We looked at quite a few issues in class this week. Primarily, I talked about expectations in class and for the subject. I believe that students can do well if they want to and it is not whether the subject is tough. I would you all of you to respond to the following issues highlighted by Ormrod in the 1st chapter of the text:
Developing as a Teacher
—Continue to take courses in teacher education
—Learn as much as you can about your subject
—Increase your pedagogical content knowledge
—Continue to reflect and critically examine your own beliefs and assumptions
—Believe that you can make a difference in students’ lives (self-efficacy)
—Learn as much as you can about the culture(s) of the community in which you are teaching
Question:
What is the one important learning objective you can work on for this subject? Please describe your answer with examples.
Also: I will be getting the photocopy center at A Block to print the articles for the class because I was told that they are more reliable.
Favor: Please let your classmates know about this change.
I would like all students to post their comments by Thursday May 14.
TQ
Dr. I
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ReplyDeleteHi Dr. Irene & course-mates,
ReplyDeleteI have some teaching experience & I know that this is a field that truly stimulates me & gives me satisfaction. I enjoy interacting & working with people of all ages, nationalities & backgrounds. I don't envy those who are glued to their monitors or work in a cubicle somewhere in an office pushing paper around their desk all day long though I value the work they do & respect their personal preferences.
I consider myself a "people-person" and find the process of sharing whatever knowlegde I have with others & in turn being enriched by learning from them crucial in my development as both an educator & individual. Therefore, this subject is useful in helping me better understand human nature in order to be a more effective educator and communicator.
There are two aspects or objectives that I am going to work on for this subject. The first is to be more critical and reflective in my thinking, and at the same time be more open minded to others' standpoints, stance and angle of looking at things. I believe since the course requires students to be more interactive, there will good opportunities for me to do so in class and through the group assignment. Sometimes, I tend to be close-minded to others' views especially when I feel strongly about a certain issue, and I need to keep this "attitude" in check as others may have a better understanding of the matter and I can only learn from their insights, even if I may not share their sentiments.
I'd also like to improve my research skills especially my technical writing skills. I think wiritng research papers are a very tricky affair and I am pleased that we will have good practice at it in this course.
Learning nevers ends and I want to be equipped with the right tools/ means and a "proper" mindframe to understand the complexities of human nature, particularly in an educational setting as it is an extremely fascinating experience.
Hi Dr Irene
ReplyDeleteI am pleased to have this opportunity to take this subject , since always teaching itself was the subject of interest .now it's more fascinating because is integrated with psychology .I hope get more skilled and knowledge ,through the assignments , and group presentation .what e i really feel we benefit from is to have a good communication between classmates and discuss issues with each other.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteHi Dr Irene & everyone taking this class,
ReplyDeleteLike I've mentioned in class, it wasn't my intention to sign up for this class this semester. However, as it is one of my electives, I believed I would gather much more in this class compared to the other electives that i have no interest in.
I am very much interested in children and would definitely like to associate myself with them as much as possible. I get experiences from teaching whenever I can every once a while, but I feel that I am unable to help them any further as I do not know the proper teaching methods for each individuals, have not been exposed to much in teaching and also how each individual learns. I really hope that by taking this class I will learn difference aspects of teaching and learning that will in turn contribute to me being a more patient person as a teacher.
One of the learning objectives I hope to achieve is to be a more understanding and patient listener. I have come to realize that I love to talk more than listen. I believe that in being a teacher and hopefully a mother in the future (Haha), I will learn the proper methods to cater to each individual.
I too hope to be able to enhance my logical, critical and reflective skills and be more observant in events that require these intelligence.
I feel that one of the important learning objective that i can work on for this subject is to increase my knowledge in this particular field. I believe that i have a different background for this course so learning a new knowledge would actually hence my knowledge and make me to expand my beliefs, assumptions and thinking skill. I look forward in learning a new set of learning experience from the other classes that i have attended and attending currently. I also believe that this course is rather important because there is a need to learn the psychological views in education. This also contributes in preparing our self and how to handle other learners in future.i also hope that this subject is not only based in a traditional academic way but also in learning certain "hidden curriculum" from this class. I'm also looking forward in different way of leaning methods. For examples: gaining knowledge and experiences by field trips,projects, talks, and etc. However, as it is a new field the need of a good teacher is needed so that as a student i will be in the right pathway.
