I am a family man, coach and soon (hopefully) a full time teacher. I have been subbing in the recent past, longing for the opportunity to have my own classroom. It has been a long road to get to where I am today. My journey to become a science teacher has not been an easy one. I have survived fighting in two wars, time in prison (as an employee) and raising a family (so far). Now, I am on the final lap and my teaching goal is in sight. My Alaska Teaching Certification awaits me at the end of 2015/2016 Anchorage school year. This portfolio website will document the home stretch of my journey.
Core Beliefs Essay
A Collection of Examples
“The mediocre teacher tells. The good teacher explains. The superior teacher demonstrates. The great teacher inspires” (Ward, n.d.). This quote by author and scholar William Arthur Ward captures the essence of my core beliefs. Over the course of my life, I have gathered a collection of examples attitudes and methods from other people in which I appropriated into my own character. I, like most of us, have a long list of role-models, heroes, mentors, teachers and various other influential figures in which I draw from to process and handle any number of situations. Some of these examples are good and some are bad. The latter being the case more often than not. The good ones inspire me. They inspire me to live up to the positive influence that they had on me and to pass on the good example to the next generation. The bad influences inspire me as well, even more than the good ones. They motivate me to correct what is not right. They drive me to break the cycles of abuse. They push me to fight against the selfish and the misguided. They compel me to rebel against abuses of power and question the flaws in a broken system. All in all, they are examples of what not to do. As I go through life, I am determined to collect and implement the good in opposition to the bad.
Since teaching is the profession I want to be in, I find myself reflecting on all my teachers, from preschool to now. My education experience, so far, hasn’t been the best. I was the product of public education and my parents were pretty hands-off when it came to what I was doing in school. I’m not sure what the Washington teacher qualifications were way back then but it seemed like the only requirement was half a pulse. Given my past, I am often amazed at how far I have come. I never took school very seriously as a child. I was told that I needed good grades to get into college but I didn’t want to go to college. Why would I want to work extra hard to be able to do more school work? I hated school for the most part. High school seemed like a waste of time. Most days, it felt like I was only there because I have to be, because that is what society expects. But there were rare times when I was inspired beyond comprehension. There were a handful of exceptional teachers scattered among a sea of the ordinary and the awful. They gave me a tiny shred of hope in a system that just seemed to warehouse kids and mass-produce young adults with the absolute bare-minimum in knowledge.
College professors provided even worse examples. It has been said that “A teacher who is attempting to teach without inspiring the pupil with a desire to learn is hammering on cold iron” (Mann, n.d.) and I have often felt like cold, hammered iron. There is no requirement of certification to teach at the college level, like the one Alaska requires to work in public schools, only a bachelor’s degree is required. They don’t receive training in instruction and often just bombard their students with only content. There were quite a few professors that I came across who were primarily there as researchers and were only teaching because they had to in order to continue their research. There were even some who would state it at the beginning of the semester, then go on to disengage and confuse me for three months. These were often the professors that would take material that I felt solid in and then proceed to explain it in a way that would corrupt my knowledge and cause a regression. However, there were, yet again, a handful of great ones. The ones that were truly passionate about their field of study and could explain everything with such mastery in a way that made sense and stuck in your brain. These inspirational teachers were the types to get students like me to change their majors.
It was in my college years that I completely devoted myself to the idea of teaching. For years I had been prodded by family and friends to go into the profession because they felt I was good with children and had a knack for explaining things. It was also in college that I learned that I liked being in front of the class. Presenting my paper to the class was more fun than sitting in a chair listening to someone else talk. But it was probably when I reached my limit on being exposed to teacher examples on the two extremes of the spectrum that I fully took the plunge into the world of education.
