Activity 7.5

Outliers: The Story of Success

What is the author's main point (or two points) here? Is he correct?

The main point of Gladwell's (2008) excerpts is how culture can affect our behaviors, and in this case how having a culture of hard work and effort ingrained in your society can affect your view and behaviors surrounding education. I do believe that Gladwell is correct though I did find myself slightly incredulous when he wanted to so strongly tie it only to cultivating rice. If I've learned one thing about human behavior it is that there is never a simple explanation and it is never one thing.

How do the factors discussed by the author fit into a social cognitive theoretical framework (if they do at all)?

When Gladwell (2008) discussed Asian cultures he discussed how the expectation that hard work and effort is the explanation for success and how in North American culture we have expectations that your skill in math is based on something unchangeable like how smart you are. Clearly, Gladwell is of a similar mindset as Dweck. Dweck (2006) discussed the fixed mindset such as the belief that you are either good at math or not versus the more malleable growth mindset in which hard work, effort, and challenges lead to gains in your abilities. He also discussed how rice farmers must "believe in the efficacy of their own work" (Gladwell, 2008, p. 237). Again, this confidence in your effort and competence is echoed in Parajes (2006) article. Parajes (2006) states that those who are self-efficacious "work harder, persist longer, persevere in the face of adversity, have greater optimism and lower anxiety, and achieve more" (p. 343).

Are the author's views consistent with any other views we've read this semester? How so? How are they different?

In reading Gladwell's (2008) chapters I couldn't help but be reminded of Vygotsky. Like Vygotsky, Gladwell is putting a great deal of emphasis on the effect of one's culture. Gladwell also began the chapter by a very intriguing anecdote about how one's language could even affect memory. I also believe parallels can even be drawn between self-efficacy and the ZPD. The ZPD is slightly above a student's level and as Parajes (2006) writes "Academic work should be hard enough that it energizes, not so hard that it paralyzes" (p. 344).

Which theory of learning (or whose views) would this author most align with?

From these excerpts, it would seem that Gladwell (2008) is more closely aligned with a social cognitive perspective.

What might the author say is the role of failure in learning? How would the theorists we've read describe the function of failure?

I believe this author would agree with Parajes (2006) sentiment on failure: "self-efficacy is not so much about learning how to succeed as it is about learning how to persevere when one does not succeed" (p. 345). If your culture has instilled within you the belief that hard work, effort, and challenges line the road to success you would be more likely to view failure through the lens of self-efficacy.

Is there such a thing as a "recipe" for success that we could offer to teachers and parents? What are the ingredients?

I think like any recipe we make, we make it depending on our tastes. However, most everyone follows similar procedures. I believe pathways to success can be varied. However, I believe there are some "procedures" that everyone's recipe should follow. Above all, it seems most important that we instill in our children the view that effort can lead to many things and that challenges are not reasons to give up but instead things to learn from.

One caveat that concerns me in all of this is when I think of my own future children. Will I be able to accomplish all of these things if I myself do not act upon them? Will my telling my children these things merely sound hollow and in the end they will model what I actually do? When I think of behaviors I have taken from parents I know that not all of them would be behaviors my parents would like me to have.

Additional Questions

One thing I was reminded of while reading this is a recent SAT cheating scandal that occurred in South Korea. How does cheating fit in with this heritage of hard work and effort? Are these individuals outliers? Or does this show a shift in culture based on current pressures?

http://blogs.wsj.com/korearealtime/2013/05/28/group-of-south-koreans-barred-from-sat/

Gladwell (2008) spends a great deal discussing a girl going to a KIPP school. Because she is going to this school she seems to do nothing but homework and is unable to get a  full night of sleep. While reading about her life I couldn't help but question the school's practices. What are possible alternatives to this KIPP school? Is the deal she made worth it?

Activity 7.4

My Mindsets

                                     Growth                                  Fixed

In undergrad I took a Science of Art class and we had to complete a weekly drawing based on a scientist's quote. This drawing is supposed to represent my mindsets. The areas I have more a fixed view of are growing off stunted branches, most stopped growing after knots occurred. The areas that I feel I have more of a growth mindset about are sprouting from long, winding, and complex branches. Clearly they took effort to grow in such a way.

*I should note that I put IQ on a fixed mindset but not necessarily intelligence.

Activity 7.3

Imitation is Flattery; Social Learning is Fitness

While reading the article "But What About the Gigantic Elephant in the Room" the quote "People cannot be much influenced by observed events if they do not remember them" (Bandura, 2011, p. 1) had me scratching my head. From what we have learned and know of implicit learning, implicit biases, and memory is it true that we are not influenced by what we do not remember? I think one example of observed events influencing our behavior without us being consciously aware of it is in the media. The media portrays many stereotypes; many of which go unnoticed by most individuals. Despite our unawareness of these stereotypes they are still floating around in our brains affecting the schemas we create and the behaviors we display.

I was also drawn to Bandura's (2011) discussion of the misconception that modeling can only produce imitation or response mimicry. As a social animal and owner of three social animals I know that there is more to modeling than just imitation. I have often found it interesting to observe these social animals learn the "guiding principle" of a behavior and then "generate new version of the behavior that go beyond what they have seen and heard" (Bandura, 2011, p. 2). Everytime my husband and I make the trip back to Wisconsin and our dog gets to observe my parents' two dogs' behavior I notice new behaviors that she brings back with her to Kentucky. For example, after the first time we came home our pup had picked up the behavior of barking at intruders. However, she generated a more urban version of this and barked at dogs who were far away at the dog park. My own memories and experiences of my pets learning behaviors from each other inspired me to do a general Google search to see what other examples of modeling occurred and in particular with dogs. From this I ran across these two rather recent articles. Interestingly, many of the articles I read described dogs imitating human behavior; usually animals model behavior after animals of the same species.

http://news.sciencemag.org/sciencenow/2013/07/your-dog-is-a-copycat.html

http://news.discovery.com/animals/pets-dogs-imitate-people.htm

As is to be expected both articles discuss dogs' behavior as being imitation. Perhaps as Bandura states the dog imitate the human behavior and then later incorporate it into their own behaviors.

Activity 7.2

In my life I've had several potential careers destroyed by the beliefs I held in my ability to accomplish the necessary tasks in these areas. As a child I was enchanted by great female authors like Laura Ingalls Wilder and Gail Carson Levine. Laura was the main reason I kept journals almost my entire life and I've kept a letter from Gail just about as long. It was my dream to write books similar to the fantasies I so cherished.

