Category: Teaching

Abstrsact

The aim of the study is to examine the extent and rationale of engagement dissimilarities understood across classes in assorted big school. Further, the paper utilizes a sample of 120 scholars in coming up with the diverse types of instruction practices used to measure the students engagement.

The study identifies connective instruction and academic rigors as well as lively teaching as the major types of teaching practices that are closely associated with students engagement. Besides, the study employs in-depth interviews, self-administered surveys along with observations to examine the connections existing between the teaching practices and the students engagements.

Introduction

Focused behaviors, emotions along with cognitions are considered critical aspects through which active state of response to class are achieved. In essence, classroom engagement encompasses behavioral, cognitive and emotional engagements. To begin with, behavioral engagement encompasses the magnitude of students behaviors in class regarding listening, participation, doing assignments as well as adherence to instructions (Turner, Christensen, Kackar-Cam, Trucano & Fulmer, 2014).

On the other hand, cognitive engagement denotes the scope at which students utilize mental capacities to think about instruction substances, understand firsthand materials as well as tackle intellectual encounters. Lastly, the scope of positive sensations developed by students towards class utilizes emotional engagement. For example, feeling relaxed, wanting to excel and reveling in lessons involve emotional engagement.

The occurrence of behavioral, cognitive and emotional engagements is concerted effort amongst the dimensions of engagement. In other words, for the engagement dimensions to operate effectively, collaboration as well as constitution of all-inclusive classroom engagement experience is essential (Cooper, 2014).

Theorists postulate that the levels of emotional engagement are higher among adolescents because in such epoch, the scope of venture and indulgence in engagements and interactions, which affect individuality, is augmented (Cooper, 2014). In fact, practices involving the incorporation of accomplishments, letdowns, lifestyles, delights, customs and desecrations along with fulfillments, characterize the period in the definition of distinctiveness.

Indeed, available evidence puts forward that relations and interrelationships that occur between teachers, adolescents and peers are significant definers of individuals self-worth as well as identity. Additionally, studies contend that there is a positive connection between individuality progress and engagement in teenagers.

Actually, teaching practices are critical in enhancing the scope of exchanges among students in a number of ways. Principally, teaching practices enable teachers to be acquainted with various forms of engagement and encourage students through offering students with the prospects of developing aptitudes as well as learn from slip-ups.

Statement of the Problem

Core to the development of individual distinctiveness among big school students is engagement. In this regard, the application of teaching practices, which significantly contributes to the development of students uniqueness, is necessary. In fact, active engagement is critical for success in learning within the school environment.

Essentially, engagement of adolescents incorporates positive academic outcomes in school, compassionate teachers and peers along with inspiring and realistic tasks. Actually, the concept of engagement applies the significance of participation in academic and extracurricular activities. In reality, involvement in class activities is fundamental for success in academics. Besides, engagement involves sensations that adolescents portray towards teachers, classmates, academics and school.

Such reactions are invaluable in enhancing links between school and the abilities concerning handling challenging tasks. Moreover, involvement also integrates thoughtfulness in understanding and grasping multifaceted concepts and challenging expertise. Based on the levels of engagement, teachers play critical roles in offering support and assistances to students in class.

Undeniably, teachers are capable of applying various approaches, which center on the content and abilities to be imparted and learnt respectively. Besides, teaching also engages students. Indeed, teachers often utilize diverse teaching approaches to engage students in class. In other words, the use of connective instruction, academic rigor and lively teaching practices play critical roles in bringing about engagement.

Actually, the combination of teaching methods and connective instructions enhances the teachers engagements with the students. For instance, through connective instruction, personal contact to the subject matter is enhanced among students. Such connections are significant in aiding the students to grasp the weight of academic content regarding lives, beliefs along with prospects. Besides, personal connections are vital in validating the thoughtfulness of students. Moreover, praise, written feedbacks and prospects for achievements are some of the ways through which personal connection offers affirmation to students.

Regarding academic rigor, the teachers emphasize on the hard work and academic success, passing the desired content in addition to the delivery of thought-provoking work. On lively teaching, teachers often embrace the use of games and fun activities, working in complaisant clusters and conveying project works as replacements to the monotonous discourses and low-involvement videos. In reality, the integration of teaching practices is connected to student engagement and identity development.

Whether connective instructions, academic rigor and lively teaching are connected to engagement is still a matter under study. While most researches that have been conducted in the area indicate positive and closer relationships of the variables, the degree in which the teaching practices affect students engagement particularly in big schools have not been exhausted. Therefore, this study will tend to examine the degree in which the teaching practices relate to engagement.

Operational Definitions

Engagement refers to the students commitment to teachers instructions and other learning processes. In other words, students engagement is the level of concentration in classwork as well as other leaning activities.

Big school in this study refers to schools above the elementary levels. In this study, big school encompasses schools with students in 9^th to 12^th grade. In other words, schools with grades ranging from ninth to twelfth grades are considered big school.

Connective instructions refer to teaching as well as the manner in which learning processes are undertaken. In other words, connective instruction is the process through which learning is imparted in classrooms.

Methodology

The Study Design and Procedures

The study utilized both survey and interview methods of data collection. The survey and interview methods of data collection are chosen due to their effectiveness in reaching out to the respondents and the quality of the obtained data. The desired data for this novel study were obtained through administering self-designed survey and interview questionnaires. Moreover, the data were gathered from respondents selected through random sampling procedures. In other words, the empirical data were collected within the specified number of participants, which constituted 70 students and 50 teachers.

In other words, the number of participants was limited to 120 respondents chosen through simple random sampling procedures. Besides, in terms of data analysis, integrated statistical analysis tools including Microsoft office applications and statistical software were applied. The analyzed data would be presented through the application of line graphs, tables as well as statistical bar charts. Further, the methods of data collection were chosen due to the reliability and validity of the obtained results.

Data perceived to be containing the relevant research information for the study were acquired from the primary sources. In fact, as a qualitative study that involves self-administration of research questionnaires, the pertinent primary data that included the students engagement in class were gathered via self-administration of the survey questionnaires, conducting structured in-depth interviews to the chosen employees, and through observation.

In essence, a comprehensive exploration instruments were developed besides being satisfactorily tested prior to embarking on the actual students engagement research study. In other words, after consultation with the supervisor, questionnaires were developed and only the selected as well as amended items that addressed the study questions and objectives were included.

Population and Research Sample

In this particular study, all the students and teachers were deemed viable when carrying out the research. However, the population consisted of only a few selected students as well as teachers. From the total number of students and teachers that could have been used in the study, just 120 respondents including 70 students and 50 teachers were selected via a technique dubbed as convenience sampling strategy. The research questionnaires were administered to help in addressing the formulated research questions.

However, for this study, the proposed sample size comprised of 120 participants mainly students grouped according to their class levels. The groupings consisted of seven class levels each represented by ten students randomly picked from the main classes. However, the teachers were not categorized since teachers are involved in all classes and could easily determine the engagement levels among the students. All the participants were interviewed to help the researcher obtain the study qualitative data.

Instrumentation

As one of the most critical studies in the field of education, the required information concerning the students engagements in classrooms were collected through administering properly designed research questionnaires, observations alongside conducting well-structured in-depth interviews to the randomly selected participants. As indicated, the soundly designed research questionnaires were administered to 120 participants consisting of students and teachers. Each part of the questionnaire constituted of key items that suitably attended to the research questions.

For instance, part one constituted of the reasons behind lack of engagement and active participations in classrooms while part two elicited on the challenges students face while in class. On the other hand, the teachers questionnaires consisted of items that tended to challenge the students views. Some items in the questionnaire threw light on the best teaching practices, training policies as well as the impact attached to such teaching practices.

The questionnaires were made of both open and closed ended research questions and were believed to be of great significance to the research particularly during the data analysis. Minor research tools namely direct observations and occasional conversation were also used to collect primary data. Different scales were however applied in the survey questionnaire during data collection to ensure reliability and validity of some research questions.

For example, ordinary scales were applicable in various research questions given that most questions measured knowledge, feelings and experience. In contrast, the scale reliability was made certain via repeatability and internal consistency concepts. This implies that the questionnaires comprised of different questions asking about the same thing yet in a very different way. Finally, split half techniques were applied to attain internal consistency.

