Intrinsic Motivation

After learning about intrinsic motivation I don't think that it is real, at least for me I have never had the desire to do work unless it was for a good grade. In Jr. High and High School my parents paid me or gave me rewards for A's and I am certain I would have had stuff taken away if I had ever received an F, I never gave them the opportunity to use that tactic. I think the biggest part of my motivation to get good grades was my classmates. My class was fairly competitive with grades and would always compare scores on tests. I did not want to be ashamed of my grades when I would show them so that motivated me to study and do well so I could have the pride to go with the good grades. Today grades are still my motivation to go to class, study, and do well it has nothing to do with learning something for the sake of learning something.

This Week

This week really made me think about what my feelings are on Intrinsic Motivation.  After taking motivation management I had really strong feelings on the subject.  I thought that our goal to get our students to a place where they are intrinsically motivated.  When Brother Beattie started talking about it in class I was positive that he would say the same thing.  It surprised me when he didn't and it really caused me to think about what intrinsic motivation is and if it is even possible.  After a lot of thinking I have decided that intrinsic motivation is kind of like becoming like Christ.  Our ultimate goal is to become like him but there is now way we can succeed without the atonement.  Intrinsic Motivation should be the ultimate goal that we have for our students but there is really no possible way it will happen.  Even if just feeling good is our motivation that can be seen as an external motivator.

This Week

This week I really liked how we went over the FBA (Funtional Behavior Assessment). I thought it was good to learn about this because it is a good way to find out if a behavior is really a problem. It really made me think about the behavior and not only how it affecting others, but how it affects the child who is doing the behavior. I also liked hearing the experience from Brother Beattie about the girl that he had to deal with.

General Ed Teachers and IEP meetings

Like many of my classmates said, the role that the general ed teacher plays in an IEP meeting should be important. They see what the child is capable of compared to other children that are at regular levels of learning. I think the general ed teacher should be able to contribute a large portion of insight when preparing an IEP for a child with special needs.

Class Management

In my Early Practicum class I was taught about the importance of classroom management. It is important to establish classroom management because the student need to know what to expect and what the teacher expects from the student. There are many different styles to this that will work for the teacher and the students in his or her classroom. Some ways are more effective than others but again it depends on what works for the teacher and his or her class.

Classroom management

I think the first part of classroom management is making sure that the students know who is boss and that you will not be walked on. There needs to be rules but not so many that your students will not enjoy being in class. Having some sort of reward helps student want to follow the rules. There are many different ways to do it. One thing that I always enjoyed was earning class parties. One way to keep track of having a Jar that gets filled with beans or something like that.

Classroom Managment

One idea that I have seen for classroom management is giving points to teams. You can have each table pick a team name and if they listen to you or are being very quite you can give them a team point. You can also take away team points if they are not listening. (This can be ineffective because you are disciplining the group and not the individual. It can also be good though because their peers will enforce good behavior.) Another technique that I like is you have two jars of marbles. One for the teacher and one for the class. If the class is good and listening then they can get some marbles added to their jar. They could also get marbles taken away from them if they were being bad. (This could be ineffective because you could be punishing some students who are being good while others are the ones being bad.)

Classroom behaviors and adjustments

I don't exactly know what to say in terms of behavior management for a classroom because I don't agree with behaviorism. I would want to implement something in the class that would help nurture children's desire to be kind for the sake of it, not for a reward. I think the closest thing we talked about in class would be the classroom rules of respecting one another and ourselves. If children misbehave I do not believe in shaming them, but teaching them respectfully.

I did learn that when we are preparing lessons for an unknown audience we should always leave room for adjustment of different learners.

classroom managment strategy

My strategy on classroom management is that you set your class room rules with the help (not completely)   of you students at the beginning of the year, also this is the time that you explain why the rules are important. There is a lot of different strategies to choice from and for me I haven't really found one of my liking, but I know as a kid that one of my classes did a fake money thing. Where if you were good or did good on assignment you collected money and if you missed behaved, then you lost money. Then at different times of the year you could use that money for prizes. I think the negatives to this is that might divide the class form those who are good and those are bad, to oh they have more money, so the teacher must like them better. I feel it my cause some contention which you want the class to be unified and to respect one another.        

