Learning Theories

The learning theory that my 6th-grade placement teacher uses is constructivism. She loves to apply the lessons to life, even if they are simple math lessons. For example, she actually had me talk about how I have used the Algebra that they are learning in my life. I was able to explain that I use simple equations often to figure out how much money I need for something. This was a great way for the students to see that math is applicable to life. She also has them problem solve. Instead of giving them the instructions for how to do a problem immediately, she has them think about how they might solve it. This leads them to think critically about the problem and how it might be solved. One student solved the problem by thinking about it backward, which showed the other students that there are multiple ways to solve a problem. The teacher has also told simple analogies that can be related to life for mnemonic devices. Such as telling the students that when the "2" and the "3" in the expression 2 + 3 switch places, they are commuting so it is the communitave property. The students seem to be able to better remeber these properties because of the ways they have related it to their lives.

The learning theory my kindergarten placement teacher uses the most is behaviorism. As she is teaching small kids, they are still learning how to share, how to respect others, and how to behave in a classroom. She is using positive renforcement to help them to learn these lessons. She just started a system where when she sees students doing good things, such as saying kind words, helping clean up, following directions quickly, etc she places a green ticket in a clear container. When she sees them do negative things, such as saying mean words, not interacting in the lesson, and blurting out she places a red ticket in the container. At the end of the day she draws out a ticket, and if it is green they get a treat. The kindergarnters have started doing better behaviorally, as they understand that the more green tickets in the container the greater chance they have of getting a treat. This shows the reward system of the behaviorism theory.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Blog Entry #6

The diversity that I see the most in my service learning placement classrooms, is diversity in academic abilities. I get to see how both of my teachers help gifted students and students who are struggling. My 6th-grade placement teacher addresses these concerns by doing something called "face in the hole". She will have students do a problem on a whiteboard and then go over the problem on the board. After she has gone over the problem, she will say "face in the hole" and the students will all put their faces down on their desks. Then she will tell them to hold up a 3 if they got the answer correct, a two if they got it right up to a certain point, or a one if they did not understand how to do the problem at all. This system allows the teacher to see who is struggling with that area and focus on them. It also allows the aide in the classroom to be able to know who they should go help. This is just one strategy that this teacher uses to help acknowledge academic diver...
Read more

Blog Post #8

I think that I have made a lot of connections between my service-learning placement and the topics that we are learning in class. As I am reflecting on my experiences, I can see how the lessons in this course are actually applicable to a classroom. I think that I have been able to articulate my own learning pretty well. I think that as I have progressed through this course my articulation has continued to improve. I do notice myself making more connections. Now when I am observing the classroom, I find myself making connections to the content. I see the activities that my teachers choose to use and I can pick out the core standards they are fulfilling. I also see how my teachers use the main techniques we have learned about to make lessons interesting. I see growth from my first blog post in the way I describe what I am seeing in the classroom. It is no longer surface level and my posts go deeper into the way the teachers actually teach. I also see growth in how I ...
Read more

Blog Post #9

Throughout this semester of college, this course has been my favorite one I have taken. I have enjoyed learning and experiencing all of the aspects involved in being a teacher. After completing this course and my service learning placement, I have decided that I do want to become a teacher. I have decided that even though teaching is really hard work I want to pursue it. Some of the things that helped me decide that I want to pursue teaching are the curriculum you get to teach. and the relationships you build with students. While I was completing all of the online assignments and activities in this course, I learned a lot about what you get the opportunity to teach as a teacher. Doing the activity where we researched the standards in Utah for teaching helped me get to see how many different areas you get to teach as an elementary school teacher. I liked that I would get to teach my students math and science, but also we would get to explore social studies and literature together. I ...
Read more