My Research-Based Theory of Teaching

My Research-Based Theory Of Teaching

My Research-Based Theory of Teaching

Abstract

This paper is expressing my own theory of teaching based off the research that I have done and from my educational psychology class. This paper will be describing my own opinion on what are the major topics of education psychology. The areas of information that this paper will be covering are in the areas of child development, learning theory, motivation, teaching strategies and keeping control of a classroom, teachers and technology, assessments, and grading. In each topic I discussed which areas within the topics I believe are more important and what I would incorporate into a classroom if I was a teacher. Each topic is supported with my own personal opinions from going through school, information from my educational psychology book, and from an internet resource.

My Research-Based Theory of Teaching

What makes a good teacher? Is a good teacher based off the knowledge that each student brings out of the classroom, or is it based off how a teacher motivates their students to become what they have inspired to be, inside and outside of a classroom? A good teacher to me is a person who can motivate a student or even a friend to work to hard to reach a new level. Now that new level can be in any area ranging from education, sports, or even music. While growing up, all of my good teachers had similar qualities but each had their own method of teaching. It is interesting to understand how each style of teaching worked best for them, and was also effective in the classroom. For a better understanding on what makes a good teacher, this paper will be explaining the major topics such as teaching strategies, attributes, and other characteristics that I believe are important from my research in educational psychology.

When inspiring to become a teacher, students and future teacher's to be needed to understand what areas to excel and improve in. Most excellent teachers for the most part share similar traits. These traits would consist of understanding the academic subjects they teach. Not only should they understand the academia but also how to relate to his or her students. General teaching strategies that can be applied to all areas is good to learn. The teacher must realize their classrooms abilities, and the curriculum's materials and programs must be set appropriate for students to be able to understand. Subject-specific knowledge for teaching certain topics and certain students will help a teacher excel. The characteristic and cultural backgrounds of the learners will help a teacher to better realize how to relate such material in a classroom. The settings in which students learn will help teachers' asses themselves and understand what methods are working better in the classroom. Finally, having and understand the goals and purposes for teaching help expert teachers standout (Woolfolk, p.6). People will become expert teachers faster once they begin to understand as many of these key concepts as possible. I think it is important for teachers to understand what it takes for them to be an expert teacher before going into the classroom, in order to get expert students to come out of it.

Before a teacher is ready to start influencing and challenging his or her students, my theory is that a teacher must realize what stage or how far along in development his/her student's cognitive skills are. A teacher is not going to be able to teach physics or advanced chemistry to a third grader. Those cognitive and advanced thinking skills have not yet developed. Our understanding of children's cognitive development was deeply influenced by two individuals, Jean Piaget and Lev Semenovich Vygotsky. Jean Piaget believed that four factors influence development. They were biological maturation, activity, social interactions and experiences, and equilibration. He believed that maturation had the biggest influence on the way we make sense of the world around us. Based off of our biological maturation, we are then able to bring in new information through activity. Children will be able to learn and physically interact with their environments bringing in vast amounts of information. Social transmission was also important to Piaget because cognitive development is highly influenced by learning from others. According to Piaget however, the amount of information that a person is able to bring in is delayed by their stage of cognitive development. Equilibration is described as the balance of new schemas into our system of knowledge. If the new schema works, then equilibration is achieved. If the new schema does not work, then disequilibrium is achieved making us uncomfortable (Woolfolk, p. 30-31). Jean Piaget's counterpart would have been Lev Semenovich Vygotsky. Vygotsky believed in the sociocultural theory emphasizing the role in development society had on children between their peers and people of greater knowledge. Vygotsky applied the idea that human activities take place in a cultural environment and cannot be understood away from these setting (Woolfolk, p.45).

After understanding the concepts of both Piaget and Vygotsky, I would have to say that my teaching method would be influenced by both of these men. My understanding of a child's cognitive development is influenced by both men's perspectives. I would have to say that I believe a child's ability to learn is first influenced by the idea of Piaget's biological maturation. A child has to first mentally and physically develop to begin to think more complex. Where I differ from Piaget and start to lean towards Vygotsky is where parents and teachers come in. Both are very important when a child is young and growing because there is so much development going on in a child's brain that parents and teachers can have a huge influence on that development. My next belief in the theory of development agrees with both Piaget and Vygotsky. I believe that social interactions play a huge role on cognitive development because people do learn a lot through the observation of people interacting in public. I also agree that as we mature, we begin to have the ability to affect and increase our cognitive development through personal activity. Going away from public interactions, I have come to realize that much can be learned through personal exploration, contrary to Vygotsky's beliefs. My understanding of cognitive development has greatly been influenced by Piaget and Vygotsky, but I personally believe that where one man excelled in cognitive development, the other was not so