UNIVERSITY OF ALASKA SOUTHEAST

THE THEORY OF TEACHING AND LEARNING

SUBMITTED TO JEFFREY L. LOFTHUS, Ph.D.

IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR

THE LEARNER AND THE LEARNING PROCESS

ED 333

SCHOOL OF EDUCATION

BY

SIERRA AFOA

31 MARCH 2021
Introduction

At the age of five years old I had decided that becoming a teacher was what I

wanted to be when I grew up. Since then, I have wanted to be a professional basketball

player, a veterinarian, and even a social worker. It came full circle, however, when I got a

job as a teaching assistant in 2017 and got to really work in a classroom for the first time.

Since that moment I have wanted to become a teacher and am finally working towards

that goal.

I firmly believe that teachers can make a huge difference in the lives of their

students. Students have a wide variety of needs ranging from cultural or emotional to

physical and social needs. It is a teacher’s job to make sure that these different areas of

need are met. I want to create a classroom where students feel welcomed, feel

comfortable sharing their ideas and experiences, and are excited to learn.

Development

Children are constantly learning and experiencing the world around them. We, as

teachers, need to be able to help students navigate all of the information there is out there

and help them through their different developmental stages in life. Two theorists who

have helped to outline that process are Piaget and Vygotsky. Using their theories and

applying them to the way that we teach our students can help to build on the cognitive

and social development of each child.

Jean Piaget developed a theory of cognitive development that worked through

different stages in a child’s life. The four distinct stages are sensorimotor, preoperational,

concrete operational, and formal operational (McLeod, 2020). These four stages describe

how a child moves through different levels of intelligence. It is important to note that the
stages are universal across cultures and are mainly influenced by biological maturation

and interactions with the environment (McLeod, 2020). The stages start at birth and

slowly move through a child’s lifespan all the way up past 12 years of age. These stages

can be used as a guide for teachers because it is one way to help determine where a child

should be in their cognitive development.

Lev Vygotsky, on the other hand, believed that cognitive development is

impacted by cultural context and input from others (Slavin, 2018). This is because he

believed that focusing on Western culture alone leads to underestimating development in

more diverse cultures. Vygotsky’s theory also includes the zone of proximal development

where a child cannot yet perform a task on their own but can do so with peer or adult

support. This is when learning takes place for students.

Both Piaget and Vygotsky have good points when it comes to development, but

neither theory should be the only one to guide teaching. These theories are great

frameworks to reference when working with students and will be theories that I look back

on during my teaching. It is important to know how students develop in order to provide

the most individualized learning experience possible to every student.

Learning Theory

One learning theory that I have more experience with is the behavioral learning

theory. This is the theory that students learn through interactions with the environment.

One example of this is through positive reinforcement (Western Governors University,

2020). Positive reinforcement can include things such as praise, good grades, treats, or

stickers. This builds a students motivation to study harder in order to get the desired

reinforcement.
 With past students who have struggled with behavior, I have been able to use

positive reinforcement in order to get the desired behavior. I was able to use skittles as a

positive reinforcement, even though this needed to be done in moderation, and the

student’s behavior improved. I know that when I was rewarded with good grades I was

more motivated to study and work hard in my classes. It is important to know what

motivates students because it is different for every individual. This will help to increase

overall motivation in the classroom.

Standards & Assessments

I often think about the ways in which assessments impacted my learning

experiences and what I would want to have changed if I had the opportunity. I remember

how stressful assessments and evaluations were for me growing up even though school

came naturally to me. The idea of getting letter grades and huge tests that would count for

a big portion of my education was terrifying and I always felt anxious about my grades

and what they meant for my future. The experiences I had with assessments is not

something that I want my future students to feel.

One way to assure that I do not place the same anxiety and worries on future

students is through an example from Vito Perrone. Perrone (1991) suggests using student

portfolios to show how students have met different standards and class objectives

throughout the year. This will assure that students are meeting the standards of the class

while also assessing the improvements made throughout the year. This would create less

anxiety because the focus would not be placed on letter grades, but it would be placed on

improving throughout the year. Students would have the ability to look back on past work
and get feedback on how to make the necessary changes. In my own classroom I want the

focus to be on learning and improvement not on grades and rankings.

Foundations

My teaching philosophy is much like the idea of teaching to the edge that Todd

Rose (2013) discusses in his Ted Talk. This is the idea that there is no such thing as the

“average” student. All students have strengths and weaknesses, and they can be very

different from person to person. If I were to teach to what is believed to be the “average”

student, it would not be benefitting anyone. I want to meet each student where they are at

in the learning journey. This means not using the same materials for every student but

discovering my students’ learning styles and teaching to those styles.

Diversity

Diversity is something that should be celebrated in schools, not ignored. In my

classroom I want everyone to feel seen for who they are. I want them to feel represented

in the readings that we do, the videos we watch, and the discussions we have. This

includes different cultures, races, disabilities, and learning styles. I have already started a

book collection for my classroom and am very excited about the different representations

that are in them. When you include a student’s culture or other identity into lessons and

teachings it creates a more meaningful educational experience and also teaches other

students about the different cultures around them. I believe it creates more understanding

and acceptance as well.

Conclusion

Overall, there is so much information out there on different theories and practices

that can be used in the classroom. I, personally, want to provide an environment that can
benefit all students while also creating individualized learning opportunities for every

child. Not all children develop at the same rate and it is more important to meet the

student where they are at than it is to force them to learn at the same pace of an “average”

student. I believe in providing a classroom where students can ask questions, utilize

different learning strategies, and gain the knowledge they need in order to be successful.
 References

McLeod, S. (2020, December 7). Piaget’s Theory and Stages of Cognitive Development.

Simply Psychology. https://www.simplypsychology.org/piaget.html

Perrone, V. (1991). A Letter to Teachers: reflections on schooling and the art of teaching.

San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Rose, T. [TEDx Talks]. (2013, June 19). The Myth of Average: Todd Rose at

TEXcSonomaCounty [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?

v=4eBmyttcfU4

Slavin, R. E. (2018). Educational Psychology: Theory and Practice (12th ed.). Pearson

Education.

Western Governors University. (2020, May 29). What is the behavioral learning theory?.

Teaching & Education. https://www.wgu.edu/blog/what-behavioral-learning-

theory2005.html