I have found, in my experiences, that what the good teachers did and what the bad teachers didn’t do were similar in many ways. The good examples were more than just their level of content knowledge; they had a passion for what they do. They love the material and they love to share it. And that love goes beyond the subject matter; they also care deeply for their students. They want them to succeed at life, not just in their class. They want to prepare their students for life, not just be a government-appointed gatekeeper to it. They are compassionate and have a great deal of understanding and empathy for the children they teach. They understand that growing up can be hard and they don’t selfishly add additional stressors onto their student’s shoulders for the sake of maintaining their classroom order. They realize that their student’s have a lot going on and that many might be in miserable situations, so a strict and reactionary action right off the bat might not be the best option. Good teachers are also engaging. They surface schema and draw upon a student’s interests and experiences to make the lesson fun, interesting and memorable. They don’t just teach something in a fun way, they induce a behaviorist conditioned response. They make you look forward to their class and want to learn more.
It’s those good teacher examples from my collection that are at the heart of my core beliefs and it is the bad examples that are my major motivating force. I want to learn from my bad examples, so that my students won’t have the same negative experiences that I had. I want to perpetuate the good examples and embody all the wonderful attributes of the amazing teachers I have had the pleasure of learning from. I want to be that one that they remember in the sea of the ordinary and the awful. I want to be a positive example in the collections of my students and inspire them to influence others.
“The mediocre teacher tells. The good teacher explains. The superior teacher demonstrates. The great teacher inspires” (Ward, n.d.). This quote by author and scholar William Arthur Ward captures the essence of my core beliefs. Over the course of my life, I have gathered a collection of examples attitudes and methods from other people in which I appropriated into my own character. I, like most of us, have a long list of role-models, heroes, mentors, teachers and various other influential figures in which I draw from to process and handle any number of situations. Some of these examples are good and some are bad. The latter being the case more often than not. The good ones inspire me. They inspire me to live up to the positive influence that they had on me and to pass on the good example to the next generation. The bad influences inspire me as well, even more than the good ones. They motivate me to correct what is not right. They drive me to break the cycles of abuse. They push me to fight against the selfish and the misguided. They compel me to rebel against abuses of power and question the flaws in a broken system. All in all, they are examples of what not to do. As I go through life, I am determined to collect and implement the good in opposition to the bad.
Since teaching is the profession I want to be in, I find myself reflecting on all my teachers, from preschool to now. My education experience, so far, hasn’t been the best. I was the product of public education and my parents were pretty hands-off when it came to what I was doing in school. I’m not sure what the Washington teacher qualifications were way back then but it seemed like the only requirement was half a pulse. Given my past, I am often amazed at how far I have come. I never took school very seriously as a child. I was told that I needed good grades to get into college but I didn’t want to go to college. Why would I want to work extra hard to be able to do more school work? I hated school for the most part. High school seemed like a waste of time. Most days, it felt like I was only there because I have to be, because that is what society expects. But there were rare times when I was inspired beyond comprehension. There were a handful of exceptional teachers scattered among a sea of the ordinary and the awful. They gave me a tiny shred of hope in a system that just seemed to warehouse kids and mass-produce young adults with the absolute bare-minimum in knowledge.
College professors provided even worse examples. It has been said that “A teacher who is attempting to teach without inspiring the pupil with a desire to learn is hammering on cold iron” (Mann, n.d.) and I have often felt like cold, hammered iron. There is no requirement of certification to teach at the college level, like the one Alaska requires to work in public schools, only a bachelor’s degree is required. They don’t receive training in instruction and often just bombard their students with only content. There were quite a few professors that I came across who were primarily there as researchers and were only teaching because they had to in order to continue their research. There were even some who would state it at the beginning of the semester, then go on to disengage and confuse me for three months. These were often the professors that would take material that I felt solid in and then proceed to explain it in a way that would corrupt my knowledge and cause a regression. However, there were, yet again, a handful of great ones. The ones that were truly passionate about their field of study and could explain everything with such mastery in a way that made sense and stuck in your brain. These inspirational teachers were the types to get students like me to change their majors.
It was in my college years that I completely devoted myself to the idea of teaching. For years I had been prodded by family and friends to go into the profession because they felt I was good with children and had a knack for explaining things. It was also in college that I learned that I liked being in front of the class. Presenting my paper to the class was more fun than sitting in a chair listening to someone else talk. But it was probably when I reached my limit on being exposed to teacher examples on the two extremes of the spectrum that I fully took the plunge into the world of education.
