapes but mean the same thing. In essence, they were also “reading” it.

My last day in class was culminated with the showing of the film, “Finding Nemo”. I found this appropriate because they enjoyed watching cartoons on the television. Besides, I wanted them to show a glimpse of where I was heading.

As expected, all my students were attentive and focused watching the film. It was made more so when I told them I will give a gift to whoever answered my questions correctly after the showing. I observed that all the students were so quiet, interested and involved in what they were watching. They were totally immersed and absorbed. I noticed then that my students are experiencing what Dr. Russ Dewey referred to as the movie theater experience. He suggested that this occurs when an individual is in a trance-like state where he is imagining that he is the one doing the act or in the act (Dewey, 2011).

After the movie I asked my students some questions. They were able to answer such questions as: what kind of fish is Nemo; the name of his friend, who captured them, who caught Nemo, who told Dory the way to Australia, etc. However when I asked them what lesson they learned from the movie, numerous answers were presented depending on their views and experience and what the question actually mean. Some of the answers were: 1) Obey your parents 2) Clown fish are funny 3) It was good to have friends 4) We must go to school.  These answers proved that students learn differently even they were exposed to the same experience.

On March 2012, most of these kindergarten kids graduated from elementary. I might not be instrumental in their learning but the experience teaching them even for a while taught me to learn from them. Below is their graduation photo.



Images from

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Letters_and_Numbers_by_Taric_Alani.png and http://taric25.livejournal.com/

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=329532853775340&set=pb.115887388473222.-2207520000.1368970779.&type=3&theater

 References

Dewey, R.A. (2011). Psychology: An Inrtoduction. Retrieved from http://www.intropsych.com/ch00_chapter_zero/movie_theater_experience.html

Huitt, W. (2011). Why study educational psychology? Educational Psychology Interactive. Valdosta, GA: Valdosta State University. Retrieved [date], from http://www.edpsycinteractive.org/topics/intro/whyedpsy.html

McLeod, S. A. (2007). B.F. Skinner | Operant Conditioning - Simply Psychology. Retrieved from http://www.simplypsychology.org/operant-conditioning.html

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How Kindergarten Students Learn and How I Teach Them - 2/3

Part 2

 On the following day, I asked the toddlers why they were in school. The answers were varied, ranging from “ to learn and make friends” to “that’s what children should do”. Afterwards, I asked them what they want to learn. The answers were also varied. Most of them wanted “to learn to read and write”. Some wished to learn to draw and color. Others needed to “know everything” without elaborating. The common factor was everybody wanted to learn with enthusiasm.

I continued my dialogue with my pupils with these questions  “why do you want to learn?” Some answered, “to have a job” or “to have money”. Few suggested to teach their younger siblings. Others remarked that their parents told them that their future will be good after studying.

The next question I threw at my students was “how they want me to teach them?” Some suggested telling story and writing on the board. Few hinted watching videos showing pictures or drawings.  Others suggested playing or doing things.



Knowing what these “little devils” wanted and wished for, I devised my means of educating them considering their differences in perceptions, goals of learning and level of maturity. Because I could control their maturation or  biological growth and development (Huitt, 2011), the best way to do was giving them guidance on their learning. Since this was first, I consulted a “co-teacher” for different approaches and modes of teaching. I borrowed her lesson plan from previous year. By the way, that lesson plan was intended for Grade 1 pupils. The last kindergarten teacher did not have lesson plan last year since kindergarten class was viewed as experimental and was not compulsory for admission to Grade 1.

The next day, I began my experiment. Since attention-getting was very hard for little kids, I told them at the beginning of the class that I will question them one by one before the closing of the class. Those who did not answer it correctly shall stay until he produced the correct answer.

In spite of this predetermined goal and anticipation, half of the class did not answer my simple question on the first day. However on the succeeding days, very few answered my question incorrectly. After a week, everybody got the correct answer especially when I added additional rewards like giving ten pieces of pad paper or 2 pieces of colored paper. By using this method of reward and punishment, my students became attentive in my class. They listened to my little lectures seriously because they did not know what will be my questions to them and from what subjects. Saul McLeod (2007) cited Burrhus Frederic Skinner that this introduction of reward as a consequence of good behavior is referred to as operant conditioning.



On teaching them different shapes and colors, I devised many ways for them to understand these concepts as simple as can be. Aside from drawing the basic shapes on the board, I asked them to pinpoint different shapes inside the classroom. I told them to close their eyes and imagine the shapes of what I was telling them, like the shape of an egg, a clock, a door, a toblerone or a coin. In one occasion, I told them to bring popsicle sticks and make the shapes that I was telling them. In this way, they knew how shapes were formed and why they were called square, triangle or rectangle.