Results

Various classroom engagement practices were examined among students and teachers including the connective instructions, academic rigor and lively teaching. As indicated in prior researches and according to the expectations, the classroom engagement practices were found to positively correlate with increased engagement in all the class levels.

However, the degree of engagement increases with higher-class levels. In other words, large number of students in lower class levels were least influenced by the teaching practices. Besides, it was hypothesized that connective instruction practices, which are individualistic in nature, would play a greater role in influencing students engagement given the fact that the learners are in adolescent and identity is significant in their development at this stage.

Essentially, as anticipated, all the teaching practices examined were found to have significant correlation with classroom engagement as well as with each other. In fact, the teachers perception had the strongest correlation while the challenging work had the least correlation. The study findings are in accordance with the previous study findings indicating that teaching practices such as care and understandings are highly related to classroom engagement.

The study findings also indicated that challenging work, games and fun activities have reduced correlation with students engagement respectively. Generally, the mixtures of connective instructions, academic rigor and lively teaching were found to have significant correlation with engagement respectively.

The other assumption of the study is that class levels and differences in teaching cause the variations in students engagement. In fact, the hypothesis was found to be true given the fact that differences in classroom engagement depended significantly on the class levels. However, other factors such as differences across students were also found to significantly influence engagement. In terms of class levels, the 11^th and 12^th grade students were found to be highly engaged compared with 9^th and 10^th grade students. Besides, students at higher-class levels also recorded increased levels of connective instructions compared with other grade levels.

Limitations of the Study

Given the kind of study to be carried out, the stipulated timeframe might hinder the full investigation and covering of all the students class engagement parameters. Moreover, most of the students engagement parameters included in the study is not easily measured since such variables are non-quantifiable.

The limitations were anticipated to pose considerable threats when the gathered research data will be evaluated and consequently analysed. Besides, regardless of the fact that the chosen sample size of 120 students and teachers materialise to be exceptionally small given the type of research study to be carried out, the constraints such as the available financial resources and the planned timeframe makes it completely necessary to confine the study selected sample to the precisely specified size.

Discussion

According to the prior researches, various classroom engagement practices including the connective instructions, academic rigor and lively teaching have been found to significantly influence the students classroom engagement (Turner et al., 2014). Besides, the study was based on the assumption that connective instructions, academic rigor and lively teaching would have significant influence on the students engagement in classrooms. In fact, the study has confirmed the expectations.

The study findings send strong signals to the practitioners on the manner in which students should be engaged and get involved in classrooms (Cooper, 2014). The findings of the study also indicated that the classroom engagement increases with class levels. The implication is that the students engagements depended on the seniority and age. The expectations of the students by teachers as well as other stakeholders including parents play a critical role in shaping the concentration levels.

Besides, the study hypothesized that connective instruction practice, which are individualistic in nature, would play a greater role in influencing students engagement given the fact that the learners are in adolescent and identity is significant in their development at this stage. The findings on the parameter confirm the importance of age factor in determining the students classroom engagement.

The teaching practices used in class engagement encompass lively teaching, academic rigor as well as connective instruction. In fact, lively teaching involves the emphasis on vigorous delivery of instruction. Lively teaching incorporates the utilization of games and fun activities, group works and project coursework (Cooper, 2014).

In this regard, students are capable of trying novel concepts along with developing deeper insights concerning the program of study. On academic rigor, teaching is anchored on the educational measurements of a class. In other words, cognizance and focus form the basis of the learners tasks and learning surroundings. The delivery of challenging work and asserting students via academic press along with conveying passion content are the foundations on which academic rigor is laid. In fact, academic rigor focuses on hard work and academic achievement.

Concerning connective instruction, teachers often utilize evocative associations through enhancing individual connections among students to class. Undeniably, connective instruction creates a surrounding where teachers and students have personal connection to learning involvement and class matters (Turner et al., 2014). Generally, the teaching tools are significant aspects that aid in stimulating student engagements thereby booting out anxiety in puzzling courses as well as satisfying the responsive emptiness in reduced connective modules.

In terms of teachings practices, teachers should have positive perception towards the students in order to increase their engagement in class. In fact, most studies have identified teachers perception to have a significant influence on classroom engagement. While students may differ depending on individual characteristics, teachers should have a general positive view towards the students.

The positive view would boost their morale and self-esteem, which is critical in enhancing the students concentration in class. However, teachers should not ignore the importance of other factors in teaching practices including curricular activities. Generally, the mixtures of connective instructions, academic rigor and lively teaching are significant in enhancing the students engagement in class.

Conclusion

Classroom engagement remains critical in the academic success of students. As such, enhancing engagement among students cannot wholly depend on eccentric teaching methods. Besides, increased understanding of the manner in which various teaching practices influences students engagement enables practitioners to start modifying classes that would result in increased commitment among the students.

In fact, this study has classified and shown the manner in which various teaching practices influences the students classroom engagement. In addition, the study findings explain why the study is relevant to the education practitioners. Generally, this study supports various notions of connective instructions as one of the most valid strategy for enhancing classroom engagement. Therefore, the study findings can be applied in counselling psychology.

While the study has attained its current purpose, it is very limited in terms of scope design and resources. In fact, the anticipation of this study is that it should inform further research. Therefore, further studies should increase the scope of the study to make the results have reliable and valid conclusions. In addition, the study is limited to only few participants. In other words, increased number of participants selected from various areas and social classes need to be studied in order to come up with valid and reliable conclusion.

References

Cooper, K. (2014). Eliciting engagement in the High school classroom: A mix-methods examination of teaching practices. American Educational Research Journal, 51(2), 363-402.

Turner, J. C., Christensen, A., Kackar-Cam, H. Z., Trucano, M. & Fulmer, S. M. (2014). Enhancing students engagement: report of a 3-year intervention with middle school teachers. American Educational Research Journal, 3(2), 372-423.

I have gained a lot of knowledge as I participated in this course. From the beginning of this course, I have slowly gained an understanding of what is involved in research and the importance of becoming a research practitioner in the field of education.

In the first week, we learned to distinguish researches that are usually done in the classroom using TPRI (Texas Primary Reading Inventory) and PLCs so that we could come up with a plan as a group. A comparison of the two approaches reveals that TPRI is more responsive to discoveries that we make than PLC (Richardson, 2000).

As we moved to the lessons of weeks two and three, it became clear that it is always essential to narrow down your research question to avoid running into trouble. There are eight factors that a teacher needs to consider before deciding to do a research project. This includes the following; the learners, curriculum, knowledge content, teaching strategies, beliefs, professional identity, society, and research context (Dana and Yendol-Hoppey, 2009). These factors are the ones that make the characteristics of research and helps us develop the question for research.

In the weeks that followed, we began our research projects, and it is then that I realized the importance of narrowing down a research question and the relevance of reading the previous journals of research as a guide to doing it for the benefit of the project (Dana, Yendol-Hoppey, 2009). Finding the relevant materials for the study is quite a difficult task because it takes time and involves energy use. When you collect the past journals and use them as a guide to your research, you will be able to develop the proper action plan that will address your research question. The literature will also add credibility to the project being planned (Dana, Yendol-Hoppey, 2009)

While exploring the research done by May, I found out that several things should have been changed. First, her research question should have been narrowed down to include strategies to use in the project. This would help to support the outcome of the project (Dana and Yendol-Hoppey, 2009).

It is always essential to create an action plan that quickly narrows down the research question and has more questions than the original plan. Action research is an ongoing cycle, where one question leads to another and gives strength to the initial problem. It is through this approach that teachers gain knowledge to become better teachers than they were before for the benefit of the learners (Rust, F. and Clark, 2008).

The next item I want to address is the way she collected her data. I think she should have collected data herself instead of letting the students collect. I would still have used the student as my research assistant, but I would take the responsibility of recording people who were causing disruptions and the exact time they were happening. I believe the teacher should have done this as part of her job. She should have been taking notes and recording them in her wandering journal (Rust and Clark, 2009).