I have found, in my experiences, that what the good teachers did and what the bad teachers didn’t do were similar in many ways. The good examples were more than just their level of content knowledge; they had a passion for what they do. They love the material and they love to share it. And that love goes beyond the subject matter; they also care deeply for their students. They want them to succeed at life, not just in their class. They want to prepare their students for life, not just be a government-appointed gatekeeper to it. They are compassionate and have a great deal of understanding and empathy for the children they teach. They understand that growing up can be hard and they don’t selfishly add additional stressors onto their student’s shoulders for the sake of maintaining their classroom order. They realize that their student’s have a lot going on and that many might be in miserable situations, so a strict and reactionary action right off the bat might not be the best option. Good teachers are also engaging. They surface schema and draw upon a student’s interests and experiences to make the lesson fun, interesting and memorable. They don’t just teach something in a fun way, they induce a behaviorist conditioned response. They make you look forward to their class and want to learn more.
It’s those good teacher examples from my collection that are at the heart of my core beliefs and it is the bad examples that are my major motivating force. I want to learn from my bad examples, so that my students won’t have the same negative experiences that I had. I want to perpetuate the good examples and embody all the wonderful attributes of the amazing teachers I have had the pleasure of learning from. I want to be that one that they remember in the sea of the ordinary and the awful. I want to be a positive example in the collections of my students and inspire them to influence others.
Effective Teaching Video
Development Project
Cast:
High Efficacy Teacher (HET): Scott
Low Efficacy Teacher (LET): Bri
High Efficacy Student (HES): Joe
Low Efficacy Student (LES): Ryan
High Efficacy Parent (HEP): Tom
Low Efficacy Parent (LEP): Aaron
SCENE 1 (CLASSROOM - LOW EFFICACY TEACHER)
LET: is setting up classroom for the day. Class walks in and sits down. Teacher hands out math worksheets and gives very little instruction, reminding students if they don’t get it done during class, they’ll have it added to their homework that night.
STUDENT 1: Raises hand.
LET: Ignores it and keeps talking.
STUDENT 2: Interrupts teacher pointing out the student with a question.
LET: Reprimands Student 2 for interrupting. Lets Student 1 ask question, blows off question in a way that insinuates it was dumb without saying so. Student 1 asks a further question, and LET tells student they can ask questions later.
STUDENT 1: Stares at worksheet, can’t work on it because teacher didn’t answer question and allow further questions. Starts tapping pencil on table and fidgeting loudly.
LET: tells Student 1 to be quiet.
STUDENT 1: still taps pencil.
LET: kicks student out of the class and snaps at the rest of the students.
LIST of low efficacy teacher traits:
Teacher trying to motivate students via threats.
Measuring students against each other by pointing out mistakes and high/low grades.
Over-reactive to disruptive behavior.
Shuts down questions and deeper thinking from students.
Overbearing authority/micromanaging.
Give up on a student after explaining it once.
Criticizing students
Impatience
Two students sitting at a table in math class.
- LES hates school.
He doesn’t think he is good at math and shuts down.
He is disruptive with his negativity.
He feels hopeless and is in a funk.
When he is kicked out, he makes a scene.
LE Student: I’m just not a math person; I don’t get this!
HE Student: I sometimes have trouble, but I think of it as just small steps. I can do small things one at a time, and then answer the problem.
LE Student: Why are there letters in my math problem? And don’t even get me started on “imaginary numbers!” It’s looks like alphabet soup in the book…. Do you want to see the dinosaur I drew just now?
HE Student: No thanks, I still need to work on this set; I am having a hard time with the higher number problems, but it is getting a little easier.
LE Teacher: No chatting, or I’ll put your name on the board! Three strikes, and you’re out in the hallway.
LE Student: Sorry, teach. **Whispers**I was so worried about that test tomorrow I couldn’t eat dinner. I’m so nervous. I hope the teacher gets sick. Maybe I won’t come to school tomorrow.
HE Student: I’m a little nervous too, but if I work hard on the homework tonight, I’m sure I’ll do fine tomorrow. I got a B last week, so I am trying to do better.
