Ecology of Teaching
Why Gender Matters: new research that in the newborn nursery you can demonstrate that girls have a sense of hearing about seven times more sensitive than the boys do, and that’s so important both at home and in the classroom.
Boys will be Boys: over the last thirty years, there's been a really profound shift—stunning reversal—as the term that they used, in who’s attending Canadian universities. Thirty years ago, more than 60% of graduates from Canadian universities were men. Now, well over 60% of graduates—over 60% of graduates— nationwide are women. a growing proportion, that is many more boys today compared with 30 years ago, tend to regard school, and academic achievement at school, as unmasculine.
Teachers are significant socializing agents in that they translate school curricula goals into action. Effective teachers are warm, enthusiastic, and generous with praise, and have high status.
The teacher plays a major leadership role in helping children learn to deal with positions of authority, to cooperate with others, to cope with problems, and to achieve competence. Types of leaders include authoritarian, democratic, and laissez-faire (permissive).
Classroom management goal structures (cooperative, individualized, competitive) have different socialization effects. “With-it-ness” is the basis for a successful management style.
Teachers' expectations of children often influence their interactions with them and, consequently, the children's performance.
Teachers need to be aware of their responses to gender.
Teachers need to understand the values, communication styles, and behavior of children from diverse ethnic groups (individualistic and collectivistic orientations).
Teachers need to understand the effects of socioeconomic status on learning.
Teachers need to understand about individual learning styles and accommodate accordingly. Two types of learning styles are an analytical, field-independent style and a relational, field-dependent style.
Teachers need to know how to include children with disabilities in learning activities. The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) requires that an individualized education program (IEP) be written annually, specifying educational goals, methods, and resources/services required to meet the child's needs.
Teachers need to know and understand those students who are at risk for negative developmental outcomes because of poverty, substance abuse, or violence in the family, and give special support to enable resiliency and achievement motivation.
Macrosystem influences of philosophies of teaching and learning range from teacher-directed programs to learner-directed ones and various combinations.
Macrosystem influences of legislation, such as the No Child Left Behind Act, involve policies on curriculum standards and accountability.
• Mesosystem links between teachers, families, and communities play a significant role in implementing the nation's number one education goal—that all children will come to school “ready to learn.”
authentic assessment evaluation based on real performance, rather than test performance, showing mastery of a task
standardized tests tests in which an individual is compared to a norm on scientifically selected items
accountability making schools and teachers responsible for student learning or achievement outcomes
cooperative goal structure students working together to accomplish shared goals
competitive goal structure students working against each other to achieve goals that only a few students can attain
individualized goal structure one student's achievement of the goal is unrelated to other students' achievement of that goal
Children expose to domestic violence
Anger. They are angry at the abuser for perpetrating the violence, at the victim for tolerating it, or at themselves for not being able to stop it.
♦ Fear/terror. They are afraid that the mother or father will be seriously injured or killed, that they or their siblings will be hurt, that others will find out and then the parents will be “in trouble,” or that they will be removed from the family.
♦ Powerlessness. Because they are unable to prevent the fights from happening, or to stop the violence when it occurs, they feel out of control.
♦ Loneliness. They feel unable or afraid to reach out to others, feeling “different” or isolated.
♦ Confusion. They are confused about why it happens, choosing sides, what they should do, what is “right” and “wrong.” They are also confused about how the abuser can sometimes be caring and at other times violent.
♦ Shame. They are ashamed about what is happening in their home.
♦ Guilt. They feel guilty that they may have caused the violence, or that they should have been able to stop it but couldn't.
♦ Distrust. They don't trust adults because experience tells them that adults are unpredictable, that they break promises, and/or that they don't mean well.
alcoholism a chronic, progressive, and potentially fatal disease characterized by excessive tolerance for alcohol and by physical dependence and/or pathologic organ changes
learned helplessness the perception, acquired through negative experiences, that effort has no effect on outcomes
resilience the ability to withstand and rebound from crisis or persistent challenges
risk endangerment; vulnerability to negative developmental outcomes
classism the differential treatment of people because of their class background and the reinforcing of those differences through values and practices of societal institutions
zone of proximal development (ZPD) Vygotsky's term for the space between what a learner can do independently and what he or she can do while participating with more capable others
laissez-faire a policy of letting people do as they please; permissive
perception a biological construct that involves interpretation of stimuli from the brain