General Ed & IEP

As we did our mock IEP meeting I felt that besides the parents the General Education teacher knew the student the best. Everyone else at the meeting didn't really get to know the student because of brief interactions with her or just reading about her on a chart with her IQ scores. 

General Education teachers and IEPs.

While doing the mock IEP I realized that General Ed teachers are the ones that know the students the best. With out the general ed teacher the IEP would not get anywhere. A lot of times the general ed teachers will be the one who implements most of the IEP.

General education teachers

I feel that the General education teachers have very important part in the development of an IEP, because there the ones that at first referred them for a IEP and second they are ones that will understand how they act and learn, because they are around them more. So even though the special education teachers write the IEPs I think they will work closely with the general education teachers to get the best IEPs for the students.

The General Ed Teachers and IEP Meetings

When we were going over the IEP meeting, I  noticed who had the most amount of personal knowledge and say was mostly the general education teacher. The teacher is the one who knows the child best in the setting they were talking about. The parents know how she is at home but the teacher knows how she acts in the classroom and how she compares to other students. I felt like the others at the IEP meeting just knew her because of the IQ test that she took, but they didn't really have experience with her personally. The teacher is defiantly the go to person when talking about her progress in school and her strengths and weaknesses.

-Ali Wilcox

Cedar Rapids Case

After looking closely at the Cedar Rapids case this week I thought I had made up my mind to side with the parents.  I felt like their problem was one that could easily be fixed by the school taking responsibility for the cost of medical care. The parents could not afford it.  They wanted to keep their child in school but could not pay for the care.  The discussion we had as a group just continued to solidify my opinion.  A school should be a safe place where all children are welcome and can learn in the least restrictive environment. He needed to be with his peers and it seemed to me like the school paying was the only way to make that happen.  During the class discussion my opinion was swayed a little.  I had never considered that if they paid for one students medical needs they would have to begin to pay for a lot of other.  I also never realized how much money it would cost for the school to take care of the bill. Although there were a lot of good arguments for both sides, I still side with the parents.

Cedar Rapid's Court Case

In the Cedar Rapids Case I was, like most of my group, on the side of the parents. After hearing other groups opinions I thought about it the other way and now I am on the side of the school. I liked the example one of the guys in our class made about how a student needing glasses is a disability yet it is not something the school pays for simply because they can't see. If the school was to pay for someone's medical expenses once that would just open a floodgate of paying for other cost's not really relating to school stuff.

Ceder Rapid Case

At first I was on the side of the parents but after hearing the opinions of others in the class it swayed me to take the side of the school. Yes he needs a lot of medical help from his injuries but why should the school all of a sudden have to pay for it. They were able to get by for a little because of his aunt that they trained. I don't think it should necessarily be the schools responsibility, it should be the parents responsibility since they are going to be responsible for him for the rest of his life. Also if the school starts making exceptions for this him, then they might have to make more and more exceptions for others which may lead to the school loosing a lot of money. In the end it is very sad what happened, but I ultimately think that it is the parents responsibility to take care and provide for their kid. 

-Ali Wilcox

My opinion on the Ceder Rapid case

School: First, if we look at whether or not he qualifies for special education. In class we talked about three questions that we need to ask: 1) Is there a disability? The answer to that is yes, he is paralyzed from the neck down so he can not write. 2) Is there an adverse effect? Yes, he could die if there is not a caregiver.  3) Do they need specially designed instruction? This is where it gets complicated, he is smart and is able to learn in a normal class he will need different ways to take test, and do assignments, does he need a nurse or caregiver to help him with his school work, No he does not. So does this mean that the school should not have to pay for a nurse? To me I think that there is a good reason for the school district to really consider not paying.

Sonya's Journal Post

Week of 2/2- 2/6
I agree with the school! I thought that the school should not have to pay medical benefits, the child cannot learn without them, but the child also cannot live without them! Special service should be there to help the student learn, not live. I feel the family could train someone like they had the 18 year old aunt trained and they could pay them personally to be with the child at school. I feel that now they could get help through the government, but maybe not back when this court case took place. I feel bad for the parents for having to pay for this, but the child is ultimately their responsibility, not the schools.


I know we weren't taught this, but I feel it is a good guideline when we want to think deeper about things people say.