Psychology in Education - Essay Example

Psychology in Education – Task 2 Western Governor’s Psychology in education: Applying intricate but useful psychological ideas and theories to education in an appropriate manner not only forms a tough job in the present times for the educationists around the world, but it also raises huge concern for the future of the students. It is a good thing that more and more teachers today happen to be keenly instructed in applying Psychology, as this is a very important measure for developing minds of students both academically and behaviorally. Using authoritative style to teach students certain dry and complex scientific concepts is considered a very unwise approach taken to education by psychologists and critics. This is the age of diversity in the classrooms and addressing the issue of learner diversity is quite impossible and difficult without the aid of psychological tools that can help a teacher in developing a student on the behavioral side as on the academic. This paper will explain and discuss with the help of important human and adolescent development theories how psychology applied in the right way can bring positive changes in the instructional setting without having to compromise the curriculum content. It will also explain the strategies and recommendations from research that can help a teacher account for predicted and unpredicted behaviors of culturally diverse 9th to 12th grade adolescent learners who happen to be in custody. Adolescents in custody are especially seen to be coping with difficult learning challenges that can keep them from acquiring knowledge and behaving morally so this paper will also explain what a teacher could do in this regard. Curriculum is made effective when it encourages unbiased thinking in the students and provides them with the necessary skills and competencies to think critically and reach the conclusion about every matter in their life using their own moral judgment. I would particularly implement Nodding’s theory of moral development to achieve this since she asserts that education should produce caring and loving people. Noddings has suggested incorporation of themes of care in the standard contemporary disciplines as well as themes of racism, war, sexism, and poverty since this provides the educationalists with a way to discuss these topics freely using powerful stories based on chastity, honesty, moderation, and empathy (Coleman, Depp, and O’Rourke, 2011). As a teacher teaching 9th to 12th graders who are English Language Learners, I would customize the curriculum in such a way that it fulfills the individualistic needs of the learners at their particular levels. For example, curriculum for the 9th graders has to be more engaging and entertaining in a way whereas the curriculum for the 12th graders has to be more technical and informative. In spite of their individualistic cognitive and behavioral differences, there are certain areas in which students from the 9th to 12th grade equally need guidance and education. Such areas include but are not limited to the study of ethics, and social responsibility. There is a need to teach such subjects at all levels especially to these students because they are in custody, though their content can be customized to match the level of complexity understandable for the students at different levels. According to Gilligan’s theory of moral development, children aged 11 or 12 years and higher are in the formal operation stage and develop the sense of reasoning abstractly (lfkkb.tripod.com, n.d.). Guidance of the teacher at this stage can help the students develop their reasoning skills in the right way. REVISION Learner diversity in the curriculum is fostered not only by the inclusion of diversity in he curriculum, but also by keeping a diverse force of teachers that have to teach that curriculum to the students. So there is a need to work on both levels i.e. curriculum and faculty because underestimating the need to work on one would have an adverse impact on the other. For example, let’s talk about a school teaching to students who speak different languages because the knowledge of different languages is fundamental to social integration in the contemporary multicultural society. The languages spoken include English, Spanish, and Arabic. Now there is a need to either have a teacher who is well-equipped with the knowledge of each of these languages and the cultures of the students who speak these languages. Curriculum can be made diverse by including content from different cultures, the cultures of the students and cultures they are unfamiliar with. From this standpoint, the subjects of science and technology can be based on Western knowledge since advanced economies are more advanced in the research and knowledge of science and technology as compared to the third world countries whereas the subjects of arts and crafts, including performing arts can be based on the knowledge of South Asian cultures because they are relatively richer in these fields and have a lot to offer in these respects. Task# 2 Optimal Balancing of Curriculum between Students’ Wants and Needs Curriculum should be designed in such a way that students could be developed morally, behaviorally, and socially without making compromises on the academic content. This is the only way confident and morally