Course Reflection on Learning Theories and Strategies

When I went back and read my paper “Personal Theory of Learning” from the first week of this course, I noticed that I mentioned I tend to focus more on the cognitive-constructivist theory. As this still is true, I realize that I have touched upon many of the learning theories that were discussed in our readings and viewings throughout this course during my nine years of teaching. Throughout the course I felt that every time I learned about one learning theory I was nodding my head and agreeing to what it supports and connecting to how I have definitely incorporated each one into many my lessons. There is no doubt that humans learn in many different ways. “The world is different. Kids are different…learning is different…and teaching must be different too”(Lever-Duffy & McDonald, 2009, p.6). Therefore, teachers must become experts at understanding and knowing the different learning theories and be prepared to provide the supported learning opportunities for their students.

As I see it lessons need to connect to the students’ lives, and an explanation of the connection needs to happen at the beginning of the lesson. Lessons also need to be framed around all the different learning styles that our classrooms consist of. It is our job to prepare our students for the future and the REAL world that they are going to have to face. Furthermore, because of the fast growing pace of technology I feel that it is imperative that I make many adjustments in my career. I feel that because of what I have learned about learning theories and teaching strategies, I must incorporate technology into my lessons at school and also in my personal life. Lever-Duffy and McDonald say it best in their text, 2008.
“Understanding learning is even more critical when a teacher
integrates technology into an instructional event. Technology
is best viewed as a robust set of instructional tools that help you
accomplish the objectives of the teaching-learning process. Tech-
nology is a means to an instructional end, not an end itself. To
use technology effectively, the teacher must have a clear under-
standing of learning and the teaching strategies that will result in
the intended knowledge transfer"( p.11).
Knowing what I know now about learning theories and teaching strategies I will definitely incorporate Weblogs and VoiceThread tools into my teachings. Both of these technology tools, on many accounts, will enhance and engage in students’ learning. I chose the technology tools of blogging and VoiceThread because I feel comfortable and confident enough to teach my students how to use them, “when a teacher believes in what she’s doing and is confident in her tools, well, it rubs off on even the most resistant of students”(Richardson, 2009). I also realize that blogging and VoiceThread have a lot to offer to students such as discussions, writing, cooperative and collabortative learning, and also images to create artifacts that they can share. All of these support constructionism learning theory, a theory of learning that states people learn best when they build something they can share with others (Laureate, Inc., 2008).

Being that technology has been invisible in my classroom; I have two long term goals to make sure it will be existent in my classroom from here on out. I plan to become an expert on one or two technology tools a quarter by experimenting with them on my own and then bringing them slowly into my classroom. The second long term goal is to incorporate these technologies into my lesson that focus on learning strategies that work best for students. I will keep similarities and differences along with non-linguistic representations learning strategies in mind when designing lesson plans. I will also focus on the learning theory that works best for my students right now, and being that I am bringing technology into the classroom, that would be the constructionism learning theory.

References:

Laureate Education, Inc. (Producer). (2008). Program seven. Constructionist and Constructivist Learning Theories [Motion picture]. Bridging learning theory, instruction and technology. Baltimore: Author.

Lever-Duffy, J. & McDonald, J. (2008). Theoretical Foundations (Laureate Education, Inc. custom ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson Education, Inc.

Richardson, W. (2009). Blogs, wikis, podcasts, and other powerful web tools for classrooms ( 2nd ed.) Corwin Press