Ashley Meyer

Annotated Bibliography

Guirguis, R., Pankowki, J. (2017). Potential effects of teaching strategies on students’

academic performance under a trump administration. Journal of Education and Training
Studies. 5(4), 103-110.
This article used a meta-analysis research to see if specific models that are being
implemented in classrooms will continue to work under President Trump’s model for
education. His goals are focusing more on privatizing it by increasing the number of
charter schools and voucher programs. Based on this article, research leads to point out
that the privatization of schools will make more homogeneous student bodies. Also,
students with special needs and who are English Language learners often aren’t among
the higher percentages being sent to private schools, making their education more likely
to suffer under Trump’s administration. Instructional material and how schools set goals
for their students will vary by each school, because the education will be run
independently depending on each schools’ own interest, making it hard for teachers to
follow any one model. If Trump goes through with his plans for education, it will be a lot
harder for teachers to implement learning strategies as classes will rely less on diversity
and will become more homogeneous. This article can be used to emphasize the direction
the United States’ education plan may be going. The significant changes to school
diversity and the implications for students in minority groups is large and does not seem
to reflect well in the administration’s plans.

Harman, M., Bruce, A., Kordinak, S. (2008). The integrated teacher: Selecting the best approach
for a variety of classroom situations. I-manager’s Journal on Educational Psychology,
1(4), 16-21.
This article focused on three learning theories: behavioral, cognitive/social, and
humanistic. Each section gave ideas of how they could be incorporated into the classroom
to boost participation and learning from students in a more diverse setting. The main
focus of the article was to make the point that in a diverse setting, more than one learning
theory must be used in order to benefit the entire classroom. Instead of relying on one
model or theory, teachers should reach across theories and combine them to make the
most conducive environment for learning. Two things it stressed that came down directed
more towards the teacher is that they must be self-aware of their own behaviors in the
classroom and they must do their best to maintain relationships with each individual
student in their class. This article is helpful because by focusing on the fact that the most
growth from students who are struggling in school will come from teachers who put in
effort to know the kids. They do their best to adjust their teaching styles to fit their
students’ learning needs and by relying on a balance of learning theories, teachers will be
able to cater to the needs of a larger audience of students.
Hussung, T. (2016, May 31). Understanding three key classroom management theories.
Retrieved from https://online.husson.edu/classroom-management-theories/
This article focuses mainly on three psychologists: Skinner, Glasser, and Kohn,
highlighting how their theories contribute to teachers implementing the best classroom
management skills while simultaneously creating positive relationships with
students. Skinner is known for his studies of operant conditioning and positive
reinforcement. Positive reinforcement is essential in the classroom because it allows
students the opportunity to have reinforcement. This is important because without
receiving feedback, praise, or any type of indicator that they are succeeding, students are
likely to give up and/or become disengaged. Glassner focused on his term “choice
theory” which leads to the conclusion that behavior is chosen and is guided by the basic
needs of survival, love/belonging, power, freedom, and fun. The most important one is
the belonging sector, which makes it important that teachers make it a priority to get to
know their students and facilitate positive working relationships. Teachers that allow
their students chances to redo work to mirror a higher standard and allow students to self-
evaluate themselves are implementing choice theory in their classrooms. Kohn believes
that students need to take more action in their own learning rather than having teachers
provide excess amounts of extrinsic motivation. He focuses on promoting group work
and having options to promote curiosity and cooperation rather than focusing on testing
standards and a set schedule. Finding a balance between these three theories would
increase the likelihood of creating a learning environment that is positive and growth
oriented.

Manner, J. (2006). Montessori vs. traditional education in the public sector: Seeking appropriate
comparisons of academic achievement. The Forum on Public Policy, 1-20.
This article discussed Montessori education and the fact that although it has been around
since the early 20th century, there are still not high numbers of trusted studies supporting
that they produce higher achieving students than traditional schools. However, one study
that was conducted over a three-year period studied elementary school students’ reading
and math scores. Reading showed a significant increase for the Montessori children,
while math was too close to tell. On the Stanford Achievement test scores, both means
from the Montessori groups continued to rise above those of traditional students. From
these findings, it seems that Montessori style education benefits early language
processing the most. This article is helpful because it provides evidence that in early
education, Montessori methods are helpful in aiding students’ ability to read and progress
more rapidly.

Pfannestiel, K., Bryant, D., Bryant, B., Porterfield, J. (2014). Cognitive strategy instruction for
teaching word problems to primary-level struggling students. Intervention in School and
Clinic 2015, 50(5) 291-296.
This article went over the MSI strategy, which can be used for students with learning
disabilities in math. However, it had overall good strategies that teachers can use in the
lower levels while starting out teaching young children math. In order to teach students
 how to learn on their own, teachers must use strategies for math word problems such as
visualization and verbalization. To follow this idea, the teacher would have the students
draw pictures and then say what they are doing, then they can write out the problem using
numbers. These types of cognitive strategies help students narrow their focus and
increases their ability to complete the problems correctly. Creating manipulatives (tiles,
cubes, etc.) for students to use in solving problems will aid in their ability and will allow
them to learn how to follow steps using a visual tool to solve a problem correctly. A
verbal strategy other than saying the problem aloud is crossing out the information that is
not important and circling or underlining what is needed. In order to teach these
strategies, teachers must use modeling and be explicit in explaining what students should
do. One way to do this is to create a worksheet for guided practice for students to
implement the strategies. This didn’t match as well with the previous research conducted,
but it still provided insight on different strategies teachers should use in a diverse
classroom, especially with young children learning how to approach their own learning.

