Helping Bilingual Students Succeed: Overcoming Teacher Pessimism

Abstract

Name: Psychology 3302 – Spring 2022 – Exam 1, Chapters 1, 2, 3 Exam 1 is due Wednesday, February 23, at midnight, and must be typed. Please download this document and type your name above and answer the questions, re-save the document with just your last name as the filename and send it back to me by the due date. Remember that your answers should reflect research-based solutions. You shouldn’t have to search beyond the text, but if you do, be sure to cite your sources. Part 1: Short answer questions: the answers to these questions may require a few sentences or a paragraph or two. Six questions at 12 points each. Javier emigrated from Mexico with his family and is starting third grade with minimal ability to speak English. His teacher, a recent graduate from an urban state university, is not optimistic about Javier’s chances for success. The school offers few resources for bilingual education and the principal tells her “Just do the best you can.” How should the teacher approach this situation? How will her pessimistic attitude impact Javier’s experience? What would you do if you were the teacher? Answer: It is imperative for teachers to express optimism towards their students regardless of the situation. In our case scenario, it is open that the teacher has very negative attitude towards Javier’s success in an English fluent environment. To change such a negative perception, the teacher must focus on Javier’s specific needs “bilingual inabilities” without judging her potentials. The need to encourage and remain supportive towards Javier is essential in enhancing her success in adapting to her new environment. The teachers’ pessimism may make Javier feel useless and not fit for the new environment and fear approaching such a teacher. An effective teacher establishes positive relationship with students which prove a powerful force in solving student’s problems thus the best remedy for Javier’s case. A teacher is conducting a study in his classroom. He wants to determine whether students perform better on a concepts test after using a mini-lecture approach or after engaging in a group activity. What type of research should he use to conduct this study and how will he gather the information he needs? Answer: Action research is the best to employ in such a study. In action research is repetitive in nature which gives the researcher a great opportunity to benefit from the qualitative analyses that enhance realization of a quality/logical result. Due to its repetitive nature, this type of research helps a lot in improving education programs within many schools. The teacher gathers information through identifying the problem of study (student performances), collect data (comparison of the students assessment performances from both approaches), organize, analyze and interpret the performances from both approaches. The approach that proves the best remains determined by the end result. “High horse-power, poor steering,” is a common phrase describing adolescent brain maturity. Is this a meaningful metaphor? What does it mean? Please provide of one example of how an adolescent’s mental processes might illustrate high horse-power and poor steering. Answer: One can argue the concept “high horse-power poor steering” as a very meaningful metaphor. Meaningful in the sense that during adolescents, the youth’s body and brains proves highly energetic but such energies can drive them into the wrong directions. High horse-power also means high energetic power while poor steering implies the poor controls in life decisions that such energies direct the adolescent into in most instances. A good example mental process is when a student has never missed a lesson before but decides to hang out with friends playing cards or just engaging in meaningless leisure activities and spend the entire day with them. Sierra walked into class late and felt quite embarrassed. To make matters worse, she was very self-conscious about a recent haircut and felt like all eyes were on her, judging her, and mocking her. Explain what is happening to her from the perspective of Piaget’s developmental model. If Sierra shared with you how she felt, what would you say to her? Answer: According to Piaget’s developmental model approach, Sierra is experiencing a state of cognitive disequilibrium which is a very sensitive state of defined cognitive imbalances. Her esteem is very low making her uneasy with her appearance and more negative with her fellow classmates. To this effect, one can describe sierras thinking as adolescent egocentrism as her behavior expresses a person who lacks the ability to differentiate between her perception on what her classmates think about her and what other people outside class think of her in reality. If sierra shared her experience, I would encourage her to accept herself the way she is and be positive towards life and others. Kim is a new fifth grade teacher, and she is surprised to learn that her school has reduced the amount of recess for all students and eliminated time for...