Psychology 20 - Please view the Ted Talk "Do Schools Kill Creativity?" and hand in the corresponding question sheet for tomorrow.

Do you want to exercise your creativity? Try this activity out!

“o improve your ability to mentally connect the dots, try this activity. Get a stopwatch or timer, three pieces of paper and a pencil or pen. Set the timer for three minutes and then write down all the uses for a soup can that you can imagine. Use the whole three minutes. For the next three minutes, jot down all the white edible things you can think of. Lastly, on your third sheet of paper, spend three minutes noting what might happen if humans had three arms instead of two. On other days, practice thinking of new uses for household objects such as a paper clip or chair, and considering the consequences of other weird changes to the human body . Now consider a social scenario that bothers you. Perhaps one of your co-workers talks to you so much that you can't get your work done, or your neighbor complains about your dog's barking. Or perhaps your child throws tantrums whenever you do homework together. Set the timer for three minutes and write down as many ways to solve this problem as you can think of, without judging the quality of the solutions. Look over your list. Are there surprises? Sift out the silly ideas, holding on to the gems. Spend at least 15 minutes daily, or whenever you can, thinking in this "divergent" way about a practical problem in your life.

Psych 20 - Your test marks are posted! If you wrote your test in the learning centre you will have to wait another day - sorry! The class average was a 68.8% which surprised me. The test data I received by examining which questions you got wrong showed me that you are not applying your knowledge to new situations. Psychology is all about applications - you can memorize a definition but you need to be able to apply meaning to it and how it works in real life. This is an encoding issue! Please write down EXAMPLES of every term we go over in class so you can easily generalize it to new and novel situations.

We did the lateral thinking test, which will lead us into tomorrow's mini unit on thinking. We will be starting behaviour disorders by Friday or next Monday at the latest.

ELL 2 - Your menus are due tomorrow! Please read the feedback I gave you on your writing assignments.

ELL 3 - Your campaign posters are due tomorrow! Please read the feedback I gave you on your writing assignments.

ELL 4 - We watched the film "To Build A Fire" today and we will be finishing up the short story activities this week. Your reading comprehension questions were due today. In case you missed it:

Psychology 20 test review

Today we used Kahoot! to review for your test on Monday. It was awesome! Congrats to team Wildcats for winning the pumpkin spice donut. What kind of reinforcement was I using? Give me your answer in the comments for a chance to win a prize next week :)
If you want to do an at-home review: I think this should work. I haven't tried it at home. Maybe call your friends and organize a review battle?

https://play.kahoot.it/#/k/94c15bb1-a070-4ab6-a38b-941efab106d8


Areas to concentrate on:

Classical Conditioning - how to distinguish between NS, UCR, UCS, CR, CS
Generalization/Discrimination
Exinction/Spontaneous Recovery
Acquisition
taste aversions
phobias
behaviourism and theorists

Operant conditioning - major theorists and experiments
reinforcement - positive and negative
schedules of reinforcement
reinforcers
punishment - positive and negative
shaping
dog training (the Bark article)
escape/avoidance conditioning
primary and secondary reinforcers
token economy
aversive control
disadvantages of punishment

Cognitive learning
latent learning
cognitive mapping
learned helplessness

Social learning - major theorist and experiment
modeling
observational learning process
intrinsic motivation
social learning theory in real life

Memory
Three processes of memory
sensory memory - iconic and echoic
short term memory
long term memory
elaborative rehearsal
maintenance rehearsal
encoding - acoustic, visual, semantic
Three systems of memory (understand the flow chart)
implicit memory
explicit memory
procedural, declarative, episodic, semantic memory
mnemonic
interference
amnesia
mnemonics
schemas
confabulation
decay
priming

Also, concept of "false" memories
http://www.ted.com/talks/elizabeth_loftus_the_fiction_of_memory

Reminder, there is NO school tomorrow! Only for us teachers. We will be learning about how to be better teachers. Have a fantastic long weekend!

Tomorrow in Psychology we are doing a test review! It will be fun!

ELL - All levels have a vocal quiz tomorrow. We are all still continuing on our projects and questions.

I am enjoying catching up on some PVR and eating junk food......this destressed teacher is looking forward to seeing your happy faces tomorrow!

