Matt Taylor- Pedagogy Practicum

Statement of Teaching Philosophy for Psychology- Fourth Draft

As an effective instructor, I find that my students require time out of class, in addition to the in class time.  When meeting out class, I find that students often want help identifying the steps that lead to their post-graduation aspirations. Those students who want to attend graduate school, will most likely benefit from research experience.  I enjoy giving students opportunities to help on my own research.  This allows the students to acquire the skills that are desired and often required in graduate school.  During my time as a graduate student I worked closely with five undergraduate students who went onto graduate school.  Three of the students will be an author on studies that they helped to design and run.  Admittedly, it is very effortful to teach students the skills required to design and run research, yet I find the very rewarding. 

            

            In the classroom, I use my own stories and jokes to liven up the course.  I encourage students to discuss their own life experiences when related to the topics covered in lecture, which often turns into an entire class discussion.  I have a knack for encouraging students to feel comfortable and participate in class.  At some point during nearly every class meeting the lecture turns into a 10 minute discussion of a specific topic that is covered in the lecture.  I’m usually able to get appx 35-65% of a class to voluntarily participate in the class discussion.  I believe that a class where there is a high rate of participation leads to greater student learning, and appreciation for the course topic and education in general.

            

In my introductory psychology courses I give written assignments that are usually based a reading assignment about a simple research article.  Next, the students are required to write a one page summary of the article that identifies the primary components of the study.  Finally, the students are required to write a one page description of how they could apply the independent variable to something meaningful in their life.  I’ve found that this teaching procedure strongly facilitates the understanding of the experimental components, how research is disseminated, and how to speak/write with scientific language. 

            

Through my experience, and according to research, I’ve learned that students perform better and value frequent testing/feedback.  The frequent testing helps them to keep up with the assigned material.  I often give quizzes at the start of each class period and are based on previously assigned readings and lecture.  I give the students prompt and detailed feedback about their performance in all activities where it is possible to assess their performance.  An additional benefit of frequent testing is that it helps me to determine appropriate pace of material for the particular class of students. 

             

            In conclusion, I believe that academia is one of society’s greatest assets.  My goal is to help students determine their direction in both academics and how academics will help them in the “big picture.”  I believe that I will be able to accomplish my professional goals as an instructor at QCC. 

James Gee: Good Video Games and Good Learning

I will critique a few of the “learning principles” outlined by James Gee. Overall, I see some good points within his principles, yet some do not appear to be feasible or worthwhile in most higher-education classrooms.

1. Identity. Gee argues that video game players (i.e., gamers) use a strong identity developed by the game manufacturer or gamer. I see Gee’s point, but I don’t see how this really maintains a player’s interest in a game. In my experience with games, friends and I often like different games for different reasons.  I don’t see the identity options in a game as a primary contributor to one’s interest in a game. To parallel this with academics, I think it would require a student in a science course to put on a white coat and eye protection (strong identity). I highly doubt that the clothing accessories that one wears in while in class or while studying would maintain interest in the topic for any valuable period of time. Furthermore, a course of study is much more committal than any player identity in a game. A gamer may change player identities 25 times in an hour of play. A student is not able to change their course objective once, let alone 25 times, over a semester. Gaming allows sampling of shallow identities where courses do not due to the depth of the material.

2. Interaction. Gee states that games allow a gamer to interact: “Games talk back. In fact, nothing happens until a player acts and makes decisions. Then games react back, giving the player feedback and new problems.” I agree with Gee that this is a valuable part of games, and should be incorporated into academics. Online courses can offer this type of interaction with students and is often found to be effective. Nevertheless, I foresee this type of interaction as being a difficult procedure to incorporate into a standard textbook/ lecture formatted course. Therefore, a hybrid course or completely online course might be optimal.

3. Production. The article states that gamers are producers and consumers within a game. The gamers are able to manipulate facets of a game to their liking and then play the game according to their own settings. Gee suggests that a parallel with students would be developing the material that they study. I see Gee’s point, but I argue that in many cases gamers do not begin to use, for the most part, the option to develop/manipulate portions of the games until they have mastered most of the manufacturer materials provided in the game. In other words, it is like a student going through all of the teacher’s material and once the student becomes board or unsatisfied with what is provided, then the student takes it upon him or herself to create/study their own material. Gee seems to be suggesting that students should begin developing their own course material from the onset.

I disagree with idea of students developing/using their own material with minimal prior experience in the target area of study. Nevertheless, I agree and have taken part in courses (as a student) where I developed/ directed my area of study. I did not, nor do I think I should have, began development of my own material until I was given sufficient skills. For example, I’ve written papers, conducted research, and given presentations on my own selected topics. I engaged in these activities only after acquiring sufficient skills to head my own projects. I think it would be irresponsible of a teacher to allow a student to take an academic direction within a course while the student does not have sufficient skills to make an appropriate decision about what is right or wrong. (This last statement will lead into my next point).

