Erikson/Marcia

Which of Erikson's psychosocial crises are the children in the class facing (may be more than one)? Which of Marcia's identity states seem(s) to be most prevalent? What specific teacher behaviors do you observe that either help or hinder the students to successfully navigate this crisis? What more could or should be done? Be sure to include a reference in your response. 

I'm having a really hard time deciding which of Erikson's stages seem to be most prevalent in the class I've been observing because there are a few different options. But I think the one that is most prevalent would be "Initiative vs Guilt". I say this because the students aren't given a ton of opportunities to take initiative. They are given an assignment, and told to do it by following the instructions-they aren't really given an power, or control over the situation. It had never occurred to me until now that this isn't an ideal situation. The assignments and games played in class are often times fun. But, there is definitely a lot of reluctance from the students in getting started, or staying on task. I think if they had more control over the activities, they would be more engaged and more willing to learn. (This is the article I was using to develop my definition of "initiative" https://www.verywell.com/initiative-versus-guilt-2795737). The other stage that seems really apparent in the classroom is "Intimacy vs Isolation" because they students are so social! With every assignment, at least one person will ask if they can work with a partner, to which Mrs. Harmon almost always says "yes". It's interesting to see how most of the students have friends they want to work with, but are content to work with the person sitting next to them if told to do so. But, there is one girl who does not seem to be a fan of working with others. One of the assignments was to read an article with a partner, and then answer a few questions together. As I walked past, her partner started to read aloud, but she responded to him by saying in a rather unfriendly tone, "read it in your head". I'm not sure if that means she needs to develop her intimacy, or if she just is not crazy about her deskmate. Either way, it was funny to see how different the responses to groupwork and socializing was. Another stage that I've heard in the classroom (although it has always been about a different teacher, not my cooperating teacher) has been the "Trust vs Mistrust" stage. I've frequently heard students complaining about how "Teacher So-and-so docked me points because they hate me" or something like that. I would be really surprised if any of the students in Mrs. Harmon's class said anything like that about her because she seems to be really fair with all of her students, and has a really good relationship with each of them. She knows all of their names, and can mentally keep track of how they are doing in her class, it's very impressive! 
I would like to say that the "Moratorium" state is most prevalent in the classroom, but that probably wouldn't be entirely accurate. Although the students are learning and exploring, and still developing ideas, there is also a lot of apathy. At least when it comes to content material, a lot of the kids seem to just be going through the motions, and not caring at all about what they are supposed to be learning. It's tricky to say this for certain though, since I really only know the students in the context of the science classroom. I'm sure outside the classroom, they all have different areas where they are in different states of identity. I think Mrs. Harmon does a good job about getting the students engaged in the classroom activities, but not so much in the actual information. It's more like she is sneakily teaching the kids something they don't want to learn. I think it would be helpful to give more real-life examples and explanations of how the content connects to the real world. Otherwise, it is just going to be passed off as useless information.

Physical Development

Describe how the teacher implements a consideration of the students' physical development and/or Bronfenbrenner's Bioecological Model into instruction, assessment, and/or procedures. What more could/should the teacher do in this regard? Provide specific examples and be sure to include a reference in your response. 
In the classroom I've been observing, the teacher is pretty good about keeping the kids moving for at least part of the day. I've never seen her have the class sit down and not move for the whole period. Even if the movement is only to stand up and get a worksheet, then sit down, then stand up and turn it in, it is something! But, usually she does more than that. In the class I observed just yesterday, she had different stations set up around the room and the students had to go around to each one and answer questions based on the different specimens that were at each station. I've never seen her do an activity that is anymore physical than that though (but in fairness, she does have very limited space, and only the kids on the ends are really free to move). During assessments, movement really only occurs when students go to hand in their quiz. Procedures are where most of the seemingly trivial movement comes in. Students have to stand up and find their bell ringers, then when they are finished, they have to stand up and put their bell ringers back in the basket. It's not very significant movement, but it's enough to change the pace just enough that I think it helps to get everyone to stay on track a little bit better. I would love to play some of the more physical activities that were presented in the MSE article, but a lot of them would need to modification to work with the curriculum. I really liked the "alphabet soup" one though, that could be modified a whole bunch of different ways, and it would be really fun!
I found this article (http://www.educationworld.com/a_lesson/lesson/field_day_games.shtml) that has a few really general games to play in a classroom, like 4 Corners, that would be fun to adapt into the curriculum. For example, in 4 Corners, instead of labeling the corners as "1,2,3,4", I could label them as "Mammal, Reptile, Bird, Fish" or something like that. Then, I could have the person that is "it" give a description that would eliminate one of the 4 categories. So, they could say "has hair" and that would kick out everyone standing in the mammal corner. That way, it would still be a fun, physical activity, but it wouldn't be totally unrelated to the content. We could adapt into pretty much any unit.

Vygotsky

What evidence do you see of specific teacher behaviors that are geared toward Vygotsky's theories of cognitive development? Cite specific examples and make clear connection to Vygotsky's work. Be thorough in your coverage of the theory, addressing multiple concepts to demonstrate your understanding. Be sure to include a reference in your response.

In the class I've been observing, the teacher does a lot of group work. This serves the dual purpose of getting the kids more excited and engaged, and from Vygotsky's point of view, it aids in the cognitive development of the kids by means of social interactions and acts as a form of scaffolding. It also gives the kids who are struggling an opportunity to get help from their partner (the more knowledgeable other), or if they can't figure it out together, they can ask another group for help. This article (http://www.childdevelopmentmedia.com/articles/play-the-work-of-lev-vygotsky/) talks about how problem solving with the mediation of a peer can be a great way to scaffold the information and help them get into the zone of proximal development. A lot of the activities I have observed have been categorization activities. For example, the students were given a stack of cards that had different types of cells, tissues, organs, organ systems, and organisms. They had to categorize the cards based on level of organization, and on the type of cell, tissue, etc. Those activities are a good example of high order thinking skills since it required the students to analyze and evaluate what was on the cards before placing them in the correct category. This was one of the first activities that was done in that unit, so the students didn't have the levels of organization memorized yet. I think starting out with HOTS activities is a better idea than starting out with LOTS activities because by analyzing or evaluating something, students will automatically have a better chance of remembering and understanding the information. One day in class, the teacher had four different activities for the kids to do that related to the exact same concept. This was a really good way to ensure that the kids were able to internalize the information through repetition. Plus, these activities were pretty fun game-like activities, which is a great way for students to internalize information.