Psych 20 - reminder there is a unit test on Monday, Sept 28. I will NOT be collecting or marking your memory booklet but you are responsible for understanding the content inside! You will be tested on it.
Today we began learning about memory, and the encoding, storage and retrieval processes associated with it.
 Tomorrow we will learn about false memories and you will get some time to work on your project. We still need to discuss a due date, which we will do tomorrow.

ELL 4 - Your vocabulary words from "To Build A Fire" are:
conjecture
frail
menacing
apprehension
subdue
amber
monotonous
reiterate
pang
gingerly
singe
imperative
folly
boughs
treacherous
wistful

You will have a vocab quiz on Thursday. Please study!

ELL 2 - You have a vocab quiz on Thursday! Your food idioms work is due tomorrow!

ELL 3 - You have a vocab quiz on Thursday! Your questions about government and "Issues" are due tomorrow!

Have a fantastic Tuesday night :)

Psych 20 - we had library time today to work on your "design your own" prison or school project. we start memory tomorrow! Unit test on Monday, Sept 28.

ELL 4 - we read "To Build a Fire." Please look over vocab and reread tonight.

ELL 3 - we read the Canadian election article. Questions due tomorrow.

ELL 2 - we read and and watched a video about Canadian food and drink. Questions due tomorrow.

Psych 20 - Today we watched some children's programming and applied Social Learning Theory to it, particularly the observational learning method of attention-retention-reproduction-motivation. It was a fun class - I bet none of you thought you'd be watching kids cartoons in high school!

Monday we have computer time booked for our project. You will be designing your own school or prison using classical conditioning, operant conditioning, and social learning theory. You will work either individually or in groups of up to three students, so maybe think over the weekend about who you would like to work with.

ELL 2 - You worked on a webquest today about Canadian symbols - please hand it in on Monday. Please read over the vocabulary list for next week.

ELL 3 - we discussed the Canadian election coming up. We read an article with lots of subject-specific words. Please highlight the article and find the definitions for any words you don't know and have that ready for Monday. Please read over the vocabulary list for next week.

ELL 4 - you survival group work is due on Monday. We will be starting "To Build A Fire" on Monday. Today we watched a Flocabulary video  on elements of a short story, and picked out symbolism from Pixar's La Luna.

Enjoy your weekend! :)

Psych 20 - today we worked on cognitive theory of learning, and social learning theory (and social cognitive)
We made cognitive maps and paid close attention to how our visual representations of our thoughts can vary so significantly from person to person, and how an individual's methodology tells something about their personality - very interesting!

We watched the famous Bobo Doll experiment, and saw how children can learn aggression just from observation.

We will apply these tenets tomorrow in a fun video activity

ELL 4 - we continued/finished the Survival group work, tasks 3 & 4. If you have not completed these, make arrangements to hand them in on Monday. (this means meeting outside of class!)

ELL 2/3 - We are finishing the writing assignments - Letter to a teacher,(L3) and narrative paragraph (L4). We will be moving on tomorrow.

Psych 20 Dog Training article

A helpful list if anyone is still confused about the difference between positive reinforcement, negative reinforcement, positive punishment, negative punishment, and schedules of reinforcement (fixed ratio, fixed interval, variable ratio, variable interval)
http://topix.teachpsych.org/w/page/36140077/Operant%20Conditioning%20in%20the%20Classroom

Tomorrow's homework is to read the following article and answer the questions below:

http://thebark.com/content/dog-training-operant-conditioning

 

1.Who first experimented with operant conditioning with cats? What kind of learning did they discover?

2.Describe some of the developments in learning research with:

a. Pigeons

b. Chickens

c. Dolphins

3.What are the techniques trainers use to train dogs to perform tasks?

 

4. How can you apply this learning to a household pet?

Apologies!

Apologies for not posting yesterday! As my psych class will understand, I explained that I was classically conditioned to write in the blog while I am sitting in my classroom. Some business took me into another room after school, and I neglected to remember the blog. Pavlov at play :)

Psych 20 - we looked at classical conditioning a bit more today, and you did some scenario based questions practicing identifying the NS, UCS, UCR, CS and CR. You did quite well! A few subtleties to remember for next time are seeing how the CS sometimes changes slightly, ie "the mention of the word tuna" instead of an actual tuna sandwich.

We started operant conditioning and we will spend all day tomorrow on it.

