Final Learning Log

WHAT?
After reviewing "Your Emerging Theory/Philosophy of Teaching and Learning", I have determined that I tend to lean more to the Cognitivism theory of personal learning.

Some of the characteristics of this theory include:
* Best learning occurs when students discover answers for questions and problems themselves rather than having the answers told to them.
* True learning requires the active creation of knowledge structures.
* It is important to help students organize their thinking by teaching them general concepts before they learn more specific information.
* Meaningful learning occurs when students mentally create knowledge structures by combining new ideas with their prior knowledge.
* Students learn best when they are actively involved in solving problems tasks or completing tasks that lead to the creation of knowledge structures.
* Learning requires the mental processing of information, in other words the acquisition, organization, and storage of knowledge.
* Students can learn through teacher presentation as long as the content is organized so as to help students mentally process, organize, and store the new information.

I learn best by experiencing something rather than by someone telling me something. Anytime that I can actively become involved in the learning process, I am better able to apply the knowledge gained. I have seen this same principle in students that I have worked with. I am a very organized person. My brain is always trying to organize my life. I believe that I learn best when my brain takes the information given and organizes it into a category or something that I can relate to and experience personally.

SO WHAT?
Believing the theories listed above, I feel that it's important to give students an opportunity for hands-on learning experiences. I need to find a way to make it personal for them and give them a reason to want to gain the knowledge being presented.

Since I would like to teach kindergarten, most of the learning experiences that I will provide as an educator will be more hands-on and practical. As I help the students have experiences that they can build upon and gain a personal connection to, they will be able to internalize the information and knowledge being presented.

NOW WHAT?
Now that I have identified my theory on learning, I need to learn what types of experiences I need to provide for my students in order to help them gain the knowledge being presented. I realize that there are many aspects of learning and that each student learns differently from each other. However, as a whole, students will gain more from the experience as they are able to personally experience it.

I would like to learn more about the different types methods to help my students learn best. I am still new to the teaching field and have a lot of information to learn to feel comfortable with my own class. My weakness will become my strength as I continue with this program and gain the experiences needed to help me become a great teacher.

I'm grateful for the information I've learned in my psychology class and feel that I'll be a better teacher because of the valuable information that I've learned. The one thing that really stuck out in my mind is that each student is different and that as teachers we need to help them be successful and have the experiences necessary for them to succeed.