Final Blog

The reading that struck me as most interesting was the excerpt from Dweck which discussed setting the standards for academic learning. He states that we (Americans) have in a sense, enabled our children and have inadvertently educationally handicapped them. Dweck stated the following: "lowering the standards just leads to poorly educated students who feel entitled to easy work and lavish praise" (p. 187). Due to the push for raising test scores, teachers often only teach what is needed for their students to pass the national examinations. In doing so, students often don't have the opportunity to expound upon their learning, which could make it difficult to independently construct their own meaning by way of critical thinking through materials presented in the classroom. As a whole, teachers provide just enough information in one particular educational content, and then move on to the next subject in order to meet the markers for national standards. Dweck talked about a teacher who was reprimanded because she decided to push her students into thinking outside of the box. Some of my most memorable classes in grade school, undergrad, and graduate courses are in courses in which I had teachers/professors that were willing to push me out of my comfort zone in which I had to critically think about the material presented to me. It was through those experiences that I learned the most and can still retrieve the information that I learned. However, I am unable to recall most information from those classes in which I memorized terms long enough to be able to recognize them on multiple-choice tests. William James was on to something when he talked about teachers varying their method of instruction and teaching in a way that students can take the information and build upon their current knowledge structures.

R10

Quote: “Marois found evidence of a ‘response selection bottleneck’ that occurs when the brain is forced to respond to several stimuli at once. As a result, task switching leads to time lost as the brain determines which task to perform” (Rosen, 2008, p. 107).

Question: After reading the article about multi-tasking, I began to think differently than I have before as it pertains to the idea of performing tasks simultaneously. In today’s society, we almost have no other choice than to be skilled in multi-tasking, so if we can do more than one task at once is making good use of our time right? Is the old saying “killing two birds with one stone” a phrase that we should all embody? Or will taking on that phrase eventually be the result of performance deficits? Christine Rosen states asked the following question: “multitasking changed the way people learn,” what might this mean for today’s children and teens, raised with an excess of new entertainment and educational technology, and avidly multitasking at a young age?” (108).   

Personal Connection: Before reading this article and honestly reflecting on my personal experiences, I would have said that I am always an effective ‘multi-tasker’. However, I began to think how effective I really am when performing many tasks at the same time. As a graduate student, multitasking has almost become second nature for me, as I constantly juggle practicum, work, school, and social activities. I have noticed that over time as a graduate student, I am unable to attend to every single facet of my life all at the same time and it be successful. I have learned that I can multitask when one task takes little to no cognitive processing, and is almost automatic, while attending to another task that may take more concentration. I tend to get in trouble when both tasks require intense concentration, and I attempt to attend to both tasks; this usually results in failure to be effective with both tasks at hand.

Outside Connection: The above video clip is an example of multitasking. It is a brief illustration to some of the principles described in Rosen's article.

Module 7

This video was very interesting and focused on a wide range of aspects related to memory. One of the most memorable things about the video is when the man on the video discusses the process of forgetting. He notes that the cause of forgetting is that there was "poor encoding" or "poor retrieval". After listening to the discussion about forgetting, I immediately thought about William James' chapter on memory in which he notes that in order for information to be retained, there must be associations made during the encoding process. When thinking about learning, it is pertinent that teachers are able to present materials in various ways so that students may make inferences (associations) with previous information that they have encoded.  

R9

Quote: “What you have to understand is that even average memories are remarkably powerful if used properly” (Foer, 2011).

Question: After reading the NY Times article, a series of questions ran through my mind from how content should be taught to students all the way to the capacity of the human mind. In terms of learning, since according to Foer, research suggests that when individuals with ‘great memories’ are compared to people with ‘average memories’, “not only did the brains of the mental athletes appear anatomically indistinguishable from those of the control subjects, but on every test of general cognitive ability, the mental athletes’ scores came back well within the normal range” (Foer, 2011), how could learning to become a mental athlete improve a student’s educational experience? What would that look like and how could memory techniques described by Foer be taught to students? After reading the article about how our memory is designed to be more advanced than how much credit is given to our mind, I wonder: have posted notes become the demise to our memory structures? Are technological advances inhibiting our memory? I would have to say: YES! We write down things on posted notes so that we don’t have to remember or we put phone numbers in our cell phones so that we don’t have to rely on our memory to recall digits before phoning a friend, all of which our memory structures are capable of retrieving.    