However, my confidence in my ability to write was quashed by a series of writing failures in high school. In particular, I prefer to point to a teacher who made it clear she hated all my writing and once called it "wishy-washy." When I think back on it now, though, I might have started the class with a bruised sense of competence. I took this class my freshman year of high school and the course required we pass some test to get into it. My score on the test was not high enough and my mom had to have me put into the class. I also had a best friend that I frequently compared myself to who was not only the amazing, quirky writer I longed to be but she was also the teacher's particular favorite. Parajes (2006) states that social comparisons help contribute to our own perceived capability and in this case that she was more capable was reinforced my feelings of inability. We also constantly completed these quizzes where we'd get sentences and have to fix the punctuation, grammar errors, and then label everything in the sentence. Not only a very stressful situation but one in which I quickly decided I was unable to perform adequately. I frequently thought to myself, "This is just something I'll never be able to do," and basically turned my mind off to learning any of the necessary skills for becoming a writer. My low self-efficacious feelings for writing were finally cemented my senior year of high school when I took a college credit English course and again I felt I was working as hard as I could but my effort was not shown in the grades and feedback I was receiving.

Even though I lack confidence in my skill as a writer I still have a reader's passion that pushes me towards the hope of someday writing some form of book. I guess it's as Parajes (2006) indicates "self-efficacy is not so much about learning to succeed as it is learning how to persevere when one does not succeed" (p. 345). I have accepted that I am not to be the great author like my childhood heroes but I have not resigned myself to fully giving up and never trying.

Activity 7.1

In completing this activity I couldn't help but be reminded of school psychologists' beloved Urie Bronfenbrenner's own Ecological theory of development. The Ecological theory of development seeks to see each individual within his or her whole environmental context, taking into mind individual factors such as personality and behavior as well the larger environment such as the individual's family, community, and culture.  I also decided to take a general educator's view seeing as helping the general student population to become better learners will be one of my main goals as a school psychologist.

With Mr. Bronfenbrenner in mind, I created this list, doing my best to think of the learner with an Ecological view in mind.

One thing I struggled with in brainstorming this list was separating personal factors and behaviors. I sort of felt like behaviors could have fallen under the hat of personal factors.

Activity 6.3

Much Virtue in If

Though this chapter was difficult for me to grasp, I found some of the quotes in it to be some of the most eloquent in the book and one of the quotes I was most drawn to was this one:

"If free will were true, it would be absurd to have the belief in it fatally forced on our acceptance. Considering the inner fitness of things, one would rather think that the very first act of a will endowed with freedom should be to sustain the belief in the freedom itself. I accordingly believe freely in my freedom" (James, 1983, p. 93).

I have to admit my favorite line in this passage is "I accordingly believe freely in my freedom" (James, 1983, p. 93). I liked it so well I immediately read it to my husband who was slightly less interested than I. This quote speaks to my own struggle with determining the nature of free will. Do I only choose to believe in free will for a sense of security and control or is the fact that I believe in free will proof enough that free will exists? Is it habit to believe in having control over one's actions?

"The aim of the teacher should then be to make him simply forget. Drop the subject for the time, divert the mind to something else: then leading the pupil back by some circuitous line of association, spring it on him again before he has time to recognize it, and as likely as not he will go over it now without any difficulty" (James, 1983, p. 89). This quote brings to mind one of my favorite concepts learned in an Applied Behavior Analysis course I took last summer. One strategy we learned in this course is called High-p, or high probability requests. In this strategy if you are particularly struggling with getting a to complete a more difficult task it is recommended that you first ask the student to do tasks he or she has a high probability of being able to accomplish. Then, after asking the student to complete these easier tasks you next ask him or her to complete the more difficult task he or she was unwilling to complete before. Frequently, because of the prior success the student is more likely to attempt the more difficult task.

Finally, in James' response to what a moral act consists of his answer resonated with me and reminded me of both his past discussions as well as what we are currently learning:

"You can say that it consists in the effort of attention by which we hold fast to an idea which but for that effort of attention would be driven out of the mind by other psychological tendencies that are there. To think, in short, is the secret of will, just as it is the secret of memory" (James, 1983, p. 91).

According to James thinking is both key to memory as well as to free will. I believe thinking also ties into problem solving, learning, and Piaget's disequilibrium. Therefore, for me this quote not only ties into free will but also to a great deal of the content we've been learning about.

I found myself struggling with this post and hoped leaving it to the end would allow incubation to kick it. I sure hope it did!

Activity 6.5

Despite my uncertainty of the implications of technology on humans, I do believe it is clear that technology touches our behaviors in clear ways. For example, some changes I have seen is in our ability to socialize and our ability to show patience. Frequently, when I’m out dining with my husband or walking around I will see a pair or group of people all with their devices out, no one looking at each other or interacting with each other. Another such time I’ve noticed this constant need to be entertained is while driving. Whenever I look at other people in their cars whether it be at a stop light or a traffic jam everyone has their devices pulled out, swiftly scrolling through some page or another.

As one of the few individuals I know without a smartphone, I have to ask how do you resist the pressure of obtaining such devices? Is it worth it to resist? What is it about American culture that makes us so busy and stressed? Are other cultures with as much technology dependency as America so stressed? If not, why?

I asked my husband about technology’s effect on cognition and I found that what he had to say rang true. My husband said that with the increase of technology we are better able to find information but less able to remember it. 

Activity 6.4

After taking a class on school interventions I became very interested in study skills interventions. As I have said in a past blog post I was lucky enough to implement such an intervention with a student last semester. It quickly became clear to me that the intervention was mainly attempting to intervene in the student’s self-regulation skills. Zimmerman (2002) states that “after graduating from high school or college young adults must learn many important skills informally” (p. 66). I contend that study skills, and in particular self-regulatory skills, are never explicitly taught in schools at all, and instead are skills expected to be self-propagated by the student themself. Zimmerman also indicates that “conceptions of self-regulatory development at the time were limited to acquiring desirable personal habits” (p. 64). Though Zimmerman appears to feel that habits alone are not enough to develop effective self-regulation in my opinion James would disagree that the development of habits is not enough. Perhaps where they would agree is in the role of outside sources in helping to propagate this skill. I also agreed with Zimmerman’s point about the importance of self-efficacy. Chemistry is a subject I have never felt self-efficacy in. Because of this I often find myself giving up very early, becoming frustrated, and demonstrating no perseverance. All in all, I believe self-regulation plays a pivotal role in learning.

