Class Thus Far

As I take a step back to reflect on class until this point, I am drawn to reflect on how I think that I am doing. This class is really challenging how I view learning and grading. Ninety-nine percent of my classes are or have been the usual of do the work, remember the key points, take a test, and get an accumulative grade. Yet it seems ironic that the class to teach me assessment does not involve any of this. I could typically tell you how a class is in a given semester due to my resent assignment and test scores though I may not be able to tell you how much I have truly learned. At times I wish that we were given some sign to show our progress but then I have to consider how that would affect my motivation and focus. I'm also still trying to figure out how I am doing in this class and how this grading system should affect my future classroom.

I've been pondering the questions of what we could do more or less of in class and the first things that typically pop into my head just don't work. In most of my classes I would say that we could use more activities or concrete representations instead of a teacher simply lecturing to the class. Less lecturing and more activities seem to be my most common response but does not fit here. So, my thoughts if any, would be that we are given a few take home questions. Just a few things that we could think about. I understand that our blogs and readings are a helpful way to keep us thinking but it really helps me to process, relate, and connect information with specific questions. I think that this is one reason I see the blogs as a helpful tool. Not only do they help me to assess what I already know but they also help me to search and add to my knowledge or understanding.

Planning Questions

A few questions that I would ask myself to ensure that my teaching is informed by all learning theories would be as follow:

In order to ensure that my teaching is informed by the developmental learning theory I would ask myself how each topic is represented. By doing this I would ask myself what the most concrete form of information would be and if I can accurately use this. I would also ask myself how I can move into more abstract ideas to challenge my students. I may ask my students open ended questions that don't rely on one straight forward answer. This may allow for the class to move up and down the spectrum of concrete to abstract. I may use abstract ideas to see how much of a grasp my students have on the information I am giving them or if they are simply trying to rearticulate the information in a way that would earn my praise or a good grade. I would need to ask my ask myself if I am teaching students to label their ideas or truly learn what I am teaching.

In order to ensure that my teaching is informed by the social learning theory I would ask myself how I can encourage each student to act as the knowledgeable peer in their own way or subject. I would want to find a way that no student or group of students is singled out as being like a teacher or needing help. Instead I would want to find strengths in my students that allow my for classroom building and a better understanding of the knowledge to be grasped. I would also need to ask myself what some examples of language would be that the students may use or recognize involving each topic. Using familiar language will be a key way to making new information not seem so foreign and keeping their attention or away from frustration. To be informed by the social learning theory I would need to consider how the students will be able to interact with me as the teacher and with each other. I would also consider questions or activities in which I can find common experiences among my class. Finding these common experiences will be one way that I can try to understand my students zone of proximal development. Lastly, I would need to ask myself what my students background for a specific topic is and how that will affect their understanding of it now and I will need to share it.

In order to ensure that my teaching is informed by the constructivist learning theory I would need to ask myself how much and what background knowledge or experience my students have in each specific topic. Based on this information I will need to ask myself whether or not the information that I am giving them will be able to neatly fit into their schema or I will have to find a way to restructure their understanding. I need to ask myself how my students will be able to connect the new information to any background or older knowledge they may have in this topic. I would ask myself how this topic relates to their lives in order to make it more real to them and easier to build into their schema. Lastly, I would ask myself how and if I need to make my students self aware of the knowledge or maybe misconceptions that they have about the topic. Allowing my students to think about what they already know will help them to add and build upon that.

When teaching is informed by the learning theories, there may not be a clear set of steps to take yet each aspect of teaching will have a meaningful purposeful behind it.

DLT and SLT

The subject area that I chose is science and the topic is weather. Due to the fact that I will be in elementary education, I will need to begin by focusing on the most basic of facts.

If my teaching is informed by the developmental learning theory I would start with the most concrete idea for my students. In knowing this, the first task that I would have my students complete would be to watch and record the weather as a whole class. I would most likely give them three broad options to choose from. From there I would begin to move to more abstract ideas such as how the weather affects us and what we need to wear or learning about the seasons. I may connect subjects by placing weather vocabulary words on a spelling test or a word wall within the room.

If my teaching is informed by the social learning theory I would allow students to work together and help each other when needed. So, I would most likely begin by allowing the whole class to choose what the weather is for the day and then asking a specific student to tell me what would be the appropriate clothing for recess or so on. If the specific student struggled to answer a question I may allow them to call on one other student who would serve as the more knowledgeable peer.

Combined together, I would keep in mind the zone of proximal developmental and the most concrete of ideas for my students in order that they may truly learn the information that they are being given.

Developmental Learning Theory (DLT)

The developmental learning theory is a theory that I have heard about in classes here and there. Yet it seems as though I have missed quite a few details. Perhaps this is due to the fact that the very theory itself was used to teach about it this time through. In class we started with a concrete topic and slowly moved to the more abstract. In recent classes, I was given an overshadow of the way that this learning theory uses concrete things to lead into the more abstract but they lacked in specific examples and patterns. Knowing to start with what students already know and then using things such as a video or pictures will greatly increase my ability to not assume that because I'm teaching my students are learning. Teaching is said to create useful members of society not just people who can correctly answer a few test questions for the time being.

I'm surprised by the things that I once "knew" but am now only able to use the correct vocabulary to explain. I can see how many teachers desire for their students to learn and yet fail to use the more concrete ideals of the developmental learning theory to aid their students. This often results in a good grade for the time being but forgetting soon after. For example, I once had an english teacher who would only allow to read the text given, such as Romeo and Juliet. I remember struggling through this book, not clearly understanding all of the language, and trying to find many ways to ease the struggle. After we had finished the book my teacher showed us a few clips from different versions of movies from Romeo and Juliet. Today I could probably give the basic outline of the story but only because someone explained it to me without using the text. Also, more than the text I remember those clips from the different videos. I was almost shocked by the idea of playing the movie before reading the text because this teacher had nearly engrained it in my mind that you must focus on the text.

Though this was not focusing on the concrete and leading to the more abstract, I now better understand some of my teacher's reasoning behind certain activities they had our class do. For example, one of my history teachers once had my class watch a short film on the Boston Tea Party. After watching the movie we had to draw an advertisement for someone who would want to take part in the tea party. The advertisement had to include a picture and a phrase that summarized your drawing of what took place. I can still remember what mine looked like and I believe that because of this I also remember some of the more abstract ideas involved with the tea party.

Overall, I am beginning to better understand how to teach in a way that allows students to grasp abstract ideas by using what they already know in a concrete form. Though it contradicts the way that some of my teachers have taught me it also helps me to clearly understand and appreciate other teacher's reasoning behind the way they teach.

Erin VanderSchel