ReplyDeleteDear Dr. Irene & fellow coursemates,
ReplyDeleteAs a part time tutor, I have personally experienced how challenging it is to be a teacher, regardless of how easy the subject may seem. The main idea of conveying one’s knowledge into what others may understand at their level is never an easy thing. Other than knowledge itself, I think patience is highly required, as we need to constantly bring ourselves down to a level where we can see eye to eye with whom we are teaching.
I would not deny that the term “educational psychology” does not seem very appealing to me, mainly due to the fact that I have no interest in building my career in the educational field. Yet, after serious consideration and a taste of how the lecture is, I realized that education, whether to teach or to be taught, plays an everlasting role in our life. Basically, education happens anywhere and at anytime. For example, we learn new things every single day, may it be big or small, and we do, at some point, share our knowledge with other individuals, becoming “little teachers” whether we like it or not. This could take place either consciously or without conscious efforts, yet, we cannot deny its existence.
With this in mind, I hope to learn from this course in how to excel in education, both learning and teaching. As a psychology student, I am fairly interested in how psychology can be integrated into something so common for us. I agree with what most people say that theories are dry and boring, yet I keep an open mind in anticipating how it could be interesting when applied to daily concepts.
Hence, the main objectives I would be working on in this course would be how to keep a more open minded attitude towards education, as well as improving my skills in both teaching and learning. As you have mentioned in class, most of us work inter-personally, and I find that this suits me well. Having said this, I hope to polish my skills in working with other individuals, as well as being more objective instead of eagerly jumping to conclusions. All in all, I believe that this course can help me in discovering what education really is, and how we as individuals can excel in it by improving on certain aspects of ourselves.
Hugs,
Carmen
Hi Dr.Irene:
ReplyDeleteBefore i went to the class, i really feel i'm not interested in the subject of the educational psychology.After i attend the class and i feel that there are many terms and thinking i need to improve and learn. The most important objective that i can work on it is to improve my skills in critical thinking and the attitude towards teaching. The critical thinking can help me when i do my work,project , presentation etc in the future.
tracy
Hi Dr. Irene
ReplyDeleteBeing the eldest in my family, tutoring is quite familiar to me. i know the difficulties of teaching and tutoring. i always wonder taking this course is a correct choice or not. I 'm not really interested in teaching and i have to admit that I'm not a patient person. As i mentioned in the class, i was told that this is a very boring class. Therefore i didn't have any expectation. But after i attended the class, i found that teaching can be interesting too.
The main objectives i would work on for this subject is to change my attitude to educational psychology. This will help me more understand how psychology work on education. Knowing better of educational psychology will help me in study too. Besides, i hope to improve my writing skill and critical thinking skill.
rachel
Hello Dr Irene & my EdPsy classmates,
ReplyDeleteThe reason i'm taking this subject is that i felt this class might help me to improve in teaching, which is by applying psychological theories in conducting lessons. As we understand more about an individual's behavior or one's development and this helps a lot in teaching career. Even though i had only 3 months of teaching in kindergarten, i felt it was a great experience for me in teaching and help me to understand and learn that to become a teacher is not an easy job.
Since i'm given a chance here to join this class here, first i would say is hoping to learn what is the best way to teach or dealing with the students. Teacher is the one who give children valuable knowledge, to make a difference in them, to create a pathway to success for the students.
By learning this subject, I think i'll realized the way i used to teach last time might not be a good or effective way as i did not apply any theories or specific methods while teaching. Now, after a few classes with Dr Irene here, i started to find it interesting learning EdPsy and i can feel the passion of you, Dr, in teaching and how experienced you are in this field. I'm looking forward in this class, as i know we would be learning how to think critically, to write smoothly in academic wise, to learn something from the guest speaker's talk or activities, to do research paper and etc.
This class going to be fun by having a lot of activities together with some of our new friends from another course. I hope to maximize my learning capacities in this class, improving mainly myself and hoping to become a good educator if i were to become one in the future.
