Learning Theories

My Service Learning time, so far, has been spent in an Elementary School Resource Room. Mrs. Hatch, the teacher, has demonstrated all three major learning theories to help the students best learn the required materials and to help them develop and grow as they should.

Not surprisingly, the one that she used the most is Behaviorism. For example, one student who was in the classroom almost the entire time that I was there is Dylan. He is not only behind his peers in his knowledge, but he also is more active than usual. Almost like clockwork, Dylan needed to move around and/or change activities every 15-20 minutes. Mrs. Hatch was prepared for this need of his and would ask that he stay working consistently for 15, then have a 30 second stretching time, then work for another 15 minutes. She also had many lessons ready for him, so that every 30 minutes, at the most, he was changing what he was working on. By planning ahead for Dylan's behavior, she was able to keep the classroom in order, not disturb other students, and help Dylan learn as best he could.

Mrs. Hatch also used Constructivism with several students, specifically when they were working on Math concepts. She has blocks that the students were able to arrange into various groups to better understand place-values of different numbers. When Dylan started working on his math, he not only used the place-value blocks, but he also used the dry-erase board to write down his problems.

Mrs. Hatch was able to adjust her teaching style to adapt to her students' needs. Since she works specifically with children who need special assistance, she needs to be more flexible more than another teacher in her teaching styles. Watching Mrs. Hatch with her students has given me a clear insight as to what is expected of teachers when working with special needs students.