In teaching colors, aside from showing a pre-made illustration board with different shapes and colors, I told them to name an object and tell its color. Green and yellow were associated with mangoes and papayas. The sky was blue and yellow was the sun. There were red and black ants. The flower was pink with green leaves. I did not stop from this show and tell things of different colors.

The next day, I told them to bring their crayolas and one piece of bond paper. Before the lesson proper, I told them about primary colors and secondary colors. Their wide eyes showed me that an alien thing was unfamiliar to them. I told them that primary colors are colors that cannot be produced by mixing two different colors. To illustrate, I asked them to bring out their red, yellow and blue crayolas and white paper. I asked one group to mix red and yellow and tell me what color was produced. Another group was asked to combine red and blue and the other to combine yellow and blue. After this experiment, my class learned that orange was produced by mixing red and yellow; violet was red and blue; and green was the combination of yellow and blue. To sum up, I told them that primary colors were basic colors and could not be obtained by combining any other colors. On the other hand, secondary colors were produced when 2 primary colors were mixed. My students learned by not only observing or perceiving but by experimenting.

At the end of the month, my lesson focused on the immediate environment of the students – that is, things that they saw inside the house and school. What do you see in a library? What are the things found inside the bedroom? To make them gain remarkable first hand experience, I asked the permission of the principal to allow me to bring these 32 kids to the house just across the streets after I got the nod of the owner two days ago. I got the permit and one by way, in a single line, we visited the house. The owner already expected us and accompanied the kids to the different parts of the house. After the visit, I asked my students what were the things they saw in the different parts of the house. Every body knew what they saw and where they were found. To reinforce their learning, I asked them to bring the next day, cut out pictures of the things they saw in the house, show them to and tell the class in what part of the house they were found.

By the way, I was teaching these toddlers using the vernacular, Filipino and English. In other words, instead of teaching them in only one medium of instruction, I combined them. One child showed a picture of bed pan. He told me that it was a basin (not the English pronunciation) in the local dialect. I told the class it was called arinola in Filipino and bed pan in English. An ant is langgam in Filipino and guyam in the local language. I used this method for them to know that different words may refer to the same thing.



Images from

http://www.123rf.com/photo_8230105_illustration-featuring-a-small-group-of-kids-crossing-the-street-on-their-way-to-school.html

http://sweetclipart.com/colorful-geometric-shapes-733

Beliefs That Make Me Stupid?

After watching the video series of Professor Richard Chew of  Samford University on Youtube, somewhat I feel guilty of some of his assertions that make a student like me "stupid". These are:

1) Learning is fast - many students think that by skimming the whole chapter at one sitting will give him an edge over his classmates because of the numerous information he gathered. The truth is, he just browsed over the whole material and retained nothing.  Learning takes time. More effort should be devoted to learning to get its potential. You have to read the text at least 3 times to grasp its  main points and relate them to similar concepts and previous personal experiences. Focus or concentration is one of the key factors for better comprehension.

2) Knowledge is composed of isolated facts - Jotting down key definition of key terms and memorizing them  is  a no-no according to Mr. Chew because this kind of learning is superficial.  I am surprised to note that what I did during elementary and high school were all wrong. Memorizing the multiplication table was a waste of time. I disagree with Mr. Chew because until now I can still multiply without the aid of a calculator because of that memorization drill. It's still in my head and it comes out automatically and spontaneously when I need it.

3) Being good at a subject is a matter of inborn talent - Genes do not play an important factor in our knowledge, this is what Mr. Chew is saying. Every student can learn no matter what. It is effort that counts. If we believe that knowledge cannot be acquired, learning stops. Student who is poor in some subject will not exert any more effort to study  if knew that it is futile. Likewise, a student who believes that he is a born genius shall not devote any time to studying. I am just wondering, if all students can acquire the same knowledge of those with inborn talents and utilize all the best metacognitive and self-regulated strategies, why is it that their level of intelligence is still not the same?

4) I'm really good at multi-tasking - Well, I was guilty of this while watching Mr. Chew's videos. The downloading of the video was so slow that I exercised, opened my Facebook account and played internet games while waiting. Although, multi-tasking gave unnecessary distractions during learning,  it cannot be avoided if you are a distant learner. While reading my notes, the washing machine is swirling, the rice cooker is on and the chicken is roasting in the oven.