CHP 16- Reflection

How has this course help you consider the positive and negative outcomes of the approaches you use in the classroom? How are you going to continue reflecting on your practice during the upcoming school year?

CHP 15- Standardized Tests

How can I use the test results from my students' standardized tests to inform my classroom instruction and curriculum? Should I use test score information to change my instruction and curriculum? Why or why not? How do I feel about being required to use this information for changes?

CHP 14- Assessment

How am I using assessment in my classroom? Am I making regular checks of my assessment practices to ensure that I am being fair to all my students? Am I utilizing other teachers as fairness checks? What can I do to make the assessments in my classroom more effective?

CHP 13- Management (answer several of the following)

What steps am I taking to prevent classroom problems? Am I reinforcing appropriate behavior? Am I creating activities that keep the students engaged and allow me to maintain control of the classroom? Am I making sure that I am able to observe all of my students at any given moment? Do I remain calm when behavior problems occur in the classroom? Am I able to address the problem without embarrassing any student in front of his/her classmates? Am I making an effort to work with the student to resolve the problem?

CHP 12- Meeting Student Needs

Am I taking into account the lower needs of my students (physiological, safety, belongingness and love, and esteem)? What am I doing to ensure that my students are in an environment that is conducive to learning and self-actualization? How can I better address this objective?

Chapter 11- Approaches to Instruction

Many approaches to teaching can be useful to me as a teacher. How can I use technology to further support my instructional approaches? How can I incorporate technology into the classroom in ways other than as a reward or a word processing mechanism?

Chapter 10- Constructivism

Am I taking advantage of situations that allow students to construct their own learning? What steps have I taken recently to incorporate constructivist approaches? What steps can I take in future lessons?

Chapter 9- Social Cognitive Theory

What are some ways that I encourage self-regulation in my classroom? What specific steps can I take to ensure that all of my students are becoming more self-regulated as learners?

Chapter 8- Information Processing Theory

Thinking back on my elementary, middle school, and high school education, what are some pieces of specific information that I have learned and am still able to retrieve (for example, the Pledge of Allegiance, the state capitals, mathematical formulas)? How did I learn this information? Why am I still able to retrieve this information? How do my responses to these questions relate to information-processing theory?

Chapter 7- Reinforcement

What types of behavioral reinforcements have I used recently? How did the students react to these reinforcers? What adjustments can I make to increase the effectiveness of certain reinforcers in my classroom?

Chapter 6- Accomodating Student Variability

What are my beliefs about ability grouping? What do I see as the benefits and costs of ability grouping? If I find myself in a school that utilizes ability grouping, what can I do to ensure that I maintain high expectations for all my students no matter what ability group they fall under?

Chapter 5- Diversity

How prepared am I to teach students who do not speak English as their first language? What special concerns or issues does such a situation raise? What resources are available to me when teaching bilingual students?

Chapter 4- Student Differences

How might I determine the extent to which gender bias, both my own and that of my students, exists in my classroom? What specific steps can I take to reduce the gender bias in my classroom?

Chapter 3- Physical, Social and Emotional Development

How does physical, social, and emotional development affect the cognitive development of my students? What specific tasks and instructional methods can I utilize as a teacher that will support and promote the cognitive development of my students?

Chapter 2- Levels of Development

How do theories help me to understand the different developmental levels of the students I am observing or teaching? Use specific examples from Kohlberg, Piaget, Erikson, or Vygotsky.

Chapter 1- Questions about Educational Psychology

Educational psychology is concerned primarily with developing theories and conducting research related to human development, learning, motivation, classroom management, instructional approaches, and assessment. What are some questions or concerns that you have about your role as a teacher that you believe can be addressed by educational psychology?