Andrea Stupp

EDU 5120
Theory in Practice Paper
December 2, 2009

Introduction:

It is one thing to simply learn the definitions of the multiple theories that surround
education, but it is another thing to think of how they can be directly applied. In this paper I will
do just that. I will relate the theories I feel best fit my personality and teaching philosophy and
relate them to different components of a classroom. The paper will discuss the constructivist
theory I will apply to teaching content, the social cognitive and cognitive views I will apply
when assessing, the humanistic and social cognitive theories I will apply to classroom
management, and the social constructivist approach I will have to my classroom’s physical
setting and multicultural education.
Teaching Content:
It is my belief that social studies as a subject is taught in two ways. There is the way
where information is placed on an overhead and the students are expected to robotically take
notes and regurgitate the information on a quiz or test. The other way of teaching social studies
involves a constructivist theory approach. This is the approach I will take when teaching my
content area.
Constructivism is defined as a theory of learning which suggests that learners create their
own knowledge of the topics they study rather than receiving that knowledge as transmitted to
them by some other source. When teaching with this theory in mind my students will be less
likely to ask the questions, “Well who cares?” or “Why does this matter?” The two primary
perspectives of constructivism, cognitive constructivism and social constructivism will be used
in my classroom in different ways.
Cognitive constructivism is defined as a view that focuses on the individual, internal
constructions of knowledge. I plan on facilitating this internal knowledge by using real-world
tasks such as essential questions, enduring understandings, and authentic assessment. Real-
world tasks are defined as a learning activity in which students practice thinking similar to that
required in the real world. A real-world task in social studies isn’t memorizing dates, facts and
events and writing an essay combining the facts with a loose thesis statement. A real-world task
is to have an enduring understanding carried through an entire unit which is reflected in the
unit’s essential questions. The enduring understanding and essential questions are then assessed
with an authentic assessment that involves students performing a task that would be performed in
the real world. This approach to social studies makes the information relatable, relevant and
easier to understand.
Example: For a unit on the Enlightenment the enduring understanding would be “When people
share or spread information change or conflict is often the result.” The essential questions for
the unit could consist of, “What motivates humans to talk about change? How do humans
portray their thoughts and ideas? What is the result of sharing those thoughts and ideas? Where
did American ideals and protected rights originate from?” So far my approach to teaching
content is relatable for students and directly relates to important themes of the Enlightenment.
The enduring understanding and essential questions are so open ended that each student can
construct an understanding of the material in many different ways. An authentic assessment of
this unit could be that the students must pretend to be an editorialist for a newspaper to show
their understanding of the major themes of the Enlightenment.
The second primary principle of constructivism is social constructivism which is defined
as a view of learning that suggests that learners first construct knowledge in a social context and
then individually internalize it. My classroom will have a strong social piece that will consist of
both class discussion but also of group discussion. I plan on forming a community of learners or
an environment where the teacher and the students work together to help everyone achieve. I
want to form a classroom where students experience disequilibrium when learning new material
together but then also help each other reconstruct their understanding. Through class discussions
the enduring understandings and essential questions surrounding a unit will be worked through
and explained so that students can understand them.
Example: When first introducing the unit on the Enlightenment the enduring understanding will
be written on the board. The students in pairs will then receive a worksheet and a fake
newspaper that will include a newspaper article that puts American current events into a context
where the Enlightenment never happened (example, King Barak Obama is empowered by Divine
Rights, or The United States declares a National Religion). They will have to discuss the article
and the ramifications the article will have for them, their family and community. The students
will then come together to explain their article and the effects that they came up with to each
other. The enduring understanding and essential questions will then be explained to the students
while they are thinking and creating understandings. With those created understandings that
were developed through class discussions the students will then go into the unit with a self and
community understanding.
Assessment:
When it comes to assessment in my classroom I will be taking a social cognitive and
cognitive approach. Social cognitive theory defines learning as a change in mental structures that
creates the capacity to demonstrate different behaviors. It is explained further by discussing the
importance of feedback in promoting learning. I interpret this need for feedback as being
formative assessment. Students will receive feedback on their assignments not only in the form
of grades but rather in the form of comments. The formative assessment assignments meant to
promote learning will come before the summative assessments that communicate the level of
learning to the students, parents and administrators. Social cognitive theory by design
encourages critical thinking. The formative assessment will encourage students to challenge
themselves and to explore different avenues in creating and explaining their understanding of the
content.
The area where I relate to concerning cognitive theory is the area of motivation.
Cognitive motivation focuses on the learner’s beliefs, expectations, and need for order,
predictability and understanding. In summary cognitive motivation is about the learner feeling in
control. One of the best ways to allow students to feel in control, to develop a good
teacher/student communication and to point students in the right direction for success is using
goals. Goal theory is divided into two different types of goals. Learning goals are defined as a
focus on task mastery, improvement, and increased understanding. The second type of goals are
performance goals which are defined as learners competencies as compared with others.
As students get older they shift their focus from learning goals to performance goals. By
using differentiated instruction and formative assessment it is my goal to shift students focus
from performance to learning, to the process of learning. So much of assessment is focused on
the final result rather than the process to get to the final result. I am not talking about “effort”
grades, but rather allowing multiple drafts for a paper or allowing students different ways to
present their work as long as they show mastery of the subject. If a student is doing poorly in a
subject rather than just failing them it makes more sense to me to sit down with that students and
devise some specific and moderately challenging goals that the students will be able to observe
success. The student will not only be assessed on the final product by what they did to
accomplish and work toward their goals. To me putting stress on learning goals for students
coincides with my classroom’s stress on constructivism theory when teaching content. It isn’t
fair to ask students to develop their own understandings individually or socially and then assess
their understanding in one final “cookie-cutter” fashion. By using social cognitive and cognitive
motivation theory I hope to fairly assess all of my students.
Classroom Management:
In creating a classroom where students have a freedom to create their own understandings
with constructivism and a classroom where students will be assessed based on their learning
goals it became obvious to me the theory that would best support my classroom management
goals. I want students to feel safe to explore their understandings and to trust each other so that
they can learn from one another. A mixture of social cognitive and humanistic approaches will
make up my approach to classroom management.
The social cognitive piece simply revolves around the importance of modeling. I will
expect students to directly model behavior from myself and one another. My classroom will be a
consistent classroom. I believe that many people associate consistent with boring or monotonous
classroom. I simply mean that my classroom will have a routine. My classroom routine will
provide the students with an understanding of the behaviors and expectations that will be
reinforced or punished. Social Cognitive theorist believe that unmet expectations for
punishment can act as reinforcement for poor behavior or on the other side that unmet
expectations for reinforcement can be punishing. With these aspects in mind this explains why
my classroom will be consistent. I will model my desired and expected classroom behavior, and
I will enforce the rules consistently and fairly.
This consistent and fair reinforcement of behavior is where humanism comes into play.
Humanism is the final complement to my safe classroom. Humanism explains that people
attempt to fulfill their own potential as human beings. More specific then a simply a humanistic
approach to classroom management I will be taking a Rogerian view. Rogerian theorists are a
type of humanistic theorist that stress that students are people first and students second. I will
interact with my students with this in mind and expect my students to relate to each other with
this in mind. I will manage poor and good behavior one on one rather than one on one observed
by class/peers. I rather the student stay focused on my point rather than focus on how everyone
else is reacting or what everyone else is thinking.
 I will reinforce poor behavior remembering that it is the behavior that I do not like not the
student. This disciplinary theory supports my emphasis on students taking risks and exploring
their own understanding. The answers they may come up with may be wrong, but the students
and I will focus on the process and where the process went wrong instead. I want students to be
aware that they are in control of their behaviors and that they are the ones who can correct the
behavior that I do not like.
Physical Setting:
The physical setting of my classroom will coincide with my social constructivist
approach to teaching content. The set up of the desks will reinforce my classroom’s community
of learners. I will have my classroom in a set up that is ready to facilitate any type of classroom
discussion exercise. It will look like this:

