Artifact 1: Psychology Analysis in Language Teaching ( CEP891)G: 1S: 1, 3,4

In CEP891, I learn how to use psychology theories to analyze my students and their learning. This is a case analysis which I use 4 weeks to analyze from different angels. In this case, a high school English teacher makes some mistakes in understanding his students and how they could learn well according to their age-appropriate psychology. After 4 weeks, I find out several solutions on the analytical basis.

There are 3 reasons I choose this as my artifact. First, I read and use many resources to analyze this case, which makes me understand more about my students, who are also high school students just as in this case. I realize how diverse my students are when read and analyze this case. It enables me to realize standard 1. Second, after plenty of research across different psychology theories, I am able to use the theoretical persperctives and conceptual frameworks to situate and analyze problems of the teacher in this case, Meanwhile, I also realize what kinds of problems I have in my practice. This is what the standard 4 requires. Third, the 4 weeks’ comprehensive analysis offers me a great opportunity to carry out a reflective and systematic inquiry and study/ refine my own practice in the future.

This case analysis means I know how to analyze a simple teaching phenomenon from deep layer. Psychology is a tool for me to understand more about my students and how to design age-appropriated lesson according to their psychology characteristics. Besides, this case also makes me reflect from how many perspectives I could situate and analyze the problems of my teaching practice. When a teacher wants to pursue better teaching, case analysis from psychology angels is necessary and helpful.

Brief Description of The Case:

Case 9 is setting is at Morgan High School.English teacher Mr. Ramirez uses several

weeks to lead his junior-level students to read and analyze The Adventures of

Huckleberry Finn, by Mark Twain. The aim of reading this novel is to make students

understand the themes and symbols contained in the novel and the story. Each week

students read several chapters and discuss in class.The discussions focus on the facts of

the book and on student predictions of what will happen next. Although the class

discussion and debate goes well, but on the exam it seems only a girl called Jennifer

understand what is symbolism and theme in the novel. The student Jake only knows this

is a fun novel, saying “…how do we know Twain meant any of that junk?...Reading

shouldn’t be this much work.” Another student Barbara even says, “..it is just a bunch of

stuff made up by English teachers.”Mr.Ramirez is frustrated and has to spend some class

time explaining what symbolism is and how authors often use it to get their points across.

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The reason I Choose This Case:

 

Most of my students are high school students, that is the first reason I choose this case.

Secondly, I like to give students more choices and power to do this kind of collective

activity in class.The students like it too.But how to make all the students get along with

your teaching aim in your activity is a thought-provoking question for me.

At last but not least, in the future how to effectively design age-appropriated collective

activity in accordance with my high school students’ emotional and social development?

 

Analyze the cause and solve the problem from personal practice perspectives:

In my teaching internship, I find a good assessment should be fit with “validity and

reliability”. It means a teacher should test for what you have taught. In other words, a

teacher should think about lesson plans and class activities from the perspective of what

you skills you want students to master.

Thus, Mr. Ramirez has two fatal faults in his teaching:1) doesn’t teach and explain what

is symbolism;2)doesn’t design proper class activities for his assessment.

Let me use a metaphor, Mr. Ramirez’s case is that kind of teacher, who wants students

know how to swim, but trains them in the desert far from the water.

 

If I was Mr. Ramirez ,I would start to design my class activities from what I want to teach

and assess. First, teach clear about symbolism and theme. Second, design collaborative

groupwork to enable students help each other to find out symbolism and theme in the

novel, and discuss the reason and express personal thinking about it.

Analyze the case and solve the problem from different theoretical perspectives:

 

Perspective of CD:

From the angle of CD, development is the orderly appearance of physical

structures,psychological traits, behaviors, and ways of adapting the demands of life over

time, and the changes brought on by development are both qualitative and quantitative. If

there is no model of quantitative training about what is symbolism and how to find the

theme of a novel, how can Mr.Ramirez’s students develop their qualitative understanding

about the abstract definition?

 

Perspective of Erikson’s Theory of Psychosocial Development:

The high school students are in late adolescence period,but he junior level lingers from

early adolescence to late adolescence. They are suffering from a “ life

crises”（Erikson，1963）  adapting from middle school to high school. If they don’t

solve their early life crises productively, they cannot find sense of identity and their

expectation of future success. In this case, apparently Jennifer finds her identity as a

smart and cooperative student in her early life(the middle school). But Jake and Barbara

is not, they don’t know how to solve life crises( back to middle school) like this to better

their self identity as a good and cooperative student.