It is important to note that action research is about how teachers can provide the right learning environment for learners. To provide a learning experience that both the teacher and learner are involved, the teacher needs to include action research to help find out what is working out and what is not during the schools calendar year. Students copy behaviors from adults; hence, we as teachers need to be good role models for them. We should always incorporate students into our plans. Most students would feel good to be part of something big. It is also beneficial to them because they learn to conduct their own research, which an essential skill they should have.

Lastly, the information gotten should be shared with other educators. The project is not complete unless you share the information you have collected with other educators (Dana and Yendol-Hoppey, 2009). The information gathered is vital because if it is shared, it can bring positive changes in the school and the entire district.

Plan to use a PowerPoint presentation to present your findings to your colleagues in a professional development session. The benefit of sharing information is the outcomes that you would get from other professionals. When you work with your colleagues, you can initiate positive changes in school (Riel, 2010).

From this course, I have learned how to conduct a research project and the importance of teacher participation in the research. Research is a systematic and reflective study of our actions in the classroom (Riel, 2010). Though conducting the research might seem complicated, it helps us ask essential questions, prepare a plan, and use it to draw a conclusion. When you start to study, you begin to understand the importance of sharing information. As part of the research, we should always strive to find the best strategies that can help our students succeed not only within the classroom or school but also in the outside world.

References

Dana, N. F., & Yendol, D. (2009). The reflective educators guide to classroom research: Learning to teach and teaching to learn through practitioner inquiry (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.

Richardson, J. (2000). Teacher research leads to learning, action. Web.

Riel, M. (2010). Understanding Action Research, Center for Collaborative Action Research. Pepperdine University. Web.

Rust, C. and Clark, C (2008). How to do Research in your Classroom. Lessons from the Teacher Network Leadership Institute. Web.

Walden University (2011). A case study: Living the process of inquiry with a real teacher-researcher study. Web.

Dissertation Summary

The chosen dissertation was written by Kaya (2008) who focused on the problems and experiences of general education teachers working in Turkey. The research was conducted in an urban center in Turkey in 2008. The researcher was paying focused attention to the connection existing between burnout and classroom and teacher factors (Kaya, 2008, p. 7). During the research, the author was focusing on three important questions shaping the study. First, the paper studies the degree of burnout among teachers teaching in inclusion classrooms in Turkey (Kaya, 2008, p. 9). Also, it focuses on the specific factors about the working process and characteristics of participants that can be used to predict burnout in teachers working in Turkey. The third research question touches upon the existence of perceived challenges associated with this profession.

The sample studied during the research included almost six thousand elementary school teachers from Turkey. Data collection methods used during the research include the use of two survey tools (MBI and EBES). As for the data analysis methods chosen by the researcher, there are five of them: descriptive statistics, one-way ANOVA, independent t-test, stepwise multiple regression, and qualitative analysis (Kaya, 2008, p. 7). Having analyzed the collected data, the researcher concluded that both age and teacher experience could be called the variables predicting burnout in Turkish teachers. In terms of the perceived work-related difficulties, a lot of the participants reported that it was difficult for them to use individualized strategies in classes with large numbers of students. The given dissertation is important to the proposed research as it demonstrates the practical significance of inclusion policy and provides an example of the proper use of quantitative research methods and data collection tools. Therefore, a lot of conclusions presented in the dissertation can help to study the topic of burnout in intellectual disability teachers in Saudi Arabia.

Dissertation Critique

Among the key concepts and terms used by the author of the chosen dissertation, there are employee burnout, inclusion classrooms, and the history of disability education in the country where the research was conducted. As for the key notions that the proposed research will utilize, they include intellectual disability, occupational burnout, and the impact of important characteristics of special education teachers in Saudi Arabia on the levels of burnout that they experience. The most important term that needs to be discussed in this section is employee burnout and the way that it is defined in the two works that are compared.

Generalizing the information on employee burnout that acts as a primary term in his research, the author of the dissertation acknowledges that no definition would be accepted by all researchers in the field due to the difference of opinions concerning the dimensions and signs of burnout. At the same time, the author believes that the majority of researchers appreciate the idea concerning burnout dimensions forwarded by Maslach in the twentieth century. According to the latter, occupational burnout presents a combination of three factors that include emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and reduced personal achievement (Kaya, 2008, p. 13). The proposed research will use the definition proposed by Maslach as it presents the most comprehensive one. Importantly, the proposed research will use numerous sources whose authors rely on the theoretical knowledge discussed by Maslach.

In terms of the topic and research questions of the discussed dissertation and the proposed research, the most significant difference between these two works is presented by location and population. The dissertation, the author reports, remains the first work in Turkey that studies a wide range of variables and their connection to the phenomenon of occupational burnout. The author proves the significance of the work stating that the previous studies did not include inclusion related variables (Kaya, 2008, p. 9). The research questions identified in the dissertation focus on the way that teachers in Turkey perceive themselves in connection with the three dimensions of burnout, teacher and classroom characteristics predicting burnout, and the perceived work-related challenges reported by teachers. As for the proposed research, it will focus on burnout in special education teachers with a different cultural background  the research will be conducted in Qassim, Saudi Arabia.

The proposed study will focus on four variables and the way that they influence burnout rates whereas the dissertation utilizes a larger number of variables. This is because the phenomenon of teacher burnout in specialists from Saudi Arabia has not been thoroughly studied yet. At the same time, the author of the discussed dissertation refers to some studies conducted in countries with similar cultures such as the UAE. According to the findings, male education specialists from the country were less positive towards inclusion than their female colleagues, and the negative perception of inclusion was more manifested in less experienced education specialists (Kaya, 2008, p. 26). Nevertheless, the situation for special education teachers in Saudi Arabia has not been studied, and this is why the proposed research will be unique. Due to the presence of a knowledge gap related to occupational burnout in intellectual disability teachers in the country, the findings will also possess practical significance.

Unlike the chosen dissertation, the proposed study will use four sub-questions guiding the research process. As for the latter, they refer to the impact that four variables have on burnout levels in intellectual disability teachers in Saudi Arabia. The variables that will be studied are the following: the gender of disability teachers, their academic degree, the level of teaching, and the number of years that participants work as special education teachers. As is clear from the research questions, the proposed study and the dissertation are extremely different in terms of study variables that are identified. Thus, the proposed research will not include some of the variables related to inclusion classrooms such as the types of disabilities that students have, resources used by teachers, and the number of students with individual plans taught by the participants.

The sample chosen for the discussed dissertation includes almost six thousand participants working in inclusion classrooms in Turkey. About the proposed research, it is planned to survey at least five hundred special education teachers from Qassim in Saudi Arabia. The sampling strategy used by the author of the dissertation is random, and the proposed research is also going to use random sampling that is one of the popular quantitative sampling strategies. Using this strategy, researchers are required to assign numbers to participants instead of using their details during the stage of data analysis. The given strategy was chosen for the proposed research to give an equal chance to all teachers to make their contribution to the research. Due to this strategy, each teacher in Qassim will have an equal probability of being selected from the population (Creswell, 2012, p. 143).

As for the tools for data collection used by the author of the dissertation, they include MBI with more than twenty statements helping to measure burnout levels using three dimensions. The researcher has chosen this tool due to its reliability and proven effectiveness. Also, the researcher was using the survey that was created for the particular research; the latter was aimed at collecting demographic data and the information on the classroom environment. It is clear from the results reported by the researcher that the combination of two data survey tools helped her to conduct an in-depth analysis of factors affecting burnout rates. The second tool used by the researcher includes questions related to teachers previous experience, personal details, degrees earned, professional licenses, and the level of teaching. Also, it touches upon the types of inclusion classrooms that they can use, the number of students they teach (including students who have IEPs), and types of disabilities that the latter have.

The attention is also paid to specific materials that teachers can use to support children with special needs. To study the system of special education applied in different schools, the researcher also included the questions concerning the participants collaboration with other professionals helping children with special needs. In the end, the respondents are supposed to identify the most important work-related challenges that they face. The proposed research will use MBI (1982) to measure burnout among special education teachers whereas the dissertation studies general education teachers as well. The tool is known to have the strongest psychometric properties, and it uses three subscales to measure burnout rates about three dimensions presented by reduced performance, exhaustion, and cynicism (Maslach, Schaufeli, & Leiter, 2001, p. 401). Also, there will be a demographic survey that will be distributed with the help of the Survey Monkey service after the approval of the Ministry of Education. The author of the dissertation analyzes data with the help of the ANOVA test, qualitative analysis, t-test, and other tools. To analyze the data that will be collected within the frame of the proposed research, it is planned to perform a multiple regression analysis using SPSS software.

