My Learning Philosophy
When I started to think about what my learning philosophy is, I discovered that as teachers, it is essential to know and express our learning beliefs. Every day, we must question ourselves: Are these beliefs still part of my essence? Are these theories and beliefs impacting my students?
So, I did a total and honest examination of conscience and reflection and here are my deepest beliefs.
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Teaching / learning
For adults, it can be difficult to remember or imagine how children learn; it is something distant that happened a long time ago and in different circumstances.
As teachers, it is not possible to let that connection be lost. Before starting my Master's degree, I understood that my mission as a teacher was to provide the best tools for my students to achieve their goals. Now, as a student, I understand that it is much more than providing information. If that is true, I am over 40 years old, and my students are 8, but the learning experience is the same: we are human beings.
Teaching/Learning, for me, are connected and should not be taken as independent tasks in which the student listens, obeys, and the teacher explains and evaluates.
We are living in the age where we no longer are asking if we should use technology to enhance learning but are asking how well are we using technology to enhance learning” (Harapnuik, 2016).
Technology has only sometimes been part of my learning. I remember a time when technology did not exist, not even scoreboards. Now, there is a piece of technology at our fingertips, and the children in daycare know perfectly well how to use mom's phone or tablet. Unfortunately, I have seen technology immersed in my life while learning was simultaneously eliminated. It was not until recently that I discovered how to merge the two effectively, where technology is no longer used as a crutch. I have seen the difference in my learning, and that is why I appreciate the use of technology more as a tool than as a learning strategy.
Dr Harapnuik explains the COVA theory in his portfolio, “ the learner has the opportunity to choose and take ownership of their own authentic learning experiences. All the variables are in place to help your learner make the meaningful connections which are so fundamental to learning”
This has primarily been my experience now as an apprentice; since I started my Master's, I have had to change many paradigms; this has not only influenced my way of seeing and defining my learning style but also how I now apply this knowledge to myself—personal and incredibly professional life.
Implementing COVA in my class has been my most tremendous success so far; getting my students to discover from their own experiences and learn from there has changed the dynamics of my lessons.
Teachers should never stop learning so we can be better teachers.
Sometimes, the teacher must be placed in another place, and children are good teachers.
Behaviorism Theory
At this point in my work life, where I am a teacher of 8-year-old students in a low-income school district, where my students represent an ethnic minority, establishing rules, procedures, rewards, and punishments has been for five years. This is an excellent strategy that has allowed me to develop healthy and growing environments.
Behaviorists proposed that environmental stimuli and consequences shape behavior and that learning occurs through a process of operant conditioning. Operant conditioning involves reinforcing or punishing behaviors based on their outcomes.
John B. Watson was a pioneering psychologist who played an important role in developing behaviorism, He is remembered for his research on the conditioning process.
One of the strategies that has allowed me to have a class in which I can explain the lesson without the constant interruption of distracted or misbehaving students has been implementing one of the strategies explained by Watson.
Associating a stimulus with a consequence, for example, when I say one, two, three eyes on me, it means that they are speaking loudly and are losing attention. To this call, they answer, one two eyes on you, and thus the students' attention is recovered.
I am convinced that encouraging students to believe that they can achieve it and that everything is possible under a controlled environment in which behavior and their relationship with the environment are healthy.
"Give me a dozen healthy infants, well-formed, and my own specified world to bring them up in and I'll guarantee to take anyone at random and train him to become any type of specialist I might select—doctor, lawyer, artist, merchant-chief, and, yes, even beggar-man and thief, regardless of his talents, penchants, tendencies, abilities, vocations, and race of his ancestors. I am going beyond my facts and I admit it, but so have the advocates of the contrary and they have been doing it for many thousands of years." —John B. Watson, Behaviorism, 1925.
B.F Skinner, In a 2002 survey of psychologists, he was identified as the most influential psychologist of the 20th century.
In B. F. Skinner's theory of learning, reinforcement plays a critical role in behavior development. Reinforcement is any event that strengthens a certain behavior and it can be positive or negative in nature.
Positive Reinforcement includes actions or events that strengthen a response by providing a stimulus for certain behaviors, such as giving a child a reward or praise for cleaning their room. Negative Reinforcement also strengthens a response, but by the removal of an unfavorable outcome, such as the child cleaning their room to avoid being grounded.
In my class, we have the famous treasure chest, a box full of prizes and toys; this is positive reinforcement every time a student makes a significant contribution, does something exceptional, demonstrates outstanding behavior, or helps a classmate. He selflessly obtains a ticket, and at the end of the week, the two students with the most tickets win a prize from the treasure chest.
It works 100%.
“The way positive reinforcement is carried out is more important than the amount” -B.F Skinner, The Behavior of organisms, 1938.
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Reflections
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My innovation proposal for the Reading and Typing Club was born as a need to involve something that would motivate students to improve their skills in reading and writing using a keyboard so that their performance on state tests would be better. Currently, the results for 3rd grade in The STAAR TEST in writing are below the expected average; why? In the technological life of students, everything is touch, and they do not know how to write using the keyboard.
The main goal is to create a play environment where behavior is monitored, and children are encouraged to improve their skills.
The Behavioral learning theory fits perfectly with this initiative that uses its premises: positive reinforcements, guided behaviors, and controlled environments.
Behaviorism forever?
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This question has been on my mind since the Saturday I began developing this assignment. In the last class with my discussion group, I mentioned that I believed it was possible to have a mix of the three theories and that possibly some were stronger than others depending on the environment, the students, the assignment, the grade, the type of school, etc.
So, as teachers who are agents of change, we must be prepared to understand, assimilate, and implement any theory, depending on the need. For a middle school or high school teacher, behaviorism theory will be unthinkable, and perhaps its orientation is constructivist, and I agree.
These tools are to be studied and used, and I am open to trying more and better ways.
References
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Harapnuik, D. (November 2021). Learning Philosophy, It is About Learning, from https://www.harapnuik.org/?page_id=95.
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Harapnuik, D (July 14, 2018). COVA, It is about Learning, from https://www.harapnuik.org/?page_id=6991
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Watson JB. Psychology as the behaviorist views it. Psychological Review, 1913;20:158–177. doi:10.1037/h0074428
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B. F. Skinner Foundation. Biographical information
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ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY
Harapnuik, D. (November 2021). Learning Philosophy, It is About Learning, from https://www.harapnuik.org/?page_id=95.
Dr H mentions the difference between a learning facilitator and a self-focused teacher.
Dr H Describes how the environment in which the learning process takes place is essential to guarantee the success of the experience.
Harapnuik, D (July 14, 2018). COVA, It is about Learning, from https://www.harapnuik.org/?page_id=6991
Dr H Provides a quick insight to what COVA is and how it will create better learners. Videos and links on this site allow the user to dive deeper into the COVA model and how combining it with a CSLE will result in effective active learning.
Watson JB. Psychology as the behaviorist views it. Psychological Review, 1913;20:158–177. doi:10.1037/h0074428
John B. Watson believed that psychology should be the science of observable behavior.
B. F. Skinner Foundation. Biographical information
Skinner's theory of operant conditioning suggests that learning and behavior change are the result of reinforcement and punishment. Reinforcement strengthens a response and makes it more likely that the behavior will occur again in the future. Punishment, on the other hand, weakens a response and makes it less likely that the behavior will occur again.
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