Personal Connection: I found the NY Times article Secrets of a Mind Gamer, to be incredibly interesting. Before ink and tablets were invented, people relied on their memory for recalling pertinent information. This article reminds me of some of the content William James described in his memory chapter; particularly, about making association with new information in order to better recall it in the future. In my personal experience, I can think back on my undergraduate experience when most exams given were in the format of multiple-choice. I learned very quickly that I could make over 100 hundred flash cards and through repetition remember the facts on the cards; those cards which were harder to memorize, I was able to think of a mnemonic to help me remember. As a result, I pretty much always remembered what I studied for my exams.     

Outside Connection: The above video illustrates a phenomenal memory structure by an individual with Autism who has been able to make sense (meaning) to something he sees and recall it later by recreating everything he viewed. It's pretty remarkable!

Module 6

In this video, the young boy is having difficulty completing his school work even with assistance from his mother. This video is appropriate to the topic of 'sensory registers' as individuals with Autism have sensory difficulties. In the power point presentation, a list of "factors that determine whether our sensory registers 'register' something" were provided. These factors included the following: "attention, perception, constancy, context, intuition, duration and intensity, imagery, the role of context, shitfting perceptual set, pattern recognition, the physical and psychological environment, and meaningfulness", all of which can be tremendous road blocks for individuals with Autism. As with individuals who have other disabilities, each situation is very individualistic, but more so with Autism because it is a spectrum: some may be higher functioning, while another individual may be nonverbal. Students with Autism may have things that set them off which could disturb their attention to their academics; these things could include a loud noise or bright lights, which may cause a distraction. Their perception to external stimuli is very different than how a typically developed individual may experience 'reality'. Individuals with Asperger's may struggle with their 'psychological environment' due to a lack of appropriare social skills, which could cause them to be alienated from peers. Those are just a few examples of how individuals with Autism have a very different 'sensory register' than that of typically developed individuals and how it can effect their learning. The above video is a small example of the difficulty a child with Autism may have while learning.

R8

Quote: “The mechanisms of perception go to a lot of trouble to ensure that what we see corresponds to what is usually out there” (p.200). The elements that make up our perceptions of what we deem ‘reality’ may not always be accurate. This quote makes me think of how the media shapes our perceptions of the world we live in. Through images, concepts, and ideas continuously displayed through different outlets of media, we can actually believe something to be real and make generalizations of a concept that is in actuality false.

Question: The article discusses the concept and formation of language and placing objects, people, ideas, and images into categories/labels to be able to easily identify and retrieve it at a later date. My question, (which closely mirrors a question mentioned in the article) is the following: does placing a label on objects and/or people lead to misconceptions? Furthermore, would the elimination of labels and categories in which we place people change the way we perceive others? Could that stop forms of discrimination?   

Personal Connection: As noted in the article, there is pretty much no way around labels and categories because it is how the human brain accommodates new information that is taken in. The human brain takes new information and tries to pair it with something that has previously been experienced; it is then stored under a specific category and awaits retrieval. In Touch with Reality made me think about what the article states as naive realism: “we see things as they are” (p.198). In my school-based practicum sight, i've noticed that it can be easy to “see things as they are” instead of taking into consideration the whole picture. For instance, a parent who never comes to their child’s Admissions and Release Committee meetings and is often difficult for school personnel to reach may appear to be a negligent parent. On the surface, it would be easy to say that the parent is not acting as an advocate for his/her child, but there could very well be some unknown factors such as the demands of the parent’s job, the health of the parent, lack of transportation, and the like. If not careful, it is very easy to ‘see’ what we want to see in any given situation. This further supports the idea that what our brain tells us to see may not always be an accurate depiction of the situation at hand.   

Outside Connection: The following video is a brief description of gestalt perception, which further supports some of the information provided in the article.