The limitations identified by Kaya (2008) include the possible influence of the official endorsement of the government on data credibility and the lack of open-ended questions in the survey (p. 157). The latter, the researcher believes, can prevent researchers from identifying unknown factors that can also be responsible for growing burnout rates. As for the challenges that the proposed study may encounter, there is a danger that the respondents answers will be influenced by their sense of guilt or the position of the unwillingness to share their negative experiences.

The Proposed Research Study

The proposed research study is expected to improve the state of knowledge concerning occupational burnout among intellectual disability teachers in Saudi Arabia. In particular, the desired results are to indicate whether burnout in this group of special education teachers is predicted by the following variables: gender, the level of teaching, degrees earned, and professional experience. In terms of setting chosen for the proposed research, the study will be conducted in Qassim, Saudi Arabia.

The sampling strategy chosen for the proposed research is one of the subtypes of probability sampling  simple random sampling. They discussed strategy is often regarded as the most popular and rigorous form of probability sampling (Creswell, 2012, p. 143). The chosen sampling strategy possesses numerous advantages that make it appropriate for the proposed study. To begin with, using this sampling strategy, it is easier for researchers to analyze data as they are not required to divide the sample into a few groups. Another important advantage that needs to be mentioned is strictly interconnected with the purpose of the proposed research. Considering the necessity to study the situation with a burnout in special education teachers in Saudi Arabia and fill the knowledge gap that exists in the field, the research is aimed at identifying the relationships between burnout and four independent variables. At the same time, simple random sampling is regarded as an appropriate strategy allowing to generalize results and single out the most obvious tendencies.

The proposed study is going to use a combination of two data collection tools such as MBI and a survey helping to analyze personal details and the professional situation of teachers in Qassim. A demographic survey will be distributed with the help of Survey Monkey that is a popular website helping to develop and conduct surveys. The use of the Internet for electronic data collection is extremely popular in quantitative research as it has numerous advantages related to costs and the speed of data analysis (Creswell, 2012, p. 156). The use of multiple regression analysis is appropriate for the proposed research as it will help to describe the connection between each independent variable identified and burnout in special education teachers in Saudi Arabia.

References

Creswell, J. W. (2012). Educational research: Planning, conducting, and evaluating quantitative and qualitative research (4^th ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson.

Kaya, O. (2008). Inclusion and burnout: Examining general education teachers experiences in Turkey. Web.

Maslach, C., Schaufeli, W. B., & Leiter, M. P. (2001). Job burnout. Annual Review of Psychology, 52(1), 397-422.

Introduction

The merit pay system for teachers has become a topic of heated debate. Obamas administration is highly positive about the system, and this policy received quite significant funds (Strauss par. 1). Supporters of the idea of merit pay stress that good teachers should be rewarded and bad teachers should be forced to improve their skills to be able to provide high-quality services to students. At the same time, there are many opponents to the policy. These opponents are mainly teachers and teachers unions.

They argue that merit pay can undermine teamwork, which is crucial in teaching, and it can encourage educators to focus on preparations to tests rather than proper teaching (Matthews par. 2). They also add that there are no definite data showing that the policy significantly improves students performance. However, even though the system is quite imperfect, it should be developed and implemented as this is a fair and effective way to encourage educators to go the extra mile and inspire students to learn and develop.

Benefits of Merit Pay for Teachers

It is necessary to note that the quality of education in many schools is unsatisfactory, and many people claim that this is a result of teachers low salaries and poor motivation strategies. For instance, people of Newark are not satisfied with their local public schools as over 30% of pupils do not graduate and in the 15 worst-performing schools only 25% of students read to the standard prescribed for their age (Merit Pay for Teachers par. 1). Many people believe that the old system that ensures larger payments for more experienced teachers is ineffective as it is impossible to assume that teachers who simply work longer are more experienced or more efficient. Clearly, low salaries force teachers (especially young ones who often have numerous ideas and great inspirational power) to leave low-performing schools or schools located in poor neighborhoods.

Admittedly, pay merit can solve this problem as truly inspiring teachers that help students gain knowledge should get fair salaries and should be rewarded. At the same time, low performing educators have to try hard to improve their skills rather than simply working at school and failing to provide even the necessary amount of knowledge to students.

Insufficient Evidence

At the same time, opponents of the policy claim that there are no clear data showing that merit pay for teachers actually works. Some surveys show that there is no significant difference between students test performance irrespective of teachers salaries (Strauss par. 7). More so, there are fears that educators will focus on getting the extra payment and will be worse team workers, but collaboration among teachers is crucial.

Nonetheless, these skeptical views are poorly grounded. Thus, there are surveys that show that teachers perform better if their salary depends on their performance (Matthews par. 4). It is necessary to note that major results are achieved if the teachers are not only rewarded, but they can lose some amount. This principle can be a good basis for a new merit pay system. Besides, students test scores cannot be the only sign of good or bad teachers performance, as numerous factors should be taken into account.

Conclusion

On balance, it is possible to note that merit pay for teachers can be an effective policy if implemented properly. Educators have to be encouraged to work harder and achieve higher results. This will be beneficial for students who will be able to obtain a high-quality education.

Works Cited

Matthews, Dylan. Does Teacher Merit Pay Work? A new Study Says Yes. The Washington Post 2012. Web.

Merit Pay for Teachers: Bonus Time. The Economist 2012. Web.

Strauss, Valerie. Ravitch: Why Merit Pay for Teachers Doesnt Work. The Washington Post 2011. Web.

Education is regarded as the most powerful tool in developing and improving peoples living standards. On the other hand, education on its own cannot achieve the goals for which it is intended. This is why there are several standards that are formulated to help develop talented and well-trained professional-technical education (PTE) teachers. The standards for PTE teachers are properly outlined to make their assessment easy. This report describes the outcomes of a standards interview conducted on a female PTE teacher.

The female PTE teacher, who was the respondent in this interview, works in a post-secondary institution. For that reason, the students in the institution are mature enough to understand what they are taught. The teacher normally handles nursing lessons and she seems to be very good at it. Her vast knowledge and experience are shown in the years she has been involved in teaching the course.

The teacher has been tutoring students who specialize in nursing since the year 2001, which makes her have a total of 11 years of experience in teaching the subject. Education scholars argue that training alone does not make someone effective in his/her job. It is the experience and knowledge that people acquire from their jobs that make them more efficient.

During the interview, the teacher demonstrated the relevant skills and knowledge that are needed in nursing. She showed that she is conversant with the necessary nursing skills, principles, processes, and safety measures, as well as proficient in information gathering. These are the most important elements in nursing; these effective tools are usually used to instill knowledge in students. Secondly, the teacher demonstrated knowledge of how the different parts of the human body develop to suit learning. This, she said, assists her in developing learning procedures and instructions that fit each one of her students. Lastly, the teacher admitted that communication is equally an important tool in education; for that reason, she ensures that there is good communication between her and her students.

The standards that are featured in this interview have great impacts on the students in the secondary environment. Firstly, the standards help in ascertaining if teachers in a particular field have adequate knowledge of what should be taught in that area. Such knowledge is useful as it assists teachers to develop learning strategies that cater to every student. Secondly, the knowledge of how the human body develops to suit the learning processes assists teachers to understand their students and handle them according to their strengths and weaknesses. Lastly, the teachers ability to understand the basics of communication is vital as it helps him/her effectively connect with the students.

The current standards that are set for assessing the knowledge and skills of the PTE teachers are adequate. However, the standards can become more effective if a few adjustments were to be made to them. For instance, principle 7, which outlines the instructional skills, is not necessary as its provisions are featured in principle 4 that addresses multiple instructional strategies. The 7th principle can be regarded as a repetitive code within the PTE teachers standards. It should instead be replaced with a clause that assists in assessing experience, abilities, and strengths of the teachers. This will assist in evaluating the suitability of the PTE teachers with regard to their output in the schools they teach.