Activity 6.2

The video on math instruction brought to mind what we've been learning about information processing. One thing the teacher discussed was how math books are designed to not have students problem solve which as we have been learning this week and with Piaget's theories is an essential process and even analogous to learning. I was also reminded of Vygotsky's scaffolding when the teacher was discussing the layers of the math problem. The teacher using native attention grabbing tasks brought to mind James' theories of using a student's passive attention. Finally, the fact that the teacher discussed the importance of perseverance reminded me of this week's PPT and Dr. Usher's points around the importance of perseverance if students want to become more effective problem-solvers. Notably, I found it interesting how this math teacher has been using technology to enhance students' mathematical thinking after discussing possible fallbacks of technology on cognition.

Watching the Marshmallow Challenge video I was reminded of an activity I did a few years back when I was a camp counselor working with at-risk and disabled high school-aged youths. The campers had to create a flying craft out of one soda can, duct tape, and box cutters. The winner was the pair of campers whose flying craft flew the farthest. Their high stakes reward was 2 free sodas! Watching the campers go through the problem solving process I am now able to see many parallels to the Marshmallow Challenge. Many of the campers struggled with determining who the leader in the group was (or whether there should even be a leader). Some of the pairs would get really nothing done because they were unable to accomplish collaboration (no one wanted to get the ball rolling or one person would take over and not let the other contribute). Another issue I noted was many of the campers tried to make their flying crafts look like airplanes, a behavior which falls under functional fixedness as well as learning set. In the end, the campers who were most successful (like the marshmallow challenge conqueror) were the pairs who were willing to try something different, persevered, planned, and willing to keep modifying their flying craft.

Activity 6.1

Why is problem solving analogous to learning?

Once a person has determined the solution to a problem in the future that person is able to apply that solution to a similar problem. When an individual has learned the process of problem solving that individual is more able to problem solve in the future.

Is all learning problem solving or do we learn without solving problems?

Because a problem can be almost anything from having to use the bathroom to passing an exam almost all learning can be framed within a problem solving context.

An Important Problem

A problem I recently encountered is one dealing with my health. I’ve been lucky enough to not really be allergic to anything. However, I do have one pretty serious Achilles’ heel: poison ivy. This past week I’ve been camping in Wisconsin. As with anyone who has an allergy, I have quite a bit of knowledge about my allergen. I know what poison ivy looks like and I know what my symptoms look like. That being said, sometimes it is impossible to avoid. This Saturday, I was swimming at my family lake with my family. I rowed the boat out to our dock and began swimming. I began to notice my right hand was turning red- I also noticed the tell-tale bumpy rash. I gave attention to cues in the environment, what I had been touching and the reaction occurring on my hands. As Pretz et al. (2003) indicated, when “we approach a new situation, our knowledge based on prior experiences will influence our ability to define and represent a problem correctly” (p. 26). I have had poison ivy many times in the past and know the signs and symptoms- but did I ever really stop and think what else the rash could have arisen from. Despite this, I immediately washed my hands with camp soap and then washed the rest of my body. When we got back to our cabin I took a Zyrtec and applied hydrocortisone to the offending areas. Before bed I took a Bendaryl. I performed these behaviors because of my knowledge of past analogous problems, i.e. when I’ve experienced rashes in the past. When I woke up the next morning my hands had erupted in a rash covering almost every part of my fingers. I also noticed a suspicious red spot growing near my eyes and behind my leg. Typically, I am able to fight off an allergic reaction with antihistamines and hydrocortisone. However, I knew my goal was to travel back to Kentucky on Monday and it would be more of a constraint to find a doctor under my parent’s insurance there. In the end, I solved my problem by seeking expert help at an Urgent care center near my parent’s hometown. I am now prescribed a steroid and hope to see my rash diminish in severity. As Pretz et al. (2003) point out the earliest stages of problem solving process involve “Recognizing that a problem exists, defining the scope and goals of the problem, and representing information about that problem in a way that helps establish a viable path to solution” (p. 25-26). And importantly, Pretz et al. (2003) also discusses how when one problem is solved often another new problem will erupt, in my case the possibility of my rash reoccurring with a vengeance and not being able to find a doctor to prescribe new medication. 

The horror!!

Activity 5.4

When looking for the video for Activity 5.3 I almost selected a video from PBS about how technology is affecting our memory. I did not select this video because currently I do not believe we know fully how technology is affecting our cognition. I remember in undergrad we discussed how the use of GPS devices might affect our ability to think spatially and the long term creation of maps within our minds. I was actually shocked to learn that some people in my class didn't know how to get home from our small university without their GPS device. When I moved to Lexington I bought a GPS device and relied on it heavily for the first month I lived here. After that, I would often put away my GPS and try to get places on my own. Now, after living in Lexington for 2 years I know it relatively well. I believe technology can be a helpful device if used correctly and can be harmful if overly relied upon.

It is clear there are demerits in technology and our reliance on the internet. Often I find myself considering how technology might be affecting the increasing rates of ADHD we see in children. As Carr (2010) points out many people seem to be having attention focusing issues these days as we have come to rely on our multitasking fixes from the world wide web.  And as Carr (2010) is concerned about in his chapters in The Shallows, use of the internet might even have severe implications for our ability to create long term memories. However, I must also recall my own learning process and how that has been aided with the use of  a computer and the internet. As Roediger and Butler (2011) show with their paper, retrieval practice has been shown to produce gains in long-term retention of information. The internet is teeming with practice quizzes, create-your-own quiz templates, flashcards, and make-your-own flashcard templates as well. I was also reminded of this quote from James (1983) that I had used in my previous post: "The doctor, the lawyer...differ from other men only through the fact they know how to get at the materials for decision in five minutes or half an hour" (p. 70). One such way to get at these materials is through the internet. So, although Carr (2010) points out James' early concern for our memory it must also be said that James supports the use of resources. 

Finally, I was reminded  while reading the Carr excerpts of research I heard on NPR. This research was surrounding parents' concern for young children's' interest in iPads and the potential implications for the children's brains. The author in the article did sort of Piagetian experiment (i.e. on her own child) and allowed him to have full access  to the iPad. After a while, her son grew tired of the iPad like any other toy or game he owned. Will we as humans every grow tired of being plugged in to the internet? 

http://www.npr.org/2013/03/24/175173111/your-kids-brains-on-touch-screens

Importantly, from Carr's (2010) chapters I also took away the fact that our brains are very plastic. Even if we are negatively affecting a very important process hopefully if we change, our brains can return to their former selves.

Activity 5.2

Memory as Association

I found myself nodding along in awe to James' (1983) chapter on memory. Do not mistake me, I often enjoy James' character but find myself sort of updating things he says to be more applicable. In this chapter, I was amazed at how spot on James was about memory. I think my jaw literally dropped when I read the passage about cramming. People were cramming in 1892?