R8

Quote: One of the most eye catching quotes in the Vygotsky article was the following: “We give children a battery of tests or a variety of tasks of varying degrees of difficulty, and we judge the extent of their mental development on the basis of how they solve them and at what level of difficulty. On the other hand, if we offer leading questions or show how the problem is to be solved and the child then solves it, or if the teacher initiates the solution and the child completes it or solves it in collaboration with other children – in short, if the child barely misses an independent solution of the problem –the solution is not regarded as indicative of his mental development…over a decade even the profoundest thinkers never questioned the assumption; they never entertained the notion that what children can do with the assistance of others might be in some sense even more indicative of their mental development then what they can do alone” (Vygotsky, p. 85).

Question: Do IQ tests really tell us much about students other than them being compared to other peers their same age? Vygotsky provided a great example of two students entering in school at the same chronological and mental age, but with guided instruction of knowing how to solve a particular problem, one student’s mental age jumped ahead four grades, while the other student’s jumped ahead one grade. As I reflect on that illustration by Vygotsky, I think about academic interventions that are implemented within the schools. Since research has made it very clear of the biases in standardized tests (particularly with individuals whose culture is not conducive to mainstream society), and educational professionals are aware of such factors, why haven’t the use of IQ tests been ruled out when diagnosing students with a disability, specifically, a learning disability?  

Personal Connection:  After reading the section on the zone of proximal development, I began to reflect on my current experience as a practicum student in the school system and what my future role as a School Psychologist will be. I think about how some teachers and other school personnel attend the Admissions and Release Committee (ARC) meetings and based on the student’s IQ score, they believe that the child should be a recipient of special education services. Instead of sticking a label on the child, what if interventions were made over the course of 6-8 weeks (before a special education referral was ever made) and the student’s progress was monitored to see if he responded to the interventions? On many occasions, the student will make progress. So, then was the child’s mental age (IQ score) an ‘end all’ for his academic progression? No; maybe he just needed differentiated instructions from the teacher to help him understand the material better. As William James stated, teachers should have varied instructions because one student will learn differently than another student. Students’ cognitive development also varies. As Vygotsky puts it, “the zone of proximal development defines those functions that have not yet matured but are in the process of maturation, functions that will mature tomorrow but are currently in an embryonic state” (p. 86). Therefore, all students should be given the chance to learn and not be judged by a test that produces a number and thus creates a form of pseudo-intelligence.

Outside Connection:  

The above video is a cute way of illustrating the zone of proximal development.

Module 4 Questions:

1.      Explain the principal contributions of Piaget’s cognitive constructivist theory?

Unlike behaviorism in which external factors (reinforcers) are influential on behaviors which inhibit free will, constructivism is the exact opposite. In the context of learning in the classroom, constructivism would encourage students to teach themselves and to make their own meaning of their educational experience with teachers there only for guidance. The overall theme for Piaget’s cognitive constructivist theory can be described as individuals actively learning and building upon existing cognitive structures through a process known as assimilation and accommodation.        

2.      Make a connection between Piaget’s stages of development and what James argued the teacher should know about cognitive development.

Ideas from Piaget’s cognitive constructivist theory closely resemble some concepts described by William James. In his talks with teachers, James often suggested that teachers should be there for students as an academic supporter who helps to guide students as they make sense of their learning experience. This concept is directly related to Piaget’s theory. Alongside that, James talked a lot about assimilation in that we learn by taking a form of information that we already know and build upon those ideas to form new constructs, which is also parallel to Piaget in that he describes assimilation and accommodation as a means for organizing information into ‘schemas’.     

3.      What would authors Airasian and Walsh have to say about the learning environment in which Bart was placed? Is this an example of constructivism? What are your own thoughts about constructivism as a theory of learning so far?

Airasian and Walsh might say that Bart Simpson was placed in a learning environment (new school) in which students construct their own knowledge in an academic setting. I believe that the structure of the new classroom was an example of constructivism as students seemed to teach themselves in the classroom while the teacher was there as a guide. When Bart first entered the school, the teacher told him that there is one rule for the school, which is to “make your own rules”; this is parallel to Piaget’s concept of students creating new knowledge structures (schemas) based on previously learned information.

