Week 3 Reflection
CHAPTER Three
“Perceptual Processes II:
Attention and Consciousness”
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1. Summarize the reading in a few sentences:
Chapter 3 discusses attention and the 3 interrelated cognitive tasks of divided attention, selective attention, and saccadic eye movements. This chapter also examines both biological and theoretical explanations for attention. The end of the chapter discusses consciousness and our awareness about the external world.
2. How does it fit into what I have already learned in this course?
The information discussed in Chapter 3 does support what we have learned in the previous chapters. The previous chapters discussed auditory and visual processes and Chapter 3 continues by discussing how our various attention processes can support or hurt our cognitive development.
3. What am I still not clear on?
I thought that this chapter was fairly easy to understand the concepts and theories that were discussed. There is really nothing that I am not clear on at this point.
4. How would I apply this to my own teaching?
Chapter 3 really made me think about different students in my classes and how their different attention processes may affect their work and their focus on material in class. It made me realize how I, as an adult, also struggle when multi-tasking and handling various distractions and how easy it is to be distracted by other thoughts within our head. Every student is different and struggles in different areas. Attention is something that every teacher should be aware of and find ways to keep each student focused on tasks within class.
5. What proof does the author offer that makes me believe this is valid? Do I believe it? Why?
Chapter 3 offers us an explanation of three types of attention processes and several theories behind these processes that help to explain different students and the difficulties that they have with staying on task and other attention capabilities. I do believe these because of the proof behind the theories and the fact that I can see these proven in myself and my students.
6. Why is this important? What does it help improve or explain or predict?
It is very important for teachers to understand their students and their various levels of attention in order to have compassion and understanding for students that struggle to stay on task. It is more than just their will to work. It can actually be just an attention issue that the students struggle with. Knowing and understanding attention problems can help improve our teaching in that we can find ways to adjust our teaching strategies in order to keep all of our students on task.
7. When would I actually use this-under what circumstances and for what kind of students?
I would use the ideas presented in Chapter 3 when working with many of my students in class and trying to understand why some of them struggle to keep their attention and maintain their focus even on the most simple tasks in the classroom. I
8. Are there other ways to accomplish the same thing that are faster, cheaper, or better?
This question is not relevant when discussing the processes and theories behind attention and consciousness.
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I agree with you on #4, knowing how we as adult handle our attention makes me more aware of my students handle their attention. I am excited to focus on this with my students now that we are back from snow days. I think the snow days can also affect their attention, many of them still wanting to be at home and outside playing in the snow.
ReplyDeleteThis chapter also made me think about my students and how difficult it is for some of them to stay focused at times. I have many resource students in my class that are on medication for attention. It amazes me to see the difference in their attention processes when on medication and when they are not. I wonder if this is addressed throughout the book, considering many students are taking medication these days. This makes an even bigger challenge for us as teachers to find the best environment that suits our students learning abilities. I really liked how you said "it is important for teachers to understand their students levels of attention in order to have compassion." It is sometimes easy to get frustrated when students might not be getting something you are teaching and it is important to realize that it may be out of their control.
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