 

Perspective of Behaviorism:

In operant conditioning ,if the teacher reinforce the behaviors to provide a series of

training as stimuli to help the students study what is symbolism and theme, then

gradually they will understand it and give response to the Mr.Ramirez’s questions. In this

case, imagining  Mr. Ramirez has provided a little bit operant conditioning, but there is

only Jennifer get it, the others all get lost, then Mr.Ramirez could highlight the positive

reinforcement and ignore the negative reinforcement by praising Jennifer but not to

criticize or express disappointment to Jake and Barbara.

 

Perspective of Bandura’s Social Cognitive Theory:

Bandura extends that “Observational learning accounts for much human learning.”It

takes place when children watch teachers solve problems ,but observational learning

doesn’t occur because of direct reinforcement, it occurs as long as children pay attention

to the behavior of others.They must have a model to imitate learning. In this case, the

problem is Mr.Ramirez doesn’t show the model for his students to learn about symbolism

and when they have group discussion and debate they are not intentional with symbolism

but with the novel plot.That is one of the reasons why most of them fail the exam.

 

Perspective of Piaget’s Cognitive-Development Theory:

Piaget believed that cognitive development largely depends on the maturation of the

brain. Piaget(1963) hypothesized that children’s cognitive processes develop in an

orderly sequence, or stages. But they need scheme to form adaptation and

accommodation to restore equilibration. But where is the scheme in this case?

Absolutely, the teacher Mr.Ramirez doesn’t offer a pattern of action or a mental structure

for his students to acquire or organize knowledge about symbolism.Thus, they don’t have

existing scheme (teacher model)to assimilate(deepen understanding) in proper daily

training.Even though they have the same chances to restore equilibration in practice, not

all of them will understand Mr.Ramirez, since Piaget noted that as with motor

development, some children may be more advanced than others at particular ages.That is

the reason why Jennifer is smarter than others.   

 

The Ecological Perspective:

In this case , why the three students’ achievement level are so different? Ecological

systems theorists explain child development in terms of the interaction between children

and the settings in which they live。(Bronfenbrenner&Morris,2006).They are affected

by outer elements, such as peers, family, mass media, school board(if they come from

different middle schools, each school board will have an emphasis on something special,

perhaps Jennifer’s school board emphasize on reading ability but Jake and Barbara’s

not.),extended family and neighbors(we can image Jennifer has a relative who is an

author exerting impact on Jennifer’s intendency to literature,or she has a neighbor who

has taught her something when someday she pays a visit ), environmental

changes(Jennifer has a chance to tour around many historical places and learn something

and broaden horizons and deepen understanding about society, but Jake or Barbara

doesn’t).

 

Vygotsky’s Sociocultural Theory:

I am sure Mr.Ramirez doesn’t offer enough scaffolding to the students, thus his students

don’t gain the ability to function independently.He doesn’t design class activities allow as

much ZPD as possible. There is no help from student who is more skilled to be offered to

the other students.And their discussion in class also has nothing to do with the

symbolism, accordingly most of students cannot bring inward or internalize “the

conversations and explanations that help him or her gain the necessary

skills”(Ash,2004;Umek et al.,2005;Vygotsky,1962)

At last, I also doubt the ethnic groups of Jennifer, Barbara and Jake are different.They

have different culture background to help or block the understanding about the theme of

the novel ,and symbolism.

Questions:

1.      At which of Piaget’s stages of cognitive development do you think

Jake,Barbara and Jennifer to be operating?Why?

 

2.      How do you feel about Barbara’s and Jake’s assertions that symbolism is

“made up by English teachers” rather than incorporated into literature by authors?

Analyze this case in the perspective of “Teachers”

 

In the whole ecological system around adolescents, schools and teachers are the

immediate environment around them besides parents, siblings and peers.The influence of

the schools is mainly due to teachers. Teachers , like parents, set limits, make demands,

communicate values, and foster development. Teacher influences on student

performance. Many aspects of teacher behavior are related to student achievement

(Slavin,2006).

 

As reported in the classic Pygmalion in the Classroom, Rosenthal and Jacobson(1968)

first gave students a battery of psychological tests. Then they informed teachers that a

handful of students , although average in performance to date, were about to blossom

forth intellectually in the current school year. In fact, the tests had indicated nothing in

particular about the “chosen” children. These children had been selected at random. The

test implicates changing teacher expectations could affect student performance. In other

words, teacher expectations sometimes, but not always, affect students’ motivation, self-

esteem,expectations for success, and achievement. These findings have serious

implications for children from ethnic minority and low-income families.

 

Solutions on the analytical basis:

Thus what is the possible solution for this case 9? The first and foremost thing is to

enhance teacher expectations according to Pygmalion effect and Self-fulfilling

prophecies .