Students errors and misconceptions

Very often students struggle with mathematics because they have certain misconceptions about the nature of some operations or geometrical objects. To a great extent, these errors can be attributed to poor instruction and the failure of teachers to identify the most common mistakes that students can make. Overall, educators should find ways of helping such learners make progress. Teachers should keep in mind that children can easily come to the wrong conclusions about mathematics, and become averse to this subject. The most important task is to avoid such pitfalls.

It is possible to provide several examples of such misconceptions. In particular, very often students misunderstand the nature of some basic operations such as division, multiplication, addition, or subtraction. Later, they encounter significant difficulties when it is necessary to work on different tasks. For instance, they cannot understand the concept of a denominator (Gonio & Nillas, 2002, p. 1).

In particular, they often forget about the lowest common denominator when adding or subtracting fractions (Gonio & Nillas, 2002, p. 1). They can also make mistakes when comparing two or more fractions. To a great extent, such errors can take its origins from the poor use of instructional methods. The students, who make such errors, often do not know what the term division means and how it can be applied in different situations. Apart from that, learners often cannot see the difference between different types of quadrangles. For instance, they may find it difficult to identify a distinction between rhombuses and squares.

In many cases, teachers believe that learners can easily comprehend the nature of every mathematical operation and apply this knowledge to other areas of mathematics. Furthermore, a misconception that emerged at an early stage of mathematical education can have profound implications for the later academic performance of a student. It should be kept in mind that these learners may struggle not only with mathematics but with other disciplines such as physics or chemistry. This is why this problem requires the close attention of educators.

The task of a teacher is to identify the most common misconceptions and develop remedial exercises that can help learners get rid of their errors (Bamberger, Oberdorf & Schultz-Ferrell, 2010). Provided that it is not done, students will find it very difficult to study more complex fields of mathematics such as combinatorics, probability theory, or calculus. This is one of the main risks that should be considered.

Sometimes, it is necessary to give students preliminary tests that prompt learners to display their skills and knowledge of mathematics. Such tests can be completed at the very beginning of the academic year. If there are some errors, teachers should discuss this problem with learners. In this way, teachers can dramatically improve the later academic performance of these students.

These cases indicate that misconceptions about mathematics can pose a significant challenge to both teachers and students. In particular, learners can come to the belief that mathematics is too complicated. As a result, they will be unwilling to study this subject in the future. In turn, teachers can believe that students are unable to cope with mathematical problems. As it has been said before, mathematical misconceptions can affect a students performance in other subjects. This is the main difficulty that educators should be aware of while designing their lessons.

Responses to the guided questions

Observation and description

The lesson that I observed took place in the fifth-grade classroom. 24 students were both males and females. It should be noted that there were 12 desks in the room. Moreover, the desks were placed near one another so that learners could work in groups. Overall, the students in the class were able to understand and apply mathematical notions, and I did not notice conceptual errors. There were some computational errors, for example at the time when they were doing long division. It should be noted that some of the students experienced difficulties when they had to work five-digit numbers. In my opinion, these mistakes can be attributed to inattentiveness, rather than a lack of understanding. I cannot say that learners had misconceptions about mathematical concepts.

Analysis, exploration, and reasoning

During the lesson, I was able to observe a set of different techniques. At the very beginning, the teacher provided examples of division that could be relevant to the daily life of students. In particular, they were presented with a picture of a pie divided into six equal parts. This introduction was necessary since in this way the teacher made the topic of the lesson less abstract and more engaging. Later, the teacher proceeded to explain such an operation as long division and offered examples of this exercise. Moreover, learners were asked to speak about how such problems could be solved.

These activities can be regarded as an example of direct instruction. However, I can also point out that much attention was paid to such a technique as cooperative learning groups when learners were allowed to work jointly on different tasks. On the whole, the strategy chosen by the teacher was aimed at showing how division algorithms could be applied and developing the skills of students. The learners were supposed to see how the knowledge of division could be used for solving mathematical problems.

Connection to other effective teaching practices

On the whole, the strategies observed during this lesson can be applied to other areas of arithmetic and mathematics in general. For example, such a strategy can be employed when it is necessary to teach such a concept as fractions and their addition or subtraction. Moreover, this approach can be beneficial when an educator intends to introduce such a topic as equations and ways of solving them. The strategies used by the teacher are based on the idea that learners should have more autonomy during the lesson. This is why learners were able to work in groups.

Evaluation

On the whole, the instructional method chosen by the teacher enabled the students to gain a better idea of division and the tasks that involve this operation. While evaluating the effectiveness of the instructional methods, I focus on such a criterion as the type of errors that students committed. As has been said before, there are conceptual errors that imply that a learner does not understand the logic of mathematical operations.

In contrast, there are computational mistakes that occur in those cases when a student does not take into account a certain integer, fraction, and decimal mark. Certainly, such errors are also significant, but they do prevent a learner from understanding new mathematical topics. Students committed only rare computational mistakes, but not conceptual ones. Therefore, one can argue that the instructional methods were quite effective.

Recommendations

It is possible to offer several suggestions that can enhance students learning. In particular, one can give assignments that can suit learners with more developed mathematical students. As far as I could observe some of the students were more willing to do more challenging tasks. This approach is beneficial because it can engage learners who are more interested in mathematics than others. Secondly, it might be possible to encourage students to do tasks that connect mathematical knowledge to other fields of science, especially physics.

For example, learners may be asked to compare the speed of a train with the speed of a rocket. In my view, this strategy is beneficial because learners should be able to see the connections between abstract operations such as divisions and their real-life applications (Bassarear, 2007, p. 196). This is the main rationale for the interdisciplinary approach. These are the main recommendations that can be made. It seems that they can make lessons much more engaging.

Personal meaning

The observation of this lesson has been of great value to me. The strategies that I have observed will help me to increase students understanding of mathematical concepts. Moreover, I will be able to ensure that students can avoid both conceptual and computational errors. By relying on various examples, I will try to explain various mathematical topics and prompt students to apply this knowledge in different situations. Additionally, this observation has been of great value to me because I could see how a teacher should interact with learners. The techniques that I observed will be of great value to me.

Reference List

Bamberger, H., Oberdorf, C., & Schultz-Ferrell, K. (2010). Math Misconceptions: From Misunderstanding to Deep Understanding. New York: Heinemann.

Bassarear, T. (2007). Mathematics for Elementary School Teachers. Boston: Cengage Learning.

Gonio, B., & Nillas, L. (2002). Students Misconceptions in Basic Math Skills. Bloonington: Illinois Wesleyan University.

Introduction

Unions are legally formed to serve as the voices of all workers in New York City or entire country. They act as representatives of public and private employees in several industries in the United States. Their main aim centers on cooperative negotiations in issues related to wage increase, workers benefits and better working conditions for their members and addressing other issues like disputes with administration about infringement of contract conditions.

Most unions in the United States are adjusted to one of two major unions, Change to Win Federation and AFL-CIO that was legally formed in 1955. These two unions represent or bargain guidelines and legislation as they represent employees in America and contribute a major part in the countrys politics (Moe 66).

The paper discusses the achievements of United Federation of Teachers (UFT) and District Council (DC 37), as well as their challenges and shortcomings that are involved in their membership. United Federation of Teachers has played a huge part in addressing the rights of teachers and nurses in New York City. Since its formation in 1960s, it has solved several issues related to educational matters, such as wage increase, workers benefits, and currently the reduction in class sizes.

They also take part in the political affairs through financing most campaign activities. Some critics have stated that American teachers unions undermine the performance and productivity of schools through disregarding the issues related to students, management, and parents, while serving as a voice for teachers.

Some studies have reported that increase in teachers wages does not improve the productivity and performance of students and schools in general. DC 37 has played an important part in matters of womens rights and equal pay among all employees in public sectors.

United Federation of Teachers (UFT)

Since 1960s, the management of United Federation of Teachers (UFT) has ensured that it portrays itself as union of expertise that exercises the rights and privileges of its members. UFT serves as a voice of more than 200,000 teachers, home daycare employees and nurses in New York City and consider that children are worth of secure schools, provision of social and health requirements, and appropriate instructions from the teachers and the government.