"In almost any subject your passion for subject will save you" (James, 1983, p. 67). When I wrote my blog post about my metaphor for learning one thing I really wanted to include was passion. The subject areas I have learned information for best have been those that I have been passionate about such as a Gender and Orientation class which resulted in my questioning of my everyday experience and how I defined myself as an individual.

There were a couple of excerpts in this chapter that I really thought were well written and thought provoking.

"Paths frequently and recently ploughed are those that lie most open, those which may be expected most easily to lead to results" (James, 1983, p. 59). This quotation actually reminded me of something Mary Ann said in class the other night after I had asked about how I was always taught the brain employs a "use it or lose it" theory. I believe Dr. Usher was discussing the stream of consciousness at the time and Mary Ann said that instead of getting rid of paths or roads altogether the paths unused become unkempt and hard to traverse.

A final quote that caught my eye in this chapter was: "The doctor, the lawyer...differ from other men only through the fact they know how to get at the materials for decision in five minutes or half an hour" (James, 1983, p. 70). Often I worry what I have gleaned out of my graduate education. Do I remember every topic I learned in every course? No, but as James elucidates I have learned the processes of finding this information.

One thing in this chapter I did question was, according to James, to memorize a sentence rather than hammering in the information you should analyze it and think about it. I had to think back to when I was in high school and participated in many plays. I would NEVER have been able to memorize my lines merely by analyzing and thinking about them. I think perhaps it would have aided me and perhaps I would've remembered them longer but I do not believe I would have been to memorize all those lines through that process.

Activity 5.3

Watch Saving Hubble Update, Gangster Birds, How Memory Works on PBS. See more from NOVA scienceNOW.

I chose the NOVA video "How Memory Works." I remember when H.M. died and at the time I was taking Physiological Psychology. My professor was a quirky soon-to-be-retired type and made us all watch the streaming of H.M.'s brain being sliced into tons of thin slices. I recall, at the time, freaking out that we were wasting a class as it was a rather difficult class. I think, after watching this video, I understand why he was so fascinated with H.M.'s brain.

This video is about long term memory. It starts with the anecdotal story of H.M. who struggled with severe epilepsy and because of this had his hippocampus removed. From H.M. we learned the importance of the hippocampus in long term memory because once H.M.'s hippocampus was removed he no longer could store memories from after the surgery. However, it was also discovered that although H.M. might have no recollection of learning he could still apparently learn. Finally, the video discussed  current rat research which shows that if the animal is given a certain drug immediately after it makes a memory the rat will then forget that memory.

I made several connections and had one question in response to this video. The question I had deals with erasing the poor ratty's memory. Does the drug administered only affect the recently formed memory or can it delete other memories? Has research been conducted looking at the all the effects of this drug and its effects on memories? This erasure of memory also reminds me of the Radiolab I recently posted which also discusses the research on this topic. One thing that really drew me was when one of the doctors said that you have a "slightly different head than you had today" everyday. It reminded me of Vygotsky who said something very similar with human development. Finally, H.M. and the research conducted with H.M. brought to mind past research I have learned about dealing with split-brains. Sometimes when individuals have particularly bad seizures they will undergo surgery that separates part of the midline of their brain. This helps prevent the seizures from spreading all over the brain. Once this surgery is conducted all kinds of interesting research can then be conducted on the individual. For example, I recall learning about individuals who had this "split-brain" and would experience one of their hands doing something in which they never recalled having "asked" their brain to do.

Here is a Wikipedia link if you're interested about split-brains.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Split-brain

Activity 5.1

Though I believe learning and memory are related I do not believe they depend on each other.

In thinking about all things I have learned, at least in my college years, I often think about a course I took in Entomology. Entomology is the subject my husband is studying and as I was a biology minor in undergraduate college I decided to take a course in it. As part of the course we had to memorize all the major insect orders and be able to spot insects that were part of each order. After two years of graduate school and filling my brain up with school psychology when conversing with my husband or his friends from the Entomology department I started to notice I couldn't verbally call up insect orders with the confidence I had once been able to. In particular I struggled with insects I rarely see on a daily occurrence; I could verbally recall what order a firefly belonged to but I could no longer remember what order a thrip belonged to. The orders of insects that I regularly saw and therefore thought of were still easily recalled but the ones I had not practiced seemed to have vanished. However, when I discussed the orders with my husband it was like for each order a little light was turning on. "Ah yes! Praying mantises are members of the order Mantodea!" Instead of having to recode the information into my brain I just had to dust it off a little. I tried finding a quote from James (1983) that I felt was related to this but was unable to locate it. Since I was unable to find the excerpt, I will instead summarize the gist. In the quote James states that a student who says they know an answer but can't exactly say what it is is different than a student who does not know at all. I believe this speaks to the difference of being able to verbally recall something versus knowing knowledge is floating around somewhere in your brain and you just can't say what it is.

I believe we remember vividly what we want to forget because of something called rumination. Unlike the knowledge I had gained from the Entomology course, things we wish to forget we repeatedly call up in our memory and think about, i.e. we ruminate about them. For example, say I had just taken an exam and thought I had bombed it. Though I want to move on and think about other things I keep bringing up questions in my head, thinking about if I answered them correctly, questioning whether I filled out all the pages, or looking up answers in my book. Instead of moving on and thinking about something else I keep bringing up the memories of the test, in short reliving it over and over again.

Activity 4.5

As I read the Pinker (2002) article this week I found myself writing lots of notes responding to what he was saying.

"People have no trouble overriding a stereotype when they have good information about an individual" (Pinker, 2002, p.204). This statement is in direct opposition to what I've frequently learned about the nature of stereotypes. I was always taught that when we find an individual who does not fit our stereotype we think of this individual as an exception to the rule. This probably has to do with what James says, in that it's easier to fit these people in our categories rather than creating new categories all together.

Do we change all terms merely to freshen them or is there more purpose to the change?

"Give a concept a new name, and the name becomes colored by the concept; the concept does not become freshened by the name" (Pinker, 2002, p. 213). I used to struggle with name changes and what the current PC word of the day was. I have come to understand that although changing the name does not change the category or the stereotypes associated with them, it displays respect for the individual. Further, I believe groups who are discriminated against are the only ones to say what is or what is not offensive. In my opinion even though many such words do change there are some words that are always offensive and only ever said to degrade and hurt others.

Here is a clip of a very good example (or bad, depending on how you look at it) that changing terms is more than just "tinkering" with terms to reengineer people's attitudes (Pinker, 2002).
http://mediamatters.org/blog/2010/08/12/full-audio-dr-laura-schlessingers-n-word-rant/169161
*There is a very serious and offensive word spoken in this video so if you don't want to hear it please feel free to just read the article around the sound clip.