LE Student: I just want a D so that I don’t have to do this all again next year.
LE Teacher: I warned you! Working quietly means NO TALKING. LE student, hallway. Now. Don’t come back in until I come get you.
LE Student: *Loudly: But it wasn’t my fault! HE Student was talking first! This is SO unfair! I hate school! *Stomps out
SCENE 2 (CLASSROOM, HIGH EFFICACY TEACHER)
HE Teacher: *Strides in confidently, stays away from desk:* Greets students by name.
HE Teacher: I looked over your math work from class yesterday, and I’m really proud of you guys for performing so well with the steps I gave you yesterday.
LE/HE Students: *Nodding and smiling: Thanks!
HE Teacher: Okay guys, we’ll be building on that knowledge today. Go ahead and take out your homework, and I’ll walk you through the first couple problems. Then we can see where you guys had any roadblocks
LE Student (to HE Student): Can I see yours? I didn’t know how to do it, so I just watched Bachelorette instead. She’ll give us the answers anyway, right?
HE Student: Well, I had to spend a long time on it; the last few problems were really tough! I want to see how she did them. No, you can’t copy!
*HE Teacher models problem on board, walks to students and looks at their work.
HE Teacher: (Quietly to LE Student), I see you had some trouble last night. If you are having trouble, I will be here after school to help you out.
SCENE 3 (LOW EFFICACY PARENT/TEACHER CONFERENCE)
Teacher: As you can see, Johnny has been struggling in school. He rarely completes his homework. I think some guidance at home would go a long way.
LE Parent: Johnny can do what he wants at home. I can’t worry about what he’s doing. At the end of the day, his success in school is YOUR job. Not mine.
Teacher: I’m worried about him; he is missing a lot of what we cover in class because he rarely completes his homework.
LE Parent: Look, I went to school and where did it get me? I don’t use it. It’s not important.
Teacher: Well, Johnny is always disrupting my class. I have the desks all set up in rows, and he can barely stay in his seat. I have strict rules, and he spends quite a lot of time in the hallway. He hardly ever completes his pages of practice problems in class.
LE Parent: Well, that’s your problem. I turn over Johnny’s education entirely to his teachers.
SCENE 4 (HIGH EFFICACY PARENT/TEACHER CONFERENCE)
Teacher: Jane has been improving over the course of the year. She’s pretty consistent with the work she completes at home. She’s been struggling in the past week, though.
HE Parent: Thank you; I’ve been reading the notes that you sent home. We’ve been working on her math skills every night after dinner.
Teacher: That’s great to hear. This new concept is usually difficult for students to grasp.
HE Parent: Jane knows that school is important, we make sure of that.
Teacher: That’s very important. I’m very proud of Jane’s performance.
HE Parent: Is there any way that we can get involved at the school? I would love to help out if you need it.
Teacher: Of course!
SCENE 5 (LOW EFFICACY PARENT AT HOME)
LE Student: Hi, Dad.
LE Parent: Hey, kiddo. How was your day? Did you survive your school day?
LE Student: Barely. School’s not my scene.
LE Parent: That’s my boy! I used to get mad at my school.
LE Student: Yeah I can complain.
LE Parent: The teachers who taught me weren’t cool.
LE Student: Yeah I can complain.
LE Parent: Holding me down, turning me ‘round, filling me up with their rules.
LE Student: I got to admit, it’s getting worse. A little worse all the time.
SCENE 6 (HIGH EFFICACY PARENT AT HOME)
Mom: Hi Felip, how was your chemistry midterm today? Did you feel more confident about stoichiometry than you did last night? Were the tutors helpful to you?
Felip: It was awful. I basically just wrote my name on the test and walked out. I was so frustrated I almost cried.
Mom: Ok, well, did you get in to see a tutor?
Felip: No mom! I don’t want to go to a tutor; it’s so embarrassing.
Mom: Well why not? You know they are there to help and support you. There’s no need to feel ashamed. Everyone learns differently and some people just need a little more time.
Felip: I feel dumb when I go to the tutors. My classmates don’t go, so that means if I go I’m not as smart as they are.