Ravitch, D. (2010). A century of skills movements. American Educator, 34(1) 12-13.

This article reveals the fact that in the early 20th century people believed in focusing on
more hands on and applicable education rather than memorizing facts. This was largely
due to what the majority of Americans felt was an appropriate education for African
Americans. It also discussed William Heard Kilpatrick’s Project Method, which was
essentially the idea that every student should spend time as an apprentice. By working in
a field, people learn how to collaborate with others and pick up important life skills such
as critical thinking. The author also made the point that there are still pieces of education
that can’t be learned through hands-on activities, so it is still important to have a balance
of hands-on instruction. This article can be used to show that progressive education ideas
have been around for a while, but there needs to be some sort of way to include
internships/apprenticeships into education along with the general education one learns
from reading and math.

Robinson, C., Finefter-Rosemblum, I., Benshoof, C., Gehlbach H. (2016). Getting teachers
excited for student feedback: It’s all in the ask. Society for Research on Educational
Effectiveness, 1-4.
This article covered a study on whether or not using cognitive dissonance makes teachers
more open to using student feedback surveys. It found that the teachers’ attitudes towards
it are malleable, which is a good sign for people within the education system. If
completing feedback surveys becomes a larger part of the norm, more teachers are more
likely to accept the practice. This is important because these can be used to give teachers
more ways to improve from their own students, rather than other teachers or
administrators giving brief feedback. By having students complete the survey, they can
answer questions about how they felt their teacher helped or hindered them. Teachers can
use these results to determine what types of activities and strategies their students liked
and give them a better idea of how to address issues regarding their own teaching habits.
Also, by accepting student feedback, it may encourage teachers to maintain strong
relationships with their students throughout the year.
Saxena, P., Sell, L. (2016). Performance on international assessments and learning time: A
snapshot of how the U.S. compares to other education systems on an international scale.
Bloomington, IN: Center for Evaluation and Education Policy.
This article covered the comparison of the United States’ scores on two tests, the 2011
TIMSS and 2012 PISA in relation to other countries. Many policymakers believe that
there is a correlation between countries who spend more hours in school, but the results
of this article pointed to there being no correlation. It suggested that further research be
done on the effectiveness of instructional time and to look more into after school
activities. In some countries, after school activities are paid for by the government,
making them accessible to all students, regardless of their socioeconomic status. This
article is helpful because it points out areas where the United States could improve to
help jump up in the rankings. With the suggestion of looking into instructional time, it
also highlights the fact that the United States has a need to reevaluate the current system.

Seifert, K., Sutton, R. (2009). Major theories and models of learning. Retrieved from
https://courses.lumenlearning.com/educationalpsychology/chapter/major-theories-and-
models-of-learning/
This article focused on behaviorism and constructivism and how teachers can
encourage/emphasize them in the classroom. One of the key pieces of operant
conditioning that will benefit classrooms is the use of intermittently reinforcement, which
causes students to remember what they learned for a longer period of time. Operant
conditioning is theorized to promote both intrinsic and extrinsic motivation in students.
Constructivism focuses on how students generate knowledge out of their experiences.
John Dewey put forth the idea that school curriculum should rely on students’ previous
knowledge and interests, while also relating to the types of activities and problems they
would come across later in life. Jean Piaget focused on the idea of cognitive equilibrium,
or a balance between prior information and new information, by coining the terms
assimilation and accommodation. Assimilation was the idea that people interpret new
information while using their pre-existing knowledge. Accommodation comes in when
prior knowledge is modified in order to make way for new learning. Jerome Bruner was a
social constructivist who held the viewpoint that students could learn more with support
and guidance- something he called instructional scaffolding. Lev Vygotsky capitalized on
this when he created the idea of the zone of proximal development, insisting that people
who were helped by someone higher than them would be able to move outside of their
zone and into the next. This article is important because it explains that in order to create
the best environment for development, teachers must provide students with a classroom
they can engage in independently but also encourage social interaction to promote the
development of language.

Williams, M. (2017). John dewey in the 21st century. Journal of Inquiry & Action in Education,
9(1), 91-102.
This article, as given by the name was all about John Dewey and his main beliefs as a
progressive educator. The main focus was on methods in the classroom that Dewey
viewed as promoting social learning and getting away from the focus on testing and
specific learning standards. A section of it focused on Montessori schools and the
similarity they have with many of John Dewey’s own theories. These theories encourage
student individualism while also promoting problem solving and being an active member
of the community. These approaches will aid research because it provides an alternative
view to the traditional classroom. By implementing some of these practices into
classrooms, students may have a more wholesome learning experience. The goal of this
paper is to create a model based on cross-sections of other models, so by using more
uncommon methods and incorporating them into a model that could be used in public
schools would help achieve this.