R7

Quote: In the article written by Airasian and Walsh, I was drawn toward the following quote, “From one perspective, constructivism can be interpreted as a symbol of the emancipation of teachers from primary responsibility for student learning… the teacher will no longer be a supplier of information, but he or she will remain very much involved in the learning process coordinating and critiquing student constructions” (p. 446).

Questions(s): In reference to the quote above, I wonder what specific roles would change? How would this concept affect future teacher training? Will a constructivist instruction put an end to the pressures of raising test scores? I’d think so. If that is the case, would teachers become more satisfied with their jobs or become overwhelmed with the number of students on different ‘academic playing fields” within the classroom? When thinking about the idea of using concepts of constructivism within the classroom, there are many wrinkles that would need to be ironed out.   

Personal Connection: The way in which Airasian and Walsh peeled back the layers of constructivism as it pertains to the realm of education, was very insightful. When looking at the pros and cons of constructivism in the classroom, I believe that it is a great concept in that students would take charge of their own learning with teachers there to guide them through the process. However, I believe that implementation of this concept in the classrooms would inhibit not only the student’s academic progression, but could undermine teachers. America has become so stable in the very basics of facilitating education to students that if this was established in its totality, I believe education as we know it, would be obsolete; it would undoubtedly change the entire structure of how students are educated as well as how universities train teachers. Just as Airasian and Walsh described, there are many factors that should be taken into consideration.

Outside Connection: From my understanding of constructivism, the overall theme seems to truly embody the phrase “students are constructors of their own knowledge” (Airasian & Walsh, p.444), which implies that knowledge is constructed upon previous knowledge, or as William James would say, associations. The concepts of constructivism are almost parallel to how William James feels about how teachers should give instruction to their students. He states that students should be provided with an array of information or choices that will allow them to grasp an idea that makes an association with another idea that was once previously learned. In a sense, it seems as if William James pretty much tells teachers to present different means of instruction, allow students to take that information and ‘construct’ their own knowledge of what it means, and that teachers should be by their side for moral support.

I’ll end with this question: Is knowledge really in the eye of the beholder?  

R6

Quote: “Students do not turn off per se but from failing when a reward is at stake. In learning contexts free of extrinsic motivation, students are more likely to persist at a task and to remain interested in it even when they don’t do it well” (Kohn, p. 124).  

Question: The above quote made me think about how our current education system gives students the impression that their academic progression is determined by a letter grade. My question is that I wonder if grades were not distributed to students, if students would want to learn just for the sake of learning? If there were no grades, would intrinsic motivation increase?      

Personal Connection/Outside Connection: The articles by Kohn and Chance are two people out of many individuals who have a wide perspective of the pros and cons to rewards and punishments as it pertains to educating students. From my perspective, as a School Psychology student, I am behaviorally driven. However, a ride on the fence with some of the issues of operant learning as aspects to it should be enforced, while others should be tapered off. For instance, Kohn noted that the leading form of operant learning in our public schools is punishment: when students defy the teachers, they are punished; when they get into a fight, they are punished; when they are tardy, they are punished; when they chew gum in class, they are punished, and the list goes on. According to the information from my behavior management course, if the undesired behavior continues after a stimulus (reward or punishment) is given, then the stimulus did not work; this is most often the case with punishment when students are not taught an alternative behavior. I think there is a time for punishment and there is a time for rewards, all of which are individualized according to the specific needs of the student. Some students need to be praised a little more than another student to ensure that they are motivated to complete a task. Then the question becomes: is the child receiving praise only motivated to learn when praise is given or will the student want to learn in the absence of praise? Again, I think this is something that cannot be answered in a ‘cookie-cutter’ kind of way because each student is different.    

Overall, I would have to agree more with the arguments made by Chance in that punishment does seem to be detrimental in the intrinsic motivation of a child. Kohn makes some great points, but his arguments suggest that there should be no place for rewards or punishment within the school. I would have to disagree especially when discussing students who have a disability. In my behavior class, we discuss different management techniques that can be used to assess behavior and to help shape behaviors. In shaping a behavior (especially with student who have a disability), it is important that students are presented with some type of reinforcement so that the undesired behavior may gradually shape into a more desirable one. Students with a disability thrive off of a structured environment and reinforcements. I couldn’t imagine a school environment in which students were not given reinforcements; I think that would bring more fatality to intrinsic motivation than the use of rewards.

