I found the content from this week really interesting (I want to try to ride that bicycle!). Although I was a little surprised with the way behaviourism was presented in the material. Last term I was in several classes that gave me the impression that behaviourism has no place in an elementary classroom, and if teachers used methods like that they were setting children up to fail. The negative aspects may not happen in the short term, but there was an emphasis on this causing harm to long-term learning and motivation of students. So, with this prior knowledge, I was having a hard time trying to think of ways to incorporate behaviourism into my teaching. Then I started thinking about how I spent three-four months in the spring semester learning one view of behaviourism and now my thinking has become so ridge about it. I think this experience demonstrated to me how careful teachers should be when introducing topics, and making sure they encourage students to challenge what they are learning so they can avoid biases. 

While my own neuroplasticity is probably dwindling it is exciting to think that when I am teaching elementary students they will be able to absorb and adapt new information at greater speeds.

I wanted to speak about a learning experience I had in preparation for applying to the BEd program at UVic. I was definitely one of those people who fell behind in math and just decided it “wasn’t for me” so when I had to take some math courses for the BEd program I was a little nervous. My academic advisor suggested that I take a stats class, and it turned out to be one of my favourite learning experiences. Don’t get me wrong, this was a HARD class for me, and I had to dedicate loads of time to studying and practice. Yet, the in-class experience was nothing like any other math class I had been in before. The professor provided the students with skeleton notes, so instead of madly writing down everything that was being covered we were able to listen and engage with the material. The lecture was more of a conversation where student’s input was always welcome and worked through as a class. I was always amazed at how interactive each class was from having us move around the room to demonstrate a topic, work in small groups, or partners to solve a problem, and check for understanding. Another unique part of this course was how we were tested. All the tests we wrote were done in two parts. The first part was individual tests, like a typical test, then we would write the same test in groups of four. At first, I hated this idea, it was strange and scary and I didn’t like it. However, after experiencing it in that course I think it is a great way to have students engage with course material if you must involve tests in a course.

TLDR: I am still not a fan of behaviourists theory, but I see myself using cognitivists and constructivists theories in my future elementary classrooms.

Thanks for stopping by!