My Personal Learning Theory

Hi,

my name is Casey Reed and I would like to share with you my personal learning theory.

Like most educators,

I have chosen the best parts of several different

learning theories that most represent my teaching style,

my personality as well as how I learned

when I was growing up classrooms looked much differently than they do today.

I remember straight rows,

lots of memorizing facts in a quiet room,

classrooms today are structured much differently tables grouped together,

lots of small group activities,

lots of discussions and questioning and know how

I can see the benefits of these changes.

But before I jump into my personal learning theory,

let me share a little bit about my background and my why,

Why I came to these particular strategies. In my 20 plus years of teaching,

I began my teaching career as 1/4 grade General ed teacher.

I taught mostly E L. A.

I then spent several years homeschooling my own Children

and for the last several years have been a sped resource teacher.

I've had the opportunity to teach and learn

from many different students over the years,

so many different learning styles, so many different exceptionality.

But my biggest y is my son alec,

he was diagnosed with autism before the age of two and watching him

learn and grow has done much to shape my thinking about learning.

There are many great learning theories out there with lots of research

and data as to why they work because Children learn so differently.

It's important for me as a teacher to

hit the highlights over several of these theories

in my opinion,

the best of the best come from the following learning theories.

I will start off talking a little bit about behaviorism,

having a son with autism and watching

A B A applied behavior analysis work in his life showed

me firsthand the benefits of repetition and reinforcements to shape behavior

in this program, clear goals are set and over time

the learner responds automatically to those goals.

It is fascinating to watch.

My son went from being a non verbal five year old with very limited communication

skills to a verbal child who could follow

commands and directions as well as problems solved

as a sped teacher

teaching kids with processing disorders and

low motivation has shown me the importance

as well as the need

for positive reinforcement.

I believe motivation is key when it comes to learning.

I am an advocate of rewarding proper behavior and responses.

My students will work for smart cookies, treats sonic runs and verbal praise.

These reinforcements help my students to be motivated to participate,

make an effort as well as follow the classroom rules, reinforcement and motivation

are key aspects of this theory

and it is my job to find a balance between the two.

The strategies that work well for me in my classroom or skill and drill

repetition is key,

asking lots of questions with lots of question and answer activities,

guided practice, regular review games,

positive reinforcements as well as assessment

and this is just a few pictures of my students from last year,

One picture of us enjoying a sonic run.

One of my students enjoined decorating cookies

for valentine's day and that smile on

Galen's face when he got a five out of five on one step equations,

his I.

P. Goal for the year.

The next theory we'll talk about

is cognitive isM

because as much as I believe in A. B. A.

And positive reinforcement,

I also think the ability to problem solve and

make necessary connections is crucial to the learning process.

This is where I joined the cognitive camp learning theory

cognitive understanding is an interesting learning theory that focuses

on thought as well as experiences and our senses.

These process processes work together to unlock

brain powers for learners and increase their skills

for this theory.

The need to know is the motivator successful

learning requires a personal investment on the part

of the learner and it's my job as the teacher to make my students want to learn

the strategies that work well in my classroom are asking lots of questions,

giving lots of feedback building on and modifying pre existing knowledge,

summarizing material learning journals and using our mistakes to grow.

This is a few pictures from my students from last year.

Uh these are my seventh graders and they're about on a second grade level.

So they they had a rough year, rough year with lots of gaps.

So we worked really hard this year. I'm very proud of them

and the last theory I want to talk to you about is the is constructivism

constructivism. The social constructive

constructivism Learning theory can easily be summed

up by the four C's collaboration,

critical thinking, creativity and communication.

This theory emphasizes the collaboration of learning

and has its roots in cognitive ism.

The focus here is integrating knowledge with

cognitive functions alongside social interaction and language plays

a big part here and this theory takes problem solving to the next level.

The zone of proximal development is the level of development that the

learner is capable of reaching with teacher guidance and class collaboration.

This is where I strive to get my kiddos.

Since learning has a social component,

the learner can be motivated because the

learner is rewarded from their learning community,

their peers.

However, because the knowledge is actively established by the learner,

the learners internal drive needs to be significant in

order to understand and promote the learning process.

The strategies that work well in my classroom

with collaboration being key or small group activities,

investigating and research as well as teacher

guided questioning and group learning centers.

My kids love to be out of their desks and to use post it notes and then diagrams,

anything is better than worksheets and paper, pencil,

all that being said.

The main component of my personal learning

theory is building positive relationships with my students

because I come from a different culture than most of my students.

I have to work extra hard at making these connections and

building relationships with my students as well as my parents.

But the payoff has been worth it.

The greatest compliment that was given to me this past year was when a

student came into my classroom and said it felt good to be home.

I wanted to cry because that is my heart's desire for my

room to be a safe place for my students by thresh,

holding every day looking my students in the eye and welcome them into my classroom,

being consistent and setting clear expectation,

praising their behavior as well as their achievements,

giving them the opportunity to investigate and discover,

build on what they already know and just giving

them the opportunity to feel comfortable and safe.

It's my desire as a teacher.

These are just at the end of the year, we had a field trip and we have twin day,

just days that we dress up and I just really try to meet my kiddos where they are.

To strengthen those relationships.

Thank you for taking the time to listen to my

personal learning theory and let me close with this quote,

If they can't learn the way we teach, we teach the way they learn

happy teaching

My Personal Learning Theory

Audio TranscriptAuto-generated