Personal Learning Theory

As I tried to think about what my personal learning theory was I realized that while I was in the practicum I had many theories expressed to me that I have a strong belief are truly important for my future students. There were several different theories expressed but the first one I would like to cover is Vygotsky’s zone of proximal development. While I was in my practicum it became very clear to me that every student has their own personal zone. I quickly realized that in order to teach to each and every different zone I needed to use a great amount of scaffolding in my teaching. During one lesson I realized that I had a few students that were completely frustrated. I knew that the lesson was out of their zone and they were going to shut off if the lesson was not lowered into their zone. I asked a question and only had 2 students raise their hands. I waited a little longer and when I realized no one else was going to answer I started to use scaffolding in an attempt to get more hands up in the air. I gave little hints to the answer and the more hints I gave the more the hands started to shoot in the air. In this instance I was the more knowledgable other. I was the one trying to pass my knowledge onto the students. The next day I asked a similar question to see how many students remembered from the previous lesson and surprisingly almost every student raised their hand. That is why scaffolding and zone of proximal development are a major part of my learning theory. As I take my knowledge and try to pass it onto my students I will try to always use scaffolding.
The next thing that is a big part of my learning theory is self-efficacy in both the students and the teacher. We must first believe in ourselves before we can ask our students to believe in there selves. While in the practicum I witnessed a few always needed someone around them. There were a few who always thought that they could not do the task that was given to them. There were also those that thought that they were to stupid to learn whatever myself or their teacher was trying to teach. This learned helplessness is something that I believe can be decreased by an increase of the student’s self-efficacy. By giving students confidence they will soon learn that they can do it and that they do not always need someone else to do it for them.
Another important idea that was expressed while I was in the practicum was the idea of modeling what behavior I wanted the students to do. If my students were talking when I wanted them to be quiet I would fold my arms, smile, and sit quietly. The students soon realized what they were supposed to be doing and quickly followed. When the students have an example to follow it is always easier for them to do the task that is asked of them. I also tried shaping the students. Again, if I wanted the students to do something in particular I would give praise to someone that was doing the task correctly. The students soon caught on that they needed to follow direction and by the end of the practicum I did not have to remind the students as much because they had begun to self-regulate. They took control of their own behavior and they really started to improve. After I realized how important these three things were there was no way I was leaving them out of my learning theory.
Finally, during the practicum there were many things I needed to get into the students long-term memory. I decided that I would try one of the Mnemonic Devices that we discussed in class. I went to my mentor teacher and asked her if she had any songs that might help the students remember what a consonant blend is. She happened to have one and so I used Rote Memorization to help the get the definition of consonant blends into their long-term memories. We first went over “L” blend words and “R” blend words. By doing this I activated their schema. I then sang the song one time to the students before they started singing it in an attempt to get the song into their working memory. This also go their attention which is the reason it could go into their working memory. We then sang the song four more times that day and by the end of the day many of the children were singing it without the music. This experience is why I believe you cannot skip any step if you want the information to move into their long term memory. In the Information Processing System every step is important.
These many experience I had during the practicum helped me realize what my personal learning theory was. Before the practicum I really would not have been able to tell you. I am so glad that I had this knowledge before the practicum so that I could watch for it and gain a personal understanding of how important these theories and ideas really are.