EDCI 5065: Week 3 T2P and Essay

T2P:
If a teacher approaches his or her students as blank slates, or a bank which information must be deposited into, then both the student and the teacher will be deprived of valuable learning experiences because the student will feel as if they have nothing to offer to the class and everything that is important to learn and understand is directed by the teacher, and the teacher will never learn from their students. A teacher who believes that they are to fill the minds of a child with valuable information must ask themselves what they can benefit from understanding how a child thinks and how this can make them a better teacher to understand their cognitive and developmental abilities. If a teacher ignores this fact then the student will never learn about the many facets of life that exist outside of the written curriculum and ultimately the teacher has failed and brought the student down with him.

In today’s class we reviewed the work of three main educational theorists; Skinner, Piaget, and Vygotski. Through these developmental psychologists, we were able to construct models of education which best representing their beliefs about the role of teachers and students, how their learning theory is defined, and how it applies to today’s schools. The class went by quickly as we worked in different groups to form large groups to compose information and then formed triads to teach about our assigned theorist to other students. The most important thing I learned from these activities are the use of reinforcement in teaching, and understanding students pre-existing frameworks of cognitive development. Both concepts allow a teacher to be more effective in their practice by allowing students to become more engaged and provide direct feedback through reinforcement, and taking into account student abilities to avoid confusing and frustration in the class.
After class we were assigned another theorist to research and present an 8-10 minute presentation about. My theorist was Paulo Freire who believed that students should learn to be activists and have their voice heard in the community. His theory was fascinating and the idea I enjoyed the most from his is his disregard of the banking theory and instead that he believed students were actively engaged learners who bring a great deal of knowledge and understanding to their classes. We constructed a presentation, which we wanted to film a quick video for, so that we could talk while demonstrating ideas about this theory and who he was as a person. Unfortunately, the task seemed a lot easier than we had expected because none of us were too familiar with the computer programs. Instead we compromised to the best of our abilities, which took us several hours to complete. I learned from this task that sometimes our ideas of what we want to teach are greater than the time we are allotted to do so. In the future, I would hope to better manage my time so that I could finish the assignment in the time frame and put together a more compelling artifact.