Final Essay

Final Essay Miranda Guptill EDUC 1301.001 Professor Sumrall December 5, 2011

Final Essay During the course of this semester I have learned many ideas and facts about teaching and learning. Though it has been very stressful for me at times, I have enjoyed writing about the

different aspects of teaching including the classroom community, differentiated lesson plans, and diversity in the classroom. I have also had the pleasure of exploring what my personal educational philosophy is and even touching on what my teaching style will look like. When I look back on the past few months the five things we have learned that really stand out to me are the learning theories, students at risk, multiple intelligences, learning styles, and the technology revolution. The four learning theories we were educated on were behaviorism, cognitive learning theories, social cognitive learning theories, and constructivism. Behaviorism is defined as the theory that learning takes place in response to reinforcements such as rewards or punishments. Cognitive learning theories suggest that the learner plays more of a role in the learning process and from these theories Jean Piaget developed the stages of cognitive development. Social cognitive learning theories explain that learning also depends on how the learner interacts with the social environment. With this theory students learn by first watching then doing similar exercises. Lastly, constructivism is a group of theories that suggest that knowledge is actively built by a persons experiences and constructed by building new information with knowledge already gained. Constructivism is obviously the learning theory practiced today and I plan to implement it in my classroom by building piece by piece on my students knowledge and creating the most active classroom my school will allow. Learning about students who are at risk really touched home for me because of my struggle to make it through my early academic career. These are the students who are in danger of failing or dropping out. A study done by Warren E. Lacefield, E. Brooks Applegate, Pamela J.

Final Essay Zellar, Nancy Van Kennel-Ray, and Shelly Carpenter from the Western Michigan University in Kalamazoo, Michigan suggests that there is only a fifty three percent graduation rate in urban

high schools. This is the kind of low statistic that I want to help raise. I hope that by getting more involved in our childrens lives and giving them more productive and successful, truly successful, role models to look up to we can begin to turn things around for many students. Learning about multiple intelligences was a very intriguing experience I enjoyed in more than one class. Multiple intelligences suggest that we are intelligent in more than just one way. For example, someone who has musical intelligence might have linguistic and/or existential intelligence as well and may learn best through one or another. In my future classroom I will try to learn what my students intelligences are by experimenting with lesson plans that include music, the outdoors, working with others, and poetry. Another aspect of learning I liked exploring was learning styles. The three styles we read about were auditory, visual, and kinesthetic, where students learn by hearing, seeing, and doing. Knowing how your students learn gives you an upper hand in teaching them, getting them engaged, and understanding the differences they bring to the classroom. I plan to try to incorporate all three learning styles in each lesson to better reach my students. Finally, I feel the technological revolution is one of the most important factors that need to be understood. Our children are living in a technological world and the widening divide between those that understand our technology and those that dont should to be lessened or even closed. At the start of this semester I would have said that technology does not need to be incorporated into the classroom. That it only distracts and supports confusion for our students. After seeing the technological advances in the classroom through my observations and how it really helps will the learning process, I have changed my mind. I hope to use the web in my class

Final Essay by showing videos appropriate for lessons and encouraging independent and group study on approved websites. I also look forward to using devices like the iPad for assignments and even students phones for research activities. I look forward to exploring these and other techniques to improve how my classroom is run. Creating a classroom community is very important to me and I feel that knowing how my students learn or connecting with them through the technology they have become so attached to are key to achieving that community.

Final Essay Works Cited

Lacefield, W. E., Applegate, E. B., Zeller, P. J., Kannel-Ray, N. V., & Carpenter, S. (2011, April 9). Data Driven Identification and Selection Algorithms for At-Risk Students Likely to Benefit from High School Academic Support Services. ERIC Worlds largest digital library of education literature. Retrieved December 5, 2011, from http://www.eric.ed.gov Why is Learning Style Important? (n.d.). Centre for Learning and Teaching. Retrieved December 5, 2011, from http://www.learningandteaching.dal.ca