Why textbooks may or may not work in our schools....

When I began to remember the implements given to me as a child to benefit my school work, textbooks seem to be the best form of knowledge given to all of us students. The hard copy books not only were loaded with the basic information needed to format a classroom study, there were loaded with many drawings and charts that deemed necessary for the visual learning skills we also needed to adapt to. The textbooks were not always exciting to read, but they allowed each student to be able to use the book to research questions for homework and classwork instruction, tie in dialogue with pictures, diagrams and graphs, and the textbooks allowed parents to continue to be an education model for their sons or daughters.

Although I approved of the use of textbooks as a child, I must remember that the new technological age gives us much more avenues to research information above and beyond what a textbook may allow us. We no longer live in a basic information world. School districts understand that digital information is more comprehensive and useful to students nationwide. I don’t believe schools should just omit textbooks completely, without some structure our schools would just teach chaos. But I believe textbooks are a learning tool. Whether the textbook is a hard copy or a digital book, they are used to help implement a curriculum that has been laid out by the state board according to what each grade is qualified to learn.

Sometimes the frustration lies within the text provided in textbooks because they simply give too much background knowledge. The text becomes too challenging, even for the "best" readers. Other students may have no problem with the text and should be given the opportunity to use technology to explore more on their own. In the end, what is important is to get students to thinking about, and apply, what they are learning.  

According to an article in the Washington Post (Mathews, 2012), textbooks can help students learn what is necessary to learn as long as they are a part of a curriculum designed by educators who know what works in the classrooms and what is an expected level of achievements according to the state. To an extent, I agree with this comment, but in our new technological world, we need to have the ability to gain access to the digital world and integrate more computer-based programs.

Our districts and our educators have adopted a system that seems to work for the classrooms. By adopting the common core standards for math and English, there is hope that the textbook companies will update the text so that the implementation of hard copy books and digital books are more beneficial in the classrooms. Welcome to the new digital-age-world…It’s best to just jump in with both feet forward!

 

References

Mathews, J. (2012, February 25). Why textbooks don't work and hurt schools. The Washington Post.

Social-Virtual Curriculum...Pro or Con?

We often use causal reasoning to find legitimate comparisons involving multiple students and their developmental skills in education. These skills also involve developing youth’s cultural and social skills. It is necessary to evaluate the pros and cons of whether technology and virtual curriculum can enhance a student’s education or harm it. It is necessary to evaluate if virtual curriculum can provide more abilities to produce a more tolerant humankind nationally, no matter the influence of gender, ethnicity, and religion. What is your opinion on such a technological curriculum?

Please chose to observe and read the research paper, “Developing youth’s cultural and social skills through a social-virtual curriculum, written by Nikleia Eteokleous as I did. The purpose of the study was to evaluate the attempt and outcome of social virtual curriculum that is being placed into classrooms nationwide. (Eteokleous, 2011) It is a means of evaluating whether students can develop skills necessary to organize a more peaceful nation by developing a diminishment of social and cultural gaps.

The internet’s role in all our nations societies has been proven important to the accessibility of knowledge and the distribution of that knowledge. Telecommunications tools have been provided in an arrangement of technology with the internet to provide communications, work, collaboration, socialization, friending, and entertainment. As a society, we have been trained to use Google, MSN, Facebook, Blogs, Wikis and various Search Engines on a daily basis. (Eteokleous & Pavlou, 2010) We live in a digital world and we need to use it as an educational device, this means multiculturally in an abundance of ways.

Our society has become so multicultural through technology. Technology allows us the means to receive information that is realistic, visually compelling, interactive and usable in a motivating environment. (Goddard, 2002) Current studies appear to show the impact of various societies within our national school systems through classroom and the internet based activities. By managing a comparison between a pre-internet questionnaire and an after internet questionnaire, the study has shown a more positive impact in the after-internet study. The pre-internet study showed students have a less positive impact on the social-virtual curriculum due to the lack of comfort a student felt by placing themselves openly in and around strangers. The social virtual curriculum helped students learn and appreciate the idea that there are many qualities that are similar and different in people nationally, for many acceptable reasons, but this offered a realization of approval and self-understanding for each of the student’s personal growth. (Eteokleous N., 2011)

Per Eisenchlas and Trevaskers (2007), students that had a chance to experience cultural exchange with youth from other nations, brought them closer to each other. The interaction helps them to realize that they don’t have as many different lifestyles and quirks as they thought. Educationally they shared the same level of IQ’s and learned that they shared many of the same interest. This interaction is bringing nations closer to each other and developing more feelings of appreciation of each other.