responsible students could be prepared in my instructional setting. As a teacher who is assigned to teach 9th to 12th graders in custody, I could adjust the curriculum content in such a way that it could then address and acknowledge the changing nature and desires of my students without favoring them completely. Wherever educational strategies fail, it happens mainly when the desires and ideas of the students are overlooked completely. To know my students’ interests, I would have their input in the curriculum development. First, I shall decide what topics to teach, then I shall discuss those topics with my students in the very first class, and encourage them to suggest alterations, modifications, and valuable insights so that the topics would occur and flow in a way that they find interest in. There would be certain topics that they would like to be taught first and others later. I would organize my chapters accordingly. I would also let them express how they would like their performance to be assessed. I would put a variety of assessment methods in front of them e.g. announced vs unannounced quizzes, oral vs written exams, individual assignments vs group assignments and would also tell them the pros and cons of each. With mutual consensus, both the curriculum and the performance assessment methods would be finalized. An additional benefit of this exercise would be that students would know upfront what they would study and how they would be assessed. After making some adjustments, I will devise a curriculum that would fully acknowledge the importance of my students as young learners and that would help me come across with all the learning challenges I might come across while teaching them not only in academics but also making them familiar with behavioral, social, and moral principles. Curriculum is one single element that decides the most how well the students would be going to perform in their future lives by the education they get and I could also adjust it so that the students could be equipped with skills needed to polish and shape their learning in the future. Curriculum is also important because it sets the level of expectation of the students’ learning and an educational implication of the social learning theory also suggests that learners should be expected to meet a higher level of requirements. For this a teacher should make it his/her business to give the learners large amounts of attention and trust them to come up with the required amount of creativity so that expectations could be met. “High-performing countries set high expectations. They support the fulfillment of those expectations with high-quality teaching” (ACARA, 2009). In order to address the learner diversity issue, I could adjust the curriculum content in such a way that it would become more suited to the diverse needs of my learners. I could prepare engaging lessons for this purpose and work on identifying and eliminating any racial, cultural, or lingual bias or confusion plaguing the classroom environment. In order to address the issue of lingual diversity, I could use the help of a translator. Today, a variety of translating options and tools are available for the help of a teacher in this respect which include but are not limited to graphic organizers, lists of cognates, visual aids, and glossaries. And as for cultural diversity, I intend to make my learners realize how important it is to respect each other’s cultures without necessarily having to compromise on their personal cultural values. By developing relationships with students who might be facing cultural, social, moral, or behavioral challenges, I could make a variety of adjustments and use a variety of strategies to improve the level of learners’ commitment towards cultural diversity. This would be achieved by fostering knowledge about different cultures in the students and inculcating respect for their respective traditions, norms, and values in the eyes of students who belong to other cultures. I would use performing arts to foster this knowledge and respect. I would arrange mini shows within the class and dramas in which students would find an opportunity to reflect the strengths and beauties of their respective cultures through their outfits, their acting, and their behaviors. The fundamental theme of all dramas would be promotion of unity and harmony across cultures, so all plots would be designed accordingly. When learner diversity is not handled appropriately, the learners remain unable to handle the challenges of adolescence. For this purpose, the teachers should become more involved with students in such a way that every student no matter what background he/she hails from could be treated equally both academically and emotionally and no emotions of jealousy or envy or racism could develop within the classroom. I would achieve this by ensuring equal participation of all students in all tasks, and class activities and would guide the discussion in such a way that all cultures are equally adored and appreciated. I think that a teacher’s personal thoughts and philosophies have a revolutionary effect on the ideology of the children. My positive attitude toward all cultures would automatically send a positive message to all the students about how cultural diversity has to be approached. B. A teacher should be very careful with the instructional