The Learning Theory My Teacher Uses the Most
I have been helping in a fifth grade classroom during English Language Arts (ELA). The first day I was in the classroom, the teacher mostly used the learning theory Constructivism to help her students learn about story structure. She did use the Smart Board to show the students a slide with the definition of story structure. It was something like "how a story is organized." The students wrote a definition of story structure in their ELA notebooks (that each student keeps in their desk). I walked around to help make sure the students were writing this down in their notebooks. (There are several ELL students in this classroom).
She began her lesson with orally retelling the story of Goldilocks and the Three Bears but only talked about Goldilocks. She then asked the students if her story was very interesting. She asked "Was that a boring or interesting story?" The class answered in unison that it was boring (based on their own experiences with stories). She then wrote main character on the white board and other characters. At that point she instructed the students to tell their deskmates a fairy tale or well known story without mentioning the main character. She told the class, "Go," and they held small group discussions. I overheard the students talking about wicked stepmothers and a prince but no Cinderella. Other groups talked about Hermione, Ron, and Draco without mentioning Harry Potter. This was a great cooperative learning group activity that helped the students understand that both main characters and other characters are important to a story. This activity also answered an essential question that stories would be boring without main and secondary characters. The students were engaged and had fun with this activity.
After that, the teacher showed a Flocabulary video using a rap song about setting (time and place) in a story. The video also had captioning to accommodate a student with cochlear implants. She showed another humorous cartoon video about setting that was slower paced and didn't have music. She asked students to think about possible different settings for stories and called on those who wanted to share. The teacher didn't have time to cover plot but let the class know that they would discuss it the next day.
I thought the teacher also used behaviorism because when the class came in from recess, they were loudly talking. She had the entire class go back out into the hallway and practice walking in quietly and sitting at their desks. She complimented them when the successfully came into the room without talking. I helped pass out an afternoon snack of Goldfish crackers for them to munch on while she started her lesson. I think good teachers use a variety of learning strategies in their classrooms to engage the students, especially those with different learning styles. (music and video, writing things down, discussing things for aural learners, etc.)
She began her lesson with orally retelling the story of Goldilocks and the Three Bears but only talked about Goldilocks. She then asked the students if her story was very interesting. She asked "Was that a boring or interesting story?" The class answered in unison that it was boring (based on their own experiences with stories). She then wrote main character on the white board and other characters. At that point she instructed the students to tell their deskmates a fairy tale or well known story without mentioning the main character. She told the class, "Go," and they held small group discussions. I overheard the students talking about wicked stepmothers and a prince but no Cinderella. Other groups talked about Hermione, Ron, and Draco without mentioning Harry Potter. This was a great cooperative learning group activity that helped the students understand that both main characters and other characters are important to a story. This activity also answered an essential question that stories would be boring without main and secondary characters. The students were engaged and had fun with this activity.
After that, the teacher showed a Flocabulary video using a rap song about setting (time and place) in a story. The video also had captioning to accommodate a student with cochlear implants. She showed another humorous cartoon video about setting that was slower paced and didn't have music. She asked students to think about possible different settings for stories and called on those who wanted to share. The teacher didn't have time to cover plot but let the class know that they would discuss it the next day.
I thought the teacher also used behaviorism because when the class came in from recess, they were loudly talking. She had the entire class go back out into the hallway and practice walking in quietly and sitting at their desks. She complimented them when the successfully came into the room without talking. I helped pass out an afternoon snack of Goldfish crackers for them to munch on while she started her lesson. I think good teachers use a variety of learning strategies in their classrooms to engage the students, especially those with different learning styles. (music and video, writing things down, discussing things for aural learners, etc.)
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