Because our multicultural societies practice such different diversities and cultures, we also must express the effect on student ideologies about multicultural religions. The study, although it was efficient in bringing students closer together educationally and socially, the diversity in religion tended to not be as much of a positive effect. Most the statements pertaining to the differences due to religion still existed. The study showed that even though the degree of diverse friendships improved nationwide, religion has minimized its degree of influence, showing important changes in the students’ attitudes and beliefs. (Eteokleous N., 2011)

Multicultural education shares a common philosophy towards the development of every student. It is a fact that technology and the internet influence multicultural education and multiculturalism. Various uses on the internet and the world-wide web opens the promotion of multicultural education. We have learned to bridge the gap between our nations countries and learn more about diversity, race, religion, and politics. Gorski (2004) states the advantage internet has over face-to-face classroom environments is the ability to provide teachers and students the access to cross-cultural learning. (Gorski, 2004)

As my observation comes to a conclusion about Nikleia Eteokleous journal on “Developing youth’s cultural and social skills through a social-virtual curriculum, I noticed that all aspects of studies covered the consequences of diversity, religion, ethnicity, and gender, but when the study approached education, no solid study on grade progression was achieved. To fulfill the satisfaction on how a social-virtual curriculum affects students nationwide, don’t you agree we need to see how the academics of these students are affected too?

 References

Eisenchlas, S., & Trevaskes, S. (2007). "Developing intercultural communication skills through intergroup interaction". Intercultural Education, Vol. 18(No. 5), pp. 69-83.

Eteokleous, N. (2011). Developing youth's cultural and social skills through a social-virtual curriculum. Multicultural Education & Technology Journal, Vol. 5(No. 3), pp. 221-238. doi:10.1108/17504971111166947

Eteokleous, N., & Pavlou, V. (2010). Digital natives and technology literate students: do teachers follow? Cyprus Scientific Association of Information and Communication Technologies in Education, (pp. pp. 113-24).

Goddard, M. (2002). "What do we do with these computers? Reflections on technology in the classroom". Journal of Research on Technology in Education, pp. 19-26.

Gorski, P. (2004). Multicultural Education and the Internet: Intersections and Integrations, 2nd ed. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.

Are lack of textbooks affecting the minds of our students? Yes or No

I would like to explain my views on a situation in which a personal, academic, and workplace problem was identified as resulting from limited resources or a limited access to resources within a charter school. Due to the funding for many charter schools, there remains a textbook shortage. The textbook shortage can impact the students negatively on education. It is sad that classrooms organize work around the lack of textbooks. Teachers have now learned to use limited textbooks and other printed material.

Is there any way to purchase and place textbooks in all schools as a priority? Most feel as if a lower GPA’s could be due to the lack of textbooks for its students. Unfortunately, charter schools are paid for by the community and by state grants. From my observation and perspective, state money is split up by every entire school district in the state, deducing the idea that large amounts of money are given to a school. Here’s the kicker…charter schools are funded.  The funds for the school come from the community and the government. The funds are available because of keeping the grades and attendance to meet a higher level of standards in education. With the shortage of textbooks and the negative impact this has on the education of these students, the lack of textbooks may lower the grades of the students, therefore harming the standards by lowering them.  

Another perspective other than mine states that it is important to note again that the research on textbook availability has played a dominant role in some of the major donors' decisions on how to invest in education during recent years. The study suggests that textbook availability may not be causally linked to student achievement because availability does not necessarily mean use. (Moulton, 1994)

If we are to understand more about how textbooks do or do not affect learning, we need to observe when and how teachers and students use them, and how they fit into the teaching-learning process. The new age of technology has also taken a toll on feeling the need to textbooks. But the argument is that textbooks are accessible online. This makes it an amazing feat by providing digital textbooks to all students. Now the question arises concerning where the technology to view the textbooks is coming from, and from where are all these students going to afford the internet?

Many questions and answers can be provided about the shortage of textbooks. The fact of the matter is that teachers all over the world have figured out a way to provide the level of education by teaching with whatever is necessary for students to learn with whatever resources they have. No wonder teachers are loved like mothers. They are the closest motherly thing a child is exposed to for much of their school lives. God bless them.     