strategies he/she decides to use in order to meet diverse learning needs within a classroom. I will also be dealing with diverse learners in my instructional setting so in order to meet diverse needs, I will try to maintain a reasonable balance between demands of the instructional environment and curriculum content on one side and student demands on the other side. Most of the diverse needs can be reasonably accommodated without having to compromise on the curriculum content by first acknowledging them within a classroom and later making adaptations for them. One good instructional strategy for diverse learners could be devising interesting lessons that would be able to grab the attention of every adolescent. In order to devise engaging and riveting lessons, I could employ the instructional strategy of focusing on essentials. This means making an effort to identify such major concepts and key ideas in the curriculum content that could apply across all major themes in the subject content. Now instruction could be based on those major themes identified which form the hallmark of a certain subject taught to the class. Research shows that such an instructional strategy helps the diverse learners with diverse learning needs to establish a solid connection between acknowledging difficult key concepts of the subject and effective ways to use higher thinking skills to digest those concepts. So this is how this strategy of focusing on essentials could also help me in playing a useful role in cognitive development of my diverse learners. I also intend to make it my business to incorporate this strategy into the instruction on a regular basis so that my learners could get used to it and the benefits could be maximized. Another useful strategy that could lead to more effective instruction would be making linkages between different key concepts across the subject curriculum obvious and easily recognizable. If a teacher is able to make the students realize how different concepts relate with each other and which elements they share by using techniques like outlining or mind mapping, explicit verbal explanations, and by using resources such as technology and eye-catching visual displays, learning could be made easier and even interesting. Problems in learning occur many times when students find themselves unable to make an easy connection between what is taught and what they grasp. This connection can be achieved faster if the teacher makes links found between different key concepts obvious to the learners. By acknowledging the similar features between major themes across the subject content, understanding could be developed faster and students could memorize the crucially important elements for long. This instructional strategy works best when lessons are combined with interesting visual displays like flow charts or colorful diagrams. In order to use these instructional strategies in the right way so that students’ minds could be developed both mentally and emotionally, a teacher’s teaching style should be both loving and firm and he/she should work devotedly with his students suffering from diverse learning challenges. REVISION The recommendations that I have made would help make the instruction productive they would enable every student to participate in the class and comprehend the core concepts. I would create an environment of cross-cultural interaction in the class. To achieve this without skipping any portions of the curriculum, I would first teach the lesson and then I would ask a student from a certain culture to interpret the lesson in his/her words to his/her class fellows so that they can have a better understanding of things from his/her point of view. This would also motivate the students to sit attentively in my class because I would ask anybody anytime to interpret what he/she has understood. I believe that students can gain maximum in the class when they pay attention to the teacher. In addition to this, my recommendations would address learner diversity in class because the students would get a chance to hear a different cultural perspective than their own as I make a student interpret the lesson to others. I would obviously help guide the students as they attempt to interpret the lesson to make sure that their confidence is not shaken and also so that their interpretation is headed in the right direction. This together with the interlinked passages, would help the students develop a sequence in their minds so they can actually understand why a certain topic has been made part of the course and what is it’s significance in the curriculum. References: Coleman, K., Depp, L., and O’Rourke, K. (2011, Sep. 27). The Educational Theory of Nel Noddings. Retrieved from http://www.newfoundations.com/GALLERY/Noddings.html. ACARA. (2009). Curriculum Design. Retrieved from http://www.acara.edu.au/verve/_resources/Curriculum_Design_Paper_.pdf Dolence, M.G. (2012). THE CURRICULUM-CENTERED STRATEGIC PLANNING PROCESS. Retrieved from http://www.mgdolence.com/resources/ccspm/lcca.aspx. lfkkb.tripod.com. (n.d.). Gilligans In a Different Voice. Retrieved from http://lfkkb.tripod.com/eng24/gilliganstheory.html. Mwale, M. (2010, Nov 16). THEORIES OF ADOLESCENCE: SOME ANALYTICAL CONSIDERATIONS BY MARISEN MWALE. Retrieved from http://researchcooperative.org/profiles/blogs/theories-of-adolescence-some Read More