I learned a lot from Mrs Nielson, and I am a lot more interested in Special Education than I thought I’d be after listening to her. I gained perspective on what employment opportunities are for a SPED teacher and what the different types of focuses there can be in the profession. She told us almost […]
EL Teacher Reflection
I was very excited to get to learn from an EL teacher. I have always been interested in languages- English has always come naturally to me in the classroom, and I’ve been taking Spanish for 6 years. Mrs Vosbein told us about how she got interested in teaching foreign language students when she tutored in […]
Do’s and Don’ts of Discipline: Improving Discipline
It is my belief that discipline problems in the classroom only occur when the teacher is lazy. And unfortunately, there are many different ways to be lazy when you’re a teacher: too lazy to be patient, too lazy to effectively manage the classroom with consistency and high expectations, too lazy to persevere when students struggle […]
Effective vs Ineffective Teacher Characteristics
I thrive with a teacher who is consistent, understanding/patient, and engaged. I value a teacher who I feel confident in talking with, not to, someone who I trust to steer me straight and not reprimand me for things I struggle with. I had one math teacher who made me feel like a lazy idiot for […]
Mindset Ch 3: The Effect of Praise on Mindsets
1) Did you always assume that success came right from innate talent or ability? Discuss people you know who are brilliant or talented but never went anywhere. And people who are not so brilliant or talented, but are highly successful. How did they do it? I think I’ve always thought that success came from a combination […]
The Teen Years
In her TED talk, Professor Sarah-Jayne Blakemore explains how the brain, contrary to popular belief, continues to develop well into the 20’s and 30’s, and how different parts of the brain change during different periods of life. She says that social skill development occurs as the prefrontal cortex and limbic system develop in the […]
The F.A.T. City Workshop– How Difficult Can This Be?
Introduction (0:31) “Give me five children who aren’t functioning in the classroom. Take away the child who is mentally impaired or retarded in some way. Take away the child who has a primary emotional disturbance. Take away the child who’s not had the opportunity to learn, and take away the child who has some […]
Trip to the Toy Store
Overall, was there any toy that stood out so strongly that you felt it was truly the ideal toy because of its developmental appropriateness? Explain. I remember being completely enraptured by pretend vacuum cleaners. I think the play vacuum cleaner is the perfect toy for 1-3 year olds, because it simulates doing chores and contributing […]
The Hurried Child: Growing Up Too Fast Too Soon
Living in Ashburn your whole life can give you a skewed perception of the world- I can attest to this as I’ve been working to undo such perceptions as I’ve been getting older. I am so lucky to have the life I do. I don’t need to worry about providing for siblings, making up for […]
Cognitive Development: Jean Piaget
Piaget’s stages of cognitive development, in my opinion, are like that of much of psychology: the theory is relatively logical, and might be accurate for some percentage of children in the world, but the conclusions drawn by Piaget are simply too specific and limiting to be applied realistically. In general, the Sensorimotor stage is the […]