Rock Star Theorists

Now that I am at the final stages of my MAT program, it is amazing how much my teaching style has changed. There have been many theorists that have influenced the way I teach from the creation of the lesson to the execution. The theorists that I feel most connected to in my teaching are Piaget and Skinner.

Piaget’s Theory of Cognitive Development has to do with four stages of development. The four stages are sensorimotor (0-2 years of age), preoperational (2-7 years of age), concrete operational (7-12 years of age), and formal operational (12 and up years of age) (American Psychological Association, 2020). The stage that of my students is the last stage of formal operational stage, which involves abstract logical reasoning and moral reasoning development. I connect most with this part of the theory because my students are from 10^th to 12^th graders. In teaching Geometry, the course is mainly about logical reasoning. In addition, I focus more on building the student rather than focusing on stressing about teaching straight math. I want my students to leave as better young adults and having more logical processing over just making impulsive decisions and not thinking about the outcomes, positive or negative.

Skinner’s Behaviorist Theory deals with following behaviors with positive reinforcement (Stevens-Fulbrook, 2019). By rewarding the positive behaviors and not responding to the negative behaviors, strengthens the “good” and weakens the “bad”. I connect with this theory when I reward my students with a show, movie, or some kind of food item. I reward students when they work hard and persevere in my class. I try to reward those classes that work hard with a movie day or extra credit video and questionnaire to follow, where they learn more real world applications for math. When students compete and work hard in my classroom, they are rewarded with a food item like Pop tarts or candy. This motivates my students to put more effort into their education when it comes to what we are learning in my class.

In my teaching, I take pieces from many theorists in creating my lessons for students. I try to do as much as possible to give my students the best chances in succeeding in my class. Though I do want my students to leave my class a better math student, I also want them to leave with more moral values. I want them to leave a better person than when they entered and teach them life lessons they can take with them forever. By incorporating multiple theorist’s ideas in my teaching, I am becoming a more adaptive and flexible teacher to teach to all kinds of students with different backgrounds and abilities.

Reference

APA Dictionary of Psychology. (2020). Retrieved from https://dictionary.apa.org/piagetian-theory

Stevens-Fulbrook, P. (2019, April 18). 15 Learning Theories In Education (A Complete Summary). Retrieved from https://teacherofsci.com/learning-theories-in-education/

Reflection

Throughout my journey in the Stevenson MAT Program, I have learned many things that can help me succeed in the classroom and further ahead throughout my career. In my classroom, I try to create a safe and comfortable learning environment that is positive and inviting. I want students to feel that when they walk into my classroom that it is time to learn and have fun. In creating this environment, I work to leave no space uncovered. I used chalk to draw diagrams of different functions and attributes on the concrete walls, hang student posters that demonstrate perfect precision of a skill, and multiple posters that have helpful resources and encouraging messages for students. I want a student to look around my room and be able to find a piece of information that is beneficial to them, whether it is to help with a growth mindset or on a particular problem we are working through. In pushing the envelope on creating an even more engaging and encouraging environment, transforming their perception on how this math can benefit them in the long run.

To push the envelope on my career, this program has helped me realize that I cannot just teach for one kind of student and I need to remain flexible and adaptive. My plan for being able to reach all students is to have more tier structured lessons. This will allow students who are exceling to push their thinking and those who are struggling and get a little more scaffolded assistance. I also plan to have more collaborative activities that have students grouped by tier as well so everyone can have an equal chance in learning the concepts. I want to be able to create an equal playing field for each student to be successful. I hope in doing so I can become a more universal teacher and all students that enter my classroom can succeed.

Communication with Administration/ Parents

A lot of times, especially dealing with seniors, I must reach out to administration and parents. This is because there are many interventions, we need to take in order to legally fail a student in our school system. One instance where I had to call a parent was due to a student’s attendance. The student was absent for over a week and was beginning to fail my class. The parent was aware of the student being absent and explained the financial difficulties they were having, so the student was working extra hours at their job. When the student came in the following week, we had a one on one conference and they explained their situation and the situation had turned around. Another instance where I had to contact an administrator was for a student who was being disruptive repeatedly in class. The administrator had a conference with the student and the situation was extinguished.

When dealing with situations with students I try to mediate the situation in the classroom first. Generally, if I level with the student and get to see where the root of the behavior is coming from, they tend to turn around or respond better when redirected. Talking with parents does not need to be an immediate disciplinary act but can be helpful when you are trying to better understand a student. There was one student I had that was in class daily but was more reserved and struggled with interacting with myself and other students. I reached out to their parent and they informed me of some of the issues at home and gave me some incite into what the student was interested in, which helped me to better address the student and get them to be more interactive. I try not to get the administration involved in some circumstances that I can mediate internally, but when it comes to my seniors, I must let them be aware of their status for graduating.