Every single one of the students in our classrooms are smart and capable. I think that one of the hardest parts of my job (as an educator) is to find out what works for all of my students, to encourage them to do the best they can.
As we talked about in this week’s discussion, learning brings change! There are different ways of learning and different theories. Personally, I have learned about these theories before, but never really dove into what they mean for us, in the classroom setting. For example, Katia used the example of Class Dojo being apart of the Behaviorism theory of learning. When I first started teaching, I actually used Class Dojo with my students. However, after awhile I realized that it seemed to be making those behaviours worse. In learning theories like Behaviorism, you are either right or you are wrong, just like Skinner’s Teaching Machine. Yet, I found that there are other (less demeaning) ways of classroom management.
Again, as we talked about in class, I think that the majority of teachers, myself included, fall under the Constructivism learning theory. I believe that all of our kiddos come to us with some sort of understanding and knowledge and it is our job to build on that. The most beneficial learning that I did throughout my university experience as an undergrad student, was my pre-internship and my internship. To be in the classroom, watching other teachers, and actually able to learn from role models, helped shape who I am as a teacher today. I do believe, however, that a lot of us (teachers) and our education system continues to function with a “mix” of all of the learning theories (ie: Behaviorism, Cognitivism, and Constructivism), and that is not a bad thing!
I mentioned how I shifted my thinking about strategies such as Class Dojo, but I do also believe we need to shift our mindset away from “one size fits all” approach. When we think of Cognitivism learning theory, we think Piaget Stages of Development. This is where the “putting students in the same grade level based off their age”, can be a downfall. This is a bigger issue, but I think that less of our students would “fall through the cracks” if we chose to follow a more Constructivism approach, because as teachers we know that our students are diverse. They learn differently, they come to us from different backgrounds and they have their own strengths and also weaknesses.
I am by no means a perfect teacher, but I hope to continue these learnings to better understand my own management skills, and how I can construct my classroom to benefit my learners.
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