IntroductionTeaching this unit on motivation and emotion was an exciting time for me as a student teacher. This is not only a topic that I am fond of, but one that I think bears special relevance for high school students. Based on the pre-assessment, formative assessments, and post-assessment data, I think that I have had a positive impact on my students’ learning experience. This was the second unit they had with me as their full instructional leader, so they had gotten accustomed to my teaching style and expectations. From the pre-assessment data it was clear that most students had little prior knowledge of the material.
Demographics
For the Impact Project, I chose to assess one of my psychology classes. This class, which is held on second block B days, has twenty eight total students. This includes nineteen females and nine males. The students range in age from 16 to 19 years old. Breaking this down by year of age, there are five 16 year olds, sixteen 17 year olds, six 18 year olds, and one 19 year old. When this group is split by gender, the girls constituted four 16 year olds, eleven 17 year olds, four 18 year olds, and zero 19 year olds. The boys, meanwhile, constituted one 16 year old, five 17 year olds, two 18 year olds, and one 19 year old. The average age of the girls in the class is 17.0 and the average age of the boys in the class is 17.3; this makes the average age of the entire class 17.1 years old. This number does not take months of age into account, therefore a 17 year old is 17 years old whether they just turned 17 or will be 18 shortly after this study is finalized. The racial/ethnic breakdown of the class is as follows:
As most of the students at Green Run High School (83%) are considered to be of low socioeconomic status (based on their enrollment in the free and reduced lunch program) it is not surprising to find a high number of traditionally at-risk or otherwise disadvantaged students in the average classroom here. Despite all this, most students express a desire to learn, they are not afraid to talk with their teachers or ask for help, and they have also been friendly and respectful to me. |
Pre-Test Data
Looking over the data, I knew that I would have to create lesson plans that went above and beyond in order to engage them in the content and make it feel relevant to them. After reviewing the students’ textbook and taking into consideration their specific areas of potential growth, I selected a variety of engaging instructional strategies and incorporated them into my lesson plans. Some of these strategies include independent journaling, graphic organizers (teacher and student produced), “take a stand” activity to get them out of their seats, a deserted island/survival game based on Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, a modified Thematic Apperception Test (a real psychoanalytic test still used in treatment today), class discussion, and video viewing with accompanying handouts. The strategies that seem to have been most effective were the “take a stand” activity and the Thematic Apperception Test. These engaged the students by accessing multiple learning styles and asking them to think both critically and creatively. Some activities may have been too creative or metacognitive; the survival simulation game to teach the concepts behind Maslow’s hierarchy of needs was too conceptual and they did not seem to understand the point of the exercise despite extensive explanation and rephrasing. An activity like this may be more successful in the future with additional preemptive scaffolding.
Post-Test Data
A comparison of the students’ pre- and post-assessment data shows that much of my instruction was successful. There were some content areas that I was initially concerned would be a challenge for them, and this proved to be true when formative and summative assessments were given. There were many areas of solid improvement, and all students saw an increase in content competency to some degree. In the future, I think I will need to create additional reinforcement activities for students who are having difficulty with some of the more abstract concepts. I will also work to create test review and preparation strategies that might calm the students prior to taking the assessment. I am pleased with the students’ willingness to participate in this study, to learn from my instruction, and to work hard and prove their newly learned knowledge.
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Unit & Lesson Plans
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Pre-Assessment Data
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Post-Assessment Data
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Additional Documents
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