Constructivist Learnign Theory, Problem-Solving and Transfer (week 10)

*Chapter Review*

In this chapter, we learned about Constructivist Learning Theory. This theory was proposed by Jerome Bruner in the 1960's. It consisted of the idea that "meaningful learning occurs when people use existing knowledge schemes and the viewpoints of others to interpret the world around them." The major points behind this theory are as follows:

• Meaningful learning occurs when people actively construct personal knowledge structures.
• A teacher's understanding of a subject can only partially be transferred to a student through direct instruction.
• Most knowledge structures are similar, but are changed from interaction with peers.

Three conditions that support constructivism are as follows:

1. Cognitive apprenticeship between teacher and student
2. The use of realistic learning tasks
3. Exposure to multiple perspectives

In this chapter, we also talked about Problem-Solving and Transfer. A problem exists when a learner has a goal, but does not have a plan to reach that goal. The kinds of problems vary by age and by the individuals, but can usually be solved with using these five steps:

1. Realize problem exist
2. Understand the nature of the problem
3. Compile relevant information
4. Formulate and carry out a solution
5. Evaluate the solution

Transfer of learning occurs when students use previously learned knowledge and apply it to another situation. There are many forms of transfer. See below:

• Positive transfer- A new learning task is similar to a previously learned one, and the student is able to respond similarly.
• Negative transfer- A new learning task is similar to a previously learned one, but calls for a completely different response.
• Zero transfer- The previously learned information is so different from the current situation, that it is no help.

We also learned about specific transfer, and more specifically low-road transfer. This is when you allow the students to use previously learned information in a new task. In general transfer, we talked about high-road transfer. This is when teachers educate the student on forms a plan to solve the problem that can be reconstructed later to solve other problems.

*How Will I Benefit?*

I can benefit from this blog entry specifically when I am facing challenges within my classroom. I can use this as a reference tool and will be able to recognize different approaches as needed. I think that I have already used low-road transfer numerous times in my life, and my partner adn I have used it in our activity for this class.

*This Week in the Discussion Boards*

I was both suprised and happy to see my classmates opinions on different approaches to problem-solving. I think my favorite article was Ashley's. She included that the author wrote that telling your children what to do is not the best idea, rather, tells them how to figure it out. I think that is the whole basis for problem-solving and transfer.

*Question of the Week*

The question for this week is: Find another school district's website outside of your hometown.

Madison, Connecticut -> http://www.madison.k12.ct.us/

Would you want to teach in this particular school district?

Yes.

What makes this school district stand out from others that you found on the Internet?

They have small classrooms and perform well above average on the CT Mastery test.

Are there specific features that this school district has to offer that you hadn't thought of before?

They have numerous resources available to aid teachers. I think this a a great benefit for the teachers there.

Would you ever consider applying for a job at this school district? Why or why not?

Yes, if I lived there. I think CT schools are some of the best in the country.

Based on what we've learned so far in this class, how does this school district measure up?

Very well. It appears as though they are definitely doing something right to have the success of the assessments and the AYP that they do.

Social Cognitive Theory (week 9)

*Chapter Summary*

In this chapter we learned about Social Cognitive Theory. It was developed by Albert Bandura to help explain things about an individual like their personal characteristics and behavioral patterns. We learned that by using self-control and self-regulation skills people have control of their actions. The self regulatory process consists of forethought, performance, and self-reflection.

Forethought involves goal setting and planning ways to achieve these goals. The students must learn to be self-efficient. Self-efficient means they are capable of meeting demands of certain tasks, like educational goals. Performance involves learning techniques and focusing on the task at hand. Often students will record (mentally) new behavior or study patterns for later review. Self reflection involves evaluating that recorded behavior and determining ways to improve the results of the learning process.

According to the text, self-regulation skills can be learned best by following this four-step model:

1. observe a model that exhibits a skill and verbalizes performance standards and motivational beliefs.
2. Reproduce the general form of the model's behavior
3. Exhibit the modeled behavior under similar conditions without the model present
4. Adapt the modeled behavior to different tasks, settings and conditions

Self-regulation and self-efficacy are both directly related to one another and performance and achievement of the individual.

We also learned that the use of memory- directed learning or studying techniques such as mnemonic devices and rehearsal vary in their effectiveness. Rehearsal is not as effective since it typically is used as direct memorization of the facts. The facts are generally not listed word-for-word in the test, nor in "real-life." Mnemonic devices are more helpful in that they require built-in retrieval ques. Rhymes, acronyms and keywords are often used as mnemonic devices.