Behavriorism Video Example..

The video is an example of operant conditioning, specifically positive reinforcement. The baby is being positively reinforced to laugh. The child is presented with a spoon (stimulus) and then the child laughs (response).

R5

Quote: “To get better teachers we should pay them more, possibly according to merit. They should be certified to teach the subjects they teach. To get better students, scholarship standards should be raised. The school day should be extended from 6 to 7 hours, more time should be spent on homework, and the school year should be lengthened from 180 days to 200, or even 220 days. We should change what we are teaching. Social studies are all very well, but they should not take time away from basics, especially mathematics” (Skinner, 1984, p. 947).

Question: The above quote makes me wonder: should America use models from other countries whose education system are excelling above us? What variables are facilitating ‘mediocrity’ within the educational system in America? Nationally, have students who attend school year round improved in their academic performance compared to those students who attend schools from August to May?

Personal Connection: B.F. Skinner wrote the article, The Shame of American Education, twenty-seven years ago and not much has changed within the educational system. There continues to be a struggle with finding ‘highly qualified’ teachers and ensuring an increase in pay for the responsibilities that they have. Another deficit that the American education system continues to exhibit is the inability to hire teachers to instruct in the area in which they were trained; teachers are often asked to teach subjects in which they have had little to no training.    

B.F. Skinner also wrote that, “at little to no additional cost, that students should would come to school and apply themselves to their work with a minimum of punitive coercion and, with very rare exceptions, learn to read with reasonable ease, express themselves well in speech and writing, and solve a fair range of mathematical problems” (James, 1984, p. 948). This is an interesting quote as educators continue to question how they should improve education in a way that would motivate students to want to learn just for the sake of learning. If education was designed in a way to capture the ‘stream of conscious” of every child, then there may not be a need to increase the number of school days because the set days would be well spent by the students. I think that there can be too much emphasis placed on what subject each student should master; is a child who has mastered arts and has exercised his creative mind, but has deficits in math less intelligent than the student who has mastered mathematics, but has deficits in art? In my opinion, education is such a broad scope that it cannot necessarily be boxed into a few pinpointed categories such as math and science. I wonder if the focus shifted from defined elements of education to a broad spectrum, if more students would be motivated to want to learn just for the sake of learning.              

Outside Connection: Skinner listed a number of suggestions that he gathered to resolve the conflict in education, which made me think about William James. Most, if not all the suggestions that were listed can be balled up into a common theme of not getting caught up in the model of education, but to think about the art of teaching. Throughout James’ talks with teachers, he reiterated that the key to implementing a proper education is to grab the ‘stream of conscious’ in each student and to embrace the art of education.

Could the above video demonstrate what B.F. Skinner was trying to get across to his audience in The Shame of American Education? It's an interesting video worth watching.

R4

Quote: “Your task is to build up a character in your pupils; and a character, as I have so often said, consists in an organized set of habits of reaction. Now of what do such habits of reaction themselves consist? They consist of tendencies to act characteristically when certain ideas posses us, and to refrain characteristically when possessed by other ideas” (James, p. 90).   

Question: In reference to the above quote, since ‘an organized set of habits’ encompasses character, what are some habits that teachers should help to instill in students that will in return, ‘build up a character’?

Connection from personal experience: In regards to ethical behavior, William James stated, “To him who acts habitually under the notion of good he gives the name of freeman. See to it now, I beg you, that you make freeman of our pupils by habituating them to act, whenever, possible, under the notion of a good. Get them habitually to tell the truth, not so much through showing them the wickedness of lying as by arousing their enthusiasm for honor and veracity” (James, p. 94-95). This quote struck me as I thought about my career goal of becoming a School Psychologist and interventions that will be implemented for teachers to use on their students. William James, in a sense, indicates that teachers should reinforce positive behaviors so that students will become ‘habitually good’. My experience as a practicum student on site at two elementary schools is similar to this quote made by James. It is quite often that teachers will consult with the school psychologist about a behavioral intervention that will help to minimize the frequency/intensity of behaviors, such as being off-task. Teachers are often told to catch the student performing a pleasant behavior and provide him/her with a reward instead of scolding an unpleasant one. James makes it clear that the focal point need not be on the negative, but rather on something positive.  