Activity 4.4

Chapter 11: Attention
Summary
In this chapter, James explains his theories on attention and how teachers should instruct based on attention tendencies. He begins by explaining the difference between passive (spontaneous) and active (voluntary, requiring effort) attention. James discusses how teachers can attain and maintain attention in their students by both making subjects interesting and through the use of external methods for subjects that cannot be made interesting.

Connection 1
"Elicit interest from within, by the warmth with which you care for the topic yourself"(James, 1983, p. 56).

Dr. Usher has asked us at least once to recall our favorite teachers and what made them such. This quote from James clarifies what, in my opinion, is a characteristic of the best teachers and classes I've ever had. If your teacher does not care about the subject or topic he or she is teaching why should the student care? My favorite teachers were teachers who incited passion for a topic in me by demonstrating keen interest and passion in the subject themselves.

Connection 2
James' explanation of active and passive attention made me recall a concept from the Mayer (2012) article. With James' chapter on Attention it almost seems as if he is speaking to a learner's motivation. Mayer discusses motivation several times in his article but one passage that really stood out to me is Mayer's discussion of generative processing. According to Mayer generative processing "depends on the learner's motivation to exert effort to learn the material" (Mayer, 2012, p. 92). Therefore, I took this to mean that even if a learner must exert effort to pay attention if the learner has the proper motivation they will still learn the information.

Chapter 14: Apperception
Summary
Though I often get confused by James, I do really enjoy his "voice." With this chapter, James is using his particular voice to try and clear up confusions for teachers about apperception. According to James apperception is taking in information. What we perceive is colored by what we already know. Further, that at a certain point it becomes difficult to change the way you perceive things because of the influence of past information.

Connection 1
After conducting the perceptual activities for this week and then rereading James' Apperception chapter I came across this line, "We overlook misprints, imagining the right letters, though we see the wrong ones" (James, 1983, p. 78). It's amazingly true that our minds do just this. We've seen words over and over again and when things are slightly wrong our brain supplies what we know is right from our memory; ignoring that which does not make sense.

Connection 2
"In admitting a new body of experience, we instinctively seek to disturb as little as possible our pre-existing stock of ideas. We always try to name a new experience in some way which will assimilate it to what we already know" (James, 1983, p. 78).

As I read this excerpt my mind was immediately brought to Piaget's theory of assimilation. Clearly, James and Piaget had similar ideas about the process of constructing and categorizing knowledge.

Activity 4.3

Universal Teaching with an Individualized Twist

After living and learning with another human being for the past five years I know indepthly that people have different learning styles, for me, this is incontestable. Despite this, while reading the Pashler et al. (2009) article I tended to agree that teaching to an individual's preferred learning style does not necessarily mean the individual will learn information better. Many thoughts raced through my mind as I read this article. The first that I considered is the matter of the self-fulfilling prophecy. If you think you learn a certain way will you learn better that way simply because of holding the  preconceived notion that you will? I was also reminded of the age-old questions of "Are you an introvert or an extrovert?" or "Are you Type A or Type B personality?" It could be my indecisive nature, but I've always been flabbergasted by these typologies.  Like Pashler et al. (2009) I've found that such categories "classify people into supposedly distinct groups, rather than assigning people graded scores on different dimensions" (Pashler et al., 2009, p. 107). This is also applicable for many of the labels that students are diagnosed with.

After reading this article and past material for this course, I started constructing a potential solution (at least in my head). My whole life, I've been taught that trying to learn through several modalities was most effective. I'm not sure if this is just something my mom told me or what, but it has worked for me. Usually this plays out as me reading material, writing on the material, reading concepts out loud, rewriting the concepts down on paper, talking to my husband about the concepts, and pacing around rooms reviewing information. Reading this article I questioned if it would be most effective for teachers to universally teach to best practice through multiple modalities. To follow James' (1983) advice of inciting interest and attention through pairing information with native interests. To avoid behaviors Dr. Usher reveals in her PPT as "minimizing how well student can register the information presented" such as through poor classroom management, distracting mannerisms/presentation, etc. And then to pair these practices with allowing students to individually engage in required learning activities based on how the students feel they learn best and further to pair this with Skinner's lovely idea of teaching machines.

Does being called a "good" teacher mean by definition that when you teach, the information reaches all students? Is this possible?

Activity 4.2

I think these exercises are a pretty good indication of the way my memory works. The exercises I did best on I had to be able to connect to something. For example, I did rather well with the letter recall because I used a strategy I often use for studying. We were given the letters NRVFTPLBH (D). As soon as I saw them I came up with this mnemonic “Not Really Very Fun Time People Let’s Be Honest.” This was much easier to recall than just a random string of letters. Another example is with the country recall. First of all, I’m awful at geography- sometimes the knowledge of this alone is enough to stress me out into not learning it. For this exercise Dr. Usher hypothesized that we would remember based on primacy, recency, and distinctiveness. I, instead, remembered them based on personal associations, for example I have a friend named Chad, I just watched a TV episode about Yemen, my best friend from high school and I used to love the name “Botswana”, and I have a friend whose brothers are adopted from Ethiopia. Finally, these exercises are also indicative of what stress will do to my memory. For some reason, when I receive information rapid fire I tend to get stressed and my brain “shuts down.” This is what usually happens when I get a bunch of numbers! I try chunking them, singing them, anything- but as each one comes I start to freak out. Interestingly, I also see this occur when administering cognitive assessments which have sections for short term and working memory. Students are given a list of numbers and then asked to recall the numbers. Even if they are doing well, once there gets to be a long list of numbers often they just shut down rather than trying.

Activity 4.1: Facial Perception

In undergrad, I was lucky enough to conduct an independent research project as part of a class. My professor was really interested in perception and encouraged us to complete our experiment in this vein. My experiment was designed around my hypotheses of facial perception based on sex and expression. It was my thought that humans would be quicker to point out a face on a facial grid if it was displaying a threatening facial expression (in this case an angry face). I further hypothesized that individuals would also be faster based on the sex of the person making the facial expression, with males being recognized faster than females. I based these hypotheses on both evolutionary factors and societal upbringing; it would make sense that we are able to pick out threatening faces quicker for our own safety. Further, based on our upbringing people typically are taught to fear males more than females.

The very old poster from my undergraduate experiment.