Mom: Now Felip, that’s not true. Your classmates may not need to go, but that just means they have different strengths. But, that doesn’t mean you can’t learn. You are just as capable as they are.
Felip: Whatever.
Mom: You are. Think about it. Which subjects in school are you really good at?
Felip: [Thinking] Well, I guess I’m good in woodshop.
Mom: That’s right. The cedar, three-legged table you made with inlaid marble tiling and a polished brass frame last week was nothing short of miraculous.
Felip: Yeah, it was pretty gnarly, wasn’t it?
Mom: Absolutely. See, you are a very good learner and very capable. Now, won’t you give it another try? There’s still a chance for you to come away from all this with a better understanding of the material and an improved grade.
Felip: Thanks mom.
Quotes and stuff….
High Efficacy Student…..Regard ability as an aquirable skill that can be increased by gaining knowledge and competencies...adopt learning goals... 120
Find a quality in failure, learn and move forward in the face of obstacles.
Low Efficacy Student….. When faced with obstacles and failure, people who harbor self doubts about their capabilities slacken their efforts or give up quickly (131)
(Students) people with a low sense of efficacy in a given domain shy away from difficult tasks, which they perceive as personal threats. Low aspirations and weak commitment to the goals they pursue.
HE teacher - Teachers who have a high sense of instructional efficacy devote more classroom time to academic learning, provide students who have difficulty learning with the help they need to succeed, and praise them for their accomplishments
Teachers who believe strongly in their instructional efficacy support development of students’ intrinsic interests and academic self directedness (140)
LE teacher- Teachers who lack a sense of instructional efficacy show weak commitment to teaching and spend less time on academic matters. 134
a low sense of academic and self regulatory efficacy is associated with emotional irascibility, physical and verbal aggression and ready disengagement of moral self-sanctions from harmful conduct.
-Teachers with a low sense of efficacy favor a custodial orientation that relies heavily on extrinsic inducements and negative sanctions to get students to study.
HE parent
-“The family plays a ke The y role in their children’s success in school” (p. 143).
-HE parents -prepare their children for school
(p. 143) -place a value on education
-convey belief in their children’s scholastic ability
-encourage language development/comprehension through reading
-set standards
-establish regular homework habits
-help with school work at home [IS THIS DIFFERENT THAN HOMEWORK?]
-keep track of academic progress
-reward their efforts
-support school-related functions
-assist with school activities
-participate in school governance or community advocacy groups for school improvement
=CONNECTEDNESS BETWEEN HOME, SCHOOL, AND COMMUNITY
-Parental participation partly determined by teachers’ sense of efficacy (p. 144)
LE Parent
-Turn over their children’s education entirely to teachers
-Parental participation partly determined by teachers’ sense of efficacy (p. 144)
High Efficacy Teacher (HET): Scott
Low Efficacy Teacher (LET): Bri
High Efficacy Student (HES): Joe
Low Efficacy Student (LES): Ryan
High Efficacy Parent (HEP): Tom
Low Efficacy Parent (LEP): Aaron
SCENE 1 (CLASSROOM - LOW EFFICACY TEACHER)
LET: is setting up classroom for the day. Class walks in and sits down. Teacher hands out math worksheets and gives very little instruction, reminding students if they don’t get it done during class, they’ll have it added to their homework that night.
STUDENT 1: Raises hand.
LET: Ignores it and keeps talking.
STUDENT 2: Interrupts teacher pointing out the student with a question.
LET: Reprimands Student 2 for interrupting. Lets Student 1 ask question, blows off question in a way that insinuates it was dumb without saying so. Student 1 asks a further question, and LET tells student they can ask questions later.
STUDENT 1: Stares at worksheet, can’t work on it because teacher didn’t answer question and allow further questions. Starts tapping pencil on table and fidgeting loudly.
LET: tells Student 1 to be quiet.
STUDENT 1: still taps pencil.
LET: kicks student out of the class and snaps at the rest of the students.
LIST of low efficacy teacher traits:
Teacher trying to motivate students via threats.
Measuring students against each other by pointing out mistakes and high/low grades.
