Learning Theories
This week in my class, as I observed, I noticed that my teacher tended to use a lot of the behavioralism theory. I am working in a 1-3 grade class and I think because they are such young and developing minds, behavioralism is a great way to help them on their paths to finding a love for learning and for becoming geniuses.
Examples of how I saw behavioralism
Examples of how I saw behavioralism
- A first grader who is slower in learning his numbers 1-20, was sent on a scavenger hunt to find the numbers written on white index cards. When he found the numbers, he was to pair the number with an equal amount of beads. The first day, the child needed help. When he completed the task, he was rewarded with a great job and then was allowed to work on an art project that he was very invested in. The second day, he was able do a little more of the work by himself, when he completed the whole task, he was rewarded with a job well done, and was able to work on what ever he wanted to. This process happened all week until today, when he counted all of the beads, he counted them correctly by himself. At the end of the day, he started counting the number of papers on the door and proceeded to count to 20 correctly, all by himself. He was rewarded with a high five and warm complements.
- During lunch the children are suppose to remain relatively quiet. They can talk and socialize, as long as they do so peacefully and respectfully. In the past there has been a problem with the 3 graders sitting together, because they cannot follow the lunch rules. Last week, I gave them the chance to sit by each other, and made sure to complement them every time I walked by and saw that they were following the rules. When they acted up, I made sure to remind them that they had been following the rules earlier and if they wanted to continue to sit by each other, they needed to return to how they had been previously acting. Today the same thing happened. I let them sit by each other. I continued to complement them on their ability to follow the rules, and noticed that I had to redirect them less.
- Lastly, today, a child did not want to participate in any work that he was required to do. When I asked him which of the three options he would like to start with, he said, "No", several times, and then turned away from me. I pulled him away from the rest of the group and sat him on a chair. I told him that if he did not want to chose to be apart of the class he would have to sit in that chair. He couldn't talk to anyone or do anything fun. I also told him that when he was ready to follow the rules he could come back and finish his required work, and then do the fun activities. He sat for about 20 minutes, and then told me he was ready to be apart of the class. He did his required work for the day and was then able to do the things he wanted to.
The teacher I work with does a very good job of understanding the developmental issues of the class. I think it's a bit harder for her because she has to deal with children spanning from the ages of 6-9. Those years are all very different from one another, developmentally and mentally. Something that I like that she does is how she runs her class. The class is not necessarily run as a class on a whole, rather individual students with individual needs. She doesn't exactly make a lesson plan for each student based on what they need. She does however, take into account that not all of the children are the same. She adjusts her lesson plans as needed to accommodate. I think the children feel safe and confident in the way she teaches. They know that she can help them. They trust her.
