Learning Perspectives: Getting Students to Do What You Need

Learning perspectives are valuable for a teacher to understand, specifically how these relate to students and how they utilize them. Cognitive psychology is the process students or learners perform mentally as they try to remember what they see, hear, and study. (Ormrod, 2008. P.194). Teachers can help students with tools so that they gain confidence in their ability to retain and use information in their academic setting, and beyond. Tools that we can share with them include note-taking, associating items with something familiar, and with the use of mnemonics, abbreviations that fit a standard for memory.

Behaviorism is the ability for a teacher to study the behaviors of a student in their class and help them adapt using positive reinforcement and positive discipline strategies that will encourage them to display the behaviors we are seeking from them. This can come in the form of helping a student set realistic goals for themselves to help them change their behavior, or often if the behavior is severe, limiting their interactions with peers, or taking something away from them temporarily until they can showcase positive behaviors. We can model certain behaviors we are seeking from students, and help them achieve a higher efficacy, or self esteem, and help them regulate their behaviors using goals. With these strategies we should be able to encourage a student to participate, be motivated and use positive behavior in the classroom.

Social cognitive theory states that we can effectively model behaviors and help promote self-regulating behaviors. (Ormrod, 2008. P. 379). In the social cognitive theory the learning ability is related to people's observations of their surroundings and other people's behaviors. This shows that by modeling behaviors, students can learn significantly how to display these behaviors. This is especially true in younger grades. In working with preschoolers, modeling the behavior of their teacher or a student is how they learn specific tasks from cleaning up to following three step directions.

In the classroom, these models of behavior can be displayed in a variety of ways. With cognitive psychology we can help students utilize tools to remember information in a variety of ways. We can share with them specifically what information is needed for them to retain. We can discuss this information, and ask questions that enable them to utilize their critical thinking skills. I love to engage students by discussing the situation, asking questions to determine what they might already know and then follow this with an activity that will engage them. If we're learning about growing plants, I will read a book, ask the students questions about the steps to grow a plant and what a plant needs, and then we can do an experiment by planting seeds. As the days progress and we start to see changes in our plants, I provide journals for the kids to draw pictures of what changes they see with their plants. This allows students to observe changes, think about what is changing with their plant, ask questions, and then copy what changes they see using their own work. "People are actively involved in their own learning," (Ormrod, 2008. P. 196). Students that engage with the information that they are working with are far more likely to retain the information than others that just listen or see something. They will be able to answer questions about a specific action when they have experiences that help enable them to remember.

Behaviorism in the classroom can be displayed using reward charts, role-playing of behaviors that are expected, and by using positive reinforcement to ensure students that they are on the right track. At the beginning of this school year, my classroom had several students with sensory or behavior problems. I had to encourage all of the class to start looking at the positive aspects of our room and working together. I set up a bulletin board where every time I saw a student engaging nicely with each other or doing something helpful as a whole, they would receive a star to be placed on the bulletin board. I made sure I was able to pinpoint behaviors specifically in the children that were modeling negative behaviors and let them know they were getting a star. Soon, all of the children were actively engaging in positive behaviors to receive a star on the bulletin board. This encouraged the students to help each other and focus on how they can be helpful or a good friend. This worked wonders in my classroom and I continue to do something along these lines every couple of weeks, especially if I see any negative behaviors start to creep into the classroom.

In the classroom, we might use techniques for social cognitive theory of learning by helping students set goals for themselves, by creating a chart/schedule of items for them to accomplish throughout the day. I do this in my classroom with preschoolers with pictures so that they understand the sequence of the events throughout our day. Consistency is also important for them since they transition well form one activity to another when they know what is coming next. Students can evaluate their own performance by commenting on each other's work, or in classes with older grades '" grade each other's work. We can help teach students how to solve interpersonal problems by effectively communicating, teaching them how to listen objectively to what the other person is saying and figuring out what might help the other person feel better or help solve the problem. With younger children this is best displayed through modeling, but they start to pick up on these strategies the more they see them and use them. (Ormrod, 2008. 373).

Some lesson examples of how I would utilize these perspectives in the classroom include sharing with the students the colors of the rainbow, the colors within a spectrum that are displayed to the human eye. I like to read a story about a rainbow, most children enjoy interacting with stories read aloud. The book I often read is "Rainbow of My Own,". I then share with students the abbreviation ROY G BIV, the man's name that will help them remember the colors of the rainbow in order. I will write this abbreviation on the board and ask the children what the colors are in the rainbow, and as we decipher them, write them on the board in order of their abbreviated letter. Then I usually fan out the different colors with construction paper or card stock, so that there is a visual that can hang up in the room. Generally we also talk about the importance of the rainbow biblically as God's promise to Noah that the Earth will never be destroyed by water again. This enables students to hear information about the rainbow, see pictures within the story and the card stock/construction paper, and then they create a picture of the ark with a rainbow, so they are performing an action as well. Remembering ROY G BIV is not very challenging when you try to think of a man's name and most kids at first think it's pretty funny.

To incorporate behaviorism in the classroom I would ensure that children received praise for their efforts in all activities. A lesson that comes to mind is reviewing a subject. It is fun to turn review into games or something that can be reinforced at home. I often send home letter bags where the student must bring from home items that begin with several letters that we've studied (that are listed in a note to parents). The items have to be small enough to fit inside of the letter review bag and the students get to share their bags with the class. This offers positive reinforcement to the entire class, since those that might be disruptive will not have their turn to share their bag if they are not also respectful. The class standards apply when a classmate or teacher is talking that lips should be zipped with hands in their lap. Modeling this behavior would be myself, my assistant, and many of the students since they want to share.

With social cognitive theory the emphasis in the classroom lesson would be on working together as a team or in small groups to complete a project, puzzle, or science experiment. Working together as a team enforces the students to see proper modeling and allows students to ask questions, provide more discussion, and interact with their peers while performing the study. Small projects are fun and simple to provide on a daily basis, which allows for students to continually learn using the social cognitive theory.

Learning is never the same for any person. We all have specific learning styles that help us to retain and implement information in our daily lives. Being able to introduce different learning methods to students will prove beneficial so that all students will have opportunity to be exposed to new information through these different learning perspectives.

References:
Ormrod, Jeanne '"Ellis. 2008. Educational Psychology Developing Learners. Merrill Prentice Hall.