Resources

Moulton, J. (1994, September). How Do Teachers Use Textbooks and Other Print Materials? Retrieved from pitt.edu: retrieved from http://www.pitt.edu/~ginie/ieq/pdf/textbook.pdf

IT'S PERSONAL

It’s Personal

Perceptions of Psychology…Then and Now

Charney 2015

We spend our entire lives trying to understand the mind and our behavior. We strive to understand and explain thought, emotion, and behavior and to understand and explain how we think, act and feel. As most people already realize, a large part of our lives involves psychology and how it is dedicated to the diagnosis and treatment of mental health issues. It's difficult to capture just a brief definition of psychology, but topics such as development, personality, thoughts, feelings, emotions, motivations, and social behaviors denote just a portion of what psychology seeks to understand and explain. Furthermore, psychology can be applied to a multiplicity of issues that impact health and daily life including performance enhancement, self-help, motivation, productivity, and so much more…

As with anything in life, we develop a good sense of the importance of the “live and learn” resource. No matter what I typed in week one about what my perception of psychology is, I was only slightly close to understanding…but still so far away from knowing the truth. All I was able to do was to skim the surface of a definition not knowing exactly how deep the brain burrows into our darkest conscious and unconscious thoughts. The human being expresses emotions and movements that only a supreme being could possibly produce, from the moment we are born.

Unknown, 2009

Innate you say? Can this be possible that our very heart and soul of our being starts from when we are a mere fetus?  How do newborns know that sucking their thumb is incredibly soothing? How do newborns know that sleeping in the fetal position is the most comfortable and calming position to lie in? How do newborns know the woman holding them is their mom when they cannot focus their eyesight or control any bodily functions? Is it smell, taste, touch, sound, vibrations…how do we know? Does an infant already have a grasp of perceptual intuition from a mere nine months in the womb?

It has been a learning experience to discover that the explanation of psychology is impossible to give a precise definition too. It is about the mind and our behaviors, but it goes deep into the mind from the moment the zygote becomes an embryo. It is learning that the brain, as it develops, is beginning to develop the predestined life that child is going to experience. Not only are we destined to be developing by genetics but genetics must combine with the environment to complete the growth process. We must adapt not only physically but mentally and psychologically. Every neuron in our brain, every firing synopsis is triggered by development, personality, thoughts, feelings, emotions, motivations, and social behaviors. (Feldman, 2012)

Topics with Impact

Psychology is a study that is necessary for any degree no matter what level you choose to graduate at. It is a study that opens minds and helps with an understanding of human nature. It allows the comprehension of unexplained actions and gives behaviors, whether good or bad, a humanistic approach.

As a discipline counselor, I am constantly challenged by students. The challenges are normally different depending on the student and the severity of his/her punishment, but most of the students consistently choose to follow an informational social influence.  An informational social influence is when we do not know how to behave, we copy other people. They thus act as information sources for how to behave as we assume they know what they are doing. A so because we care a great deal about what others think about us, this provides a safe course of action at the very least, they cannot criticize us for our actions. Public compliance occurs when we copy others because we fear ridicule or rejection if we behave otherwise. (Cialdini, 1993)

Another challenge for me in my position as a discipline counselor is the promise I made to the school district that I will tutor students who are placed in my care so that they may not miss any assignments taught by their teachers. This alone makes for a trying day when dealing with students that have lost their drive to learn. The drive to learn is replaced by new stimuli in which behavior problems tend to stem from.

So, my readers may understand, we must remember a very important thing. We all have needs which lead to internal stimuli prodding us into action, driving us to reduce those stimuli by satisfying the relevant needs. Drive theory and Drive Reduction Theory are necessary drives, otherwise, our needs would not be satisfied. It is important for the person to perceive the stimulus and response in order to learn. If enacting of drives is frustrated or the driven action does not satisfy needs, this can lead to anxiety and other negative emotions. (Hull, 1943)

