Math Posters

    As a Math teacher, I personally believe that the best motivation in teaching math is no other than competence. According to Bandura, people are motivated to do something if they know they can actually do it. And as a teacher, I always first and foremost motivate my students to learn math by telling them they CAN actually do math. That math is never a difficult subject rather an exciting and a fun one.
    For instance, when I teach a topic for the first time, I usually give the easiest examples. Not that I want to water down my content or the difficulty but rather, again, my priority is to make my students feel competent. If students will feel they find difficulty even just in the examples, they will be less motivated to pursue the rest of the discussion. As we go along with the discussion, I gradually make the examples a bit challenging until such time that I provide them examples that they can do independently. .
    Personally, this what motivated me as well to love math. When I was a student, I was not the best in our math class. But then, I feel less motivated to like or learn the subject because at the end, no matter how hard I try, I still can"t do it. But when I am in college, with the help of some good teachers, I started to like math because little by little I felt a sense of confidence that I can solve math problems. It made me realize that I shouldn't be afraid of math as long as I just practice and learn to love the subject. This is the reason why I always tell my students, "Learn to love math, and Math will love you more". In short, the more you love math, the more it is easier for you to learn and master the subject.
    As promised, I would like to share my self-made math posters. Try to post these inside your classroom especially in a part where students can see these immediately. I personally posted these in front of my class, above my chalkboard. These might be distracting according to some teachers, but for me, these are just reminders that whenever students find math difficult and at the brink of giving up, they will think that they CAN do math.

If Mr. Bean can do Math, why can't I?

I can knock out Math problems. I may have lost sometimes, but never will I give up.

Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities

Intellectual/Developmental disability is a disability caused by a number of different conditions or diagnoses with the common characteristic that the ability to learn and to cope within society is impaired (UNESCO, 2009). The World Health Organization (2012) aver that this is a state of arrested or incomplete develop­ment of mind, which implies that the person can have challenges in understanding, learn­ing, and remembering new things, and in applying that learning to new situations.

Persons with intellectual or developmental disabilities may experience problems in major life activities. These include language, mobility, learning, self-help and independent living (Center for Disease Control, National Center on Birth Defects and Developmental Disabilities, 2004 as cited in Bryant, 2008). According to the Association for Persons with Severe Handicaps (2000), they may need ongoing support in one or more major life activities in order to participate in an integrated community and enjoy a quality of life similar to that available to all individuals.

As reported by UNESCO in 2008, persons with intellectual or developmental disability include persons with mental retardation, cerebral palsy, autistic spectrum disorder, various genetic and chromosomal disorders (including Down’s syndrome), and fetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD).

It is important to note that every person with intellectual or developmental disability is unique. Thus, possible combinations of comorbid conditions are numerous. The ways in which the characteristics associated with these conditions can manifest themselves differently from one individual to another.  

image source: http://performcarenj.org/images/families/girl-blocks.jpg

Facilitating Learning: Motivation

   
     This is the third and the last of my discussion about the series of posts on elementary school children. This time, I will be discussing about motivation. Horace Mann once said, and correct me if I'm wrong, that teaching a child without motivating them is like hammering a cold iron. With this in mind, teachers need to motivate their students first and foremost for learning to take place. It is but futile for teachers to go one with the lesson or to do any activity if the students lack interest and drive to learn because learning will never take place unless they are motivated to allow it to occur in their minds.

      

How do we motivate students?

    In general, motivation can be defined as: an internal state or condition that activates behavior and give its direction; a desire or want that energizes and direct goal-oriented behavior; an influence of need and desire on the intensity and direction of behavior; and the arousal, direction and persistence of behavior.
Motivation is classified either intrinsic or extrinsic. It is intrinsic when the source of motivation is from within the person him/herself or the activity itself. Motivation is extrinsic when that which motivates a person is someone or something outside him/her.
   There are various theories about motivation. Here are some identified theories that explain the motivation:
1. Psychoanalytic Theory-man's motivation is basically unconscious.
2. Superiority and Compensation Theory-emphasized accentuated feeling of inferiority which lead to compensatory activity and a style of life characterized by achievin a plus situation of superiority.
3. Activation Arousal Theory-highly physiological, this theory emphasized balance between level of arousal and environmental stimulation.
4. Social Learning Theory-an individual's motivation is based on his part experiences wherein a particular behavior is based on the success or failure of previous behavior.
5. Humanistic Theory-man's basic needs are physiological while his ultimate need is the development of his potential in which Maslow calls self actualization.
    Educators suggest that intrinsic motivation, or the force that people do without external rewards, yields more positive effect among the learners. It drives the learners to learn even without something material in return. Understanding the nature of intrinsic motivation will enable teachers to develop activities that will awaken this drive, thus enhances learning.

White(1959) published a paper-evidence that human beings have an intrinsic need to feel competent and that behaviors such as exploration and mastery attempts are best explained by this innate motivation force. Piaget(1952) also claimed that from the first day of life, human beings are naturally inclined to practice newly developing competencies or "schemes", and that practicing new skills is inherently satisfying. In the principle of optimal challenge, competence motivation explains children's efforts only to challenging tasks, tasks that will lead to increased competence.

According to White and Piaget, increasing competence that results from practicing newly developing skills and mastering challenging tasks engenders a feeling of efficacy, sometimes referred to as feeling of competence, similar to achievement and pride. It is in this positive emotional experience that makes mastery behavior self-reinforcing.

Other theories on intrinsic motivation portray human beings as information processors. It claims that humans are predisposed to derive pleasure from activities and events that provide some level of surprise, incongruity, complexity or discrepancy from our expectations or beliefs. Pleasure is assumed to derive from creating, investigating, or processing stimuli that as moderately discrepant. Stimulus that are not all discrepant or novel will not arouse interest, and stimuli that are too discrepant from the individual's expectation will be ignored, cause anxiety or even provoke "terror and flight".

Consistent with the principle of optimal challenge, several studies have confirmed that children's emotional response are most intense when they master moderately challenging tasks, which is most likely to lead to improved competence, results in the most positive emotional experience.

Many studies have demonstrated tilt students who believe they are competent academically are more intrinsically interested in school task than those who have a low perception of their academic ability.

Harter said that students often become less intrinsically motivated as they progress through the school years depending on their perception of their academic competence. It is also important to note that environmental factors such as the influence of parents and teachers are considered crucial in the development and maintenance of intrinsic motivation. Students who are encouraged to develop intrinsic motivation in their early years continue to be intrinsically motivated in subsequent education, thus providing basis for achievement motivation in later years. Harter also suggests that sense of self-worth, fostered by a sense of belonging and being socially supported engenders a generally positive affective and motivational state.

Classroom Posters: Quotes About Faith

        Here is the part 2 of my Classroom Posters...Hope you find these useful.

Classroom Posters: Quotes about God