Reflection on Learning Theories

After seeing how all the different learning styles can affect the way students learn I have changed my philosophy just a little bit. I still believe that all of the theories need to be used together to get the maximum potential out of the students, but I now believe more in the constructionist and socialist theory that I did before. I always like the idea of those theories, but I never thought it was possible to use them as much as needed to make them effective. With NCLB there are so many different things we need to get through as teachers that there never seems to be enough time to accomplish a project where students get to work together to produce a product. I have found through this course that there are ways through strategy and technology to accomplish these hands on activities without losing the days necessary to teach all the content.

A couple of the pieces of technology that I would like to incorporate into my teaching to help me reach my students better would be the graphic organizer websites, and the voice threads. The reason these will help so much is because it will give me a way to help students organize the content without me having to tell them that everything works together. They will be able to see through the graphic organizer that they create how all the content works together. Also, the use of voice threads will allow students to create a product they can share with the rest of the class without having the fear of presenting material in front of all their peers. Taking this “risk” out of the equation will allow students to open up much more to their classmates and create a wonderful product to share.

The long term goals that I have for my classroom are to create more project based tests, and allow for more group projects. The way I will do that is by slowly introducing small group projects that can be completed in class. I think that a project way of thinking is much different than what students are use to and will take time to adapt to. By providing time for them to work together in class and produce a product they will have the chance to get use to this new way of thinking. Then, I can work toward having individual project tests, and projects that need to be done outside the class to achieve a topic. This will enhance the students’ learning and experience. In the end I am hoping to create self learners and critical thinkers. By conducting class in a way that requires them to work together to gain an end product I think I will ultimately be helping the most I can for what they will need to do in their lives outside of school. Helping students be productive in real life is the best possible thing I can do for my students.