Class 10 refelection

I am proud to say that I have finished all the courses required for my transitional license.  It has been a long and arduous process but not one without merit.  I have taken a class geared toward teaching mathematics specifically, one that focused on in grating technology into the classroom and one that focused on special ed students.  After all this I can unequivocally say that Educational Psychology 401 has been the most difficult, painful and worthwhile one of them all.  There is no other class that covers the range of material that EdPsych 401 does.  Below, I will highlight some of my main takeaways from the class.

I really enjoyed the video by Ken Robinson.  He gave me new insight into the importance of allowing for creativity in the classroom. My blog post c6 concerns this and highlights many reasons why this is the case, especially in math and science. 

I was familiar with behaviorism before I entered this class but I was not familiar with the other learning theories. All of the theories have their strong points and learning about all of them can only help an aspiring teacher.  However,  I was particularly drawn to cognitive theory because I believe it gives the best account for how an individual learns complex things such as chess and mathematical equations.  It thinks of the human mind as an immensely powerful, but flawed, computer.  My CSEL paper is on this topic and is contains many useful ideas to help students learn.

Other points that I will remember are: Cattell's fluid vs. crystallized intelligence for its wonderful conception of expertise at chess, Piaget's cognitive stages and Vygotsky's Zone of Proximal Development.  This class has also made me think deeper about how to motivate students and about the correct type of assessments to give.  It also made aware of how some of my students feel when I load them down with work!  Of all the classes I have been required take, this one was easily the most comprehensive, and while that might have been frustrating at times, I believe that everyone in the class left as a better teacher than they began.