4. Risk Taking. Gee states that failure is good when the consequences are minimal because it promotes learning through exploration/failure. In other words, Gee is says that gamers learn through mistakes and school does not allow as much flexibility for making mistakes. I would argue that mistakes are valuable for learning, but if most of what you do are mistakes then you are only learning what NOT to do. It is much more valuable (according to research within psychology) to have a majority of activities end in success, rather than failure, from both a learning and motivation perspective.

Statement of Teaching Philosophy for Psychology- Third Draft

 I am applying for the position of assistant professor of psychology at Queensborough Community College (QCC). As an instructor at QCC, my teaching philosophy is to motivate students through teaching procedures that incorporate goals aligned with course objectives. Additionally, I motivate the students through development of a lively and engaging atmosphere to increase learning in the field of psychology and related. Furthermore, I see myself as a mentor to the students. 

 In my classroom I use the following teaching procedures: active participation, written assignments, quizzes, and frequent feedback. Active participation includes answering and asking questions during lecture, use of clickers, and mini-in-class assignments. Written assignments include in class assignments, home work, quizzes, and presentation outlines. Quizzes are often given at the start of each class period and based on previously assigned readings and lecture. The students receive prompt and detailed feedback about their performance in all activities where it is possible to assess their performance. 

 Through my experience, and according to research, I’ve learned that students perform better and value frequent testing. The frequent testing helps them to keep up with the assigned material. Additionally, I’ve found that it helps me to determine appropriate pace of material for the particular class of students. 

 I use the above mentioned procedures along with my own stories and jokes to liven up the course. I encourage students to give their own experience, which often times turns into a discussion within the class. I have a knack for encouraging students to feel comfortable and participate in class. I believe that a class where there is a high rate of participation leads to a greater student learning, and appreciation for the course topic and education in general.

 Finally, I see my self as a mentor to students. I feel that one of the best ways to help students is to give them individual attention outside of class. One of my favorite roles as an instructor is to help them develop the sub-goals that lead to their post-graduation aspirations. Many times students want to attend graduate school and would benefit from research experience. I enjoy giving students opportunities to help on my own research. This allows the student to acquire the skills that are desired and often required in graduate school. 

 As a mentor I want to help students determine their direction in both academics and how academics will help them in the “big picture.” I believe that academia is one of society’s greatest assets. As an instructor, it is my mission to help QCC shape their students into the benchmark citizens of society.

 

Second Writing Assignment

The second writing assignment instructs the students to analyze and answer questions about an experimental article. The article and the questions were rather simple. The questions asked the students to identify and describe the basic components of the experiment. For the most part, the students did rather well.

For the most part, the students had nearly correct answers. Interestingly, despite my clear policy against plagiarism, 8 of 29 students copied a substantial amount of the article into their answers. As a result of the plagiarism and the room for improvement in their writing, the third writing assignment will be a revision of the second assignment.  Therefore,

I revised the students’ papers by writing on them and grading each question. Additionally, I’m meeting with each on an individual basis for 5-8 minutes to give more detailed feedback. I am trying to do my part as an instructor to improve the students writing. I realize that I won’t help them make a dramatic difference in writing within one semester, but I know from my own experience that with greater practice and feedback come better writing skills. I expect their papers to be much better after the second draft. I’ll post about how they do after the second draft.

Community College vs. Four-Year College

While teaching at a community college for the past seven weeks I’ve made a few observations that can be compared to those that I made at a four-year college. The course that I’m currently teaching at Queensborough Community College (QCC) is an introduction to psychology, the entry-level course for psychology. The course I taught at Queens College, a 4-year college, was a 200 level course that included students at various years in schooling. Nevertheless, I ran both courses similarly and I’ve found substantial differences in student performance.

I’ve found that the students at the community college seem to be less concerned about getting a high grade in the course, and more concerned with doing just enough to pass the course. For example, the first exam of the QCC students was a mean of 61%. The first exam of the QC students was a mean of appx 81%. My impression is that the students at QCC were taking advantage of being able to drop one exam score, therefore they did not study much if at all for the first exam (I am basing this on a hand raising survey after the exam). In contrast, the QC students seemed to take the approach of trying to do the best from the onset and then possibly being able to skip the last exam (they too were able to drop the lowest exam score). I had many more students at QC ask me questions after class, email questions, and ask questions during class. In general, the QC students seemed to show a greater desire to learn the material.

It would be interesting to examine qualitative data on possible consistent differences between community and four-year college students.

A Few Thoughts on the Reading Across the Curriculum Study

The purpose of this practicum is to shape our understanding of what are effective pedagogical skills. Therefore, I think it is a great that we are involved assessing the effectiveness of scaffolded student readings—we are learning from and attempting to contribute to pedagogical literature.