More often than not, we have a student that suffers from cognitive dissonance and my job is to try to get the students to stop and see if they can find the inner conflict. If we discover together that their conflict is put there by somebody else’s suggestions, then the only alternative is to not to play anymore with them. Now dissonance becomes an uncomfortable feeling of tension which comes from holding two conflicting thoughts in the mind and at the same time. Dissonance is often strong when we believe something about ourselves and then do something against that belief. If I believe I am good but do something bad, then the discomfort I feel thus is cognitive dissonance. Dissonance is most powerful when it is about our self-image. Feelings of foolishness, immorality and so on are dissonance in action. (Festinger, 1957) (Festinger L., 1959)

            

Unknown, Cognitive dissonance and why you never quit the job you hate, 2014

Impact approach to social change Social change center around three factors- locality, issues and social categories. Anthony Wallace view social movement as an attempt by local population to change the image or models they have of how their culture operates. An important component of social movement that distinguishes it from the general category of collective mobilization is the presence of an ideology. A student strike involves collective mobilization and is oriented towards change. But in the absence of an ideology a student strike becomes an isolated event and not a movement. A social movement requires

a minimum of organizational framework to achieve success or at least to maintain the tempo of the movement. To make the distinction clear between the leaders and followers to make clear the purposes of the movement to persuade people to take part in it or to support it, to adopt different techniques to achieve the goals - a social movement must have some amount of organizational frame-work. A social movement may adopt its own technique or method to achieve its goal. It may follow peaceful or conflicting, violent or non-violent, compulsive or persuasive, democratic or undemocratic means or methods to reach its goal. (Unknown, Impact of Technology Change, 2014)

References

Charney, M. (2015). Master of Perception: The Psychology of Professional Advancement. Retrieved from http://recruitingdaily.com/master-of-perception-the-psychology-of-professional-advancement/

Cialdini. (1993). Informational Social Influence. ChangingMinds.org. Retrieved from http://changingminds.org/explanations/theories/informational_social_influence.htm

Feldman, R. S. (2012). Psychology and Your Life (2nd, ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill Education.

Festinger L., C. J. (1959). Cognitive consequences of forced compliance. Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology.

Festinger, L. (1957). A theory of cognitive dissonance. Evanston, IL: Row & Peterson.

Hull, C. (1943). Drive Theory. Principles of Behavior.

Unknown. (2009). What babies say on the inside of the womb. Retrieved from http://amazingdata.com/what-babies-say-on-the-inside-of-womb/

Unknown. (2014). Cognitive dissonance and why you never quit a job you hate. Retrieved from https://vivifychangecatalyst.wordpress.com/tag/cognitive-dissonance/

Unknown. (2014). Impact of Technology Change. Oriented towards social change. Retrieved from http://www.sociologyguide.com/social-change/impact-of-technology-change.php

Understanding Problem-Solving 12/02/2016

To understand problem-solving, you must first understand that there are many views on perception. Perception can change the answer to a problem with just a blink of an eye, or a new idea given by other observers. For instance, look at the image of the Duck...

Or is it a duck?  Maybe I viewed it as a 
Duck but it is really a Rabbit. At this point, I am not sure if I saw a duck or a rabbit. But I do know one thing, I realized that I may not be observing a problem with my full potential. You would not lay blame on an innocent man, at least not without research first. So why would you attempt to problem solve without collaborating with all those involved in the problem...because I have learned very quickly, that what I see is not what you see.  

Let's also talk about intuition. Intuition plays a big role in problem-solving as we all know, based on experience. We use our life experiences of how problems were solved as we aged and we now use them and call them "Intuition". Fantastic concept huh? Before you begin your problem-solving quest there are factors you need to consider. 

#1 You need to feel like there is a problem.

#2 Make sure you collect facts and not just rely on intuition. And finally...

#3 Make sure you are open-minded to all perspectives

We need facts because there are always three views to a problem. Your view, my view and the God's honest view. Which face it, unless you got a direct connect with the "big guy", you only have your view and my view to work with. And whoever else feels like the may need to pipe in their opinion. 

 Make sure you step into a problem-solving session with an open mind. Many times, someone else's ideas are near perfect. By collaboration, you and anyone else participating in the problem solving, just may be able to save the world...ok, maybe not save the world, but at least working together is a start. 

The very idea of community problem solving is what my blog is about. No one person can save the world, it takes many minds, and cultures, and educations, and perspectives to come up with a workable solution to any problem. 

Feedback is welcomed and if you have a problem to solve, personal or communal, join my blog, maybe together we can organize an acceptable compromise which can lead to your solution.