Best evidence synthesis- (text pg 68) A review of quantitative and qualitative studies selected according to specified criteria. Best evidence synthesis is an alternative to a meta-analysis which allows for the inclusion of qualitative research in addition to quantitative research.

Today, I only feel overwhelmed and irritated after class. I don’t feel like I have a good grasp on the best way to find research articles and the inefficiency involved in going through the process does not make sense to me. While I understand that certain things in life and in learning just are what they are, my mind struggles to grasp the process. I don’t know how to summarize what we learned today in class because I don’t feel like I learned anything. Actually, I feel like I might just be more frustrated than before.

We changed our research parameters again and I don’t feel like I understand why. I don’t feel like I understand the point of the whole project. It seems to me that we could have had fewer assignments over the length of the course while using the group research project as an actual project. I don’t have any concept of doing something “for pretend.” I would rather just complete the project or at least some modified version of the project. I don’t understand why we need to find tests and journal articles when we can find and analyze the actual data we are looking for.

I am hopeful that the project will come together and I will, at some point, have a better understanding of what and why we are doing this but right now I only feel anger and frustration.

Disproportional stratified sample- (text pg 115) Number of subjects in each strata does not reflect proportion in population.

Today we discussed probability and sampling. We defined random sampling as a sample where every person in the population has an equal chance to be represented. The goal is for the sample to truly represent the population that we are researching. As our group met to discuss what our sample will look like for our group project I think we all felt a bit frustrated. It was hard to determine what a good sample would be with no actual data to determine what the population actually looks like. How can we know that 20 schools is an appropriate sample when we have no idea how many schools fall into our total population. I know that it would be more work for us and there is such a short amount of time to get all of the work done for this class but I would almost rather go ahead and do some of the study. I think it will be hard for me to not follow through on this in some way.

This week’s lesson was on Cooperative learning. Once again I find myself wondering what these strategies will look like in my new environment and how I can best incorporate proven strategies for my students. As the end of summer continues to near I am finding myself in a place where I need to start to develop a plan for the beginning of the school year. Everything from classroom management, procedures and expectations to curriculum must be considered. Sometimes, when I think of what is to come, I feel like I have no classroom experience at all, even though I have spent the last three years working with some of the best behavior teachers imaginable.

In my EBD classroom I want classroom management to be community approach with the Para’s and I being leaders not dictators. I understand that my students will need firm limits and clear boundaries but I would like for them to be a part of developing those limits and boundaries. I want them to have ownership as I feel this might produce greater long term success and understanding.

As I read the part of the lecture on group processing goals I wondered about how I might be able to incorporate these ideas as part of my classroom management strategy. What if we start, and possibly even end, each day in some sort of team building exercise? What if I give my students an open arena to express their ideas and concerns, to talk about individual and group goals and their effectiveness? My students are in my classroom because they need to “make decisions about what behaviors to continue or change,” so why not provide them the opportunity to reflect on this consistently and often?

I think this week’s lesson has helped me to more formally address some of the concerns I have had lingering within since I accepted this position in June. I find myself leaning in the direction of using this topic for my final paper. I think that doing research as to how cooperative learning can best be utilized in a primary setting and possibly, even more specifically, an EBD setting, will be very valuable.

Null hypothesis- (text pg 47) statistical statement that no significant difference or relationship exists. Research shows a null hypothesis between vaccinations and the acquisition of autism but many parents of children with autism disagree.

Today we began to more thoroughly explore how to set up research projects. We examined the elements of quantitative research which is defined by everything in the study is the same except for one element which is known as the independent variable. This variable might be gender, instructional method etc., the key is for this element to be the only thing that is different. While we know Independent variables will vary, dependent variables are what we are examining to see if they will vary. As we continued to explore variables we discussed that continuous variables are those with an infinite range such as height or age. Categorical variables are more limited and defined such as male vs. female. We often take continuous variables and make place them into categories making them categorical variables. We defined the results of a study as probabilities because nothing is ever certain. We began to talk about random selection and random assignments as tools to limit extraneous variables.

Tuesday 7/27 Chapter 2

Operational Definition- (text pg 36) defines a concept by how it is manipulate or measured. Operational definition helps us to understand how researchers might be manipulating or measuring variables.

In today’s class we discussed how knowledge is formulated and the various ways of gaining knowledge. My group did a comparison of research vs. personal experience and that brought to mind the argument over causes of autism. Drug companies and many medical professionals are quick to defend vaccinations and claim research does not identify a correlation between vaccinations and autism. Yet parents around the world claim to have seen a significant change in their child’s behavior and development, ultimately leading to autism diagnoses, after their child was vaccinated. If you throw in the additional perspectives of authority and tradition a whole other element can be considered. Doctors (authorities) tell parents to have their children vaccinated because that is the tradition of this country. While vaccinations have undoubtedly saved the lives of many, others could be harmed by this practice. As someone who hopes to be a parent one day in the near future I will have to use the many forms of obtained knowledge to aid in a very serious decision making process. I will have to decide which of these concepts holds the most strength or if there is some possible compromise that will meet my family’s needs.

Qualitative- (text pg 11) emphasizes natural settings, understanding, verbal narratives and flexible designs. Qualitative research is based on understanding rather than numbers.

Quantitative- (text pg 10) emphasizes numbers, measurements, deductive logic, control, and experiments. Quantitative research is based on numbers and can be either experimental or non-experimental.

