Psychology of Education Discussion Talks #1

August 15th
Community Building and Collaborative Learning

Building a classroom community is shown to advance student learning. When

students have the feeling of belonging and having a feeling of membership within
the classroom students are likely to achieve learning goals. There is a major role of
the sense of belonging in education which gives students the feeling of being safe in
a classroom as well as feeling supported and having the motive to achieve. Having a
sense of classroom community also regulates students emotional control, conflict
resolution skills, and social skills within the classroom. Not only does classroom
community reduce bullying, creates leadership opportunities in the classroom for
students, and a greater well being of students but also increase academic readiness
and academic success (Parker 2014).

After creating a sense of community, teachers can scaffold collaborative learning to

lead to deeper learning and deeper understanding of information (Davis 2012).
Teachers have to give up their control of the classroom. Students can then focus on
different strategies, discuss with peers, and it encourages students to teach each
other. By collaborating with each other and students are able to realize that there
may be more than just one right answer focusing on the process rather than the end
result. Teachers are able to facilitate discussion and promote participation with all
students. Teachers need to be open-minded and trust students with their own
learning (Davis 2012). Students will learn to be proactive and ask for help.

By using relationships in the classroom to guide learning, students learn with

engagement to develop deeper understandings. The Collage Preparatory School in
Oakland California believe that collaborative learning is one of the most important
tools they use to allow their students to learn. The head of the school describes
individual work as a way to master content where group work empowers students.
The English teacher uses round table discussion strategies where the students are
participating in an open-ended discussion. Students alternate by taking three roles,
the scribe, who writes down the conversation, the mediator, who makes sure
everyone gets to speak as well as a topic hasnt been discussed for too long, and a
grapher, who draws what the conversations with a series of lines to map the
conversation. The students were able to take risks in the discussion as well as
develop deeper understandings of course work.
When student are creating relationships, fostering self-esteem, and fosters self-
esteem (Prince 2004). Even though my interest is in Early Childhood Education, I
ask myself how could we use collaborative learning and community building at the
university calibre and would it still have the same positive influence on learning.

My talk tomorrow will be discussing this topic and I am interested to hear opinions
and ideas on the benefits and the inhibitors of collaborative learning.

References:

Parker, Juile, Herring, Angel, Leffler, Jeffrey, & Hallberg, Cappe (2014). Creating a
Community Classroom: Strategies to Promote Inclusion and Reduce Bullying in
Early Childhood. Journal of Human Sciences and Extension, 79-86. Retrieved from
http://media.wix.com/ugd/c8fe6e_04766e1d35af4e02a50077c2f046c044.pdf

Davis, Matt. (2012). Collaborative Learning Builds Deeper Understandings.

Edutopia. Retrieved from https://www.edutopia.org/stw-collaborative-learning-
math-english-video

Davis, Matt. (2012). How Collaborative Learning Leads to Student Success. Edutopia.
Retrieved from https://www.edutopia.org/stw-collaborative-learning-college-prep
Psychology of Education Discussion Talks #2
August 17th
The Role of Self-Correction

Students are going through a current education system that strives and is built upon
external motivation. Students are constantly being reassured and celebrated by
grades and stickers. Having a mistake-celebrated classroom is only human. Humans
make mistakes and learn from those mistakes. Mistakes are the most impotent part
of any practice because they show where we must focus on; however, students are
seeing mistake emotionally rather than rationally (Maats & OBrien 2014). Many
students feel shameful giving them the impression that they are not smart. Being
afraid to make mistakes is hindering students want and ability to take risks in the
classroom. Students are afraid to try something new, be creative, and think in a
different way (Tugend 2011). Students now are resorting to asking the teacher for
help rather then trying different strategies because they mat is wrong. Learning
from mistakes builds resiliency. Students who accept imperfection and accept that
there is a place for not knowing will be better learner.

An interest of mine is Early Childhood Education, and in particular developing

reading and writing skills in this particular age group. Developing literacy skills is
the greatest challenge and improvement in an ECE classroom. I bring this up
because the use-of self-correction is important and essential in develop skills in the
beginning reading process. For an example, a student in the first grade is reading a
book that is within their reading abilities. The student comes to the word creep
student says crawl; however, the student is unsatisfied with their response and go
back to the word to correct themselves. The process of going back to re correct
themselves shows the reader is engaged and searching for strategies (Forbes 2004).
Using prior knowledge of oral language, to learn how to read is essential but this is
connected progressing learning skills. The practice of self-correcting need to be
taught by the teacher but then the teacher can actively monitor students reading
progress with the students ability to self-correct more challenging words (Forbes
2004).

In Jesses LinkedIn article, he mentioned the practice of self-reflection after lessons

done by teachers. To professionally grow and develop, teacher must reflect on their
lesson to make alternations, changes, and comments on how their lesson went from
instructional practices, resources, and activities to improve their practice as a
teacher. Teachers then improve their lessons and resources for future classes,
students, and even effectively plan for the next day to ensure student
understandings. This practice of self-reflection shows the importance to improve
ones work and the importance of thinking critically of ourselves. So why arent
teachers passing along this practice to their students or allowing students the time
to self-reflect?

Teachers need to change the way students view mistake but how? By rethinking the
way we approach mistakes and not knowing in the classroom we are better able
approach learning. In my opinion, modelling this behaviour is essential in a K-12
classroom. Teachers who value students self-corrections teach their students to be
independent problem solvers (Forbes 2004). Teachers need to help students
rethink their mistakes and be specific about their errors. If students critically
thinking about why something was a mistake and why they dont understand
something is more important is just accepting something as wrong. Students need to
be more open about their mistakes to develop a better relationship with the action
of making mistakes. Mistakes are evitable but educators need to shift the thinking
away from the red pen and towards persistence.

References:
Forbes, Salli, Poparad, Mary Ann, and McBride, Maryann. (2004). To Err Is Human:
To Self-Correct Is to Learn. The Reading Teacher, 57(6), 566-572.

Maats, Hunter & OBrien Katie. (2014). Teaching Students to Embrace Mistakes.
Edutopia. Retrieved from https://www.edutopia.org/blog/teaching-students-to-
embrace-mistakes-hunter-maats-katie-obrien

Tugend, Aina. (2011). The Role of Mistakes in the Classroom. Edutopia. Retrieved
from https://www.edutopia.org/blog/benefits-mistakes-classroom-alina-tugend