School Experience

Reflection Journal
EDUC 250-Educational Psychology
NAME: __Melody Lutz____________

DATE: _4/24/16 ______________

SCHOOL: North Dearborn

TEACHER: _____Shattuck_____

GRADE LEVEL: 5th______________

GENERAL EDUCATION: __X___

Once placement is established, you will participate weekly in a 20 hour school experience at an
assigned cooperating school. This journal is a way of keeping track of your experiences for
purposes of developing into a professional teacher.
To fulfill the 20 hour school experience requirement of this course, you will write answers to the
chapter prompt provided. In addition to responding to the topic, please also write a brief
reflection of something that impressed you about your experience of the particular week.
Use this Word document to type your responses and reflection to each prompt. Please use your
discretion and answer the questions when you think you have observed something relevant to the
question. You need to answer half of the questions for each of the two times that the journal is
submitted for grading.
This school experience journal will be handed in two times on dates listed in the calendar of the
syllabus. There 50 possible points for handing in each of the two journal assignments by the
due date. That is a total of 100 points for the entire school experience.
Text: Ormrod, Jeanne Ellis with Brent Jones. Essentials of Educational Psychology: Big
Ideas to Guide Effective Teaching, 4e, with eText. Boston: Pearson, 2015.
Chapter 2-Learning, Cognition, and Memory
In Chapter 2 of the text, reread sections on how to encourage storage of information in long-term
memory, especially p. 29-33.
Design a way to enhance long term memory for students with whom you are working or tutoring.
Explain what information you are trying to get them to retain in long term memory. Then
describe the specific steps you are taking to achieve that goal.
Response: I am trying to get the students to retain the formulas used to find area. The first thing
I can do to help the students is while we are learning the formula for each shape always have
them posted around the room. Then as time goes on, remove the formulas and have the students

practice area problems without the visible formulas. Repeat this process until the students have a
strong grasp on what formulas go with each shape.

Reflection: From this experience I will be able to apply it to other situations that will help me
teach students long-term information.
Chapter 3-Learning in Context
In Chapter 3, we discussed the differences among positive reinforcement, negative
reinforcement, presentation punishment, and removal punishment. Each of these types is briefly
described on p. 63 of the text.
During your work with the student(s) in tutoring or Response to Intervention (RTI) settings,
think of a time when you needed to apply some form of positive or negative reinforcement or
punishment. From the ones described in Chapter 3, explain two different examples when you
used some type of reinforcement or punishment. Be specific by naming the type you employed
as well as in your description of it.
Response: When helping students with reading, I used positive reinforcement when the student
would say a word wrong. I would help them pronounce it. When students do bad on a test, I will
call them up and discuss what the lesson was over and do examples that are not on the test, then I
will send them to their desks and give them the chance to fix their answers for a better grade.
This is positive reinforcement because they are receiving a higher grade if they choose to do the
work.

Reflection: After using this reinforcement, I will be able to apply this to other situations when I
am in a classroom of my own. It will make it easier to help the students because I already have
experience with it.

Chapter 4-Complex Cognitive Processes

Response: When I am working with students and going over papers that they didnt finish.
Whether it be that they didnt have time or they just chose not to. I will let them have the chance
to finish these problems and then stop when I believe they understand that they need to finish it
before the due date. Another strategy is to have morning work that is a participation grade. If
they complete it they get the credit. This will motivate them to finish this work and to finish their
other assignments so they dont lose credit.

Reflection: Experiencing this and using these strategies now will help me in the future with
promoting everyones behavior because I have already experienced it.
Chapter 5- Cognitive Development
Chapter 5 examines cognitive development and intelligence. Think about your interactions with
the student(s) in the grade level of your placement. Think about the teaching strategies you used
during tutoring or working with the student(s).
Explain whether or not the teaching strategies that you employed encouraged development of
logical thinking abilities. You may want to reread p. 153-157 in your textbook.
Identify types of activities that are enhancing intellectual development. What activities did you
use that exemplify ways of addressing multiple intelligences? You may want to revisit multiple
intelligences on p. 162 in your text.
Response: Reading a story out loud to students when they have nothing in front of them they use
spatial intelligence to figure out images in their mind of what I am reading. This helped their
logical thinking because they got make their own idea and not have a picture influence them.
Interpersonal intelligence is used when I bring the students back to work together and bounce
ideas off of each other.
Reflection: Already having experience with multiple intelligences will make it easier for me in
the future because I can base activities to meet all of them and figure out what works best for
each student.

Chapter 6-Motivation and Affect

Review the characteristics of learners exhibiting mastery goals and students demonstrating
performance goals on p. 202. Be mindful that students who have mastery goals desire to acquire
additional knowledge or learn new skill for the sake of learning. Students who exhibit
performance goals wish to demonstrate high ability and make a good impression.
How would you categorize many of the students in terms of goals (mastery or performance) in
the tutoring or RTI setting that you regularly visit? What caused you to reach this conclusion?
How might you encourage students to engage in mastery goals?
Did you see any signs of anxiety or other forms of affect in students in the tutoring or RTI setting
of your school experience? Revisit p. 217 and explain your response.
Response: Im working with fifth graders, and honestly most of them seem pretty uninterested in
school right now. They are at the stage where making friends is becoming the most important
thing. There is a few students who do show goals. When I call them back and am correcting a
paper some of them are so eager to figure out what they did wrong and they get so excited when
they get it right. I can encourage these goals by having an incentive when they get better grades.
I see some anxiety with students who still are having trouble grasping comprehension of stories
we read. They get very tongue-tied when I ask them questions about something we have just
read.
Reflection: After working with different grade levels, I have realized its harder to work with
certain ones. Many dont have as many goals or they have higher anxiety. After dealing with this
it will help in the future for me to help fix their anxiety and motivate the students.