Week Two: The influence of human development on psychology of education

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For this weeks blog I would like to compare and contrast the readings within the unit.  The articles I will be writing about include It’s All in the Game, Why We Should Not Cut P.E, Adolescent Decision Making, Peer Contexts for Lesbian, Gay Bisexual, and Transgender Students, What Educators Need to Know about Bullying Behaviors, and The Bridge to Character from our text Educational Psychology.  This weeks readings are extremely eye opening and insightful for all educators.  The ideas, issues, and concepts brought up in the week’s readings are particularly relevant at this time in schools everywhere.  These ideas, issues and concepts need to be brought to more administrators, teachers, parents and students attentions in order to better our schools and make for a more positive, effective learning environment for all.        

In the first article It’s All in the Game by Kathleen M. Collins et al. we meet a first grade teacher who is trying to get her students to foster communication and social skills while still meeting state standards.  Kris, the first grade teacher, came up with an idea to develop a board game in which the children are responsible for all aspects of the game.  Kris and her students spent time learning about board games and then created their own board game for the lesson.  The students were able to pick their own involvement and roles in making the board game.  Some students wanted to draw and others wanted to make the pieces for the game.  This time also allowed for students to interact and develop their own communication with each other.  (Collins et al., 2011, 27-29). 

This article was a breath of fresh air to read.  It was incredible to see a teacher taking action for her students and wanting to do her best to educate them to the fullest.  Kris saw the issues within her classroom and instead of sitting back and letting her students struggle she decided she would take action.  This lesson was no easy task and was new for Kris as a teacher.  Instead of being afraid of the new idea she in braced the new concepts and jumped into the lesson and ideas with both feet. 

The second article Why We Should Not Cut P.E. by Stewart G. Trost and Hans Van Der Mars, is especially important to me because I am a physical education teacher.  The article asks if time spent in gym class, as well as other classes like music and art, lowers test scores. “No Child Left Behind (NCLB) has contributed to this trend.  By linking federal funding to schools’ adequate yearly progress in reading and mathematics, NCLB has created an environment in which such classes as physical education, music, and art are viewed as nonessential and secondary to the academic mission of the school” (Trost & Van Der Mars, 2010, p. 31).  This article gave me a huge relief, showing that when students are physically active throughout the day they are not losing ground on their learning and in some cases are able to learn and understand information better.  “Physically active, fit youth are more likely to have better grades and test scores than their inactive counterparts” (Trost & Van Der Mars, 2010, p. 32).  

 During my undergrad I had to develop a thesis idea for one of my final projects before graduation.  My idea was to test how physically active students were able to concentrate and perform better during class time then students who were not active throughout the day.  Although I did not have to test my thesis I decided to do a mini test on some of my students with the help from their teachers and the support of the administrators and parents.  In short, I took two classes and split them up into two different groups.  Group A had physical education class while group B stayed in the class and did extra work.  I did this for three weeks.  At the end of the three weeks the students had a test on the information they learned during that time period.  From the results, Group A students did the same or better on the test as the students in Group B.  This was a very small sample group and a very short time period to test a theory but it was fun to see the results I had hoped for.  I was able to see how students were disengaged in the extra class time because they enjoy their physical education time and the break from their class work.

Article 10 Adolescent Decision Making by Bonnie Halpern-Felsher and article 13 The Bridge to Character by William Damon I believe have a great deal to do with each other.  I believe by helping students develop their decision-making skills it will in turn help the students to become ethical and responsible citizens.  Our youth are faced with decisions everyday and how they act upon and respond to those decisions are signs of their character, judgment and teachings.  Many factors influence adolescents in their decision-making such as, gender, age, culture, role of experience and knowledge, role of social/peer affiliation and brain development (Halpern-Feisher, 2009, p.40-43). 

While teachers are trying to develop their student decision making process it is key that the students are made aware of their moral sense in order to make effective decisions for their future. “In order for children’s natural moral capacities to become fully formed character dispositions, their natural empathy must develop into a sustained concern for others, their sense of fairness must grow into a sense of personal responsibility, and their feelings of obligation must become a determination to contribute to noble purpose beyond the self” (Damon, 2010, p.55). 

As in articles 10 and 13, articles 11 and 12 are connected in many ways.   Article 11 Peer Context for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Students by Stacey S. Horn and Katherine E. Romeo speaks about students who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender and how they must face their classmates and the discrimination that is surrounded by such stereotypes.  Article 12 What Educators Need to Know about Bullying Behaviors by Sandra Graham, speaks about different myths that are associated with bullying and how these issues must be addressed in our schools.   I have found when people don’t understand things or are confused by issues, the most common way of expression is to make fun of it.  Even though it is 2013 people are still having a hard time understanding individual choices such as being lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender.  This lack of understanding leads a person to bully and harass individuals who choose to live a lifestyle that is different from your own. “In fact, Poteat (2009) found that between 11% and 20% of heterosexual adolescents did not feel they could stay friends with someone who came out to them as gay or lesbian” ( Horn & Romeo, 2010, p 46).   

These negative thoughts and actions towards individuals who are just acting on their own feelings is the cause of bullying in our schools.  “A growing body of research provides evidence that all students feel safer in schools that have anti-discrimination and anti-harassment policies which specifically include sexual orientation and gender identity, a gay-straight alliance or other type of support group for LGBT students, and teachers who have engaged in professional development regarding sexual orientation and gender identity, than schools which have not implemented these safe school practices (Scalacha, 2003)” (Horn & Romeo, 2010, p 48).  We need to educate our youth on how to act towards others who have different views on life.  There is no guide on how to live life, so who are we to judge people for their life choices?

These articles bring up difficult but extremely important topics that we as educators are facing daily in our school.  It is up to us, as educators to get these ideas, issues and concepts known in our schools.  There is no better time then the present to attack these topics head on.  No one said educating our youth would be easy but I do believe we chose this profession because we are ready for the challenge.  

References

Cauley, K.M., & Pannozzo, G.M. (Eds.). (2013). Annual Editions: Educational Psychology 12/13 (27^th ed.). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill. 

Collins, K.M., Et Al. (2011) Young Children: It’s All in the Game, pages12-19.

Damon, W. (2010) Educational Leadership: The bridge to Character, page 36-39.  

Graham, S. (2010) Phi Delta Kappan: What Educators Need to Know about Bullying Behaviors, page 66-69.

Halpern-Felsher, B. (2009) The Prevention Researcher: Adolescent Decision Making, page 3-7.

Horn, S.S,, & Romeo, K.E. (2010) The Prevention Researcher: Peer Contexts for Lesbiam, Gay, Bisexual and transgender Students, page 7-10.

Trost, S.G.., & Van Der Mars, H. (2009-2010) Educational Leaderships: Why We Should Not Cut P.E, page 60-65.

Links:

http://www.glnh.org/ (GLBT Help Center)

http://bcsd.k12.ny.us/middle/wood/7%20reasons%20why%20PE%20is%20important%2011%2009.htm (Why Physical Education is important)

http://www.schoolbullyingprevention.com/ ( Bullying prevention) 

 http://www.jstor.org/discover/10.2307/1179805?uid=3739808&uid=2&uid=4&uid=3739256&sid=21102084414723 (decision making skills)