Virtual Teacher

Teachers can use self-instruction techniques to teach children an organized approach to solve social problems like settling arguments and fighting; also to cope effectively with angry feelings and with feelings of frustration. To solve the problem, we can train the child to ask, “What am I supposed to do?” and then, the child follows these steps: Look at all the possibilities or look at all the different answers so you can find the best possible solution. Focus in. Concentrate or think hard about just the problem you are working on right now. Do not look or think about anything else. After you study all the different choices, pick an answer. Check out your answer. If you got it right, tell yourself you did a good job. If you did not get it right, you do not have to put yourself down. Just remind yourself to be more careful or to go more slowly on the next try. (Kendall and Braswell, 1985) Teach students to use self-questioning . Questions help in organizing the steps needed t...

This is an excerpt from my popular book Keys to Meaning: What Teachers and Tutors Can Do to Improve Reading Comprehension Skills. To preview this book, click on the link at the bottom of this post.   When students understand a reading passage or a literary piece, they know what the information in the reading material means . To show understanding or meaning, children need to be able to recall or remember, to explain, to tell how something works, to restate the important ideas and details and/or to summarize. At the highest levels of meaning, students need to be able to apply or use the information (i.e. solving a problem), analyze or break the information down into parts (i.e. comparing, contrasting, sequencing), synthesize or use the information to create something new, and evaluate or telling the value of the information and giving opinions. There are two main types of literature: fiction or literature that is made-up, and nonfiction or literature about real people,...

Section 1: Definition Cognitions are the ideas and beliefs that we express through self-talking (the way we talk) and self-images (the way we think). Our cognitions guide our perception or interpretation of an event, which in turn influences the way we feel about the event (e.g. amazed, embarrassed, threatened, or angry). The way we feel about the event in turn influences the way we respond to the event. For example, if I perceive the event as hazardous to my health, I feel threatened and find ways to protect myself, but if the same event is challenging to me, I feel energized mentally and physically and behave accordingly. In other words, the way we feel and behave is a reaction to the way we perceive or interpret the event. Based on this basic premise, the cognitive-emotive approach, also known as rational-emotive thinking, states that we control our emotional destinies by the way we look at the events that take place in our lives, and by the actions we choose to deal with thes...

We can teach children to verbalize their thinking and to use these verbalizations to guide their own academic and social behavior. Using the self-instruction procedure , students learn to self-verbalize statements, questions, directions or instructions, and even their own cognitions (their thoughts and the way they interpret events) to influence and change their performance. In the cognitive literature, self-instruction is also called behavioral self-management training, self-instruction training, or behavioral self-control . With minimal variations, all these procedures train children in how to talk to themselves, first aloud and then silently, in order to guide their own behavior. Children learn to use self-statements (words or phrases) to interrupt themselves before they perform an inappropriate act (e.g. leaving task, fighting, or blurting out answers).Through this internal private speech, children bring their behavior back to their control. Self-instruction deals mainly with ...