Comprehension tactics that were discussed in the chapter consist of self-questioning, peer-questioning, note taking and concept mapping. Self and peer questioning can often be used simultaneously in class. These are all tactics I plan to include regularly in my classroom.


*How Will I Benefit*

I will use this blog to refer back to the lessons learned in this course. I think that by providing quick and shortened summaries of the chapter, I will be better able to remember the points discussed. I do plan to keep this blog after this course and refer back to it to see my progression in understanding how to be an effective teacher.


*Following the Blog*

This week, Kiri has written about her lesson plans. She started off by saying what she typically plans to do, and then has to re-vamp the whole week to allow for what her school and state requirements entail. The whole thing is very frustrating. She writes that it is a lot harder than it looks, and for other aspiring teachers to not be fooled.

I learned that in Kiri's class, they learn a letter each week. At the beginning of each morning, Kiri sings the "Good Morning" song, and then replaces the first letter of the students name with the letter of the week. She writes that the students giggle and seem to really enjoy it. I love this idea. It is something so simple- just one more reason I can not wait to have my own class!


*This Week in the Discussion Boards*

In the DBs this week, our groups are posting their activities and papers. I think that it is very interesting to review the other projects and see how they plan to incorporate the things we are learning into their lesson plans. There is another group that chose kindergarten as their group. They are teaching the students about weather. Their project seems very involved, and while I don't think I would do it the way they are planning, I can not wait to see their final activity. Its amazing to me to see the variation in interpretations of the information we learn.


*Question of the Week*

The question for this week is: Find a school district's website outside of your hometown and/or Springfield (or the city you reside in). Copy and paste (or type) the link into your blog. Answer the following questions about the school district in your blog:

http://www.rogers.k12.ar.us/

Would you want to teach in this particular school district? Yes.

What makes this school district stand out from others that you found on the Internet? I hope to move here and teach one day is why I chose this district, but it is in the top 5% of schools in the county.

Are there specific features that this school district has to offer that you hadn't thought of before?
Yes. A teacher to student ratio of 1:16. I think that is appropriate, and much more desirable than other school districts. They also have 14 elementary schools.

Would you ever consider applying for a job at this school district? Why or why not? Yes. I hope to move there one day. I think that of all the districts in the area, this is the most inviting. You can tell they has a strong sense of pride and rightfully so. On their web page, they have a whole page dedicated to their "pride points."

Based on what we've learned so far in this class, how does this school district measure up?
I think this school measures up very well. Their test scores are above average and they have a lot of "bragging rights."

Information Processing (week 8)

*Chapter Summary*

In this chapter we have learned about the information- processing theory. This is how an individual learn, store and recall information. We discussed memory stores and control processes. Memory stores are the sensory register, short-term memory and long-term memory. Control processes are recognition, attention, maintenance rehearsal, elaborative rehearsal, and retrieval. According to our book, some information can be held in the STM indefinitely through the use of maintenance rehearsal. We also learned that information is transferred to the LTM from the STM by learning new information and linking it to previously learned information.

We also learned about metacognition. This term is referring to the knowledge someone has about how individuals think and how those processes can be used to learn. It is something that improves with time, and is most prominent in older students.

In my experience, STM and LTM are valuable at any age. I use both in school and at work. Before now, I had not known a lot about metacognition, but after learning the definition and examples of it, I see that it is something that I use frequently.


*How Will I Benefit?*

By keeping this blog, I am able to have a quick reference to the things learned in this course. I think that by referring back to this I will be able to read about different processes involved in learning and use this as a base to build my teaching styles from. While a this point I do not have any new ideas for specific assignments, I have been able to broaden my repertoire in effective teaching tactics.


*Following the Blog*

This week Kiri has only written a few times. There are two "most memorable" posts that I read from her. One was about how she let her sons catch two spiders and she caught a beetle and took them to her classroom for her students. They kept them in an aquarium and watched them daily. After only about two days one spider was "toes up" according to the students and the other had made a web and trapped the beetle in it. Her students got to experience this first hand and in person rather than learning about it in a text book. I think this memory will stick with them much longer.

