Learning Philosophy
Learning has always been an outlet for me. I grew up in a single-parent home with my two sisters and mother who struggled to provide for us. Because we didn’t always have the money for entertainment and extracurricular activities like many of my peers, books were always my outlet. Somehow, my mother always made sure I had access to reading material, though she never actually took us to a library. Fortunately, my oldest sister, eight years my senior, would walk my youngest sister and me to the public library a block away from our house. There I was able to indulge in literature and imagine the life I wasn’t able to obtain. The library was a sanctuary where I created my reality.
As a student, I was identified as gifted and talented in elementary school. The idea of play and discovery was something in me that was bred from my environment. I can vividly recall a time when my sisters and I lived in a trailer on about an acre of land with our mother. The landlord lived next door and had chicken coops, horses, sheep, and cows. Behind our trailer was an old chicken coop that we turned into our version of a tree house. I had to be about eleven which put my younger sister at around eight. We were proud of what we created and showed it off to our mother. She smiled and allowed us to play and use our imagination. Today I am a classroom educator and my younger sister is a hairstylist. Both professions require imagination and some form of “play” to enhance the craft.
Learning is a concept that can happen at any time in any space. Dr Harapnik said it best,” Learning is an active and dynamic process in which learners construct new ideas or concepts based upon their current/past knowledge” (Harapnik, n.d). I always knew I wanted to go into a profession where I was able to help others. Teaching and learning just came naturally. By the time I was a high school student, I knew being a classroom educator was my calling. One of the most instrumental people in my life as a teenager was my high school career counselor, Tammy Johnson. She pushed every student in the school to pursue education beyond high school. I had never heard that term before. I only knew work or college after high school. It was not until she opened my eyes to learn that learning beyond high school meant an array of things. All sorts of professions allowed us to learn outside the classroom in different, more hands-on learning environments such as certification programs for HVAC, Plumbing, and Cosmetology.
As a sophomore college student, I was introduced to learning theories and theorists such as Lev Vygotsky, Abraham Maslow, and Jean Piaget. When reading the definitions and examples of Behaviorism, Cognitivism, and Constructivism defined by Dr Harapnik (Harapnik, n.d), I instantly resonated with Constructivism and soon found myself torn between Constructivism and Cognitivism. Jean Piaget’s learning theory is one I have always agreed with. The act of play in combination with imagination allows children to properly develop as social beings without the restrictions of structure and rules (McArdle, 2022). Agreeing with his concepts swayed me towards Constructivism. On the contrary, there’s Lev Vygotsky, who states. “students need to be engaged in challenging and meaningful activities”(McLeod, 2024).
(Loveless, 2023)
My learning philosophy leads me to believe that students need play, free of structure, paired with structured rigor challenges that allow the students to promote ownership of their learning while being able to express their creativity along the way. As a gifted and talented student who was fortunate enough to be challenged academically and socially by my peers and educators, I believe I benefited and others can too. Although these are my beliefs, I am not naive to the reality that all learners are not the same. Educators and students are aware that they are engaged in learning – and what (mindful of the) significance”(infed.org, 2024).
Tech-ing TEKS: Blended Learning Initiative Innovation plan, incorporates the freedom to choose and apply the learned TEKS, or state-mandated content, to display mastery of the content following the theories of Piaget, however as a master educator and follower of best practices, you should always be motivating your scholar to thing bigger, modify and strive for better. The bigger, better modifications will pose challenges, but will also promote problem skills that can motivate students to take pride and ownership of their learning, following the theories and beliefs of Vygotsky.
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Reference
Loveless, B. (2023, April 14). 15 learning theories in Education (a complete summary). Education Corner. https://www.educationcorner.com/learning-theories-in-education/
Annotated Bibliography
Harapnuik, D. (2021, November 10). Four keys to understanding learning theories. Harapnuik.org. https://www.harapnuik.org/?p=6344
Dr. Dwayne Harapnik breaks down four keys to understanding learning theories and how over time they have been redefined and consolidated into three categories. Educators can make arguments that although they have similarities and differences, the techniques in which they base the concepts of learning differ in how the goal of learning is achieved.
infed.org. (2024). What is learning? A definition and discussion. infed.org https://infed.org/mobi/learning-theory-models-product-and-process/
This site explains how multiple components make up learning theories and helps to display concepts that make up each aspect paired with theorists. The compilation of information helps to provide a foundation to help compare and contrast the different types of learning aspects and theorists.
McArdle, J. (2022, March 4). Stages of development - piaget. My Teaching Cupboard. https://www.myteachingcupboard.com/blog/stages-of-development-piaget
This site outlines Piaget's four key stages and explains each stages’ cognitive abilities. McArdle also explains the importance of children’s mindset and how play promotes children’s cognitive growth.
Mcleod, S. (2024, January 24). Vygotsky’s sociocultural theory of cognitive development. Simply Psychology. https://www.simplypsychology.org/vygotsky.html
The Simply Psychology page on Lev Vygotsky provides an outline of his theory of cognitive development, showing the importance of social interaction and cultural context in learning. It also explained the main concepts such as the Zone of Proximal Development and scaffolding, focusing on his belief that cognitive growth is facilitated through guided interactions.
