A tale of two teachers
Learning: the activity or process of gaining knowledge or skill by studying, practicing, being taught, or experiencing something
I was sitting at my son’s fifth grade graduation yesterday, and was trying to remember my own elementary school experiences. There were two teachers who stood out in my mind. The first was Miss Thompson, my second grade math teacher. She was responsible for making sure that we learned our times tables, which involved a lot of repetition and timed multiplication tests. None of that is much different from how many students learn those facts, even today. What was different, however, is how Miss Thompson chose to reinforce the facts. Whenever we made mistakes on the drills, she would rake her fingernails, which were quite long, down the blackboard. For those of you too young to have experienced that noise, enjoy the clip below. It should put my lifelong dislike for math into perspective.
As if rote memorization and constant drill and kill classes weren’t enough to take the fun out of math, she introduced the concept of negative reinforcement into the classroom. It’s no wonder that I struggled to learn my times tables. I’m giving Miss Thompson the benefit of the doubt by assuming that she was a behaviorist, not actually a sadist, and that she was employing some negative reinforcement to produce a desired change in our behavior (Smith, 2003).
On the other end of the elementary school spectrum was Mrs. Reece. While I didn’t know it at the time, Mrs. Reece was clearly a constructivist. I can’t recall a single instance of a lecture in her classroom, even though I’m sure there were some. What I remember was the fun. Instead of sitting in the classroom learning about nature, we went on stream studies where we were able to create our own experiments, carry them out, and present them to the class. Rather than talking about chemical reactions, we actually donned safety goggles and created them. While that did result in at least one occasion of my “lab partners” and I burning a hole through a desk, I still to this day can tell you exactly what happens when you set fire to magnesium. I can also tell you the chemical properties of mercury, and why you probably shouldn’t touch it after you break a giant thermometer. I can recite entire stanzas of Shakespeare, because rather than just read it (in fourth and fifth grade!), we actually performed the plays, in costume, for the entire school, twice a year.
What thinking about these two teachers made me realize is how much of a difference their beliefs about teaching and learning impacted the students in their classrooms. Miss Thompson’s classroom, where we sat quietly in rows while she stood at the front of the room, was reflective of her beliefs about her students and her role as teacher. She was in charge, and unless we followed in lock step, and memorized everything at the pace that she wanted us to learn it, we were punished. Even though I went on to study calculus, I never felt comfortable in math class again. Her methods had a lasting impact. So did Mrs. Reece’s, but in a completely different way. Years later, I still remember both the things I learned in her class and the classroom itself. It was full of color, noise, and at times, chaos. Even a shy, quiet kid like myself was encouraged to ask questions, share opinions, and work though problems with my classmates, and the confidence that gave me as a learner endured. I knew that I could learn, that I was smart, that I could figure things out, and that I could do that for the most part independently.
So where does that leave me today? I fall, for the most part, into the same camp as Mrs. Reece. Constructivism, or the idea that one constructs new ideas and knowledge within the framework of their current knowledge and experience, makes sense to me (Matsuoka, 2004). True knowledge cannot exist in a vacuum. Facts can be memorized, but until they can be used to make connections and help the learner make sense of the world around them, they aren’t knowledge. It’s that real-world application, and the reflection on that process, that truly creates learning. For me, that means that I frequently have to look backwards to things I have learned before to make sense of something new, and that what I’m learning now provides a scaffold for things I’ll learn in the future. It means that I have to frequently take tangents and side roads when I’m learning something in order to put a piece of information into context. It means that I can read and make sense of things, but once I actually put that information into use, usually by experimenting, it will more easily fall into place.