My part in the Reading Across the Curriculum study (e.g., overseeing data collection, meeting with instructors, establishing the experimental design, and attempting to control for all relevant variables) has reminded me of the difficulties of conducting research outside of a very controlled setting (e.g., laboratory). This role gives me greater appreciation for the applied research that I read and cite, and a considerable amount of experience in managing a rather large project that deals with professionals who come from many different backgrounds.

Despite the great experience of helping with this project, the study does not use all controls as needed to draw a solid conclusion, but this could provide an advantage too. If we find positive results (i.e., reject the null), then this would suggest that scaffolding of student reading assignments has durable effects. The effects would be considered durable because the inconsistency in the following variables: various disciplines, various mediums of scaffolding, various intensities of scaffolding, 10 different instructors, different mediums of assessment within and across courses, varied durations between scaffolded reading and assessment, and varied difficulties of readings and assessments. If we find that there are positive effects when considering all of the above variables, then this would suggest that scaffolding is extremely important to the student understanding of their readings.

Not enough time…

    I find that it is difficult to cover the necessary course material in the given class time. I’m not sure if I am spending too much time on certain topics or if the material is genuinely difficult. I am covering 9 of the 14 chapters in the book, ½ of a chapter per class and I’m still rushing at times. Currently, I’m a ½ chapter behind schedule. I feel that the class is going slow for the following reasons: 1) encouraging lots of questions while giving many examples; and 2) I am providing detailed information in the PowerPoint slides.

    I feel that the PowerPoint slides are the somewhat disposable area because they often have detailed information that could be found in the book.  I try to give information in PowerPoint slides that is really needed, but it could be that the students should be able to figure this out on their own—from the book. Its possible that the students would do just as well if I told them that they need to know certain definitions and to get them out of the book, rather than putting them in the slides and in turn having the students copy them in class. My concern is that by having them do it in class may help them get more organized for the exams. They might not have sufficient study skills and motivation to create thorough notes on their own.

    I suppose that I will error on the side of going a bit slow and thoroughly covering material.

First Writing Assignment

I had the students answer a bunch of questions in a writing assignment on the first day of class (the questions are listed in the posting titled “First Class Connection” on 2/5/08). The students provided interesting information.

 

3. Most were taking the course as a part of meeting a social science requirement.

5. Most thought the course would be medium-mildly difficult.

6. Only a few took the course before and failed.

7. Many are taking 9-15 credits this semester.

8. The students had an array of experience at QCC.

9. All have taken a writing course at high school or QCC. Most have taken one at QCC.

10. Many who had decent writing under rated their skills. Those who had poor writing skills tended to rate themselves poorly.

11. Many planned to graduate in the next few years.

12. Most work a job just to earn money, rather than it being in their career direction.

13. Many of them had a clear career direction and few did not. A few students were just taking courses and trying to figure out their interests as they go.

Class Atmosphere

During the first class I could barely get them to speak above a whisper or raise hands. It reminded me as when in high-school it wasn’t “cool” to like class or engage in material. Following the first class I had little hope that I would be able to get the students to engage in the material. 

Within the first five min. of the second class I stopped lecturing and said that I wouldn’t go any further until somebody asked me a question. This prompted one person to speak, but nobody else volunteered a question.  Approximately ten more minutes went by without a question or comment.  In the middle of class I remembered a conversation that we had during a practicum meeting. I remembered how somebody had claimed that students sometimes ask a lot of questions to intentionally slow down the instructor. I proceeded to ask the students if they had heard of this and potentially why it would work. For the remainder of that class and throughout the third class the student consistently participated, and fortunately it has not slowed down my desired pace. 

Since the second class, approximately 50% of the students have made a comment or question. Anecdotally, they seem to be much more engaged as a whole.

First Class Connection

At the start of the first class I introduced myself as a student. I told them how I became interested in psychology, where I received a B.S, described my experience while earning a B.S., described my decision to move to NYC for school, and what it has been like attending graduate school.

After telling the students about myself and then explaining the syllabus, I then asked them to write two pages of material. I asked them to answer the following questions in essay format (2 pages):

1. What      is psychology?
2. Why is      it important?
3. Why      are you taking this course?
4. What      do you want to get out of it?
5. How      difficult do you think this course will be? Rate 1-10 (10 as difficult)
6. Have      you taken a psychology course before?
7. How      many credits are you taking this semester?
8. How      many courses have you taken before at QCC?
9. Have      you taken any writing courses?
10. How      good are your writing skills? Rate 1-10?
11. When      do you plan to graduate from QCC?
12. What      is your job?
13. What      do you do at your job?
14. What      is your career goal?