Outside Connection: This quote also reminds me of the information that I am currently obtaining in my behavior management class. William James’ declaration to teachers about facilitating ‘good’ within the student reminds me of shaping behaviors. When shaping a behavior, the intention is to provide the student with feedback that will be a guide towards the desired behavior. In this case, James’ description of instructing students to get in the habit of doing ‘good’ is an illustration of shaping a behavior. Alongside of that, the previously stated quote about character building is also an example of shaping a behavior into a desired outcome.

Overall, after reflecting on the entire book, It strikes me that a lot of William James’ ideas can be traced to many popular theories in psychology, and the information that he provided over a hundred years ago is still very much applicable to modern day. 

Module1

The implicit association tests that I completed were the Light Skin-Dark Skin IAT and Religions IAT. Since I have taken a different form of these implicit associations tests before, I knew what to expect and could somewhat predict the results before completing each tests. Even though I had completed a form of these tests before, it was still an eye opening experience because it allowed me to reflect on my own personal biases. At the end of each test, I looked at the nationally average percent of responses  and was not really surprised by the findings because it seems as though the responses reflect main stream societal views. The media perpetuates a lot of ideas that shape everyone's perspectives. Even the most self-reflective and  culturally diverse person is unconsciously swayed by what the media presents, and will most likely fall into the percentage of the majority of responses.

Associations and memory are related, and in fact, go hand-in-hand. I don't believe that you can have memory without association because memory is built around associations. When recalling a specific memory in my early childhood, I am able to remember the event because it produced an emotion which is now associated with the childhood event.

I believe our associations have an impact on our future behaviors as is typically demonstrated by the implicit associations test. This is something that has been researched for many years. A classic example that comes to my mind is Little Albert and John Watson. Watson took a little boy and presented him with a furry rabbit, which the little boy enjoyed until Watson created an 'association'. When Little Albert was presented with the rabbit, Watson rang a loud bell which startled Little Albert and made him cry. Watson repeatedly did this until he only presented Little Albert with the rabbit. With no surprise, at the sight of the rabbit, a once playful boy who loved the rabbit, was now terribly afraid. Why? Because Little Albert 'associated' the rabit with a loud unpleasant sound and therefore, no longer wanted to play with it. With that being said, it could almost be safe to say that our future behaviors depend on our associations.     

Chapters 10-14

R3

Question: In the book, William James illustrates how to maintain attention even while performing boring tasks, such as staring at a dot. He indicates that one must find various ways of making the dot appealing (p. 52-53). With that being said, how can teachers or other educators help students to have the desire to ‘stare at a dot in various ways’?

After reading the assigned chapters, the following quote stood out to me: “The optical impression may affect solely the marginal consciousness, while the mental focus keeps engaged with rival things. We may indeed not ‘see’ it till someone points it out. But, if so, how does he point out it out? By his finger, and by describing its appearance,- by creating a premonitory image of where to look and of what to expect to see” (p. 54).

This quote is very interesting to me and the concept can not only be applied within the context of education, but throughout various settings. Since my interest is within the realm of education, I will talk about how the above quote is applicable. Students who have difficulty in a subject being taught may be focusing on the wrong piece of information, which may cause academic deficits. When a child is falling behind peers in class, it is the responsibility of the teacher and other school personnel involved in the academic progression of the child, to find other ways of explaining or teaching material; this is also known as an academic intervention, and could increase the likelihood of that child understanding the material. Academic interventions are relevant to the quote in that before implementing the intervention, the student may be focusing on something marginal which may be the result of incomplete math problems, for example. When the intervention is implemented, the student’s prior focus is rerouted into another focal point, a math equation. In this case scenario, it could be that once the student was given an equation, he was then able to ‘see’ how to complete the math problems. The illustration of an academic intervention and its relevance to the above quote is one of many ways this quote can be applied. In reference to teachers, the quote allows them to understand that students may not necessarily ‘see’ things from their perspective of teaching; certain steps, such as pointing out a word or an equation, may be necessary in order to capture the ‘sight’ of the students, and increase the likelihood of sustained attention to the teacher.