The second post was about her assistant teacher Nan leaving her classroom. Nan wrote a very inspiring email to Kiri and she shared it in her blog. Nan wanted Kiri to know that just because this year has been rough, with removing two students from her classroom in hopes that they can succeed better in a special education class, that Nan had been with Kiri four years. She reminded her of some great successes she has had and encouragement to get through the rest of the year, starting each day as new- wiping the slate clean. Nan said Kiri is a great teacher and I think Kiri knows she is. Sometimes you just need a little reminder! =)


*This Week in the Discussion Boards*

I think that the most interesting thing I have learned in the DBs this week is some different techniques that some of my other classmates plan to use in their classroom when working with students to improve their students' STM and LTM.


*Question of the Week*

What are some specific techniques that you would like to incorporate into your teaching based on information processing? Why do you think these techniques will work?

I would like to incorporate the use of maintenance rehearsal into my classroom. This will work to improve a students STM by using repetition. I will also use elaborative rehearsal to help link the students STM with LTM. I think that this will be beneficial to the students and easy to incorporate because we will continue building on previously learned concepts. Elaborative rehearsal involves organizing information with shared concepts into groups. I think this will be beneficial in my classroom to help the students to understand the similarities in ideas or concepts we are learning. This a tool that I use a lot in studying for tests, and something I find to be very beneficial.

I think that I would have used these tools and techniques prior to this chapter, but I am glad to knwo the correct terms for them and now, I will have this blog and that chapter to use as a reference tool in my teaching.

Operant Conditioning (week 7)

*Chapter Summary*

In this chapter, we learned about Operant Conditioning and basic principles that have come into effect as a result of B. F. Skinner's work. We have studied positive reinforcement, negative reinforcement, type I punishment, time out, type II punishment, extinction, spontaneous recovery, generalization and discrimination.

We learned that both positive and negative reinforcement strengthen behaviors, while the others weaken target behavior. We have also learned that once the desired behavior is established, it can be maintained by using a schedule. The four types of schedules are fixed interval, where the teacher reinforces the behaviors at set period of time, variable interval, where the teachers reinforce behaviors at random periods of time, fixed ratio, where the teacher provided reinforcement after a certain number of problems completed or pages read, or variable ratio, where there is not set pattern of reinforcement after a set number.

We also learned other techniques that will aide in behavior modification, including shaping, contingency contracts and using token economies. Shaping involves reinforcing attempts that progressively get closer to the desired outcome. Contingency contracts involve having the student sign contracts agreeing to complete their homework in order to receive their reward. Token economies are classrooms in which after exemplifying the desired behavior the student is given a coin or piece of paper that has no real value at that point, but can later cash them in to receive a reward of their choice. This is the most flexible of the behavior modification techniques.

*How Do I Benefit?*

I believe that I will benefit from this chapter and the concepts learned from it by being able to better condition my class on desired behaviors. I think that I will definitely use a token economy within my classroom, and plan to use various other methods discussed in this chapter to help me as well.


*Following the Blog*

This week, Kiri talks more about her student David and how he will be moving to classroom where he can better succeed. She talks about the difficulties with him and the fact that he has experienced so many "failures" in her classroom. He needs a fresh new place to start over. She also talks about the other challenges within her classroom and how the children react. After reading her blog, I fell like I am there with her. This week she has had several adults in her classroom. One is the school psychologist that is working with Max, another troubled young boy. Nan, her assistant that works with David and finally her college intern that works with the children that speak only Spanish. She has seen many struggles this week, and to top it off, she has just announced that Nan, her assistant, is getting a new job. She was having a bad week when she went to go pick her kids up from school. She saw a former student there that raved on and on about how great of a teacher she was. She said that it seems to make all the daily struggles worth while.


*This week in the Discussion Boards*

I was actually excited to hear about some of the conditioning techniques that others in the class have experienced in their lives so far. I loved to hear how one of the students tells her son that her hears to do hear "cranky words." She said she tells him that and then ignores anything he says in a whiny or cranky voice. She said it really works for him.

I also enjoyed reading about the conditioning experiences that other students had while in school earlier in life. I think that a lot of them are great. It is hard to imagine that all classrooms that used these techniques were all following the same basic principles of B.F. Skinner.


*Question of the Week*

Looking at both positive (PR) and negative reinforcement (NR), think about how you remember these being used when you were going to school. Write those examples down. How will you use positive and negative reinforcement in your "classroom" when you become a teacher? Give examples of PR and NR as related to your "classroom" in the future - relate these examples to concepts that you can remember.

