Module 9

After several years of not attending a public school, it was quite a shock to come into the school district as a substitute teacher where I once was a student.  The expectations of teachers in the schools were completely different from the time I was in school.  I could remember being required to type a six-page term paper as a sophomore.  After being substitute teaching a high school for a while, I witnessed that many of the teachers would not dare assign their students, who were seniors in high school, to write a six-page paper.  They would rather assign them to write a two-page research paper for the last semester of school.  In addition, students literally never had homework. 

I understand that comparing a generation of students with mine is probably not fair, but something has to give.  Those kids were not even expected to have an inkling of accountability throughout the process of their education.  I agree with Dweck (2006) when she noted, “Lowering standards just leads to poorly educated students who feel entitled to easy work and lavish praise” (p. 187).

I know that it is never easy to teach at every student’s capacity level and keep track of 30+ students’ zone of proximal development in class, but lowering expectations too low can hamper learners’ cognitive development.  Lowering expectations may also cause students to develop performance goals by only focusing on the outcome of their performance instead of putting the appropriate effort into improving the process of their learning (Dweck, 1999).   

I like that Dweck (2006) explained that what makes a great teacher is the belief that intelligence is malleable and that the process of learning is exciting (Dweck, 2006).  I believe that something as basic as having those beliefs can dramatically impact the effectiveness of a teacher’s instructional approach to all students no matter what their motivation is for learning. 

There are so many ideas that can describe how people learn.  I feel that some theoretical approaches can positively influence certain individual’s process of learning.  However, I believe that Bandura’s triadic reciprocal model (factors such as environment, behavior, and personal all works together to influence one another) generally describes everyone’s own processes of learning.  

Have a nice summer everybody : )