Module 5, the final module from the Educational
Psychology course deals with much of the nitty-gritty within the
classroom. Although each chapter was of
great value to me, there were as always several points that stood out more
strongly to me than others did.
The first area that interested me was within the realm of
motivation. The behavioral approach for
motivation distinguishes between a reward and an incentive. A reward is something that is given because a
certain desired behavior is performed.
An incentive, on the other hand, is something that encourages or
discourages a certain type of behavior.
In our daily lives we tend to use the two words interchangeably, yet in
the case of Educational Psychology these two terms are similar yet
distinct. A teacher may promise
something that can be an incentive, but only when something is received is it a
reward. An incentive could therefore be
a promise of reward but could also be a promise of punishment. Both items are used in tandem, in order to
achieve desired behavior from students.
At one time, when I tutored students, I did not realize it but I made use of these two methods. Incentives were used to encourage proper
behavior, while rewards were given when the desired behavior was shown. Though
I understood it only vaguely at the time, I didn’t understand how these two motivators
worked in concert but now I do.
The second item of interest for me was the use of
authentic tasks for teaching. Authentic
tasks are teaching tools that can be applied to real life situations that
students will face in the world. Rather
than simply memorizing facts or using worksheets that refer to items and places
that hold little or no interest for students, authentic tasks use experiences
and contemporary issues to make the problem personal for each student. I used this method myself in teaching Latin
to students by relating vocabulary words to words they use every day and by
having them use words and concepts from each new lesson to describe people,
places and things in their daily lives.
Both of the aforementioned points of interest are tools that can be used
by effective teachers that lead to my third point of interest.
Expert teachers are those who have a wealth of
understanding regarding issues in teaching.
This was an eye opener for me because I always thought that an expert
teacher was an expert in their field of study.
While it is true that expert teachers must have mastery of their content
field, a truly expert teacher also knows how to teach their subject effectively
to all types of students. This is known
as pedagogical content knowledge.
Looking back on my own education I realize that my best teachers,
especially in college, were not only masters of their field of study but also
knew how best to teach the students in their class. I can also recall other
teachers that were experts in their field but did not possess good teaching
skills. I understood the difference in
college reading about expert teachers in this module was the first time I made
the connection.
As I prepare to finish this final module of the course, I
look back upon the others I have completed and realized the wealth of knowledge
I have gleaned from this course and look forward to using many of its lessons
in my own classroom.
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