Rock Star Theorists

I have finally reached the last semester of my teaching program. During this last year, I have had the opportunity to teach in my own classroom. I had a lot of thoughts about my own personal teaching style before the school year started. As the year goes on, my teaching style have only evolved. Here are a few of the "rock star" theorists I have been taking ideas from during this first year.

Jean Piaget
Piaget is often cited as the founder of the social constructivist theory. He laid out the ground work for constructivism by identifying four stages of cognitive development: sensorimotor, preoperational, concrete operational, and formal operational. Each stage is outlined in greater detail below.

Lev Vygotsky
From there, Lev Vygotsky built on Piaget's theory to factor in students' prior knowledge. Vygotsky developed the Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD) to show that there are three categories of knowledge. The first is what the learner can already do without any help. For example, in algebra 2, students should be able to solve multi-step equations without any help. The second category (also known as the ZPD) is what the learner can do with guidance from a teacher. In algebra 2, I help students apply their prior knowledge of solving multi-step equations to solve radical equations. They are similar enough to a regular multi-step equation they would see in algebra 1, but complex enough that I need to show them how to solve for an unknown when a radical is involved. Lastly, Vygotsky realizes that there are things that learners cannot do. My example in algebra 2 is taking the derivative of a radical. In the scope of the class, students do not learn how to take derivatives and it is likely something they will not be required to learn during their high-school careers.

Jerome Bruner
I mention Piaget and Vygotsky because their work laid the foundation for theorist Jerome Bruner. Bruner built on the social constructivist theory by introducing the idea of scaffolding. Instructional scaffolding, much like scaffolding on a building during construction, provides students with "steps" to build their understanding of a more complex topic (TeachThought, 2020). As I mentioned in my example earlier, students are expected to have mastered solving multi-step equations once they reach algebra 2, but that does not mean that they can remember how to do it on the spot. When I teach students how to solve radical equations, I have them practice solving some simple equations before the lesson.

Before my classroom experience, I considered myself a constructivist and took a lot of ideas from Piaget and Vygotsky. However, when I entered the classroom, I found that I needed to take a much more practical approach to constructivism. I found a happy medium with Bruner's theory and instructional scaffolding. I am a big believer in scaffolding lessons for my students, and so far it has worked very well.

Reference

TeachThought. (2020, February 8). Learning Theories: Jerome Bruner on The Scaffolding of Learning. Retrieved from https://www.teachthought.com/learning/learning-theories-jerome-bruner-scaffolding-learning/

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Field Experience Reflection

I did not have huge goals going into my first year of teaching. However, I did want to create a classroom environment that fit my personality. I wanted to create a classroom environment that was accepting of all students. I am the type of teacher that prefers positive reinforcement over punishment. I also like to build strong relationships and an environment of mutual respect with my students.

I struggled to develop procedures and organization in my first months of teaching. I thought it would come naturally, but I realized that it is better to develop rules and procedures at the beginning of the year to help keep students accountable. There were a lot of things that I was unsure about at the beginning f the year. But I am ready to start next year strong. I've learned a lot over these past few months and I am excited for where my teaching career will take me.

Something I wasn't expecting (and I don't think anyone really was) was this recent pandemic. I am anxious about how long we will be out and how this will affect end-of-year activities like standardized testing and graduation. However, I feel like I am more prepared for this transition to online learning. A lot of my colleagues have been posting PDFs and are expecting students to figure out their own way to submit their answers (whether that be in a Word document or a photo of their work with pencil and paper). I have taken the time to incorporate each question from the PDf into a multiple choice/fill-in-the-blank/short answer question on Schoology. Over this past week, I received so many more submissions and a lot less questions than I expected. I believe that my M.A.T program has helped me adjust to this transition and be a much more responsive educator.

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Student Relationships and Discipline

In the first few months of my first year of teaching, I had my fair share of student issues. Some of them still feel very raw and real, so I wanted to talk about a situation with a student that turned out to be a very positive experience. At the beginning of the year, I had several students testing me. One student in particular, let's call her N, liked to question my authority. She liked to call out and get up during class. There was one day that N called out and asked me when I was going to update her grade. I explained to her that I teach three different classes and that I could not give her an exact time that grades would be updated, but that it would be soon. N then said that she would have her mom tell me to update her grade. At that point, I realized I needed to take it to the next level and contact her mom myself.

I let N's mom know about her behavior. N's mom was very upset about how she was acting and said she would talk to N about it. The next day, I saw N and she apologized. N and I have grown very close after that incident. She's become a student that I can always count on when students start to get out of control. Although the route I took was effective, looking back, I should have talked to N privately first. She knew that she was being disrespectful, and I think that a one-on-one conversation could have fixed the behavior. At least now I know that her mom is in my corner whenever I need her.

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