Here are the videos for my source of information:



This is a BBC Documentary called The Human Face. John Cleese is the host if anyone loves Monty Python (I do!). These are just 2 of the episodes (there are another 2 online). As these episodes are both long instead of watching them I'll just summarize some of the most interesting and relevant points. The videos elucidate several interesting factoids relating to facial perception. One that really stood out for me was the story of a man with Asperger's syndrome who struggled with understanding peoples' facial expressions; an ability that so many of us take for granted. The first part also discusses how in other cultures displaying facial expressions such as smiling are never really taught. This is connected to how at very young ages babies learn to emulate facial expressions from those around them. Part 2 is more related to facial recognition, but again is related to facial perception and our memory for faces. A particularly thought provoking anecdotal story was about a man who because of an accident was no longer able to recognize faces, even of his own children. From this video I also learned that we learn to recognize individuals by looking for features that differentiate them from the norm. Therefore, frequently we are better able to recognize caricatures than simple line drawings. It was also discussed how emotions are tied to our facial memories and how this tie can be both a helpful and complicating factor. A particularly distressing story was shared about a woman who was raped.  The individual she identified as having committed the rape was then incarcerated for many years before DNA testing was developed and then revealed that another man had in fact raped this woman. This video brought up the fact that memory is complicated and we are not computer-like in our ability to remember facts. Everytime we think about a memory we reconstruct it potentially changing it (something the radiolab podcast talks about as well). This video also discussed our greater ability to recognize those within our own race; another potential explanation for this woman's tragic mistake (for both her and the man who was wrongfully incarcerated).  

I first connected facial perception with the content for this week after watching the PBS video about magic in which they were discussing how the brain decides what to pay attention to and how even during a magic trick in which we are trying watch someone's hands we are still paying attention to that person's face. I also associated human facial recognition and perception with our evolutionary heritage to survive and adapt to our environment. 

"The human brain equips us to thrive in a world of objects, living things, and other people. Those entities have a large impact on our well being, and one would expect the brain to be well suited to detecting them and their powers" (Pinker, 2002, p. 197).

"Our perceptual systems are designed to register aspects of the external world were important to our survival" (Pinker, 2002, p. 199). 

There are many types of learning and learning to recognize the faces of individuals you know and understanding the emotions on someone's face; these are abilities that are essential to our ability to thrive.

This last link is unrelated to facial perception but is a fascinating link about memory. I also find Radiolab to be incredibly engrossing so if you get chance you should really listen to their podcasts.

http://www.radiolab.org/2007/jun/07/

Activity 3.4

After reading through the O’Donnell article this Simpsons’ episode does seem to show some examples of constructivism; students participate in whole class discussions as well as working with pairs of students. According to O’Donnell, the classroom environment aligns most closely with Moshman’s endogenous constructivism. The teacher was more of a “coordinator” and provides the objects (books, laboratory equipment, etc.) in the environment for students to explore and manipulate. One way in which the environment was not an example of constructivism was that not all students were taught at their level or their ZPD.

Activity 3.3

One of the tenets of Vygotsky’s theory is the importance of language in learning. As Dr. Usher made clear in her PPT, Vygotsky thought that “once language develops, cognition is language.” James, too, elucidates the importance of language in learning stating, “In all these later studies, verbal material is the vehicle by which the mind thinks… after adolescence has begun, ‘words, words, words’ must constitute a large part… of what the human being has to learn” (James, 1983, p. 73). A solid example demonstrating this is from a Memory and Thinking course I took in undergrad in which we discussed how memories are much more vivid after individuals have developed language. This is largely hypothesized to be explained by the development of language which becomes one of the main routes individuals think and experience things. So, although language is very important in the process of cognition it does not necessarily mean that one cannot occur without the other.

(Pages 72 and 73 of James’ text clearly had a wealth of application information for me (: )

Activity 3.2

“There is a native tendency to assimilate certain kinds of conception at one age, and other kinds of conception at a later age. During the first seven or eight years of childhood the mind is most interested in the sensible properties of material things “(James, 1983, p. 72)

“It is not till adolescence is reached that the mind grows able to take in the more abstract aspects of experience, the hidden similarities and distinction between things, and especially their casual sequences…Later still, not till adolescence is well advanced, does the mind awaken to a systematic interest in abstract human relations… to sociological ideas and to metaphysical abstractions” (James, 1983, p. 73)

While reading the assigned chapters this week, these two excerpts really leapt out at me as tying into Piaget’s developmental periods of cognitive development. Like Piaget, James lays out important developmental stages that a teacher should try to teach to.  While Piaget points towards teaching at developmental levels based on what a student is capable of understanding, James indicates that having a subject “thrust upon him so prematurely that disgust” would be created (James, 1983, p. 73). I took this to point more towards using a student’s primitive interests and then associating other material with that at appropriate developmental time periods, as James discussed in a previous chapter.

Activity 3.1

According to Piaget's cognitive constructivist theory, learning occurs when individuals experience disequilibrium or a kind of cognitive uncomfortable feeling caused by new or unfamiliar concepts/information. Individuals must then go through the process of equilibration to return to equilibrium or a kind of cognitive harmony. Individuals can actively adapt to this new information by either including it in a current category (schema) or by creating a new category (schema). When an individual includes this information in a current category this is known as assimilation. When an individual must create a new category this is known as accomodation.


Questions: I find it interesting that I've learned about Piaget MANY times and haven't ever heard the terms equilibrium, disequilibrium, or equilibration. I wonder why in the past I've never really learned about it?

Activity 2.5

I took an IAT on race, on sexuality, and one on weight. I have some issues with the way the one on sexuality was created but I really thought the IAT on race was really interesting. For the IAT on race, I was first told a story about an apocalypse and then shown pictures of people who were my friends and allies who were also black. After this, I was given the IAT. I thought perhaps that I'd have to recognize these people later because I've read research that says you are able to recognize individuals of your own race better so I really studied them. Clearly, this was a priming activity and I wondered how strong of an effect it had on my results. While completing the IAT on weight I considered how the effects would be different for plain negative words like “angry” versus words that are frequently associated with being overweight like “lazy.”

I believe, as James states, that “the more of the details of our daily life we can hand over to the effortless custody of automatism, the more of our higher powers of mind will be set free for their own proper work” (James, 1983, p. 34). If we are able to turn over some of our thinking to habit it frees our mind to add on to those bases and continue to learn and think about more difficult and complex things. Gladwell discusses how though this implicit learning can be negative “sometimes we’re better off if our mind makes the decision for us.” Most importantly, these associations that we make throughout our life might dictate our behavior Gladwell, James, and the video with Alan Alda all let us know that just because the learning might be outside of consciousness does not mean it is outside of our control. Therefore, our future behavior is changeable and within our ability to modify.