I can remember PR being used in my school in several instances. One that sticks out the most is in fourth grade. Our teacher, Mrs. Morris was a new teacher. We were her first class. I can remember that everyday after recess, if we had all been "good" earlier in the day, she would read to us. During that time, she would turn the lights off and and we could rest our heads on our desks. We all saw this as a treat, and so we complied with her instructions the rest of the day. By the end of the year, several other teachers were implementing this into their classrooms as well.

A NR that I can remember was in sixth grade. Our teacher had problems with several students in the class falling asleep or talking during the lessons, so she began to ask that at the end of each new science chapter, we would write a two page paper summarizing the text. We only had to do this twice before the other kids stopped acting up in class. She removed the negative reinforcer (the paper) after everyone behaved as expected.

I think that I will use these techniques and others that we have learned about in this chapter. As I mentioned earlier, I think that the token economy is a great idea. Because I plan to teach kindergarten, I think this will be a great way to reinforce the students behaviors positively. I can also take token away from them should they start acting in an undesirable manner.

I also think that I will use a reading time with my students. I think that as a result of a positive and desired behavior, I will allow them to pick out a story book and we will read that at the end of the day. This will be more directed to the class as a whole.

Needless to say, I plan on using several of the techniques taught in this chapter within my own classroom. I think that each technique could impact each behavior from each student in a different way.

Accommodating Student Variability (week 6)

*Chapter Summary*

In this chapter we studied different ways of accommodating student variability. We covered the “Individuals with Disabilities Education Act” (IDEA) and its impact on students with mental retardation, learning disabilities, social and emotional disturbances and students who are gifted and talented.


IDEA includes that all individuals, regardless of their disabilities, have access to a free and appropriate education, the receive placement evaluation before being placed into a special education environment, every child that is considered to have a disability will have an individualized education program that describes the program in place to meet the student’s special needs, and that the student be allowed to work in an environment that is the least restrictive environment that their disability allows for. The practice of mainstreaming involves having as many disabled students in a regular classroom with other non-disabled students as possible, providing them with access to the same education while being able to meet their unique needs, regardless of the disability. Mainstreaming is the goal of IDEA.


The chapter goes into detail about teaching student with mental retardation and how to recognize characteristics and ways to encourage self esteem, offer learning tasks that can be completed in short periods of time to obtain their attention, use small steps to obtain immediate feedback, teach memory improving techniques and use simple grading and recording techniques to show the students that they are making progress by completing things regularly and on time.

The book also goes into teaching students with learning disabilities. It offers tips in identifying students with LD and the issues presented when they attempt to contemplate basic psychological processes. The text offers numerous suggestions in teaching students with LD including emphasis on differences between similar letters and numbers, working in a clear work space to avoid distractions, memory improvement techniques, forming plans based on the student’s ability and learning patterns, and giving brief assignments. It also suggests that building self esteem of students with learning disabilities by allowing them to tutor other classmates in areas in which they excel, using cooperative learning techniques, using a variety of methods to present the material to the class, which allows the students to understand in a more visually detailed way, and allowing the students to demonstrate what they have learned in giving oral presentations and hands on activities.


In the section of the chapter that tells about instructing students with emotional disturbances, we are given possible characteristics of students with ED. The book then offers suggestions for instructing these students more successfully, like designing your classroom to encourage social interaction and cooperation and to reduce the probability of disruptive behavior, prompting and reinforcing appropriate social interactions, training the other students in the class to initiate social interaction, and when necessary, punishing inappropriate behavior.


Discussing gifted and talented programs in school is when my personal experience comes into play. When I was in elementary and junior high school, I was in the gifted and talented education program (GATE). Once a week, my mom would have to drive me across town to another school and I would spend half the day there, then be bussed back to my school in the afternoon. I learned to speak some German, French and even got to dissect a shark and a starfish. I loved the things that I learned, but I hated that I was taken to a strange school, missed my class work at my school and the other kids and I that were in GATE were singled out once we got back to class by the other students for being “too smart” or “lucky.”


I think that GATE is an amazing opportunity for students, but I think that it is disruptive to the normal classroom environment for that student as well as the others. My solution to this is making GATE into a before or after school program. Because only a select few are in these programs, I think that transportation could be provided by the school system if the parents are unable to bring the children. By having this be an extra curricular activity that does not take away from normal class time, I think the GATE students will benefit more from the experience.
The book suggests having the gifted and talented students act as tutors, encourage them to do supplementary reading and writing and encourage individualized study projects or learning contracts.