Secondly, achievement is enhanced when teachers expect students to master the

curriculum, allocate most of the available time to academic activities, and manage the

classroom environment effectively. The most effective teachers ask questions, give

personalized feedback, and provide opportunities for drill and practice, as opposed to

straight lecturing.

Last but not least, Anita Woolfolk (2008) suggests the following:

Make the classroom and the lesson interesting and inviting.

Recognize that students’ backgrounds can give rise to diverse patterns of needs.

Help students take appropriate responsibility for their successes and failures.

Encourage students to perceive the links between their own efforts and their

achievements.

Help students set attainable short-term goals.

Empowerment of students; that is, students participating in setting goals, making

classroom decisions, and engaging in cooperative learning activities with other students.

 

If Mr.Ramerez can consider the above situations and design his class correspondingly,

then the students alike Jennifer, Jake and Barbara will all benefit from his high

expectations and motivation skills.

 

Analyze and find out solutions in the perspective of parents:

 

The reason why Barbara says symbolisms “just a bunch of stuff made by English

teachers” and why Jake understands “reading shouldn’t be this much work”, partially and

indirectly from their parents’ views and the parenting style they receive at home.

According to research, adolescents are usually quite similar in their values and beliefs

regarding social, political, religious, and economic issues(Collins & Laursen, 2006).

Differences in parenting styles continue to influence the development of adolescents as

well (Collins & Laursen, 2006; Costigan et al., 2007). Adolescents from authoritative

homes show more competent behavior than any other group of teenagers.

 

Solutions on the analytical basis:

Accordingly, although this is my personal hypothesis with the supportive theories, I still

want to find out a solution from this angle. It is a good opportunity to exchange ideas

about the importance of learning rhetoric with Jake and Barbara’s parents by emails,

telephones or in teacher-parent coferences etc..Try to use the inductive method to affect

the parents, and then by them to affect the junior students in high school.

 

Analyze the case in the perspective of Gardner’s theory of MIs

 

Psychologist Howard Gardner (1983, 2006) claims in his Gardner’s theory of

Multiple Intelligences that intelligences include linguistic, logcal-mathmatical,

naturalist, spatial, bodily-kinnesthetic, musical, intrapersonal, interpersonal, and

existential. And in order to measure the development of intelligence, there comes the

SBIS(The Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scale) and Wechsler scales, which all

contribute to the concept of intelligence quotients (IQs). In the formula of IQ, there are

two parts called :Mental Age (MA) and Chronological Age (CA).Research suggests

that differences in IQ exist between socioeconomic and ethnic groups.European

Americans and Asian Americans always outscore the African Americans,Latino and

Latin Americans, and Native Americans.Children whose parents are responsive and

provide appropriate play materials and varied experiences during the early years attain

higher IQ and achievement test scores(Bradley, 2006).

 

Solutions on the analytical basis:

The three students’ intelligence abilities are different, thus the teacher should differentiate

his teaching to enable most of his students can benefit in his teaching,which is called

DLT (Differentiated Learning and Teaching) . Such as Jake, judging from his answers

to the tests, he inclines to be keen about at least three intelligences : bodily-kinnesthetic

intelligence, spatial intelligence, and interpersonal intelligence.Then Mr. Ramirez could

design his class by exploring Jake’s potential intelligences to help him learn interestingly

and appropriately. In other words, Mr.Ramirez should use multiple strategies to engage

the students in reading by using integration of auditory and visual information. Reading

is a complex process that depends on perceptual, cognitive, and linguistic processes

(Smolka & Eviatar, 2006).It relies on skills in the integration of visual and auditory

information.

 

Besides the teacher should also attain the students’ family background archives, such as

socioeconomic situation & ethnic group etc., which will help him to design appropriate

lesson and offer help to the students. I doubt Barbara and Jake is from a lower class

family with enough support for their understanding and reading from their preschool,

thus their Intelligence ability or Mental Age (MA) is a little bit lower than Jennifer, who

is possibly from a middle class or wealthy family with affluent nurturtion from early

childhood until late adolescence.Thus, Mr. Ramirez should offer special help to Barbara

and Jake, and create appropirate test for them too.

What’s the main issue of Case 9?

In the first week, I doubt if the junior high school students are able to understand the

abstract “symbolism”, and I raise a question about it. But according to Jean Piaget’s

“formal operations”stage, which is the top level in his theory. The students in developed

nations, such as America, can begin this stage quite early, at about the time of pubety, 11

or 12 years old. Thus, all the students in Mr.Ramirez class could, no doubt at all,

understand what is symbolism.