Activity 2.4

Is There a Place for Reinforcement in Education?

When reading these two authors’ philosophies of behavior applied to our everyday lives I saw incongruences and some overlap. Clearly Pryor takes the more traditional behavioral approach of operant and classical conditioning. She takes the view that if positive reinforcement is applied correctly (timely and with an actually reinforcing stimulus) most behaviors can be modified (excluding severe problems in humans and animals). Kohn on the other hand takes the view that reinforcement (praise) is over used and harmful. Motivation should not be something manipulated from a parent/teacher but fostered and encouraged to come from within the child. One overlap I found interesting is Kohn’s point of manipulating children and one of Pryor’s last points that rewarding “someone else in hope of gain to oneself doesn’t work; it backfires on the simplest level” (Pryor, 2002, p. 163). This statement does appear to agree with Kohn.

Though I find my own philosophy aligning more closely with Pryor I have seen children who suffer from some of the effects of praise that Kohn points out. For example, I worked with a student to improve his mathematics skills and in particular his counting. We did many activities together but to take data I always had my student count as far as he could at the end of our sessions. When we first started working on a new concept he would take a very long time to begin and once he started would frequently look up at me with a look of apprehension, hesitant to answer. However, I have also seen the benefits of positive reinforcement for a student who rarely receives it from anyone. Like Pryor with this student, I have learned that “training can provide a lot of illumination-not only to the subject but about the subject” (Pryor, 2002, p. 157). Most importantly, for this student implementing some type of positive reinforcement (in his case a token economy) demonstrated both to the student and his teacher that the student was able to modify his behavior and that behavioral strategies were effective, something that was really good for the teacher to learn.

Ultimately, I believe that positive reinforcement and verbal praise have a place within schools and parenting. However, I also agree that it is largely administered incorrectly. Over and over again we have learned that praise should be specific to the individual. Also, though Kohn feels that Dweck’s research is support for his argument I still personally believe it supports the type of praise we should give students helping to encourage motivation within the student to persevere.

As a side note: Did anybody else wonder what an “Education expert” was? 

Activity 2.3

The main point of Skinner's article was that education is currently dysfunctional. According to Skinner it is neither the teacher nor the student's fault but instead that society is rejecting behaviorism within the schools. Skinner indicates that he feels that American education's problems could be solved by what I took as two main ways (though he listed more) through allowing a student to learn at his/her own pace and therefore fixing the problem of motivation and bad behavior within the schools.

I do believe Skinner would be ashamed of American education today. I know within School Psychology individualized education is something we are really striving for; however, it is not currently the norm within schools. I believe a lot of what Skinner said was dysfunctional about schools continues to be dysfunctional. For example, he brought up the fact that many college professors who teach teachers how to teach are not effective teachers themselves. It continues to be this insidious cycle. I also know that within schools computers are being implemented more for progress monitoring and the like but they are still not sources of instruction.

I think, based on the article, that Skinner would definitely support the School of One approach. "Teaching machines" are being employed, students are taught at their own pace, and everyone seems to be much more motivated.

Finally, I think Skinner makes it quite clear in the video clip that freewill does not exist, that it is a fad of this century, and an imagined internal state. Therefore, it has no base in learning.

This is a gif from Dr. Who that popped into my mind while reading about the type of education Skinner envisioned.

http://imgflip.com/i/20qmy

Activity 2.2

Behaviorism is a scientific analysis of behavior. According to behaviorism behavior is both lawful and determined based on the environment. Further, that all internal states can be determined by observing someone or something's behavior. Behavior occurs based on addition (positive) or subtraction (negative) of a stimulus that either increases (reinforcement) or decreases (punishment) said behavior. It is further modified based on conditioning (classical or operant).

Activity 2.1

I'm not sure it's possible to separate behavior into something so dichotomous as habit or freewill. Thinking about my daily activities a lot of what I do is not simply habit or freewill. Some of it is more a mixture; for example, consider my bathing activities. I shower usually every morning; however, sometimes if I have to wake up early the next day I choose to shower in the evening. When I take a shower, many of the motions I go through to clean myself are based on habit. However, I'm big believer of owning a variety of shampoos so usually I have to choose which shampoo or body wash to use. Also, the way in which I shower was originally a conscious choice that after completing time and time again became habit. Further, when I think of activities such as sleeping it's not fully habit or freewill. I have a habit of going to sleep at certain time every night but mostly it's controlled by a biological need to sleep. Is a biological necessity habit or freewill? I also have a habit of sleeping in certain positions  etc. However, I am also able to control many aspects of my sleep cycle like when I go to sleep, etc. So, factoring out things that are based on biological necessity (aspects of eating and sleeping) here is my habit vs. freewill chart.



Graphing

Activity 1.5

Preface

I took James' preface to be a brief summary of what was to come and sense of who he is or maybe I just gleamed it from the way he writes. The preface lets us know that the information presented in this book will be both applicable and accessible.

When reading this I thought of consulting with teachers within the school. If I presented information full of jargon and abstract concepts would this actually help them improve their practices? Probably not, I would definitely not only help the teacher more with information that is accessible and applicable but the teachers would be more likely to come back to me for other problems as well not hate me!

Chapter 1

This chapter discusses how teachers can use psychology within their practices. James states that psychology is not necessarily something that teachers need to actively use or that teachers need to feel that they need to contribute to it (and that they don't have to feel guilty about this). Further, James makes the point that psychology is a science that does not immediately bring out applicable strategies for an art such as teaching; it requires a go-between such as teacher.

I really latched on to James' statement that "the science of logic never made a man reason rightly, and the science of ethics...never made a man behave rightly. The most such sciences can do is to help us catch ourselves up and check ourselves...A science only lays down the lines within which the rules of the art must fall." When reading this I thought of arguments I had in the past with my brothers about the usefulness of psychology. Unlike James, my brothers did not understand because of the complexity of humans and our ethical boundaries of working with humans the science of psychology is not as direct as "hard science" and instead lays down guidelines that are used in the arts of psychology such as teaching, counseling, or school psychology.

Chapter 2

In this chapter, James explains the stream of consciousness which basically means that humans are constantly undergoing some complex consciousness whether that be a sensation, thought, or feeling.

This concept brings to mind the fact that I frequently am thinking of other things while completing tasks. For example, while re-reading a certain excerpt in Chapter 1 I found myself scheduling my day and considering my past responses to other questions and snickering (internally) to myself about a mud-covered turtle.

Chapter 3

This chapter focuses on the functions of the stream of consciousness. From what James stated in this chapter I took the base function of our consciousness to be that of a practical one, mainly used for adapting to our environment. All other functions of our consciousness are built from this building block of adaptation, even activities that may seem unpractical are connected to this building block.

