Learning theories such as behaviorism, cognitivism, contructivism, and construtionism are typically the methods that teachers use and adopt as their own in their classroom. I have found that behaviorism is the most useful, especially with younger students or all kids in general. As explained in lesson 3, this type of learning requires the teacher to provide explicit and planned stimuli in order for the student to memorize, demonstrate, and imitate the desired product or behavior (Maloy, 2013. pp 49). In the VPK classroom, or elementary schools you can recognize behaviorism being used when you see a colored behavior chart. When my daughter, a kindergartner, goes to school each morning, she knows she has started the day with her name on "green". As the day goes on, if she misbehaves (no, not MY KID...never!) she gets her color downgraded to "yellow," and if she continues the misbehavior (she must get it from her father's genes) she will get downgraded once again, to "red". Staying on green for a week straight earns her points, which earns her a prize on Friday, whereas yellow earns her a warning, and red results in parent contact/or point deduction. This type of input/output behavior modification helps students get in a routine and teaches them what the expectations are. This concept can also be applied to older students but I feel should be introduced on day 1 of the school year (ie: not writing your name on your paper, late work, etc...may result in point deduction for the assignment).
Instructional teaching methods are not necessarily a one size fits all kind of approach. You will rarely find a teacher who solely teaches one-on-one, or utilizes learning groups for every single lesson. I feel as though there needs to be a balance and a good teacher will utilize these methods based on the needs of the students and the material they are trying to teach. It's important for all students to have various ways to explore the lessons they are trying to learn. In the language arts classroom, I would often have students working one on one with me as I assisted them in trying to complete a prompt or understand various literary works. At the same time, there would be students gathering information on that same literary work, on the computer in order to complete their assignment. All, while others would be utilizing a rubric to self evaluate if they met all of the requirements since they have completed their assignment. It was a balancing act but they students were able to adapt to each method throughout the course and I knew what worked best for each kid by observations and assessments.
Finally, I was happy to see digital citizenship explained as it was an important topic in my most recent teaching experience. "Technology today enables teachers and students to express creativity through social media, sharing ideas, among people who know each other and those who do not" (Maloy, 2013. pp 65). The world we live in today is so computer rich that students sometimes get lost in cyber space and assume that their information will be as well. This past fall semester, I was assigned to be permanent sub for a middle school technology course, since the teacher relocated to another job. The students had that teacher for a month and I felt it would be a good thing to assess what their practices are with using technology. I was able to find a digital awareness quiz that helped them self assess what kind of information they are sharing and feel it is ok to share on the internet. The results were frightening! Most of those 150 students soon realized that they are putting their personal and family information at risk by oversharing online. Not to mention, many of them felt that their actions online can not be traced or tracked with regards to accessing inappropriate information or cyber bullying. That was just one aspect of digital citizenship that I had trouble emphasizing the importance of. The other aspect, being citing sources and "give credit to who said it," was a whole other ball game. I had trouble getting the students to understand that just because it is on the internet, doesn't mean it's free information to use and that the author of the information they are gathering should be cited. I'm sure that their age had much to do with it, however with practice and reinforcement from all their teachers, they will learn in time.
Resources:
Maloy, Robert, Verock-O’Loughlin,Ruth-Ellen, Edwards, Sharon A., and Woolf, Beverly Park (2013). Transforming Learning with New Technologies. 2nd Edition. Boston, MA: Pearson Education, Inc.
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