 

Then what factors contribute to the failure of this class? This is a complicated question,

thus I want to point out the main issue in week 4. This week I want to find out some

potential solutions for my case. All the solutions can be explained by "identity statuses”

and sex differences in cognitive abilities, and also still Piaget’s  "fomal operations" and

his 5 basic concepts about cognitive development.

Some theories come from this week 3's assigned readings, some come from my extra

readings, and some from the  week 1's readings. 

 

Solutions and Actions:

1.      Apply “Symbolism” to the world of tangible objects and materials

 

Show a visual picture about some symbolic thing, and initiate group discussion about

what deep or abstract meaning that symbolic thing possibly represents. Then motivate the

students to think, explore ,discuss and present more things possess symbolic meaning in

personal daily life. Such as doodle for some boys possibly represent anger and protest

against school; a broken vase with bloody petals could represent the end of a heart-

broken love story for girls. In this way, they actually begin learning “symbolism” by

finding themselves involve in using symbolism in real life. On the other hand, this

teaching strategy also help students to search for “self” and make a commitment on

learning symbolism.

 

2.      Value the “Symbolism”

 

Use some familiar books as scaffolding methods, such as Holy Bible and Aesop Fables,

there are many metaphors and symbolism in Holy Bible and Aesop Fables, to make the

students believe symbolism is “meant” or “meaningful” for the express of deep meaning

and delivery of important message .

 

3.      Using sex differences in cognitive abilities to help assimilation and adaptation

 

Divide the class into boy group and girl group, encourage boys and girls to group and

classify symbolism in their favorite areas, such as boys in visual-spatial area

ormathematical area, girls in music and literature area.

 

4.      Set reasonable daily goals before tests

This resolution is bilateral. In the perspective of Mr. Ramirez, he should set goals step by

step on how to make the abstract symbolism meaningful and acceptable for students,

moreover his goals must be in close relation with his tests. In the perspective of students,

they should realize their daily goals to assimilate and adapt and accommodate some

things about symbolism, and work toward achieving the final goal of master the

symbolism.

 

Explanations for Solutions

As for the reason for my solution 1 and 2, it is mainly about Piaget's "formal

operations" .The top level in Jean Piaget’s stage theory is “formal operations”.

According to it, children or adolescents in this stage have reached cognitive maturity, and

they can think about abstract ideas and about concrete objects. The adolescents in

developed nations, such as in America , children begin this stage quite early, around 11 or

12 years old, which is the time of puberty. Thus, in case 9, these junior high school

students have full ability to master abstract “symbolism”. Actually, in Piaget’s

description, the adolescents at this age “can group and classify symbols, statements, and

even theories”. The theory of “formal operations” also points out, adolescents intend to

use“ the use of symbols to represent other symbols……allow the adolescent to more fully

comprehend the real world and to play with the world that dwells within the mind

alone.”  

 

As for solution 3,there are several theories support my actions. Females and males do not

differ noticeably in overall intelligence, beginning in childhood sex differences appear in

certain cognitive abilities (Johnson & Bouchard, 2007)Females are somewhat superior to

males in verbal ability. Males, on the other hand somewhat superior in visual-spatial

skills. That is reason why Jennifer and Barbara perform better than Jake in case 9.

Biological factors such as the organization of the brain may play a role, but do not

discount cultural factors. According to Goldstein (2005) , in the United States and

Canada, reading tends to be stereotyped as feminine, and girls tend to excel in these

nations. But people of all ages and all cultures tend to apply themselves more diligently

to pursuits that they believe are “meant” for them. To some extent, this phenomenon also

contributes to my solution 1 and 2.

 

As for solution 4, there are several reasons in terms of cognitive perspective and

adolescents’ identity statuses. At first, Piaget’s 5 basic concepts point out, there are 5

steps to describe and explain cognitive development, they are schemes, adaptation,

assimilation, accommodation, and equilibration. By setting daily goals, the students can

form a pattern of action which is involved in organizing knowledge. It is scheme. Then

when they carry on the next daily goal according to my other solutions, they interact

between the organism and the environment. It is adaptation. Then they will repeat in this

way to assimilate and accommodate, and at last reach their finals goals to master

symbolism, which is also termed equilibration by Piaget. Secondly, according to Bost &

Riccomini (2006), Lever et al.,(2004), Reschly & Christenson (2006), successful

programs in preventing failure have some common characteristics, such as “Clear and

reasonable educational goals ”. Last but not least, James Marcia (1991) theorized four

identity statuses : identity achievement, foreclosure, moratorium and identity diffusion. In

case 9, Jake and Barbar is in identity diffusion status, only Jennifer in identity

achievement status. If Mr. Ramirez wants to help Jake and Barbara to reach identity

achievement status, he has to work on “exploration” and “commitment”. According to

Concept Review 16.1, “sets goals and works toward achieving them”is one method,

another feasible method for case 9 is to make students , such as Jake and Barbara,

“experienced a period of exploration”and “developed commitments”. By setting goals to

solve crises experienced during the moratorium, Jake and Barbara will get more self-

esteem. In this process, Mr.Ramirez and peers’ support carries more weight.