Over-reactive to disruptive behavior.
Shuts down questions and deeper thinking from students.
Overbearing authority/micromanaging.
Give up on a student after explaining it once.
Criticizing students
Impatience
Two students sitting at a table in math class.
- LES hates school.
He doesn’t think he is good at math and shuts down.
He is disruptive with his negativity.
He feels hopeless and is in a funk.
When he is kicked out, he makes a scene.
LE Student: I’m just not a math person; I don’t get this!
HE Student: I sometimes have trouble, but I think of it as just small steps. I can do small things one at a time, and then answer the problem.
LE Student: Why are there letters in my math problem? And don’t even get me started on “imaginary numbers!” It’s looks like alphabet soup in the book…. Do you want to see the dinosaur I drew just now?
HE Student: No thanks, I still need to work on this set; I am having a hard time with the higher number problems, but it is getting a little easier.
LE Teacher: No chatting, or I’ll put your name on the board! Three strikes, and you’re out in the hallway.
LE Student: Sorry, teach. **Whispers**I was so worried about that test tomorrow I couldn’t eat dinner. I’m so nervous. I hope the teacher gets sick. Maybe I won’t come to school tomorrow.
HE Student: I’m a little nervous too, but if I work hard on the homework tonight, I’m sure I’ll do fine tomorrow. I got a B last week, so I am trying to do better.
LE Student: I just want a D so that I don’t have to do this all again next year.
LE Teacher: I warned you! Working quietly means NO TALKING. LE student, hallway. Now. Don’t come back in until I come get you.
LE Student: *Loudly: But it wasn’t my fault! HE Student was talking first! This is SO unfair! I hate school! *Stomps out
SCENE 2 (CLASSROOM, HIGH EFFICACY TEACHER)
HE Teacher: *Strides in confidently, stays away from desk:* Greets students by name.
HE Teacher: I looked over your math work from class yesterday, and I’m really proud of you guys for performing so well with the steps I gave you yesterday.
LE/HE Students: *Nodding and smiling: Thanks!
HE Teacher: Okay guys, we’ll be building on that knowledge today. Go ahead and take out your homework, and I’ll walk you through the first couple problems. Then we can see where you guys had any roadblocks
LE Student (to HE Student): Can I see yours? I didn’t know how to do it, so I just watched Bachelorette instead. She’ll give us the answers anyway, right?
HE Student: Well, I had to spend a long time on it; the last few problems were really tough! I want to see how she did them. No, you can’t copy!
*HE Teacher models problem on board, walks to students and looks at their work.
HE Teacher: (Quietly to LE Student), I see you had some trouble last night. If you are having trouble, I will be here after school to help you out.
SCENE 3 (LOW EFFICACY PARENT/TEACHER CONFERENCE)
Teacher: As you can see, Johnny has been struggling in school. He rarely completes his homework. I think some guidance at home would go a long way.
LE Parent: Johnny can do what he wants at home. I can’t worry about what he’s doing. At the end of the day, his success in school is YOUR job. Not mine.
Teacher: I’m worried about him; he is missing a lot of what we cover in class because he rarely completes his homework.
LE Parent: Look, I went to school and where did it get me? I don’t use it. It’s not important.
Teacher: Well, Johnny is always disrupting my class. I have the desks all set up in rows, and he can barely stay in his seat. I have strict rules, and he spends quite a lot of time in the hallway. He hardly ever completes his pages of practice problems in class.
LE Parent: Well, that’s your problem. I turn over Johnny’s education entirely to his teachers.
SCENE 4 (HIGH EFFICACY PARENT/TEACHER CONFERENCE)
Teacher: Jane has been improving over the course of the year. She’s pretty consistent with the work she completes at home. She’s been struggling in the past week, though.
HE Parent: Thank you; I’ve been reading the notes that you sent home. We’ve been working on her math skills every night after dinner.
Teacher: That’s great to hear. This new concept is usually difficult for students to grasp.
HE Parent: Jane knows that school is important, we make sure of that.
Teacher: That’s very important. I’m very proud of Jane’s performance.