Those beliefs have an impact on what happens in my classroom. As I’ve stated before, my position is a bit unique in that I wear many different hats throughout the day. Much of my time is spent in an environment where experimenting, researching, and yes, playing, is encouraged. When a student comes in with an interest, it’s actually my job to help them pursue that interest. That’s an amazing gift. Not only do I get to assist students with things they are curious about, but I get to expand my own learning at the same time. They get to be the experts; I’m just there to provide support and some gentle guidance when they need it. That’s not to say that I never lecture. Certainly there are times when I have to take a more active role and provide direct instruction. There are some aspects of my curriculum that no middle school child in his right mind is going to seek out on his own. Bibliography and citation come to mind. These are areas where I need to provide them with a base so they can build their own framework. We need to have those discussions about plagiarism and academic integrity, and I need to show them things like how to locate the name of a publisher or a copyright date. Once we’ve got the basics down, however, it’s time for them to take responsibility for what they build with that information.
The idea in exploring my own learning philosophy is to be more in tune with the environment I’m creating in my classroom. When we’re in school to become teachers, we focus mainly on our teaching philosophy. How am I going to teach? What role am I going to play? How will my classroom be structured? Obviously that’s important, but it can also be limiting. It focuses on my role, and the processes in the classroom rather than on the end result. Incorporating a learning philosophy brings the students more to the forefront, and pushes me to be more flexible in terms of what happens in the classroom in the process of their learning. It helps me be more reflective about what is, and is not, working in my class, and what I can do to create a more effective learning environment for my students. If I ever need a reminder about why I'm working so hard to create that environment, all I need to do is think back to elementary school.
References
Harapnuik, D. (2016, March 11). Four keys to understanding learning theories. Retrieved June 12, 2016, from http://www.harapnuik.org/?p=6344
Dr. Harapnuik explores the inconsistencies in cataloging learning theories, and why understanding the various theories is important for educators. He explores the idea that one cannot grow as a teacher and provide the best environment for students without knowing what one believes about learning. He advocates taking what he calls a "mash-up" approach, selecting the best pieces from various theories, rather than strictly adhering to any one in particular.
Matsuoka, B. M. (Ed.). (2004). Constructivism as a paradigm for teaching and learning. Retrieved June 11, 2016, from http://www.thirteen.org/edonline/concept2class/constructivism/
A thorough and concise overview of the constructivist model of learning. The site touches on the evolving history of constructivist theory, as well as both the benefits of the model and criticism of it. It provides an overview of the key tenets of a constructivist classroom, with examples of how those tenets could be put into use. There are video clips of an interview with a constructivism advocate that explain the main ideas of the theory and how it is used in the classroom. The site provides "What do you think?" buttons throughout, which offer thought-provoking questions for the reader to contemplate.
Smith, M. K. (2003). Learning theory: Models, product and process. Retrieved June 12, 2016, from http://infed.org/mobi/learning-theory-models-product-and-process/
Explores learning from the viewpoint of product and process, and provides theory and research for both perspectives. The process viewpoint provides clear and concise information about the behaviorist, constructivist, humanist, and social and situational learning theories, with a helpful chart to point out the similarities and differences between them. The author also provides a useful annotated bibliography.
UNESCO. (2016). Influential theories of learning. Retrieved June 12, 2016, from http://www.unesco.org/new/en/education/themes/strengthening-education-systems/quality-framework/technical-notes/influential-theories-of-learning/
From the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization, a concise overview of nine theories of learning. The theories discussed include behaviorism, cognitive psychology, constructivism, social learning theory, socio-constructivism, experiential learning, multiple intelligences, situated learning theory and community of practice, and 21st century learning. Each theory is boiled down to one paragraph that clearly explains the main points and key theorists. While I might debate that 21st century skills are more a framework for what students should learn, rather than how they learn, this is a helpful introduction to the ideas of learning theories.
Weimer, M. (2014, March 26). What's your learning philosophy? Retrieved June 12, 2016, from http://www.facultyfocus.com/articles/teaching-professor-blog/whats-learning-philosophy/
The author's reflection about trying to craft a learning philosophy, and how that differs from a teaching philosophy. Weimer offers many poignant questions, based on the work of Neil Haave from the University of Alberta, to help guide one in their thinking about learning. Her candid piece reflects the struggle that many have in trying to craft a learning philosophy, and muses about what might happen if they were more prevalent than teaching philosophies.
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