 What are the main problems of this case?

Before my discussion  of case 9 symbolism, I want to analyze at first the main problems

in this case. As I have written last week, I have been wondering and concluding the main

problems of my case. Below are some potential problems on the basis of different

theories and my personal analysis.

1.      Lack of model and correct reinforcement.

2.      No reciprocal observational learning.

3.      No clear daily and final academic goals.

4.      Lack of differentiated teaching and learning.

5.      No enough scaffolding to alleviate the feelings of helplessness

 

 

Solutions of week 4

After the fourth week reading, I get three important achievements, which benefit me new

clue to my case.

 

 

Using perspective-taking way to teach symbolism.

Although perspective taking skills mainly influence on prosocial behavior, it still can be

used in learning. Given my case 9 Symbolism as an example, Mr. Ramirez could give an

especial homework to his students, which is to let them write a new version of The

Adventures of Huckleberry Finn as if they are Mark Twain, and then they exchange their

written pieces to read and discuss what are the symbolic places in their peers’ works. By

doing this way, they not only recreate this famous novel in the shoe of Mark Twain, but

also in the shoes of their peers. Hastings(2000) points out ,”Perspective-taking skills

improve with age……” Thus, for the junior high school students, use perspective-taking

to learn symbolism is not difficult , but feasible.

 

 

Usher “ cooperative play “ into learning symbolism.

According to Parten’s types of play, there are three kinds of social play , among which

there is a play called “Cooperative play”. As for the definition of it, Parten explains that

“Children interact to achieve common, group goals. The play of each child is

subordinated to the purpose of the group. One or two group members direct the activities

of others. There is also a division of labor, with different children taking different roles.”

It sounds like the kind of collaborative role play I often use in my teaching. So, if

Mr.Ramirez could pick up several parts of the novel, according to the most important

chapters or sections with symbolism appearing, then assign tasks to groupwork. The

requirements of tasks for each group are 1)to design a role play on the basis of the

chapters or sections;2) there should be a clear group goal which is to find out the

symbolism in the corresponding chapter or section and demonstrate symbolism clearly in

performance;3)there must be one group member acting as a narrator to explain the

symbolism for the audience before and during the play; 4) each group member should

cooperate together to find out the symbolism in the corresponding chapter or section and

design the plots together to make symbolism easy to understand in role play.

 

 

 

Preventive action and instant remedy is needed to alleviate different kinds of

negative feelings, such as improve competence skills and offer scaffolding if needed.

 

Imagine I am Mr.Ramirez’s student, and when he doesn’t teach specifically about

symbolism or he doesn’t teach it clear enough, then suddenly he gives the exam mainly

about symbolism, so what feelings I will have after the exam? I will feel depressed,

anxious about my grade, even a little bit anger or helpless. lf. No doubt, I am in the

feelings of depression and anxiety. It is not just imagination by myself. Most of students

will have the same feelings as me. Since “problems in academics……can predict feelings

of depression(Cole et al., 2001; Kistner, 2006).” And, “feelings of helplessness and

hopelessness that trigger depression (Reinecke & DuBois, 2001).”Moreover, childhood

depression is frequently accompanied by anxiety( Kendler et al.,2007; Masi et al., 2004).

Some social cognitive theorists explain depression in terms of relationships between

competencies (knowledge and skills) and feelings of self-esteem. In this case,

Mr.Ramirez should recognize the failure of learning symbolism could result in what

potential bad effects. Thus, he should offer enough scaffolding before the exam to make

all students understand the relative knowledge about symbolism, and teach them the

skills to identify symbolism in the novel and explain the representative meaning of the

most important symbolic place in the novel. In other words, Mr. Ramirez should help the

students to improve competency in order to foster their self-esteem. After the exam, he

should also offer extra scaffolding to those students who fail this exam , such as Barbara

and Jake, to alleviate their feelings of depression and helplessness. Mr. Ramirez could

offer praise or little reward to Barbara or Jake if they make progress after his scaffolding.

To encourage them, to help them.