Woolfolk Chpaters 1-3

Chapter one of the Woolfolk textbook was all about what educational psychology was and the main aspects it embodies. First, it cover who the students of america were. For example, on page 4 it gave the statistics of the students background by heritage, culture, income ect.  The teachers however are less diverse it explained on page 5, with 90% being White. Next, it continued with context on what makes a teacher great. "Teachers sense of efficacy" (p.5), gives them the ability to have less burnout and persist longer because they have a belief that they can reach their students because they not only believe in them but themselves too. The government even has expectations set for teacher through the Acts like No Child Left Behind and Every Student Succeeds Act. Then, the chapter continues with what good teaching is by giving examples of three different types of classrooms and ways that their teaching can be assessed. In my own school students are not only assessed by the states standardized tests but also by their individual classroom tests to determine if the student needs extra assistance, an IEP, or be placed in ALPs (accelerated learning programs).  The chapter then continues with roles that educational psychology, the distinct discipline concerned with teaching and learning processes through applied theories and methods of psychology on page 14, has. Additionally, my favorite part of the chapter was on the common sense of teaching because it showed how most people would answer and then gave the research psychology answer which was often different. The last three parts were on correlation studies, teaching theories, and supporting the students. Just like the two videos we watched the biggest takeaway from correlation studies in education psychology is that they do NOT give a cause. The types of research and theories were very straight forward in their definition and explanation. Again, the import point is the steps which are clear hypothesis, gathering data, using appropriate methods to interpret data, improvement of theories, and forming new and better theories.

Chapter two of the Woolfolk was all about cognitive development which is the thinking, reasoning, and decision making. This was by far my favorite chapter because I am very interested in development since it gives insight to the why behind people being the way they are. The first topic of the chapter covered the "three questions" which were nature vs nurture, continuity vs discontinuity, and critical versus sensitive. I personally believe they are all intertwined for example because who you are biologically affects the environment context, being the nurture, just as much as one's culture effects their view of the world. Then, the general principle of of development is explained by the fact that people are born at different rates, it is orderly, and takes place slowly. The second part of the chapter was how different parts of the brain are affected and process different types of information. I unfortunately know a little too much about this topic because my mother is currently going through therapy after a major brain aneurysm ruptured and she suffered multiple strokes and seizures this October. So, as shown in table 2.1, page 36, my mom had to have several CAT scans and I was intrigued to learn of the other imaging techniques that could be used to access her progress and permanence of mental state. The chapter takes it further to expressing how children's' brains are developing and forming and that it effects why they behave the way they do. Overall, teachers need to understand about neuroscience because it relates directly to how to get information across to their students in a successful way. On pages 44-45 of the Woolfolk there is a list of 13 principles to support this. One in particular is that emotions and health affect learning because lack of sleep negatively affects the brains ability to learn just as much as being one's emotion like sadness. I agree with this because I found it very hard to focus and absorb lessons when I was burden with my mother's trauma. Chapter two concludes with the theories of Piaget and Vygotsky. Piaget's cognitive theory was that learning must be constructive both physically and mentally to gain understanding. Vygotsky on the other hand created the sociocultural theory which was that children learn through their cultural thinking and behaving passed on through interactions. I agree with Vygotsky's idea that the child first develops through an interaction with another person and then again internally.

Chapter three of the Woolfolk was about the self, social, and moral development. The chapter begins with the physical development because it is very important as educators to understand the physical and motor development of their students to know their abilities and potentials. I experience this every day with my special needs students because these preschoolers OT and PT sessions are just as important as their speech and learning sessions because they a physically restricted or delayed. Psychologist Bronfenbrenner theorized that development is effected by both the social and physical contexts. Again, as I stated previously, I agree with because both interact and affect one another seamlessly. As the chapter continues it discusses the all the different social and relations to physical contexts. So, as teachers it is very important to understand this because we have direct and frequent effects due to the social context. As stated on page 93, a teachers job is to protect the welfare and intervene in cases of abuse against their students. Even as a para-educator I can see how connected my students are with our Teacher and her ability to develop them often more than their parents can because she can understand their physical development. The next part of the chapter covered identity and self-concept. The takeaway was Erikson's eight stages of psychosocial development that are from birth to late adulthood. Each stage has a major event from feeding all the way through self reflection. Additionally, it discusses the understanding of others and moral development. This is important to teachers because they have an obligation to their student's to develop their judgement. So, on page 113, the text finalizes with cheating being a moral behavior. I think it is very easy to see how cheating as pressure in education raises so does the cheating percentage because seldom do people want to fail in school. I completely agree that teachers need to ensure they are creating lessons that don't put added stress on students to minimize their desire to cheat to get by. I know as a future educator I will always ensure that all my students are heard and understood and may even use the flipped classroom method to ensure students get to learn at their own pace to reduce some of the school stress.