Personal Theory

What?

I think that students can learn through any of the theories and definitely through a mixture of the theories. In the quiz that we took I was most closely aligned with cognitivism, more specifically though i feel that social cognitivism is the theory that helps students to learn most effectively. There are so many facets of social cognitivism that are part of the other theories and i feel that it is just the right balance of behaviorism paired with the ideas of cognitivism.

So What?

This knowledge will affect my classroom practice in every way possible. This theory is so large and involves the mental, emotional, and academics of the students. In using this theory i will have to remember that i am constantly a model for my students and the way i behave will help to shape their behavior. I also have to remember to use modeling during my instruction, especially cognitive modeling. The behaviorism part of this theory includes vicarious reinforcement/punishment. I have to remember that my students will see the way i respond to behaviors and will change their own. If they see someone being punished for a behavior and then see someone else do the same thing and not be punished the students will feel that they could do that same behavior and not be punished. I don't want my classroom to be on an equal basis, but built on the basis of equity, that each student is getting what they need. To do this studtents will have to understand that punishments and reinforcements might be different for every student, but that certain behaviors are innapropriate whether they are able to see the punishment or not. Another way that using this theory will affect the way i teach is that i will be trying to help my student build their self-efficacy and then help them learn to self-regulate.

Now What?

One of the steps that i need to take to be able to use this theory in my classroom is simply just remembering all the parts of it. Its nice that i have this blog that i will be able to look back on and remember all of the parts of social cognitivism or constructivism and be able to implement them in my class. I also want to learn more about the most effective ways to model and when to model. I think that with the more experience that i have as a teacher that these things will just come, especially if i am putting forth a concerted effort to remember that one way i reinforce a student will change behavior of other students. Earlier i stated that i wanted my reinforcement to be equitable and not always equal. To be able to do that in my classroom, my students would need to be able to understand that difference and be able to ask me anytime about why i did what i did. I think that even stronger than the vicarious reinforcement, this will send a message to the students that everything in life may not always be fair, but that they need to worry about themselves, they need to focus on their own goals and abilities and not always worry about how others are being punished or reinforced. By doing this i would hope that the students will be able to gain a respect for their fellow classmates and that they will all be able to understand each other a little better. These goals may seem a little out there for me, but this is what i am hoping for, this is what i am hoping to implement. I think that it is important to let the students know what is going on and why we do the things that we do. Most students will respect that and that will help our class to be able to have that safe, trusting environment.