In 2005, there were around 18,000 paraprofessionals and 120,000 in-serves teachers in United Federation of Teachers, together with around 55,000 retired teachers and other participants. At the end of 2007, 28,250 home daycare employees selected to be part of the union, making the sum number of members to go by the 200,000 mark (Moe 66).

Achievements

UFT was very active in decreasing the size of classrooms and directly intended and led to advanced teaching arrangement and system which permitted for professional association and teaching background. The union was also powerful in legalizing charter school acceptance policy to guarantee an unbiased assessment application procedure.

Currently, the union is in opposition to merit pay for its members and favoring seniority-based payment, but became involved in 2007 in approving a voluntary incentive system for performing schools with higher population and greater requirements.

The United Federation of Teachers does not favor a recommended reform of the seniority-based LIFO (education) policy. The union powerfully supports the lessening of class sizes for every grade stage and subjects in all public schools in New York City to provide quality and standardize education program.

In 2005, in the contract negotiations, the United Federation of Teachers effectively included language to the agreement that precisely safeguard teachers from experiencing penalty due to the planning of the classroom furniture, the arrangement of the bulletin boards, and finally the precise length of lesson units.

Annually, the union provides scholarship opportunities to undergraduate and graduates and around $1 million are awarded to these students according to their academic achievements and inability to finance their college expenses. In 2011, 250 high school graduates were awarded $5,000 each to gather for their higher education expenses (Haskins 116).

United Federation of Teachers has embarked to start charter schools of their own and there are some reasons why they want to begin this process. United Federation of Teachers claims that Charter schools permit teachers to innovate and experiment in approaches that are complex in common government schools. Charter schools operators are aware that their members have the privilege to create unions if they consider it important since organized and prepared teachers can produce valuable partnerships.

In the 1980s and 1990s, the lobar and civil rights which had experienced destruction and set backs during 1960s and 1970s were restructured as labor unions that came together to address the issues of quality and acceptable education for every student, standard class sizes, and provision of safety nets to families.

The United Federation of Teachers was an active follower of landmark school aid court case recorded by the Campaign for Fiscal Equity in 1993, an alliance of education activists and parents who were concerned about the welfare of their children. The legal clash resulted in a decision forcing the state to offer not less than $2 billion above the normal in educational funding to public schools around New York City (Meyer 3).

Another field of which the United Federation of Teachers has shown well-built relationship with its structured members and has achieved its goals is with the Municipal Labor committee. This committee is an affiliate alliance for government employee unions that serve as a negotiating representative for health coverage with the New York City.

In 2011, the health insurance bargained for domestic daycare providers, who are members of United Federation of Teachers, in their initial contract with the city and will soon come to action. Family care providers are expected to obtain health coverage under the UFT Family Health Plus system, this is a health coverage project funded by New York City and provided completely to providers of United Federation of Teachers under health coverage of EmblemHealth.

Other than health benefits provided through this plan, providers engaging in this program will also obtain an influential medical advocate that will be under the United Federation of Teachers. Often, bargaining the medical coverage arrangement is challenging and this is the reason the union is regularly examining the UFT Health Care Plus plan keenly are prepared and accessible always to support every member in it who considers that he has not received or his rights are limited (Wright 4).

The benefits provided through this program are wide-ranging containing dental and inpatient hospital, specialty, and primary care, together with prescription medicine insurance to their members who need these services.

Remarkably, and regardless of the direct allocating of $700 million to decrease class size and significant projects of the community by United Federation of Teachers and its new alliance parties, the sizes of classes in the government schools in the city really improved in the years after obtaining this sum of money. Incensed, the union filed a case against the New York City DOE for not utilizing the funds allocated by the state to decrease the class sizes (Meyer 3).

The UFT applied the court case to inform the people, especially the parents, about the inability of City Administration to utilize taxpayers monies appropriately. The initial rulings in the lawsuit, during the mid 2010, were showing positive potentials.

The first achievement of UFT was in 1969 when they successfully won the privilege to represent around 11,000 government school paraprofessionals in the state of New York. Even though different AFT (America Federation of Teachers) locals had served as the voice of most librarians, school nurses, and other members of education structure, the United Federation of Teachers election officially inaugurated the first main growth into non-teaching staff (Wright 4).

DC 37

Launched in 1944, District council 37 (DC 37) has expanded from union of not more than a thousand members in the states health care, business, and parks to the national biggest union of government workers, with above 130, 000 employees participating in states cultural and agencies organizations.

In 2005, the officials of DC 37 wrote to the mayor addressing the challenges that the members of DC 37 are undergoing. Working jointly with the mayor, and some banks, DC 37 generated the MEHP, the earliest and the greatest widespread labor-sponsored reasonable priced housing projects among all other states. With the help of DC 37, the members received mortgage and the union housing plans provided comprehensive services, which includes mortgages, development loans, and other services for the city employees who are experiencing shortage of housing.

The members of the union can qualify for the funds and mortgage support to buy co-ops, second home within the city, and even condos. In November 2010, DC 37 started contract bargains with the New York City for a new economic accord and has examined the budget of the city and revealed the intensive contracting-out misuse and corruption. For instance CityTime, along with the policy of the city, did not intentionally receive particular taxes and charges to which it is warranted.

Some of the major important activities executed by DC 37 in 1980s were in the area of rights of women. In early 1980s, the court ruled that the New York City Employee Retirement System might no longer locate specific points for gender for pension compensations and donations, and this disagreement had taken a decade to be decided. Women municipal employees who had been ordered to pay more due to their anticipated permanence were repaid some of their earlier pension donations.

Another success of rights of women appeared also in mid 1980s with a case presented by DC 37 opposing the lower wages of mostly women 911 workers in the Police Department as matched up to the raised wages of mens Fire Department workers executing comparable tusk. This successful case filed by DC 37 simplified the process of paying workers and presented equal pay for both men and women executing comparable tusk, even when the titles of their job are different.

DC 37 contributed a major role in this movement and led the first demonstration in the country due to the pay equality matters; along with a successful court case in opposition to the Washington state who had won a case to pay women low wages in their titles, but this was overruled after an appeal. Employers were forced to include gender pay equity in their new contracts and this success was mainly contributed by DC 37 (Budd and McCall 479).

DC 37 continued to fight for the benefits of members that included raised protection for temporary employees, pension for workers on part-time basis, and policies directing admission of on-the-job protection risks to employees.

The union went extra mile to celebrate Black History Month and acknowledged different ethnic cultures, and created a Disability Advisory Committees to address the issues of disability within and outside the union. In 1985, they participated in activities related to Womens History Month and were engaged in national position in agreement to gay rights.

Disadvantages and Challenges

The drawback of being a member of United Federation of Teachers union and DC 37 is that the members have limited expressions in processes of educational institutions they work in and the procedures of teaching they intend to execute. They also have to contribute some money to sustain the union.

Teachers unions available in America, especially United Federation of Teachers, are most influential and well structured in issues related to education policies and politics. However, they take advantage of their powerful position to block reforms required to advance the countrys education system through placing their emphasis on teachers instead of focusing on the children or students. Unions, sometimes, are blockages to school selection and other important policies.

In all the issues that unions, such as DC 37 and American Federation of Teachers, express about students, their concerns are more to their adults and dues-paying constituencies. Teachers unions have been seen as big businesses handling huge finances with real political powers. United Federation of Teachers, DC 37 and other unions in the country have been greatly contributing to political campaigns and using most of their funds to support the contenders who think they will support them later.

DC 37 experienced various challenges at the end of 1990s, when surveys by Manhattan District Attorney exposed different cases of fraud within the council and its members. Particularly, very serious cases were disclosures in 1998 that top-most officials of the union had fixed an endorsement vote on the contentious 1996 contract that contained payment freezes for the opening two years. This led to restructuring of the top officials of the union after some members revealed that they were involved in the corruption case (Cannato 572).

DC 37 experienced some significant challenges in 1970s as most cities were facing huge fiscal crisis, where public employees underwent decrease in benefits, wage freezes, and work termination. Regardless of these demanding periods, the council, however, was successful to go beyond the 100,000 membership mark in 1975.