In this blog posting, when I am referring to “the book” or the chapter, or even the text, I am writing about the following book. Because I have used so much of the information provided in the book for this particular post, I have decided to cite my source. It is a wonderful book, full of educational research and data.


Jack Snowman, Rick McCown, Robert Biehler. (2009). Psychology Applied to Teaching. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Copmany.


*How Do I Benefit?*

By keeping this blog, I am able to have a reference point to look back on and see different suggestions for teaching in my classroom, and techniques that are beneficial for students with learning disabilities, mental retardation and social and emotional disturbances.

*Following the Blog*

As mentioned previously, I am following the blog called “Elbows Knees and Dreams” which is written by an early childhood teacher. Interestingly enough, in the past week she has written about struggling with a student that has some sort of emotional and social disorder. His name is David and she has written previously that he hits and kicks other kids. He struggles expressing himself at times, but then at other times he is an angel. She and the school psychologist along with the principal have decided that after David punched another teacher in the face, it is time for him to be taken out of her classroom. He has been moved to another classroom, but no details yet whether the decision was the right one for David. We’ll see…

*This week in the discussion boards*

I have learned that a lot of my classmates feel the same way about ability grouping. I think this could benefit all of our students knowing that they all have an equal opportunity to a quality education. It offers peace of mine to me as an aspiring teacher.

*Question of the Week*

When looking at ability-grouped classrooms, how do you feel about this issue? Is this a technique that you would use in your "classroom"? Would it be beneficial - why or why not? Are there any parts of ability grouping that could be modified to work in your "classroom"? How?

Ability grouping within the classroom is not something that
I agree with. I think that by segregating the students based on their ability as
determined by their standardized test scores is a bad practice for several
reasons.
#1 – It basically mandates that the teachers that
use this in their classroom have differentiating expectations for their students
based on their perceived abilities.
#2 – The students are
shown that segregation based on abilities is appropriate. This could potentially
discourage those that are struggling in giving them the impression that they
will never be able to succeed to the level of their classmates. For those
students that are not struggling, it gives them the impression that they are in
a sense better than the others.
#3 – It offers little or no
room for mainstreaming education. To me, mainstreaming means teaching all
students the same material at the same time. If a student struggles, it is not
an opportunity to separate them from the remainder of the class, but a cry for
help from the student to you, the teacher.

Ability grouping will not be
used in my classroom. I’m not sure if this is considered “ability grouping” or
not, but the only time I will pair students based on their “ability” is for peer
tutoring. If one student does well in math, and another is struggling, I will
give them the option of working together to understand the concepts presented.
In this case, it allows for all students to have the opportunity to benefit
another student, regardless of their perceived overall ability, disabilities or
socio-economic status.

Diversity: Ready or Not? Here I come...

In this chapter, we learned about socioeconomic diversity, and the way it affects the classroom. While I have to say that I was not very surprised to read about the statistics of minorities to be lower than that off the average white American, I can say that the situation still perplexes me. I understand that different people have different access to education, but I would think that those that have equal access, should have equal grade completion and similar scores on tests and other components of education.

Our question for this week was: How will you become an effective multicultural teacher? What teaching methods will you use to guarantee you are effective with your students? I would be an effective multicultural teacher by incorporating the different cultures from around the world in my classroom. I would incorporate the different ethnic music, traditions and important facts from various cultures throughout the year. To guarantee this was effective, I would have different cultural leaders from our area come in and discuss their heritage. At the end of the "chapter" or particular culture study, I would then test my students to see what they have learned and encourage them to do their own research. Because I plan to teacher Kindergarten, I think it will be a challenge for some students, but I think that it is important that they gain a sense of understanding and respect for other cultures.

I think what I found to be the most shocking in this chapter was the affect that teacher expectancies have on the students. I do not pretend to be blind to the differences in socioeconomic status, or the cultural and ethnic diversities in the world today. I can say that as a teacher, I will do everything in my power to create equal expectations for all that are in my class. As a child, I had what most people would consider to be a rough childhood. Of course, at that age, I felt like that was pretty normal. Looking back, I think that I used my school time to get away from everything that was going on at home. I loved school- so much so that I have decided to become a teacher. I feel like my teachers probably knew what was going on for me at home, and maybe they didn't expect as much out of me. Either way, I proved to them- and to myself- that nothing could stand in my way. I was always at the top of my class.