Your learning chapters are due on Monday, Sept 21.

ELL 4 - We took a departure from wilderness survival to talk about cultural survival. We discussed First Nations in Canada, and how European contact has altered their way of life. We started reading "Bringing Indigenous Languages Back to Life" and will continue it tomorrow.

Please read the feedback I gave you on Survival Task 1 and 2 for next class.

ELL 2/3
Level 2 is beginning to conduct an interview with a classmate about their experience coming to Canada, using "New Moves" as a guideline. Level 3 will be beginning writing a letter to a teacher with suggestions on how to make newcomers feel more comfortable at school.

If you want to rewatch the video, you can find it here;
http://settlement.org/ontario/education/elementary-and-secondary-school/help-your-child-succeed-in-school/new-moves-an-orientation-video-for-newcomer-students/

ELL 2/3 - we worked on homophones today, played a grammar game on the board where you choose the correct word, and did some practice questions. Please have your homophone work in on Monday!

ELL 4 - We continued working on the survival group task. Today you worked on creating pro/con lists for the survivors and decided who you would take with you.

We watched this video and you are to decide what items you would take on a survival mission.

Your parts of speech booklet is due on Monday!

Have a fantastic weekend!

One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest - We voted as a class that we would watch the rest (10 minutes) on Monday and the question sheet would be due on Tuesday. Keep in mind you also have your instagram assignment due on Tuesday as well :) If you want to get a head start, you can view the movie at this link:

http://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=one+flew+over+the+cuckoo%27s+nest+full+movie&FORM=VIRE1#view=detail&mid=D39CB5FE37F324F2727CD39CB5FE37F324F2727C

Assignment: (I can't figure out how to upload files!)

One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest – Film Study

Counterculture author Ken Kesey's best-selling novel, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest is based on his experiences working in the psychiatric ward of a Veterans' Administration hospital. Kesey is motivated by the premise that the patients he sees don't really have mental illnesses; they simply behave in ways a rigid society is unwilling to accept. Themes deal with conformity vs nonconformity, confinement vs freedom,

Using some personality traits or behaviours,  describe the following characters: (14 mks)

Billy Bibbit	Candy	Cheswick	Chief Bromden	Dr. John Spivey	Fredrickson	Harding
Martini	Nurse Ratched	Rose	R.P McMurphy	Taber	Turkle	Washington

 

Describe how Nurse Ratched uses humiliation or degradation to treat her patients inhumanely: (5 mks)

 
 

 

Describe some of the treatments the hospital uses and what the intended purposes are. Are these still in use today? Why or why not? (8 mks)

 

 

Does this movie effectively remove stigmas of mental illness, or do they reinforce them? Explain (5 mks)

 


 

Choose one character and describe how each of the psychological approaches would attempt to explain their behaviour or motivation for their actions (you can speculate!) (3 mks each = 18 mks)

Character: ______________________________________________

 

Psychoanalytic
Cognitive
Behavioural
Humanistic
Biological
Sociocultural

Psych 20 - We started One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest today! We will finish it tomorrow. Your film study questions are due on Monday. Your FIRST Learning Log is due tomorrow! I can't wait to read them!

ELL 4 - We started our silent reading sessions - 15 minutes each day devoted to reading, and (hopefully) working toward your book report! Your first book report is due October 13.
We started our survival unit with a fun group activity, which we will be continuing on for the next few days.
Your parts of speech grammar workbook is due on Monday.

ELL 2 - You continued with your Parts of Speech grammar booklet - it is due tomorrow.

ELL 3 - We read "Who Reached the North Pole First?" about Admunsen and talked about the Northwest Passage. This booklet is due tomorrow.

See you tonight at the open  house!

High School Orientation tonight!

Please bring your family to see what you do all day!

6:30 PM - You and your family get to experience your day in an hour. You will be moving through your classes for 10 minute periods, beginning with PRIDE.

See you tonight :)

Psychology 20 - we did a mini questionnaire to see where everybody's values are in regards to psychological approaches, and then discussed the different approaches. We watched a little clip of Carl Rogers talking about his humanistic approach to get a better idea about how therapy could be so different between the approaches.

In class you got time to research who you want to profile in your "Man Crush Monday" or "Woman Crush Wednesday" Instagram assignment. This is due next Tuesday.