All through history, DC 37 has dynamically held social movement unionism through connecting its efforts for better pay and benefits to other matters related with political economy and social issues. DC 37, represented by some delegation, participated in various other strikes in opposition to segregation and inequality, the council and its partners demonstrated also in opposition to the Vietnam War.

Effect on Productivity and Performance in Schools

Haskins (116) did research on the connection between teachers unions and education systems. The research concluded that teachers unions hamper the productivity through raising the institution inputs as they reduce the performance of the students. The existence of unions of teachers and other unions in employment sectors are likely to raise school funds and that the raised finances are dedicated to superior standard wages and reduce class sizes.

Actually, the raised salaries for teachers may not raise the performance of students and quality of education. The Unions should address also the issue of performance and quality of education to portray their quality representation to both the teachers and students. Some have argued that teachers unions take reform control away from management, students and parents, together with exploiting the citys resources as they only address the issues experienced by teachers.

Conclusion

Unions in the United States have reported significant achievements since they were established in 1950s through addressing the issues affecting teachers and other members, such as nurses and home care providers. From above discussion, we can conclude by stating that unions, such as United Federation of Teachers and DC 37, have played a significant role in resolving some issues that were traditionally experienced by employees in their workplaces, including benefits, wage increase, reduction of class sizes, and other school-related issues.

There are various disadvantages faced by employees who are members of these unions. Their members have limited expressions in development in their educational institutions and the way they should teach in schools. They also contribute huge sum of money to maintain or finance the activities of these unions that they are later contributed to various political parties.

Works Cited

Budd, John and Brian McCall. The Effect of Unions on the Receipt of Unemployment Insurance Benefits. Industrial and Labor Relations Review 50 (2007): 477-491.

Cannato, Vincent. The Ungovernable City. New York: Basic Books, 2002. Print.

Haskins, Justin Trask. Saving America: From Global Warming to Immigration. New York: Lulu, 2007. Print.

Meyer, Heinz-Dieter. Trade, Profession or Entrepreneurs? The Market Faithful Raise Important Questions about the Future of Teacher Unions. American Journal of Education 112 (2005): 1-7. Print.

Moe, Terry. Special Interest: Teachers Unions and Americas Public Schools. Washington DC: Brookings Institution Press, 2011. Print.

Wright, Carol. Unions and Teachers: Differences in the State of the Nation. ALSB Journal of Employment and Labor Law 10.2 (2001): 1-12. Print.

Description of the observation

The lesson that I observed was aimed at illustrating the distributive properties of multiplication. I can say that the teacher relied on the so-called path-smoothing model. The main peculiarity of this technique is that the educator first identified the type of problems that had to be solved and explained the method for doing such tasks. This model can be useful because, in this way, the teacher can identify possible challenges that learners can face and help them avoid these difficulties (Ernest & Greer, 2002). Later students were able to work on a set of exercises that enabled them to better understand the nature of distributive properties and apply their knowledge.

During this lesson, the teacher illustrated the use of such a method as multiplication in parts. In other words, one of the factors was broken into several summands while the second factor remained unchained. This procedure proved very useful for multiplying two and three-digit numbers. By using this algorithm, children were able to see that multiplication could be simplified.

This lesson lasted for 45 minutes; the first ten minutes were dedicated to the presentation of new information and modeling. The guided practice lasted for 20 minutes; during this part of the lesson, the learners were able to work in groups while the teacher intervened only in those cases when some students experienced difficulties. In turn, during the last fifteen minutes, the learners were doing exercises independently.

Overall, this observation has been of great value to me because I was able to learn more about the teaching methods that could be suitable for the needs of third-grade students. Furthermore, I could gain insights into the behavior of students with whom I will later interact.

Lesson plan

Name

WGU Task Objective Number: 602.4.15-33

General Information

Subject(s): Mathematical Operations: Division

Topic or Unit of Study: Divisibility Rules

Grade/Level: 3

Instructional Setting

This lesson took place in the third-grade classroom in which there were 16 students. Furthermore, there were four desks each of which could give room to four learners.

Standards and Objectives

Your State Core Curriculum/Student Achievement Standard(s)

The students can understand the nature of such mathematical operations as addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division (Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction, 2012, p. 20). Secondly, they can perform a wide range of tasks that involve these operations. Furthermore, learners should rely on the properties of mathematical operations to calculate the products of natural numbers (Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction, 2012, p. 20).

Lesson Objective(s)

At the end of this lesson, students will be able to solve multi-step problems that involve such operations as division, multiplication, addition, and subtraction. Additionally, the learners will be able to recognize the numbers that are divisible by three, four, or five. They will demonstrate this skill by solving a series of multiple-step problems. They will determine whether the results of their mathematical operations can be divisible by three, four, and five.

Materials and Resources

• Instructional Materials: Hand-outs with assignments, pens, pencils, and multiplication tables.
• Resources: Bassarear, T. (2011). Mathematics for Elementary School Teachers. New York: Cengage Learning.

Instructional plan

The sequence of Instructional Procedures/Activities/Events (provide a description and indicate the approximate time for each):

Identification of Student Prerequisite Skills Needed for Lesson

In this case, the most important skills are related to the knowledge of such operations as addition, division, multiplication, and subtraction. To a great extent, the multi-step problems that will be solved will entail each of these mathematical transformations.

Presentation of New Information or Modeling (15 minutes)

During this part of the lesson, I will introduce the divisibility by 3, 4, and 5. I will outline the property by which one can determine whether they can be divided by 3, 4, or 5. For example, I will show that a number can be divided by three, only if the sum of its digits is divisible by three. Secondly, I will illustrate an assignment that is aimed at determining whether a certain number is divisible by 3, 4, and 5. In particular, I will solve a multi-step problem involving addition, multiplication, or subtraction, and determine whether the result of these operations can be divided into three, four, or five.

Guided Practice (15 minutes)

During the second part of the lesson, I will enable learners to work on a set of different tasks similar to the assignment that I explained during the presentation. They can involve addition, multiplication, subtraction, or division. However, their main purpose will be to apply divisibility rules. So, learners should determine a particular product and sum can be divided by 3, 4, and 5. During this section of the lesson, I will let learners work in groups. I will also encourage students to ask questions and come to their assistance if something is unclear.

Independent Student Practice (10 minutes)

During the third part of the lesson, the students will complete a short test during which learners will have to identify natural numbers that can be divisible by three, four, and five. For example, they may be asked to consider such numbers as 223, 235, or 228 and determine which of them can be divided by three.

Culminating or Closing Procedure/Activity/Event (5 minutes)

In the end, I will explain what kind of assignments the students should do as a part of their homework. Secondly, I will praise children for their performance during the lesson.

Pedagogical Strategy (or Strategies)

I will rely on such a method as a path-smoothing strategy that enables a teacher to identify possible challenges that learners can encounter. Furthermore, in this way, he/she can assist them in avoiding mistakes. Apart from that, I will promote the formation of cooperative learning groups so that students can work together during the guided practice. Each of the learning groups will include four learners. Such an approach is important for fostering teamwork in the classroom.

Differentiated Instruction

The class includes a student with a mild hearing impairment, and I will need to make certain recommendations for him. First of all, I will need to stand near this learner while explaining the new material. Secondly, I should use visual aids to explain the new material

Student Assessment/Rubrics

The evaluation will be based on four multiple-step problems that students had to complete during the independent practice. These assignments prompted students to carry out multiplication, division, subtraction, and addition and determine whether the result of their calculations could be divided by four, five, or three. The following rubrics were used to assess learners performance

It should be noted that there are two types of errors that learners can make. In particular, computational errors occur mostly due to the lack of attention. For example, a person can overlook a certain integer in his/her calculations or forget to use the decimal mark. In contrast, computational errors arise when a learner cannot under the peculiarities of mathematical operations such as division or multiplication. More attention should be paid to the second type of mistake since they can significantly hinder a students progress. This is one of the issues that I considered while developing the assessment rubric.

Responses to the guided questions

Observation and description

This lesson was organized in the third-grade classroom. The group included 16 students who were sitting at four desks. The desks were placed in the center of the room, and I was able to monitor the activities of learners.