For this reason and others I do not think that expectations should vary from student to student. I think that rather than expecting less from students, teachers should create their lessons and learning environment in a way that can benefit all students, so long as they choose to be an active participant in class.

I have to say that I was most shocked this week to learn that a lot of my classmates want to change assignments or alter the expectations on assignments for students that, as our prompt suggested, lived in a shelter. I think that this surprised me because we just read the chapter that explains the impact of altering expectations for individual students based on their race, gender or socioeconomic status. I wrote that I would make allowances for all of the supplies and information needed for this assignment in my classroom, and make sure that all of my students were provided an equal opportunity. I am curious to see how our instructor responds to those that want to change the assignment for those students. We'll see!

https://mail.otc.edu/exchweb/bin/redir.asp?URL=http://elbowskneesdreams.teacherlingo.com/default.aspx

The blog I have chosen to follow is called "Elbows Knees and Dreams" and it is written by a woman that is teaching preschool. I have only read a few entries, but this is a perfect real -life blog. She writes about lessons, books and arguments within her class. She has little boys that punch their classmates for no reasons, struggles with students that have a very limited English vocabulary, and somehow still manages to impress her senior teachers with her lesson plans and the reading time in her classroom. It is very humerus- and only makes me that much more excited to have my on classroom someday!

I think that by keeping my own blog, and following ones like this one, I will have a better opportunity to reflect on my own thought processes and gain insight into the "real" classrooms. I am becoming more and more eager to have my own classroom. I know it will be a lot of work and I will probably make those mom's on the Suave hair commercials look like heaven. (I am referring to those that look like they have been hit by a ton of bricks- you know, the hair commercials that say "Is motherhood messing with your hair?")

There will be days that I would rather pull my own hair out then face a
classroom with screamers and biters... but there will also be days that I
actually reach students. I will have the opportunity to impact so many little
lives. I can not wait! In keeping this blog and reading others, I have learned
various methods of successful "teaching." I think that this blog has helped me
to come up with ideas that are impertinent to the educational and cultural values of
the students in my class. It has also helped me to be more open minded in ways
to approach a lesson.

In this chapter we have learned about the learning styles of students and about the accuracy of intelligence and aptitude tests. I was surprised to see that all of the research that has proven that these test are not entirely accurate, and in fact only measure a students scholarly aptitude and learning styles correctly some of the time, that these test are still being used in schools.

When I was in school I hated to take the aptitude tests. I was an excellent student, but I'm not a great test taker. One test that I really enjoyed was the ones to take at the end of the year that supposedly predicted what field you would work in or be best in. I find it funny to think about about the results. They were always so wide-spread. I do remember that most of them said I had the best scores in the English category and most predicted that I would be best as a writer. Interestingly enough, I plan to become a Children's book writer after I obtain my teaching degree. This blog will help me to look back and remember my feelings on teaching techniques, and testing specifically as I gradually come into my own practices as a teacher.

In the discussion boards, I liked one student's post to 4.1 in particular. She elaborated on differentiated instruction. Providing a variety of instruction to help the students in class distinguish what the learning style they identify best with is a great practice that I think should be incorporated into every classroom.

Again this week we are working with partners. I have been very happy with my partner two weeks running and enjoy benefiting from their feedback on the assignment as well. I think that our DB post for teaching science to fifth graders has been the best assignment so far. I love to think about making lesson plans and developing teaching techniques to help to provide differentiated instruction to my students.

My classroom will be a safe environment, full of learning opportunities for my students. I plan to have different "labs" set up around the room. The students will rotate through the labs as we study each topic. As I plan to teach kindergarten, I hope to have labs that tap into the creativeness of the students. Hands on learning will be big in my classroom too.

I hope to have the kids cubbys in the back of the classroom. I will have the students at tables in the middle of the classroom and the different lab tables in the corners of the classroom. As I have previously stated, I hope to have a computer lab next to my desk so that I am able to help the students with any questions they may have.

Learning about the different learning styles and theories on students have helped to prepare me to teach. As excited as I am to being my career, one thing that I feel like I need to learn more about is the typical curriculum for each grade. I also hope to learn to speak Spanish, as I plan to teach in Northwest Arkansas and there is a large Hispanic population there.