Hui Chian
Dear Dr. Irene & classmates,
ReplyDeleteFrankly, I could vividly recall that educational psychology never came into my mind when I just signed up in psychology program. My first impression on this subject was assuming that I might feel bored and I did not have intention to become a teacher. As time passes, I realized that education psychology is important because education often takes place in our daily lives even during lectures. For example, a student helps his or her friend to understand one theory by explaining the theory and giving examples that relates with their daily lives. Therefore, education involves learning and teaching which requires two way communications and cooperation between the learner and the educator. This implies that the educator should be student-orientated for his or her teaching style.
Therefore, one of my leaning objectives is hoping that education psychology can help me to understand more about learning and teaching by relating them with our daily routines. In fact, I understand that one of the most effective ways to learn something is teaching people around us in order to help us memorize better and rehearse the knowledge gained before it starts to decay. However, it is important to develop teaching skills and understand learner’s learning skills before trying to teach or guide anyone. Hence, I hope that I can apply and relate each of the knowledge gained from this course. Finally, I look forward to working together with other classmates. It is hard to deny the fact that educational psychology is a very enjoyable class with Dr. Irene.
Regards,
Lynn(Zi Nin)
Hello Dr Irene,
ReplyDeleteTo be frank, I really wanted to choose this subject as my elective. As I told in class that, I really expecting a lot from this class. At first when I enter the class, I had least expectation in this subject. At first, I told to myself just to score average mark in this subject. Although I decided to choose my profession in teaching, but until this point of time I have not taken any step to enhance my in teaching. As I too interested in teaching, I used to teach tuition to primary and secondary level before. Through the past experience, I discovered that, teaching is not an easy job as other people think. It needs lots of skills. In my two years of teaching experience, I failed to discover my students learning method. It also shows that I could not handle proper teaching method. As the saying goes, practice makes perfect. I think I should get more practice in teaching, so that I may enable to co op well with my students. Obviously this education psychology subject will help me a lot for my future career.
Apart from that, based on current understanding of educational psychology, it emphasizes on systematic studies, child development, motivation and also effective instructional practices. By knowing this I think I may not only be able to use this understandings to my future profession instead it would definitely will contribute to my current process of studying as well.
Another thing, I would like to add here is about the lecturer. Dr Irene really inspired me a lot. As she applies all perfect skills, it motivated mo to learn more about this subject. Lecturer’s motivation and encouragement really inspired me. Her techniques are not only to pass the paper instead it emphasizes more on life long learning process.
I hope, education psychology subject will full fill my needs for current life and future.
Hi Dr. Irene and fellow classmates,
ReplyDeleteWell, when I am choosing which subject in the elective to be taken, "educational psychology" stand out among the others.
The main objective i enrolled in this course is that I believe that educational psychology will help me to develop a sbetter understanding about teaching and learning.
In my opinion as a part-time tutor, this subject will definitely helps me, not only in improving my teaching methods which I may apply on my students, but also benefits myself as I am also a student, a psychology undergraduate.
I am eagerly looking forward to this course as i think it will be an interesting one.
Sook Munn
Good evening,Dr Irene & my classmates,
ReplyDeleteI have a little experience in teaching as a tutor long time before.In my opinion,the important learning objective i can work on for this subject is method.Whether is interesting,capable,boring or others.The most important is,students can enjoy the class or not.
Teacher is a challanging and innovative occupation. They must adjust themselves along with the time goes by.One aspect to be a good teacher is that she has profound knowledge.Let us enrich our life by learning as much as we can,which is the most treasure for us.
Hello Dr Irene & my classmates,
ReplyDeleteWhen i saw the course selection among health psychology, educational psychology and skills & human factors, i am very interested in educational psychology. It is because i have 3 months experience of teaching children in kindergarten, so i really want to know more about educational psychology.
My main objective of choosing this course is to learn the teaching knowledge and apply it in our life. I think we have many teaching experience, no matter is teaching ur siblings, cousins, neighbour's children, educational development is very significant in our life as well as our future. We will become parents in the future, so that we can use what we learn in this course and apply it on educate our children.
i very appreciate Dr Irene that train our critical thinking skill in class and always guide us in this course. i look forward to learn more about this course from Dr Irene.