Your homework questions will be checked in class tomorrow.

Your learning log is due on Friday.

ELL - We discussed book reports, and expectations for them. ELL 2/3 got to check out books from the ELL library, and the ELL 4's are expected to bring novels into class with them starting TOMORROW! We will have reading time every day from now on.

First book report for each ELL class is due October 13.

Homelogic updated

Hello all,

Marks for Psych and ELL have been entered into Homelogic.

If you have never used Homelogic before, the address is:

https://sirswebapps.cbe.ab.ca/Homelogic/

Parents, you may access your child's grades and attendance records by registering at the above link.

Tuesday Bluesday

Welcome back after the long weekend! Did you have fun? I sure did - relaxing and fun :)

Psych 20 - You handed in your "Anybody's Son Will Do" questions which were due today. We looked at some questionable psychiatric treatments of the 19th and 20th century, which reminded some students of the movie "Sucker Punch" (Lobotomies and hydrotherapy, namely)

We discussed WHY we study psychology, and some of the early schools of thought involving psych - Wilhelm Wundt and William James to name a few. We watched a quick video summarizing these views.

We did a powerpoint presentation on the early psychologists, and you were assigned a two page assignment due on Thursday about introductory topics and psychological approaches.

ELL 2/3/4 - We watched a Flocabulary video on the parts of speech! We did a quick Powerpoint presentation on the parts of speech followed by a group activity.

ELL 2 - you are working on your grammar workbook
ELL 3 - you are reading about Marco Polo and thinking about the qualities you need to be an explorer
ELL 4 - you are working on parts of speech grammar

Sorry the classroom is so cold! We are working on fixing that. Feel free to help yourself to the tea in the classroom to keep your hands warm :)

It's Friday, y'all!

Psychology 20 - We watched "Anybody's Son Will Do" - a documentary by Gywnne Dyer. Please have your accompanying questions on the video and Maslow's hierarchy of needs finished by Tuesday. I will be collecting it for marks.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P_G2u1RrLOk

ELL 2/3/4
We did a mini art project on your culture and heritage. It is due on Tuesday.

Have a great long weekend!

Today we did lots of getting to know each other. The time really flew by!

Psych 20 - wow, we had so much to talk about in a shortened class. We did a pretest to gauge your knowledge about psychological issues (the answers were all false!). We explored many perspectives on an issue (cognitive, behavioural, biological, affective) from a psychological point of view, and then looked at sociocultural, economic and political factors as well. I asked you a preposterous question - "What if everyone lived to 150 years old?" and you began to examine in through those lenses.

We will pick that up on Monday when we talk about the history of psychology and the modern approaches.

Tomorrow we are looking at identity and basic human needs, and beginning to learn about Abraham Maslow.

ELL 2/3/4 - We also did some getting to know you activities, and the "Classmate Conversation Challenge" which you did so well on! I learned that we have students from every corner of the world in our classroom. We did a "Following Instructions" quiz (which was sort of sneaky) and you did a creative writing assignment so I can understand your writing level.

Tomorrow we will be working on a culture mini project.

Please remember to bring a book next week to read in class. Next week I will be explaining our monthly book reports, as well as explaining how our ELL library works.

Next week we break into separate ELL levels, and we get right into the "nitty gritty" of our course.

See you tomorrow for our shortened day!

Mrs. S

First day of classes

Welcome to all my Room 210 students!

Psych 20- today we went over the course outline and discussed what we will be talking about this semester. I also got you to fill out your "psychological intake" questionnaire to help me get to know you better. We will do a bit of group work tomorrow and figure out why on earth we study psychology!

ELL 2/3/4 - today we also went over the course outline and did a "get to know you" sheet. We also got to play some charades, two truths and a lie, and "baby I love you" drama game. We had a lot of laughs! Get ready to exercise your creativity tomorrow with some free writing to help me understand your writing proficiency.

See you tomorrow!

First day

Wow! What a day. It was so nice to meet all of my Pride class.

Please remember to bring in your demographic forms, consent to publish forms, and your school fees. If you haven't already and want to join a team (you should), pick up your Athletic Tryout Authorization forms in the main office.

Was your favourite part of the assembly when the staff sang along and danced to Uptown Funk? Of course it was ;)

See you all tomorrow!