Today was the first day of class so we did a basic introduction of the class members and content. We broke up into groups who will be working together on a project for the class. I am happy to be working with new people and think we have a great topic. We are going to research poverty’s effect on education. I think specifically the group is interested in the effects of free and reduced lunch on the quality of learning for students. I personally would like to explore the effects of poverty on behavior and/or special education services. I am curious if there is any proven correlation between poverty and how our education system perceives students who have had less opportunities and resources.

I am still a bit confused as to why we have to journal daily. I purposely chose to come to campus and be in this learning environment so that I could interact more and write less. Writing is not a good learning tool for me. I find it hard to focus and put my words into concise statements that will make sense to others when I am writing but when I can speak and have someone answer me immediately I thrive. Overall I am looking forward to learning as much as I can over the next four weeks before diving right into my new classroom. I wish there was some sort of break in sight but I guess Thanksgiving will be here before I know it.

This week’s lectures and discussions focused on the teaching strategy of advance organizers and was based on the article “The Nature and Use of Organizers” by David P. Ausubel. Ausubel argues that advance organizers are an effective tool in aiding students to understand the connection and importance of what they are learning to their prior knowledge. In some form, whether its Venn diagrams, word webs or KWL charts, most teachers use advance organizers in some way.

While I feel that Advance organizers are a valuable tool and can be used in some fashion in every classroom, the concern I have is that students are required to have some sort of prior knowledge. With my former students, even if they had prior knowledge, they did not have the language or vocabulary development to relay such knowledge. While modifications made advance organizers a relevant tool, how much knowledge students actually had was not always clear due to the possibility that they were choosing answers based on any number of variables.

As with most topics in this course, I am struggling to have a picture of what such tools may look like in my future classroom. I know that the difference in my past experiences and what I will face in the future are profound. How much support or modification I might have to make for advance organizers to be a relevant or useful tool is unknown to me. I do know that as with any strategy I will attempt to pick and choose which tools I use in my classroom according to each child’s strengths.

This week’s lesson was intended for us to define concepts vs. facts and understand the relationship between the two. I find myself struggling a bit with how specifically, I might apply this in my classroom but because of the enormous change in environment, I am struggling to imagine how everything will look for me in the future. I know I need to use this time and these classes to take in ideas, to have the concepts filed in my memory bank, ready for action when I am faced with a challenge in my classroom. I will be able to draw from this knowledge to problem solve and help my students achieve.

One, possibly unintentional, lesson I took from this week is about how we define facts and how what is considered a fact in one culture may not be seen as so in another. I relate this interpretation of fact to the other class I am taking right now, Morals in Education. At Seattle Pacific University the Bible is used as a reference text implying that the content within is fact. The culture of SPU in a Christian based culture so this is a widely accepted interpretation, but for me, in my own personal culture, the Bible is not fact. I view that Bible as a collection of stories similar to fairytales. This view of fact vs. fiction can be challenging. As teachers we have to consider our own personal beliefs and be sure to present all sides of a concept so that students may come to their own determination of fact.

This week’s lesson made me think about how I will use inductive thinking in my classroom this year. As I took this job and began to think about what my expectations and strategies would be within my classroom I knew that I wanted students to have ownership over their learning. I want to base how I teach around their interests and needs as much as possible, as well as include them in the formative learning process. This week’s lesson gave me a name for what I want to see my students doing.

Due to my past experiences I have very little experience with students actively participating in this process but I don’t think that means it wasn’t at work in some way. I think my previous teaching experiences made me the one using the strategy of inductive thinking. I had to carefully observe my students, to see and understand the patterns of their behavior and understanding. I had to understand the relationships between my students and everything in their surroundings before drawing conclusions as to how I could best meet their individual needs.

I believe that if I can continue to use inductive thinking to guide my teaching then I will lead my students in this direction as well. I hope to encourage them to be open to the world around them and to draw conclusions based on their own understands and experiences.

[1] Dell’Olio, J. M. & Donk, T. (2007). Models of Teaching: Connecting Student Learning With Standards. Thousand Oaks, California: Sage Publishing.

This week For Survey of Instructional Strategies we discussed Marzano’s text Classroom Instruction That Works as well as Chapter 2 of Donk and Dell’Olio’s Models in Teaching text. As I reviewed the readings and discussion posts, I tried to interpret how each strategy or model might be useful in my classroom this coming school year. As I prepare myself to take on the challenge of first year teaching, I am trying to absorb as much information as possible so that I can be sure to take these ideas into my classroom and make them work in ways that will meet the needs of my particular students.

I am trying to wrap my brain around how to help my student’s best organize their thoughts and time. How can I introduce the concepts of differences and similarities, hypothesizing and goal setting, in a way that will allow my students to see the meaning beyond the classroom and into their lives? What combination of tangible and non-tangible motivators will provide the most ideal environment for my students in and out of the classroom? There is so much to think about but no matter what I conclude in this moment, it could change the second my students walk through the door.

Somewhere, along the way in this module I read something about whether teaching is an art or a science and I have to say it is a delicate combination of both. Of course we should pay attention to the science. We would do a disservice to ourselves and to our students if we weren’t aware of what is proven to work best for most people. However, as an effective teacher we must understand that what works well for most students does not work well for all. That is where the art of teaching comes in. We have to know our students as individuals and find what works for each of them in a way that is effective for the group as a whole. Science is hard and set, art is fluid and ever changing. An effective teacher must find balance.

Dell’Olio, J. M., Donk, T. (2007). Models of Teaching. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

Marzano, R. J., Pickering, D. J., & Pollock, J. E. (2001). Classroom Instruction That Works. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.