HE Parent: Is there any way that we can get involved at the school? I would love to help out if you need it.
Teacher: Of course!
SCENE 5 (LOW EFFICACY PARENT AT HOME)
LE Student: Hi, Dad.
LE Parent: Hey, kiddo. How was your day? Did you survive your school day?
LE Student: Barely. School’s not my scene.
LE Parent: That’s my boy! I used to get mad at my school.
LE Student: Yeah I can complain.
LE Parent: The teachers who taught me weren’t cool.
LE Student: Yeah I can complain.
LE Parent: Holding me down, turning me ‘round, filling me up with their rules.
LE Student: I got to admit, it’s getting worse. A little worse all the time.
SCENE 6 (HIGH EFFICACY PARENT AT HOME)
Mom: Hi Felip, how was your chemistry midterm today? Did you feel more confident about stoichiometry than you did last night? Were the tutors helpful to you?
Felip: It was awful. I basically just wrote my name on the test and walked out. I was so frustrated I almost cried.
Mom: Ok, well, did you get in to see a tutor?
Felip: No mom! I don’t want to go to a tutor; it’s so embarrassing.
Mom: Well why not? You know they are there to help and support you. There’s no need to feel ashamed. Everyone learns differently and some people just need a little more time.
Felip: I feel dumb when I go to the tutors. My classmates don’t go, so that means if I go I’m not as smart as they are.
Mom: Now Felip, that’s not true. Your classmates may not need to go, but that just means they have different strengths. But, that doesn’t mean you can’t learn. You are just as capable as they are.
Felip: Whatever.
Mom: You are. Think about it. Which subjects in school are you really good at?
Felip: [Thinking] Well, I guess I’m good in woodshop.
Mom: That’s right. The cedar, three-legged table you made with inlaid marble tiling and a polished brass frame last week was nothing short of miraculous.
Felip: Yeah, it was pretty gnarly, wasn’t it?
Mom: Absolutely. See, you are a very good learner and very capable. Now, won’t you give it another try? There’s still a chance for you to come away from all this with a better understanding of the material and an improved grade.
Felip: Thanks mom.
Quotes and stuff….
High Efficacy Student…..Regard ability as an aquirable skill that can be increased by gaining knowledge and competencies...adopt learning goals... 120
Find a quality in failure, learn and move forward in the face of obstacles.
Low Efficacy Student….. When faced with obstacles and failure, people who harbor self doubts about their capabilities slacken their efforts or give up quickly (131)
(Students) people with a low sense of efficacy in a given domain shy away from difficult tasks, which they perceive as personal threats. Low aspirations and weak commitment to the goals they pursue.
HE teacher - Teachers who have a high sense of instructional efficacy devote more classroom time to academic learning, provide students who have difficulty learning with the help they need to succeed, and praise them for their accomplishments
Teachers who believe strongly in their instructional efficacy support development of students’ intrinsic interests and academic self directedness (140)
LE teacher- Teachers who lack a sense of instructional efficacy show weak commitment to teaching and spend less time on academic matters. 134
a low sense of academic and self regulatory efficacy is associated with emotional irascibility, physical and verbal aggression and ready disengagement of moral self-sanctions from harmful conduct.
-Teachers with a low sense of efficacy favor a custodial orientation that relies heavily on extrinsic inducements and negative sanctions to get students to study.
HE parent
-“The family plays a ke The y role in their children’s success in school” (p. 143).
-HE parents -prepare their children for school
(p. 143) -place a value on education
-convey belief in their children’s scholastic ability
-encourage language development/comprehension through reading
-set standards
-establish regular homework habits
-help with school work at home [IS THIS DIFFERENT THAN HOMEWORK?]
-keep track of academic progress
-reward their efforts
-support school-related functions
-assist with school activities
-participate in school governance or community advocacy groups for school improvement
=CONNECTEDNESS BETWEEN HOME, SCHOOL, AND COMMUNITY
-Parental participation partly determined by teachers’ sense of efficacy (p. 144)
LE Parent
-Turn over their children’s education entirely to teachers
-Parental participation partly determined by teachers’ sense of efficacy (p. 144)