Week Four T2P

So Far:
  
     As it appears to me, through the all the complexity, the jargon, the homework and the mix of class, things seem to be getting easier. Not only am I developing my personal philosophies and creating curriculum assessments, but I am learning how students learn through theory before I put myself into practice.
      Mark Twain once said, "how empty is theory in the presence of fact."What is beautiful about this quote is that when applied to leaning, there are no facts, so theory can always be reflected upon and applied to practice. What may be true for one student's learning habits is not always true for another. How else could so many theorists develop such a quantity of different, applicable learning theories, if there were always solid, concrete facts relating to how students learn.

Today:

     An issue that arrises, especially after today's class is how to incorporate all of these theories and techniques and ideals into my own philosophy, especially when they all contain at least some merit. Skinner's theories touch upon the innate learning behaviors of humans, while Erikson focuses on the scaffolding of life and the effects of decision making throughout developmental stages; both contain incredibly valuable stances on human learning theories, and must both be considered when developing personal philosophies and curriculum. What I hypothesize is that if teachers envelop as many credible teaching theories as possible into their philosophy and curriculum, then the students will be able to become more rounded learners themselves, because they will be better able to look at their students and cater their teaching styles to fit their needs. Essentially, the more the teacher knows about different learning theories, the more the teacher can relate and try to fit those theories to specific students. Once the theory that fits the student can be recognized, than the teacher can then adapt their teaching methods to help out the student. As Skinner and Erikson both pointed to, the teacher's main job is to remain a facilitator of knowledge, one who can guide students through a lesson, as opposed to a drone who recites information. Jerrid Kruse further supports this hypothesis by incorporating a diverse quantity of teaching theories into his classroom, captivating the essential philosophies of behavior learning theory, developmental learning theory, cognitive learning theory, etc.  If this can be done, students will be more willing to receive knowledge, because they make connections to the teacher as well as the content. This will initiate reciprocity and in turn create a better learning environment. 
    Furthermore, I also believe an issue will be teachers or pre-teachers who will too eagerly try to categorize themselves into a theorist's group. For example, one might say they are a Piagetian or Vygotskian follower. I believe this will hinder the teachers' ability to incorporate multiple theories into their classroom, and will essentially block students from getting quality education.
     Learning theories, as we learned, can be broken into art and science. It is an art because it takes skill to incorporate the multiple theories, but also a science, because the teacher needs to observe and react to the students' needs and desires for education. I have hypothesized in conjunction with my first hypothesis, that if teachers are fully committed to their students through means of reflection and observation, then the students are receiving optimal education, because the teacher is recognizing how students learn and are applying multiple learning theories to the class lessons. This will cater to more students' needs, and create a better learning environment for the entire class. Nel Noddings's philosophies would agree with this, because she believes that a teacher should care for the students, and make it well known that the teacher has a caring relationship. When the teacher and student both share a reciprocative level of caring, they will be better able to move through information and knowledge. They can do this because at a primal level, teachers and students both want to be cared for and show more motivation when they are. 

Tomorrow: 

    In future days, months and years, I hope to increase my knowledge of learning theories and develop a strong balance of applying my knowledge of other's theories to my own philosophies. As apparent in Jerrid Kruse's article on teaching theories, it is best to scaffold many different theories, such as behavior learning theory, developmental learning theory, cognitive learning theory, etc. with the lesson being taught. This way, students can develop comfortability with different teaching facets, and can hopefully grow personally from the experience.
    It appears as though my journey to becoming an expert learner has a long way to go!


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Morals/ethics....




Theory to Practice: Self Determination.


          VIcki Davis' pedagogy instilled very deep foundations of self determination. She used her class time with students to connect with not only each other, but also the entire world. Vicki's class incorporated student interaction with each other during projects to develop autonomy, in which the students could formulate their own project and presentations. This also led to relatedness, because students not only had to work together, but wanted to connect with others to enhance their learning. Of course, the hands on training with technology and other students led to an increase in competence  within the student because they mastered the technology present and had to teach it to their teacher! 
          Vicki also used a practice of student teaching students in her classroom. She promoted autonomy by allowing student to choose what they teach, but also how they go about teaching it to the class and head teacher (Vickie). Competence was increased, because the students had to master their project, and be comfortable enough with the content to teach it fluently with others. Relatedness was somewhat increased, as the students teaching had to connect with the ones that were learning. 
Overall, both methods of practice led students to enhance their performance, persistence (by way of having an innate desire to learn more and connect with more people), and creativity (creating lesson plans, developing projects and teaching styles). 
         With this in mind, it can be said that if a teacher incorporates a learning environment that not only encourages volition, but demands volition within students, then the learners will react by surpassing their own previous expectations. Students will do this because with the right motivation, their innate desire to achieve autonomy, competence and relatedness will blossom. If these achievements are obtained, it will lead to the results common with self determination theory; enhanced performance, persistence and relatedness, which is what all good teachers strive to achieve themselves. 
      This theory could be agreeable with George Siemens, who argues that students who connect with other students and collaborate frequently will become master learners. He, like Vickie, agree that teachers should not constantly be at the front of the room lecturing, but rather, letting the students explore their creativity and networking abilities. 








Theory to Practice #3 for week 4:


If a teacher conducts their classroom in a manner in which the teacher-student relationship is considered mutual, equal and interchangeable, then the students will be involved in the process of optimal learning. This will occur because the students as well as the teachers will harness their intrinsic motivation (see, I know that term now) to learn and succeed in that setting. By saying that the relationship should be mutual, equal and interchangeable, it addresses that the teachers and students must both take on the role of learner and teacher at various points of their relationship. When they are in their 'given role,' they should remain reciprocative, so that ideas, questions and concerns may be addressed; this will instill a sense of equality as well as care between the teacher and students. Paulo Freire would agree to this notion. He believed in allowing students and teachers to have role reversal experiences that allowed teachers to learn what students bring to the table, but also gave the students an opportunity to develop and share their critical voice. This will also help students and teachers to mutually care for each other as well as begin to care about other ideas, a concept that Nel Noddings describes. Nel describes caring for as essential between human relationships and development, and will eventually lead to 'caring about,' which is the desire to act upon an injustice or issue, another similarity with Freire. Acting upon an issue or injustice learned about in class on one's own will is a product of receiving optimal education. It shows that the student or teacher has accomplished a deep understanding of a topic and have synthesized a solution as well as alternatives. If the teacher's relationship with their students is oppressive or dominant, than the students will have a barrier to overcome before they can care about an issue, therefore making a it impossible to achieve optimal learning.










Link to Week Four HW Spreadsheet: 


Learning Theorists


Second attempt at learning theorists spreadsheet:


Learning Theorists