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Standardized Tests During my educational psychology class, I was able to research standardized tests. The material I found was fascinating as I learned that tests are a tool teachers can use to improve their teaching as they come to understand how well students are performing on tests. The Educational Testing Service (2005) states that "tests provide a measure of how well students are learning in a fair and unbiased nature." I took the information I had and formed the opening statements for a debate. The debate was centered around standardized testing and performance assessment. Through researching standardized tests, my awareness of the governments roll in education grew. Thus, my judgments became formulated not upon opinions, but upon researched evidence. What I hear and read is now filtered and my opinions are less biased because of the research I completed. This artifact demonstrates my understanding of the importance of researching a topic instead of relying completely on personal opinion. While my group and I did well on our presentation, we benefited most by the information we learned through our research.
Kennedy Report PowerPoint Presentation The Native American Studies class brought to light a vast amount of information I knew nothing of. Through studying the Kennedy Report of 1969, I learned how Native Americans were educated and the process of assimilation. The Native American children were forced to learn the "white man's ways" and adhere to whatever rules were created. The enclosed PowerPoint briefly documents the journey Native American's took to survive as their beliefs and ways of life were stripped of authority until the U.S. government finally stopped the devastation. Michael Cooper (1999) dug into the purpose of Indian schools. He found that the U.S. wanted Native Americans to forget their traditions and begin living like white people, rather than killing them or confining them to reservations. "The sooner all tribal relations were broken up and the Native Americans lost all their old ways, even their language, the better their lives would be" (p. 22). Through researching the Native American heritage, I was able to put together a factual PowerPoint, explaining how difficult the past has been for Native American students. My professional ability is exemplified through my research and presentation. I am able to research a fairly intense topic and condense the material into a 35 minute presentation. As a teacher, I will continue to research topics and use projects in my classroom for students to develop an understanding of the benefits of research. Through my growth as a researcher, I have sought to serve students more effectively, criteria of the curriculum model.
A look into ADHD Understanding and exploring disorders in children is a difficult study. Exceptional Students was a class where students read, studied, and talked about a wide array of disorders children are either born with or develop early in life. For one project, I studied action deficit/hyperactivity disorder. I have heard parents talk about the possibility their son or daughter has "ADD" and I sought to understand the disorder better, especially with the understanding that a lot of students struggle with it. What I found was remarkable. According to W. Howard (2003), “ADHD has the distinction of being both the most extensively studied mental disorder and the most controversial.” My paper continues to explain how to treat ADHD and teaching methods to help inflicted students. As a teacher, I need to recognize symptoms in my students and be able to make a judgment as to why the student is behaving a particular way in class. My goal is to educate my students in the best way possible, and if I am lacking knowledge about disorders, especially common disorders, schoolwork will only become more complicated and frustrating to those students suffering. Through being a researcher, I am able to sift through student personalities and identify a problem if one should appear. As the curriculum model states, I want to be a teacher that serve students most effectively.
Stretching Students' Minds Understanding how to manage a classroom of energetic children can be very draining, but rewarding if one seeks help. Through a video series entitled Happy Reading! (2002), Debbie Miller tackles how to create and sustain a learning community in the classroom. I watched Debbie explain different tactics as well as observed her demonstrations and wrote a reading inquiry paper. Before I watched the movies, I had several questions about reading, like: "How does a teacher teach reading? What is most effective technique for the majority of students?" I then researched my questions and found Debbie Miller's video helpful in explaining how teachers prepare to teach and then how to teach beyond pronunciation and identification of letters and words, into teaching theme and idea. She explained healthy environment, tone, and activities for deep reading. After watching the video and writing my inquiry paper, I left with even more questions to ponder and research, which is what happens when one engages in an inquiry research topic. Questions are often answered and new ideas are formulated, but new questions arise, leading one to further study and research, which in turns leads to an improvement in skill. My desire is to improve my teaching methods. My paper clearly shows I have worked hard at understanding how to teach most effectively, as the curriculum model states.