So far, many of these chapters are reminding me of what I briefly learned about the field of evolutionary psychology. This is a very controversial field as a lot of the conclusions that are being drawn are controversial in themselves and developed by controversial means. For example, I recall reading about an evolutionary psychologist who explained why rape occurs. Like James, he explained this behavior as serving a base practical functioning which many people see as controversial.

Chapter 4

In this chapter, James defines what education means. According to James, education is "the organization of acquired habits of conduct and tendencies to behavior." James further explains how this education affects our behavior even to most base and innate behaviors such as moving our mouths to speak.

One connection I can think of for this chapter is the way that James discusses how education is different in England vs. Germany. It brings to mind the fact that as school psychologist we are constantly reminded to view a student ecologically, taking into account their culture, their education, their family, and their personal characteristics. 

Activity 1.4

What does it mean to be educated?

What being "educated" means is entirely dependent on who you ask. To most people, being educated implies a certain amount of advanced schooling, whether this be through a technical college, undergraduate college, or graduate school. Depending on the population in which you live your educated status can change. If I work in a school I will be considered relatively "educated" based on the degrees I hold. However, if I work in a university I will be considered below average not having attained a PhD. I believe there is a difference between being educated and knowledgeable or skillful and I do not believe any one has more merit than another.

Activity 1.3

What is learning?

Learning is the interaction between innate, intrinsic factors and extrinsic factors constantly in flux to produce some change in a human.

The Five Most Intriguing Principles (Alexander, Schallert, and Reynolds, 2009)

• Principle 2: Learning is Inevitable, Essential, and Ubiquitous 
• I was really drawn to this principle and found it to be incredibly true, especially the fact that learning is not only going to happen but it has to happen to be a successful creature. While reading this section it brought to mind something I learned from a PBS special about crows. Crows are truly interesting learners. There was an experiment done in which an  experimenter wore a mask and performed a behavior to seriously scare the crows (such as shooting off a cap gun). Years later when he came back wearing the mask again the offspring of these original crows that the experimenter had scared began a warning call and swooped threateningly at the experimenter. In essence, they had been taught by the generation who had been scared by the experimenter that this was someone to be fearful of. This behavior could be seen as quite necessary; the offspring have learned to be more successful from their predecessors. 
• Principle 3: Learning Can Be Resisted

• Immediately upon reading this passage I began to think of racism in our current society. Many people do not want to learn that racism is still prevalent both implicitly and explicitly in our society for many reasons. Perhaps it is uncomfortable for them or perhaps if they accepted that they were being benefited by someone else's disadvantage they would realize how wrong and unacceptable that is.
• Principle 4: Learning May Be Disadvantageous

• This principle brought to mind something I learned in an Abnormal Psychology class in undergrad. Apparently, the actual addictive chemicals in cigarettes leave the human system rather quickly. What continues to fuel the addiction to smoking is our associations with smoking. Perhaps you smoke when you first wake up, when you drive, after you eat lunch etc. The behavior of smoking so many times and associating with these other behaviors is what makes it truly hard to stop because the moment you sit in the car your hand goes immediately to your pack of cigarettes just out of "habit."
• Principle 5: Learning Can Be Tacit and Incidental as Well as Conscious and Intentional 

•  I think this principle really goes hand-in-hand with the last principle (of course not always). Often the things that we learn that can be disadvantageous seem to be learned incidentally. An example I can think of is forming relationships. Typically, this is not something we go about explicitly learning, perhaps we watch our parents and our siblings and emulate the relationships we have seen in our past. On the flip side; however, I know from working with students that sometimes they never learned these skills incidentally for whatever reason and benefit from being explicitly taught how to form relationships appropriately through Social Skills training.
• Principle 6: Learning is Framed by Our Humanness
• This was another principle I found really interesting not only because of how different humans perceive things but how we perceive how other animals learn or what is considered intelligent. For example, my brother and I both have dogs and are interested in dogs as well. From a dog-related argument with my brother I learned that some researcher or another created a ranking of dog breeds based on intelligence. What I find so interesting about this is that it is framed by our own perception of what we think intelligence is in a dog. 

Activity 1.2

After some thought, I have decided that learning being like fishing is the most appropriate metaphor for me. Learning can be likened to fishing for several reasons. Like learning there are many different types of fishing: you can fly fish, ice fish, take a worm and bobber approach, or if you’re extra zealous grab them out of the water with your hands. Not only do we choose these certain styles of fishing because we enjoy them we choose them because we know what works best for us. Similar to learning, fishing can have many different motivators. You can fish to feed yourself/family or just for the pure pleasure and excitement. Again, like learning fishing brings in a variety of things; sometimes most unexpectedly. I recall a particularly exciting fishing trip in which my husband was bringing in what we thought would be a whopper of a fish but turned out to be terrifying and mud-covered, angry turtle! Depending on the motivation behind what you reel in and what’s on the end of that line you will also choose to do different things with it. Perhaps you determine the fish isn’t something you need so you let it go. Motivation is an essential component to my learning. Without proper motivation most of what I reel in is returned to the water after all I only have so much space in my live well and I’ll only keep what I know I’ll use.

Activity 1.1: An Introduction

Hello summer-class goers!

My name is Rachel Wagner. Typically, people just call me Rachel and I have never really had a nickname catch on. So, Rachel will do just fine!

I am from Sobieski, Wisconsin which is about a 30 minute drive north of Green Bay, where the Green Bay Packers play. I went to undergraduate college in River Falls, WI, which is an hour drive east of the Twin Cities (Saint Paul and Minneapolis). There I majored in Psychology with a minor in Biology. With this class I am finishing 3 of my 9 final needed credits to receive my Educational Specialist degree in School Psychology. With an Ed.S. in School Psychology I am hoping to work in a school district as a school psychologist.

On a personal level I enjoy the outdoors: fishing, hiking, biking, camping, canoeing. etc. I also adore crafting! A day is well spent crocheting, making jewelry, drawing/painting, or looking for new crafts to try. I also enjoy spending time with my dog or my two cats. Finally, when I have the time I love to read fantasy books!

This summer, I hope to be able to go hiking in the Smoky Mountains and go camping in North Carolina as I've never been east much. I am also looking forward to returning to Wisconsin and spending some time on the my family's lake fishing and swimming.

I look forward to figuring out this whole blogging deal and seeing what new interesting things I learn from this adventure!

Rachel


This is a picture of me and my dog, Kinnie. Her full name is Kinnickinnic, which is a beautiful river in River Falls, WI.