The students desks are arranged so that if were to do a debate or two sided discussion the room is
ready. If we were to do work that needed the students to be in groups of four the classroom is
ready. The students will do a lot of pair work in my class and the desks are ready to facilitate the
pair work always. The students will rotate desks, partners and groups each unit. I like that my
desk is somewhere that is not ideal for sitting and watching the students. This means that I will
be up, and moving around partaking in the students’ group discussions. The bulletin board is
where the enduring understanding, essential questions and the unit’s authentic assignment will be
displayed so at any point a student can remind themselves what the main purpose of the unit is
and where the unit is heading in terms of assessment.

Multiculturalism and Diversity:

I think this paper has made the fact that multicultural education will be implemented in
every aspect of my classroom. Multicultural education is defined as attempts to make
classrooms welcome places for all students by recognizing, valuing and building on their
perspectives and experiences. Students will become aware of their own multicultural education
when doing all of the units. By questioning the enduring understanding and by asking
themselves the essential questions their own perspectives will be shared and valued by the
community of learners that will exist in my classroom. Even if it is not the direct result of my
teaching or my curriculum design it is my hope that by promoting and utilizing group work and
pair sharing students will experience multicultural education and experience diversity even if it is
not by my hand. I think some of the best ways to implement multiculturalism education and
experience diversity is when it happens indirectly. Students are made aware of stereotypes in the
media so often now that to experience natural and firsthand learning is a lot more beneficial to
students. It is the role of teacher to point out a moment when learning happened or to put the
students in situations where they will learn from one another. This is one way in my classroom
that will address multiculturalism and diversity. The curriculum and the anthropology aspects of
social studies will teach the rest to the students.

Conclusion:

In studying the various theories and thinking how they will relate to me and my
classroom I was surprised and relieved to see how interconnected they are. To me this means
that I have done something right in my reflections. It is my belief that my constructivist approach
to teaching curriculum, my social cognitive and cognitive approach to assessment, my social
cognitive and humanistic approach to classroom management, and my social constructivist
approach to the physical setting of my classroom and addressing multicultural education and
diversity all complement each other and support each other. This support is essential to any
classroom structure to functioning. This gives me confidence to set up my classroom and to put
these theories into practice.