Personal Theory of Learning

Throughout this course, I have been exposed to additional teaching tools, as well as learning tools, to use in the classroom, thus expanding my personal theory of learning. According to my initial personal theory of learning, I believed the first thing in the classroom has to feel safe and comfortable in order to promote learning in the classroom. In addition, students are to be introduced with new information with a connection of prior knowledge with added relevance in order to motive students to learn the new materials in a well balanced diet classroom. After taking this course, I now would like to be more specific about the balanced diet in the classroom. I believe that students should also have the chance to interact with the new information in order to for them to have a deeper understanding. As Dr. Orey stated, teachers should teach in the proximal zone, because students are ready for the new material (Laureate Education, Inc, 2009). With this in mind, students should also be taught things that they cannot learn themselves. In this zone, students should work collaboratively or with an external knowledgeable other (Laureate Education, Inc, 2009). This helps students learn deeper and the challenge is more for the student to enjoy. This also gives the students the opportunity to practice social skills as well. With integrated technology, students have the opportunity to demonstrate their understanding of the new materials or their knowledge of discovery methods.
In the classroom, I believe I will be more apt to do collaborative learning, rather than majority of lecture, now that I have a better understanding of what to expect in the process. Because I am in a school with limited technology, it is difficult to incorporate more technology into the classroom. Without the support the administration for using wikis and blogs, even this type of integration is difficult. I thoroughly enjoy the voicethread activity. I may use this as a teaching tool in or outside of the classroom. This would be a wonderful tool to help students who do not understand the lesson the first time around. Even posting powerpoints on the blog would be helpful to students as long as they have access to the internet at home.
One long term goal of mine is to be in a school that supports technology into the classroom so I would be able to integrate technology in my lessons without having to fight for rights to do so. Technology usage wise, I would love to have a collection of powerpoints or voicethreads to help students better understand more of the lessons. Also, these videos or powerpoints are great review for students who have access to the internet. Along with these, I would like to have a link for homework helpers too. Because mathematics is a subject that many students have a difficult time with; this allows them to have continual repetition of the lessons.

Second goal I would like to integrate into the classroom is to have students work collaboratively to have a deeper understanding of the new material. I would like for students to have more chances to interact with their new materials as well. Once I have the technology in my grasp, I would use it as a teaching tool and a learning tool. For examination purposes, Excel would be a great way to see patterns or if the trend is increasing or decreasing. Students need to be able to problem solve and how to compare and contrast.
Overall, I am waiting for the golden opportunity to run my classroom with technology. It is imperative that I get into a school system that supports this type of integration. With homework postings on blogs to voicethread videos of demonstrations, I believe there should be a great rise in the knowledge and confidence the students will possess.

Resources:

Laureate Education, Inc. (Executive Producer). (2009). Bridging learning theory, instruction, and technology. Baltimore: Author.