Chapter One - Research and Reflection

"I was entering into a profession in which there are few, if any clear-cut answers, a professional riddled with ambiguity and moral dilemmas that would make Solomon weep."

– Selma Wasserman

This week we read chapter one of “Psychology Applied To Teaching.” I learned that more researchers are studying Educational Psychology today than ever before. With all of the research done on various situations, still no definite answers can be given as to how to respond to every situation in teaching. Learning about studies performed and research results will aide in becoming a better teacher. Acting first and doing the research later is the cause of most educational "fads." In this chapter we are encouraged to base our teaching practices on principles with which have been researched.

We also learned about the importance of reflection as an educator. The book says that good reflection is the blending of artistic and scientific elements and that reflection has been proven to benefit those whom aspire to teach. Although this practice is meant to be kept personal, this chapter suggests that by sharing your thoughts with teachers, parents and in some instances students, you could gain more insight into the results of various teaching methods.

Both my Educational Psychology course and Foundations of Education course are studying reflection this week. Although some think it is necessary only as a new teacher, I believe I will devote a period of time each week throughout my career to reflection. I believe that my own reflection will provide feedback for practices that have proven to be challenging, as well as successful in my teaching.

I am excited to begin this process, as I believe it can also help me in my schoolwork with study habits, note taking, etc. Encouraging my students to journal or reflect over the week could also have a positive influence on them as. In the future, when making lesson plans for my classroom, I plan to set aside time for reflection once a week for both my students and myself.

In the discussions this week, we were asked to reflect back to a previous experience that we would or would not put into practice in our classrooms. I wrote that I felt that pulling a child out of recess to attend a resource or remedial lesson was a poor decision. My school did that to the students and to the rest of us, seeing that made us feel that those whom were inside were in trouble or just not as smart as everyone else. I was surprised to hear all of the feedback from my initial thread. It seemed that this was a common practice, and for that matter, still is. The students that replied back to by post offered some experiences they have had in similar situations, as well as some excellent suggestions for improving the system in which students are offered remedial help.

For a positive experience from previous schooling, another student wrote how she had a lengthy paper due, which seemed to be too intimidating for the students. Her teacher broke the assignment down into several mini-assignments, and the paper became easier to take on for the students. I think this is a great teaching tactic, as well as advice for everyday life.

The discussion boards are my favorite part of this course. I find it to be very interesting hearing about others previous experiences, and their opinions on various subjects. It fascinates me to hear how other people interpret the reading differently than me, and for this reason, I am looking forward to the future discussion boards.

This chapter and the discussions associated with it has helped me to understand the amount of educational research being conducted at any given time, as well as the positive and negative results of other teaching practices. I am excited to get further into the text, and hear more techniques that will aide in becoming a more successful educator.