Analysis, exploration, and reasoning

Overall, I did have to deviate from the plan once. During the lesson, one of the students asked whether there are any other divisibility rules apart from those that I explained. I said that there were other divisibility rules, for example, the divisibility by seven. Furthermore, I had to provide him with more complex assignments that involve this particular divisibility rule. On the whole, I did not expect this request.

Connection to other effective teaching practices

A proponent of cooperative learning might have suggested ways of changing my lesson. For instance, learners can be encouraged to test each others knowledge of divisibility rules. They may ask each other to provide examples of numbers that are divisible by three, four, or five. Furthermore, learners can work together to develop mathematical tasks consisting of different operations. These are the main suggestions that should be considered.

Evaluation

In my opinion, the teaching model that I used was quite successful, since, in this way, I was able to explain how one could apply divisibility rules while solving multi-step mathematical problems. More importantly, this approach helped me to avoid the conceptual errors that learners could make while applying the divisibility rule. Such errors are usually related to the misunderstanding of such a concept as division.

I allocated 15 minutes to the independent practice of learners. In my opinion, the learners were able to cope with a wide range of assignments that involved divisibility rules. Furthermore, students could practice various mathematical operations.

When I was thinking about practice time, I focused mostly on the need to develop various skills of students. The learners had to have enough time to solve various multi-step problems and apply divisibility rules. Moreover, I believed that during fifteen minutes, they could practice the four basic operations/ This is why I asked the students to complete four multiple-step problems and determine whether the result of their calculations can be divided by three, four, or five.

Recommendation

The so-called challenging model could have been used during this lesson. According to this approach, learners should be able to discover mathematical properties with minimum assistance from a teacher. For instance, a teacher can provide learners with a list of numbers that are divisible by three. In turn, the students are asked to formulate the divisibility rule. The teacher encourages them to express their conjectures about these natural numbers.

The main benefit of this approach is that learners act as independent discoverers. Such an approach can be more difficult for learners, but it makes the learning process more interesting.

Personal meaning

This teaching experience has demonstrated to me that a teacher should be able to modify his/her teaching strategies. In particular, I will be able to meet the needs of students who want more challenging tasks. This skill will be important for my professional development.

This video has demonstrated to me that a teacher should pay close attention to the conceptual errors that learners can make. The students should first understand the nature of various mathematical operations to cope with multi-step problems.

When I was thinking about personal and professional implications, I focused on two important points. In particular, I focused on such aspects as my ability to engage children and their understanding of the major mathematical concepts.

Reference List

Bassarear, T. (2011). Mathematics for Elementary School Teachers. New York: Cengage Learning.

Ernest, P. & Greer, B. (2009). Critical Issues in Mathematics Education. New York: IAP.

Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction. (2012). Common Core State Standards for Mathematics. Web.

In Waites research (1) on Prototypes for Teaching Word Meaning, varying amounts of information to be learned, different stimulus familiarization, different measures of practice and varying value of association were the effects of four discussions assessed in four studies that compared the acquisition of synonyms by normal and learning disabled children.

The results were not conclusive considering the optimum amount of information to be learned in one case. Learning disabled students needed threefold practice trials as compared to the normal students, hence stressing the significance of drill for learning disabled students. Enhancing stimulus familiarization at no time substantially improves the disabled students synonym learning.

Lastly, both learning disabled and normal students more quickly learned the high association synonyms, although this treatment was much effectual for normal than learning disabled students. S1T1 and S1T2 cell pupils participated in these studies.

Critique

In studying the material amount, a list of nine synonym and three synonym pairs were used on two different groups to extrapolate the results. Normal students were found to have performed better than the learning disabled students. In my view, this was inappropriate especially because one treatment was easier than the other and might have contributed to the difference seen in their performances.

Three treatments were set to investigate the effects of varying practice amounts. All cases received twelve trials whilst learning nine pairs of synonyms which were scored at the end of four, eight and twelve trials, marked as treatment one, two and three respectively. The normal students performance greatly surpassed that of the learning disabled students under all the treatments.

For both groups, the fourth trials performance was inferior as compared to the eighth and twelfth performance which improved (Waites 2). The findings of this study are reliable as it used the same amount of treatments on both the subjects. It further adds great value to the teaching of learning disabled in that, it emphasizes the importance of drilling and practice.

The study of stimulus familiarization involved the variances for stimulus familiarization as the treatments whereby treatment one was given three practice stimulus item presentations. The second treatment received one practice stimulus item presentation that preceded the second list of study. The measure of response was the count of correct answers on every test list.

The results showed that both groups progressed over the trials with higher performance in the normal than the learning disabled. Again I do not agree with this study as different number of tests was administered to the two groups of students.

Instead, similar kind and number of trials should have been given to both groups so as to get conclusive results. Nevertheless, the normal students performed better than the learning disabled, given the fact that they receive three trials.

Association value is connected to meaningfulness which is crucial in paired associate learning. Both treatments were given nine synonym pairs. The response members for treatment one were one syllable, high connection CVC trigrams whereas those of treatment two were nonsensical words of abject association value.

The members of stimulus for the two treatments were very; one syllable, high frequency English words. From the study, it was deduced that synonyms of high association were easily acquired by both groups; however, learning disability groups did not progress as quickly. The findings of this study were satisfactory though the treatment favored normal students.

Words of high association should therefore be used with learning disabled children on realization that they do not progress as rapidly as normal children.

Classroom Connections

The special issues presented in this study have motivated me to think over many things relating to schooling, disablement and teachers work. In order to enable a disabled learning student, several strategies should be employed in class.

One such strategy is to involve the student in a lot of practice as well as integrate high association words in reading skills so as to facilitate their learning. Finally, small adaptations to personal characteristics of learning disability students will be made in order to facilitate their progress in classroom activities.

Each child is a unique person who requires a safe and compassionate environment for developing his or her motivation, skills and abilities and for interacting within the society successfully. The main principle of my philosophy of teaching is to provide children with secure surroundings which are advantageous for developing and demonstrating their talents and sharing ideas. The purpose of my philosophy is to demonstrate children the opportunities of their mind and will and contribute to their desire to learn more, improve their knowledge and develop their skills.

There are fundamentals that I consider necessary to make this favorable environment: first, teachers stand in as guides; second, childrens interest directs a teachers learning, and third, teachers and children respect each other.

My most significant goals are to provide children with assurance and make the process of learning easier for students. To achieve these goals, it will be necessary for me to perform as a teacher and as a student. It is important to be a professional and control the discipline, but it is also important to focus on students difficulties in working with the new material and try to find right answers to the problematic questions in cooperation with them.

Sharing interests, it is possible to follow different approaches to discussing the subject, and I expect that my students will be able even direct me to new perceptive from which it is useful to observe the point. Thus, each course can become ours to a certain extent rather than being mine.

As a tutor, my obligation is to present students the right direction to reach their own goals and realize expectations. From this point, students dreams and zeal for learning more will guide them to their desired careers. To realize these ideas, it is important for me to teach students with references to their individualities to make them feel satisfied and victorious. Thus, I am inclined to follow the curriculum oriented to the development of students curiosity and making the learning material applicable to life. The course can include the learning of definite subject matters, concentration on specific units, orientation to group and individual work. Furthermore, I will connect studying activities with participation in the community life in order to demonstrate students the correlation between the everyday learning and the outside reality.

My teaching activities will be based on such factors as the proficiency in the subject matter, experience, and individual approach. That is why, contacts with students are necessary for following my approach, and an open-door policy can be discussed as the effective method to help students in their academic work. However, not all the students will respond to my teaching methods positively. The problem is in the fact students often focus more on their grades than on their actual knowledge, skills, and experience.

Furthermore, the democratic approach to teaching can result in such negative outcomes as the decrease of the students attention and concentration on the subject. Nevertheless, I am sure that the orientation to students interests, knowledge of students psychology, and my experience of working in Title I Program can help me overcome all the possible difficulties.

Today, it is essential for students to get the outstanding education and have an educator who is attentive of their personal education requirements. That is why, my approach or philosophy of teaching can be discussed as rather successful because of the effective combination of the basic principles of education with orienting to students needs and interests. Thus, education should provide students with the opportunities to develop not only professionally but also as a person.