107 as far as we know it

This blog post couldn't have come at a better time. In just this past week I realized how my past schooling could be explained by what we were learning in class. As I mentioned in class my 6th grade english teacher made english and language arts a subject that I did not want to attend.  After her negative reinforcement I was set up for a dislike of language arts until my senior year when another teacher managed to make it a class I truly enjoyed. I also realized that in the classes I did well in the teachers informed their lesson plans with not just one learning theory but many.  This class has been the most  informative and enjoyable of all of my classes this semester. I am looking forward to the future topics we will be discussing.

Social Learning Theory

I feel Social Learning Theory is very prevalent in the classrooms in which I have been in. In which the teacher is the more knowledgeable peer providing information to the students. While I believe SLT is a great way to inform teaching if it used improperly the students will just be provided with the answer with no attempt to uncover it on their own. I have found examples of this in which a teacher or professor lectures or writes notes on the board and we are to assume that all they say is correct. I was trained from a young age to never question the teacher's validity. Over time (with the help of a few amazing teachers) I have learned that by questioning the teacher we can learn more efficiently by opening discussion coming to a common consensus.

 The group discussions in class demonstrate an excellent example of how to use SLT properly. We work together using each of our past knowledge to come to a common answer. We are never given a direct statement saying, "SLT is...", however we are provided with a prompt and through a series of discussions and followup questions we come to a common answer that ends up being correct. The prompts and follow up questions are designed to guide us along the right path without explicitly giving us the answer. I feel if more teachers and professors tried a more discussion based approach to applying SLT the students would be more informed and capable of making informed decisions.