The above video illustrates the quote previously mentioned. It is amazing how we, as humans can be focused on one thing and not even recognize something different until it is pointed out to us. The video also demonstrates what William James called, 'voluntary attention' in which the stream of consciousness is fixated on a particular object, which in this case, is the amount of times the basket ball is passed back and forth by people on the white team. The very act of focusing solely on the white team requires voluntary attention.

R2 (Chpts 8-9)

            After reading this week’s chapters in William James’ book, Talks to Teachers on Psychology and to Students on Some of Life’s Ideals, I became fascinated by the ideas on the topic of association and habits, and how the two are related. While reading, the following question came to mind: How can teachers facilitate the association that students make when each will be so individualized? As I read further, the following quote captured my attention, “…in working associations into your pupils’ minds, you must not rely on single cues, but multiply the cues as much as possible…couple the desired reaction with numerous constellations of antecedents…” (William James, 1962, p. 44). The quote sums up the answer to the question in that the goal of a teacher is to teach by using a variety of methods which will spark learning in many students. One method of teaching will mean nothing for one student, but could evoke interest and association in another student.

            Looking back on previous courses that I have completed from kindergarten to college, the learned information that has stuck in my mind has been from teachers that have had multidimensional teaching methods. I learned more once information was presented in more than one ways, rather than in the same approach. As a result of the various teaching methods, I am able to make associations from previously learned information and use it to apply to current situations, which is indicative of how William James describes the utility of association.

            William James also indicated that we may not be able to predict future thoughts, but we can take thoughts and trace them to a starting point from which associations were made (James, 1962, p. 43). I am currently taking a course on managing behaviors, in which I am learning how to determine the function of students’ behaviors. The key in performing a functional behavioral assessment is that I must look at the targeted behavior, think about the antecedent that prompted the behavior, and note the consequence that followed. Taking a student’s behavior and tracing it back to the starting point (in this case, the antecedent) will allow me to understand the student’s function of behavior. As a school psychologist, I will never be able to predict a student’s behavior, but I will be able to retrace the steps and determine the function (what is sustaining the behavior), and can then reshape the behavior by changing the antecedent or consequence. So, not only is William James’ material applicable to teachers, but it can be used in various settings.   

R1: Chapters 1-7

“Let Emile, he said, never be led to compare himself to other children. No rivalries, not even in running, as soon as he begins to have power of reason. It were a hundred times better that he not learn at all what he could only learn through jealousy or vanity…Thus I should excite him without making him jealous of any one. He would wish to surpass himself.” (James, 1899, p. 27).

            The above quote written by William James prompts me to ask the following question: Should the public school system use reward systems that are implemented in a way that creates competition among other students? Even more, should schools place pressure and emphasis on test scores, which can also create competition among students? As a student in the School Psychology program, I am able to see competition among students as described by William James, particularly due to the pressure of obtaining sufficient to substantial test scores. This pressure is often displayed by the school offering incentives to students who receive top test scores. The issues then becomes whether or not the student is intrinsically and extrinsically motivated to learn. William James implies that learning is not effective when students are comparing themselves to others. Instead, he suggests that effective learning occurs when they are willing to self-reflect, and are motivated by inward desires for themselves rather than through envy and jealousy to beat another peer to the top of academia for some tangible reward.

             In my undergraduate class, I took a course (Motivation and Emotion) in which the majority of the semester was spent on the motivation of individuals. I learned that the best type of motivation is intrinsic motivation in which individuals are internally driven for the purpose of their own desires. Extrinsic motivation is not eternal; it does not last forever and is therefore not effective, especially within the context of learning. I can agree with William James that learning will be more fulfilling and effective when teachers create an atmosphere in which students are internally driven to learn for the desire of their own personal growth.