Standardized Tests

During my educational psychology class, I was able to research standardized tests. The material I found was fascinating as I learned that tests are a tool teachers can use to improve their teaching as they come to understand how well students are performing on tests. The Educational Testing Service (2005) states that "tests provide a measure of how well students are learning in a fair and unbiased nature." I took the information I had and formed the opening statements for a debate. The debate was centered around standardized testing and performance assessment. Through researching standardized tests, my awareness of the governments roll in education grew. Thus, my judgments became formulated not upon opinions, but upon researched evidence. What I hear and read is now filtered and my opinions are less biased because of the research I completed. This artifact demonstrates my understanding of the importance of researching a topic instead of relying completely on personal opinion. While my group and I did well on our presentation, we benefited most by the information we learned through our research.

Kennedy Report PowerPoint Presentation

The Native American Studies class brought to light a vast amount of information I knew nothing of. Through studying the Kennedy Report of 1969, I learned how Native Americans were educated and the process of assimilation. The Native American children were forced to learn the "white man's ways" and adhere to whatever rules were created. The enclosed PowerPoint briefly documents the journey Native American's took to survive as their beliefs and ways of life were stripped of authority until the U.S. government finally stopped the devastation. Michael Cooper (1999) dug into the purpose of Indian schools. He found that the U.S. wanted Native Americans to forget their traditions and begin living like white people, rather than killing them or confining them to reservations. "The sooner all tribal relations were broken up and the Native Americans lost all their old ways, even their language, the better their lives would be" (p. 22).

Through researching the Native American heritage, I was able to put together a factual PowerPoint, explaining how difficult the past has been for Native American students. My professional ability is exemplified through my research and presentation. I am able to research a fairly intense topic and condense the material into a 35 minute presentation. As a teacher, I will continue to research topics and use projects in my classroom for students to develop an understanding of the benefits of research. Through my growth as a researcher, I have sought to serve students more effectively, criteria of the curriculum model.

A look into ADHD

Understanding and exploring disorders in children is a difficult study. Exceptional Students was a class where students read, studied, and talked about a wide array of disorders children are either born with or develop early in life. For one project, I studied action deficit/hyperactivity disorder. I have heard parents talk about the possibility their son or daughter has "ADD" and I sought to understand the disorder better, especially with the understanding that a lot of students struggle with it. What I found was remarkable. According to W. Howard (2003), “ADHD has the distinction of being both the most extensively studied mental disorder and the most controversial.” My paper continues to explain how to treat ADHD and teaching methods to help inflicted students.

As a teacher, I need to recognize symptoms in my students and be able to make a judgment as to why the student is behaving a particular way in class. My goal is to educate my students in the best way possible, and if I am lacking knowledge about disorders, especially common disorders, schoolwork will only become more complicated and frustrating to those students suffering. Through being a researcher, I am able to sift through student personalities and identify a problem if one should appear. As the curriculum model states, I want to be a teacher that serve students most effectively.

Stretching Students' Minds

Understanding how to manage a classroom of energetic children can be very draining, but rewarding if one seeks help. Through a video series entitled Happy Reading! (2002), Debbie Miller tackles how to create and sustain a learning community in the classroom. I watched Debbie explain different tactics as well as observed her demonstrations and wrote a reading inquiry paper. Before I watched the movies, I had several questions about reading, like: "How does a teacher teach reading? What is most effective technique for the majority of students?" I then researched my questions and found Debbie Miller's video helpful in explaining how teachers prepare to teach and then how to teach beyond pronunciation and identification of letters and words, into teaching theme and idea. She explained healthy environment, tone, and activities for deep reading. After watching the video and writing my inquiry paper, I left with even more questions to ponder and research, which is what happens when one engages in an inquiry research topic. Questions are often answered and new ideas are formulated, but new questions arise, leading one to further study and research, which in turns leads to an improvement in skill. My desire is to improve my teaching methods. My paper clearly shows I have worked hard at understanding how to teach most effectively, as the curriculum model states.