Xiao Hui (Eunice)
Hello Dr Irene,
ReplyDeleteAs I mention in class, I took this subject because I wanted to know some ‘tips’ in teaching. If I had a chance I would like to apply some teaching method to my current activity at Sunday school. The first time I heard this subject, I was thinking that Education + Psychology might be an interesting subject. It is because, as far as I know teaching is only I teach you, you teach me, teacher marks our paper and we got our result period and I never thought that teaching could be this complicated. I also realize that choosing the right teaching method is important because teacher should not use only one teaching style, or else student might get bored and it would affect student performance in class.
Honestly, those children in Sunday school are one of the reasons I am taking this subject. So, I believe that after taking this class I can do better in teaching.
To All Who Have Commented
ReplyDeleteI read through all the comments and am happy that you are able to share your thoughts openly through this forum. Yes, it is important to investigate the reasons for taking this subject on a learning level and to think about its implications on a practical level that may help you make decisions about your future professional plans.
We have to learn to like what we do. This way, half the battle is already won. When we get to this stage of thinking, then making sense of what we learn comes naturally. Learning in the end does not become a chore but a challenge to our thinking. I learned to enjoy learning only when I started my masters. After that going further for my doctorate wasn't a difficult decision. I just wanted to know how much there is to learn. So, I just kept on going. I am still learning as an educator and as a person.
Challenge - Anybody wants to help me organize an Early Childhood Symposium? Let me know.
Dr. I
Hi Dr. Irene
ReplyDeleteSorry for the late comment... I took this subject because I hope it will be a huge help for me in my Counseling field... I want to bring the counseling field into our schools, therefore i really need some skills to handle the students in the future... I'm really looking forward to gain a lot of knowledge and skills from this class.
Hello Dr I and my fellow classmates.
ReplyDeleteI'm sorry for the late reply. There's something wrong with my internet connection.
Anyway, the objective i took this subject is because i need to ( it's a core subject in ELC ). But to think again, i actually want to. Because i'm currently a part time tutor + art teacher. I experienced all kind of problems with the kids in the tuition centre that sometimes i question my own actions. I'm not even sure if that's the right response to give sometimes when problem occurs. for example there was this chinese background school student ask me permission to drink water during the class. I find it ridiculous so i told him- It's okay. next time if you want to drink water, no need to ask. BUt if go toilet, you have to ask. Then all the other students replied. They said in school, they need to ask permission to drink water. So, i think i'm teaching them to against the school teachers. i felt really bad afterwards. I know the school teachers were just implementing discipline among the students. I shouldn't have said that. but at the same time, i think it's okay to drink water. I'm confused. Then suddenly, BAM! DR. Irene came into the picture. That's when i know i really have to take and make full use of this subject in order to educate them and understand them and make them a better person.
well....i think one of the objective of learning for this subject tht I nid to work on is interest on the subject. In the process of learning, the interest of the learner and educator play an important row and will affect the outcome as learning is a two ways process.
ReplyDeleteFor example, if the learner lack of interest whereas the lecturer is so passionate and so dedicated, the whole learning process will be less effective. On the the other hand, if a leaner with so much interest being taught by an educator who simply teaches,the result will come out lesser than what the student expected. Though the leaner can learn themselves, they still nid some1 to guide them.
Therefore, i think no matter as a leaner as I m now or an educator in the future, the interest on the subject is important.
And it is one of the learning objective I wanna work on....hahaha
1st time...^ ^...
hope I did answer the question...
Dear Dr. Irene,
ReplyDeleteSorry for the late reply. I forgot that I need to write something here. hehe.. :)
The reason that I took this subject this semester because it's only offered once a year and I believe that I'm taking it at the right timing. I heard that you're the right person to teach this subject as you have a PHD in this field. Well I hope to learn more from you.
I believe that one of the objective to learn in this subject is to work on our learning styles. By knowing our learning style, maybe in terms of teaching, the approach to the students would be easier and more effective in learning.
I'm looking forward for more. :)
See you in class.
Robin