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My hypothetical class will be a 7th-grade history class. I plan to make my classroom a safe environment for my students to grow and mature in their academic journey. I want a healthy environment for my students and my classroom to be an engaging learning environment that supports all of my students.

Size

The class size will be around 20-25 students. This is a good size classroom because, with fewer students, it offers several benefits compared to a class with more students. For example, a smaller classroom size allows you as a teacher to have more Personalized Attention to your students, which leads to more engagement among your students because, In smaller classes, students tend to participate more actively in discussion activities, share their perspectives, and engage in asking questions.

demography

Demographically, my class will have various students from various backgrounds, including different ethnicities, cultures, and language abilities. Having students from different nationalities in your classroom leads to a language barrier. I plan on handling that problem by providing Bilingual Materials such as textbooks, worksheets, and reading materials. Having material in your student's primary language helps that student understand the content more effectively and promotes inclusivity. I'll use technology, such as translation tools, to do this.

Subject

The subject of my class will be 7th-grade history, covering a wide range of historical periods, events, and themes of Texas history. In Texas, the 7th-grade history curriculum focuses on four main topics: history, geography, economics, and government. Students will explore the history of Texas from its early beginnings to the present day, including issues such as Native American cultures, European exploration and colonization, the Texas Revolution, the Civil War, Reconstruction, and modern Texas history.

diverse educational abilities,

With the responsibility of being an educator, you must be able to recognize that all of your students will not all learn the same, and as educators, we must be diverse in the way we present our educational material. For example, growing up, I struggled with Attention and Focus, and I recognize that some of my students may suffer from this, which can impact their ability to stay engaged during lessons. I will make sure that my students have accommodations such as preferential seating, frequent breaks, or alternative strategies to maintain focus put into place.

Lesson design and delivery

Within my lesson and how I deliver that lesson, I plan on utilizing many different teaching techniques. To start the class, I will get my student's minds engaged by having a warmup and then a class discussion over the warmup. I will have this warmup on the board and print out audio versions to help students with visual or auditory impairments. Next, I will have a lesson and PowerPoint over the day's subject, where the students will take notes. I will have alternate ways of notes, such as printed-out versions, for any students that need accommodation. After the lesson, I will end the day with a fun and engaging activity for the students that still relates to the information we learned that day.

Conclusion

In conclusion, my 7th-grade history class will be a space aimed at creating a healthy and engaging learning environment for all students. With a smaller class, I strive for more personalized attention and active discussion participation. The class will have students from different backgrounds, and to address any language barriers, bilingual materials, and technology tools will be used. The subject of the class will cover various historical periods and themes of Texas history, allowing students to explore and understand the complete picture. I will have different accommodations in my classroom recognizing diverse educational abilities, accommodations such as preferential seating, and alternative strategies will be implemented to cater to individual student needs. Lesson design and delivery will involve warmups, class discussions, note-taking, and fun and engaging activities relating to the day's lesson. Overall, this classroom will strive to provide a safe, inclusive, and stimulating environment where students can grow and excel in their academic journey.

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Jean Piaget was a Swiss psychologist and a genetic epistemologist. You probably have the heart of this name due to Jean Piaget's Theory of cognitive development, for which he is most famous. Piaget's Theory focuses on how children develop intellectually throughout childhood. Piaget studied the intellectual development of his three children, which helped him create a theory that describes the four stages children pass through in the development of intelligence and formal thought processes.

Here are the four stages

Sensorimotor stage: This is the first stage of development and usually lasts from birth to age 2. At this point in development, children know the world primarily through their senses and movements.

Preoperational stage: The second stage of development lasts from the ages of 2 to 7 and is focused on the development of language and the emergence of symbolic play that accrues during these ages.

Concrete operational stage: The third stage of cognitive development lasts from the age of 7 to approximately age 11. At this point, logical thought emerges, but children still struggle with abstract and theoretical thinking.

Formal operational stage: In the fourth and final stage of cognitive development, lasting from age 12 to adulthood, children become much more adept at abstract thought and deductive reasoning.

Piaget's Theory's strengths

Piaget's Theory has been highly influential in developing education policies and teaching practices.

Methods of studying children were reviewed after his findings and have been used ever since

His findings influenced many more researchers over the years, and research continues to this day, with Piaget's original works at its foundation.

Weaknesses

Some research has since found that the stages are not fixed, and children can revert backward or miss steps completely.

Some research suggests that some adults are incapable of abstract thinking and, therefore, do not make it through the stages.

Piaget was criticized for not considering emotion when carrying out his research – he was only interested in how children think and reason, not how they feel.

Jean Piaget's Theory of Cognitive Development: 4 Stages (simplypsychology.org)

Piaget Learning Theory: Stages Of Cognitive Development - (teachthought.com)

A lot of my own notes

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Information processing theory

Information processing theory is a cognitive theory that studies the mental processing involved in acquiring, storing, and using information. The origins of information processing theory can be traced back to George Miller, a cognitive psychologist and computer scientist. Miller states that the human mind is seen as an information processor like a computer. They suggested that events and individual pieces of information are processed in stages such as encoding, storage, and retrieval. There are many different models of information processing theory, and they vary in different ways, but they are primarily composed of four main elements.

Encoding:

This stage involves the initial input and acquisition of information. It converts sensory input (such as sights, sounds, and touch) into a form that can be processed and stored in memory.

Storage:

Once the information is encoded, it is stored in memory for later retrieval and use. In this stage, the data can be held in short-term or long-term memory.

