Final Learning Log

What?

My own personal learning theory is a combination of all of many of the theories that we have learned about in class. I believe like Vygotsky, that adults play a very significant role in the growth and development of students. A well mentored student is much more knowledgeable and successful in my opinion. Also, children tend to trust the academic information imparted by adults much more than many other sources. This coincides with my agreement with Social Cognitivism. Like social cognitivists, I believe that students can learn simply by observing the behaviors and interactions of the people around them. This could be adults, students, friends, peers, celebrities, athletes, etc. I also agree with Constructivism. Children do contstruct their own meaning by relating it to prior experiences and beliefs. Schema is an important part of learning, because it can greatly alter what you understand from a particular lesson. Each student will come away with something different based on their schema.
So, in summary, I believe that children are very intelligent and are able to construct their own meaning from learning experiences through observation, experiences, and interaction.
I also greatly agree with Gardner's multiple intelligences and their importance in learning and understanding.

So What?

My own personal learning theory will impact my own classroom by forcing me to look at how experiences are perceived through the eyes of the student. It will also force me to provide varied learning experiences that allow them to discover information on their own, in groups of peers, or with guided assistance of an adult (mainly me). Providing these varied experiences will also allow me opportunities to present information to students with various strengths in different multiple intelligences. Through these varied teaching moments, students will be able to construct meaning relevant to themselves.

Now What?

The next steps I should take in implementing these things in my classroom would be actually thinking of ways to use these techniques in relation to the subjects I will be teaching: Health, Anatomy and Biology. I also would like to experiment with these things my classroom to see what techniques work best for the majority of the children in the class. I need to use techniques that will reach the maximum amount of students.
There are several things that I still want to learn more about, however. One thing I would like to investigate further is cultural diversity. I would like to learn more about the different individual cultures that I will encounter in my classroom so that I can better understand their behavior and how it may be effected by culture differences. I also want to learn more about how I can make meaningful, real-life learning experiences happen in my classroom. Because I feel very strongly that at least a basic understanding of the health sciences is essential for healthy living, I want to be able to really drive home how my students can apply what they learn to their own lives. By making meaningful learning experiences happen, hopefully my students can implement healthy living while they are still young, and live full and happy lives as they get older.