Retrieval:

This stage involves retrieving stored information from memory for thought, decision-making, problem-solving, and other cognitive processes.

Execution:

This final stage involves the execution of cognitive processes, such as thinking, reasoning, problem-solving, and decision-making.

Examples of how to use information processing theory in the classroom

Gain the students' attention. (Use clues to signal when you're ready to begin the day or the lesson.)

Bringing up previously learned relevant topics. (Review and discuss the prior day's lesson.)

Show students how to categorize similar information. (Present new information grouped into categories and teach inductive reasoning.)

Facilitate repetition as a way to learn. (Incorporate parts of the previous day's lesson when presenting new information.)

Strengths

A notable strength of information processing theory is that it provides a good framework for understanding how humans acquire, store, and retrieve information. Overall, information processing theory is a valuable tool for studying cognitive processes in different aspects.

My favorite attribute that information processing theory brings to the table is that it has practical applications in education. Information processing theory has helped develop many cognitive training programs and provide interventions for individuals with cognitive impairments.

Weaknesses

One potential area for improvement with Information processing theory is that Information processing theory primarily focuses on cognitive processes and needs to account for the influence of emotions or motivation on information processing. Using a computer as a metaphor for the human mind has proven beneficial but also limited. Things like emotions or motivations don't influence computers in their ability to learn and remember information,

sources

What is Information Processing Theory? Stages, Models & Limitations | Research.com

Information Processing Theory in Psychology (simplypsychology.org)

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Theory of Core Knowledge

Cognitive psychologist Elizabeth Spelke proposes the Theory of core knowledge. It expresses humans are born with innate, domain-specific cognitive structures that enable children to understand and interact with the world. This Theory states that Children learn from their environment and are paid with basic knowledge skills about sense, smell, and hearing. Unlike the other three theories, core knowledge has no stages because learning and brain growth come with time, and no age stage can affect the outcome. A child's ability will grow at its rate.

Strengths

Core knowledge acknowledges that children learn by having cognitive structures from birth. This doesn't pressure the child to have a specific learning structure by a certain age; it lets the child know freely when retaining knowledge and growing as a human.

Weakness

Critics have stated that this Theory primarily focuses on specific domains, such as physics, biology, and psychology, and does not fully account for other fields like social, emotional, or moral development.

sources
9.5: Theory of Core Knowledge - Social Sci LibreTexts

HesposCoreKnowledge-tj0tcw.pdf (cpb-us-e1.wpmucdn.com)

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Lev Vygotsky’s Sociocultural Theory Of Cognitive Development

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Lev Vygotsky’s Sociocultural Theory Of Cognitive Development

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Vygotsky's Theory

Lev Vygotsky was known as a prolific writer, publishing six books on psychology in 10 years. His interests were very diverse but often centered on child development, education, the psychology of art, and language development. Vygotsky is most known for his work, where he has developed several critical theories about how children learn and grow within culture and society. Vygotsky's Theory emphasizes the role of social interactions, cultural context, and language in shaping cognitive development. Vygotsky's Theory is broken into five key principles

1. Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD)

According to Vygotsky, the Zone Of Proximal Development "is the distance between the actual developmental level determined by independent problem-solving and the level of potential development determined through problem-solving under adult guidance or in collaboration with more capable peers." Vygotsky believed that interactions with a more skilled person, such as a teacher or peer, could help support your overall understanding.

2. Social Interaction

Vygotsky stressed the importance of social interactions in cognitive development. He believed learning accrued best when a child interacted with a more knowledgeable individual. Language also plays a massive role in these interactions because it enables communication, the transmission of knowledge, and the development of higher mental processes.

3. Cultural Tools and Mediation

Vygotsky considers language, symbols, artifacts, and social practices as cultural tools. Vygotsky describes these tools as products of a particular culture and are used by individuals to think, communicate, and solve problems. By using these cultural tools, individuals internalize and construct knowledge.

4. Scaffolding

Scaffolding is any help or support from a more knowledgeable individual, such as a teacher or parent. Scaffolding is used by gradually adjusting the level of support according to the learner's needs and slowly passing the responsibilities over to the learners depending on the rate at which they learn the information.

5. Private Speech and Self-Regulation

In Vygotsky's research, he noticed that young children would talk to themselves in private speech. He believed that private speech is essential to cognitive development. Vygotsky states that private speech becomes internalized over time, and inner address is used for self-guidance and problem-solving.

weaknesses

One of the potential weaknesses that sticks out with Vygotsky's Theory is that Vygotsky states that minimal languages and development come from biological factors. It's coterminal because modern psychologists dismiss the idea that cultural influence plays the dominant role in language development.

Another major criticism of Vygotsky's Theory is how he separates the ideas of language and thought. Many psychologists believe language and thought develop on parallel pathways instead of separate tracks. An example would be a parent asking the child to find the ball, and the child can retrieve the correct item before he can speak the word "ball accurately." This is in direct opposition to Vygotsky's idea that the spoken word must be acquired before the thought or concept of the ball can develop.

Strengths

One notable strength of Vygotsky's Theory is that he doesn't try to fit all children into a particular developmental pattern but pays close attention to language skills and development, and he recognizes that multiple processes are involved in learning and cognitive development.

sources

Lev Vygotsky's Sociocultural Theory Of Cognitive Development (simplypsychology.org)

Vygotsky: Life, Theories, and Influence of Lev Vygotsky (verywellmind.com)

What Is Vygotsky's Sociocultural Learning Theory? - (teachthought.com)